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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on May 2, 2010 20:39:53 GMT -5
//Unauthorized coal mines? Scandalous! Maybe they'll be unauthorized mines full of unauthorized mines. Y'know, the other kind of mine, that goes KABLOW! 'Cause that would be kind of funny and uh, and- Aw, never mind.//
Really holding up the professional demeanor there, Whirligig.
//Greedy little gluppers, eh?// He drops off of Hellbender as they enter the derelict tunnel, his mouthplates twisting into a grin as he takes in the swirling black dust. Now, he's not particularly familiar with coal. Layers of pressurized organic matter aren't exactly common among asteroids. However, he is intimately familiar with explosive suspensions of dust, especially in mines, and to the Pit if this wasn't an explosive-looking situation.
//Whoa-ho-ho darling, I do believe we are sitting in powder keg!//
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on May 4, 2010 21:13:56 GMT -5
// This unit is armored for deep mining operations without shoring. The explosion would be mildly annoying. // Still, he retracted his cutting heads, reducing the chances of striking a stray spark. Hellbender slithered up the half-blocked access tunnel. It wouldn't be advisable to turn on the Autobot just yet.
// My bosses ain't going to be happy. They was supposed to get mineral rights to whatchacall 'fossil fuel' ores, and they've been cleaned out, // Hellbender commented. It was only partially a lie; there was an element of truth--the Decepticons did want to find energy sources.
// Bad tectonics around here; might be some caved-in seams they couldn't recover. Checking up some anomalies. // Said anomalies consisted of sounds of metal on rock, somewhere above.
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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on May 7, 2010 14:54:04 GMT -5
//Haha, I'd probably just die myself!// Whirligig sounds awfully amused for someone talking about his potential and not-exactly-unlikely demise. Still, he's stepping carefully, using mostly the wheel part of his foot and keeping his metal toes from striking against the stone. He's also carefully considering the mine itself, coming up with courses of action that might give him that one-in-a-million chance of surviving a coal dust explosion.
Stuck in a potentially unstable tunnel beneath tons upon tons of rock, surrounded by dust that could explode spectacularly at any moment, while keeping the company of some strange digging machine? Why, he feels positively giddy!
//Aww, are the illegal digging operations getting in each others' way?// He grins at Hellbender, finally getting a glance at something other that his ass-end. //What is it with dig-bots and ugly?//
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Hellbender
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Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
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Post by Hellbender on May 10, 2010 19:15:49 GMT -5
// Just so long as you don't sue. Ah filed your waiver, but it'd be a bit more solid if it had your name on it, // Hellbender replied as he slithered along. The access tunnel was half blocked in places by fallen rock, but it was loose enough for Hellbender to just shove it aside with his nose.
// Well, their illegal diggin' operations have stolen our entirely legitimately purchased mineral rights and are interfering with the market value of that there purchase, // Hellbender said, improvising more bullshit on the spot. He was a Decepticon, after all; it's in the name.
// Ah happen to think this here unit is purty. Well designed for the job; ain't you ever heard of the 'beauty of function'? On the other hand, that mining mecha of yours is all messed up. Got too many exposed parts that are just begging to suck a rock into the wrong spot. Bet your maintenance guys gotta work on that thing half the day every day just to keep it running.//
Well hey, he just came to a dead end rockfall.
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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on May 14, 2010 10:53:01 GMT -5
//Awfully hard to sue someone when you're dead.// Whirligig replies with a chuckle. //And I truly-100%-completely believe that this is an entirely legitimate digging operation. Really, I do.// There's no sarcasm in his inflection, but he really doesn't believe this is legal. He doesn't particularly care whether or not it's legal, but he doesn't believe it.
//What I'm hearing is 'it's hideous, but at least it works, right?' One can have both functionality and form you know!// He grins as Hellbender snipes back about his own appearance. //What, this gorgeous piece of work? Let me tell you, this beautiful orange beast is tougher than he looks! And built for speed and flexibility, not rock-biting.//
Regardless of whether or not Hellbender - or whoever is supposedly controlling Mr. Automated Mining-majiggy - is paying attention, he bends backwards until his hands touch the ground, swiveling the poles on his head out of the way, then raises his body into a handstand. Walking on his hands after the mining worm, he pauses as they hit the dead end.
