A Mess To Clean up

Posted on Wed Dec 7th, 2022 @ 6:50pm by Crewman Finn Jones & Crewman Anouska Black & Ensign Vincent Marlow

Mission: Sojurn
Location: Hydroponics
Timeline: Day 330 07:30
2282 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Anouska was not at all happy about being in hydroponics so early in the morning with Ensign Marlow of all people. He was still creepy and could not take no for an answer but maybe today he would turn over a new leaf as Finn was there and people normally were ridiculously nice when he was around. She was hopeful as she stepped into the only space on the ship that smelled so much like earth thanks to the petrichor scent that clung around.

“Jones? Finn?” The woman called looking around the full stacks for the man but found it all empty. She looked at her chronometer and saw that it was still a little early. Maybe she had been a little eager to get there before Marlow but no one could blame her after the last time they had been on shift together.

"Just me," Vincent replied with a very unenthusiastic voice. They had been called to hydroponics for reasons that only could be new job duties. Could they not understand that archaeology was vastly different than life science? Or was it all just finger waving science to the higher ups? Shaking his head a little, he said, "I guess my days learning about alien cultures in this region are over."

The dread the crewman felt at his appearance did not show on her face as she just stared at him. “Not necessarily sir. We all just have to pull our weight and work together to survive.” Anouska said trying to sound brighter than she felt seeing it was her and Marlow alone in an out of the way area of the ship.

Rolling his eyes a bit, Vincent replied, "That has been the mantra since we started this little journey." He had yet to fully recover from the fact that Darru's little experiment had told him that he would be forever alone and his whole life would be meaningless.

“Well we all have to adjust to plot twists.” The woman commented running a hand along the container that held carrots from the looks of things. It was not what anyone expected but they all had to make do and adjust expectations in her opinion but she was trying to look on the bright side of the hand they had been dealt.

Knowing that he would not get anywhere with people like this, Vince kept his mouth shut about how not all sciences compliment each other. He could tell you what plants were grown in what era of a civilizations history, but he had the opposite of a green thumb when it came to even house plants. "So what are we here to learn?" Vicent asked, trying to change the subject from the tired old teamwork spiel.

"I am not here to learn anything I’m here to help.” Anouska said simply. “Sir.”

"We can hardly do a good job helping if we don't know what we are doing," Vincent replied, rolling his eyes at the starry-eyed Anouska. It was hard to imagine how he had ever seen anything in her worth pursuing.

Finn stepped through the door and was surprised to see the senior officer and his fellow crewman stood there waiting for him. "Apologies Sir… Crewman. I had a slightly start to the morning than expected I didn’t expect anyone to be here before me."

"Well, we were told to meet in Hydroponics for a new assignment, crewman," Vincent pointed out. Sometimes it seemed to him that he was the only person aboard who gave a damn. And for what? A life of waste.

“Well it’s more assisting me in harvesting what we have grown recently but it can be an assignment if that is what you need Sir.” Finn said. From anyone else it might have been sarcastic or borderline disrespectful but Finn was too damn sweet to him consider that.

“Where would you like me to start Jones?” Anouska asked as she moved along the stacks seeing what had been growing recently. It was exactly what she needed to see after last couple of weeks. Fresh food was hope.

Noticing the empty containers for storage, Vincent walked toward them. Uncaring about the plants but knowing the value to sustaining their life, the archaeologist conceded, "What is ready to be harvested?" He ignored the comment about needing an assignment on purpose. It was not a secret that they have done almost no exploration during their time lost in space, so his skills were not in even low demand.

“The carrots the cabbage the aubergines the list goes on.” The man admitted thinking there was so much ready that they would be eating heavily for a bit.

“Well that’s good. You’ve done well Finn.” Anouska said proud that a crewman was doing so much to keep them all alive.

Not knowing what a ripe so much else looked like, Vincent rolled his eyes and started with the carrots. They seemed the easiest as all he needed to do was to pull them from the dirt. "It will be nice to have a salad," he stated, trying for an actual nice comment.

Anouska raised an eyebrow at the man suddenly being nice but said nothing as she started to work amoung the tomatoes. “Very true Sir. Something less protein filled.” Finn agreed thinking that even the salad and stuff from the resequencer was like protein filled.

As Vincent starred at the carrot in his hand, the dirt falling from it reminded the man that there was still life this far from home. Though with all hopeful moments, this was short lived. Out of no where, the ship lurched and the power flickered as the ship struggled to compensate for the loss of it's main power generator. Finding himself on the floor with a spilt basket of carrots and a massive headache, Marlow looked to where the other crewmembers had been. "Are you okay?" he called out mostly to anyone who could hear.

Anouska had been leant over the hydroponics units when the ship had lurched which was no help when she reached for help and the unit shifted under her sending her flying through it onto the other side. She lay there dazed but relieved that the unit had crashed over. “Yeah.” The female crewman said as she pushed herself up as the ship lurched again and Finn slowly stood up.

