Chapter Two: Mechanic and the Shadow Nova
"Look, I'm telling ya lady, there aren't anymore remains from the fighting that took place 2 years ago! They got carted off and were recycled into who knows what!" the genius exclaimed, growing irritable over this entire conversation. "And I say, there was so much wreckage that not all of it could've been carted off and completely recycled by now!" the girl said, stubbornly. "Look, all I want to know is where they carted it off to, and how I can get the parts that I need!" In response, the resident genius just turned around and left ignoring the girl's pleading. "Great... now I don't know where to go to get the parts!" she began to stomp away, shaking her head.
"Excuse me, miss... But perhaps I can be of some help for you." Rick said, speaking up. She turned around to face him, a smile lighting up her features slowly. "You better not be just saying that, kid. I need to get a medium sized yellow refractor, as well as the refractor energy assembly itself." Rick just nodded, and grinned slightly... wondering if he could trust her with the secret of his own secret stockpile of parts and refractors. "I do happen to have such an assembly and refractor, but the refractor is badly drained of energy at this moment... It would need to be recharged soon." He said to her.
"That's great! I can fix up my airship and be on my way, thanks to you!" she exclaimed, giving Rick a hug in her excitement. Rick simply blushed, and gently tried to let himself out of her arms. "Miss, I have to get a promise from you first...I have to know if you can keep my secret to yourself." Rick whispered to her, and she stepped back, hands clutching at each other behind her back, and she nodded in return. "Sure!" she said. "Your secret is safe with me."
"Alright then, let's go. It's not too far off." And with that, he took her hand, and rushed off in the direction of the old gate, where they could cross over into the old city. "Once in this part of the city, follow close. There are wild animals in this part of the city." He said to her, warning her before opening the door. She nodded, and as he ran across the way, she followed, running inside the door of one of the old buildings as he opened it, and he followed her in. "Amazing!" she gasped, looking around the room.
This building had been spared destruction by the Pirates rampaging, huge robot known as Bruno back when Mega Man was visiting the island. Right after that, Rick had begun constructing his lab here. Reconstructed with the then fresh materials, the first floor room and its basement had been reinforced, and then strengthened. Several broken down Draches, which had been left by the Bonnes when they were forced off of the island, were among the ruins of the Bruno Robot. Salvaging as many parts as were possible, Rick managed to get them into his new lab while construction crews reconstructed the older buildings. By the present time, however, several powerful computers, diagnostic machines, Refractor chargers, and a small bed were easily within sight. A spiraling staircase led down below, to a much larger area that could be seen below.
"Welcome to my lab, miss, where no others have visited before. Here, I have two projects going on. Now, to find your replacement parts... follow me, please." He smiled to her, and led her by hand to the stairs, even as she gazed about in wonder. "How did you manage to put this place together?" she asked, turning her gaze to her new friend. "Well, it mostly trial and error, but after 2 years or so, I try not to expand any more." He explained, as they came to the basement level. A somewhat small airship could be seen, partly suspended in the air as it rested on 4 sets of braces, keeping it in place. Another bank of computers, a large chest of tools, and a mechanical hand upon a large arm was to be seen along the wall. In one corner, labeled parts could be found, which was where Rick was walking. "There's a set of refractors along the wall that you can choose from. They're all fairly low on energy though. Not even my rechargers can fill them entirely." He said, and smiled, getting a decent sized refractor port from the shelf.
"Well, here we are, one refractor port for your use, miss." He smiled, walking over to the refractor set, where one large red, one large blue, and a set of five medium sized refractors sat, as the girl looked at them. "Please, call me Melissa." She responded, picking up one of the yellow refractors. "This one will do. Again, thank you very much." She smiled to him, giving Rick another hug. "I will call you Melissa, only if you call me Rick, alright?" he grinned, returning the hug carefully.
"I'll do that, Rick. But, what can I do to repay you? Things like this would cost thousands of zenny in any junk store." She said, stepping back, setting the refractor upon a desk that was nearby. "Do you need help with anything? I'm willing to help out in any way that I can." She smiles warmly, looking up at the airship still under construction. "I'm pretty good with machines... I'm a mechanic, actually. I would be glad to help you with your airship, if you need it."
"That would be great! I'm a better designer than I am a Mechanic, myself. As far as I have gotten, I need to set the engines in place, as well as test the tilt wing thrusters. After that, it'll be time to get the bay ready, before I can attempt a take off." He grinned. "But, I'm afraid that it would probably take more time than you have, Melissa. After all installing the engines will take quite a while, and then testing the tilt-thrusters will take a while longer as well.
