EDANITH > The Frontier

The crown Jewel of poor planning [DaGlobster!]

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Rhi-Rhi:
"Fuck fuck fuuuuck, you've gotta be fucking kidding me!" Jewel smacked the side of her smart phone, as though that would make the dumb thing work again. But nope. Nothing. The screen was a chaotic mess of pixels and color, and so what if it was several versions behind the latest upgrade? It was working fine earlier!

Cursing all the more, she took it apart, popped the battery, and put it back together. But then it wouldn't turn on at all, period. No chaotic colors. Just a black screen.

"Seriously?! What the fuck, C-Mobile!" She fiddled with it some more, made a few final, futile attempts at trouble-shooting, and was finally forced to call it quits. She stuffed it back in her jeans pocket.

She was fucking screwed.

Like, more screwed than before.

Here she was, out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but her old motorcycle (running low on fuel, now) and a backpack full of clothes, water, and a little food. That was it. Oh, and a failure of a phone that had her GPS and everything on it, and now decided to just die when she needed it most. There was supposed to be a settlement out here somewhere, but without her GPS...

Well, shit. She didn't know how to get somewhere by following the sun or whatever! Which way was north?!

And which way was back to Tynova?

Jewel looked back over her shoulder and wiped sweat from her brow, though she was sweating all over. The heat was intense out here, with no shade or vegetation, and her clothes were sticking to her in all the wrong places. All she saw behind her was more red earth. Tynova could be back straight that way--or maybe it was more to the side. Fuck if she knew now! There were no landmarks out here to orient herself, and the ones that were around were just...rocks and more rocks.

She really hadn't planned this out. But she'd also had no time. Her neighbor had reported her. Her fucking neighbor! The chick she'd loaned books and movies to! She'd barely made it out of her flat when the cops rolled up and there was no way she was going with them, no way she was going to become one of those selfless saviors--AKA one of those mages with the shit drilled into their brains. She couldn't exactly go back now.

That didn't mean she wanted to die out here in the desert, though.

"Okay. Don't panic," she told herself, and took a deep breath. "If there's a settlement, you're gonna see it, right? If I just...keep going, I mean, it'll stand out, right? I'll see something on the horizon."

Right?

Yet she froze, struggling with fear. The fear of the unknown ahead of her, the possibility she might find nothing and die out there, and the fear of the known: the knowledge that if she went back, she might not ever get this chance again, and her future, her life, would be sealed.

And all the while the sun beat down on her, leeching away her skin's water.

Daglobster:
"No. Yes. Yep, clear as day..."

Jesse leaned against the Lindy-Lou's landing gear, tipping his hat up and adjusting the goggles he wore to keep Edanith's red dust out of his face. He held a standard satellite communicator to his ear, and his eyes stared off at the worksite ahead of him. There was a crashed Aedolan shuttle just about twenty meters from his ship, and from his spot in the shade, he could see Highway, Turnpike, and Boulevard, his beloved robots, milling around it.

It wasn't military or anything. In fact, Jesse was on contract for the recovery of it's flight recorder, and currently talking to his employer.

"Yep, I found it just fine. Looks like it's in good enough condition. Yep, should have the flight recorder in my hands in a few."

He put the transmitter on his shoulder and pinned it down with his head, and he fiddled with the communications array sitting just a few feet in front of him.

"Reportin' in a few. Signing out for now."

He put the transmitter in his pocket, and walked over to the shuttle. Highway, the largest robot of the three, finally managed to pry open the shuttle's emergency doors, and immediately, a loud alarm sounded off three times. The action seemed to trigger something in the ship's fried systems, because the emergency landing flares went shooting up into the sky. Jesse paid it no mind (Because who was going to see that, they were out in the middle of the desert!), and he peered into the shuttle. Immediately, he saw the two dessicated corpses inside, and grimaced.

"Damn... Well boys, you know the drill. I'm going in."

He made suer his toolbelt was all nice and fastened, and he climbed into the upturned shuttle.

Boulevard scanned the horizon, and then all three robots took up idling positions around the shuttle, using standard lookout procedures.

