A World of Water

Charity smiled to herself as she read a letter from her mother, telling about how her brothers were doing, and about her how friend Felicia who was staying with them had gone to a dance in town with Charity's younger brother Josh. She folded the letter and put it back in the envelope, then stretched in the early morning sunlight. She had never expected that she would be living here, on Aquoshillon. From Astronia, the planet she grew up on, she couldn't tell there were two suns. She knew there were two of them, but living on Aquoshillon meant she was close enough to be able to see the two different suns. Of course she couldn't look at them, but it was a very interesting change from Astronia's purple sky to this blue, watery world with double the sunrises and sunsets.

Charity checked the time, then pulled on her boots and did a few last touches to her uniform. She checked in the mirror to make sure that everything about her uniform was properly in place before going outside to report for duty. She surveyed her appearance critically, smoothing the black blazer with red trim and that all the buttons were fastened. The Imperial emblem appeared on the left sleeve, and over her heart on the left side of the blazer was a pin which had been awarded to her about a year ago, for acts of bravery. She put on her cap, black with red trim, with a red strip down each side with three white stars on each strip. Now it was time to start her daily patrols of the spaceport.

She started by the swimming area, which was so far empty since it was still rather early in the morning. The tourists would be coming along later in the day, then she would need to monitor the swimming area more closely. She checked that the safety gate was closed so that people couldn't go in before the swimming area was open for the day. Then she moved along the landing area checking things as she went. Next she began walking along the docks where various space ships were parked, checking that everything was alright and that there wasn't any trouble anywhere, and that there weren't any ships parked there that didn't belong. After securing that area, she went to investigate around the shops where they sold gifts and souvenirs and other novelty items.

Within the next hour the cruise ships and merchant ships would begin to arrive for the day, and before long this place would be packed full of tourists and Charity would have to monitor the crowd to keep peace and order, and direct the lost tourists to where they wanted to go and other things like that. She enjoyed the first, peaceful hour of patrolling, because it gave her time to think and prepare for the day. She also enjoyed the crowds of people, because she enjoyed talking to people and being of help to someone, and just being around people. She smiled a bit as she anticipated the day to come, and as she finished her first patrol of the morning, she looked up and saw the first cruise ship moving toward the space port...

Lights were flashing and alarms were blaring, signaling to the crew that something had gone horribly wrong. This, of course, was not ideal in the slightest, on a cruise ship filled with innocent tourists. The panicking staff could barely hear each other over the cacophony of screams and bells. "Where the hell is POET?!" It seemed their Primary Oceanic Exploration Technician was MIA, and this was quite possibly the worst time for them to do so. 

POET had, in fact, been due for some maintenance themself, this afternoon. Their memory circuit had been malfunctioning on the past few trips, and it was essential they get that back online before something tragic happened. Something tragic like this, in fact. In POET's absence, the propulsion core had overheated - something that shouldn't have been too difficult to fix if they'd been able to man their stations. It was too late now, though. With their still busted memory circuit, POET didn't have much of an idea of how to fix it now that it had already passed the critical point. In short... They were kind of screwed. 

Plummeting towards the planet's oceans, the crew decided to initiate evacuation procedures. There was no way they were going to be able to stop the crash at this point - they just needed everyone to start getting the hell out of here. POET, in the mean time, would have to eject themself in an escape pod to try and find some help. Chances were that the emergency evacuation would go to plan and the phantom sharks in the surrounding water would tear the ship to shreds. POET had to get these people home.

Several minutes later, POET's pod had landed in the docking area, but not exactly... successfully. It crashed and rolled along the landing pad for quite a distance before it slowed to a stop, finally allowing the poor damaged android to climb out of the tiny space. Their motors were humming loudly, now, and they could tell they were in desperate need for repairs. Later, though. Save the passengers first. 

"Mayday. CS Saratoga in critical condition. Assistance required." POET repeated their recorded speech as they trudged across the platform in search of help.

As Charity rounded the corner around a shop, she was startled to see a small pod falling toward the landing dock. She hastily jumped back out of the way, and then stared in surprise when an android began to get out of it. She realized that something must be wrong. That was an escape pod, if she wasn't mistaken. She hurried toward the pod and stopped in front of the damaged android, hearing the message the android was giving. Mayday? She looked upward and could just see the ship. She had to act fast, who knew how many lives were at stake.
"Message received, and help is coming!" She said, then grabbed her radio and started calling around to find someone that could help.

Moments later a crowd had gathered, mostly comprised of Forces people, rushing around the landing dock and trying to prepare a ship to go up and help the people there. But they weren't going to get there in time, and Charity could see that. She shook her head as she watched a small group of soldiers loading themselves into a ship that they would, theoretically, take up to the crashing ship and move the passengers onto it. They'd never get there in time. They would have to start the ship, fly up to the other, and then who knows how long it would take for all those passengers to board the new ship, which wasn't as big as the cruise ship. Plus it would mean that both ships would have to hold still for the duration of this transfer of passengers. She looked up and saw that the one which was crashing was falling at a pretty rapidly toward the waters.

Charity ran to the nearest superior guy, pointing up at the ship as she hastily suggested that, instead of going up to meet the ship in the sky as it was falling, that it might be better if they got their ship close to where the other was about to crash, so that they would be at the crash site sooner and could hopefully get the passengers and crew to safety faster. Like, before the phantom sharks showed up, and also before the ship sank and drowned everyone. The man listened and realized that she actually had a good point, so then he hurried over and gave the orders, adding that Charity was to be on board the rescue ship. This surprised her a bit, but she didn't argue one bit about it.

