8. Mars

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Rumours?" Joan Jolie asked. "What kind of rumours?" Turning to Jessica, she asks. "Where are you sleping now? Why aren't there rumours about that?"

"Wait. I'm confused." Eric asked, turning back from his Mars-gazing. "Why do you want rumours?"

"You don't want them." Alistair answered. "Causes trouble."

"Oh. I thought so. Oh! Mons Olympus! I can almost see Mons Olympus!" Eric shouted, with Joan running to join him at the Galley's window.

[Mierin]

Jessica is a little surprised by MJ's offer, but keeps a polite, professional smile on her face. "Thank you for the offer." is all she says out loud, not really committing either way. Turning to the children, Jessica grins as she says "Right now, I am sleeping on the Captain's couch. It's hard to sleep though as the Captain snores really loudly so I can hear him all the way in the living room." Jessica's smirk shows MJ she is just kidding as she adds "Rumours are just when people like talking about other people and making things up. Alistair is right that they cause trouble."

As the kids run to the Galley's window, Jess turns to MJ and says "Shall we?" Jess then starts heading to the bridge.

[Renekin Skywalker]

On the bridge
Tawfeek looked up as Jessica and McKenna both came in. “Well, this is significantly convenient.” He says. Getting from his console to the map table, he drew up a map of Mars. A trajectory was drawn across, leading to the spaceport.

“The plan is to land alive.” He says, bluntly. “But, hold the questions until the end. Jessica, while Foreman’s landing us at a safe angle.” (He turned his head to make sure Foreman was paying attention.) “Jessica, I need you to unseal the valves in the water hull. We’re going to let the water just vapourize out, and hope we don’t lose it all. Otherwise, we’ll just have a mass of blow-outs, and those will be more expensive than a few thousand litres of water. McKenna, the ride is going to be bumpy, so you will have to make sure Mr. Johnson is very secure. And that. Mrs. Johnson is with the other passengers.”

He paused, looking around. “OK, now you can ask questions.”

[Dome]

"Yeah I know, keep us alive. I'll do everything I can you know that. Doesn't help that Mars control is being so... well controlling," he says as he turns around and looks at the Captain.

Looking up at MJ, his mind flashes quickly to their stairway encounter. He offers her a wide smile that makes his head hurt even more, but he ignores it, "hey Doctor, thanks for bringing me the painkillers."

He and MJ haven't had much opportunity to chat since the stairway. So much was in the air, atleast as far as he was concerned.

He takes whatever painkillers she offers him and uses his coffee to get them down.

"I'm going to do my best, but this is going to be a bumpy ride. By the way Jess, sorry about your room."

[Mierin]

Jessica nods at Tawfeek and says "Sure thing." When Foreman mentions her room, Jessica doesn't bother to mention that it was actually both of her rooms that had been sealed off and simply nods at him with a polite smile as she replies "Thank you."

Turning back to Tawfeek, Jessica asks, "How much water do you want me to vaporize from the water hull? Also, what are the chances that the part of the ship that was damaged will be repaired while we're on Mars?" Jessica is really hoping that, at the very least, her quarters will be usable for when they leave Mars. While she appreciated both Tawfeek's offer of letting her sleep on the couch and McKenna's offer, she much preferred to have her own space. Plus, McKenna confused her and Jess was starting to think it would be a bad idea to get involved with McKenna on any level. Jess wasn't big on playing games, and it felt like that's all McKenna was doing. 'I just don't like feeling like I'm being jerked around.' Jess thinks to herself as she notes Foreman's reactions to the doctor as she waits for Tawfeek to answer her questions.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Yes, the ship will get the repairs it needs, and we're going to do a physical systems check, too." Tawfeek says. "It's bad enough it's called a death trap without living up to it."

Looking at the trio, he adds. "And, good news! Because we're working on the ship, we won't need to waste money on hotels!" He grins, hoping they'll share the cost-saving = more money for their shares side of things.

[dakota]

McKenna gave Flip the bottle with a smile," You're welcome, just no more bumpy rides of I won't antigrav dance in the starwells with you anymore, okay?: She grinned." I better get back to medical then. Jess, she said on the way out," the offer stands. Captain, I'll need some supplies when we get planetside, to restock. I'll get you a list." She left the bridge and headed directly to medical to see to both her patient and Mrs. johnson

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Oh. I almost forgot to say." Tawfeek says. "We're very lucky: it was just us employees trapped in a deadly situation on the stairwell that last time, and not a passenger." He looked over to McKenna and Foreman to see if they understood how in much danger they had been whilst the Six Flags malfunction was going on. (This to say, he wants them to recognize the gravity of such a situation.)

[Mierin]

Jessica nods at Tawfeek, looking relieved as she says "That is good to hear." Jessica returns McKenna's smile and says "The offer is appreciated. I'll get back to you on that." Turning back to Tawfeek, Jessica adds "Unless there is anything else, I'll go take care of the water hull now." If Tawfeek has nothing else to talk to Jess about, she'll head to where the water hull is to start working on unsealing the valves.

[Renekin Skywalker]

"Open at least the first few circles worth around the ruptures. Watch the pressures. If you have to blow the whole hull, blow it." Tawfeek said. "And, you do it right, we shouldn't lose the rooms. So, after they're cool enough, you can move right back in. Or at least into one of the guestrooms after they're cleaned out."

The controls for the tanks can be handled either from an engineering station, or from one of the consoles on the bridge. They cannot be mannually accessed unless the hull is removed (an important fact that should be mentioned, an why it costs so much to repair them, as opposed to refilling them).

"Nothing else?" Tawfeek asked the trio.

[Dome]

Flip says, "if you don't mind giving me a few minutes to see if these painkillers kick in and I'll start the landing process. That should give you two," he says looking at Jess and MJ, "to get things squared away and secured."

[dakota]

"Sounds good." MJ replied, not acknowledging the Captain's comment. "I'll let you know as soon as medical is secured." With that, she left, heading to do as instructed.

[Mierin]

Before McKenna leaves, Jessica asks her "Do you need help securing medical?"

If McKenna says she could use Jess's help, Jess will head down to medical. If she indicates that she doesn't need any help, Jessica then heads to the nearest console and starts to access what she needs to vent the water hull.

[kurff]

Looking his work schedule vs free time he decided to stay on ship and look at how he could upgrade the ships programming and electronic security system. if it was feasible he cold present something to the captain, if not it was a look at the systems.

[dakota]

"I can manage, Jess," McKenna replied," You better see to the hull."