u/Menitus

Sure, fine. Thanks. But right after we should get rid of it like she said.

Hell no. As soon as I can I'm going somewhere where the ground doesn't have a pulse.

Although, maybe we should respect his dying wish.

I haven't been told much about the RINGs. People here seem to have a thing for obscuring what should be vital information, or maybe my coworkers were just jerks...

She stares at it further, and something deep within her starts to crystalize

Should I? She says, a spore of doubt and distrust having taken hold in her tone

Menitus stares in confusion. She had been employed by this 1098th world ship yard for only a few weeks after fleeing her old life, and so had only heard fragments and tales about the GRID, and RINGs, and the UR ones such as KIB.

The RING sees her, and she sees it, and something very deep within her starts to bend

I'm hardly an expert in dimensional harmonics and phase-interaction; I'm more of the engineering type, so for all I know it could be.

We don't generally have spare Cores unless a ship's Drive has been cycling down for a while. And there was no warning for this.

Nothing. We haven't had to recalibrate the coolant system. We haven't had to change the schedule for shielding-replacement. No pilots have reported irregular phase-harmonics.

And then, all of a sudden... It stopped working.

I've tried checking the circuitry, everything's straight. I've taken a look at the shielding. Not a spot of melt or warp.

I get you. Say, know anything about THROBBEN drives? In particular why they'd stop working suddenly?

Ch'. this exasperated aspiration is somewhere between a scoff and an unvoiced expression of amusement

"did"?

Menitus lets out a brief but intense sigh, and walks over to the dinner table. I guess I deserve a break after all of this trouble my mænters have put me through.

Don't look at me, I'm just trying to fix a space-craft while people keep randomly showing up and wanting to have a conversation with me.

Sorry.

far away, in a distant shipyard, a mechanic curses to herself as the display on her monitor flashes auburn, then goes black, then turns back on

Oh, I'm a mechanic. I specialize in THROBBEN tech. I can't for the life of me explain why the X-76 fleet can't do shit, hence my current mood.

I'm gonna be pretty terrible company right now. You might try finding someone in a better mood.

Then again, i'm not exactly busy.

Can... Can I help you?

Menitus looks up at the etherial-ish humanoid brusquely and doesn't say anything. She clearly isn't in a good mood, and her face is streaked with THROBBEN engine oil and THROBBEN-induced melanomas

Menitus' swearing is audible from this range, as well as the sound of her kicking the rear-end of a bulky spacecraft

"Excuse me, sir." A woman with heavily scarred skin, blind in one eye, approaches.

"Do you happen to know where the nearest Islen market is?"

What kings? The crown is an empty promise.

They have Betrayed the people, and commoners starve while they eat exotic metals and hunt men for sport.