"Half power to pad 4...Carefully does it" Xamm shouted back to Keja as he began to slowly pull the stick back, driving the nose of the hovercraft up, the hull following in a steady ascent. The tunnels were narrow in this region, never designed for a ship the size of the Onesimus, never designed for any ship, yet Xamm was doing a good job of negotiating past the many hidden dangers. Zampano watched carefully, his hands clenching on a few occassions as the ship neared the walls of the sewer.
"Additional thrust on 5" Xamm shouted again. His voice followed by a clatter of tools at the rear of the ship. Keja was working tirelessly to keep the engines ticking over. Ozzin had left them in good shape and had done things no other could, but Keja was slowly coming to understand their workings. The two trainees were coming along well, almost well enough to pass the grade and become fully ranked. Zampano stood up and placed his hand on the back of the pilot's chair, his eyes glancing carefully out into the darkness. He knew the surface as well as any, better than most, he could almost see things that others could not. Well, all could see them, yet he truly understood them, the different currents and states of the world around that many were oblivious to yet which he acknowledged.
"There's a upshaft coming up, should take us onto the plateau" Zampano whispered, his hand pointing ahead into the darkness.
"There's nothing on the map sir" Xamm turned his head in slight confusion, his eyes unable to find the exit that the old professor had spoken of. Zamp smiled his hand pointing out again, directing the younger man's attention
"See how the dust swirls in the upstream around that beam? And there.." he moved his hand slightly, pointing towards the ceiling of the dark tunnel "Ice...can only have come from the plateau above us"
Xamm nodded slowly as he saw that which Zampano saw. It seemed so obvious now, seemed so easy to read, and yet he had not seen it before. He still had much to learn, yet his progress was steady, his understanding of this world and the real gradually increasing. He shouted a few instructions back to Keja, and began to guide the ship into a steep climb.
* * *
"Shift over Xamm, I'll take it from here" Leelia yawned as she stepped onto the bridge, her eyes still heavy with sleep. "Zamp, Didn't expect you up already" She said, almost suprsied to see the old man on up for the morning shift. In truth he had not been to bed, sleep was becoming ever harder for him, since then...some happy memories, and yet it was not as he had wanted it to be. Each night his mind fileld with thoughts of what could have been and yet never was, and his eyes found it difficult to close and shut that out.
"Oh, I was just giving Xamm and Keja a hand" He smiled back to the captain before nodding over his shoulder to the viewscreen.
"You reached the plateau?" Leelia gasped as she looked out at the dark landscape "You should have woken me, the exit must have been near impossible"
Xamm smiled "It sure was, but I got us through safe and sound"
Leelia laughed as she took the co-pilot seat, and began to routinely tap the console, checking for new messages "Well Xamm, seems you're not far off become a fully flegded pilot"
"I couldn't have done it without Keja...and Zamp" Xamm said quietly as he stood up, his hands sliding over the chair as he made his way back to the main deck. Zampano reclined back into the pilots seat and glanced out across the plateau. Ice covered the dark landscape, yet it was ice of black and grey. A few tinges of white marked the rises in the ground beneath, but they were few and far between. Darkness and Cold permeated everything in this region, even the clouds above seemed to be chilled and frozen in place above this part of the surface. The steady fall of black snow, seemed an echo of the past, a reminder of the nuclear winter that must have followed the first war, so long ago. Most of the radiation had dissipated, but there were still signs of that conflict all around, still reminders of the sins of the past.
His travels had never taken him this far east, namely because Zero One had blocked his way when he was a lone traveller. Yet now, he could see all that he had missed. He had seen ice and snow of the same complexion in the midst of the european sector, yet here it had a different feel. Its coldness and darkness seemed untouched, uninterruped, unfound. No footsteps, no trails of hoverpads, scarred these lands...few travelled there, even fewer stayed. His concentration waned as a bleep issued from the control pad beneath Leelia's fingers.
"That's odd" She muttered as her eyes glanced at the screen, her brow furrowed slightly.
"What's that Cap?" Zampano asked, his curiosity springing to life.
"Message, but....It's not of human origin"
"Zero One?" Zampano pondered, offering the most likely explanation.
"No..no, It's old binary code...Zero One doesn't communicate with us in binary" She paused and pressed another button, the computer screen rapidly changing and beginning a scan of the message.