"Well, Rick, I'm traveling alone, actually, so I have all the time in the world." She said, grinning at him. "Anyway, it isn't everyday I get to help build an airship. It'll be fun!" Rick laughed at that, and nodded. "Well Melissa, I guess now is as good a time as any. Shall we start on the engine first?" she nods, and they walk over to the engine mount. Melissa gasped at the size of the gap there, and turned to look at the engine itself, suspended by cables nearby. "That's one of the largest engines I've ever seen for a craft this size. Are you sure the ship can take the thrust that that thing is going to give out, Rick?"
"I'm fairly certain it will... of course, I made it with a two stage acceleration system in mind. One for cruising speeds, one for an extreme burst of speed, or afterburner, if you will. It is faster than most other airships at cruising speeds, and I can get out of the way of any weapons fire with the afterburner." He grinned. "I managed to save two engines that were once in the Draches that the Bonne Pirates used. Combined with several sets of stabilizers and a smaller, brand new engine, I managed to get the system operational... now, I just need to install it in the ship." Melissa nodded, and smiled. "After this, I may need to try the same thing with my airship. I've had a few encounters with pirates a while back."
"Well, I'll be happy to give you a copy of the plans after we're done, Melissa." He said, walking over to the cable controls, and pressing a button that made the engine slowly slide back toward the engine mount within the airship. "Alright... slowly, careful now... that's it..." she said, as the engine slid into the airship, sparks flying slightly as the metal casings of the engine were slid into their mounts. "There... a few more inches and..." a dull thud could be heard as the back of the engine core touched the casing within the airship. "Melissa, I'm going to go inside and attach the wiring... there are tools out here, if you would like to hook up the outer frame." Rick said, walking over to the open bay ramp, and into the ship. "Okay Rick, I'll see ya in a few minutes!" she said, as Rick disappeared into the ship.
Taking a left, and climbing a ladder, Rick came up to the large casing for the main engine- the secondary engines and its thruster cluster had already been installed much earlier. "Now... time to wire it in," he said, and he walks over to the open side of the casing, where he begins to attach wires and weld things into each other. He smiled as he heard bolts and screws firmly pushing the engine the rest of the way into the ship as Melissa tightened them into the frame. "There we go, all wired in," Rick whispered to himself, after going around the entire casing, and wiring everything into the right places. Picking up a certain tool, he goes around and bolts the insides of the engine casing into place, which helps to finish the entire engine installation procedure. Grinning, he turned back to the ladder, and made his way down into the small cargo bay area, where Melissa was standing, looking around quietly.
"Hey, thanks, Melissa. Now, all we need to do is test the tilt-wing thruster mechanism. Of course, if that works, I can test the airship itself." Rick said, stretching a bit, waving at Melissa to follow him as he headed toward the cockpit. After a small walk down the corridor, which led to a ladder, he climbs the ladder, with Melissa behind him, and then he opens the door marked with a 'C' on it. "Welcome to the cockpit, Melissa. Sorry, there's not much room. I wasn't able to completely triple the size from the Servbots the Bonne's used to pilot the ships most of the time. At least I managed to get two seats up here, and everything is in reach." Two seats set up and forward of the small space behind them, with the view screen right in front. Computer consoles set up between the chairs, and along the wall. Other than that, very little could fit into the small room.
"Nice... A little stuffy in here, but it's nice." Melissa said, looking from the small room and back to Rick. "Thanks. I've been working on making this room a bit more useful and efficient lately, and with the controls where they are, I think, I've gotten it down." Rick replied, walking over and sitting in the seat on the left. A joystick, a few buttons, a lever or two, and button covered in a small glass casing that was latched down provided most of the space-taking items. A radar screen and a small computer monitor to the right of the seat provide the ship with a way to keep track of other ships as well as an expensive electronic map of the known world. "By the way, Rick, what are you calling this Airship?" she asked, as she headed over to the chair on the right of the pilot's console. "Well, I'm naming it the Shadow Nova." He said, and he looked over to her and smiled, seeing her nod in approval.
"Alright... engines, online!" Rick exclaimed, and pushed the engine button. The light above it stuttered into a green light, as a rumbling was audible from behind them. Then, a steady thrum of refractor power could be heard, and Rick grinned back to Melissa. "Have a seat, Melissa. Time to check out my tilt thruster assembly. Computer, open shell bay doors." He said, buckling himself in, and he pressed the two buttons that comprised the airships' thruster tilt system. "Acknowledged," a voice from the computer said, and suddenly, daylight streamed into the airship bay, even as they could hear machines moving, the wings tilting slowly until a shudder was to be heard from both sides as the wings locked into position. "So far, so good... You strapped in, Melissa? We're about to go up!"
