A tall ship and a star to steer her by (starwreck) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-03-10 12:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, gaila, hikaru sulu, james kirk, montgomery scott |
"Wait, we're sending someone tae the moon, then? Really?"
Who: Kirk and Scotty, Sulu on the phone, and briefly Gaila
What: Kirk has a plan. And there's man snuggling.
When: Yesterday morning!
Where: Santa Ana. Repair shop.
Rating: PG-13, Language, man snuggling
Status: Complete
Cass dressed quietly, and silently. She picked up the dog, snuck her way downstairs and then out the front of the shop. Her clothing was still covered in paint from the night before and she figured it was a lost cause. She nearly ran into Kirk.
The man had pulled up in a beat up red Chevy convertible that was long past its prime. He eyed her, eyed the state of her clothing, then looked past her into the shop.
“Its not what you think!”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking, Cass.”
She rolled her eyes, “A blind man could see your leer.”
It was true. The grin threatened to split his face in half, “So you and Scotty? With his talents with machines he must have nimble fingers. Almost like a doctor.”
Her face started to turn the color of her hair and a smile erupted on her face. Jim pointed!
She smacked his arm, “We just..fooled around a little, that’s all! There was no...” She waved a hand then smacked him again. For the hell of it.
“No what, Cass?”
“You know.”
“I’m not saying it.”
“I will. No fucking? Fornicating? Fraternizing? Frolicking?” That earned Kirk another smack, this time across the face. But it? Was so worth it. She hurried past him, and he raised an eyebrow.
“Not hanging around? Its okay to like him, Cass.”
She waved her middle finger at him, and ran down the street. He frowned. At least (hopefully) he had something that would distract Scotty from Complicated Emotional Bullshit(tm). He walked in, and marched up the stairs and up to Scotty’s bed, then slid in next to him and slipped his arms around him, “Mmm..wake up baby, I’ve got good news. How would you like to win a share of thirty million dollars? And become famous?”
It had been a good night. There wasn't too much Complicated Emotional Bullshit(tm), because things were at a casual snail's pace, in an unlabeled...whatever it was, and there was no rush or hurry. As far as he's concerned, things are 100% fine. In fact, he was still very warm and fuzzy feeling, luckily wearing a t-shirt and boxers to sleep in because hi, that would've been the awkward, and had thought Cass was simply away-from-bed and would BRB for a cuddle. You know, so he could keep sleeping for another thirty minutes or so, before the alarm went off. So when Kirk had gotten into bed with him, Scotty had gotten a sloppy smile on his face and instantly snuggled into the embrace, unknowingly.
That was, until something more alarming than the alarm sounding, happened. The minute that he heard Kirk's voice, his morning was shot to hell from a very large air cannon, the types of which they use for punkin chunkin' competitions every autumn. His eyes popped wide open, and he gave Kirk's chest a little pat to confirm it wasn't a dream and that was definitely not the happy fun bags he'd had his face plastered into, overnight. Pat pat goes Scotty's hand. Cassie must have left. Sigh. Oh well, what was done was done, and he could at least see the humor in it. Somewhat. Somehow.
There was a small and uncomfortable sounding clearing of his throat, first and foremost. When he did finally dare to speak, Scotty struggled to keep his voice as even as possible, "Aye, me lovely, I'm awake. I'd love tae be rich. Ye know I would. We could sail away t'gether, buy a tropical island, an' ye could eat shaved coconut offae me arse. Sounds brilliant. Sign me up. After ye tell me how ye intend tae make us rich, because even I have some morals left?"
He turned just enough to give Kirk a little peck on the cheek. Mwah!
"I've always wanted to eat shaved coconut off your hairy white ass, Scotty. Especially since you're taking such liberties with my breasts. You fiend." He didn't seem to be particularly put off by any of this. It, in a word, was hilarious, "Well since you don't want to smoke poles to get there, I had a better idea. Ever hear of the Lunar X-Prize?"
"Well, it is everyone's idea of a good time, Jimmy. Eatin' coconut off a pastey Scot's arse. Just dunnae toast the coconut, or there'll be tae much contrast. Now, about this contest? Haven’t heard. I'd suppose maybe ye could tell me, while I rub ye manly chest a bit more," Scotty was saying in a voice which was tinged with a smidge of WTFery. Even so, he was smiling. How long did he intend to keep this up, anyway? Not that he was going to pull away because it WAS hilarious. Not turning him on at all, though, nope. But still? HILARIOUS.
