Satellite From Days Of Old, This Has To Be A Wrong Turn! (Arrival)

[radical_hacker]

The first sound was the traditional pop.

Then came the sound of a crash against a pillar in Ten Forward as a scooter hit head on.

Its driver looked to be a casually dressed (skinny jeans, tee, boots and a bomber jacket) young woman in her early 20s with a backpack full of computer gear and appears to be unharmed (outside of a few bruises and a mild concussion). But the scooter is in worse shape since a headlight has gone flying along with what looks to be the bumper. After hopping off the scooter long enough to quickly check the damage the woman known by her alter ego of Radical Edward spoke if only to herself.

"That was a nasty wrong turn! I know the Space Gate should not have backfired that much since its the one most Cowboys take as a shortcut." the woman spoke, especially since she had triggered that gate to close off since she was being chased by a bounty gone wrong. But when she realized this was not the arrival port on Ganymede (mostly since she was now in a bar and the star patterns did not add up to anything she knew) she knew something was amiss and it was not a simple backfired wrong turn at the Space Gate. She also had something else on her mind: finding the flying parts to her wheels.

"Anyone see a headlight or a bumper go flying by? Because Edward knows parts went flying but has to be sure what happened."



Ed's scooter from the show and now I'm loosely basing her scooter on a modern day Vespa but smaller.

Comments

[the_tailor_spy]

He will be seen to be leaning far back from his table in Ten Forward. Mainly because a bumper is now in the middle of his table. He leans forward slowly, putting aside his tea. Two fingers delicately move the bumper a bit further away from his lunch, which had been barely missed.

"I believe," he said, with a certain sang-froid, "that I have located one of those objects."

[radical_hacker]

"Bumper or headlight?" came the voice of the owner of the flying scooter parts. Edward's ponytail seemed to bounce behind her as she came to Garek's table to claim the bumper,"Was not supposed to crash into a pillar."

[the_tailor_spy]

"I believe this would be the bumper," he replied, offering it to her, "since it does not appear to be any form of light fixture. Though it is new to me. As, I must say, are you."

[radical_hacker]

Edward accepted the bumper with a smile,"Last thing I remember was going into the Space Gate to escape a bounty, backfired operation." she offered. "The next I'm crashing into a pillar on my scooter and pretty sure this is not the Ganymede arrival port. Because while space travel is common nothing is matching what Ed knows."

[the_tailor_spy]

A lot of this person's terminology is unfamiliar to him, but enough can be understood.

"Ah, well, this Ed will find that this place is a rather more permanent stop than most arrival ports, I'm afraid."

He regards the scooter with a tiny bit of curiosity. Such a primitive but oddly compelling vehicle.

[radical_hacker]

"Well I'm going to see this as an unplanned adventure at least for now!" Ed's smile never faded. "Bought the scooter gently used and made the bulk of the upgrades myself!"

[the_tailor_spy]

He smiled in a way that seemed very warm indeed.


"Unplanned adventure is such a positive way of describing it. And how very interesting."

[radical_hacker]

"Unplanned is also ten times more fun, could have done without the crash through." Ed was honest.

[the_tailor_spy]

"Unplanned can be very fun indeed, yes," said a man who never did anything without a plan of some variety.

"But yes, the crash can be lamentable."

[agathaheterodyne]

Being a Spark trains one for certain things. Working in a lab with a Spark and a wanna-be Spark for as many years as she had taught her even more. Because of that, ducking a flying machine part was second nature. She had even retrieved the part before it occurred to Agatha that perhaps something odd had just happened.

And by the time she realized that? She had turned the headlight over in her hands... the connectors for it were odd, and that... what was that? She frowned at it, even as something akin to joy lit in her eyes. She glanced up and saw the girl looking around, heard the question.

She marched over and held up the headlight. "This is yours? You'll show me how you built it, of course," she said, not yielding it yet. She wanted to take it apart, to rebuild it better and....


...AND then she saw the bike. She dropped to her knees for closer look, exclaiming over it the way some girls might coo over an adorable kitten.

[radical_hacker]

"Built her myself, actually just revamped the design a bit since I'm on the road so much." Ed lit up like a little holiday tree when the girl was drooling over her scooter. "Actually revamped the headlights because of travel through the Space Gates." she explained. "And there's Ed's headlight! Just remember going into the Gate like normal then boom! Crashed into the pillar."

[agathaheterodyne]

"Stuff like that happens here," she said absently. "I was in Paris. I've never seen a carriage quite like this. I like clanks for travel, though the circus used a caravan. Horses aren't bad, so long as you're sure it is actually just a horse." Though that one they had found had been interesting...

Lars. She missed him. She pushed that aside. "What powers this?" she asked, frowning at a now exposed part. "Lightning?"

[radical_hacker]

"Combo of gas and an electric engine. Comes in handy when I can't get to an arrival port to refill the tank." Ed was grinning. "Was trying to get to the arrival port on Ganymede after a bounty hunt royally backfired on me, took the Gate as a shortcut to give them the slip." And that was when Ed realized something was really amiss,"So where am I?"

[agathaheterodyne]

"Gas?" she asked, startled. How would that even work? How badly would that explode if... Gas.... She frowned, studying it again. "Why not steam?" like a sensible person. Then she frowned, and glanced over her shoulder. "Do I want to know what I have you for a power source?" she asked.