"Yeah, I'm in, Rick, let's get ship in the air!" she exclaimed, hands on her side of the consoles as she looked around the cockpit. "Alright. Thrusters... on!" and at that, he pressed the buttons for the wing thrusters to blast downwards, filling the unprotected parts of his lab with refractor exhaust. The bay doors above locked into the open position, showing the open, clear skies in view. Slowly, the ship began to ascend... and a moment later, it was among the buildings of the old city. Below, a strip of the road could not be seen, as it had been shifted down by about 5 feet, and then slid off to the sides, underneath the rest of the street to provide the opening of the bay. Ahead of them, was a long stretch of road. "Close Shell bay doors" Rick said quickly, so none of the dogs would fall into the bay. "Acknowledged" the computer sang out once again, as the bay doors shifted closed again.
"Well, looks like we're ready to try the real test now." Rick commented, as soon as they had cleared the gate walls that loomed around the entire city. "Switching back to flight mode, and..." he presses a button, and the ship decreases in altitude slightly, even as the main engine comes online. The wings went back into their normal horizontal position, as the ship moved forward slowly. Then he set his hand on one of the levers, where he slowly pushed it forward, and the engine power became much stronger as the new airship flew into the sky. "Well, looks like we've got ourselves a brand new airship, Melissa. Thanks for your help!" Rick smiled to her, and she grinned back. "It's been fun, that's for sure. Rick, how about flying me out to my airship? It's just out in the Cardon Forest. I still have the refractor and the refractor port, I brought it onboard while you were bolting the engine mount in."
"Sure thing, but just remember that I haven't landed this thing before, so don't be surprised if it's a little rough." They both laughed at that, and then, Rick flipped open a casing on the top of the control stick. "I'm going to try out my gun system real quick, Melissa" and suddenly, without waiting for her reaction to that, and he pressed the top button. Four streams of yellow cannon fire streamed out and into the sky ahead of the small ship, and Rick laughed. "Great, the Vulcan guns are working!" he exclaimed, and he stopped firing, flipping the cover back down onto the gun switch. "Vulcan cannons? That's it?" Melissa asked. "Even if there are four of them, Vulcan cannons can't do a great deal of damage against other airships, you know."
"That is true, but have you ever heard of a reaverbot called a Karubun?" Rick asked in return. "No... I've heard of lots of different reaverbots, but nothing like that." She replied, looking over to him, even as he began the landing cycle next to a rather large, gray and blue airship in the Cardon forest. "Computer, landing gear down." He said to the ship computer, and it complied, the landing struts settling outward from the ship. "A Karubun is like a four legged tank. When it isn't firing its Vulcan guns, it spits out bombs all over a place. Its Vulcan guns are about twice as powerful as a normal reaverbot's. Mine, however, are about 50% more powerful than a normal Reaverbot's, thanks to the fact I had to create two of them from parts taken from the originals. These weapons have a great range, too, so I can dart in at an enemy, firing away, and fly past them easily. I didn't even get to half of this ship's capable speed to get you here." He grinned. "Cargo Bay ramp, unlock and settle." He said simply, and the computer gave a tone in acknowledgement, as he unbuckled himself and slipped out of the chair. "Shall we?"
"Of course, Rick. I'd ask you to come inside, but it's a bit of a mess inside my ship right now," she responded, walking to the door and then opens it, before heading down the nearby ladder. Rick followed her down to the second deck, and looked around slowly as she headed toward the ramp which to the ground. Giving a nod, he walks on outside after her. "Hey, Melissa? Could I ask you to do me a quick favor?" he asked, walking up to her, and stopped a few feet away as she turned toward him. "Sure Rick, whatcha need?" she responded, the refractor and its port in her hands already. "I need to go get something back at Apple Market. I was wondering if you would watch my 'ship until I get back?"
"Sure, but please hurry. The energy reserves on my ship will be charging the refractor quickly, so I'll be gone pretty soon." She replied, giving a nod to him. "I'll be back real quick, just wait and see!" he yelled, even as he began running for the path out of the forest. Time to get the armor and its upgrades, he thought, as he headed toward the Apple Market Gate. Little did he realize, his ship was giving off a signal, which was about to be picked up by some old enemies of this same little island...