Too bad there wasn't an audience, it would make it even funnier. Kirk patted Scotty's back good naturedly and thought about how to phrase this in such a way as to turn Scotty on in a much more interesting fashion, "First team that puts together a rocket, sends a rover to the moon and sends back HD video and sound gets the prize. You get even more money if you go above and beyond the requirements."
A gleam filled his eyes. It was the sort of gleam that you knew adventuretimes were henceforce coming, "Imagine the take if we sent ourselves, there? Or beyond?" To Mars.
James T. Kirk, first man on Mars. Had a nice ring to it. And that X-prize was the ticket.
"Yer bloody well joking," Scotty was saying, and by then had pushed himself up on one arm to give Jim a good hard stare down. But given that the guy looked like he was already playing the part of space cowboy on the moon - it was that maniacal gleam in the other man's eyes, very obvious - Scotty was realizing that Kirk was serious. "Ye know what sort of money it would take, just tae...build that, lad? I mean, I'm not saying it's impossible, because it's not. Just that...time, money....other people are probably stumbling over eachother tae get that sort of prize money, an' they've probably got funding. Did ye not think that part through?"
The look on Kirk's face was one that indicated he wasn't joking in the slightest, even though a maniacal grin had joined the gleam in his eyes. He rubbed Scotty's back soothingly, "You're a miracle worker, Mr. Scott, I have faith in you. Where's your sense of adventure? Imagine it. The fame, the fortune, the funding and recognition that could come from building this thing. The validation."
He sat up, waving his hands as he spoke, "I looked into your public record. You should be building Nasa's dream machines, not tinkering around in a dirty garage. To get to the moon will require a ship, a propulsion system and a lander. To get to Mars we'll need an engine capable of pushing us fast enough to cut the trip down to months instead of years, and machines that can re-purpose Mars soil into water and air."
Kirk had clearly thought this through. It was a monumental undertaking. But he knew they could do it, "Your machines, Sulu's piloting. Cass can program the computer systems. We'll need someone who can handle some of the additional calculations and science behind it all. I can look around for him or her."
There was still the matter of money. X-prize could fund the mars trip, but the initial cost of getting to the moon was a stumbling block. But not a very big one, "One case of the best beer from Scotland if you can find a way to cheaply make a cabin space worthy. We'll do it on a shoestring budget."
"It's been over three decades since we've been to the moon. They gave up. We shouldn't."Kirk gains 3455 xp in PepTalk
"Wait, what? The moon, goin' tae Mars...ye realize...Moon, aye, that's feasible. I can do that. That'd be easy. Mars, ye basically...well it can be done in months, lad, longer would be if it was...off that way." He pointed and wagged his finger like indicating something which was way off. Way, way out there. "I think, ye only got a small window of opportunity tae...get it, there? Straight shot. An' aye, I'm not intae astronomy. It'd have tae be someone very precise with numbers an' orbits an'...I think it's less than nine months. Look. I dunnae know. I know Cassie would love the opportunity, an' it'd probably be good for the both of us, that's true."
Sadly, Scotty was already thinking about it, so Kirk's enthusiasm was pretty encouraging. And he had offered beer. So that was nice. Maybe there'd be sandwiches involved. Because those things plus a chance to tinker and actually build something like that? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
"...is it just tae the moon or is the Mars one seperate, as well?" Scotty asked all of a sudden, because his mind told him - with the right people, and because Kirk was very convincing - it just might be possible.
"Also? Lad? Why're ye still in bed with me?" he inquired, with raised elbows, like that was the question that required the highest priority right now.
"Months? Maybe sooner if you can get us to go faster than any human ever has before," Kirk pointed out helpfully. He was rather glad to be wrong about the time taken, and said so. "I got the times wrong, that's why I need people like you. The one thing I know for certain is we'll need an engine that can push us as close to light speed as possible, without killing us. Nine months crammed together in a space smaller than my apartment might lead to multiple counts of murder."
"And the 30 million is for the moon." Not to mention the kind of funding, sponsors and press landing people on the moon would get, on top of that. He lowered his voice, "The moon gets us the funding to go to Mars. That make sense? There's no prize for Mars...but who really gives a fuck about that?" Not Kirk. If he could pull it off with a hobo stick and a towel he would.
But Scotty was right about needing a good number cruncher. He'd have to do some research on that.
