SECTION EIGHT UNDER RECONSTRUCTION
As the precautionary statement flashed across all of the screens on the ships monitors, a father was scolding his daughter. "How in the world did you blow up the reactor, Penny?"
"It wasn't my fault. I didn't know that it blows up when you put things in it," she whined.
Dr. Mac rolled his eyes and reached over to grab a report sheet. He turned back to his desk and began to write out the apology letter. "Talk to Acer. There is no punishment big enough that I can come up with."
Penny got up from the metal chair and shuffled slowly down the long corridor. She flipped her short brown hair and glanced at the reflective material on the space ship's interior. Her chest had grown out nicely, and her tall, slender frame matched it perfectly. Her face was one that screamed, "Challenge me and I destroy anything in front of me." It wasn't easy living on a ship in the middle of nowhere (literally). Especially when you know everyone on the ship. For a seventeen year old living with adults and robots, life was hard.
Deciding that she had spent enough time here, Penny continued down to the bridge, knowing that Acer,the captain was going to give her a tough time, like always.
\\Bridge, Captain's Chair./
Penny ignored glares and snickers from the other crew members as she waltzed up to Acer's chair. Acer was looking at a screen, displaying the damage results from the latest catastrophe. On the tray next to the large man was a manilla folder. By the size of it, Penny knew that it was hers. "Hello, cap't," Penny said softy, letting her voice trail off.
Acer turned to face the small girl. The scar on his cheek and over his right eye seemed to glisten cruelly in the artificial light. The stubble from his chin and head, along with the bulging muscles under his tee-shirt completed the look that he had unintentionally acquired over the years. He picked up the folder with care, as if afraid that it might leap out and bite him, which sounded accurate enough to Penny, since she might do that anyway. "Penny C.," he flipped through the papers, reading the many reports that her father and others have written. "Food fight, hiding parts, dissembling robots, scaring the last robot repairer so that he quit, and thirty other accounts. You do know that you came on five years ago, right?"
"That's six incidents a year," Penny replied happily. Her smile faded as Acer gave her a hard look. "Sorry," she mumbled softly.
Acer threw the folder back on to the tray and sighed. After a long moment of silence, except for the machines on the bridge, he turned back to her. "Your punishment is going to be," Penny gulped, "Working with Puzz on navigation."
"Puzz?" Penny whined, "Puzz is so boring!"
"She has a watchful eye. She also puts people like you to work. You are to go immediately. I'll tell your dad where you are," The captain said firmly, looking the girl in the eye.
Penny grumbled as she left the bridge and headed down to the navigator's office. On the way there, she picked up a metal pipe and began to tap it against the metal plating out of boredom, liking the sound of metal against metal. She slowly made her way to Puzz's workspace.