level to the upright portion. They were used to slide under the containers.
The cargo hold door wasn’t open, so we looked at it for a few minutes. I was starting to wonder if we were missing something when the door slowly lifted out of the way. The hold was completely packed with containers all the way up to the top of the doors.
The robots came to life and fired their arc-jets. They jetted up and neatly slid their forks beneath three of the centermost containers. The middle bot pulled its load out first. I immediately understood why there were three of them. The container on the right side started to slide when the middle container began to move. The bot on the right side made adjustments until the middle container slid free.
With the container loose, the bot dropped to the platform faster than I was comfortable with and slid over next to me. I looked at the reading pad Bruno handed me and noticed a highlighted row with numbers that matched the container held by the robot. I touched a virtual button that read ‘confirm’ on the pad. The robot raced off the platform and dropped immediately out of sight.
“Where do they go?” I looked at Tali.
She shrugged. “I imagine they have a warehouse.”
I felt a breeze next to me and Tali’s eyes widened. A loaded robot had dropped down next to me, waiting for me to confirm its payload. I looked at the tablet which had a new number highlighted. I checked and the AI had once again identified the correct item. I hit the confirm button and it raced off after its buddy.
I knew what was coming next so I waited and, sure enough, the third robot dropped down with its package. I looked down and, of course, the correct number was highlighted.
“So … this isn’t an extra challenging job then.” I said.
Tali shook her head with a grin.
“Hey! You can’t get started without us.” Two men jumped off the elevator and angrily gestured at us.
The first robot returned and slid under another container, lifted it and returned to my side. I now understood why they moved faster than I liked. Once you knew what to expect, you might not want to wait around too long.
“Can’t have it both ways, dickhead. You can’t get your little gopher to whine at us for being late and then decide we’re going too fast. Time is money. Get your shit together or do you want me to report abusive behavior?” Tali was several centimeters shorter than me but she wasn’t intimidated by anyone.
“Stow it, Jep. They’ve moved three containers.” The second man was older, maybe mid-thirties. They both had several days beard growth and I caught a whiff of body odor as they approached. I found it odd, considering most suit-liners could remove odor for many days. Ugh, unless they weren’t actually wearing liners. In addition to their bad personal hygiene they both were sporting holsters with blasters.
Jep, the angry younger one, also held a pad. “Which ones you get already?”
I showed him my pad, “Try to keep up, we’ve got a break in thirty minutes.”
“What?”
“Union rules.”
“Crap. Okay, I got ‘em.”
“You sure?”
He just looked at me. I turned to the robot that was waiting patiently for me. I confirmed the number. Apparently he got the same on his and the robot took off. The whole process felt like it could be automated.
I wanted to discuss things with Tali. We needed a plan that would get me inside that ship so I could search for Jenny. As it was, we could only see a bunch of closed containers. They were so closely packed that she certainly wasn’t in any of them.
Thirty minutes in, the first hold was half empty. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em,” Tali announced.
I looked at her. “Smoke what?”
“Never mind. I need a coffee.”
“Coffee? Now?” I asked.
Tali raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, remember we didn’t get one on the way here.”
I had no idea what she was talking about but I'd go along with her.
The cargo hold door wasn’t open, so we looked at it for a few minutes. I was starting to wonder if we were missing something when the door slowly lifted out of the way. The hold was completely packed with containers all the way up to the top of the doors.
The robots came to life and fired their arc-jets. They jetted up and neatly slid their forks beneath three of the centermost containers. The middle bot pulled its load out first. I immediately understood why there were three of them. The container on the right side started to slide when the middle container began to move. The bot on the right side made adjustments until the middle container slid free.
With the container loose, the bot dropped to the platform faster than I was comfortable with and slid over next to me. I looked at the reading pad Bruno handed me and noticed a highlighted row with numbers that matched the container held by the robot. I touched a virtual button that read ‘confirm’ on the pad. The robot raced off the platform and dropped immediately out of sight.
“Where do they go?” I looked at Tali.
She shrugged. “I imagine they have a warehouse.”
I felt a breeze next to me and Tali’s eyes widened. A loaded robot had dropped down next to me, waiting for me to confirm its payload. I looked at the tablet which had a new number highlighted. I checked and the AI had once again identified the correct item. I hit the confirm button and it raced off after its buddy.
I knew what was coming next so I waited and, sure enough, the third robot dropped down with its package. I looked down and, of course, the correct number was highlighted.
“So … this isn’t an extra challenging job then.” I said.
Tali shook her head with a grin.
“Hey! You can’t get started without us.” Two men jumped off the elevator and angrily gestured at us.
The first robot returned and slid under another container, lifted it and returned to my side. I now understood why they moved faster than I liked. Once you knew what to expect, you might not want to wait around too long.
“Can’t have it both ways, dickhead. You can’t get your little gopher to whine at us for being late and then decide we’re going too fast. Time is money. Get your shit together or do you want me to report abusive behavior?” Tali was several centimeters shorter than me but she wasn’t intimidated by anyone.
“Stow it, Jep. They’ve moved three containers.” The second man was older, maybe mid-thirties. They both had several days beard growth and I caught a whiff of body odor as they approached. I found it odd, considering most suit-liners could remove odor for many days. Ugh, unless they weren’t actually wearing liners. In addition to their bad personal hygiene they both were sporting holsters with blasters.
Jep, the angry younger one, also held a pad. “Which ones you get already?”
I showed him my pad, “Try to keep up, we’ve got a break in thirty minutes.”
“What?”
“Union rules.”
“Crap. Okay, I got ‘em.”
“You sure?”
He just looked at me. I turned to the robot that was waiting patiently for me. I confirmed the number. Apparently he got the same on his and the robot took off. The whole process felt like it could be automated.
I wanted to discuss things with Tali. We needed a plan that would get me inside that ship so I could search for Jenny. As it was, we could only see a bunch of closed containers. They were so closely packed that she certainly wasn’t in any of them.
Thirty minutes in, the first hold was half empty. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em,” Tali announced.
I looked at her. “Smoke what?”
“Never mind. I need a coffee.”
“Coffee? Now?” I asked.
Tali raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, remember we didn’t get one on the way here.”
I had no idea what she was talking about but I'd go along with her.
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