\u201cWinter? You still down there?\u201d Argon\u2019s voice came crackling over the ship intercom. His voice, as always, was smooth and confident, but there was a note of urgency in it that wasn\u2019t often there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here,\u201d replied Winter. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to let you know that we\u2019re leaving hibernation mode. So, stay away from the engines.\u201d Winter sighed. Great<\/em>. \u201cOh, and did you fix the diagnostic systems yet?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, sir,\u201d Winter replied. \u201cNot yet. I narrowed it down to an overheating panel, though.\u201d There was a moment of silence before Winter plowed onward. \u201cWith all due respect, Captain, bringing the ship\u2019s power up will probably fry this panel.\u201d<\/p>\n Another few seconds of silence, before Argon\u2019s voice came back onto the intercom, slightly louder, slightly more aggressive than before. \u201cOK Winter. Here\u2019s the situation. We\u2019ve got incoming Invaders and our ship might as well be a cardboard box for all the good it does us in hibernation. I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re stuck down there during this, but I can\u2019t allow any marmots onto this ship.\u201d<\/p>\n A mixed blessing, then<\/em>, thought Winter. With a marmot attack, he\u2019d be able to get out of this sauna of an engine \u2013 only sure to get hotter once those engines were going full blast \u2013 and maybe even get a chance to nap while locked down in his room.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks for letting me know, Captain. I\u2019m going to head over to my room, then. Let you military types do what you need to do.\u201d Winter stepped away from the panel and toward the door. Behind him, the engines were starting to spin.<\/p>\n \u201cNo can do, officer.\u201d Argon sounded more and more apologetic with each sentence. \u201cWe\u2019re locking down all the doors now, and besides, we need someone in that engine room. If that panel is overheating, we\u2019ll need someone to contain any potential fires that break out. Also, that engine room is one of the weak points on the ship. We\u2019re dispatching a team to meet you, but if an Invader latches on before they get there\u2026\u201d Argon\u2019s voice trailed off as he let his words sink in. Winter looked over at his standard kit, which he had left hanging from the handle of now-locked door.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got your kit, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Winter clenched his jaw and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He opened them again, confirming that this wasn\u2019t just a bad dream, before striding over and grabbing his standard issue pistol from his kit.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir. Of course I do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWinter? You still down there?\u201d Argon\u2019s voice came crackling over the ship intercom. His voice, as always, was smooth and confident, but there was a note of urgency in it that wasn\u2019t often there. \u201cI\u2019m here,\u201d replied Winter. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d \u201cI wanted to let you know that we\u2019re leaving hibernation mode. So, stay away […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-year26","tag-fiction","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.scott-n-katie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}