Team Shift Happens
Team Information
Previous Chapters:
The Plan / Getting the Truck / The Email
A Trick and a Wager / I Hate Scorpions!
Let’s Get This Party Started / First Arrivals - Starting Party 6 AM
Making Friends? - Starting Party 7 AM
A Moment in Time - Starting Party 7:30 AM
Another Team Arrives / War Songs in the Camp - Starting Party 8 AM
A Grand Reveal / An Army of Soda Cans - Starting Party 8:30 AM
Drivers’ Meeting - Starting Party 9 AM
A Request for Help - Starting Party 9:15 AM
Shitbox Rally Starting Party, 9:30 AM Local Time
(Partly written by @Elizipeazie)
Kaylie set down her copy of Carburetors for Dummies as Tim called out to her, asking if she could help wire up the CB radio. “Of course. Let’s see, you guys are the ones with the Dione, right?”
When Tim nodded, Kaylie smiled. She took the boxed CB radio from him, opening it up and making sure everything was there before heading over to the Dione.
Tim: “Might as well ask since it’s not our equipment and breaking trying to get it in would be a dick move in my opinion.”
The other two are just stood there for now, Constantin contemplating why he even went to join a one man job as the third guy in tow, and Connor generically idling about.
Kaylie nodded. “Yeah, Mal wouldn’t be too happy if someone broke one of the radios trying to install it. I mean, he’s a good person, but, well, between you and me, he really doesn’t know his own strength.”
As she approached the Dione, she saw Constantin nearby, looking like he was lost in thought, and Connor standing next to the car so perfectly still that it was almost eerie. “You didn’t mention you had an android,” Kaylie said, looking at Tim for a moment, then back to Connor. Almost immediately, she spotted the crack in his right forearm. “With battle damage, as well. Bet you’ve seen some stuff,” Kaylie said to Connor, setting the CB radio box on the roof.
“So, once I’ve finished putting this radio in, you want me to see if there’s anything I can do for him? I’ve got spare parts for a Nemean-class combat-grade prosthetic, and I used to fix starships before my brother got us stranded out here,” Kaylie replied, opening the passenger side door of the Dione and climbing inside, grabbing the box off of the roof with her natural right hand.
Tim: “Yeah… Battle damage… definitly not a rage fit from a team member of a past race.”
Redwood remembered what was going on at the dealership lot back then. Connor’s unintentional sassiness made Tonsom lash out against him, landing a good hit against said arm in the process. The mentioning of an android also throws Constantin off-line, now scanning Connor top-to-bottom as well.
Constantin: “Jeez… AI has gone along much faster than i was aware of.”
Connor: “Restoring dexterity to the affected componentry would certainly help. Although compatible spare parts are not readily available, as i am part a pre-production trial-series.”
Connor calmly remarks, not exactly confident in getting any meaningful repairs done.
Kaylie chuckled as Connor mentioned that compatible spare parts weren’t readily available, holding up her own left hand. “Prototype. I understand the lack of spare parts. I’m sure we’ll manage to work something out,” Kaylie said, before using her left hand’s titanium claws to strip some insulation off of a ground wire so she could hook up the radio. “This is where things get to be a bit fun, and I do mean that in the sarcastic way,” Kaylie said, perching the CB radio on top of the dashboard as she grabbed a rubber glove and pulled it on over her left hand. “Found out the hard way back in the Lair that these fuckers have a grounded case, so when I grabbed the radio and tried to hook up the power lead, well… Let’s just say that the Bricksley over there got both of its batteries replaced after that little mishap.”
Now properly protected against accidentally shorting out the Dione’s electrical system, Kaylie stripped back a power lead, wired it into the radio, hooked up the car’s original radio antenna as the CB antenna, and then slid the unit into the dashboard where the factory radio once went. “There we go, that should be everything for the car.”
Kaylie got out of the passenger seat and looked at Connor’s arm. “So, what’s your current range of movement, and how limited is your strength with that arm?”
