004 - Mind Over Matter

Publish date: 27th Oct 2019

Perspective: Loe

Loe had a lot on her mind, she's had a lot on her mind for several periods now.
With most of Scuttlebug's systems powered down, she only had herself, Tom's soft breathing as he slept, and what she could remember of his memories.
Every time she reflected on one, new details would spring to life, as if by magic.
Had they always been there, or was her mind playing tricks on her?
That women, his wife, she had light brown hair extending slightly below her shoulders, eyes bluer than oceans, and a disarming smile that invited her to forget her worries.
Her name still eluded Loe, there had never been speech in his memories, it was always simple moments frozen in time, and yet they feel so alive, so full of emotion.

Tom: Ngh...Morning...

Loe: Morning, the docking computer states we're about a period out.

He was surprised by this, his eyes hunted for the docking computer as if he had misplaced it.
He rubs his eyes, still tired despite his extended rest, before scanning the screen.
They were now a little under a period and a quarter away from The Endurance.

Tom: ...how long was I out? What happened?

Loe: We melded for 25 periods, you slept for another 12.

The new information seemed to slightly disturb Tom, his eyes widening.

Tom: 25? I have to make new arrangements...

His portable computer flaired to life as he pulled it out, ready to take his new instructions.
As Loe peers over, she sees what looks like a messenger, and backs off.

Tom: I was expecting to arrive asleep, given my natural cycle. We can start the tour early, I'm having the firing range prepared now and you'll get a nice view on approach.

Loe: Firing range?

Loe knew what a firing range was, every species had them.
What was troubling was that it was on a ship, and he had planned to use it in space.

Loe: Is that not incredibly dangerous?

Tom: If it were plasma rifles, I would say so. However, we don't use plasma rifles, they're...ineffective.

Loe: What do you use?

Tom: You'll see soon enough, but I can show you why we don't use plasma rifles.

Tom extends his hand, and a bubbling sense of greed nearly overcomes Loe before she restrains herself.
She can't ruin this for herself now, they had a war to win, but she also really doesn't want to say no.
After a brief session of self-questioning, she had formed her answer.

Loe: ...I'll limit myself to your hand, you'll be able to choose what to share.

Loe reached over slowly, trying to keep herself under control. She can't help but notice the redness of his arm, but wasn't about to stop now. A quick glance at Tom causes some confusion, he appears mostly unconcerned with what appears to be a now-sensitive area. Loe braces for the inevitable spike of pain, and grabs his finger.
The pain's certainly there, but it's not nearly as bad as the first time.
Perhaps this was normal when melding more than once with another being, or perhaps after melding for so long he had lost feeling in his arm.

Tom was enjoying himself, that much was clear even without a connection.

Tom: You needn't worry about my arm, it's perfectly fine.
If you grab my full hand, I can show you something to calm you down.

Loe slowly advances, being careful not to hurt him, it looks so red.

Tom: I'm going to meditate.

An almost-flat disc appears, with three thin pieces on the front.
One of the thin pieces is red, and snaps forward every second. The other two appear to be stationary.

Tom: This is a pocket watch, it's a few hundred years old but has intricate internals. I find the best way to meditate is to try and mentally do the job of every part.

Loe wanted to ask what a pocket watch was, but didn't get the chance.
The "pocket watch" expanded out, revealing a plethora of gears, which stop turning.
One by one, gears returned to life, seemingly connected despite the gap between them.
The red piece moves once more, ticking along each second.
Loe can feel Tom going into a more passive state, his breathing slowing, and a stillness filling the air.
A second thin piece starts moving, very slowly. Was it doing that before he had taken it apart?
As he continues, calmness is replaced with nothingness, as if they weren't even melding, but the pocket watch remains front-and-centre.
A small spike of indignation comes from Tom as the second thin piece stops, his meditation interrupted by the curiousity eminating from Loe, but it's quickly replaced by admiration.
Her abilities were making it possible to show her in the first place, he can't fault her.

Tom: How's that?

Loe: It's...much better.

Loe had hardly realised her worries vanish the moment he started, but she was calm. Serene, almost.
Tom was suddenly very smug about something.

Tom: Alright.
I'll show you what I mean when I say a plasma rifle is ineffective. It's all about range.

The pocket watch vanishes as a large field appears in front of them, with a few plasma rifles floating nearby.
Some targets lie on in the field at various ranges, with distances hovering above. 20m, 50m, 100m, and 200m.
Clearly Tom thought it better to demonstrate plasma rifles this way.

The rifles fire, startling Loe, though the shots are frozen at about 10m.

Tom: Plasma weapons are extremely effective in close quarters, where the ball of plasma is still concentrated.
Plasma rifles are probably better than our weapons at this range, since they can easily pierce.