She ran to join the others who were getting on the ship, and then swiftly strapped herself in like she was supposed to do. It wasn't long before the rescue ship had left the dock and was moving steadily toward the estimated place of impact. At this rate it looked like they would arrive at the spot about the same time, and Charity hoped the pilot had the good sense to keep well enough out of the way that they wouldn't get hit by the other ship. She stared out of the view screen anxiously as they moved toward the spot, all the while the damaged ship continued to fall..

POET stopped playing the recording once it was confirmed help was being sent to the ship. They watched as silently as they could - with their humming and whirring broken parts. Soon, the help was off, soaring towards the cruise ship with - hopefully - a plan in mind. Now there was a predicament. There was a conflict of protocol - should they focus on getting repairs for themself so they could be of greater help, or jump headfirst into the situation regardless? It seemed they didn't really have much of a way to help, at this point. Swimming was an extremely poor choice, and the ship was way too far out into the water for them to reach. Repairs it was. 

So uh. Where.... Where could they get repaired?

They decided it was best to wait for the rescue team to return, so they could get their own crew's help. If they couldn't fix them, they could at least help them find someone who could. They stared, completely still, out into the distance at the catastrophe. There was a giant SPLOOSH as the ship touched down - little sprays of water littered POET's surface.

Rhydian was tired of getting shoved and pushed. He’d already fallen down twice now, and having to swipe all the dust that collected on his black double-breasted jacket. All he’d wanted to do was go for a nice little stroll in an Aquoshillon spaceport, to take in the alien views, but it turned out to be a very unwise decision. The tourists here were unrelenting machines hell-bent on reaching their destinations which mostly comprised of gift-shops and ‘authentic’ restaurants. He rolled his eyes at the thought.

Settling to use more force to wedge his way through the raging rivers of various alien species, Rhydian went through the bustling crowds with a couple of bumps to the sides, and finally reaching a less-populated area where he could finally manage to breath. The little corner was a sort of dining area with seats and tables, and restaurants on the far side. He sat down, exasperated, catching his breath.

The wall in the corner had a large window implemented in it, giving a luxury view to the entirety of the expanse of this water world. Seas as far as the eye can sea, splashing and raging against the sides of the spaceport, and two suns glaring in the bright blue sky. Rhydian sighed, taking it all in.

Despite it being nearly a year since he started travelling the universe, these wonderful sights were always bewilderment to him, even the ones most Earth-like. Especially the ones most Earth-like. It still never ceased to amaze him that the cosmos was filled, brimming with life and paradise, with the (nearly) unsuspecting Earth right in the middle of it. Of course, Time Travel wasn’t a problem either, as a Vortex Manipulator gets you places.

While absent-mindedly taking in the view, Rhydian noticed something strange. Far out to sea, the remnants of a large watery impact made themselves evident, the water rippled and rougher. And the most notable feature was the blue glow of a rescue ship’s engines firing off in the distance, hovering over the impact site.

“A crash…” Rhydian said to himself, piecing the puzzle together. Immediately, he dashed out of his seat and ran towards the opening door, forcing himself out and into the crowd as they rushed against him. It was like pushing against a current. He barely made it through the doors and into the open spaces of the port, where large cargo and tourist ships touched down with wind and force, and droplets of water from the sea splattered across his face.

How he would get to the crash site, he had no idea.

Spotting a droid on the landing pad next to a battered up pod of some sorts, Rhydian rushed towards it and tapped it on the shoulder to get their attention.

“Hey, we’ve got a crashed ship over there. Judging by the size of the splash made on impact, one rescue ship might not be enough. I can help. Do you have any idea of how to get over there?” Rhydian blurted out, evidently out of breath.

Charity climbed on board the wrecked ship, which was tilting to one side, with the door threatening to dip the under the water's surface. Once inside, she and a few other officers began assisting the people trapped inside the ship. She helped several passengers to climb out the door, where some other officers were waiting to help them on board the rescue ship. Once everyone that she could see was safely on board the ship, she looked around.
"Is there anyone else left?" She called to the last person who had gone through. The frightened woman hesitated.
"Oh.. I don't know.. maybe?" She stammered.

Charity bit back a sigh of frustration at the woman's uncertainty, and reminded herself that the people were frightened, perhaps even panicked, and that they wouldn't be calm and would probably even need to be checked by a healer to make sure that they weren't suffering from shock or anything.
"Is the ship's captain anywhere around?" She asked. But there didn't seem to be a captian who had been helped ot the other ship. She called for one of the crew members, whom she remembered helping over, and got some directions to where she might find the captain.

Charity hurried the best she could along the tilting corridors of the ship. They were narrow, which helped her be able to move, as she was able to put her hand against the side of the wall to brace herself and keep from sliding too much. Finally she found the room where the captain navigated the ship, and looked around.
"Hello? Anyone here?" She called. Just then she saw someone lying on the floor. She widened her eyes, fearing the worse as she hurried to check the prone figure on the floor. She hastily checked his pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief when she found one. It was weak, but it was there, and that was a good thing. She quickly did what she could to check him for further injuries, but as she was doing so he woke up.

Relieved, Charity helped the man to his feet and had him lean on her as she helped him along the corridors. Before long he was being helped onto the rescue ship. Several other people, who had been either injured or trapped somewhere during the crash, were rescued as well, by other officers who had joined Charity in the search and rescue.