Constantin and Tim watch Kaylie with great interest, as she more or less is doing what Tim would have though of as well, only sort-of listening to what she is rambling on about.
Connor just goes though his diagnostics and speaks the results aloud, adding missing info as needed.
Connor: “Right Shoulder. Full mobility at 78% power. Right Elbow. Full mobility at zero power. Right Wrist. Limited mobility at zero power. Right hand. Full mobility at zero power. The latter three based on visual inspection as the affected component does not post correctly.”
Tim: “Well i never heard of that one being a thing…”
Constantin: “Spoken self diagnostics that actually work, compared to the crappy troubleshooter of WinDope 10… Neat.”
Valentin does notice and watches what is happening from “afar” (that is; 10 to 15 feet away from the car), avoiding direct contact out of fear.
Kaylie listened to Connor’s diagnostics, nodding slightly as she mentally processed each bit of it. “Most people I know wouldn’t run a component that couldn’t pass a power-on-self-test. So, you have full mobility, but no strength,” Kaylie said after thinking for a few moments.
She popped one of the covers off of her left arm, showing the high-torque electric linear actuators and fiber-optic sensor cables within, glowing faintly with sensor data moving at the speed of light. “Anything seem familiar, or are we working with two radically different kinds of technology here?” Kaylie asked.
Before Connor could really give an answer, Kaylie yelled out to her brother, Kayden, “Hey, Kay, get me the black duffel bag from inside the cab!”
Once Kayden had dropped off the bag and returned to his spot behind the charcoal grill, Kaylie opened it up and started removing items. “I brought the whole spare right arm in case I broke anything,” she said, stopping long enough to put the cover back in place on her left arm, "but I also brought supplies to fix Kayden’s powered armor. These are all external, designed to respond to an input and provide powered response. Between some nanotech armor panels, a few Nemean-class linear actuators, and an external interface device, we might be able to give you a slim-fitting powered exo-frame. Takes your low-torque, high-mobility and amplifies it.”
Upon gaining visibility into Kaylie’s arm, Both Tim and Constantin stare at it in awe, despite not having a clue as to what is in there and how it works. Even Valentin manages to get an, albeit crude, glimpse of the inner workings, which distracts him enough to make him ease up significantly.
Connor also takes a peek inside, taking note of the componentry, which doesn’t seem all too similar to what is used in his own construction.
Connor: “I am not exactly certain what you intend to do.”
He explains, taking the liberty of detaching his own, broken arm elbow-down with aid of the intact one by means of a sort-of quick-release system. On either stump, a set of hoses containing curious blue-ish liquid, some more basic looking connectors, as well as the clamp mechanism holding it in place is revealed. The arm itself turns a semi-glossy white upon removal and is almost fully covered in rather thin plating of that color. He then holds said arm up to Kaylie, as if trying to hand it to her.
Connor: “Maybe this helps in further diagnostics.”
Kaylie took Connor’s right arm in her own right hand, studying it closely. “Hydraulics?” she said, noting the quick-disconnect connectors. “Is it a fluid leak that’s causing your trouble? Because if that’s the case, I can get some hydraulic hoses and make a patch.” Still holding Connor’s disconnected right arm, Kaylie reached into the bag and removed a few pieces of powered armor frame, adjusting the sliding frame to the length of Connor’s forearm. “I mean, I can probably make this plan work, but it’s going to look like someone put you in an elbow brace.”
Kaylie grabbed a few more pieces, setting Connor’s arm on top of the Dione’s roof for a moment as she assembled the bare minimum of the armor frame to provide powered assistance to someone’s right arm, grabbed the control module and plugged it in, and made a few more mild adjustments to the frame she’d set up for Connor. She grabbed another set of spares and built the same frame up around her right arm, plugged a module in, then pulled on the armored glove which was a bit too big for her hand. After turning the module on, she ran it through her full range of motion, then said, “It’s like an exoskeleton. You provide a little movement, this does all the work.”
