I woke up when V strobed the main MFD at me. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, again, and yawned. As my vision focussed, V popped up on the screen, and looked concerned.
"What's wrong, V?"
"well, boss, the big hunk of land.. isn't talking. I talked to Stellvia, and they aren't getting anything from it, either."
"Hrm. Are there any active receivers?"
"One, on an FM station, that I can see"
"Can you hit it?"
"Uhmmm.. not very well, but I think I can push one of my transmitters that low."
"Do it. Burn the 'mitter if you need to, we can get spares. Ready to record message?"
"go ahead, boss."
"Attention unknown land mass. Please activate your comms! If you have no radio comms, please start flashing your lights. My name's Wiregeek, and I'm a friendly, and I'm driving a 1999 Dodge Stealth, and I'll be close enough to hunt for an airlock soon."
"Got it on the chip boss"
"Go ahead and send it. Loop it until there's a response, or until we get there.. or until the transmitter burns out."
"Roger dodger, boss."
I pondered and fiddled for a bit with the receivers, but nothing was coming out of the near-spherical mass except a bit of 60hz, and that was spectacularily uninformative.
"Hey Sparky?"
"'sup?"
"Go ahead and cruise over to Stellvia, I'm gonna head straight for this newcomer. I'll call if anything comes up."
"Okey dokey. There gonna be room for me?"
"You're driving a 4000 pound steel behemoth, just sit on someone!"
"right.. oh well, I needed to talk to a 'bot about a man, anyway."
I let that confusing conversation trail off, and as the black and tan Suburban drew away from me, I cranked on all normal speed, and shot through the eternal night, towards an unknown rendezvous.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979
"What's wrong, V?"
"well, boss, the big hunk of land.. isn't talking. I talked to Stellvia, and they aren't getting anything from it, either."
"Hrm. Are there any active receivers?"
"One, on an FM station, that I can see"
"Can you hit it?"
"Uhmmm.. not very well, but I think I can push one of my transmitters that low."
"Do it. Burn the 'mitter if you need to, we can get spares. Ready to record message?"
"go ahead, boss."
"Attention unknown land mass. Please activate your comms! If you have no radio comms, please start flashing your lights. My name's Wiregeek, and I'm a friendly, and I'm driving a 1999 Dodge Stealth, and I'll be close enough to hunt for an airlock soon."
"Got it on the chip boss"
"Go ahead and send it. Loop it until there's a response, or until we get there.. or until the transmitter burns out."
"Roger dodger, boss."
I pondered and fiddled for a bit with the receivers, but nothing was coming out of the near-spherical mass except a bit of 60hz, and that was spectacularily uninformative.
"Hey Sparky?"
"'sup?"
"Go ahead and cruise over to Stellvia, I'm gonna head straight for this newcomer. I'll call if anything comes up."
"Okey dokey. There gonna be room for me?"
"You're driving a 4000 pound steel behemoth, just sit on someone!"
"right.. oh well, I needed to talk to a 'bot about a man, anyway."
I let that confusing conversation trail off, and as the black and tan Suburban drew away from me, I cranked on all normal speed, and shot through the eternal night, towards an unknown rendezvous.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979