Fun in Space

[RaistlinMajere]

Name: Mother
Model: Shuttle Service Unit E.4 (outdated several times since the ship took off)
Appearance: i74.photobucket.com/albums/i273/insanemaniacz/Mother.jpg
Voice: smooth female contralto
Uses: cooking and cleaning
Limitations: must be hooked up to the ship's power source and charged whenever her batteries are low (every night)

[melda]

Name: Damar Tynan
Picture: www.rashidajonesweb.com/pictures/albums/shoots/04/normal_015.jpg
Role: Pilot
Qualifications: Classically trained pilot, brief stint in the military, brief career as interplanetary ferry driver.
Age: 30
Other talents: Enhanced reflexes.

[Elegost]

Name: Captain Karl Mackie
Appearance: i18.photobucket.com/albums/b103/chrisgregory05/kevin-mckidd.jpg
Age: 35ish
Origins: Suspected Scotsman, as accent runs through now and again. Served in the SAS until it was dissolved in an unspecified incident, and replaced with a United Government Group. Declined admission. Reports say he was KIA. Probably best he stays that way. Acquired The Tiber in a less than legal manner.

The Tiber

A military vessel, part of a new line of reconaissance ships. A skilled engineer might be able to unlock some of its more interesting features. Holds crew of up to around 12.

[pirateoftherings]

Name: Oliver Hall
Picture: www.imdb.com/media/rm3724444160/nm2649407
Age: 29
Expertise: Technology
Background: Trained as a ship's mechanic; saw The Tiber and couldn't resist the chance to get his hands on something that fancy


Name: Kirsten Hall
Picture: www.imdb.com/media/rm2304282368/nm3346281
Age: :28
Expertise: Killing things
Background: Briefly a soldier, dismissed for undisclosed reasons; got bored and decided she might as well tag along

[RaistlinMajere]

Mother was cooking breakfast.

First the eggs went into the skillet. Plop x8.

Then the skillet went into the oven.

And then there was the sizzle of the chemical reaction as the heat "cooked" the eggs and brought out their particular "eggy" flavor.

Serving size: 2 eggs
Calories per serving: 180
Calories from fat: 120
Total fat: 14g
Protein: 16g
Main ingredient: Wheat

Mother often heard that her scrambled eggs were her best creations. She'd never tasted them herself, being an SSU, but at the slightest hint of dissatisfaction she would have withdrawn the eggs in the blink of a circuit. Guaranteed: 100% satisfaction. This was a fact.

By now the kitchen smelled pleasantly of smoke and scrambled eggs. Mother whisked eight eggs onto four plates, distributed bread and butter onto each plate, and topped it off with four 250-mL glasses of orange juice.

Her chest popped open, and a silver arm that ended in a bleeping panel glided out for her consultation.

TASK LIST
--Tynan is hungry.
--Big Mac is hungry.
--OHall is hungry.
--KHall is hungry.

Mother wheeled out of the kitchen with her tray (four plates, four glasses) balanced high above her head. At 0800 hours, she would find Damar at the helm. The smooth curvature of The Tiber slid speedily past.

"Oliver," she said. The ship-wide communicator was welded to her right wrist, a convenient thing for contacting crew members with a push of a button. "Oliver Shmoliver, Mr. Hall Hall Hall. The oven's smoking again."

[melda]

Damar flicked the autopilot switch, hearing Mother's computerized voice, and regarded the lone flashing light on the navigation panel. She tapped it.

When she received her 100% guaranteed scrambled eggs, it was to balance them on the open flight control manual and whisk a piece of toast into her mouth, brushing crumbs from the joysticks. The orange juice went into the cupholder, replacing her empty coffee mug, which she held up. "Thanks. A refill, please. Dark roast. No cream, one sugar."

[RaistlinMajere]

"I've learned how to use the espresso machine," said Mother.

TASK LIST
--Big Mac is hungry.
--OHall is hungry.
--KHall is hungry.
--Tynan wants coffee.

On her way out, Mother turned, very politely. Her crewmates liked her more when she was polite. "Pardon me for asking, Damar. It's not my position to ask questions, you understand. In fact, asking in such a straightforward manner brings a faint blush to my cheeks. Damar... where exactly are we headed?"

[melda]

"Soros. In the Cibronen system." Damar thumbed the control reset button and the light began to blink more rapidly. She muttered something under her breath. For a full forty-eight hours this ship had done nothing but strive to jab at every chink in her scholarship. It was not going to win.

She skimmed another page of the manual. "Please request that Oliver perform a flight systems check and notify me of any anomalies. After the coffee."

[Elegost]

"And you can get that coffee after you notify me of your progress with... that book."

Mackie snatched it from the small area of cockpit that could be considered a desk and began to look at the current page. Subsection iv of section 2b: Reuben's Shift, a.k.a 'The Barrel Roll'. "You, uh, can do that, right?" he asked, before turning, as an afterthought to Mother. "Any bacon left in the store?"

[RaistlinMajere]

TASK LIST
--OHall is hungry.
--KHall is hungry.
--Tynan wants coffee.
--Big Mac craves bacon.

"Roger roger that, Captain Mack," said Mother, and zoomed off in search of Mr. Hall. "Oliver Olive Oil Shmoliver," she sang into the communicator. "Where aaaaarrrre you?"

[pirateoftherings]

"Already in the kitchen, Mother."

Oliver waved away the smoke that emerged as he opened the oven door. He initiated the cooling sequence - one of the few features of the oven that had yet to go on the fritz - and bent down to have a look. Appliance repair hadn't exactly been the sort of work that he'd anticipated on this ship.

A few minutes later, he heard the SSU wheel into the kitchen behind him.

"If you're planning to use the coffee maker, I wouldn't. I'm borrowing its main fuse until I can examine this one. I'm thinking it might be our problem."

[melda]

"Excuse me." Damar reappropriated the flight manual and balanced her plate on it. "You will note the unidentified light - here. I have tried control reset without success and am presently attempting to discern the cause."

She paused, turned a page, smoothed it, and glanced up. "Reuben's Shift is a basic flight maneuver far more impressive when performed in a planet-bound aeroplane. I am capable of performing it, yes."

[Elegost]

"Well that's good then, isn't it Missie?" replied Mackie. He looked around aimlessly for a second; flying in space was always, well, boring. "You say the lights blinkering?" He moved around to observe the dashboard. "Can't have that," he continued, and with a tentative look at Damar, pressed the button underneath it.

The light went off.

"Seems we got rid of that, eh?"

Mackie strolled out to find some bacon.

[melda]

Damar closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them she clicked through the video intercom feeds and found Oliver in the kitchen. More correctly, half in the kitchen and half in the oven. "Oliver, navigation is up. Would you mind doing a quick flight systems check in any case?" She noted the haze of smoke. "Um, when you have a minute."

[RaistlinMajere]

"If you're planning to use the coffee maker, I wouldn't. I'm borrowing its main fuse until I can examine this one. I'm thinking it might be our problem."

Mother experienced a lengthy crisis that lasted about a thousandth of a second. Then she was once more in control.

TASK LIST
--OHall is hungry.
--KHall is hungry.
--Big Mac craves bacon.
Subtasks
--Tell Tynan there's no coffee.

Mother wheeled closer to Oliver and, with two breakfasts still perched above her head, bent down to peer over the techie's shoulder. One of her hands became a fan, activated for his convenience. The smoke began to clear. It smelled a bit like egg.