in an eerily familiar way looked up at the ceiling and rubbed his chin while he thought it through. Jason saw that the six-fingered hand actually had two opposable thumbs, one on each side of the four other digits.
“Not on something like this. We get our fair share of clunkers and scows that the prospectors in the area try to keep in flying order, but most people with a warship this expensive already have an engineer as part of the crew.” Jason pointedly ignored the unasked question so Twingo continued on, “I didn’t get your name anyway… it looks like you’re not from around here, what manner of creature are you?” Jason could tell the question was intended with good humor, so he took no offense at the word “creature”.
“My name is Jason Burke. I’m a human, although I doubt you’ve seen any of my kind before.” He didn’t elaborate on much more than that. He keenly felt his responsibility to keep Earth a closely guarded secret.
“Human, eh? Can’t say that I have. Two names as well? Interesting. Anyway, from your lack of implants I assume you’re new to the space game?” Twingo didn’t press him more about his origins as the unlikely pair walked back down the ramp towards the engineer’s vehicle.
“Implants?”
“Yeah, you know… computer interface implants, translator implants, memory implants. All manner of gizmos you can have installed into yourself nowadays. I myself just had my eyes done so I can see in an expanded spectrum, great for my line of work although I had a week of terrible headaches afterwards.” Jason was fascinated by the idea, although he was now wondering why Deetz had neglected to give him a translation device before he left. The ship certainly had to have a couple onboard. Hell, the one he currently wore was rattling around in someone’s toolbox a short while ago.
The two passed the time with idle chatter as they waited for the specialized equipment and personnel Twingo needed to affect repairs to the gunship. Soon, another vehicle hummed to a stop next to the ship, this one about the size of a tractor trailer from America. Two beings jumped out of the front dressed similarly to Twingo, one was obviously the same species while the other was something different. All its exposed skin was covered with a sleek looking grayish fur so it was difficult for Jason to make out any real detail. Both nodded respectfully to Jason and then went directly to Twingo for instructions. Out of habit Jason was resting his right hand on the grip of the weapon slung around his shoulder, he realized that this may be taken as a threatening posture so he removed his hand and adjusted the sling so the railgun now hung down and slightly behind him. His instincts proved correct as both of the newcomers visibly relaxed and went back to talking to Twingo and looking at technical schematics on the tablet.
The work was well under way when Deetz finally made an appearance. Even with a metallic face and no clothes, the synth looked frazzled and worried. This in turn tightened Jason's stomach up. "Problems?"
"Huh? Oh, no... no problems," Deetz seemed even more evasive than usual. He looked at the progress being made by the technical team. They currently had transmission lines of some sort running from the larger ground vehicle to each of the long slip-drive emitters that made up the trailing edge of the gunship's wings. In turn, the emitters were glowing bright blue and a pulsating hum could be felt. Every so often the crew would run the power up a bit and loose debris on the tarmac would lift into the air and levitate until the power came back down. Twingo, for his part, had a few large access hatches open in the ship's belly and was utilizing some sort of hovering lift to maneuver himself and his equipment around and up into the openings. The previously boisterous alien was grunting and cursing as he worked to get the reactor back in shape. "So did they say how long they'd be?"
"How,
“Not on something like this. We get our fair share of clunkers and scows that the prospectors in the area try to keep in flying order, but most people with a warship this expensive already have an engineer as part of the crew.” Jason pointedly ignored the unasked question so Twingo continued on, “I didn’t get your name anyway… it looks like you’re not from around here, what manner of creature are you?” Jason could tell the question was intended with good humor, so he took no offense at the word “creature”.
“My name is Jason Burke. I’m a human, although I doubt you’ve seen any of my kind before.” He didn’t elaborate on much more than that. He keenly felt his responsibility to keep Earth a closely guarded secret.
“Human, eh? Can’t say that I have. Two names as well? Interesting. Anyway, from your lack of implants I assume you’re new to the space game?” Twingo didn’t press him more about his origins as the unlikely pair walked back down the ramp towards the engineer’s vehicle.
“Implants?”
“Yeah, you know… computer interface implants, translator implants, memory implants. All manner of gizmos you can have installed into yourself nowadays. I myself just had my eyes done so I can see in an expanded spectrum, great for my line of work although I had a week of terrible headaches afterwards.” Jason was fascinated by the idea, although he was now wondering why Deetz had neglected to give him a translation device before he left. The ship certainly had to have a couple onboard. Hell, the one he currently wore was rattling around in someone’s toolbox a short while ago.
The two passed the time with idle chatter as they waited for the specialized equipment and personnel Twingo needed to affect repairs to the gunship. Soon, another vehicle hummed to a stop next to the ship, this one about the size of a tractor trailer from America. Two beings jumped out of the front dressed similarly to Twingo, one was obviously the same species while the other was something different. All its exposed skin was covered with a sleek looking grayish fur so it was difficult for Jason to make out any real detail. Both nodded respectfully to Jason and then went directly to Twingo for instructions. Out of habit Jason was resting his right hand on the grip of the weapon slung around his shoulder, he realized that this may be taken as a threatening posture so he removed his hand and adjusted the sling so the railgun now hung down and slightly behind him. His instincts proved correct as both of the newcomers visibly relaxed and went back to talking to Twingo and looking at technical schematics on the tablet.
The work was well under way when Deetz finally made an appearance. Even with a metallic face and no clothes, the synth looked frazzled and worried. This in turn tightened Jason's stomach up. "Problems?"
"Huh? Oh, no... no problems," Deetz seemed even more evasive than usual. He looked at the progress being made by the technical team. They currently had transmission lines of some sort running from the larger ground vehicle to each of the long slip-drive emitters that made up the trailing edge of the gunship's wings. In turn, the emitters were glowing bright blue and a pulsating hum could be felt. Every so often the crew would run the power up a bit and loose debris on the tarmac would lift into the air and levitate until the power came back down. Twingo, for his part, had a few large access hatches open in the ship's belly and was utilizing some sort of hovering lift to maneuver himself and his equipment around and up into the openings. The previously boisterous alien was grunting and cursing as he worked to get the reactor back in shape. "So did they say how long they'd be?"
"How,
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