fixing a connection

[watashinonamaewa]

CHARACTERS: Cibo (watashinonamaewa) & Scout (dashhole) & Sulu (leaps)

LOCATION: Room 009 > 058

WARNINGS: None but Scout's in here, guise!

SUMMARY: Sulu is visiting Cibo (and Scout) to check out her cables and possibly make them compatible with the Tranquility. Follow-up of this. And a little bit of this.
NOTES: Rotation: Cibo →Scout →Sulu

 

 

Cibo had only just sent her last text to Scout when she sat up from her bed. The grey jacket seemed large on her small frame, it was surprising that it wouldn't fall further down her torso because of the extra fabric of it. She hadn't baited Scout, either. Her body was beginning to warm up and she wanted to change. Also knowing that Sulu was on his way, she figured being in her own clothing would be more professional.

Her clothes had been folded as neatly as they could be on top of the dresser. The somewhat bulky fabric would bulge with various straps and buckles, which made it nearly impossible to keep stored in smaller spaces. Her hands were reaching for the bottom edges of the hoodie when she stopped, looking back toward the door. Scout was fast but she hadn't been keeping time in her head this time. Would he almost be there by now?

Her hands moved quickly to remove the jacket and begin the tedious process of dressing herself in her clothing. If Scout showed up in the middle - it wouldn't be anything he hadn't seen before. 

Comments

[dashhole]

Baited or not, the result was the same—that old one-track mind at work again. It took him exactly fifty-two seconds to get from his place to hers; he counted. That included the elevator ride. He wasn't even breathing hard this time.

Scout knocked on the door jovially, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Eager? Well, yeah. But everyone knows what people say about assumptions.

[watashinonamaewa]

The door opened and Cibo had half of her outfit on already - the legs half - the torso half she held against her chest. She moved aside to let him in, then continued to slip the rest on.

"A man is coming by soon. He's going to look at my cables and see if there is any way to modify them for me. If he can't, I think he mentioned someone who could but I'll worry about that later."

Her arms stretched far forward in that certain way, the way where the light of the room would hit her scar to show every small detail and shade of color for only a short moment, before the suit covered it and reached up the back of her neck.

"You'll stay, won't you? Afterward we can have time together."

Though her attention was at the door in anticipation.

[dashhole]

Cables. What? Scout blinked. And then he remembered. "OH! Yeah. Those cables," he said, the words pouring out of him in a rush. "Right." Not really the news he wanted to hear. He sat down on the end of the bed anyway, and watched her get dressed, tilting his head to get a better view of that scar. It was something he'd noticed earlier, but hadn't actually seen.

Scout was not a patient person by nature—he just hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long while this guy was here...Whoever he was. Leaning back on the bed, Scout stretched out his legs and tapped out a wayward tune on the mattress.

[leaps]

Scout is faster than Sulu. Although really, Sulu doesn't go running down the halls. He leaves engineering, takes the lifts up. Whether or not he will be any use isn't a certain thing, but he can at least take a look at what she needs modified. If he can't manage it, then surely Scotty would be able to, or Uhura, or even Spock. The upside to being Starfleet is that the best and brightest are usually just a stone's throw away.

He knocks three times on the door, shuffling his feet awkwardly as he waits to be received.

[watashinonamaewa]

The straps and buckles of her suit were cinched up before she approached the door. It opened and she greeted him with a pleased expression, as pleased as a tiny smile and observant eyes could be. If he hadn't seen it before, it was probably very apparent to him now how tall a six foot woman could be when she stood only two feet in front of him.

She gave a small gesture to welcome him in and, with a turn to walk back over to the dresser. Now turned to have Scout on the bed to her left and Sulu entering to her right, she picked up the cables and handed them out in Sulu's direction.

Upon closer inspection of the ends, they are... what are they? Nothing like anything modern or even futuristic. Just different than anything used before and they only seem compatible with Cibo in some way. The internal of the cords would be more recognizable to modern day cables, maybe even manageable to modify.

"If my technology is foreign to you, I will do my best to demonstrate its functionality." Her hands already reached to move parts of her hair aside and revealed the small ports embedded just behind her ears.

Only now, glancing from Scout to Sulu, had she realized that she had skipped over introductions. Bad habit, really. It was not within her natural curiosity to ask. Names were never high priority in her reality.

[dashhole]

Scout crossed his feet at the ankles and sagged back. Whoever this guy was, he wasn't visually impressive; not that many people here were, for him.

He raised one hand from the mattress, greeting Sulu. "'Sup." He wasn't going to be the center of attention here, much as it irked him, but it was at least interesting enough to watch...

For now.

[leaps]

Six foot tall woman? Sulu's seen stranger. After spending years working and living with aliens, there wasn't a lot left that could phase him. And Sulu had been an even-tempered man from the start. His gaze flicks over her, assessing, before moving to the man on the bed. His eyebrows raised fractionally, but he shrugged it off.