"Look, I'm telling ya lady, there aren't anymore remains from the fighting that took place 2 years ago! They got carted off and were recycled into who knows what!" the genius exclaimed, growing irritable over this entire conversation. "And I say, there was so much wreckage that not all of it could've been carted off and completely recycled by now!" the girl said, stubbornly. "Look, all I want to know is where they carted it off to, and how I can get the parts that I need!" In response, the resident genius just turned around and left ignoring the girl's pleading. "Great... now I don't know where to go to get the parts!" she began to stomp away, shaking her head.
"Excuse me, miss... But perhaps I can be of some help for you." Rick said, speaking up. She turned around to face him, a smile lighting up her features slowly. "You better not be just saying that, kid. I need to get a medium sized yellow refractor, as well as the refractor energy assembly itself." Rick just nodded, and grinned slightly... wondering if he could trust her with the secret of his own secret stockpile of parts and refractors. "I do happen to have such an assembly and refractor, but the refractor is badly drained of energy at this moment... It would need to be recharged soon." He said to her.
"That's great! I can fix up my airship and be on my way, thanks to you!" she exclaimed, giving Rick a hug in her excitement. Rick simply blushed, and gently tried to let himself out of her arms. "Miss, I have to get a promise from you first...I have to know if you can keep my secret to yourself." Rick whispered to her, and she stepped back, hands clutching at each other behind her back, and she nodded in return. "Sure!" she said. "Your secret is safe with me."
"Alright then, let's go. It's not too far off." And with that, he took her hand, and rushed off in the direction of the old gate, where they could cross over into the old city. "Once in this part of the city, follow close. There are wild animals in this part of the city." He said to her, warning her before opening the door. She nodded, and as he ran across the way, she followed, running inside the door of one of the old buildings as he opened it, and he followed her in. "Amazing!" she gasped, looking around the room.
This building had been spared destruction by the Pirates rampaging, huge robot known as Bruno back when Mega Man was visiting the island. Right after that, Rick had begun constructing his lab here. Reconstructed with the then fresh materials, the first floor room and its basement had been reinforced, and then strengthened. Several broken down Draches, which had been left by the Bonnes when they were forced off of the island, were among the ruins of the Bruno Robot. Salvaging as many parts as were possible, Rick managed to get them into his new lab while construction crews reconstructed the older buildings. By the present time, however, several powerful computers, diagnostic machines, Refractor chargers, and a small bed were easily within sight. A spiraling staircase led down below, to a much larger area that could be seen below.
"Welcome to my lab, miss, where no others have visited before. Here, I have two projects going on. Now, to find your replacement parts... follow me, please." He smiled to her, and led her by hand to the stairs, even as she gazed about in wonder. "How did you manage to put this place together?" she asked, turning her gaze to her new friend. "Well, it mostly trial and error, but after 2 years or so, I try not to expand any more." He explained, as they came to the basement level. A somewhat small airship could be seen, partly suspended in the air as it rested on 4 sets of braces, keeping it in place. Another bank of computers, a large chest of tools, and a mechanical hand upon a large arm was to be seen along the wall. In one corner, labeled parts could be found, which was where Rick was walking. "There's a set of refractors along the wall that you can choose from. They're all fairly low on energy though. Not even my rechargers can fill them entirely." He said, and smiled, getting a decent sized refractor port from the shelf.
"Well, here we are, one refractor port for your use, miss." He smiled, walking over to the refractor set, where one large red, one large blue, and a set of five medium sized refractors sat, as the girl looked at them. "Please, call me Melissa." She responded, picking up one of the yellow refractors. "This one will do. Again, thank you very much." She smiled to him, giving Rick another hug. "I will call you Melissa, only if you call me Rick, alright?" he grinned, returning the hug carefully.
"I'll do that, Rick. But, what can I do to repay you? Things like this would cost thousands of zenny in any junk store." She said, stepping back, setting the refractor upon a desk that was nearby. "Do you need help with anything? I'm willing to help out in any way that I can." She smiles warmly, looking up at the airship still under construction. "I'm pretty good with machines... I'm a mechanic, actually. I would be glad to help you with your airship, if you need it."
"That would be great! I'm a better designer than I am a Mechanic, myself. As far as I have gotten, I need to set the engines in place, as well as test the tilt wing thrusters. After that, it'll be time to get the bay ready, before I can attempt a take off." He grinned. "But, I'm afraid that it would probably take more time than you have, Melissa. After all installing the engines will take quite a while, and then testing the tilt-thrusters will take a while longer as well.
