Kakashi said nothing, merely looking around the area with an almost bored air. Not that anyone knowing him would be fooled into thinking he was inattentive.
"We're down to three-quarters and we haven't even managed to get into the inner sections," grumbled Guy as he slammed his fists into a hatchway.
"Stop that, it doesn't do any good," said Kakashi as the echoes died out. "Figure out what we've determined so far."
"Sasuke tried to cut through the walls and got swallowed by the cut," said Naruto. "Sakura got slammed by the corridor pinching itself off around her."
"Damaging the facility just seems to pinpoint our location," said Kakashi thoughtfully. "Maybe we're going about this wrong thinking of it as a ship. Maybe it's more a living thing than a machine or facility."
"Aw, c'mon," said Naruto. "It's gotta be freakin' ten miles across! How can it be alive?"
"Fzzzt-lo cricklehear me? crackleare youvrrrrrr there?"
"That's a human voice!" declared Naruto.
Kakashi didn't say anything at first, merely cocking his head as he tried to determine the source of that voice.
"Those droned lack emotion," said Might Guy, "while that voice sounded exasperated."
Kakashi nodded after a moment, having caught that.
"snap crackletrying to turn off the security fzzzzzzzzzzt not a damn computer geek when you vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm one. Managed to fa-dumf fa-dumf but it thinks I'm some kinda supervisor I think. Uh oh. Ya gotta move it's skreeeee-dy to do someeeeeeeeeeerm"
"If his control of the overall system is indicated by the quality of his broadcasting," began Might Guy.
"Not any real help from whoever that is," finished Kakashi. "What about-"
FUMPF FUMPF FUMPF FUMPF FUMPF!
"Doors closing and corridors pinching," identified Might Guy. "After defeating those creatures, the ship may have determined that we are 'undigestible.'"
"What exactly does that mean?" asked Naruto, deciding that didn't sound particularly good.
Might Guy opened his mouth to answer, closed it to frown, and then wet and held up a finger.
"Air pressure's lowering, we need to get out of here," said Kakashi, turning his attention to one of the hatchways.
Five had been revealed as a larger number. These raw materials were apparently quite intriguing and would make excellent drones.
Things were progressing quite well.
"Hey! How come Mousse is now a GIRL?!"
The ship considered this odd comment as it replied to the Operator/Supervisor that the changes to it had been authorized by the Sanitation Worker Master as a global.
"Well ta hell with THAT. No more switching any genders for my people. It ain't cool."
The system updated that the gender change was disabled for any units to be placed directly under the Supervisor's command. That still left several units where the change had already been made.
Ranma managed a disgusted look as he took in several figures and traced them back to a control room where a Sanitation Engineer had made his changes.
At which point he got sidetracked by a suspicion and began following it through. Were all the "Masters" actually dead? How much was he in charge of?
It would have shocked the heck out of some of those who knew him, but as he went along he was getting better and better at the task of operating/interfacing with the ship. Partly this was because while it wasn't martial arts - it required some of the same drive and focus that was required of that Art.
Partly it was because that the chips were down, people's lives as well as his own were on the line, and Ranma Saotome didn't lose when that was the case.
Then some figures entered the room, went to a wall, and jacked into it.
Ranma was very distracted by this as these were:
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(Posted Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:09)
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