Rest and Relaxation

“Goddamnit hold still!” Cass grumbled as Kenneth looked around the spacious lab again.

“Sor… Sorr.. Sorry.” The AI said, amidst a burst of static and garbled speech, his image flickering and distorting into black and white.

“Yeah. That’s why.” She said, raising up her magnification goggles and rubbing her eyes. It had been tough to get the AI back up again, she’d had to get Jamie involved for part of the procedure as it looked like the reactor in the SSS Black Nebula was damaged. It was like performing keyhole surgery on an ant using a chainsaw. He’d be the same as before, more or less. There was a lot of damage caused to the major systems that had to be hand fixed. Being the savvy technical wiz that she was, Cass has also added in a few ‘modifications’ and ‘fail safes’ into Kenneth that weren’t there before.

“Yo Cass dude.” Holly said, appearing on the monitor nearby.

“What?” She snapped.

“We’ve arrived at that planet you asked me to find.” Holly replied, superimposing his head as a moon over the image of a green and verdant world.

“Any nasty surprises?” Cass asked, walking over to the terminal and typing into it, looking at the scanned data collected by Holly.

“Nope, some old ruins, no signs of habitation for millennia. Some cute local animals though, friendly things.” Holly said, punching up an image of some cute fuzzy creatures.

“Poisonous? Turn feral on a particular moon phase? Aggressive when exposed to water?” Cass said sceptically, scanning the creatures on the surface closer.

“Nope, nope and nope. It’s like a paradise down there.” The South London AI beamed at Cass, proud of his work.

“Well, then assemble the crew in the canteen and we’ll get this party started.” She said, looking at Kenneth. “I’ll be there in a bit.”

*****

Jay was sat next to Phil, the latter of whom was leaning on the others shoulder wearing a giraffe costume, a kebab stain and a turquoise waistcoat. Jay looked hung-over, or tired, no one was quite sure which, and was too afraid to ask. Eve sat in the corner, casting furious, red, puffy eyed glances at Jay and Cass. Plisken smoked his pipe, feet up on the chair in front. Jade was sat with Phi, who was fussing over the fluffy slippered Doctor. Others slowly filtered in and took their places, murmuring quietly about why they were all here. The hubbub was full of nervous tension, everyone still on edge after the recent trips. Cass sauntered in last, typing away on her pad, Kenneth trailing after her like a lost puppy.

“Damnit, stop following me. Go sit down.” She dismissively waved her arm at the renewed AI and he dutifully saluted and moved to sit next to Phil, eyeing the giraffe costume with a childish curiosity.

“Right away most venerable Mistress.” Kenneth said, as he moved away.

“And stop with that.” She said after him, a hint of frustration in her voice.

Maybe those changes weren’t a good idea. I didn’t think he’d be this bad… Maybe if I make a change to the obedience subroutine again it might just mean that..

“So why are we here?” Jade piped up, knocking Cass out of her thought process and totally derailing the train altogether.

“What?.. Yes.” Cass said, looking up at the compliment of Dwarfers. Suddenly picking up on the nervous tension in the air. Her eyes drifted across and saw Jay, looking tired and… what? Sad? Distant? It hurt her to see him like this and know there was nothing she could…

No… Not now. She berated herself for falling into the memories and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, what’s the deal this time? Who needs rescuing? Everyone’s here right?” Jacky piped up, waving a can of fizzy pop at the collection of people around the room.

“Quite.” Cass avoided looking at Jay. Not everyone.

“We are here.” She began, swiping her hand across her pad and sending the image onto the screen behind her. “In orbit of this planet. As we all need a break. Some R&R. Holly has a Starbug prepped and ready for everyone to go down to the surface in. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but we can’t afford to take more than one…” Cass said, knowing that anyone who had been out of stasis more than two months would understand the state of repairs on the Dwarf.

“I could do with a chance to re-re-re-re-re-refuel the purple spiked elephant!” Kenneth said, his image glitching and distorting into a pastel shade of pink.

“ELEPHANTS” Phil yelled, jolting awake and leaping into a karate pose. Cass sighed and typed something into her data pad. The image returned to normal again and the AI shook his head.

“My that is frustrating.” Kenneth added shaking his head clearing the static away.

*****

The starbug full of Dwarfers, expertly piloted by Jay, drifted like a leaf on the wind down to the surface. The beaches glittered with soft golden sand, the water sparkled like hundreds and thousands of sapphires, emeralds and diamonds in a turquoise silk dress. Palm trees with coconuts hung pendulously from their branches. As the bug settled on a wide grassy plain and the ramps opened, the warm breeze was gentle and tinged with that refreshing hint of the sea and a flowery fruity smell. Off to one side was wide expanses of beaches, the other a healthy growing forest.

"Gees...Holly outdid himself here didn't he?" Molly said, stepping down and looking around.

"Last in the sea is a big fat loser!" Jay yelled, sprinting towards the ocean, somehow having changed from flight gear to swimming trunks in 30 seconds...

<Tag!>

OOC - Up for some R&R? What do you do with the free time? Do you swim or build sandcastles? Do the cute furry things show any interest in us? Do you use it as a chance to stockpile fruit and things from the forest? Lets have some character interaction with each other! Water fights and volleyball on the beach or building tree houses! Get creative with it! :D