A Screw Loose

OOC - This is a JP between myself (Rufus) and Chris (Keto). Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing it. :D-------------------------------------Who: Rufus, Keto, Wildflower, Rosette, Unlucky Mook #3
Where: EngineeringWhen: As Calvert is moving the crew to the Mining Decks.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~---- Snip ----"I'd like to go home, but I can't." she said, with a flare burning in
her eyes as she leapt towards the closest one and disarmed him. Therewas blood on his hand, but he wasn't really hurt. She turned to theother. "Care to let us in?" she asked again.---- End Snip ----
It was precisely this moment that Keto and Wildflower chose to stagger round the corner, Keto leaning heavily against the wall with a thud."Careful, you infernal creature!" he yelped at Wildflower, before his eyes took in the scene before him. "Ah. This must be the place. What's going on here, then?"
"Careful, you infernal creature!" he yelped at Wildflower, before his eyes took in the scene before him. "Ah. This must be the place. What's going on here, then?" Rufus blinked, looking from the mook to Keto and back again.
"I'd move if I were you. He isn't a nice person. He didn't even go to the memorial for one of his staff." Rufus spat, mostly at Keto.The mook, confused and not wanting to die either from massive blood loss or a severe bollocking, moved aside. His friend who had the cut on his hand, looked briefly at Keto, before deciding that he was better to take his chances with the first aid kit in the corridor outside. Keto glared briefly at the two mooks as they backed down, then glanced back at Rufus.
"Given current circumstances, I'm going to let that comment pass without discussion," he said quietly, "At least until we're guaranteed air until the end of the conversation.  Do *you* have any idea what's wrong with the air?"
"I thought I'd come down here and fix it. It's always worth a look isn't it?" Rufus said, not sure how to react to the fiery temper of Dr. Keto."As fun as this is guys, I think I found the air scrubbers." Rosette said, who had wandered into the Engineering room that housed all of the air systems on the 'Dwarf.
The quartet all crowded round the large mechanical system that Rosette was indicating.  There was a long pause."Well?" asked Wildflower after a while."Well what?" said Keto."How do we fix it?""I'm a doctor, not an engineer," snapped Keto, "Ask the science boy here." Keto gave Rufus a nudge.Rufus adeptly unscrewed the casing that housed the inner workings of the air scrubbers. The controls that purified the air and kept it at a constant breathable level. As he took the front off the casing he turned towards Keto.
"I'm insulted by that Xavier." Rufus said. Fully aware that he hated the use of his real name, and although the Doctor had banned Tara from calling him by it, there were no such restrictions on him. He peered inside.
"My job is not to spare your feelings," muttered Keto, leaning forward to peer in next to Rufus, the four of them crowding round the removed casing, "My job is to stop...people...dy.........is that IT?"
"I...think so," said Rufus slowly, frowning faintly."What?  What's wrong?  What's ruining the air on the ship?" said Wildflower, not able to see and trying (only mostly successfully) to suppress the urge to jump up and down.
"This," said Keto bluntly, turning away and holding up a single screw.The four of them stared."You're serious?" asked Rosette skeptically, "That's the problem?"
"One screw caused a ship-wide disaster?" blinked Wildflower."Technically, creature, one screw caused YOU.  I count that as a ship-wide disaster," said Keto bluntly.  Then he turned back to Rufus, holding out the screw.
"Go ahead, fix it," he said, "I don't do manual labour.""You don't do much do you?" Rufus said, taking the bolt off Keto.The genius boy peered into the mass of wires and panels and electrical components for a few moments then exclaimed on a satisfactory way. He leaned in and screwed the bolt back into the hole it had fallen from and made sure that it wasn't going to fall out in a hurry.
"That should do it." He said, fixing the face plate back on. "Excellent!" said Keto, "Now we head to the drive room to proclaim my victory.""Your victory?" echoed three voices at once.  Keto rolled his eyes.
"Fine.  My victory which was assisted by the three of y-"There was a thud as Wildflower let go of Keto and he fell to the floor.There was a pause."Okay, FINE!" snapped a voice from ankle level, "OUR victory!  Happy?  Now, somebody pick me up."
Rufus stepped over Keto's body and touched the Comm panel on the wall. He set it to a ship wide announcement and cleared his throat, nervously he said."Captain Calvert, Sir. It's Rufus FeBuggure here, I fixed the problem with the air. It was a bolt had come lose you see... So... Urm... It's all working again now." He clicked the comms off and offered a hand to Keto.
Keto allowed Rufus to assist him to his feet, dusting himself off for about the fifth time that day."So," he said, "Crisis averted.  I therefore see no further reason to remain in a room with the three of you.  Wildflower - back to my medibay!"
Wildflower sighed, grabbed Keto's arm and began to help him stagger out of the engineering department.Just as they reached the door, however, Keto paused, causing Wildflower to look at him quizzically.  Without turning round, he tilted his head slightly and spoke back over his shoulder.
"I'm sorry I missed the memorial," he said, quietly.  Then, without another word, he headed out of the door under his own power, leaving Wildflower standing there, blinking.<Tag whoever wants to carry on>