Finally, after they had made sure that no one was left on board the ship, Charity and her fellow officers began climbing back on board the rescue ship. She was feeling very satisfied with the success of their rescue, when she heard distant screaming. She was halfway in the ship, climbing out of the wrecked one which was nearly on the water's surface by now. She froze and looked around to find the source of the panicked screaming but at first she couldn't see anything. But then she heard someone shouting and she saw people back on the spaceport landing, shouting and pointing. She followed where they were pointing and then she saw it. One of the passengers of the wrecked ship had apparently fallen in the water. How that happened, she had no idea, but there she was, screaming in panic and flailing her arms around.

Charity wasn't sure how the woman had managed to stay afloat this long, as she thought she heard something about not knowing how to swim. But she also saw something of much more concern, moving slowly toward the woman. Charity caught her breath as she saw the dorsel fins of one of the planet's native creatures, the dreaded phantom shark, moving in for a kill. It must have spotted the woman about the same time that Charity did. Perhaps her screaming had alerted it to her presence, but whatever the case, Charity felt a chill down her spine as she saw the gravity of the situation. She didn't even take time to pull off her boots.

There was a small, neat splash as Charity dove into the water, and immediately began swimming as hard and fast as she possibly could toward the drowning woman. She silently prayed she wouldn't be one of those annoying types to try and cling onto her rescuer, but at the same time she had her doubts. She made sure not to think about the danger they were both in. She knew very well that phantom sharks could move very fast. So it was very likely that they were both about to die. But she still had to try and save the woman. She didn't even hear any other shouting, either from the dock where the people were gathered, watching, or from the rescue ship where the passengers and her fellow officers were watching.  

She reached the woman just as she went under for probably the umpteenth time, and grabbed her under the arms, in the proper method for saving a drowning person. If done right, this hold would prevent the rescued person from trying to climb onto the rescuer's back and potentially drown them as well. Charity secured her hold on the woman, and then began swimming back toward the ship, using her feet and her one free hand. Of course, this meant that her swimming ability was impaired greatly, and she was slowed down quite a bit.

Her efforts didn't slack off any, however, but rather doubled as she saw that terrifying fin moving closer and closer. She expected to feel the monster's teeth close around her legs any moment, and her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She kept swimming as hard as she could, hauling the woman along with her. Thoughts of her family flashed through her mind. Her mother, who always worried so much about her children. Her oldest brother Keith, in the Navy. Her middle brother Daniel, with his wife and two kids. What if she never saw her little niece and nephew again? And then there was Josh, her little brother, who had begun courting Charity's best friend Felicia. Then she thought about her father, who had died when she was a teenager. She couldn't help wondering... would she be seeing him again soon?

POET turned their head, mechanics whirring loudly. They glanced over the panicked stranger as they struggled to process their words. It felt like trudging through honey. Maybe repairs were more important than they first expected.

"Memory circuits offline. Outernet offline. No knowledge of local rescue vehicles."

POET, with another strenuous turn of their head, looked out at the water as they watched their ship fall beneath the water's surface. They noticed, eventually, a plethora of what they could only assume to be phantom sharks drawing closer to the gathering of survivors. While most still had a way to go before they'd be a threat, not all of them were that far away. In fact, it seemed one was close enough to warrant some kind of action.

But what action?

Nothing was online. They barely had their logic functions to work with. From this distance, what were they meant to do? Surely there was some protocol on this, but where was it? How long would it take them to find it, in this state? 

So POET stood there, stock-still, water droplets evaporating off their metal from the heat their broken processing was producing.

“Oh, well. Fat lot of good you are. Tell you what, if you stay here and not move from this spot, I’ll try and give you a fix-up on your systems. Sound good?” Rhydian tried to make the best of this broken robot as his mind was racing, still on the topic of how he would get across the ocean and to the crash site, and in little time to.

Sure, Rhydian could use his Multi-Spanner’s vortex manipulator, but that would risk himself getting noticed by the higher-ups, despite having masked his residue traces. Rhydian considered stealing a ship, something the spaceport had in bountiful supply as, well, self-explanatory. But taking into account that this was most likely a military organisation running the rescue and monitoring missions, he would risk, once again, getting noticed by the higher-ups. Probably not a good idea. That being said, it came to Rhydian’s attention that he wasn’t even supposed to be roped in on this situation, especially not on his own accord. In fact, in all of his previous adventures, he realised that he almost always intervened to be involved.

But now was not the time for an existential crisis, Rhydian thought. He could deal with that later. For now, it was time to think. Rhydian scanned the port from left to right with his Multi-Spanner, looking for some kind of ship like a taxi. He remembered that he had no money or form of currency, and mentally face-palmed as he tucked the Multi-Spanner in his inner jacket pocket. A sudden, ridiculous though came to his mind involving swimming across the ocean and to the crash site, which was idiotic. Automatically out of the question.

Even if it was a viable option, it would have been rendered useless thanks to the shadowy silhouette of a pack of large creatures swimming menacingly towards the site.

Rhydian’s eyes widened, then flattened, bemused. “Oh, wonderful. This just keeps getting better and better.” Rhydian muttered as he dashed off from the malfunctioning robot at the edge of the platform and ran across the side, now desperately trying to find a means of transportation as time was running out faster than before.

