The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 149

Raven sends Bali off to find a floor plan of the room, where she hopes there will be a record of how many rockets there are. When he comes back, he nods to her.

"There is a total of 947 rockets. I think. This isn't really recent." He frowns. "Perhaps check with the AI?"

"The AI? You have an AI?" Raven gasps excitedly.

"Yes, her name is Rhonda. I believe it was the name of the head scientist's wife or something. She is not exactly an AI, more a searchable tool with knowledge of everyone and everything in the mountain. It has access to the cameras and everything and can assess a situation. Just say 'Rhonda' while you stand in front of the console and she'll respond."

"That's so cool." Raven breathes out as she steps over to the console. "Rhonda."

The console lights up, the screen blank except for one of those circles that indicate that it's loading.

"Please wait one moment." A feminine, automated voice says.

I recognize it... It's the same one we've been hearing all along in this place! I hear a metallic noise, like a remote control car moving across the floor, except it's coming from up high. I look and it's a camera, swiveling to face us.

"Please face the camera if you wish to continue." Raven complies. "I do not have you in my database. What is your name?"

"Um. Raven Reyes."

"Raven Reyes." It repeats. "Is there an admin nearby who can confirm that you may use my services?"

"Your services, huh? Thanks, but I'm satisfied with the partners I have." Raven jokes.

"Partners? As in plural?" Bali asks.

"Yeah, Anya and Luna. If you do end up helping me with this, you'll be able to meet them soon."

Bali nods and steps closer to the console. "This is Bali Patel."

The camera focuses on him. "Identity confirmed. Name: Bali Patel. Status: Admin. Do you confirm Raven Reyes as an admin?"

"Yes." He states.

"Very well. Raven Reyes is now an admin."

"You can order her around or ask her questions now." Bali says before stepping back.

"Thanks. Rhonda, how many rockets do you have here?" Raven asks.

"936."

"Alright. And all of them are armed?"

"Yes. Would you like to deploy one?"

"No!" Raven says, her eyes wide. "No. Are all of them the same type of rocket? Same wiring and stuff?"

"Yes. Would you like blueprints?"

"Blueprints? Oh, that would be great." Raven says, grinning. "Yes."

Blueprints go up on the console, with numbers and measurements that I can't decipher.

"Okay. So do disarm them, we have to..." Raven begins mumbling to herself, zooming in on the wiring.

"To disarm the rockets, the green and red wires must be cut." Rhonda says, making Raven jump in surprise.

"Crap, you scared me. Alright. That should be easy enough. Now where's the easiest way to access them?" She mumbles.

"Access panel B-3."

"Oh my god, you're brilliant!" Raven exclaims. "I love this AI. She's like Google, but actually gives you what you're looking for."

She moves the screen around a bit more, presumably to get a better look at where B-3 is on the rocket.

"Do you need anything else, Raven Reyes?"

"Yeah, one thing. What's the safest way to get the fuel tank out without blowing myself up?"

"Access panel E-5 was specifically designed for safe and easy insertion and removal of the fuel tank. There are shock absorbing carts and automobiles made for the rough terrain of earth's surface in storage room C-1. Would you like a map to it?"

"Not at the moment, thank you."

"You are welcome. Goodbye." The console shuts down and Raven looks over at Bali in confusion.

"Did I accidentally say the magic word to get her to shut down?"

"Yes, it's designed to both recognize when a conversation has ended and to shut down when someone says thank you, unless it detects that there's more it needs to do." Bali explains.

"That's so cool. I love her."

Raven strokes the panel in an almost loving caress, but the movement is too exaggerated for me to take it seriously. She claps her hands together, making us jump.

"Alright!" Raven says. "Let's get to work. We have 936 rockets to disarm. I'll show you how to do the first three and keep an eye on you for the first couple you do. Ok?" We nod and follow her to the first rocket.

"Don't you need a screwdriver?" Bali questions.

"Nope. This panel is specifically designed to be quick and easy to access.  You know, in case someone accidentally started a countdown or something." Raven says.

She puts her fingers into a latch, like the kind I've seen on pictures of cars. Raven pulls it out towards us, and the panel swings open. 

"See? Easy." Raven says.

She reaches in her back pocket and pulls out what appears to be a Swiss Army Knife.

"What? Where did you even get that?" I ask, bewildered.

I've only seen a couple on the Ark, and they were mainly given to Engineers like my father so he could have tools wherever he was in case of an emergency.

"Believe it or not, Lincoln and Octavia. Lincoln apparently has a whole collection of Old Earth stuff, and Octavia recognized it. They gave it to me. It's actually in amazing shape, considering it's like a century old." Raven explains as she carefully pulls the wires closer to the lights coming from the ceiling. She flips through the Swiss Army Knife. "Aha! Scissors."

They're small, but Raven's determined. She leans closer and pulls out two wires. She presses them close together and cuts through them with her tiny scissors.

The light that I didn't even know was activated on the floor tiles beneath the rocket go dark.

"Good, it does have a sign." Raven says. "Alright! Did you see what I did? You might want to get wire cutters, which I'm sure are around here somewhere. No worries, I'll show you again."

Raven moves on to the next rocket and gestures for us to come closer.

Man, next chapter is the last chapter of this whole book! 0.0 I guess we won't get to Jaha in this book, then. And one more thing! Hopefully this chapter is posted on time because I forgot to tell you guys last chapter that I'm going on vacation with my family and I'll be in England until July 5th! And I'm going to be flying there overnight, so sleeping will be fun... I'll be dead tired. And my vacationing hopefully won't mess up my posting schedule too much, I just don't know when I'll have wifi to post! I should be able to but if I don't post on time, that's why! Okay, I'm done now. Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!