The WorkMech had been designed back when Babylon II was being built, and it hadn't changed much in the intervening years. You put your spacesuit on, and you hooked the enviro-plugs up to the WorkMech's corresponding sockets, strapping yourself into something like the seat of a bulldozer but with at least double the number of controls. They also called them WorkBees or Bugs sometimes. Nobody but salespeople called them the 'Kreiger 1984-B Multi-Purpose Orbital Construction Mech' and there were a few that called them less flattering names.
It had manuevering nozzles covering the various directions, one large cockpit that resembled a cross between a bulldozer's driver area and a fighter jet cockpit, a back end that was mostly tubes and flanges, and two arms. One arm terminated in a gripping claw. The other terminated in something that looked like a partially unfolded Swiss Army Knife. That arm could swing out a manipulator hand, a welder, a sensor head that could be used to track magnetic fields or electrical flows, a goop dispenser for emergency hull seals, or a grapple line for other emergencies.
Airman Samantha Carter was in WorkMech #A14, and her main complaint was that it smelled of bubblegum.
The adventure part was scooting along the exterior surface of Babylon Five to work on the Fury Bay, and waving to the Henri Poincare as the ship sailed majestically along nearby.
Unfortunately, it was a BORING adventure most of the time. The computer displayed the graphics of what had to go where, and Sam was just employed in bolting things in place and welding parts together thereafter.
"WorkMech A14. WorkMech A14. This is Ops. You reading?"
Sam toggled her radio, glad of SOME human interaction as this was occurring four hours into her shift. "WorkMech A14 here. Signal green."
"Sam, this is Tokiwa. Check your six."
Sam blinked and switched her display so that it was showing the rear camera. "Okay, what am I looking at?"
"That's the Ticonderoga," said Tokiwa. "It's leaving for the Castle."
Sam came to a stop. "They're coming?!"
"Small group. Negotiations just cleared it. Com officer says to leave the Fury Bays, we're going to have to go after Gray Area with a fine tooth."
Sam took a deep breath. The Lunarians were coming. Okay, probably a 'small group' meant a handful, and they'd need medical treatment after thousands of years in stasis - but still.
She just hoped nothing SHE did would screw things up.
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(Posted Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:33)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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