//Aw. You gonna risk digging through that, or has the magically journey come to an end?//
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Hellbender
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Mecha-Shai-Hulud
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Post by Hellbender on May 14, 2010 19:37:51 GMT -5
Hellbender pressed his forward sensor array against the rockfall, trying to pick up whatever he could. Sonar and ground-penetrating radar told him that the rockfall was fairly extensive, loose, and there was a smaller tunnel beyond it. He thought he heard something, but there was something odd about the echoes, like--
And then little 'Bot had to keep running his vocalizer, and Hellbender lost the pattern of the sound. Exasperated, he replied, // Quit jabberin' for a minute, will you? Ah'm tryin' to listen to the rocks here!// (Pronounced more like "heyeah" than "here", truth be told...)
// Well, if you're tougher than you look, Ah figure you won't have a problem if I touch this here dust off deliberate-like? Rather have it go off now than when Ah'm right in the middle of some tricky drilling. No, Ah ain't turnin' back. Gonna find out what's goin' on here. // Maybe the explosion would do in the idiot 'Bot, especially if he was too stupid to think to shelter behind the mining worm's body.
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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on May 18, 2010 9:38:08 GMT -5
Touch... the coal dust... off... deliberately?
Whirligig is quite suddenly on back on his feet, waving his arms wildly. //Ooh, me, me, me! Let me do it!//
He doesn't wait for a response before he pops a hatch in his hip and snatches up a small charge, dialing its explosive force down to a low setting that's hopefully enough to ignite the dust. Part of his reasoning is purely logical; Hellbender is right that it's better to set off this powder keg deliberately rather than wait for it to go off when they least expect it, and setting off explosions in enclosed spaces is what Whirligig does. Did. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
Not that this is the sort of cave he'd usually consider using explosives on, what with the being unfortunately unstable and full of explosive dust. But then, only part of his reasoning is logical. Mostly he just really, really likes explosions and if anyone sets one off, he'd rather it be him. And if it decides to kill him then what a way to go!
Setting the timer, he tosses the little charge to the far end of the cave, toward the entrance they came through - better to keep the brunt of the explosion as far away as possible, the roof over their heads might not come down then - then dives around Hellbender, trying to wedge himself as close between the solid hunk o' digging worm and the ground as possible. Stay put, good sir!
A few seconds tick by and then the charge ignites. Time for the magic to happen! Hopefully the inevitable pressure will expend itself blowing out Hellbender's loosely blocked tunnel or shifting the rockfall.
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on May 19, 2010 18:44:59 GMT -5
Hellbender wasn't quite braced for it, but his cutting heads had already been retracted and he pressed himself against the ground and shut off his audio sensors as soon as Whirligig started acting like a complete idiot. The blast shook the tunnel and Hellbender, too, pushing him backward and probably pinning Whirligig between him and the wall as flame gusted around them. Back down the tunnel, the deafening roar of the blast continued with a grinding rumble; part of their back tunnel had probably caved in.
The fire burned out almost instantly, consuming the oxygen that would have nourished it in its fury. Had they been air-breathing creatures, they would have been in serious danger of suffocation right now, if not already blasted flat and seared to a crisp. As it is, Hellbender had little more than scorched paint and some warped access covers to contend with.
Warily turning his audio sensors back on one at a time, Hellbender said drily, "You know, you could have dropped that a bit closer, so all the blast would have been directed away from us, instead of half of it toward us. Seriously."
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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on May 23, 2010 10:49:42 GMT -5
Whirligig is certainly laughing and giggling like an idiot as the explosion calms down, and he begins wriggling out from behind Hellbender with a screech of metal on metal and metal on rock. The crispy black remains of what was once a dress crumble away to dust. His paint job is a mess, and a few of his more delicate systems are complaining from the heat and pressure, but that should sort itself out. All in all, a spectacular success. He still has all his limbs after all!
"Haha, no such thing as directing all the blast away from you! Well. Not exactly no such thing, but that generally doesn't involve being in a cave fulla dust waiting to go foom! And anyway, the last place you want to be is near the center of an explosion." He gives Hellbender a hearty smack on the side, even as he wriggles free and flops onto the ground. "Besides! You're a big, strong hunk o' metal. I figured you and your considerable bulk could handle it." He points straight up. "Better than our ceiling could handle being at the center of the big kaboom."
