When the ceiling panels were dropped open by the drone, Khea got a good glimpse of the equipment up there. One of the items affected Sam, and was quickly closed up again.

Another one was clearly a sensor suite. A third one appeared to have something to do with life support. The fourth one wasn't immediately recognizable but Khea was able to work out that this was the control end of the gravity drive! Apparently, the technology of these aliens was some sort of gravity well that the ship then fell into. Even as it fell, the well was pushed out ahead.

Sharik had been quiet pretty much the entire time that the crew has been on board.  She wasn't inactive or inattentive, simply extremely focused and quiet.  And given the fact that the thin ex-operative-turned-socialite had been actively recording the session the entire time, you could be sure that everything the rest of the crew had said and done was being saved for posterity.  Likely, it also explained why Shar has been pretty much a fly on the wall; a desire to be the observer and not the observed.

However, Samantha's reveal that there was some sort of connection between her and the control systems (and it involves Darrel as well) does elicit a response from Sharik.  Her helmet turned sharply and the camera focused alternately between the panels in question that give their pilot headaches and the pilot herself.  However, if the cosmopolitan socialite had any real qualms or questions she kept them to herself for the time being.

When Pablo called everyone's attention to the apparatus that appears to house the hibernating alien, Shar gravitated towards the cryotube.  She recorded the initial state of the mechanisms and the flashing monitors.  With Dr. Lavaud still onboard the Longshot, she like most of the rest of the away team have very little formal medical training beyond the basics.  Though Shar is aware that Vonon has an actual basic field medic rating.  Still, looking at the dancing array of lights, the diminutive socialite couldn't seem to help herself and gave an opinion on their function, "Seems like those monitors are registering nominal statuses ... unless green is this culture's warning color..."  Her tone was deadpan enough that it was difficult to tell how serious Shar was being.

This was all previously undiscovered alien technology after all.

"Do we dare to open it?  Or try to take it with us?" she prompted the rest of the away team (and Walter, since he was still on the line ... potentially).  The alternative was to simply put it back where Pablo had found it.

---

[OOC:  Just in case...

  14:59, Today: Sharik Kaagira rolled 8 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,2.  Life Sciences/Int check: JoAT/3 + Int.
  15:00, Today: Sharik Kaagira rolled 10 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 2,5.  Medic/Int check: Medic/0 + Int + Expert/1.
  15:01, Today: Sharik Kaagira rolled 9 using 2d6+4 with rolls of 4,1.  Sensors/Int check:  Sensors/1 + Int + Expert/1.

No difficulty modifiers were applied (this is definitely alien tech) ...]

The person in the cryotube was not an alien. She looked perfectly human. That was strange.

"Now, why would these aliens have a human in a coldsleep chamber?" Pablo asked.

"We'd have a hard time getting that unit out of here in a hurry. If you can't shut off the gravity surge, it could kill her! I think we should get her out in a hurry!"

"Damn. She doesn't have a vacc-suit on!"

He'd been moving around so well in his vacc-suit he'd nearly forgotten he'd had it on!

In reply to Pablo Esteban Ryzov (msg # 352):

2GM:
Is that coldsleep chamber vacuum-sealed?
Is our current environment pressurised?

Yes, the coldsleep chamber is vacuum-sealed, and no, the environment you are in isn't pressurized.

The presence of alien vacc-suits does indicate that the area probably was and can be pressurized, but it isn't now.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 354):

2GM:
Can we move it to scout ship?

"Stowaways and prisoners don't have salvage rights, right?

Now this control panel looks like it has something to do with the gravity. So if you think there is nothing else to do we can start pressing buttons."

Yes, the cryotube can be moved to the Scout, with only a little bit of difficulty getting down one level.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 357):

- Pablo, lend me a hand with that tube, - Serge prepared coldtube to transport to the Scout ship.

"Sure, not a problem, Serge," Pablo says as he helps Serge wrangle the cryotube down to the lower level and out to the shuttle.

Before he disappears from sight, though, he calls back up to Khea.

"You're our engineer. Your call if you think you can push buttons better than some random clown like me!"

"Im coming up. Just someone place the charges and stand by with the trigger if something goes wrong"

While pushing a button without knowing what it does is something even the most high born scion of a clan leader should be able to do its better to be safe than sorry. After all the button might have a strange shape.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 360):

After Serge moved cryotubes on Scout, he returned to Khea and placed charges where she wanted them.
- Everybody, make clear out of this area, - Serge marked blast areas in HUD visible to all in the team.
- Now, we are ready for some fun, - said he to Khea.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:21, Wed 30 May 2018.