Kaylie turned off the module, then put the second spare armor frame back in the bag before handing Connor his arm back. “If that fluid’s particularly exotic, I don’t think I can just patch it, but using the armor frame, maybe you’ll have some strength.”
Connor intently watches Kaylie fiddling around with both his own arm and hers.
Connor: “I can confirm that the cause is not a leak in the circulatory system. The flu…”
Tim, in an attempt to be helpful, tries to word what Connor would have said in a way that would be more easily understood by humans. Or… whatever Kaylie was.
Tim: “As far as i know that line is part of what the bloodstream is for humans.”
Connor: “Accurate enough… A mechanical damage limiting signal transmission and bandwidth is the most probable cause.”
Connor takes that arm from the roof and puts it back where it belongs. The arm itself posts correctly as being the arm, though as described earlier, power supply for movement seems to be impaired.
Kaylie nodded. “Right, the fluid is important, but it’s not leaking,” Kaylie said, as Tim and Connor explained their parts of it. “I’ve seen you move it somewhat, so that’s a good sign that what I had in mind might just work.”
Kaylie continued making adjustments, occasionally stopping long enough to get a measurement of Connor’s upper arm before eventually getting things just right. "Okay, this goes on over your arm and all the way up to your shoulder, " Kaylie said, helping Connor put the armor frame on, making sure the elbow was aligned with Connor’s elbow to avoid any, as Kayden would often call them, ‘training injuries.’ Once the frame was in place, Kaylie connected the module and secured it up by Connor’s shoulder.
“Now, I’m going to turn this on. Be careful, the sensitivity can take a little getting used to,” Kaylie said. She turned the power on and stepped back out of arm’s reach just in case, remembering her first moments with the Nemean arm and how she’d nearly wrecked the medical bay when she got out of the hospital bed.
Connor mostly just lets the mounting process happen, not fighting it but also not doing much in aiding it. Once done, he awaits the device being turned on and for Kaylie to be clear of arms reach. After that, he cycles the signal which controls elbow movement. In a state of mild shock, he discovers that, while he already turned down signal power in anticipation, the module seems to expect the rather weak signal coming off of Humanoids. As such, the device goes from fully stretched out to maximum angle in what seems like an instant, imparting substantial momentum onto the remainder of Connor in the process. In reaction, all the others take a step back, being scared off by the unexpected movement speed.
Connor has to dial the signal strength down drastically to achieve a degree of control similar to what he is expecting. He then creates a system device tag flagging the module as an auxiliary Elbow actuator.
Soon after, movements seem to look harmless, if a bit rough on the fine end.
Kaylie chuckled. “You’ll get used to it,” Kaylie said, before grabbing the same armored glove she’d shown off before, removing the armor and taking care as she adjusted it to fit Connor’s hand and fingers. “This will give you some strength back in your hand, and give you back some grip strength. Before I plug these in, you’ll want to turn whatever signals you use down, because while there are hard end-stops, I don’t know if your range of motion and mine are exactly the same.”
Kaylie waited a moment for Connor to make his adjustments, then fitted the frame of the glove to the end of the armor frame before connecting the power and signal lines. This time, she didn’t stand back, instead watching to see if Connor had the full use of his hand.
“So, I learned this trick to test if I had full control of my left hand,” Kaylie said, fishing out a golden coin from her pocket, tossing it over to her left hand, and casually rolling it across her knuckles, the coin clinking against her chrome-plated titanium fingers. “Kayden taught me how to do it, took me two weeks to be able to do this. Twin Suns be damned if I know how he does it with his armor on,” Kaylie said, rolling the coin back over to her left thumb, which she snapped out to flick the coin back over to her right hand, where she then put it away.
Connor once again just held still as Kaylie made the glove fit as well as possible. In the process, he also followed instructions and preemptively dialed signal power waaay down to avoid damaging the hardware.