He grins blankly at the ceiling. "Glorious, glorious kaboom."
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on May 25, 2010 21:56:35 GMT -5
"Well, mebbe your judgment 'bout underground demolitions is better 'an mine. Mah.. trainin' is more towards digging shafts and tunnels and exploratory excavatin' like this here trip," Hellbender allowed.
Damn, the explosion didn't get him, and he still couldn't turn around fast enough to grind the little nit up. Nothing to do but tolerate him until they got to open ground. Hellbender extruded his cutters and spun them up again, getting ready to tear through the rock and gravel blocking his way. Without further warning than the sound of the cutters spinning up to full speed, he placed his head against the rockfall and started chewing. Gravel sprayed everywhere.
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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on May 27, 2010 20:49:19 GMT -5
Rocking to his feet, Whirligig gives Hellbender a shit-eating grin. "Best stick to your digging, sport. Dig-bots gotta did, demo-bots gotta KABOOM! FWOOM! BA-! Ow, hey."
He ducks out of the way of the flying gravel and chooses a fairly out-of-the-way wall to lean against. And then he starts talking, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he probably can't really be heard over the sound of Hellbender's cutters on rock. "Though, I'm not really a demo-bot exactly, y'know? Demolitions is more like... taking down structures in a glorious application of explosives! But I'm more about, like, explosive excavation..."
Rambling is surely one of his favorite pastimes. Or maybe he's just too used to talking to himself. Possibly both.
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on May 30, 2010 19:39:55 GMT -5
Mere moments later, the cutters broke through; Hellbender backed up half a meter and swung his head around the edge of the hole, widening it so he could get through.
"You shore do like to hear yourself talk, don't you?" said the big wormformer. "Small tunnel heah, just barely big enough for this here unit. Might have to widen it some as Ah go. Think maybe it's been dug out by small tools, 'stead of mining machines. You want to scout ahead?"
Maybe, just maybe the amazing babbling 'Bot was dumb enough to take the bait and go in front of Hellbender's cutters..
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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on Jun 2, 2010 11:14:19 GMT -5
"See, this is the point where I should joke about wanting intelligent conversation or something, but that'd be a lie." Not that he has a problem with lying or anything, but he has a hard time resisting the opportunity to make fun of someone, even himself.
Whirligig peers around Hellbender into the hole in the rock fall. On the one hand, he's all for scouting small, unfamiliar tunnels and discovering whatever awesome and potentially profitable secrets they might hold. On the other hand, going into a tunnel ahead of a digger is a disaster waiting to happen, and he already tempted fate once today with the coal dust explosion...
"Nrgh, curse my deeply ingrained excavation safety training!" He flings his arms up. "Okay, if you're in a hurry, you go first. Otherwise I go lookin' ahead and see how far I can go and you stay put till I get back." Hands down to hips. "So what's it gonna be, hot-cutters?"
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on Jun 3, 2010 8:14:19 GMT -5
Primus be praised for his idiot children! The kid was going to go for it. Hellbender obligingly slithered back from the opening some more.
"Ah can wait. You go check thet the whole place ain't gonna come down on our heads if Ah have to trim out some shoring jest to get by," Hellbender replied. Should he mention the sounds of excavation coming from the upper levels? Given the locals proprietary attitudes about their turf on this planet, they might react badly to visitors from below.
Nah. Surprises were fun, especially when it's Autobots being surprised.
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Post by Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh on Jun 4, 2010 10:32:35 GMT -5
Whirligig scoots around Hellbender and into the tunnel. A few meters in he pauses and turns, pointing at the mining worm and stating, "Stay. Staaaay."
With that he darts further down the tunnel. It's not really all that small to him, so he has no trouble making his way down the passage. Then again, he's convinced that he could fit himself through any space larger than his spark casing - though he's yet to test that theory - so it might be hard to find a passage that he considers troublesome to get through that still deserves to be called a tunnel.
He checks the integrity of the tunnel as he goes, paying special attention to areas that look like they could misbehave. How far does this tunnel go, anyway?
To entertain himself he starts singing mining songs on the General Band. Loudly. And badly.
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