"You know I love you, Scotty." Kirk planted wet one right on his nose, "I thought I might need to get more convincing." His face. Was like :D
"Aww, well, I dae try...." Scotty was saying, a wee bit bashful. Not at the nose kiss but at the glowing review. Wait a minute? Was he actually considering this?! Wait, did he say ‘without killing us? Good gods, he was and he did say that. "Wait, we're sending someone tae the moon, then? Really?"
Totally thunderstruck. Scotty's face was like o_o to Kirk's :D
"We're sending ourselves, Scotty. You, me. Sulu would kill to fly her." Apollo missions always had three, and shuttles typically 7 so they'd need to find a good middle ground, especially for the Mars trip.
"Tae the moon," Scotty repeated, just to make absolutely sure. And then he pointed at his own chest and nodded, eyebrows raised way up. And, just to make sure Kirk fully understood the entire magnitude of what he was getting at, he pointed up to the ceiling, and the sky they both knew was beyond that. "Tae the moon."
"Ahhh, laddie, ye're fuckin' insane," he said softly, but knew the thought was very tempting and he was nodding like, sure, he was on board. For some odd and severely bizarre reason that he couldn't fathom, at all. Why was he nodding?
Wait! Ah ha! Maybe Sulu could stop Kirk. He seemed pretty mellow. Reasonable. Smart. Scotty snapped his fingers and pointed at Kirk, this time. "Ye should call Sulu!"
Right, because that seemed like the smart and very reasonable thing to do. Drag Sulu into it. So there was safety in numbers against Jim Kirk!
Kirk pulled out his phone, flipping it open and punching in Sulu's number.
Sulu's phone rang ominously.
He'd recently switched it the old Star Trek battle theme, so the ringtone was ominous indeed.
He'd had it on the imperial march for a bit, but there had been too many times when he'd woken up to it ringing while worrying about becoming Darth Vader.
The music approached the crescendo!
He'd been napping with his head on the kitchen table when it rang, head on top of a stack of textbooks that weren't very comfortable. He grunted and whacked his hand around the table, then found the phone, whacked the button, and put it up to his ear, "Hello?"
Kirk's voice came through, he sounded excited, "Scotty's building a rocket ship to take us to the moon to win enough money to go to Mars." Kirk then summarized the Lunar X-prize, including a share of the 30m prize, and a plan to use those winnings to become the first man on Mars. "He thinks we can do it. You wanna fly her?"
Sulu's voice sounded groggy, and a little disoriented, "Fly huh? Did you talk to my agent? ... 30 million prize Mars what?"
"We're going to the moon, Sulu, then we're taking a trip to Mars. Rocket ship!"
Sulu leaned back in his chair and took the phone away from his face, then stared at it deadpan for a bit. He thought maybe Kirk was drunk again, and decided to tell him so.
He put the phone back to his mouth, "Are you drunk again? You're drunk again."
"I'm not drunk. I'm in bed with Scotty. Its a real prize. First team to the moon wins 30 million dollars. But my real goal is to go to Mars. We can DO this. I have faith in his skills and faith in your piloting to get us there and back alive." Kirk shifted into a cross legged position, "Haven't you ever wanted to be more than people expected of you? Do you want vindication?"
He sounded so excited, and so confident.
Waitaminute...
He was in bed with Scotty? Oh My.
"You're in bed with Scotty? I didn't think you were interested in that kind of thing. Not the way you flirt with all the ladies..."
Kirk was in bed with Scotty so either he was hallucinating or dreaming, because there's no way that would ever happen, and also NASA had been pretty clear about no one ever traveling to the Moon or Mars.
"His girlfriend ran out on him so I was giving him comfort," Kirk explained. "I'm still serious. We can do this."
"You're really serious?"
Kirk grinned, "100%, Hikaru. I have faith you'll get us there alive."
Sulu shook his head and chuckled a bit, "I'm glad you've got Scotty on board with this, because I trust HIM to actually build something like this."
"So do I."
"I still think you're drunk or crazy, but of course I'll fly it. I'll fly anything once."
Kirk smiled, "I'll stake my life on it."
"Waste of a good life."
"I'll stop by later to fill you in on the details, check on your ferret, and steal some coffee. Thanks!" And with that, Kirk hung up, dumping his phone back into his pocket with a gleeful expression on his face.
Sulu just stared at his phone a bit more before shaking his head and going to check on Pavel.