On the edge of the platform he was running on, Rhydian spotted a line-up of grey civilian-grade hover-cycles which were obviously used for skimming over water. Perfect. Rhydian sprinted across the platform, making a beeline for the racks of transportation. As he took the reigns of one of the cycles, Rhydian grabbed his Multi-Spanner out of his pocket and used the psychic link to hack into it, being easy to take control. He wasn’t even phased when a shout came from behind him, threatening him if that he didn’t get off the cycle he would call the authorities.

“Sorry! I really need this, I’ll return it too you!” Rhydian twisted the ignition, and the engine roared to life, a fiery blue propulsion unit blasting under him and lifting both the cycle and himself off the ground. The pedals were easy to control. Flooring the acceleration, Rhydian sped off towards the crash site in the ocean, the wind blasting his face.
As the smoke and rescue ship came into view over the horizon, Rhydian prepared himself for the worst. For all he knew, this ship could explode at any minute. Not that Rhydian knew why it would, but after this long a time of travelling, he learnt to expect rock bottom. But, nevertheless, he kept his spirits up, and pushed on until the crash site was practically right in front of him.

The matter at hand popped up in Rhydian’s mind, and he suddenly snapped back to reality as he stopped the hover-cycle in a sort of mid-air screech. He took a second to analyse the seriousness of the situation. What he had anticipated, a broken ship in the middle of the ocean, the rescue ship hovering above it, and…

Someone in the water.

With one of those creatures he saw earlier hot on their tale.

Rhydian’s immediate instinct was to zip down to the surface of the ocean, and that’s just what he did. Slamming on the pedals and using full throttle, Rhydian dived down towards what he realised were two people swimming away from an obviously malicious creature, and in the process nearly fell off due to lack of concentration on the flight. Rhydian clumsily stopped the hover-cycle just above the water, making it spray up from the disturbance, and frantically ushered the water-logged people to climb on.

“Get on! Hurry!” Was all Rhydian had to say.

Charity was struggling to swim, hauling the tourist along after her. It wasn't easy, with the woman still trying to struggle to stay above the water. She knew they weren't going to be able to make it in time. Distantly, she heard yelling, but whether it was from the people on the rescue ship or the people on the spaceport, she couldn't tell. She figured that her fellow officers couldn't do anything to help, but she wished they could. But if they tried to shoot the phantom shark, they might hit Charity and the woman by mistake, and then their efforts would have been made pointless.

Suddenly, she was surprised to hear an engine approaching, and when she looked up she saw, to her surprise, a boy on a hover cycle, telling them to get on. She knew that his cycle would never be able to hold all three of them, especially with the size of the tourist woman she was rescuing. She guessed that was why the woman was able to stay afloat for so long without knowing how to swim, because of her 'extra buoyant' size. She could probably fit on the back of the hover cycle but there would be no room left for anyone else, and Charity wouldn't dream of saving herself while leaving the woman to whatever fate she would have. So that meant that Charity would have to help the woman first, then herself.

She hastily began helping the woman onto the back of the hover cycle. Every second seemed to pass far too quickly, and with every passing second the phantom shark moved closer to it's prey. Then, casting a quick glance toward the danger to assess how much time they had left, Charity saw that there was now more than one shark moving toward them. In fact, they appeared to be surrounded by them. Her first plan had been to tell the boy to take the woman to safety while Charity swam back to the rescue ship, as she had figured that she could do it without having to haul the woman along after her. But that was now out of the question if Charity had any plans to survive. And she did want to survive, very much.

But she knew, also, that she couldn't fit on the cycle. There were only two seats and while the boy didn't take up so much space, the other passenger made up for that. So, the only thing she could think of to do was to grab onto a part of the cycle that she could reach that wouldn't be in the way or get her hands injured. After quickly grabbing a part of the frame near the passenger's feet, she called up to the boy driving it.
"Go, go quickly!" She only hoped that the cycle would be able to lift all of that weight, as it was surely only intended for two normal sized passengers. If they could just get to the nearest place out of the water, they would be alright. But could they get past all those gathering phantom sharks?

POET was now very conflicted.

On one hand, it was almost their duty to save passengers. It was more like an obligation to fix the ship so that they wouldn't need saving in the first place, but it was still part of their duty. 

On the other, they were very broken. That kind fellow had offered to repair them if they stood still, and they didn't feel like they'd be a great help in this state, anyway. What could they do? Jump into the water? Try their luck with another ship of sorts? The other guy had already jumped in to rescue them, and it seemed - besides the looming pests - things were mostly under control.

So, once again, POET stood there, contributing nothing to the progression of the story, but definitely a bit more at ease.

Rhydian felt the weight of the unconscious passenger weigh the hover-cycle down behind him, but it was manageable. What wasn’t manageable, however, was carrying the third woman, who he realised was an Imperial officer on the rescue mission, on the cycle as well. And what made things worse was that an impending swarm of dark shadows circling in on the officer, out in the open, like a sitting duck (literally).

He winced as the officer grabbed onto the side of the footrest, the vehicle slanting sideways on a deadly tilt. He tried to compensate for the weight by leaning the opposite way, but he was too light to make a significant difference. But as long as he got the passengers out of danger and away from those stupid sea creature-shark things, they’d be okay. Hopefully.

Flooring the pedal, Rhydian expected the hover-cycle to blast out from the water and fly to safety.

But it wasn’t enough.

The engine was giving its all, the ambient humming turning into a vicious roar as fuel was pumped into it. Unfortunately, though, it was making little difference to the height Rhydian and his passengers were currently at, and the hover-cycle was slowly tipping further and further down. Soon, he and the rescuers (and rescue-ee) would tumble into the water, left to the (non-existent) mercy of those unfathomable shark-like creatures in the rapid water.