A small clank, handspan in height, like a pocket watch with limbs walked over and offered her a small wrench.

She took it. "Guess not." she held up the wrench. "Need help putting this back together?"

Yes, she ignored the question of where she was entirely.

[radical_hacker]

"Steam is not exactly a common fuel option where I'm from." Ed explained. "A few crews of cowboys have steam engines but those are mostly along the coasts and the sea outposts." she added. "But I can use the help to unravel what needs to be fixed!" smiling now.

[agathaheterodyne]

"How could steam be uncommon? It's just heat and a noncombustible liquid..."

She nodded. "Happy to help. Especially to see how this thing works. You know, I bet we could improve it while we're at it. The parts here are fairly basic, but easy to work with."

[radical_hacker]

"Could it be a time period thing?" Ed offered, "Mostly since last I knew it was 2080 and I had been hearing rumors of a few crews beyond the sea outposts getting creative with fuel when supplies ran low." she explained. But Ed lit up when she saw the little robot with the wrench,"That is pure genius!"

[agathaheterodyne]

"20.....80." she seemed stunned for a moment before a cloud of anger passed over her face, which resolved into a grim determination. She would learn to master time. She would figure out how to bring home with her all she could learn here so she could save her people, so she could save Gil and Tarvek. And once those two idiots were safe... she'd kill them. It would be fine. She knew how to bring them back again.

"I don't know what year it is here. You've traveled in time before?" Someone she could learn from then. She needed to learn how to save her people. Had to.

[radical_hacker]

"Travel in time is a new one to be honest." Ed offered. "But we do have space travel." she offered. "But what kind of world are you from?" her curious side in full bloom.

[techno_galen]

Galen hadn't been here for long, but he wasn't about to admit that. He has a reputation to keep up, even if there don't seem to be any other techno-mages here.

He easily located the missing parts, and because appearances were important, he cloaked them and brought them to him on invisible platforms. The woman was still looking over her vehicle, when Galen walked over to her, removing the cloak as he did so. But he kept the platforms, so the items appeared to be hovering just above his hands.

"Yours, I believe."

[radical_hacker]

"One headlight and one bumper that would be!" Ed flashed the strange a smile. "Did not see what direction they went flying towards so anything is useful." fishing tools from her backpack to make some unplanned repairs. "Just wish Ed knew what happened, one minute I was in the Space Gate then next cue crash."

[techno_galen]

"That," Galen said, "would be due to a powerful being called Q." Some of it he'd been told, some he had eavesdropped on. This bar was a good place to hear things without being noticed.

"He pulled you through the Space Gate to here. What is a Space Gate?" He'd found it was best not to assume anything that sounded familiar was, in fact, familiar.

[radical_hacker]

Ed's cheery nature never faded it seemed,"A Space Gate is a travel tool where I'm from, think of it as half time saver for some and half short cut for those in the know." she explained. "Had just darted into one on my scooter and honestly figured I had taken a wrong turn." she admits.

[techno_galen]

That sounded like a Jumpgate to him.

"In a manner of speaking, you have. This may not be the same universe you are familiar with." This last sentence was said as a pronouncement and he waited for a reaction.

[radical_hacker]

The look on Ed's face said it all but her smile only dipped a tiny degree. "Satellite from days of old just have weird have things gotten." she mused aloud. "Landing in a bar instead of the Ganymede arrival port: weird enough, this not even being the world I know: even stranger."

[techno_galen]

"Very strange indeed," he agreed. Although not a turn of events he could shed a great deal of light on, so he didn't.

"You travel through space on this?" He gestured at her scooter.

[radical_hacker]

"Through some of the gates yes but not through space, I would usually book passage on a ship or travel with a crew of cowboys." Ed explained. She had indeed booked passage from Ganymede with a crew she had traveled with before after all. "Space travel is commonplace but not on the scale ship wise. One ship I traveled on was a converted fishing vessel." thinking of the Bebop.

[techno_galen]

That explained things. Mostly. It was enough for now, anyway.

"Why do you travel through space?" He was curious - he wanted to know more about her world and what sort of person she was.

[radical_hacker]

"After the Gate Accident the Earth became more dangerous and people took to the stars and set up colonies on other planets." Ed explained. "I traveled with crews on and off over the years like my time aboard the Bebop. The scooter came in handy while planetside mostly."

[techno_galen]

Interesting. So she was a traveler.

"Very bad idea to keep all of your species on one plant," he commented. He'd seen how a species could end up being wiped out that way.

"Do you ever miss your home?"

[radical_hacker]

"At times but at the same time I would not change my life on the road either." Ed was honest. "There's an adventure around every turn and I would have never met the people I've met if Ed stayed on Earth. Besides its not the Earth I knew."

[techno_galen]

"I imagine not." He refused to think of his old home, Soom, and what had been done to it. Even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't access any probes to check on it.

"What is Earth like after the accident?"

[radical_hacker]

"Ed was a teen when the accident happened and the constant was the space rocks falling from the sky." Ed tried to explain the earth that was after the accident. "Decided it was finally time to split so joined the Bebop and the rest as they say is history."

[techno_galen]

That sounded somewhat familiar. Perhaps their universes were similar. Or some things were a constant, no matter where you went. "So they do. And now you find yourself on another ship."