InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Save a line. Say a Tweakboy."

Data (nfn_nmi_data) wrote,
@ 2008-10-06 19:50:00

Current mood:

curious

Floating In A Most Peculiar Way
The shuttle landed with a mighty splash and if it hadn’t been for the pressor field, Data thought that even his android body would have been damaged in the crash. He blinked several times as the waters of the North Sea began to crawl up the sides of the shuttle. “That’s the trouble with wormholes,” he commented out loud. “Notoriously unreliable.” He tried the engines, but there was no response. He considered smashing his fist on the console in frustration, but decided against it. He needed to get out of the shuttle and find out where he was. There wasn’t any real hurry; it’s not as if he’d drown. But sitting at the bottom of the ocean in a non-working shuttle would serve no useful purpose. Data pressed the switch that keyed into the shuttle’s log. “This is Commander Data of the Starship Enterprise, piloting the shuttle Hawking recording. Stardate unknown. On returning from a conference on positronic advancements at the Daystrom Institute, I encountered a wormhole and was unable to avoid being drawn in. My shuttle sustained damage to its navigation systems and I was forced to make an emergency landing on what appears to be Earth. I detected no ion signatures that would indicate warp-drive capability, nor did I receive any answers to any hails on normal Starfleet frequencies. I must therefore conclude that I am either in the past, before the use of dilithium was wide-spread or I have somehow been transported to an alternate Earth. Therefore I will exercise the Prime Directive in accordance with Starfleet regulations and my programming. I will endeavor to keep my contact with humans to a minimum while trying to affect a way to communicate with or to return to my own time line. To that end, I will be leaving the shuttle here at these coordinates. Data tapped a switch and automatically fed them into the shuttles log. I will also be engaging the cloaking device, though there is little chance of it being discovered here. According to the last reading I was able to get, I am approximately twenty-seven kilometers from Canterbury. Wish me luck. Commander Data, out." Data clicked off the log and released the pressor field. Water was beginning to seep into the Hawking. He activated the cloaking device and the shuttle shimmered around him, still visible since he was inside. He waded to the door and lifted off the hatch that revealed the lever to manually open the door. He pulled it water poured into the shuttle. “In case of an emergency water landing, your pilot may be used as a floatation device.” He laughed at his own joke and stepped out of the shuttle. He swam strongly away, not wishing to be caught in the undertow as it finished sinking. Data tread water for a moment, orienting himself. Then he began swimming for the closest beach.

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numbersix
2008-10-06 11:15 pm UTC (link)

Caprica is inside the ship she arrived in, the Heavy Raider, checking on her seed stores when the Raider grows excited and draws her attention. She moves over to a panel and places her hand on it, letting her eyes fall closed as the light from the panel activates the cells in her arm, interfacing her with the ship.

It tells her that it has detected an unfamiliar craft entering the atmosphere, configuration unknown but on rapid descent towards the sea. No human lifesigns, but this isn't a place that only humans appear in.

Caprica considers; they wouldn't be able to get to it quickly enough to assist it in avoiding a hard landing-- and it would hardly help them remain unnoticed here if a spaceship went flying around town, anyway. The best they can do at this point is extrapolate its expected landing and hope she can arrive on foot before it can sink or any passengers drown.

The Raider won't be able to easily communicate her once she leaves it, so she double-checks the anticipated landing and notes it in her mental map of the town. Once she disconnects from the Raider, she closes up the large storage warehouse again and runs for the beach, thankfully not too far.

She doesn't reach it in time to see the actual landing, but she can guess that the ship has splashed down by now. She kicks off her shoes and carries them as she runs along the sand to the waterline, using a hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she looks along the water trying to spot any signs of a floating vessel or anyone trying to swim ashore from far off.

It takes a fair amount of looking before she spots someone, and she sighs with relief. It could just be a local swimmer who went out dangerously far, but from what she can see, the strokes remain powerful and even, not fatigued like she would expect someone to be if they had ended up so far out. She waits there on the shore for the swimmer to come closer.

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nfn_nmi_data
2008-10-07 06:46 am UTC (link)

When Data reaches shallow enough water, he stands up and slogs to the shore, grateful that his body is both waterproof and impervious to the cold. His uniform too, will be dry in no time. The boots are another matter and his feet squish as he emerges from the surf. He blinks, surprised, when he sees a young woman standing there. Mindful of the need for secrecy, he runs through several scenarios in his mind before speaking. "Hello. I'm afraid I've had an accident. My ship sank." It has the advantage of being true. Data hasn't mastered the human art of deception.

	numbersix 2008-10-07 01:13 pm UTC (link)
	The swimmer doesn't seem to need her assistance, so she stays on the damp sand rather than wading out to help. Her eyes widen at his unusual pigmentation, but it's not quite as unusual as that man Garak was. "Hello. I'm sorry about that. It was too late to do anything to prevent it. I'm not sure how you'll get it out again. Were you injured at all?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)