Stumbling to keep the cycle airborne, Rhydian patted around his jacket pocket for his Multi-Spanner. Bringing it out into the light, he used the sonic probe feature to alter the fuel filters of the cycle, letting more fuel into the engine and increasing the power output, despite how dangerous it was. But it was better than having a small chance of death in a situation of life, than certain death, wasn’t it?

Cranking the gas once again, Rhydian this time felt the hover-cycle rise into the air with magnificent speed, freeing the passengers from the cold depths of the ocean infested with the shark-like monsters. The hover-cycle was roaring with energy now, the blue light from the bottom of it’s base even brighter than before. Rhydian wasted no time in aiming for the roof of the rescue ship and making a beeline straight towards it.

Rhydian was very lucky, as just a few meters before the hover-cycle reached the rescue ship’s roof, the engine cut out as a result from loss of fuel, and the three plummeted towards it. The impact was a large one, making a dent in the metal hull panelling as Rhydian was flung off the driver’s seat when the hover-cycle did a flip and slid across. He landed face-down, and felt a pain in his pelvic bone. He only hoped, as he regained composure, that the passengers were okay.

Charity had a moment of panic when the bike's engine roared but very little happened. Their weight was too much for it! She looked around for any sort of ideas, but all she could think of was to let go of the bike so the kid could get out of there and take the woman to safety. Of course that would basically mean Charity wouldn't survive. But, if it meant the other two lived, maybe that was what would have to be done? The idea terrified her. But that was the sort of thing that an officer of the Imperial Forces ought to do. Serving the people, giving your life for others, all that stuff.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, but just as she was about to let go of the bike, it jerked upward with surprising power. She opened her eyes again in surprise, and saw that they were rising upward swiftly. Looking down, her heart seemed to jump into her throat with terror as she saw one of the sharks leaping out of the water after them. It seemed as if time slowed to a crawl as the huge mouth opened up to swallow its prey, the four rows of razor teeth gleaming in the bright sunlight. The sight was enough to make a weak-hearted person faint. Charity, whether she might have or not, knew she couldn't afford to faint at this moment, and instead tightened her grip on the bike and swiftly pulled her legs in closer to her body. Otherwise, she felt frozen in fear as she stared down at the monster.

The jaws snapped shut just inches from her feet, and she could swear she saw a look of malice in its eyes as it began to fall back into the water. The moment of terror having now passed, time seemed to return to normal. The woman she had rescued from the water had fainted upon seeing the shark, but thankfully the boy was still conscious and thinking clearly. She was relieved to see that they were heading for the rescue ship. But something went wrong. They were starting to plummet rapidly again, and she realized they were about to crash. She looked up but all she could tell was that the cycle didn't have enough power to make it to the ship.

Charity waited as long as she dared, until they were close enough to the ship. Then she let go and prepared herself for the impact. She hit feet first, and did what she could to lessen the impact. She rolled as she landed but still worried that she might have injured her feet or ankles. Hearing the impact of the cycle crashing into the ship, she looked up to see the boy sprawled on the roof of the ship where they had landed, and the woman was lying a little ways off, still passed out. Charity let her head rest back down for a moment, feeling like she needed to take a moment to calm down and assess whether she was injured or not.

Meanwhile some of the officers who had been watching jumped into action. Some began firing at the phantom sharks now that the people were out of the way, while others got some ladders and began climbing up to the roof of the ship to check on the three who had just crash landed there. Soon there were people kneeling by Rhydian, Charity, and the tourist woman to find out if they were alright.

Rhydian groaned as he finally managed to push himself up, sick of lying on the wet, cold metal that was the roof of a ship. Using the back of his forearms, Rhydian gave himself a boost and flipped himself on his back, to be met with a bunch of Imperial officers crowded around him, obviously alerted by the crash that most likely would have been very audible from their position.

Suddenly remembering that he had crashed, Rhydian jerked his head up and looked through the crowd, scanning the small open space. He saw the now unusable hover-cycle cindering to the side, with the passenger on the seat close by. He mentally sighed with relief, grateful that his risky plan had paid off.

Rhydian looked around for the other officer that was hanging onto the side of the bike, and made her out a ways away from him, lying down. His lips curved upward subtly, happy that he got both of them safe, if injured then in the grasp of medical attention. That being said, Rhydian wondered what sort of medical abilities people in this time had. After all he was from the 21st Century.

The officers kneeling in front of him were starting to get a little pesky, so Rhydian waved them off with his hands motioning that he was fine. Except when he went to stand up, he remembered he was not, and when he put weight on his right leg a jolt of pain zapped up into his pelvic area, forcing him to kneel back down. Again, trying to get those officers off of him, he took into careful account on how much pressure he put on his leg, and managed to half-limp across the roof of the ship and towards Charity, as the other woman was currently being carried off in a stretcher.

Making his way across the crowd of Imperial officers harrowing over her, Rhydian managed to make a little window where he pushed through.

“Hi. I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet.”

Charity made herself sit up but she wasn't sure whether she ought to try and stand, because of how hard she'd landed on her feet. She could have injuries and she wasn't too anxious to find out by trying to stand. She figured she'd take it slow. But, as she looked up and noticed that she was now surrounded by her fellow officers, worrying and asking her if she was alright, she forced a shaky smile and nodded. That seemed to be all she could do.
"I'm f-fine... check the b-boy." She told them, worried about the young man who had wrecked the bike. She remembered seeing him lying on the metal, and she wasn't sure if he was alive or not.

