Because content!
This was supposed to take place after The Tornado. Sarah gets a tour of the Dewfall, then Tod gets bandaged up by Sunshine. He brings his powered armor with him when going back to town to meet Jim. Tod is an AW peacekeeper and is familiar with disaster relief operations, so he intends to assist the rescue operations in the wake of the tornado. That's what I intended to write, anyway. Here's what I managed before ADHD kicked in. I write scenes as they come to me regardless of order, then stitch them together, so it jumps around a lot.
::: spoiler here ya go. The tail lights of Mark's truck had barely disappeared from view when Sunshine turned to Sarah. «Well, now's your chance to see how a yinrih healer gets things done.» she said, walking over to the spacecraft and beckoning Sarah to follow.
"I still can't believe you spent two hundred fifty years in here."
«It's not so bad.» said Sunshine as she traced a pattern with her writing claw on a small panel next to the hatch. Her ink lingered briefly before being quickly absorbed into the smooth surface. A haptic motor in the panel pulsed in confirmation as the hatch noiselessly glided open. «Come on in, but mind the low ceiling. Womb ships aren't built with giant bipeds in mind.» She wrapped the tip of her tail around a control knob near the hatch and rotated it a few times, dialing the interior lighting to a frequency range that Sarah could see.
Sarah ducked her head and climbed through the hatch. She could just about stand upright if she bent her head forward. A melange of odors greeted her nostrils, a combination of lavender, disinfectant, and the musty smell of a kennel, a well cleaned kennel, but a kennel nonetheless. Six ovoid capsules lined the walls, three to a side, each just large enough to fit a single yinrih. They seemed to float freely just off the floor, but closer inspection revealed them to be attached by gimbals to the wall. Sunshine pawed one of the chambers, causing it to rotate forward revealing a door. Sarah could tell it was originally transparent, but the interior surface was coated in a translucent yellow residue.
«This here's an amnion.» said Sunshine patting the capsule demonstratively with her tail. She pressed a button, causing the transparent section of the chamber to swing open. The lavender smell intensified as the interior of the chamber was exposed to air. Inside was a harness to secure a traveler in place, as well as some drains and other things Sarah couldn't identify. «You get strapped in here and it fills completely with neurogel.»
"You're completely submerged?" Sarah asked. She couldn't see any breathing masks, tubes, or anything other than the harness meant to connect the occupant to the capsule.
«Sure. Neurogel is wonderful stuff. It's a cushion against high G-forces; it holds dissolved oxygen like nobody's business, so you just let it fill your lungs, and it serves as an interface between the nervous system and the ship's electronics. Oh, and it halts metabolism, that's the important part. It does all the work of keeping the brain nourished and oxygenated while your body is preserved for centuries.»
"I thought yinrih couldn't go unconscious. You're telling me you just floated in there like pickles in a jar for two hundred fifty years?"
«It only felt like a few days to us. While we were in interstellar space the amnions slowed down our brain functions so that time outside seemed to pass more quickly. When we entered Earth orbit they went back to normal. We were still in suspension when we heard Bob on the radio. Stormlight was the one who answered back, and he did it while floating in that amnion over there.»
Sarah reached her hand out to touch the patina of gel coating the door, but Sunshine gave her a warning look. «I wouldn't touch it.» she admonished. «I don't know enough about your neurology to say if it's toxic to humans. In fact, let's close this for now, just in case the fumes get to you.» Sunshine hopped up on her hind feet and pushed the door closed with her front paws.
Sunshine moved further into the tiny craft. «Mind the paw loops.» she said, using her right rear paw to tug on a cloth loop attached to the floor. They covered every free surface: walls, floor, and ceiling. «Most structures built in microgravity have these loops everywhere to help you pull yourself along. They also double as handles for lifting floor panels.» She said as she pressed four spring loaded buttons at each corner of a tile on the floor. The tile popped upward slightly and Sunshine lifted it up and set it off to one side. Beneath the floor were bags, boxes, canisters, and other impedimenta all bound by elastic cables to keep them from floating away.
«Did you forget why we're here in the first place?» Tod barked. «We're not here to give tours.»
«Don't get your tail in a knot. I'm getting my equipment as we speak.» said Sunshine. «Take this box and set it next to our impatient little patient.» She handed Sarah a transparent container filled with various oddments. «I'm right behind you with the rest.»
...
«Ouch! Don't they make stuff that doesn't sting so bad?» Tod complained as Sunshine smeared antiseptic on his forepaws.
«The pain is how you know it's working.»
"Is he okay?" Sarah asked.
