Chapter 3
April 17, 2008
Janus had finally reached the top of the hallway, and was debating his next move. His palms burned from clenching the railing so tightly. He had two choices, he could attempt to jump across the hall, from the hand railing to the wall, or he could swing himself across using the handrailing. His hands were still sweating, making him worry about his chances.
Frantically he wiped his hands on his pants, blowing on his palms to cool the burning sensation. Refusing to dwell on his choices any longer he began to make his way across the ceiling, swinging on the handrailing. He was relieved when his boot finally scraped the wall, which had become the floor.
Bulma reached the door as the ship rocked and tilted, she struggled through the opening and into the hallway. The ship began to tilt, and shake harder. She rushed down the hallway, determined to make it to the mechanical room to stop the malfunction. Reaching the mechanical room door she grasped the handle at the right moment, as her hand grasped the handle, the floor slipped out from under her. She slammed hard into the wall as the ship bucked, disorienting her. Everything was bouncing and shuddering, all she could do was hold onto the door handle the best she could.
On the other side of the ship Captain Janus was preparing to scale across the handrail to the far side of the hallway. Mid-way over the hallway beneath him he hung onto the railing as shudders rocked the ship. He could feel himself sliding down the railing towards the wall. The ship was changing its orientation again. The railing vibrated in his hands, signaling the events that were yet to come.
It started gradually at first, everything began to shift again, the ship was slowly turning end of end for the second time. Janus struggled to reach his goal, the railing on the far wall. As the ship tilted further he was able to hook his toes around the railing, working his hands closer. He held on as long as he could, his hands slipping from the sweat, and fatigue. At the last possible moment he let go. He had been lucky, the ship had tilted to the right angle to make the hallway into a long slide. Janus tumbled to a halt at the bottom of the hall, and lay dazed. Focusing his eyes he noted that he had reached the door to the bridge, even if it was upside down.
Hanging from the door handle Bulma felt the ship halt its bucking. She cautiously opened her eyes and looked around. She was hanging above the steeply slanted hallway floor, he toes could just barely keep purchase on the floor. Her arms were beginning to burn with the effort of holding herself up. As the ship settled she could hear cries for help, and sounds of movement from other crew members. She opened her mouth and cried out for help, then waited for a response.
Janus forced open the door of the bridge and entered. Surverying the damage he noticed that everything looked as it should, nothing had been disturbed. Computer monitors flashed frantically with warnings and alerts. The Captain struggled to understand the extent of the damage, and what had happened to his ship. Frantically he sent out a request for help from the Saiyajin escort party.
Bulma listened to more internal noises, hoping for a response to her cries. All she could hear were occasional distant thumps and the continued cries from her crewmates. She struggled to keep her hands from slipping off the door handle. The thought of the long tumble down the hallway kept her holding on. There was a new set of sounds now, faint scraping noises, they were growing in volume, drowning out everything else.
She could only think of rescue, release from the handle. Her mind became solely focused on keeping her hands around the warm metal of the door. Time passed very slowly as she hung in the hallway, the scraping noises had ceased now. Bulma's mind could only focus on the pain in her hands now; her fingers were beginning to cramp. The air around her suddenly felt hotter, and heavier, it became harder to breathe. Between the pain in her hand and the difficulty in filling her lungs, Bulma's body just gave up. The handle slipped slowly through her fingers, exhausted hands releasing their grip. He feet kicked at the slanted hall floor, hoping to get leverage. Nothing could stop her fall, her feet lost their grip, and her hands slipped off the handle. Bulma could feel herself sliding down the hallway, she fell onto her stomach and began to slide faster down the hall. With her body tense and her eyes squeezed shut, she prepared for the inevitable crash at the bottom of the hallway.
Suddenly she was weightless, the crash never came. Opening an eye she looked up, one of the Saiyjin had entered the ship, and was now carrying her up through the ship. He was flying her up through the hallway. The air was heavier and hotter now, the warrior was giving off an incredible about of body heat, enough to heat the air around him.
"Thank you", she squeeked out. The warrior gave her a sideways glance and continued to carry her upwards through the air. "I need to go back, to the mechanical room, I need to fix the problem." He looked at her again, and it hit her, he couldn't understand her. Her words must have sounded like gibberish to his ears. Bulma turned her head to see the warrior better. Then she brought one of her hands to the arm around her waist, and touched it tentatively. His skin was oddly soft, and very warm. The Saiyajin looked at her again, she pointed with her free arm back towards the mechanical room. When he didn't respond, she tugged on his arm and indicated again to turn around.
He grunted and stopped his flight and began to descend back down the hallway. Her neck ached from straining to look over her shoulder at her rescuer, and she could see the doorway coming up below them. Her mind switched over, and instantly she began analyzing the potential causes of the situation. Without any effort the warrior pulled open the door, raising it above his head, while ushering them inside. He dropped her on the floor, which was actually the side wall.
Grumbling she stood and shot one of her glares to the warrior. Stalking over to the nearest control she pulled off the panel to check the damage. No damage, she breathed a sigh of relief. Reaching as high as she could she repeated the process until she couldn't reach any more. Turning she indicated to the warrior to approach her. As best she could she motioned for a lift up to the higher panels, and to some of the equipment located on the ceiling. The warrior didn't flinch, he stood unmoving, with an almost bored look on his face. Rolling her eyes she snapped her fingers in front of his face, and made motions to the side of her face.
He reached into his uniform and pulled out a white metal device. Bulma snatched it without fear. Regardless of how strong the man before her was; he was absolutely useless if she couldn't communicate with him. Briefly she wondered if other members of the delegation had boarded their ship to help. The device, a Scouter, was just as she expected it to be, it was an older model, one of the first Scouters that Capsule Corporation had mass produced for the Saiyajin when their trade agreement was still in its infancy.
She sat down and began to dismantle the device. In her peripheral vision she could see the warrior's face register shock as she pulled off the external panels. She was intimately familiar with these devices, having been the one to redesign them 3 years ago. Still, they had moved through 3 more generations since the device in her hand had first been released. The internal circuitry had been tampered with, a battlefield upgrade by someone with little experience with electronics. It raised her ire to find that someone had been tampering with her project. While she was all for upgrades, and improvements, this hack job was just that, a hack job!
The warrior seemed more willing to listen to her now, something about tearing apart his Scouter made him stand up and take notice. She pointed to a case strapped to the wall above them, she needed the tools inside of it. Complying the alien brought her the case. She handed back the device, and indicated he should put it on. His facial expression changed again once he booted it up. Bulma had engaged a translation program, something she had insisted upon each Scouter having. Slowly she spoke, checking to see if the device still functioned. The warrior nodded, the program was working.
The first words out of her mouth were sharp and vicious. They caught the warrior off guard. For a tiny alien woman, she was not anything like he expected her to be. Having not encountered her before during the negotiations, he was unsure what to make of her. "Next time you want to fuck around with my devices, don't do a hack job. For all you know the next time you turned it on it would have blown away half your skull!"
"Something is off with the gravity generator, and its impacting the main drive system", the clueless look on the warrior's face told her he knew nothing about these things. "The ship is tilting out of control because something is wrong up there!" She pointed to a console "I need a lift, and you're going to help me." Acknowledging his fate the warrior lifted her up to the consol.