Chapter 42
Complete the mission 98%
They quickly worked the next morning, packing up the shelter and sealing it away into the tight vinyl container it had come in. In theory the inside was still safe from contamination by the environment of Proximus B, though in practice they would probably sterilize it before using it again, if they could.
Twilight could sense Applejack’s discomfort as she informed her prospecting partner of their destination. But while Applejack kept glancing back at Node, she didn’t argue. “I sure hope you know what yer doin,’ Cap,” was all she said.
Twilight and Applejack search for Node’s destination. Success
It took only a few hours—down a few dead-ends leaving their emergency tunnel, before a series of successive lefts took them to a door unlike the others they’d seen so far. The writing on this one looked fresh somehow, as though the interior were maintained.
Node’s voice sounded over the radio as they approached, a trace of nervousness in his tone. “Aliens should be aware—the system will not be able to identify you. Will likely treat as biocontaminants. But… encouragement! Not equipped for contaminants as large as yourselves. Don’t die.”
“Now you tell us,” Applejack drew the gun from her belt, settling it on one hoof. Even with the straps the gun held on awkwardly, and she would have to operate it through the thick vinyl around her hoof. “I only got two mags, Twi. What are you packin’?”
“Uh…” Twilight lifted a folding blade from her belt. “I’ve got this or a cutting torch.”
“We could still turn ar—”
“No,” Twilight pushed the cart back, pressing the breaks into place before crouching and approaching the door. “I’m going, Applejack. We didn’t come to Proximus because it was safe.”
Applejack groaned, but she felt the earth pony settle into place beside her, gun at the ready. IT was the best they could hope for.
Twilight pushed on the door, and it didn’t open. The wall had a panel of some kind covered with a plastic film, but that didn’t respond to her either. Instead Twilight spread her legs, aiming her horn at the metal. “Equestria’s here,” she muttered. “Good to meet you.”
Steel screamed and sparked in protest as the doors caved inward, like a dozen charging earth ponies had just smacked into them. She gritted her teeth, then shoved again with all her might. This time they came ripping right out of the wall, trailing sparks as they slid along the metal inside. Twilight looked over her shoulder, lifting Node up off the cart and levitating it along with her.
“Let me go first!” Applejack called, shoving past her. There was just barely enough room for both of them in the hallway, and it didn’t look like the Earth pony would take no for an answer. She clambered over the twisted ruins of the doors and into a dimly lit interior.
The metal inside had been polished almost to a mirror shine, with walls made something soft. Like silicon. She could see an occasional shape almost swim through them, undulating along their own power as they moved.
A dense hallway stretched ahead of them, narrowing slightly on both sides.
Where were the bright flashing lights, where were the angry sirens? Twilight’s ears strained, but she couldn’t hear anything over the air-circulator in her suit and the pounding of Applejack’s hooves on the ground.
Something slid out of the walls, landing on the ground in front of them with a metallic click and a squelch. Applejack fired, and sparks flashed, sending broken machinery scattered in front of them.
“As explained—contamination is too serious for these… maintainers,” Node said, confidence apparently restored. “Though… if mistaken, would the others come and complete your mission. Trapped is… unhappy. At present loss of voltage, power will last for at least—”
“They won’t,” Applejack barked. “If we die, you’re bucked. Shut up.”
Node shut up.
The hallway opened just up ahead, into a space that shone with light. A narrow walkway surrounded a mechanical-looking tower in the center, with dozens of spiderlike drones crawling all over it.
It’s like their nest.
They had no eyes, no familiar hardware at all that Twilight could see. But they’d seen her, and all at once they began to skitter closer, leaping down onto the floor and rushing towards them.
There were no warnings, no threats…just the six-legged probes with their tiny manipulator claws glittering.
“Ah hell!” Applejack started shooting. Each bullet shattered one into pieces—but she had only started with twenty-eight bullets, and there were many more spiders.
“Make them stop!” Twilight called, glaring backward. Node had a camera, though she wasn’t sure it could read expressions.
“I am not interfaced with this system. By the time I am, it will no longer—”
“Where!” Twilight vanished, appearing beside it in the air so quickly she didn’t even drop it.
“Top of the tower. There is a universal systems bus. I have an access.
Twilight concentrated on the top of the mechanical tower, where a catwalk of thin metal surrounded multijointed alien mechanisms. Suddenly she was there, with Node’s body beside her.
“Better hurry, cap! Running out of bullets here!”
“This thing?” Twilight asked, pulling on a thick bundle of something like glass fiber. She’d seen something like it inside the probe’s casing… yes, there it was! She plugged Node in.
