Chapter 35
Trilby's mind raced, but the waves of electricity which pulsed through him seemed to integrate his being with calming ecstasy. Waves was no exaggeration, with the burst of electricity from Sparky the electrical pathways now pulsed with excess. It engulfed him. Surrounded him, with terrifying power, hidden under layers of docile laws. Through the therapeutic twilight- he steeled his mind. He was back in the game now. At first he travelled in no particular direction, he merely followed the existing current though that was harder said than done. Once Sparky shorted out the ships functions the current also disappears. Delays. He moved forward toward the source. He sensed the concentration of electricity as he traced it to its origin, the epicentre of the destruction. Though all senses were somewhat masked, his mind was unexpectedly sharper, yet it began to wander. He always snapped back to reality before he left the beaten track but the allure of the regularity, simplicity laced with a certain unattainable power. Electricity had such power, like every energy source- and experiments were its vessel. But why does energy have such power, yet insist on being simple and regular. Without quite realising he was ousted from the flow. He crashed into the panel with a force that should have sent it clean off its wiring. Of course that didn't happen. Instead he flew from the panel, straight through its exposed electronics, landing face down on the floor. The room was pitch black save for a glow. He heard laughter. He looked up.
Sparky sat with one of the most forced nonchalant expressions on his face. He had that expression because, and Trilby had no doubt, because he was perched atop a large pile of guards. Most seemed to be smoking, with their suits occasionally sparking, as a reminder of what happened. There was groaning too and it was loud. Sparky had his antenna conducting a bolt of electricity between them. The subsequent light was enough to light the small area they were in since the bulbs had all blown.
"Graceful," Trilby stood brushing his fur,
"First time actually."
"Yeah, but I got it perfect first time." Sparky jumped down from the pile.
"Well second place is fine for me."
"You mean last place," Trilby winked, "How hot are you running?"
"About 30%,"
"Not enough for another jolt, huh,"
"So what's the plan bro?"
"Well the ship's still flying, which means the thrusters are being powered by an isolated circuit, one that didn't short out with your jolt."
"So we go and shut it down?"
"Well… It's not that simple. It's on an isolated circuit, so we can't reach it through any electrical pathway not connected to the circuit directly. Besides, you messed up the current and everything's blown up. It's impossible to know where you're going. I traced the electrical surge to its source." Inside of a circuit the current is like the traffic flow, without it, electricity 'roams' freely in any direction. Sparky could always tell where the power source was by the direction of the current and following it to its source, without it they were blind.
"How do we get their then, we don't have a map."
"We need to find a room being powered, it's connected to the generator, we can follow the current straight to it."
"Trilby, what about the noise. They aren't going to take any chances now."
"My headset is in the experiment room and yours is in some laboratory somewhere, and they are probably running the sound constantly now."
"So head on assault is a bad move." Trilby gave Sparky a frown which asked,' are you even trying?'.
"No, head on is not a good move. But seeing as we have no idea where we are, any move at all is difficult right now."
"Is the great Trilby struggling to come up with a plan?"
"Well we are two experiments with no protection against the noise, who need to find rooms with the noise blaring out. Yes I'm struggling to make a plan."
"What about the helmets? Didn't they work before?" Trilby gazed at the pile of soldiers,
"We can't talk with them on, and it really crushes your antenna." Sparky reached up to feel his antenna, they were very sensitive. We also can't take it through the computer."
"Oh yeah, soooooo we're stuck," Trilby refused to accept there had to be a way, yet he had always had information on his side. Now he had no idea where he was or what he was supposed to do now. They were halfway there but they were stuck now. By shorting out most of the ship they had blinded themselves.
"We have to look around, hope something appears out of nowhere to guide us." Trilby then hit his head against a wall, in a show of frustration.
"Hey hey, save it for Hamsterviel."