She realized that she was trembling, but she wasn't so much cold from the water. Maybe it was because, now that the adrenaline was gone and the moment of terror past, she was trying to process what had happened. Someone put a blanket or towel around her shoulders and she smiled faintly in thanks, but couldn't get the image of those huge teeth out of her mind. Then, realizing that she could feel some pain in her feet, she glanced down at them to check that they hadn't been bitten off. But, of course, she had landed on her feet, so that must be why her feet her. Actually it was more like her ankle, and she wondered vaguely if it was a serious injury.

Someone pressed through the crowd and spoke to her, which took her mind off of her ankle. Charity looked up and saw the boy who had risked his life to save her and the tourist woman, standing there speaking to her. She gave another forced smile as she tried to stop shaking.
"Th-thank you." She took a deep breath and hoped she didn't look as pathetic as she felt right now. "You saved us..thank you." She missed that he had mentioned not being introduced yet, and thanking him for saving her life seemed far more important than anything else right now.

“Well, it’s-” Rhydian stopped talking in response to the officer’s thanks, not only out of breath but because of his wording. He was going to say ‘It’s my duty’ but in reality, it really wasn’t. He was just a passerby, a wandering youth for God’s sake, he wasn’t of any authority to interfere. Rhydian usually pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind with the reason, ‘If I hadn’t interfered, these people would be dead’. And it was true.

“It’s what I do.” Rhydian settled on that line, as it was a sort of white lie. He preferred the term ‘half-truth’.

Rhydian suddenly remembered the pain in his upper leg, and looked around to see if there were any medical staff on the roof, which luckily there was. The wind was wild up here, his hair sticking up in unnatural angles. But he decided there were much more important things to attend to than his leg.

“Hey, you went into that ship. Did you see any other people in there that could still be trapped, or have you got everyone out?” Rhydian asked the officer he rescued as fast as he could, as if there were people inside the crashed wreckage in the water, they wouldn’t have much time to save them.

Charity took a few deep breaths to calm herself down a bit more. One of the others was trying to tell her that she needed to be checked out, but she wasn't listening to him right now. She smiled faintly at the boy, saying it's what he does. "Still, thank you." She was glad she was feeling more like herself now. "You saved me, and the other lady." She had no idea who the woman was, but she was glad that she had survived as well. "I'm very grateful."

As he asked about there being any others in the ship, she realized she actually didn't know. All she knew was that she had got the captain and many passengers out, and several crew members. But she wasn't the only one who had gone in there to rescue people, so she didn't know if the others had missed anyone. "I..I don't know." She frowned and looked around, spotting one of her superiors. "Did they get everyone out of the ship?" She asked anxiously. "Have they done a head count yet?"

The other guy nodded.
"Yes, everyone is accounted for, and the injured are being tended to... except for you two." He frowned. "You need to get checked out Elmstone. That's an order. And you, young man, should get looked at as well. I can see you're limping, and you crashed pretty hard earlier."
"Yes, sir." Charity replied quietly, inwardly sighing because she didn't think she needed any medical attention, but she wouldn't disobey orders from her superior. She began to carefully stand up but found that, indeed, her ankle was painful. Maybe she did need medical attention, after all. She allowed herself to be helped down to the inside of the ship so that, once they returned to the port, she could be checked by the medical staff, and hoped that the boy would agree to that as well.

Rhydian acknowledged the officer’s reply, and nodded. He then turned to the officer who seemed to be of a higher rank than the one he rescued earlier, and listened to the information on the passengers, and the order to get examined medically.

Rhydian sighed at that. He absolutely hated to be patted down and checked by a team of medical staff in a sterile intimidating room for hours on end. Or at least, that was what happened on Verdicon IV, where being exposed to extensive amounts of gamma radiation ended him up in four days of constant decontamination and cleansing ‘services’. Suffice to say, he never really had the attitude for those sorts of things ever since that incident.
He did realise that his upper leg was hurting a significant amount, and after a mental debate within himself, he decided it would be better for him to get checked for any serious injury, as this situation was most likely not going to end after this stunt he pulled.

“Alright, I can get fixed up.” Rhydian rolled his eyes at the thought. “But please, no more than seven in the room at a time…” He mentally gagged.

He stood up from his crouching position, holding back a wince courtesy from his painful pelvic bone, and hopped from the crowd to catch some air, only to get sprayed in the face with a bout of salty water from the port of the ship, landing directly in his face. Shaking himself off and straightening his jacket, Rhydian felt he forgot something.

“Oh, yes!” He exclaimed to no one in particular, his memory of asking that robot back on the spaceport about the accident, then promised him to have a look at him.. Rhydian walked/limped over to the officer who told him to get medically checked. “I promised a bot on the spaceport that I’d come back and fix him after I was done here. I have to get to him first, then I can get looked at.”

Charity smiled faintly. It seemed the boy didn't want to go to be checked out anymore did. Her commander frowned but of course had no authority over the boy.
"You should get that injury checked before you do anything else." He advised. "The robot can wait. And we can send someone to repair it, anyway. You shouldn't be on that leg, at least not until you've had it checked out." He added. Charity wondered if it was the same robot who had alerted her to the crash just before it happened. She had intended to try and find someone to repair it, also. But all the things that had happened so quickly had momentarily driven that from her mind.

