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Some fluff/slice of life bits
No TW, and various spots on the timeline
“Are you sure about this thing?” Jalen asked with obvious trepidation.
“What do you mean “thing”? This is a work of art.” Gibson replied, with an expansive gesture toward the light runner. Clu wouldn’t have used that particular term to describe the beast of a roadster that the ISO was so proud of, but with triple axel suspension, massive tires, and sleek green lines from nose to bumper, it was close enough to the proper vehicle classification.
Clu was itching to get behind the wheel.
“It has an upgrade on input reaction time.” Clu reported from the plain text readout the dashboard provided. “It’ll be fine!”
Gibson made a little mock-salute at Clu, and turned his ( slightly glitched ) grin back toward Jalen. “Art, I’m telling you.” Jalen kept his arms crossed, and looked anything but convinced. Clu laughed, and boosted himself into the driver’s seat with a grin that matched Gibson’s. “Come on, Jalen. Don’t be such a scaredy-bit.”
The dig had the intended effect of making Jalen stiffen with indignation, square his shoulders back, and similarly slide into the front passenger side seat. Gibson just laughed ( or rather cackled ) with apparent glee at the alpha ISO’s discomfort, and took up the last available passenger seat in the back. Clu started the engine, which growled to life with enough reverberation to let all three programs feel it down to their root code. Jalen’s bravado turned to a frown, and he reached over both his shoulders to buckle himself in with the safety straps.
“Watch it when you shift gears up into third, the clutch still sticks, and I haven’t ironed out that kink, yet- “ Gibson was saying, but Clu cut him off with a distracted wave as he set both hands on the wheel.
“I’ve got it.”
Revving the engine twice made Jalen set a hand against the dashboard preemptively.
“I’d sit back if I were you,” he warned Gibson. The beta-class ISO glanced at Jalen, and now it was his turn to frown.
“What—“
But Gibson didn’t have time to finish asking why before Clu opened the throttle, and the hotrod of a lightrunner took off like a bolt from an energy canon. All three programs were pushed back into their seats by sheer inertia, and Clu’s manic laughter was drowned out by the roar of the motivator.
Five city blocks, three hairpin turns ( one of which nearly sent the vehicle fishtailing into oncoming traffic ) one full micro of driving on a wall parallel to the street, and no less than three yelped curses from Gibson, plus one shouted demand that Clu ’slow down before you get us all derezzed!’ from Jalen later? Gibson all but fell out of the lightrunner on legs that had turned to jelly mid-transit, and he swore that he would never again ride shotgun when the administrator was testing out new vehicle mods.
--~*~--
Yori may not have been written for rough terrain scouting, but she did have to admit that free climbing had an appealing sense of freedom to it. Perhaps that was why she found it so easy to scamper over obstacles that usually took others at least two, or three micros to plot a simpler course through?
Whatever the reason, she decided letting her thoughts wander in the middle of scaling the outside of the New Arjiaan construction wireframe was probably not the best idea when she caught herself and turned before her own momentum could carry her over the edge. Nimbly pivoting on her heel, she set one hand against the beam beside her, and crouched to be able to peer over the edge.
The orange lights, and black armor of Rinzler were hastily scrambling in her wake, and Yori couldn’t help a cheeky little wave at her counterpart when he paused to get a better foothold. The opaque helmet tilted toward her, and though his expression was obscured, Yori could easily visualize the chagrined smirk beneath it.
“Hurry up, or the storm will catch us,” she called down to him, and had to bite back a giggle at the way Rinzler’s shoulders heaved with the force of his fondly exasperated sigh.
Turning back to her task, Yori scanned the next section of the construct, plotted her course, and executed with a series of quick handholds, and a push from the edge below her. Up, and up, then a nimble jump across a steep gap, and Yori was in sight of her goal; a deeply recessed alcove that edged around the entire perimeter of a secondary communications tower. It would be perfect to watch the oncoming system sweep storm – better still that she and Rinzler could spend some time together in between the conflicts of two very demanding schedules.
Yori was just reaching for her next handhold when all of a sudden, a black glove darted in from above, and a little to her left, grabbing her with steely determination around the wrist. Yori couldn’t help a completely undignified squeal as she was nearly pulled from her stable perch, and swung nearly perpendicular with the ledge.
But, when the flurry of movement turned into a controlled spin, Yori blinked. Somehow, in the course of her climb, Rinzler had not only overtaken her lead, but beaten her to the ledge without her even seeing him. A fact which left him radiating smug satisfaction at his impromptu surprise, especially since he was currently supporting her with both arms around her waist, and her feet dangling off the ledge’s solid surface.
