Disclaimer: Toonami is copyright Cartoon Network.

LOCKDOWN

Episode 3: Out of Kick

The DOKs were prepped and ready to get things fixed. Sara didn't even have to scan the ship for an entrance; even a blind Clyde could see the gaping wound in its starboard flank. The DOKs poured in and got busy examining the innards of the monstrosity, finding routes, locating tools, and accessing whatever terminals they could find.

While filing into the beast's many bellies, one of the first and most obvious things they discovered was a massive array of gigantic metal rollers. They were meant to spin toward each other on powerful torques, dragging in bodies of metal from outside to be churned up by the enormous blades that filled out their lengths and fit together like teeth. Each one must have been at least ten times the size of an engine on the Absolution, and they were solid metal the whole way through. They were also ground zero for all the debris in the area that was being drawn in. Taking a look beyond and beneath those tools of destruction, the DOKs spilled into a bay filled with even more churning, grinding, and cutting machinery. All of it was dormant. Evidently, the beast was waiting to be fed for its digestive system to kick in.

A chill seemed to race through Sara at the fact that she may end up in there, no matter how long it took. As a safety precaution, she suggested to have only a few teams at a time in that bay. She was glad when the order was taken seriously. The individual in the immobile star cruiser was doing all the work while she was just supervising and zipping instructions to him. That was the extent of her involvement in physically solving the problem. Frustration was an unfamiliar feeling to her, but she ignored it because she had her own work to do. Aside from receiving and logging information, she was constantly doing battle with the gargantuan ship's jamming transmissions. But that still left her with more than enough brain-space to talk to TOM.

"Man, this is such a pain in the ass," she heard him grumble. He was currently crouched just outside the door to the reactor room. Making repairs would have been easier had the hallway not been as dark as sin. The Clyde keeping an eye on his progress was helping out with its built-in light, through which smoke drifted in a way that seemed to give substance to its flourescent beam.

"How's it going?" Sara asked.

"Not too good," replied TOM, still working on the door's circuitry. "Thing blew when we tried to reverse and shorted out everything on this floor. It's gonna take a while."

"Same here."

"Oh yeah?"

"The star cruiser can only operate a small number of DOKs at a time while the rest follow, which makes our progress very slow. It's like working with the best computer on the market, and then being downgraded to something with a floppy drive."

"Hey, as long as it's working," TOM said, although he heard the aggravation in her professional voice. He imagined she was being generous with her comparison. Being limited in this way was probably more like having one's arms and tongue removed. Wanting to get her mind off it and anxious to know what was happening outside, he asked, "How're the DOKs doing?"

"They made it inside the ship, for starters," she said as updates continued to stream in. "As best I can tell from the feeds, it's some sort of enormous trash compactor."

"What's it doing way out here?"

"I haven't figured that out yet. All the equipment is in disarray. The hole blown in the side seems very old as well."

"So somebody tried to take it out," TOM deduced.

"And failed," confirmed Sara. "But the DOKs have uncovered some useful information. Would you like to take a look?"

"Just tell me, I gotta work on this."

"Point one: that ship is fully automated with no onboard AI. It's on autopilot. Point two: we're not long from finding the location of the tractor beam generator. If they can get to it, they may be able to knock it out. Point three: I've located additional weapons and tools that the DOKs can use. These may make it easier for them to take care of the tractor beam."

"Well that sounds nice," said TOM, adding some finishing touches to his work on the door's circuitry. He rose from his crouch, hands on hips, as it swished open. "I got the door open," he announced.

Clyde lit the way for him into the equally dark interior of the reactor room. In every direction it aimed its light, smoke wafting from burnt-out mechanics filled the beam. "It looks like I have enough power to reboot the system. After that, I don't know." He booted up the control console and looked pointedly at the Clyde through which Sara was seeing him. "Take care of that tractor beam."

"On it."

While TOM got busy restarting the reactor, the DOKs were on the verge of making one or two new discoveries. A team had found the location of the ship's bridge, which to her meant access its computer core, finally. Maybe there would be some coherent information hidden deep within it. She sent a Clyde to watch, and it arrived just as they were breaking in. It was a simple and satisfying feat for them to bash down some doors.

As Clyde followed the larger robots inside and cast its light around, the first thing that struck Sara was that it did not look like a typical bridge. There were no seats or terminals where crew could sit for long periods of time, just consoles that were built right into the walls and linked directly to the computers that controlled the ship. There weren't even any windows to offer a view of the stars.

But comfort or no comfort, the computers were accessible. The DOKs hooked up to them and started downloading. Every scrap of what they found was relayed directly to Sara, who watched expectantly as the core computer's data streamed in. There was nothing there. The data was missing.

This is so odd, she thought. How can a ship's entire computer be completely blank? To an AI like herself who was practically made of information, the absence of it was disturbing. Whoever the last person was to have command of this vessel had put some effort into making sure there was nothing at all left onboard. It was a mystery wrapped in an enigma, and they'd only scratched the surface of the enigma part.

Just as her thoughts were drifting toward sending TOM onto the ship, she was interrupted by another group of DOKs that were about to make a very literal breakthrough. Toward the bottom of the trash compactor's throat (the bay with all the giant blades) they had found a thick metal security door framed in black-and-yellow diagonal stripes. Sara watched through Clydecam 09647 as two DOKs with plasma torches finished tracing a white-hot line around the frame of the security door. They'd begun at the top, and now the twin beams of their torches met bottom-center.

At last, they were getting somewhere.

The entire team applied its collective muscle to the barrier, and in no time it was forced inward, crashing to the floor inside an access tunnel. The group filed in and scanned the area ... and immediately located the broad metal surface of another security door.

Sara sighed in whatever manner an AI could sigh. This was apparently going to take a while ... But then again, it also meant they were getting close to something sensitive onboard the monstrous ship. Most likely the tractor beam generator, as she'd already theorized. Just a few more security measures to get through, and this day would soon be over with no further damages done.