With what would probably be diagnosed later as a mild concussion, it took Vincent a moment longer to stand than it normally would. He had slight ringing in his ears as he shook the cobwebs from his head. He looked around but caught himself with the secondary lurch. While not worsening his condition, the latest motion turned the lights off in hydroponics. "Where are your flashlights?" he asked.

“Finn where are the torches.” Anouska asked translating for him as the man looked at him confused and in shock.

“In the office.” The man said starting to move across the space to go get them.

Being completely unfamiliar with this area of the ship, Vincent did not trust himself to be able to navigate to the office without making the situation worse by bumping into something that would break. So instead of walking toward the sound of Anouska's steps, he just listened to the ambient sounds for a moment. "Is it just me or is it too quiet in here? Shouldn't the backup power supply kick on the temperature regulators and water pumps?" he asked, knowing that some of the plants were more sensitive than others.

Anouska had not noticed it until that moment. She closed her eyes and listened to the silence. It was deafening after the last 11 months of constant humming. “Not just you Sir.” The crewman agreed reluctantly as she heard a paint swear word in the distance from Scotsman before his footsteps faded completely. He had obviously walked into something and it hurt.

Without a flashlight, finding anything would be a near impossibility. Calling out toward the distant curse, Vincent asked, "Where are the backup generators?" Most science labs did have their own backup generators. It was assumed that keeping containment in tact for pathogen containers, hazardous life forms, and other systems was deemed necessary for survival.

"Towards the opposite wall slightly to the left of the railings and pipes," Finn called back the pained tone slightly less than it had been before but still evident in the man and that he was feeling about what had happened. He groped around in the dark until he saw the glow-in-the-dark sign of the emergency locker and flung it open and started feeling around to find a torch of some type.

"Do you think it is wise moving around in the dark Sir?" Anouska asked quietly.

Shrugging knowing that it would not be seen, Vincent replied just as quietly, "How long do you think it will take him to find the flashlights?"

“Moments.” Finn’s voice said as a small thread of light appeared not far away and was followed by another two as the man came into view and handed over the torches to the pair.

Tripping over his basket of gathered vegetables, Vince caught himself before falling. "Thank you," he said as he took one of the flashlights. Shining his light in the general leftof the pipes and railings, the archaeologist looked for what looked like a generator from their vantage point.

Anouska had leant over to help the officer as he looked like he was going to fall but stopped as he stopped his forward momentum. “Cheers Finn.” The woman nodded her head in thanks as she started to survey the damaged as the other two looked at the generator.

As their light fell upon the generator, Vincent's expeditions on various digs gave him all the experience to know this generator was in trouble. "That is not good," he stated the obvious. Making his way over to get a better look at the damage, he added, "The engine must have blown downstairs, some kind of surge blew the conduit." He gave a worried look to Finn, knowing that they were in more trouble than just darkness.

“What is that worried look for Sir?” Finn asked looking between the man and the generator attempting to work out what was happening.

Surprised that he was the only one to see the damage to the generator, Vincent pointed out the burnt-out circuit on the conduit. "Look, this generator needs some work before it can start going again. Whatever happened in engineering had to have been catastrophic." Having been on enough digs to know how to temporarily rig one of these to work until a more permanent solution could be performed. "I need a scanner and do you happen to have a spare condenser for the mist machines?"

Finn pointed his last light properly to get a look at the burnt-out circuit and let out a long breath at the mess. "More than catastrophic for nothing to even flicker on." Basic maintenance of the gardening equipment was part of his enlisted training and he knew instantly where the spare parts would be. "Scanners are in that corner. I'll get you the part." He said quietly as he disappeared in the space with the flash light.

As Vince awaited Finn’s return, he began prepping the area. It was a workaround they had performed a number of times, it was not very reliable but it was easy and did not require a degree in engineering. He removed the connections to the burned out piece and made a bit of room for some remodeling.

Finn returned quickly with his fellow crewman in tow who looked concerned at what she had been told. “What do you need Sir?” She asked crouching to look at the mess.

"This won't hold for long, but it's an easy fix as long as you have spare equipment," Vincent explained as he took the scanner. Holding it up for the others to see, he quickly removed the casing around the battery and placed it on next to the wall. He then pryed open the condenser unit and found what he was seeking. Pointing out a piece of equipment, he said, "I don't know exactly what the power is called, but I had it described as making a cube fit into a sphere. You take this." He pointed as he removed the power converter and wired in the battery from the scanner. With the frankensteined device, he wired it to the place he had prepared on the generator.

"This will only work for around two hours, then you have to replace the battery," Vincent instructed as he stepped back. "The good thing is that you can charge up the scanner as you normally would at the end of a shift. The bad news is that you have to be very selective in what gets power," he warned. Motioning with his hands to indicate the power switch, Vince nodded, "The honors are yours."

Finn flicked the switch and watched as several pieces of equipment came on enough to see the damage to what less than hour before had been a thriving hydroponics bay. Units were knocked over or piles of mud and puddles of water were on the floor. "Holy..." Finn started to take it all in.

"Damn," Vincent said aloud as he too surveyed the damage. They would need more than just the three of them to have any shot at saving the vegetation. Even in the best case, it would take months for the hydroponics bay to even come close to being normal again.