“Caught you instead, “ Rinzler informed her.
And Yori still felt herself smile even as she flicked the curve of his helmet in playful reproach.
--~*~--
“Ten on Administrator Jalen making the next move,” Lyla from system mapping murmured quietly. Jarvis raised an eyebrow at her, but dutifully recorded the bet.
“Who’s ahead, anyway?” Feld from Ops asked from the alpha terminal sunken into the command ship’s flooring. “I heard they were alone for a whole unaccounted 60 micros the shift before last.”
Jarvis raised an eyebrow at the possibility, but Kaye at beta terminal beat him to answering.
“Did not! Transport, and Security were at that meeting,” she said with a sniff, and rolled her eyes at Jarvis. He deleted the tidbit from his libraries with an equally knowing smirk.
“Not the meeting,” Feld insisted, and glanced at Jarvis with a frown. “Before it. Pris, on the New Arjiaan staff told me that Jalen was unaccounted for during the 60 micros leading up to the meeting.”
That juicy bit of gossip had all of Ops attention, and Feld practically glowed at being the first to break the news. Jarvis glanced at the closed door to Clu’s office, and hastily crouched down near alpha terminal.
“Just between staff, I heard energy readings spiked the shift before last, too. Only it was almost 180 micros before the meeting.”
The rest of Ops were now leaning over their terminals to listen, and Kaye put a cheerfully scandalized hand over her mouth. “No! Really?” Jarvis’ nod was all solicitously sage wisdom. He was informing his fellow programs of important news, after all, and the sense of importance it gave him was only a side bonus. Honest.
“Oh no. That’s almost a whole hex after my wager, “ whined Minter from gamma station. He was practically pouting with his head propped on the edge of his console.
Jarvis only shrugged, and stood up straight again. “There’s only three wagers left in the running, now. Everyone else is playing the odds, and tacking their bets onto mine, the End of Line’s, or-- ”
A ping from Clu’s office made the staff programs collectively jump, and quickly get back to their stations so they would at least look like they were busily working. A courier was summoned, and as the smaller transport program came through the office, Jarvis made certain his file contents were all in order before Lyla – who had been lingering on the edge of the office gossip the whole time – sidled up next to Jarvis, and quietly asked;
“Who’s got the third wager, then?”
Jarvis glanced over his shoulder at Clu’s office door once, then leaned over to murmur;
“Portal Control.”
No TW, and various spots on the timeline
“Are you sure about this thing?” Jalen asked with obvious trepidation.
“What do you mean “thing”? This is a work of art.” Gibson replied, with an expansive gesture toward the light runner. Clu wouldn’t have used that particular term to describe the beast of a roadster that the ISO was so proud of, but with triple axel suspension, massive tires, and sleek green lines from nose to bumper, it was close enough to the proper vehicle classification.
Clu was itching to get behind the wheel.
“It has an upgrade on input reaction time.” Clu reported from the plain text readout the dashboard provided. “It’ll be fine!”
Gibson made a little mock-salute at Clu, and turned his ( slightly glitched ) grin back toward Jalen. “Art, I’m telling you.” Jalen kept his arms crossed, and looked anything but convinced. Clu laughed, and boosted himself into the driver’s seat with a grin that matched Gibson’s. “Come on, Jalen. Don’t be such a scaredy-bit.”
The dig had the intended effect of making Jalen stiffen with indignation, square his shoulders back, and similarly slide into the front passenger side seat. Gibson just laughed ( or rather cackled ) with apparent glee at the alpha ISO’s discomfort, and took up the last available passenger seat in the back. Clu started the engine, which growled to life with enough reverberation to let all three programs feel it down to their root code. Jalen’s bravado turned to a frown, and he reached over both his shoulders to buckle himself in with the safety straps.
“Watch it when you shift gears up into third, the clutch still sticks, and I haven’t ironed out that kink, yet- “ Gibson was saying, but Clu cut him off with a distracted wave as he set both hands on the wheel.
“I’ve got it.”
Revving the engine twice made Jalen set a hand against the dashboard preemptively.
“I’d sit back if I were you,” he warned Gibson. The beta-class ISO glanced at Jalen, and now it was his turn to frown.
“What—“
But Gibson didn’t have time to finish asking why before Clu opened the throttle, and the hotrod of a lightrunner took off like a bolt from an energy canon. All three programs were pushed back into their seats by sheer inertia, and Clu’s manic laughter was drowned out by the roar of the motivator.