«He's fine. Just some superficial lacerations and expressed ink sacs--self inflicted, I might add. And all over a little wind?»
«It wasn't 'a little wind'.» said Tod, looking at the human for affirmation.
"Tornadoes are no joke." said Sarah. "Don't you have violent wind storms back home?"
«Wayfarers' Haven? Certainly not.» said Sunshine as she put away her tools.
...
Tod lifted a floor panel covering the basement storage area. He pulled out a large canister and unscrewed the lid, allowing the contents to spill onto the floor. The flexible pseudosinew of a torso jacket crinkled quietly as the garment unfurled slowly from its two and a half century sequester in a vacuum cylinder. He took a cursory inventory as he spread the components out on the floor: One torso jacket, one tail sheath, four paw gauntlets, two drone capsules, which were already snapped into brackets on either side of the spine of the jacket, and one helmet.
Lying on his back atop the jacket, he slid his hind legs into the two rear sleeves, then his forelegs into the two front sleeves. He wriggled his tail through the hole at the hind end of the jacket. Once all five limbs were where they needed to be, he zipped down the front, covering his belly in glossy black artificial musculature. He gripped the tail sheath in his rear paws, slid his tail inside it, and snapped the sheath onto the gasket surrounding the base of his tail. His hindquarters were now protected by the best, most durable tech the lowest bidder could offer.
Next came the paw gauntlets: Front right, front left, rear right, and rear left. He flexed all six digits on all four paws to see how the pseudosinew mimicked his fine motor movements. The front right paw was a bit stiff, but otherwise the gauntlets had endured the test of time.
Finally, he picked up the helmet. The colored chevrons on the back of the ear guards fluoresced as brightly as the day they were applied. He gave it a quick once over. The HUD visor was clear, the air inlet filters along the muzzle were free of dust, and the umbilical port on the back of the neck was still magnetized. Once he was satisfied with the external inspection, he donned the helmet and began a checklist of the internals. He flicked some of the tongue-actuated switches and made sure the ball valve on the hydration line was clear by giving it a few licks. Once he was satisfied that nothing was amiss, he flipped back over onto his feet and quickly tossed his head back to snap the umbilical in place, connecting the helmet to the rest of the suit.
With all the passive systems in order, it was time to apply power to this powered armor. Tod pressed his inner thumb against the control ring on his left writing claw and listened for the subtle whirr of the inlet fans of the micro fusion reactor as they began drawing in ambient water vapor. Some of the water would be electrolytically separated, with the hydrogen going to feed the reactor and the oxygen either exhausted back into the environment or added to emergency air tanks. The rest of the water would serve as coolant or be added to the hydration line to be lapped up as needed.
«Lefty? Righty? How are you little felllas holding up?» He affectionately patted the two drone capsules with his tail. A haptic motor in each capsule gave a quick pulse letting Tod know their firmware had successfully booted. He flicked a tongue switch, pulling up the video feed from each drone onto his HUD. The retroreflectors on his ear guards shone back at him in the darkness.
...
"What do you mean we can't go back?" asked Jim.
"Sorry, sir, but that whole side of town is under strict curfew until 7:00 tomorrow morning." It was the same cop who had dropped Jim off at the clinic. "There may be other people in that trailer park that need help, and you'd just get in the way. I'll see to it personally that your belongings are safe. You can return after sunup and go through your things."
"I can help you get the other people out." Jim suggested.
"Sorry, but no. We need trained professionals for this sort of thing. You could just end up making things worse if you don't know what you're doing. Here," The officer pulled some bills out of his wallet and offered them to Jim. "There's a motel across the street. This should cover a night for you and our little visitor. Y'all get some rest. I can pick you two up in the morning.
"Excuse me, sir." Tod had donned the HUD specs and keyer and was sprawled out across three of the waiting room chairs. "First, allow me to introduce myself properly this time." He patted his abdomen but skipped the more formal greeting. "My name is yip, whine, yip, whine, grunt," he said in Commonthroat then continued speaking using the synthesizer. "but you can call me 'Tod'." He pulled a card out of a pocketed band wrapped around his right wrist and offered it to the officer. "If you need experienced first responders, I happen to be a veteran of the Allied Worlds peace keeper corps. This sort of thing is my crackers and mustard."
"I think he means 'bread and butter', officer." Jim corrected.
"What he said." Tod continued. "I have experience with civilian relief operations. I think I could be of some use."
The officer politely pretended to read the alien writing on the card, then turned down to look at Tod. "We are short on help. OK. You come with me