"Well, Rick, I'm traveling alone, actually, so I have all the time in the world." She said, grinning at him. "Anyway, it isn't everyday I get to help build an airship. It'll be fun!" Rick laughed at that, and nodded. "Well Melissa, I guess now is as good a time as any. Shall we start on the engine first?" she nods, and they walk over to the engine mount. Melissa gasped at the size of the gap there, and turned to look at the engine itself, suspended by cables nearby. "That's one of the largest engines I've ever seen for a craft this size. Are you sure the ship can take the thrust that that thing is going to give out, Rick?"
"I'm fairly certain it will... of course, I made it with a two stage acceleration system in mind. One for cruising speeds, one for an extreme burst of speed, or afterburner, if you will. It is faster than most other airships at cruising speeds, and I can get out of the way of any weapons fire with the afterburner." He grinned. "I managed to save two engines that were once in the Draches that the Bonne Pirates used. Combined with several sets of stabilizers and a smaller, brand new engine, I managed to get the system operational... now, I just need to install it in the ship." Melissa nodded, and smiled. "After this, I may need to try the same thing with my airship. I've had a few encounters with pirates a while back."
"Well, I'll be happy to give you a copy of the plans after we're done, Melissa." He said, walking over to the cable controls, and pressing a button that made the engine slowly slide back toward the engine mount within the airship. "Alright... slowly, careful now... that's it..." she said, as the engine slid into the airship, sparks flying slightly as the metal casings of the engine were slid into their mounts. "There... a few more inches and..." a dull thud could be heard as the back of the engine core touched the casing within the airship. "Melissa, I'm going to go inside and attach the wiring... there are tools out here, if you would like to hook up the outer frame." Rick said, walking over to the open bay ramp, and into the ship. "Okay Rick, I'll see ya in a few minutes!" she said, as Rick disappeared into the ship.
Taking a left, and climbing a ladder, Rick came up to the large casing for the main engine- the secondary engines and its thruster cluster had already been installed much earlier. "Now... time to wire it in," he said, and he walks over to the open side of the casing, where he begins to attach wires and weld things into each other. He smiled as he heard bolts and screws firmly pushing the engine the rest of the way into the ship as Melissa tightened them into the frame. "There we go, all wired in," Rick whispered to himself, after going around the entire casing, and wiring everything into the right places. Picking up a certain tool, he goes around and bolts the insides of the engine casing into place, which helps to finish the entire engine installation procedure. Grinning, he turned back to the ladder, and made his way down into the small cargo bay area, where Melissa was standing, looking around quietly.
"Hey, thanks, Melissa. Now, all we need to do is test the tilt-wing thruster mechanism. Of course, if that works, I can test the airship itself." Rick said, stretching a bit, waving at Melissa to follow him as he headed toward the cockpit. After a small walk down the corridor, which led to a ladder, he climbs the ladder, with Melissa behind him, and then he opens the door marked with a 'C' on it. "Welcome to the cockpit, Melissa. Sorry, there's not much room. I wasn't able to completely triple the size from the Servbots the Bonne's used to pilot the ships most of the time. At least I managed to get two seats up here, and everything is in reach." Two seats set up and forward of the small space behind them, with the view screen right in front. Computer consoles set up between the chairs, and along the wall. Other than that, very little could fit into the small room.
"Nice... A little stuffy in here, but it's nice." Melissa said, looking from the small room and back to Rick. "Thanks. I've been working on making this room a bit more useful and efficient lately, and with the controls where they are, I think, I've gotten it down." Rick replied, walking over and sitting in the seat on the left. A joystick, a few buttons, a lever or two, and button covered in a small glass casing that was latched down provided most of the space-taking items. A radar screen and a small computer monitor to the right of the seat provide the ship with a way to keep track of other ships as well as an expensive electronic map of the known world. "By the way, Rick, what are you calling this Airship?" she asked, as she headed over to the chair on the right of the pilot's console. "Well, I'm naming it the Shadow Nova." He said, and he looked over to her and smiled, seeing her nod in approval.
"Alright... engines, online!" Rick exclaimed, and pushed the engine button. The light above it stuttered into a green light, as a rumbling was audible from behind them. Then, a steady thrum of refractor power could be heard, and Rick grinned back to Melissa. "Have a seat, Melissa. Time to check out my tilt thruster assembly. Computer, open shell bay doors." He said, buckling himself in, and he pressed the two buttons that comprised the airships' thruster tilt system. "Acknowledged," a voice from the computer said, and suddenly, daylight streamed into the airship bay, even as they could hear machines moving, the wings tilting slowly until a shudder was to be heard from both sides as the wings locked into position. "So far, so good... You strapped in, Melissa? We're about to go up!"