The shots lurch forwards, striking the 20m and 50m targets. The 20m target has a hole punched clean through.
The 50m target is also pierced, but barely. A large flat crater was formed on the surface.
They stop once more, now at about 80m.

Tom: As you approach 100m the balls have spread out considerably, this is the coalition's standard engagement range.
You can still kill at this range, but it takes a good shot.

Once again on cue, the shots advance, this time to about 250m.
The 100m target was hit dead centre, but only suffered from fairly minor erosion and scorching.
It would still be a fatal shot since no coalition soldier bothers with armour, preferring speed.
The 200m target was barely burnt, the shot mostly going around it. Probably survivable.

Tom: Beyond this range, the balls spread out too much to do any damage whatsoever.
It could still be fine against a large target, but against your average species you may as well throw a rock.

Loe: You can throw a rock that far?

Tom: No, which is the point.

The scene slowly fades out, and Loe relinquishes his hand. Was he that smug over a joke?

Tom: Any questions?

To Loe, there's only one question that really makes sense right now, the rest will be answered soon.

Loe: Just how far is your effective range?

Tom quickly glances at the docking computer. Loe does the same, 20 moments.

Tom: That depends.
This is a QX-2145, it's been standard issue for about 60 years. It's derived from an M1911, which I'm told is a classic, well-designed small firearm.

Tom pulls out a small black object, that looks like two rectangles stuck together.
He holds it firmly in one hand, with "SAFETY" and "LIVE" clearly visible on the side facing Loe.

Tom: It probably matches plasma rifles for effective range, but only because it's hard to aim beyond that.
It can be fatal up to several hundred metres, though it would take a good marksman to manage that.

Loe is enamoured with the appearance of the QX, such a simple design and yet at the same time so complex.
It almost looks like it has moving parts, with a top section completely separate to the rest, a small piece on the back closest to Tom, another a second small piece near where his finger is resting, and a third above his thumb that seems like it's pointing to "SAFETY".

Tom: It has a capacity of 14 rounds, plus one in the chamber, and can pretty much fire as fast as you can pull the trigger.

He pulls out a smaller rectangle out of the part he's gripping as he mentions round capacity, as if to indicate that it holds those rounds.
It looks like nothing more than a metal case, with a bunch of brass cylinders that have a silvery ball on one end, which are packed into it in a zig-zag like pattern.
The silvery balls look to be about 1cm in diameter, with the cylinders slightly larger to accomodate them.
Tom re-inserts it with a satisfying Click!

Loe had to think about his statement for a few more seconds.
15 shots at once, and it could fire as fast as you wanted for those 15 shots. 15 quick kills in maybe 10 seconds.
A plasma rifle, at best, could fire once per second, assuming you could deal with the heat in the first place.
Most species, if not all of them, can only fire every 3 seconds before they risk burning themselves.
Plasma rifles were also considerably larger, requiring two arms. The QX only requires one.
However, the capacity was extremely low, and no mention was made of reload time.
A plasma rifle does take about a minute to reload, but it also has so many shots you'd never need to.

Tom: As for larger weapons, well...

Tom gestures towards the window facing The Endurance, and Loe peers outside.
It wasn't much to look at, but if it was built like a Human is, and if they had more, the Roak stood no chance.

Tom: That ship has been in service for over 100 years.
It's the first FTL-capable ship we ever made, and you're the first non-Human to board.

It's almost like The Endurance heard him, the docking bay doors open as he finishes and we silently slip inside.


The interior is a lot nicer to look at. The hallways are square-ish but the corners are rounded at the top, with soft yellowish light filling every crevace mostly evenly.
Shelves are dotted around the place, some with plants in what looks like clay containers.
There's a lot of other Humans here, and they're looking at Tom's arm, as well as giving Loe accusatory stares, as if to imply she's hurt him.
Tom is apparantly not satisfied with this.

Tom: Could you all please NOT stare at the Oda ambassador?

They all found much more interesting things to look at as they walked past.
One was keenly examining the notes on the cargo he was carrying out the docking bay.
Another seemed to be enjoying the vast expanse of space as she leaned against the window.
A third was busy attempting to beat the opposite wall at a staring contest. Who knows, he may win.

Tom: Sorry about that, most of them haven't actually seen another species in person.
I'm sure it'll stop in time, but for now you'll be getting looks like that.

Loe: It's fine.

Tom stops, and turns left to face a door.

Tom: This...is the firing range.

Loe: Am I going to be able to use some of your rifles?

Tom smiles, and enters a code onto the door's control panel. The door slides open, revealing two more Humans.
One has a rifle from the floor to their waist, the other has one going to their head. The range is...massive.

Loe: I...Just how far does the range go?

Tom: About 4000m, it should suffice.

Loe's caught off guard by this. 4000m? Is the firing range the length of the entire ship?

All three Humans have massive grins. Tom pulls out his QX-2145.