"All hands," bellowed the first mate. "Repel hijackers!"
Sounds of swordplay rang out along with shouts and grunts as men fought.
Melfor and the Baron drew their swords and charged aft.
Lord Cassel looked to the #port side and cried out, "There's another airship approaching!"
"All hands prepare to repel boarders!" bellowed the Captain.
#wss366 from Lady Cecelia's Trial
Deep in the basement of Building C at the Willow Creek Institute's Forrest Science Complex, Bo fell out of his chair when his computer pinged. After recovering his dignity, he smiled at the remote logs. "Poor Jack. Did you think I'd really let you turn off your clicker?" 5/5
#wss366
"What are you doing?" She pushed his hand away.
Jack cleared his tracks and fingerprints before he logged out. "Clean bill o'health, miss."
"Good, FIN-ally." She rolled her eyes and settled in for the remaining flight. 4/x
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Kiki pouted and pet the giant dog laying across her lap.
Sources, includes, libraries, and modules returned clean.
No new commits since he last poked around her.
Jack did find the routine for the clicker and used some byzantine and obfuscated code to disable it. "Keeks?"
She turned. He raised the clicker to her nose and pressed it a few times. 3/x
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Something about their resonance also contributed to her consciousness but that was a mystery best left to some up-and-comer to puzzle out at Willow Creek.
Or elsewhere.
His best guess? An epiphenomenon.
The hearts's cadance was in rhythm, proportionally, with this bit of klepsydrium's atomic weight.
He ran a shell script and Kiki convulsed. Tav jumped and licked her face until life returned to her eyes. "Sorry Keeks. A necessary evil." 2/x
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A #portscan of Kiki returned secure. "Keeks, please give me permission to perform a penetration test."
She giggled and he rolled his eyes, "Not that kind!"
With a flat affect, "Secure connection accepted." His terminal returned the same and he began poking her brain.
Her soul.
When it came to the klepsydrium, that miraculous alien time crystal, that was a black box. Jack could only ensure the two pieces worked like, well..., clockwork since they ran her clockwork body. 1/x
#wss366
Today's Wandering Shop Stories #prompt is #port. Feel like writing something short and sweet that has the word "port" in it? Check out the definitions of the word at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/port Join in and tag it with #wss366! #writing #WritingLife #microfiction h/t @stevendbrewer
"Heh, that's a good idea." When they landed, Kiki and Tav leapt out and ran to the idling C-130J. Jack pulled out his phone, opened a #terminal and felt relief. His backdoor to Keek's processes was still there and untouched.
It was a twelve hour flight to Russia.
He had time to wrangle whatever surprises Bo and his buddies might've coded into her. 12/12
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Mountains gave way to foothills to the eastern plains as the 'chopper made its way to DIA.
Jack's phone buzzed.
It was Bo texting him. "Don't hesitate to use your clicker. Get this done."
Jack locked the screen as Kiki leaned over. "Girlfriend?" Her smile was earnest.
"Yeah, she wants to know what I'll want to eat when I get back."
"Pizza!" Kiki shouted as Tav barked and wagged. 11/x
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With a sober, deep breath. "Bo told me I have to use my PTO to follow along on this adventure because it's considered 'fun' by the government."
Kiki and Tav looked at him, at each other, then ran to him. Tav knocked him down and licked his face. Kiki sat next to him on the tarmac. Her arm wrapped around his shoulder, "We're going to have a great time. Tav and I and you will make a new friend!" Her eyes widened, "FROM MARS!" 10/x
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"You're right." Bo sighed. "If Kiki doesn't get this situation with Nomad One wrapped up with a pretty bow, we're going to scram *her* Bergson. Not only does Nomad One get neutralized, but there might be some collateral damage too." Bo smiled, stood, then straightened his damp Robert Graham shirt. "And I still don't give a shit about the collateral either."
Jack pushed the glass away as Bo left the SCIF. "Holy shit" came out in a sigh. 8/x
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Jack sipped a half-full glass of warm water left behind by whoever was in here last. "We needed to leave" he checked his watch. "Five minutes ago." Authority felt good, but Jack didn't push the issue any further. 7/x
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"She scrammed her Bergson and flattened Austin. Just happened to be convenient to blame Kiki. Then when Brad detonated his heartbomb, there was nothing left to kill because it was gone. Nobody knows where Austin went. Maybe to the time of dinosaurs or those Austinites are busy going toe-to-toe with Morlocks."
Weariness overwhelmed Jack and he slumped into a chair. "You're everywhere and, with all respect, you need to calm the hell down and get to the point." 6/x
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"Full disclosure. You've already been cleared but everyone out there doesn't need to hear this. Kiki didn't wreck Austin. As far as we know she only has a handful of confirmed kills in Austin and they all had it coming." Bo was matter of fact, like he was reading a grocery list. "Tampa and Des Moines? Those were unfortunate. Her 'sister'," he air-quoted.5/x
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Bo's cheeks reddened. "I got wasted as hard as Moscow after the USA's balls finally dropped and we finally got our licks in." He wiped his forehead. Smoothed back his long, white hair.
Jack stared and swallowed back vomit. He knew Bo was a hardass, but he wasn't expecting this lurking beneath.
The chair complained as Bo sat. 4/x
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Ever since walking along a beaver dam in childhood, Violet had engineering #aspirations, but the #terminal degree at the community college was an associate's degree--not a good enough qualification.
"You could work with Smitty," her dad said. "He builds houses."
But Violet dreamed bigger: bridges. road systems. environmental landscaping.
She knew what she had to do. One night when the moon was waxing, she went to the beaver pond. Maybe they'd take an apprentice.
"Listen. I remember the ass-end of the Cold War. Those nightmares from Threads, When The Wind Blows, and Testament kept me up. Struggled during the Crash of '26 and couldn't get myself together for some time. I'm not Reagan-pilled by any means but..." Bo looked around then shrugged. "I fucking hate the Russians. From the littlest Russian baby to the oldest babushka. All of them were complicit in everything." 3/x
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"You do know why she's in a new frame, right?" Bo ensured the door was properly sealed.
"A new lease on life." Jack glanced around. He was antsy to fly off to adventure. He also needed to pee. "A second chance."
Bo waved away the sentiment. "You're smart but you're dumb as a bag of hammers, Doctor." Bo squinted, "When did you graduate WCI?"
"Class of '46, Beauregard." Jack enunciated each syllable to irritate his colleague. 2/x
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Blue hair blown back by the 'chopper's wash lent a superhero aspect to Kiki. Jack and Bo watched the pair climb aboard.
Jack went to leave the hangar, but Bo grabbed his shoulder. "One minute!" He shouted over the din.
Jack mouthed, "What?"
Bo pointed to the door for the SCIF. 1/x
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I key my code into the terminal and put my left little finger on the scanner. It beeps rejection.
"There was another data breach last night," the cashier says. "All prints compromised. You must use a backup print."
"Sorry about this," I say and bend down to untie my shoe.
"You're not the first."