As Khea presses the first button she mutters "This is a bad idea"

"What's the worse that could happen?" he asked as he rejoined Khea.

"Even a strange race like these things is going to have a certain number of safeguards. We already know it's active, so, what? You push the 'go really fast' button?"

"I doubt if you can activate the 'self-destruct' function randomly, despite what they show in all those silly holovids. Hell, this race may not even have the concept of self-destruct."

While Khea plays with the gravity drive unit controls, Vonon has taken the drones back to the just outside the Scout. If they had to abandon the alien ship in a hurry, the drones weren't as fast as the people.

Meanwhile, Sam and Sharik are studying the cryotube. Even though the symbols on it are strange, the function seems to be rather straight-forward.

Sam is able to pick up thoughts from the person in the cryotube... not conscious thoughts, and not quite a dream state, but some nebulous intermediate state... laced with a bit of fear and trepidation.

There's an occasional 'flash' of an underwater dome... and thought about Sarrad. Over half of the underwater domes on Sarrad all failed simultaneously 3 years ago. It was speculated at the time that some kind of seismic activity may be caused a feedback resonance in the dome material.

"Whats the worst thing that could happen?" Khea had to try hard not to punch the button out of the panel as she heard that. "We are fiddling around with a gravity device we know nothing about on a ship whos crew was apparently killed by said gravity device. What do you think could happen?"

Pablo may have been right because as Khea presses the button, the gravity indicator starts going down.

It keeps going down until there is no gravity on the ship.

- I like zero-g, - said Serge from under the ceiling, slowly levitating above Khea. - It is like a fish in the water. But please inform me when you release the button, so I got time to prepare.

"We need to get her out!" Sam said excitedly.

"Not sure she can survive in this tube much longer, now that it's been removed from the alien ship. Besides, I think she's from Sarrad. She might know something about what happened."

"No no no no" Khea flays around to find something to hold on while not releasing the button she just pressed.

"Ok. We didn't explode. That is progress. When everyone is ready I will release the button. Depending on how those aliens thought the gravity will go on again or nothing might happen. Roar when you are ready.

And check on the scout ship first, not that it started to float away and will come crashing down.

Sam commed the Scout "Are you still attached? Also can you let us know if the gravity build up has stopped?" Sam holds on to the tube, and tries to brace herself against something, like a door frame, or wall fitting to stop moving too much

In reply to Samantha Kilgore (msg # 370):

Serge checks condition of the Scout Ship, then returns to Khea.

The Scout ship isn't held in any manner. It's only in place from its own landing gear pads.

Also, there's no gravity increase. In fact, there's no gravity at all. After a minute or so, it doesn't start up again either.


While the design of cryotube (or whatever it is) is alien, the basic function seems to be built around practicality.

The big green button appears to be the emergency revival button, and she hits that with the palm of her hand.

Lights on the panel begin flashing, a bar graph lights up and the indicator slowly starts to rise. When it reaches the top, there's a hissing/whooshing sound as air rushes in or out or both, and then the top releases and starts to rise.

Sharik's head tilted slightly at Sam's sudden enthusiasm for the potential survivor of Sarrad.  Even as she started to rise off the ground slightly due to the lack of gravity, the diminutive socialite still had her helmet on and her helmet speakers crackled lightly, "What is your interest in Sarrad?"  Her tone was one of rather idle curiosity (as she knew almost nothing about the disappearance there - though well read, the public blurb on the colony was nearly non-existent, likely by design) and Shar kept her attention focused on the cryotube and make sense of the alien script there.  She had a smattering of languages from all across the Imperium (and working on a frontier vacation spot had exposed her to more than most.

She pointed to the large-ish green button and offered helpfully, "That would most likely be the revival initiation button."  Conspicuously, Sharik made no move to push the button herself, however.  "There are a lot of complications that can occur with long duration cold sleep..." the cosmopolitan ex-operative knew just enough to be paranoid, "Would it be prudent to have Dr. Lavaud present, just in case?"  The readings seemed nominal for the moment; so, Sharik didn't feel compelled to release the woman out of purely idle curiosity.

Pushing off from a nearby wall, she drifted over to tube to ensure that both she and it were secured reasonably before informing Khea that she was ready for the Aslani engineer to continue her gravity-control button-pushing experiments.  She braced herself between one wall and the side railing on the cryotube; and while not the strongest sophont in the galaxy, in microgravity, she felt confident that helping to direct the tube for minimal (or no possible) droppage was entirely doable.  Sharik motioned to Sam to ensure that the Longshot's pilot was both ready and avaiable to brace the complex apparatus that they were shepherding.