<<Scanning....>>
<<Origin: Unknown Error in 34638>>
<<Trace: Failure>>
<<UNABLE TO TRANSLATE DUE TO CRITICAL ERROR IN 448919>>
<<Critical Error- - Source Frequency does not match any known transmitter. Unable to verify>>
01001001.01110001.01110101.01100001.01110010.01110101.01110011
<<Scan Complete>>
<<Closing Program>>
"Additional thrust on 5" Xamm shouted again. His voice followed by a clatter of tools at the rear of the ship. Keja was working tirelessly to keep the engines ticking over. Ozzin had left them in good shape and had done things no other could, but Keja was slowly coming to understand their workings. The two trainees were coming along well, almost well enough to pass the grade and become fully ranked. Zampano stood up and placed his hand on the back of the pilot's chair, his eyes glancing carefully out into the darkness. He knew the surface as well as any, better than most, he could almost see things that others could not. Well, all could see them, yet he truly understood them, the different currents and states of the world around that many were oblivious to yet which he acknowledged.
"There's a upshaft coming up, should take us onto the plateau" Zampano whispered, his hand pointing ahead into the darkness.
"There's nothing on the map sir" Xamm turned his head in slight confusion, his eyes unable to find the exit that the old professor had spoken of. Zamp smiled his hand pointing out again, directing the younger man's attention
"See how the dust swirls in the upstream around that beam? And there.." he moved his hand slightly, pointing towards the ceiling of the dark tunnel "Ice...can only have come from the plateau above us"
Xamm nodded slowly as he saw that which Zampano saw. It seemed so obvious now, seemed so easy to read, and yet he had not seen it before. He still had much to learn, yet his progress was steady, his understanding of this world and the real gradually increasing. He shouted a few instructions back to Keja, and began to guide the ship into a steep climb.
* * *
"Shift over Xamm, I'll take it from here" Leelia yawned as she stepped onto the bridge, her eyes still heavy with sleep. "Zamp, Didn't expect you up already" She said, almost suprsied to see the old man on up for the morning shift. In truth he had not been to bed, sleep was becoming ever harder for him, since then...some happy memories, and yet it was not as he had wanted it to be. Each night his mind fileld with thoughts of what could have been and yet never was, and his eyes found it difficult to close and shut that out.
"Oh, I was just giving Xamm and Keja a hand" He smiled back to the captain before nodding over his shoulder to the viewscreen.
"You reached the plateau?" Leelia gasped as she looked out at the dark landscape "You should have woken me, the exit must have been near impossible"
Xamm smiled "It sure was, but I got us through safe and sound"
Leelia laughed as she took the co-pilot seat, and began to routinely tap the console, checking for new messages "Well Xamm, seems you're not far off become a fully flegded pilot"
"I couldn't have done it without Keja...and Zamp" Xamm said quietly as he stood up, his hands sliding over the chair as he made his way back to the main deck. Zampano reclined back into the pilots seat and glanced out across the plateau. Ice covered the dark landscape, yet it was ice of black and grey. A few tinges of white marked the rises in the ground beneath, but they were few and far between. Darkness and Cold permeated everything in this region, even the clouds above seemed to be chilled and frozen in place above this part of the surface. The steady fall of black snow, seemed an echo of the past, a reminder of the nuclear winter that must have followed the first war, so long ago. Most of the radiation had dissipated, but there were still signs of that conflict all around, still reminders of the sins of the past.
His travels had never taken him this far east, namely because Zero One had blocked his way when he was a lone traveller. Yet now, he could see all that he had missed. He had seen ice and snow of the same complexion in the midst of the european sector, yet here it had a different feel. Its coldness and darkness seemed untouched, uninterruped, unfound. No footsteps, no trails of hoverpads, scarred these lands...few travelled there, even fewer stayed. His concentration waned as a bleep issued from the control pad beneath Leelia's fingers.
"That's odd" She muttered as her eyes glanced at the screen, her brow furrowed slightly.
"What's that Cap?" Zampano asked, his curiosity springing to life.
"Message, but....It's not of human origin"
"Zero One?" Zampano pondered, offering the most likely explanation.
"No..no, It's old binary code...Zero One doesn't communicate with us in binary" She paused and pressed another button, the computer screen rapidly changing and beginning a scan of the message.
<<Scanning....>>
<<Origin: Unknown Error in 34638>>
<<Trace: Failure>>
<<UNABLE TO TRANSLATE DUE TO CRITICAL ERROR IN 448919>>
<<Critical Error- - Source Frequency does not match any known transmitter. Unable to verify>>
01001001.01110001.01110101.01100001.01110010.01110101.01110011
<<Scan Complete>>
<<Closing Program>>
