Nor said:
"Ah, well punishment is neither here Nor there (grin), but safety ah... never mind, its far less important than other things at the moment, forgive me Master Atharias. Speaking of important though, how about we rewind back to the part where I asked about that black crystal stuff and the artifacts and so on. If you know anything at all it could be very helpful..."
"
The black crystals?" Atharias seems distracted. "
Ah... It is a secret I regret keeping, Instructor. But I did what I felt had to be done..."
"
You'll recall, no doubt, that just a few moments ago you were speaking to some of the students about why your ship was not a toy. You told them that it was a dangerous thing, and if were they not careful, they could do serious damage to the Academy. You felt that caution was most justified."
Atharias looks directly into Nor's eyes. "
How much more caution do you think might be justified in the case of a weapon capable of destroying whole worlds?"
* * *
Tersh stares down into the darkness as Verena trembles beside him. At first, all he can make out is a sensation of moment, a vague swirling of the waters that hints at something of terrible size moving through the ocean depth. But before he has a chance to react, the creature suddenly comes into view--a bulky whale-like thing spotted with dozens of grey, slimy patches across its vermillion skin.
The entire Academy shudders once again as the creature slams into the transparent dome, only a handful of feet away from where Tersh stands, the supposedly unbreakable dome suddenly developing a worrying spiderweb pattern of cracks. The thing looks straight at Tersh for one disturbing moment, its huge eye oozing blood and pus, before it rushes upwards, out of sight.
* * *
Sylara, only a few decimeters away from the hole leading into deck two, grips the access ladder even tighter, holding himself and Sol in place as the Academy trembles around them.
"
Aaaaah!" Zeth, weakened from exposure to Sol's mysterious Force Drain, loses his grip. The child cries out in terror as he begins plummeting down the access shaft.
* * *
Tyren said:
"How long will the life support last if we begin drawing from it? Also, how long will we stay afloat if we don't begin drawing on it? We are going to need to keep in contact via communicator, so when you find the answers, you know how to get a hold of me. Hmmm ... one more thing, Mister Leepto, I need to know how long the Deeprunner's life support can last while supporting all of us."
Gimto slips and nearly falls as the Academy shakes again. He gulps nervously, then turns to to look at Tyren. "
Drawing off of life support won't cause much of a problem, really--I can just shut down the decks we're not using at the moment. We won't have any trouble with breathable air or pressure or anything for several hours. But if we keep getting hit like that...full powered life support won't help us at all. We're sure to get a hull breach sooner or later!" Gimto checks his screen for a moment longer. "
The Deeprunner could support us all for up to a week--longer, if we're careful with our food supplies."
"
Luckily, it doesn't look like we're in any immediate danger of sinking. The turbines are actually really powerful, and the redundant systems are designed to keep the place afloat even if two engines go out entirely."
* * *
Zeth flails wildly, desperation lending strength to his tired limbs. He clutches at the ladder, bringing a halt to his fall with a sudden, sickening crack.
Sylara looks down, concern creasing his brow. Zeth hangs by one arm from the ladder nearly fifteen meters below Sylara. The young Rodian is even paler, grimacing in pain--it appears the force caused him to dislocate his shoulder.
As Sylara watches, Zeth's hold on the ladder begins to slacken. "
Aaaah! Teacher! I...can't... help..."
* * *
A few moments later, Tyren and Aayla step aboard the Deeprunner. The controls are still active, the pliot's master screen still glowing softly. Aayla rushes over to the co-pilot's chair and begins cautiously fiddling with a few controls. "
Uhh..," Aayla pauses. "
This isn't really my area of expertise, Master, but it seems as though the Deeprunner doesn't have any weapon systems." She glances nervously at her master, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face. "
But she is very fast. I wouldn't think there could be anything out there that could keep up with her."
"
As far as supplies," Aayla quickly checks the ship's records, "
there's a dozen high-pressure diving suits, and as many harpoon guns. And, of course, there's some emergency rations. She's designed to be very, very easy to pilot. I could do it, I think, but we'd probably be better off having Magus or Gimto or even Bri take the controls. Of course, Master Nor's the best suited for the job, but it doesn't look like he'll be joining us any time soon..."
* * *
Nor said:
"Well this is speculation, but appears to feed off of negative emotionand grow at an incredible rate"
"
Astounding." Atharias seems stunned. "
We had theorized that such creatures might exist, but we believed them long since extinct. I never thought to see them myself. Emotional parasites. If our theory was correct, they feed off the miniscule traces of Force energy that come from raw emotion."
* * *
Sylara instinctively reaches out through the Force, trying to lend some aid to poor Zeth. But the draining presence of Sol, still unconcious and tied to Sylara's back, continues to hinder his power.
Zeth whimpers in pain. His knuckles have turned pale and his tiny fingers are trembling. All around him, the grey ooze begins growing at an incredible rate, spreading out all over the walls of the tube and even beginning to swarm out over the rungs of the ladder.
* * *
Nor said:
"Oh, and Gimto if you are going to increase power to the turbines, then do so very gradually, or else they might cavitate into stall or failure mode."
"
Well, duh, Master Nor! I've only been rebuilding hovercraft engines since I was six cycles old!" Gimto suddenly seems shocked by his own outburst. "
Err...sorry, Master. I didn't mean to be so...disrespectful. You're right, though. I'm not going to try and dump any more power into the turbines until we have more of an idea what the exact problem is."
Nor slowly brings the
War Pig down low enough for Master Atharias and Timone to disembark. "
I'll see what I can do about getting Rak's ship at least partially operational, Instructor." Atharias shouts at Treela and the other students on deck, straining to be heard over the noise of the storm. "
Students! Over here, now!"
Once he's back up in the air a bit, Nor releases Wayne. The droid starfighter wobbles slightly as it tries to hover in the midst of the storm's furious wind. "
Yo. Crowd control, huh? Okay. You got it, boss." Wayne begins flying a tight circle around the landing area, occasionally blasting an errant squid or two.