During that conversation, Scotty had mostly been quiet and thinking. True, he had shot Kirk a barely subdued glare like he did NOT have a girlfriend, she was just...a very special friend whom he happened to just...really like a whole lot, and the feeling was somehow apparently mutual. That’s all. She certainly did NOT run out on him! He hoped. After all, she wasn’t HERE, either. Nyuh oh. Nonetheless, Scotty cleared his throat and held up one hand to try to interject, here. Because there was something important missing? Like one itty bitty tiny tidbit that maybe hadn't been taken into account.
"Ye dae know," Scotty began to say, since he was on his back in bed and staring up at the ceiling, pensively, "that everything I've built that people ride in, has blown up sae far. Because I think I ought tae point that out."
"What he doesn't know won't kill him," Kirk replied. "I can fill him in on that part when I talk to him later."
He shifted to face Scotty and eyed him, "Then you build it not to explode." The way he said it sounded final, as though that was what he expected, nothing less and nothing more. In fact he leaned over and grabbed Scotty's shoulders, "There is no explosions. There is only Zoom."
"I dunnae know if it can be done. That's a lot tae take intae account an' I havenae had the best of luck, this far. But, I suppose, no harm in trying. For a test run at least," Scotty conceded and then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, rubbing one hand over his face. He’s wondering if that’s like ‘There is only Zuul’. "I'll see what I can start, as a mock up. But nae promises."
"Anything you mock up will be better than the shit most of the other teams would put out," Kirk assured him. "Just do your very best, it'll be enough. More than enough."
He looked up at the ceiling, as if trying to see the moon high above, "All we need is brains, willpower and a lot of scrap metal."
"Ye need more than that, lad." He began to count out the things on his fingers. "Heat resistance, propulsion, fuel, compounds, oxygen, there’s computer errors, human error, poorly plotted trajectories...there's a million things that could happen an' go wrong. I hate tae point it out, but it's all true."
"We get a number cruncher." Kirk pumped his fist. "That's all logistics, Scotty. You can build the engine we need to power it all. This won't be how we die. I can feel it." He flashed him a charming grin, "Trust me."
"I think that's the part I'm worried over," Scotty said, with a nervous chuckle. "I'm not saying it CANNAE be done. Just that it's sae many things tae take intae account. I know how tae build an engine and make it run. I can keep things running, but even the...current modern standards? Aye, they're antiquated an' still expensive. I'll have tae think on it."
And he’d have talk to Cassie as well, so if they did get a number cruncher, they'd at least have a programmer also. It would take a whole crew of people just to get something like this done.
"What about ion engines?" Kirk shifted off Scotty and rose to his feet, "You don't live in any box shape I've ever seen, think outside of it."
"...that'd involve splittin' them or smashin' them or...things that I'm supposed tae not do. But!" And here is where Scotty sat straight up in bed and nearly toppled over the edge. His grin was ear to ear. Boxes? No, Scotty didn't live in a box. He was more like...a trapezoid rudely crammed into an octagon, squished uncomfortably inside a triangle. Somehow it all fit, but no one was sure how that was managed. "If we got it tae work? Then aye, that'd be a thorn in NASA's side, wouldnae it?"
Yes, because the need to prove he was right is strong in this one. There is a gleam in his eyes, at the prospect of being right. Gloriously right.
Yes! VINDICATION! Kirk knew this was one of the better levers to apply to get what he wanted - nay, needed. He needed this as much as Scotty did, even if it was to only validate himself. And perhaps in the eyes of his mother. Just a little, "It would. They'd know they were wrong and you were right."
"Aye, right." His eyes were huge, just thinking of the prospects! "We'll do this, an' then I'll compile all the data off the propulsion and tell 'em tae kiss me arse! It might even be easier than I'm makin' it out tae be! I'll send Cassie a message and tell her, then we can split the money an' send something tae Mars. Or whatever tae Mars. I'll send Cassie's doggie tae Mars! Aye, that'd be good, an' then I’d bring it back, as well. EASILY!”
Kirk's grin was as wide as Scotty's eyes. He was literally bouncing on his feet. He raised both arms in the air in a classic Scotty 'yay' motion, as this moment required the Scotty yay. Even the part about the dog. Wait, "Send me instead!"
"Easier with a test creature!" Scotty raised his arms up over his head like YAY! Or, wait. "Though ye probably qualify as a test creature!" More yay arms of cheeringness!
He wanted to go to Mars, damn the risks! "Damn right I qualify!"
"If I had a transporter, I'd beam ye there!"
Kirk laughed, "That would be too easy!"
"But it would be fast AND safer, probably! Fine, then. Maybe not so safe. But fast!" Scotty's arms flopped down. "Tae bad it's nothing real."