"Yeah, I'm in, Rick, let's get ship in the air!" she exclaimed, hands on her side of the consoles as she looked around the cockpit. "Alright. Thrusters... on!" and at that, he pressed the buttons for the wing thrusters to blast downwards, filling the unprotected parts of his lab with refractor exhaust. The bay doors above locked into the open position, showing the open, clear skies in view. Slowly, the ship began to ascend... and a moment later, it was among the buildings of the old city. Below, a strip of the road could not be seen, as it had been shifted down by about 5 feet, and then slid off to the sides, underneath the rest of the street to provide the opening of the bay. Ahead of them, was a long stretch of road. "Close Shell bay doors" Rick said quickly, so none of the dogs would fall into the bay. "Acknowledged" the computer sang out once again, as the bay doors shifted closed again.
"Well, looks like we're ready to try the real test now." Rick commented, as soon as they had cleared the gate walls that loomed around the entire city. "Switching back to flight mode, and..." he presses a button, and the ship decreases in altitude slightly, even as the main engine comes online. The wings went back into their normal horizontal position, as the ship moved forward slowly. Then he set his hand on one of the levers, where he slowly pushed it forward, and the engine power became much stronger as the new airship flew into the sky. "Well, looks like we've got ourselves a brand new airship, Melissa. Thanks for your help!" Rick smiled to her, and she grinned back. "It's been fun, that's for sure. Rick, how about flying me out to my airship? It's just out in the Cardon Forest. I still have the refractor and the refractor port, I brought it onboard while you were bolting the engine mount in."
"Sure thing, but just remember that I haven't landed this thing before, so don't be surprised if it's a little rough." They both laughed at that, and then, Rick flipped open a casing on the top of the control stick. "I'm going to try out my gun system real quick, Melissa" and suddenly, without waiting for her reaction to that, and he pressed the top button. Four streams of yellow cannon fire streamed out and into the sky ahead of the small ship, and Rick laughed. "Great, the Vulcan guns are working!" he exclaimed, and he stopped firing, flipping the cover back down onto the gun switch. "Vulcan cannons? That's it?" Melissa asked. "Even if there are four of them, Vulcan cannons can't do a great deal of damage against other airships, you know."
"That is true, but have you ever heard of a reaverbot called a Karubun?" Rick asked in return. "No... I've heard of lots of different reaverbots, but nothing like that." She replied, looking over to him, even as he began the landing cycle next to a rather large, gray and blue airship in the Cardon forest. "Computer, landing gear down." He said to the ship computer, and it complied, the landing struts settling outward from the ship. "A Karubun is like a four legged tank. When it isn't firing its Vulcan guns, it spits out bombs all over a place. Its Vulcan guns are about twice as powerful as a normal reaverbot's. Mine, however, are about 50% more powerful than a normal Reaverbot's, thanks to the fact I had to create two of them from parts taken from the originals. These weapons have a great range, too, so I can dart in at an enemy, firing away, and fly past them easily. I didn't even get to half of this ship's capable speed to get you here." He grinned. "Cargo Bay ramp, unlock and settle." He said simply, and the computer gave a tone in acknowledgement, as he unbuckled himself and slipped out of the chair. "Shall we?"
"Of course, Rick. I'd ask you to come inside, but it's a bit of a mess inside my ship right now," she responded, walking to the door and then opens it, before heading down the nearby ladder. Rick followed her down to the second deck, and looked around slowly as she headed toward the ramp which to the ground. Giving a nod, he walks on outside after her. "Hey, Melissa? Could I ask you to do me a quick favor?" he asked, walking up to her, and stopped a few feet away as she turned toward him. "Sure Rick, whatcha need?" she responded, the refractor and its port in her hands already. "I need to go get something back at Apple Market. I was wondering if you would watch my 'ship until I get back?"
"Sure, but please hurry. The energy reserves on my ship will be charging the refractor quickly, so I'll be gone pretty soon." She replied, giving a nod to him. "I'll be back real quick, just wait and see!" he yelled, even as he began running for the path out of the forest. Time to get the armor and its upgrades, he thought, as he headed toward the Apple Market Gate. Little did he realize, his ship was giving off a signal, which was about to be picked up by some old enemies of this same little island...