Rhi-Rhi:
Jewel was seriously considering turning back around--if she just kept a low profile, she'd be okay, at least long enough to snag a new phone and fuel up--when a loud, blaring sound rang out across the desert. Better yet, flares shot up into the sky, practically pointing the way like some deity had heard her thoughts and decided to have pity. If she was the sort to believe the gods actually took a personal interest in her sad life, that is.

Whatever it was, she was taking it.

Even as she swung back onto her bike and got the engine roaring, the rare, cautious part of her mind screamed a warning: it could be folks out looking for her. Or it could be outlaws. Or shit, she could be heading straight into some military operation! Hah, wouldn't that be rich? But if she headed back, that might be as good as surrendering, anyway, and she'd take her chances with criminals. She had a gun--not that she'd ever actually fired one before--and...well...

#YOLO?

Before she knew it, she was speeding off over the desert, leaving a trail of dust in her wake. It wasn't a long drive, but a small hill had hid what lay on the other side.

A wreck of some sort.

And another ship, a Not Wrecked ship.

A Not Wrecked ship that was not Edani, from the looks of it. It didn't look like anything she recognized. There were robots, too. No sign of a person, from what she could see, but someone had to pilot that thing.

Sooo either criminal or friendly. She'd take her chances. If she could get off this dusty planet, that'd be even better! And shit, it wasn't like anyone even had to know she was there, if she was sneaky enough. She could just catch a ride and get off at wherever civilized place they stopped at, no harm done.

Still not much of a plan, but it was something!

Dismounting her bike and hefting her backpack, she moved quickly. There was no telling what those robots were doing, or if they'd report her, so she gave the trashed shuttle a wide berth as she climbed down the hill--and looped back around to head for the other craft.

Daglobster:
[In case you didn't see it when you looked through Jesse's profile, his three robots all have pictures linked to their names. Just lettin' you know!]

Jesse peered around the wrecked shuttle. He might've been on the job, but it didn't keep his curiosity from rearing it's ugly head. The shuttle was by no means shabby. If he had to wager, his client was probably some rich jerk-off looking into some kind of corporate accident. The tattered suits and matching briefcases of the shuttle's two occupants certainly made it seem that way.

Getting an idea, he quickly pulled up his contract, eyes flipping through it. He smiled.

Sucker'd forgotten to put a scavenging restriction! On the contract, there was no mention of leaving company property untouched. All it called for was one recovered flight computer, fully intact or otherwise.

He pushed the button on his transmitter, and a holographic image of Boulevard appeared. Outside, Boulevard straightened up slightly. It projected an image of Jesse in front of it, and remained still.

"Boulevard, get me the hover-dolly and a few empty crates. If we're gonna go fishing around for a flight computer, we might as well pick up a few extras while we're here."

Boulevard walked off towards the Lindy-Lou, and the cargo bay ramp opened up to allow the robot entry. Fortunately for Jewel, Turnpike's sensors were too small to pick her up at the distance she was approaching, and Highway, the largest of the three robots, just happened to be scanning in the opposite direction when she made her approach.

Rhi-Rhi:
Oh man, the timing couldn't have been better.

Just when Jewel had been starting to wonder just how the hell she was going to get on the ship, the weird mannish bot opened up the cargo hold. Perfect! Now she just had to hope that guy she'd glimpsed a projection of wasn't actually in there.

And, you know, not get caught by the robot. Or the other ones.

Jewel crept closer, and waited anxiously for the robot to vanish inside the hold as she shot nervous looks toward the other bots. But they either didn't notice her or couldn't, because nothing happened, no screaming alarms, and she counted a few more heartbeats before she tiptoed up the ramp and into the hold.

This was crazy. This was insane. She knew that, and knew she had no idea of what she was getting into, or what could happen if she was caught.

And yet somehow that only made it all the more exciting as she wedged herself behind a crate and crouched down low, arms around her knees as she watched out through the space between crates. She'd complained before about her life being monotonous so...

Well, here she was. A real mage deserter out on the run, boarding strange ships to who knew where! And as she sat there, her breathing and heartbeat all she could hear, it began to really sink in that this was happening, she was doing this--

And pretty soon, there was going to be no turning back.

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