As her superior the assured the boy that there would only be a couple of people in the room as he was examined, she hobbled on one foot, trying not to put weight on her right one, to get back down to the inside of the ship. Some of her fellow officers helped her but she wished she didn't need any help at all. She absolutely hated being injured, and having to admit to needing help, or having to appear weak. She tried to walk as if she was fine, but unfortunately the pain in her ankle proved otherwise and was too sharp to ignore it when she put weight on it.

Before long, the ship had pulled into the port again, and the rescued passengers of the wrecked tourist ship had begun to unload from it. Charity waited until last, and only when every one of those people was on the dock did she leave the ship. She couldn't help wondering if her family would hear about this incident. She rather hoped not, because it would just make her mother worry herself to death about her daughter. She knew how much her mother worried about her brother Keith, and he was only in the Navy. And he was posted in a perfectly safe place without any chances of Stabotunians coming along and attacking. So she could guess that she already worried a good deal about Charity, and hearing about this would not help with those worries. So it was best if no word of this incident ever reached her mother's ears.

She was led away to the medical place, where she was sat down and then expected to sit still while the nurse examined her. She couldn't help fidgeting a bit, and wanted to get out of this place very much. But how could she convince them she was fine if she had a sore ankle? Then she heard worse news than that. Her ankle was sprained. She frowned to hear that, and wondered how long she would have to be off of it. She didn't like this at all. But she couldn't really do anything about it, could she? She frowned and took a moment to think about this. She'd have to stay off of her foot, the nurse said. She would bandage it up but Charity would have to keep from using it and would probably be put on light duty until it was healed. She couldn't help feeling frustrated by this. How would she ever get another position on a ship if she couldn't even do her job?

Rhydian let the wind blast in his face, as the ship took off and headed back to port, reluctantly agreeing with the senior officer’s suggestions. To be fair, he didn’t really have that much experience in fixing robots, he didn’t have any equipment (his Multi-Spanner didn’t count; its Sonic Probe feature would probably be too weak to analyse and fix up a complex machine like that) and the officers on board this Imperial cruiser, along with the ones on the port would be much more qualified.

Rhydian relished in the feeling of (relatively) dry land as the ship neared and finally docked with the spaceport, a ramp being elevated up to the roof to allow the officers and rescued bunch to be transported off. He never liked the sea, as he thought it was too… boring, in all honesty. Rhydian found unexplored plains and uncharted space much more enticing. His views were constantly criticised as, from where he grew up, there was no ocean in sight and for his community it was wonders to behold. But, of course, his community weren’t exposed to the type of travel he or his late father had.

As Rhydian walked down the ramp with the help of an officer tending to his waist section, he thought about that lonely little robot staring off into the sea, barely functioning properly. He wondered if that bot had anything to do with the crash, as he was found alongside a pretty battered evacuation pod which matched the style that of the crashed ship, something people with the untrained eye probably wouldn’t notice.
Rhydian was once again met with the hustling, bustling noises of tourists bouncing about the space port platforms as if they were in a pinball machine. Rhydian usually didn’t like officers, acting all high-and-mighty and authoritative, but just this once he omitted a small smile as the security guards surrounding him made a pathway for him to walk through, leading directly to a sick-bay/tending room.

Once he got onto a light blue-coloured bed, Rhydian relaxed as a male nurse put some unidentifiable equipment up to his leg and pelvis which really reminded him of the Tricorders from Star Trek. He decided humanity hadn’t really changed that much. Rhydian realised that thought was a stupid one even before he thought it, as these people, for all he knew, could be an entirely different race. After all, he found out that the ‘human’ body was an ideal structure for life formation in the right conditions, being a sort of blank canvas where extra additions can evolve to suit a planet’s environment.

He waited for the doctor’s results, and finally after a rigorous round of testing, said that it wasn’t anything major in the bones department, but rather a really nasty bruise. The doctor tending to him then proceeded to put a weird white patch on the bare skin of his hip, which immediately ceased the ambient but present pain. The doctor informed Rhydian that this was only a temporary anaesthetic and he’d need some time to heal it, which was fine by him. Rhydian was just a little worn out now, and he only hoped that the robot he promised to fix was getting good treatment by now.

Funny, he never caught that officer’s name…

Charity held still while the nurse helped her get her boot off. She winced but continued to hold still, as the woman was very gentle as she worked. Once her boot was removed, the nurse gently rubbed some cream into it. Charity recognized it; it was the same stuff that she had used on her head injury, before when the Strabs shot down the Destiny. As the stuff was rubbed into the swollen ankle, she was surprised to feel it soothed almost immediately. It felt much better, and within a few minutes it felt well enough that she could walk on it, maybe without a limp. She was surprised, as she hadn't even thought about using this stuff on a sprain, but she supposed it made sense.

"You'll need to take it easy the rest of today." The nurse told her. "Apply more of the cream before you go to bed, and again when you get up. It should be alright tomorrow, but I'd suggest you still be careful with it." Charity nodded and tested her ankle by rolling it around a couple of times slowly. It felt much better but still slightly sore. She smiled.
"Thank you so much." She slid down from the bed and gently put a little weight on her ankle.

After being sure that she was cleared to leave, she was eager to get back outside. Now, to check that everything was alright with the rescued passengers. And she ought to check on that boy, too. She didn't even get his name. She looked around the space port to see if she could spot the boy, but then she thought he must still be being treated. Oh well, she could check on some of the other people. Without even having to limp, she headed for the group of people who had been rescued from the ship, determined to check and make sure they were all okay.

