End Of The Beginning

Chapter 2- The Impact

" I thought you gave up on me, Captain." said female voice.

" You ? I'll never do that to my only friend " laughed the captain.

" Thank you, I guess ??" replied the voice.

" So where do we stand? Can we get this giant in the air ?" He asked in a curious manner.

" We can't. The engine is down, the propeller is jammed and few of the circuit boards are fried. Most importantly the ship is running on back-up power. We are on low fuel and solar panels are damaged. So we need to fix that as well. Even if we repair the panels, without any fuel, it will take at least three days to charge the batteries so we can fly."

" Is there any good news? " The captain was sarcastic. He began to walk towards the cockpit . The ship was slightly dark because most of the lights were switched off. There wasn't a lot of damage inside. He expected it, as the ship was built that way - one of the toughest spaceships ever built. The majority of the damage was near the engine side. The ship seemed to be fine inside . He wandered around the vessel evaluating the damage.

" NOVA show me the internal damage " said Captain

NOVA is the Artificial Intelligence who controls the ship and also the personal assistant of the capitan.

" If we exclude the engine room the damages are minimal. They knew exactly where to shoot."

" Apart from that there isn't anything to show Capitan, the shields have absorbed the impact. Except for the cracks, there's very little damage. Just few misplaced items. " Reported NOVA

" Then why did you make me eject? I would have been safer if I had been inside !! " said Captain

" I'm sorry captain, but it's protocol." Replied NOVA

" One sad news though, your garden is messed up. The vases are broken. There is dirt all over the floor. I told you to bolt it down. But you didn't listen " NOVA continued

" You want me to bolt down a vase ?" His raised his eyebrows

When he reached the cockpit, it was filled with dust due to cracks and holes in the windshield. Nothing else was damaged. He picked up a metal box from a cabin below the table in the middle of the cockpit. And took a few packs with some kind of fluid inside. He opened them and carefully applied this liquid in the cracks and holes in the glass. It took less than 2 minutes for the liquid to work. The damage to the glass disappeared, the glass looked like new.

" Hey NOVA, How much power left in the back-up power supply ?" Asked the captain

" That depends Captain. if based on the current consumption it will last for 14 hours and 17 minutes. " NOVA replied.

" How much energy will be used if I use the vacuum in the entire cockpit to clear it of dust?" asked the captain.

" About 2% of what's left " said Nova

" Then do it, get the dust out and seal it off from the rest of the ship. Provide oxygen only while I'm inside."

" So what do I do ? Where do I start ? " He asked NOVA

" Solar panels first, without power, nothing can be done. Its irrelevant to fix anything else before the panels. If there is no power, nothing can work. " Said NOVA

" Do your thing " he left the cockpit. After he left the pit, the door closed

" Alright captain " A couple of little cleaning bots entered the cockpit before the door closed. NOVA opened a few air shafts and started sucking all the dust from the air. And the bots began to clean up all the dust and the debris off the ground.