"Sulu. Hi," he added, addressing the man on the bed, before turning his attention to the cables.

Which were...well, like nothing he'd ever seen. His brows knit together in a frown immediately as he studied them, then looked over the ports on her neck.

"What exactly are they supposed to do? Hook you into a mainframe?"

[watashinonamaewa]

"Yes." Or something like that, at least. "Although, in my reality they are of multi-purpose and function with all machinery." Her hair fell from her fingers and she moved to expose more of the ports closer to the back of her head. These were probably more accessible to Sulu at the moment.

"I was able to access virtually everything. Depending on how much was needed to gain information or control of a system, I may have had several more simultaneous connections. But these three cables are usually the bare minimum for basic access for The City's technology."

Cibo grew a little uncomfortable while she watched Sulu. The fact that she had only three and they would all need to be changed in some way was unnerving. If a single mistake was made to just one of them, would the others become useless? The technology of the Tranquility was definitely intimidating.

"Do you think anything can be done to them to adapt them to this ship's equipment? I will allow for their dissection and I will be available for testing, if you believe it is a possible theory."

[dashhole]

"So, your brain's like a computer?" Which was...weird; kind of a science fiction thing. Not that he knew much from sci-fi. He did kinda know computers, sort of, or at least machines, by observation. Not well, granted, but the basics. He leaned over to see what was going on better.

[leaps]

This was beyond him. Sulu rolled one of the hook-ups between his fingers, biting down hard on the inside of his cheek. This was tech like he'd never seen. He couldn't be sure whether it would ever be compatible with the harddrives they had here, and if he fucked up in his calculations, would it hurt her? Would there be brain damage if they prove incompatible?

"Say I find a way to adapt them, would your mind even...match up with the ship's interface? My commanding officer, he tried to link in with the ship and it injured him."

It hadn't been a pretty thing. Sulu remembered that broadcast well.

[watashinonamaewa]

Before she could give a subtle nod to Scout in agreement, Cibo fell silent.

She had begun to think of all the possibilities while staring upon her exposed cables. Would there be damage? Or would a counter program activate - infect her somehow? Maybe she would link up and be shut out without even stepping foot onto the mainframe. Nothing could happen. However many hours of work put to nothing but damaged cords.

"It's hard to say, really. I'm usually able to link up and teach myself what I need to know. If we could at least learn how to place my memory into a back-up space, and if I can then access it, I will know exactly how far I can get into the system."

With a calm sigh and a brief glance to Scout to see if he was still listening, her attention was back to Sulu. The tone of her voice softened with concern.

"But I suppose, for now, I should learn more of your technology and tell you what modifications can even be made. That might prove to be more useful to us."

[dashhole]

Back-ups and link-ups and system hacking, oh my. It was interesting how she seemed to react to the news. Kind of wary, almost. Of course, if she put her brain into the ship and something went wrong...

"So, you're more like a robot?" he asked. He was interrupting again. He'd never been very good at waiting until the end to ask questions, or not being the center of attention. Weird. She'd felt real enough to him.

[leaps]

"Even an AI might have an easier time."

Sulu'd at least had one course in dealing with AIs. He ran his hand over the cord again, biting the inside of his lip. Materials might be an issue too. He'd have to see what Scotty could rustle up.

"Spock only melded. Directly connecting might...I'd be careful. It could seriously damage your...whatever."

[watashinonamaewa]

Cibo enjoyed Scout's interjections. Even if he was only looking for the attention, there was comfort in the fact that he was still there and listening. "Sort of. Only in the brain really. My mind is still human - just data. They're mixed in a way."

Attention then to Sulu, she falls silent again. The possibilities again running through her mind. "We should wait then. I'll learn more about your technology and maybe someone you know will be able to help me when I know my capabilities."

[dashhole]

He interjected in a failed attempt to cover up how little of this he was actually following. It probably showed on his face, just like everything else always did. Never had managed to get that hiding-emotions bit down.

And now it looked like nothing was going to happen. Rolling his eyes, he sank back onto his elbows on the bed.

[leaps]

"I'd try contacting Resnik or Ward. I heard they answer, sometimes."

Not often, but it was worth a shot.

"In the meantime, I'll try to scroung eup some materials to modify them with. There's gotta be something lying around engineering I can use."

[watashinonamaewa]

"I'll send a message out to them."

She wasn't exactly sure what she had expected from Sulu's visit in the first place, but she seemed obviously upset that there was nothing to be done for the time being. There were too many unknown variables.

After taking the cables from Sulu, wrapping them up and placing them aside, she walked to her door to see him out. "I really appreciate your help. If you think you've found anything useful, please call me."