As Kaylie was pulling out a coin and started fiddling around with it, Connor knew exactly what she was doing. He normally used a very similar method as a means of calibration and preparation for the upcoming mission. But since his own coin was part of his original attire, that too was lost in preparation for the 24 hour clunker run. As such, he simply cycles the various fingers and the wrist do see where the limits of motion are. Tim also knew what Kaylie was on about:
Tim: “You can do Connor’s coin trickery as well?”
He excitedly asks as he fumbles around in his pockets to pull out a 2014 minted quarter-dollar coin, which is handed to Connor, expecting another amazing set of coin trickery. Connor accepts the coin and starts on the known left hand, performing very similar movements Kaylie just did, up until he attempts to fling it over to the right hand. However, Connor fails to catch the coin as it slides through a gap between the index and middle finger caused by the mismatch in hand size. He then goes off to collect the coin and hands it back to a rather disappointed Tim.
“Kayden taught me because he said it was good for making sure my new hand was working correctly,” Kaylie said. “Funnily enough, I can do that better left handed than I can right handed.”
When Tim handed Connor a quarter and Connor rolled it across the knuckles of his left hand, Kaylie smiled. As he tried to toss it over to his right hand, and it fell between the gaps, leaving Tim disappointed, however, Kaylie just shook her head, pulled out the Tigrilan Crown coin she’d messed with earlier, and handed that to Connor instead. “They’re a little bit thicker, a little larger,” Kaylie said. She smiled, understanding that he was likely to study the coin before trying to roll it over his fingers, and that while she knew the coins had an image of one of the many Tigrilan kings on it, the date stamped in the King’s crown (in this case being 5249), and on the tail side, the denomination written in their native language as being “One Golden Crown” with an image of the Twin Suns rising over a forest, she knew that it would be knew to Connor. She also was rather aware of how much it was worth, that if the coin’s monetary value were converted through elemental gold first, that one coin was worth $160, but she didn’t really care in that moment. If it worked to help Connor adjust, in her eyes, it was a very small price to pay.
Connor, as expected, takes the coin and closely examines it. He concludes that it must me either some highly valuable movie prop or a collectors item of sorts.
Connor: “Thank you”
He quickly remarks as he holds to coin to readjust the process to the added weight and inertia of the larger Tigrilan Crown. Then, he restarts the process on the left, again without much in the way of difficulty. The coin zipps over to the right and manages to stay there, although the catch still was rather sloppy by Connor near-perfect standards. The knuckle-rolling was also much slower on the right than on the left, indicating lack of training with the newly installed movement aid. The still stiff native wrist joint may also play a part. Tim and Constantin are stood there, smiling in delight at the fact that Kaylie managed to, at least sort of, fix Connor’s woes. Valentin meanwhile lost interest and is digging about the trunk, cleaning up some wiring visually and playing some Tetris with whatever is back there to conserve space.
Once done with the procedure, which has taken a little more than a minute rather than 20 seconds, he holds up an open palm containing Kaylies coin.
Connor: “I appreciate your assistance in restoring partial mobility.”
Tim: “Absolutely! Thanks a lot for helping!!”
Constantin nods in a respectful manner, also showing his appreciation for the work done.
“Not a problem,” Kaylie said, picking up the heavy duffel bag with her left hand, slinging the strap up onto her metal shoulder. “Keep the coin, I have plenty of them. I mean, I could go bother Malavera if you want a Galactic Standard Credit, but they’re about the same size, and annoyingly, they’re not round. Eleven-sided coins,” she added. “If you guys need my help in the Rally, let me know. I’m getting better at fixing internal combustion engines.”
Kaylie wandered back over to the Bricksley, propping herself back up on the tailgate and going back to her book, which was going into detail about vacuum secondaries.
to even bring that up while I was describing the engine since I was in a rush, and didn’t realize until after the fact that I’d forgotten to elaborate on it. Either way, it helps prove the point that V8s and Mustangs are made for each other lol
