“The weapon's Belmont radiation has hit its apex,” Trak said, as he reviewed the Afterthought's muddled sensor data. “Less than a minute before the cannon explodes."
Standing on the ceiling, Daniel leaned against a nearby wall to steady himself. The Afterthought's shock absorbers kept the weapon’s motion from tearing them apart, but it couldn't hold back every vibration.
There’s still a chance the Kep Effect will upgrade our engine, he thought desperately. Or make the engine more efficient, or —
“Daniel?” Trak said.
Daniel turned and watched in horror as the lower half of his friend started melting.
Trak's legs smoked and burned, all four of them torched with blistering infrared radiation from the Kep Wave. As evidence of the Kep Effect's random nature, the ceiling around Trak went untouched by the heat.
“This is certainly different,” Trak said.
While Trak felt no pain or fear, his internal sensors told him he was missing 50 percent of his mass. He had multiple redundant systems and found the injury merely an interesting occurrence.
Daniel, however, was shocked. He hadn’t really thought Trak could be damaged. Now his best friend sat in a metal slurry of what had been legs.
“I’m so sorry, Trak,” Daniel said. “We’ll fix you after the engine’s repaired—
Then Daniel realized he hadn’t heard the ping sound of the Quantum engine’s activation.
I ordered Rachel to fire it up the second the Kep Wave hit!
“Rachel! Why didn't you—?! Never mind. Fire up the engine now! NOW!” he yelled.
“Don't shout. And I didn't activate the engine because I can't tell if the Kep Wave has upgraded it yet,” Rachel-7 said, sounding strangely distant.
“If we activate the drive before—” she said, and stopped.
Daniel could have sworn he heard her grunt in pain.
He knew what she was going to say: if they activated the drive and the Kep Effect hadn't upgraded it ... the ship would burn up trying to pass through the Onean shield.
But we can't wait any more! Daniel thought. The cannon could go at any time!
“Just do it!” Daniel shouted.
Rachel-7 entered the activation code. Daniel heard a satisfying ping sound.
And the 17-ton Quantum drive fell apart.
perhaps you could have it that you only update twice a week with two big updates as you had to do this week. i'm sure your fans wouldn't mind and would get more fun out of a bigger update.
I've been thinking about that. but i think I can do this if i just nail down a strategy. i'll keep working on it and keep everyone updated with what happens.
Did the Kep wave do nothing to Daniel?
We'll see ...
Uh-oh, another children's book is coming to mind. Ever read the one where the girl wakes up with antlers?
It sounds familiar ...
Did you ever read The Day Jimmy's Boa ate the Wash? Has nothing to do with anything. I just loved that book while I was growing up.
No, it doesn't look familiar.
Ah! I was thinking of _Imogene's Antlers_
Imogene sounds like a very futuristic name. Imogenetek would be a corporation in 2347 A.D.
Maybe he got taken apart and reassembled as Clark Gable. Won't Jeska be in for a surprise. :P
Ha!