Caught in the Cretaceous

Chapter 9: Murphy's Law

Artemis decides against her daughter the real reason why the guys aren't coming back that night. She doesn't even want to tell Meg, but her old friend knows her well and can tell that something is wrong. After much persistent questioning, the pilot finally relents and tells her old friend the details of what is going on after her daughter goes to bed. The mechanic doesn't have to say in response other than making an off hand comment about Will's inability to listen finally catching up to him. With nothing else to do but worry for the night they two adults retire for the night. 

The next day begins with a heavy weight of worry and tension hanging over the three women like a storm cloud. That alone should've been a sign that things were not going to go smooth during the day. 

The three of them disburse throughout the ship to work. Val goes to the meeting room to work on the electrical systems. Meg goes below deck, which is now cleared of radiation, Artemis is sent all over the ship to get both of them supplies or check certain systems. 

Thinking there shouldn't be much for her to do now that the major power problem is resolved, Val settles into her seat and puts out the tablet she's been working with. She should've known it couldn't be that simple. 

As soon as she starts up her tablet she starts running a full system check and sits back and waits for it to finish. 

Meg enters the engine room and begins to take stock of things. The room is still a mess, which makes her job even harder. It doesn't take her long to realize that the mess will have to be cleared at least a little bit before she can get any real work done. Artemis offers to help, but Meg refuses. She claims it isn't safe for Artemis to help her, but in actuality she just doesn't feel comfortable with other people working in her engine room. With a heavy sigh, Meg gets to work alone. 

Without having an immediate job to do to help either of the others, Artemis decides to take the opportunity to start cleaning up the kitchen. On entering the kitchen, Artemis looks at the huge mess that has been there since they landed. As she slowly starts to pick up all the dishes and supplies that are now scattered around the room she thinks that perhaps they should consider a better way of securing cabinets and their contents while in flight. She can't believe she didn't think of this sooner. But then again, there hasn't really been a need for it. She doesn't crash, and her hard landings are few and far between. 

Though it seems that everything is going smoothly at first, with each of them having their own jobs to do, it could never last. 

Val looks up at her tablet when it chimes to notify her that the systems check is finished. To her complete surprise, there are several systems registering as having faults. She starts trying to figure out the fault in the first one that showed up, but she cannot seem to make a connection with the system. No matter what she does to try to find out the fault through her tablet she can't get a connection. This is especially weird considering she designed the system to always be connected. 

Deciding it's important to check the other faults before she starts to get frustrated sigh, she calls to her mother on the intercom. "Mom, can you join me, please?" 

A few moments later Artemis joins her daughter in the room. "What's wrong?" 

Val barely glances up at her before responding. "I need you to check some systems for me. I'm not getting a connection from here." Artemis nods in understanding and Val gives her the location of the first system she has to check. She started with something she thought would be easy for her mother to find the fault. 

Artemis goes to the first location and turns on her com to talk to Val. "Okay, I'm here. What am I looking for?" 

Val sighs at her controls before answering through the com. "Do you see any damage? Just general damage or if you open the electrical panel?" She hears her mother hum while she looks around and waits patiently, tapping her fingers on the table.