Five city blocks, three hairpin turns ( one of which nearly sent the vehicle fishtailing into oncoming traffic ) one full micro of driving on a wall parallel to the street, and no less than three yelped curses from Gibson, plus one shouted demand that Clu ’slow down before you get us all derezzed!’ from Jalen later? Gibson all but fell out of the lightrunner on legs that had turned to jelly mid-transit, and he swore that he would never again ride shotgun when the administrator was testing out new vehicle mods.
Yori may not have been written for rough terrain scouting, but she did have to admit that free climbing had an appealing sense of freedom to it. Perhaps that was why she found it so easy to scamper over obstacles that usually took others at least two, or three micros to plot a simpler course through?
Whatever the reason, she decided letting her thoughts wander in the middle of scaling the outside of the New Arjiaan construction wireframe was probably not the best idea when she caught herself and turned before her own momentum could carry her over the edge. Nimbly pivoting on her heel, she set one hand against the beam beside her, and crouched to be able to peer over the edge.
The orange lights, and black armor of Rinzler were hastily scrambling in her wake, and Yori couldn’t help a cheeky little wave at her counterpart when he paused to get a better foothold. The opaque helmet tilted toward her, and though his expression was obscured, Yori could easily visualize the chagrined smirk beneath it.
“Hurry up, or the storm will catch us,” she called down to him, and had to bite back a giggle at the way Rinzler’s shoulders heaved with the force of his fondly exasperated sigh.
Turning back to her task, Yori scanned the next section of the construct, plotted her course, and executed with a series of quick handholds, and a push from the edge below her. Up, and up, then a nimble jump across a steep gap, and Yori was in sight of her goal; a deeply recessed alcove that edged around the entire perimeter of a secondary communications tower. It would be perfect to watch the oncoming system sweep storm – better still that she and Rinzler could spend some time together in between the conflicts of two very demanding schedules.
Yori was just reaching for her next handhold when all of a sudden, a black glove darted in from above, and a little to her left, grabbing her with steely determination around the wrist. Yori couldn’t help a completely undignified squeal as she was nearly pulled from her stable perch, and swung nearly perpendicular with the ledge.
But, when the flurry of movement turned into a controlled spin, Yori blinked. Somehow, in the course of her climb, Rinzler had not only overtaken her lead, but beaten her to the ledge without her even seeing him. A fact which left him radiating smug satisfaction at his impromptu surprise, especially since he was currently supporting her with both arms around her waist, and her feet dangling off the ledge’s solid surface.
“Caught you instead, “ Rinzler informed her.
And Yori still felt herself smile even as she flicked the curve of his helmet in playful reproach.
“Ten on Administrator Jalen making the next move,” Lyla from system mapping murmured quietly. Jarvis raised an eyebrow at her, but dutifully recorded the bet.
“Who’s ahead, anyway?” Feld from Ops asked from the alpha terminal sunken into the command ship’s flooring. “I heard they were alone for a whole unaccounted 60 micros the shift before last.”
Jarvis raised an eyebrow at the possibility, but Kaye at beta terminal beat him to answering.
“Did not! Transport, and Security were at that meeting,” she said with a sniff, and rolled her eyes at Jarvis. He deleted the tidbit from his libraries with an equally knowing smirk.
“Not the meeting,” Feld insisted, and glanced at Jarvis with a frown. “Before it. Pris, on the New Arjiaan staff told me that Jalen was unaccounted for during the 60 micros leading up to the meeting.”
That juicy bit of gossip had all of Ops attention, and Feld practically glowed at being the first to break the news. Jarvis glanced at the closed door to Clu’s office, and hastily crouched down near alpha terminal.
“Just between staff, I heard energy readings spiked the shift before last, too. Only it was almost 180 micros before the meeting.”
The rest of Ops were now leaning over their terminals to listen, and Kaye put a cheerfully scandalized hand over her mouth. “No! Really?” Jarvis’ nod was all solicitously sage wisdom. He was informing his fellow programs of important news, after all, and the sense of importance it gave him was only a side bonus. Honest.
“Oh no. That’s almost a whole hex after my wager, “ whined Minter from gamma station. He was practically pouting with his head propped on the edge of his console.
Jarvis only shrugged, and stood up straight again. “There’s only three wagers left in the running, now. Everyone else is playing the odds, and tacking their bets onto mine, the End of Line’s, or-- ”
A ping from Clu’s office made the staff programs collectively jump, and quickly get back to their stations so they would at least look like they were busily working. A courier was summoned, and as the smaller transport program came through the office, Jarvis made certain his file contents were all in order before Lyla – who had been lingering on the edge of the office gossip the whole time – sidled up next to Jarvis, and quietly asked;
“Who’s got the third wager, then?”
Jarvis glanced over his shoulder at Clu’s office door once, then leaned over to murmur;
“Portal Control.”
