SPACE [1]

[deep_space_final]

We're in space. Now we're IN SPACE. I hope you can breathe there.

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for Loki - locked in a room event

[talentedtongue]

The glitch in the escape pod wasn't an emergency issue. It was one of those "get to it when you get to it" things, and with a station as understaffed as they currently were, it was also a "whoever can handle it, handle it" situation. The when ended up being after a shift in one of the language labs - the who, one Lieutenant Uhura. If it wasn't a serious engineering problem, she could handle it herself. At the very least, she could assess the problem and give someone more qualified a good head start.

This was how Uhura found herself sitting at the minimal and cramped controls, a protein bar hanging out of the corner of her mouth, the electrical guts exposed before her laid out in careful rows and columns. She'd disconnected the power to the unit from the panel in the ship's hallway, hung the proper warning signs, and immersed herself in the work.

So thoroughly immersed, in fact, that she didn't even hear the approaching footsteps. No, that wasn't quite right. She heard them, she just didn't pay them any mind. Not even when they paused near the pod's hatch. After all, you couldn't read a sign warning that delicate work was going on inside if you breezed right past it.

[forsoothforsure]

He'd read the signs. But "delicate work" wasn't much of a deterrent. It didn't say he couldn't go in--just that something interesting was happening. And very little was going on right now that was interesting.

So Loki, of course, went in.

"Hi!" he chirped, shoving himself in next to her. "Whatcha doin'?"

[talentedtongue]

"There has been a strange energy spike coming from this pod the last few days. I'm trying to determine why, and fix it." She didn't abandon her task, just glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Be careful. None of this wiring is live, but it's still delicate."

[forsoothforsure]

"All this technology! Little old me couldn't hope to understand it. I mean, something really awful could happen, if someone didn't know what they were doing." He paused hopefully. "Right?"

[talentedtongue]

"Theoretically, yes. Someone attempting to use any of these systems without the proper training could have unexpected outcomes." Also expected outcomes. Like ending up floating in space cut off from the rest of the ship. "Which is why I've cut the power off here." She nodded again at the control panel. Right now, it was only the occasional electrical spike, but for it to actually malfunction while in use could be potentially life threatening. "Don't worry. It will be fixed, and then it will be safe."

The important thing to remember was to not get overly technical. Plenty of people with them now had no idea how any of this even worked. Bogging them down with details would only distress them further. They were a bit like children - not unintelligent, but ignorant. It would have to be corrected slowly, and probably by someone more qualified than Uhura.

[forsoothforsure]

"Oh, goody," Loki beamed. "I love safe! Safe is good. Safe is..." He couldn't think of anything else to say. "Safe. I mean, what could be better than that? Being safe. On a mysterious space station. Where no one knows anyone or how they got here."

He folded his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, still grinning at Uhura.

"So I guess if it's so safe, I can do this!" He reached out and pushed a button.

To be fair, it was very tempting. I mean, it was large. And round. And red. And had one of those safety catches over it.

You really couldn't blame a person.

[talentedtongue]

"Well, being safe is better than being in danger, no matter how unpleasant the additional circumstances."

Uhura began looking up when Loki started with 'I can' as though she could feel the storm hanging in the air. She began moving as soon as he raised his hand, a panicked "No!" on her lips, but of course she was too late. There was no time to reach him before the door slid quickly closed, the lock clicking heavily into place. Another moment until the pod was jettisoned, Uhura still in mid step, and thrown to the floor as a result of the the lurch.

[forsoothforsure]

Loki grinned at her from where he, of course, had remained more or less in one place due to his curled up position.

"So glad we're safe, then," he chirped. "Which circumstances were you referring to?"

[talentedtongue]

Uhura pushed herself up on her elbows, and then onto her hands and knees, and then into a standing position before she even thought about responding. It was clear to her, would be clear to anyone, that that had been intentional. She would not hold any part of this conversation while laid out on the floor.

It was something of a physical strain to keep from reaching up to touch the sorest spot near the corner of her mouth, where she was quite certain the floor and her teeth had played hammer and anvil just a little bit too hard, where she was equally certain there was blood. "I was referring to the unfortunate situations we've been having with arrivals to the station. Now I believe I'm referring to the fact that we are adrift in space with no power, and therefore no ability to steer this vessel or activate the rescue beacon." Her own panic could not be indulged in. Someone would notice her missing. Jim. Jim would notice her missing. The sign still posted near the hatch of an obviously launched pod, he would come to the correct conclusion. Everything was going to be all right.

Didn't stop her from glaring daggers at the kid grinning up at her.

[forsoothforsure]

"Oh! You're bleeding!" Loki looked concerned, as genuinely concerned as a young teen could, and frowned. "It's not like we're going to die out here or anything. What would be the point? The story? No," he shook his head, "the story's much better if we get back and have a lovely tale to tell. Don't you agree?"

[talentedtongue]

"Is that how things work where you're from? The universe bends to the storyteller?" She would not touch her lip, would not feel the blood. It was her one small measure of control in the moment. "It must be wonderful to exist in that sort of delusion." Here, the lines were not so clearly drawn through peoples' lives. "What do you do when the story ends badly?"