A Metamorphosis Alpha® play-by-post adventure run by supreme_arbiter
I don't think that Rufus knows where they are heading, so the room number is meaningless to him. As a result, he'll follow the group... for now.
Gregory raises his hand, as if he were trying to get the attention of a teacher in class. "Um, excuse me, everyone? But wasn't that what we were looking for back there?"
Arkady is a little confused when they get to the door for which they have been looking and the rest of the party continues on.
He pauses for a thought, then decides to approach the door. Since both of his hands are occupied with cradling the doomsday device, he kicks the bottom of the door a few times and puts his face to the edge of door to maximize his voice beyond the door: "Hurry up, we're movin' on!"
Carefully, but with alacrity, he resumes his moderate position between his comrades.
I want to say more to Nike to thank her, or do something to show my appreciation for her trouble, but it doesn't seem like the right time. I feel bad, as if I were teaching some engineers again (subtle reference to Zhaxier): z -> conj(z) is worse than bad.
"Um, excuse me, everyone? But wasn't that what we were looking for back there?"
"I can't possibly tell you about it, but I hope you know it's very unpleasant out in space, if indeed that's where we're headed."
Zhaxier puts the dinner knife and ID card in his mouth and climbs into the Jeffries tube. As he makes his way toward the hangar, he smiles at the thought: "And Tink said I wasn't a tubecrawler!"
As Zhaxier tried to enter the tube system, what body part did he put forth first? Roll 5d6 for damage.
"I hope you know it's very unpleasant out in space, if indeed that's where we're headed."
"I know," Nike replies, "but it's much more hospitable than in here at the moment. Besides, I have a plan!" And with that, she flashes a big grin at her friend in a fit of good humor amid the chaos.
As Zhaxier tried to enter the tube system, what body part did he put forth first?
As a propulsion engineer who had to make frequent trips through the Warden Wide Web of Jeffries tubes, Zhaxier would have been aware of the existence and type of security measures guarding access to the tubes, and would have taken the necessary actions to discern whether or not those measures were active before placing his body in harm's way.
Gregory lets out a sigh of exasperation as he lets his hand fall from the door to S8346. Clearly, the others are right. There is no time for a detour, no matter how important the contents of that room. He continues following the others to the lifeboat, and hopes everything can still turn out alright.
From his ballistics calculations, Tinker notes that the robots firing ahead of them have stopped about 150 yards ahead---well beyond the hangar entrance and indeed beyond the hangar itself. He stops at the entrance to S8346 as Arkady kicks on the door. As the robot and the drop-ship pilot are last in line, Nike and the scouts are far ahead.
"Arkady, a well-placed grenade from your launcher could take out those robots 150 yards ahead of us. By my estimation, they have stopped far enough beyond the hangar that a grenade blast radius should not affect the lifeboat. Would you care to lend me your weapon and one grenade? The alternative is walking into a most certain ambush."
Tinker may not know what the grenades do, but I think he would know how to fire a grenade launcher, no matter how fancy it is. Given the explosions in the corridor that the 'bots' powerful weapons have already caused, he has no precedent for worry about causing a hull breach.
"I like your enthusiasm," Arkady says to Tinker as he quickens his step to catch up to the others closer to the hangar, "but I only want to risk damaging the lifeboat as a last resort." Arkady is unsure if this robot has a super-powerful processor, capable of considering all the variables involved and determining the consequences of such an action, or if its logic is buggy.
Either way, he grips the launcher tightly to his chest and hurries on.
There are many possibilities that account for a former tube-crawler making a mistake. Perhaps one of the foremost is that as a clone with a fragmented memory, Zhaxier doesn't recall the invisible laser grid protocols that take place when a deck has been sealed off. Regardless, I need to know which body part he puts first. And, I need you to roll for damage (he has already taken 3 pts of damage from the foot injury).
I repeat, which body part did he place first?
"That's an energy pod launcher, Arkady," Nike says, hurriedly. "I wouldn't recommend using it in close quarters."
"Arkady, a well-placed grenade from your launcher could take out those robots 150 yards ahead of us."
Thank goodness Arkady doesn't have a death wish, or you'd all be spacedust.
Speaking of death wishes....
Tinker struggles with the hostile override signal until Arkady passes the intersection and until control is finally wrested from him. The self-destruct charge goes off with a minor explosion that rocks the corridor and vaporizes the robot and all that he carried.
Zhaxier pokes his head into the Jeffries tube opening. The security grid immediately explodes his head like a blood sausage. Blessed peace comes quickly and silently.
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