Rhydian clambered off the blue hospital bed, his hip feeling a million times better. Tucking his shirt over the pad on his pelvic bone, Rhydian shoved his black jacket on which was taken off prior to examining his wound, and walked out of the cramped sick bay. As mentioned before, he hated sick bays. He recently found out that hospitals contain the strongest pathogens and virogens as only the strongest bacteria survive a sterilised, constantly-cleaned facility. It was obvious that he wanted to get out quickly.

While walking through the white, illuminated corridors of the hospital, Rhydian came into the lobby. Pushing the doors open, he was originally going to walk through the doors and to fresh air until he spotted the group of people that he and the Imperial officer rescued beforehand. A thought occurred that he had forgot to apologise for the significant dent he made with that hover-cycle in the rescue ship’s roof, but that could wait for later as he already headed toward the chatting crowd of crash-victims surrounded by medical officers.

As he approached, he recognised the silver-blonde hair of the officer he had helped previously. The one that he never got the name of. Rhydian walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

“I’m Rhydian, by the way.”

Charity was glad that they hadn't felt the injuries to be enough to send her down to the medical sector dome. She thought it was nice enough to see the domes every once in a while but she much preferred living out in the fresh air. Maybe it was because she had grown up on a small farm and hardly ever set foot indoors as a child. She still missed the wide open fields and forests of Astronia where she had grown up. The spaceport here seemed rather crowded and small compared to that.

After having been checked to make sure that she was alright, in more ways than just her ankle because they wanted to make sure she was mentally alright after the stuff that had happened, she was making her way down the hall of the infirmary, which was a part of the military base, when someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around and smiled.
"Oh, hello! I was just wondering if you were alright." She listened to the name that he said. "It's nice to meet you Rhydian. I'm Officer Charity Elmstone." She offered a handshake, along with a friendly smile. "That was really brave of you, you know, and I want you to know that I really am grateful." She added sincerely.

As it occurred to her that maybe Rhydian was a tourist here, she realized he probably wouldn't know his way around.
"Do you need help finding your way out of here?" She wondered. Since she hardly came to the infirmary, it seemed like every time she did come there she had to take a moment to find her way back out. The general public usually didn't come to any parts of the Base, as that was where the Imperial Forces officers live and everything. Since she was leaving anyway, she continued walking to lead Rhydian out of the infirmary. "Have you been to Aquishillon before?" She asked curiously.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Charity.” Rhydian greeted as he shook Charity’s hand politely. He listened as she thanked him for his heroic acts yet again, and he put his hand up in a light wave. “It’s what I do, remember?” Rhydian said smiling. He was used to getting praise after praise like this after he saved lives, especially on large scales (one time he saved a whole town from an ancient artefact, and he got a special presentation and a memorial dedicated to him. He decided after that incident that he shouldn’t mess with time any more than he was supposed to).

Rhydian’s eyes eyebrows rose up when he was asked by the Charity, who was currently leading him out of the infirmary, if he needed any help getting around. He was also asked if he had ever visited this planet, Aquoshillon, and he thought about it.

“Well, I haven’t been to this planet before but I’ve been to spaceports before.” Rhydian said. He realised that this was an idiotic answer as, obviously, not everyone here was from the twenty-first century. Mentally face palming, he rolled his eyes and tried again.

Rhydian was about to speak, but before he did, though, a thought resurfaced to his mind and his eyes widened with realisation. The robot that needed attention, and fast. He actually face-palmed this time, and stepped ahead of Charity. He knew that a team of more professional people were coming to fix it, but Rhydian never dropped his promises.

“The tour would be brilliant, but there’s something I need to do. I can find my way, but thanks for asking!” Rhydian said with gratitude as he ran out of the canopy of the hospital, across the landing pads and around the edges of the spaceport and to the robot which was, currently, still on the peer. Thank god it hadn’t moved.

“Hey!” He shouted as he ran up to it. “I’m back! Sorry I took so long.” He said, exasperated like he was when he first met the bot. Running across hundreds of meters of landing pads does that.

POET stood stock still, still humming loudly. The android had long since tuned out, seeing that taking in visual input was causing them to overheat. Not wanting to be completely unaware of their surroundings, their audio reception remained active. That alone was pushing the edge of their functions. POET didn't realize just how badly they'd been damaged - and they still didn't. That was a process their AI would have to handle, once it was back online.

They noticed the voice of a man come near again, offering an apology they didn't quite understand. It took them far too long to recognize them as the man who said he could repair them. If they could be relieved in this state, they'd express it. 

For now, though, all they had were pre-recordings.

"Assistance required immediately. Assistance required immediately. Artificial Intelligence offline. Sensory inputs offline. Audio input online. Repairs required."

Charity was a bit puzzled by the boy's abrupt departure. She hadn't actually been going to give him a tour, but rather recommend some places he should check out. She watched him run off, then she headed toward where she had left the robot. She had intended to go back there and find someone to fix it since she actually didn't know much about that sort of thing. She slid through the crowds of tourists milling around the spaceport until she finally reached the spot where she had first met the robot.

She was glad to see that it was still there, but it seemed to be much worse off than when she had left it. And the boy was there. So that's where he had rushed off to. She stood a little ways off and watched, not sure if he had noticed her. It appeared that maybe he was going to try and fix the robot, which would be helpful because then the officers could focus on other things.