"You're talking about ripping us apart at the molecular level, Scotty. That's insane!" But it would be nice. "..could you do it?"
"I’ve read once how many units it'd be tae tear a single person down, copy and convert 'em tae something like a terabyte, so aye, it's possible. Just reassembly being the tricky part. Basically, like...ye take a grapefruit," and he's using his hands to demonstrate, though he's squinting like he's trying to formulate the hows and whys and there's big gaping blank spaces in there. Or one huge blank space. And it was hard to explain the theory of it. "Anyway, ye take it, break it doon tae data, transfer it, an' what's there's a copy that dunnae know better, built back up again. Kinda. Sorta. I think? Dunnae matter, because the memory, transfer, and power it'd take, would be bloody enormous. Incomprehensible, even."
Kirk listened attentively. He understood the base mechanics, especially when said in layman's speak, "So you basically clone the target after killing it."
It sounded rather intimidating when put that way.
He frowned, "How much power?"
"I’m only saying, I think that'd be the way it'd work as I understood it," Scotty was saying with a nod in the affirmative. "The clone wouldnae know better. It'd still be you and...we're talkin'...power-wise, something, smashing atoms or...the likes. Something significant, aye. Anti-matter, even. Definitely beyond what we’re capable of, now. You’d be transferring data as some form of energy itself, which is saying a lot if ye wanted tae beam, say, from here tae the moon, or here tae Mars. Hypothetically."
"But that's crazy talk," he finished, with a sharp shrug. "Turning people intae data and transferring them. It's the stuff that people at sci-fi cons want tae think will be true with each decade that passes, when it wouldnae be possible without...things beyond plutonium or uranium. Or a vast amount of power, any ways. As well as the right way tae harness and utilize it, whatever it is."
"Why? Why is it beyond what we can do now? It seems like its something that should be so..fundemental!" Kirk? Frustrated.
"Well, AYE, it does! Not disagreeing at all!" Both hands flew up. Please do not shoot the messenger! He grinned to offset the frustration, as it was something he knew all too well. "We dunnae have the compounds, the resources, or the ability tae manufacture those things. Yet. That's all. Not yet."
"So we're stuck with rockets and life support then." He folded his arms, looking supremely disappointed, "Then we push human limits."
"Aye, best tae start with the basics. Then see how much we can stretch 'em tae suit what we're tryin' tae do. Ye'd need a better physicist than me, that's for certain," admitted Scotty. "I'm really good at that stuff, but I only know how tae apply it tae mechanics. I'd have tae number crunch possibilities, to see what we could manage as far as building it. Then there's making it. Not discouraging ye! Just making sure ye know that, but...monumental task is monumental!"
Scotty gave Kirk a good pat on the shoulder, to console him. Meanwhile, the wheels in his mind were turning, and he was already trying to figure out any ways to make it happen. There was tons to think about!
"I'm not discouraged, I'm determined." The man set his, that mad gleam returning to his eyes, "We CAN do this. We have to do this." He pumped his fist into his palm, "We'll need materials. We'll strip all the junk yards if we have to. Get access to an airplane graveyard. Lots of lightweight material there."
"If ye talking people, it’s heavyweight stuff we'll need, as well. Another thing. Where're we going tae keep it? Shoved up our arses until we're ready tae construct it? Once it's done, what then? Just blast it out of a warehouse because it's tae big for transport tae a proper platform for takeoff?" They were all valid questions, and Scotty - being Scotty - wasn't afraid of asking them or pointing them out. And he didn't care who he was pointing them out to, either. "It's a lot of logistics. But we'll give it a fine try. Truth be told, I always wanted tae see the Earth, from the moon. Or further out, even. I'm sure it'd put things intae perspective. But, enough about that. I'll start on some plans and outlines."
After all, the battle bot was almost done, and Faiza should be happy with the results. He didn't have a new project lined up, and it would keep him busy. He smiled and nodded, dragging himself out of bed, finally.
"We'll build a sea platform. International waters, no one can complain at us then, and they do it for satellites." That would solve the launch problem. There was still the heavy materials. He could find places to store it. There was his mother's property. He grimaced a bit. Perhaps it was time to mend that fence anyway.
He nodded his head at Scotty, "Figure it out, I'll try to find someone with the right sort of mindset to help us. I'll ask Sulu to ask around as well." He gave the other man a massive hug, "I'll send you a whole fucking case of the best beer Scotland can offer, as a down payment gift!"
"Aye, cap'n! I'll give it all I've got!"