Twilight attempts to disable the defenses with magic. Success
Do any of them take damage in the fight? No.
There was a crash of metal as every spider in the room dropped limply to the floor.
“Aliens were qualified!” Node exclaimed over the radio, sounding pleased. “Equipment is… functional. Please remain nearby.” Node didn’t say anything else—but the machinery in the center started to move. Like a fabricator, if it was made of interlocking, independent machines.
Twilight couldn’t glide down to the bottom, not with her wings encased in plastic. But she could teleport again, landing beside Applejack in a sea of motionless spiders.
“Well, we did it,” the engineer said. “Hope it was the right thing.”
Twilight pushed over one of the spiders with a hoof. “They left us alone,” she sent, just to her companion. “If Node wanted us gone, he didn’t have to stop them. I think we just made a friend.”
Procedural inquiry: Should wordcount limit be relaxed in order to minimize the number of “no question” chapters?
Yes. It’s better to go over 1000 words here and there in order to reach the significant decisions.
No. The 1000 word limit imposes creative restrictions that shape the storytelling in worthwhile ways. Leave it in place.
(Certainty 205 required)
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Seems to me like you're already effectively relaxing the wordcount via the no-question chapters. It's probably still worthwhile to try to keep it in that range, but not worh really worrying about.
I wouldn't really worry about the wordcount per chapter, as long as the work being outputted is of quality
Restrictions can nurture creativity, but sometimes they're just restricting. You've done pretty well so far, but every now and then, I can see moments where you had to work in order to get a semi-meaningful choice out. And if the chapters take longer, so what? Personally, I'd rather wait a week for 3000 great words than a day for 1000 good words.
*insert Cap here* I understood that reference!
I aggree with AJ on this one.
I like longer chapters so I say go ahead and relax the restrictions. The choices have been interesting and I like seeing the debate.
Relaxing the word limit now and again should be okay, just don't abuse it...
What 9390240 said. Not all restrctions breed creativity. Some just breed frustration.
Also, wow this was a series of lucky rolls. Thank goodness. Getting partially disassembled by maintenance drones would've been... less than ideal.
Now there's just the question of what Node's going to do with its new living space...
9390272
Thank goodness Twilight plugged in the cable the right way around on her first try!
The 1000 word limit was one of the reasons I debated reading this story or not. I've read over 1000 stories on here. In my opinion chapters around 1000 words are rarely any better than good and one shot stories that limit themselves to one 1000 word limit are even worse. There are exceptions here and there but most of the highest quality stuff I've found sit around 2500-8000 words at lowest.
That being said more length does not equal more quality, but less length can often equal less quality. The only limit should be however long your muse feeds you the good stuff leading up to an important descision.
Arbitrary limitations may be challenging, but to what end? Let the words flow until you reach a break point. That's what chapter divisions are for, after all.
When did Node become male? Is it not still using the computer's voice, which is based off of Starlight?
So we've done it, a real chassis is being built. Now what?
Probable vindication for the Left plan!
oh thank god, decent rolls. This could have gone poorly.
Good rolls today!
I think the limit makes things more interesting and is a good creative writing challenge. I hear people in other mediums do the same with like... 8-bit art or something. (Though my old game design professor says some of his students use 8-bit as an excuse for bad art so we weren't allowed to use it in our projects. So... could go either way I guess.)
Seems I'm one of the few voting to keep the word count. I don't mind no-vote chapters. It's actually a bit of a relief sometimes.
9390569
Best exception I've run across is Tatsurou's works, specifically the PWNYVERSE series. On the other hand, those tales have a LOT of chapters and generally rapid updates, so it's more like half an exception instead of a full one.
Well well well... A meta question, huh?
Honestly Starscribe, your writing is fantastic, and I'd be happy with either option, but I personally like longer chapters.
9390861
I doubt Node can be considered male or female, not yet at least.
Relax the limit for me. I'm used to longer chapters, and judging by the explanation, it's not like every chapter's gonna go over 1000 words.
I'm not against no-question chapters, though.
Humanity, is that your creation?
9391420
Yeah, it was referred to as "he" several times this chapter. 🙃
9391784
That's what happens when I write chapters at 4AM. It was a mistake of ambiguous language, not a statement about anything.
9383403
Oh
9390432
Indeed. The "Do they escape unscathed" roll apparently had 20% chance for success...
9390432
Getting a USB in correctly on the first try is, indeed, a feat. I can almost never get plugs like that set right on the first try.
And, my job involves plugging and unplugging those types of things all day!
I'm getting replicator vibes, like from Stargate.
Yes. I was honestly surprised when I read that these chapters were only roughly 1000 words long; they sure don't feel like it.