Far above the surface of Oxyopia, a planet whose atmosphere was chemically comprised as such that it magnified even the most minute of details upon it which meant, for example, that one could conceivably watch a game of Rugger and quite clearly see the colour of the referee’s eyes from a position thirteen miles over the troposphere without the assistance of any kind of visual aid, the Pineapple sat in a geosynchronous orbit.
Her crew were not watching a game of Rugger, though there were several games taking place down on the surface at that particular point in time - it was the first round of the cup after all, the biggest and most active weekend of the Rugger season. And whilst the Pineapple’s crew would quite happily have watched a game or two, they were in fact otherwise engaged.
“For the love of every fucking demonic entity will someone please silence that fucking alarm?!” Ivy yelled over her communications device as she made her way quickly along one of the Pineapple’s many windowed corridors. She had little choice but to yell if she wanted her voice to be heard, which she did, as the alarm was incredibly loud.
She glanced through the incredibly strong and thick plexiglass of the portside window, and though she did indeed see the hotly-tipped rookie of the year kick a basket from an immensely impressive ninety-two yards, the feat did not really register. She did make a mental note, however, to watch the replay of that particular game as and when she had chance to do so.
She was two-thirds of the way along the corridor when the alarm was finally silenced, and in that moment there really was silence. However as her hearing began to normalise having been subjected to the shrill, obnoxious alarm for several more minutes than was probably good for one’s health, familiar noises such as the hum of the Pineapple’s core drive, the gentle buzz of the oxygen regeneration units, and the grumbling of the vessel’s heating system, registered once again.
“Right!” Ivy said, her voice still raised to its former volume. “I’m a door from the mess hall. We reckon it’s the green switch at the back left, right?”
“Right.” The reply came back over the vessel’s internal communications system. “Green switch, back left. Press and hold for five seconds and that should reset the whole thing.”
“Gotcha!”
Taking a deep breath, Ivy accessed the mess hall and instantly found that she had to squint, such was the thickness of the steam therein. Thankfully she knew exactly where she was going and could probably have made the trip across the room with her eyes closed had she been required to do so.
Though she knew the route she still took care while crossing the room, but it was not a minute later that she was able to place the palms of her hands flat upon the countertop.
The steam that filled the room was rather hot, and Ivy knew she would not be able to take much more of it. She had a job to do, however, and with that in mind she snaked her arm around the back of the machine and fumbled for a few seconds. She could only feel a single switch at the rear left, and as there really was no other option she pressed it, counting to five in her head before she released it once again.
There was a clunk, and she felt the machine vibrate gently as she withdrew her hand. Quickly she turned, and made her way back across the steam-filled room - steam that itself would now dissipate quickly. She did not speak into the comm, however, until she was out of the mess hall and back in the corridor once again.
“Alright folks, crisis over,” she said, breathing deeply of the somewhat stale air for despite the Pineapple’s oxygen regeneration unit being of pretty high quality, there was only so much it could do. “Coffee machine is reset, so let’s give it a few minutes for the room to clear and then it’s motherfucking lattes all around!137Please respect copyright.PENANAxh3rLNcoPi