Now entering the edge of the atmosphere, speed increasing outer hull still cool," Rommie said.
"Alright, wait 'til we are lower before you put all the power into the engines," I told Rommie.
It was a mere two minutes later that the interior of the ship started to get warm. Another minute I felt the engines start to strain.
"We are still descending too fast though speed has been reduced," I heard Rommie say.
Not yet, I thought, as the temperature started to climb. Not yet. Finally, we were halfway down when I put what I had into slowing the ship. I felt the engine's strain lessen, plus the heat started to abate. At least that's what I was feeling before I felt the darkness take me.
Rommie, I thought, start all the repair mods, then I was out.
When I awoke, it was dark, shit I thought, how long was I out? I saw that Mary was asleep nearby.
"Rommie? Where are you?" I asked. Ah, shit I thought, Rommie? Rommie! damnit! Now what?
I thought I heard a very weak voice, though I wasn't sure what had happened.
"Rommie is that you?" I asked, afraid of the answer I'd get. "Rommie?"
"John," I heard the weak voice say. "The ship crashed, power is starting to fail. I'm not sure that I can maintain this much longer."
I was immediately onboard what was left of the bridge. This was as bad as I had ever seen it. The ships from that last universe did a number on the ship.
I closed my eyes hoping that Rommie had enough power to keep going. I could hear things moving. Opening my eyes, I could see that several of the cracks and rips in the hull were gone.
"Half repair pod power has been restored. I am afraid that there is only one repair pod operating. I have it working on the others. Thank you, John, you have extended my life," Rommie said.
I shook my head this wasn't supposed to happen as I closed my eyes again. I could see that the ship had sustained major damage. I started to close off the most damage to the hull, then started on the engines.
I finally got one back online, the whole thing not leaking as much, providing a little power. Though, for some reason, I couldn't get the other one to set right.
I went over the engine twice, then a third time, finding minor problems. Then I noticed that there were micro-fractures all over the interior. I started to fix them as the major leakage finally dissipated.
A minute later, Rommie appeared, though just barely. "Power now increasing, I am not sure if I can maintain my holo form," Rommie said.
"If it gets to ten percent, you should have sufficient power," I told her.
"This is true, though at present, it is only at two percent increasing very slowly. I am afraid that I may start losing data," Rommie said.
I suddenly got mad as I thought of losing Rommie. I started to push as hard as I could. I felt the cracks rapidly disappearing. Damnit, I still couldn't start the engines, there was still too much damage. This time I put everything I had into repairing the engines.
This time when I checked, neither engine had leaks though only one engine was working.
"John, your energy has dropped to dangerous levels. I estimate you are about to lose consciousness in five minutes. Power is up to twenty percent, almost enough to activate shields," Rommie stated.
"Rommie," I said, slightly panting. "Get the shields up, all the repair mods get the second engine up. Don't allow any onboard."
I saw Rommie as she started to take over some of the repairs. "I will do all I can John," Rommie said as I nodded, then the darkness took me.
I really need to stop pushing this hard, I thought as the darkness grew deeper.
This time I actually had some pretty weird dreams, then again, I always have strange dreams. I actually thought that I was able to keep track of time. When I awoke, it was far darker than when I had passed out.
Reaching out, I felt that half the power was working, though the second engine still had damage. I could feel that the shield was indeed strong enough to keep anything on earth out.
This time I slowly searched for the second engine, repairing everything I felt that was wrong.
"Are we still losing power from the second engine," I asked Rommie.
"No, the power drain had finally stopped. We are up to fifty-five percent slowly climbing," Rommie told me.
I breathed a sigh of relief, "I need a back-up for you Rommie. I can't risk losing you, especially like this."
"I am grateful for your concern but," Rommie started.
"Don't start that, I am just a tool crap again Rommie. I told you before you are a hell of a lot more to me than that. Now is the power high enough for you to check the hull integrity? I want us in orbit as soon as possible," I said, afraid that any time the government would roll up with better weapons.
"Power now at sixty-five percent, scanning hull interior and exterior. It appears that all the interior hull is at a hundred percent. Warning, warning detecting major breaches in the exterior hull. I am afraid that the angle of the ships in the grove of trees is hampering repair," Rommie said.
Shit I thought as I concentrated on where we were. "There's a field a few miles from here, how much is the cloak working?" I asked.
"It is at present fifty-five percent, barely enough to keep th4 government from detecting us. Though I am reading that they have rolled a response toward our location," Rommie said.
"Alright, activate cloak, watch my vitals as I move the ship, I just hope I don't do more damage," I told Rommie. Then I felt the ship slowly lift, god I thought this was a lot harder than I thought.
"Try to take a deep breath and relax as you let it out," I heard Rommie say. Strangely enough, it helped a lot more than anything I could think of. "Much better John, the stress has decreased fifty percent. Only fifteen miles to target, now detecting the response team only a few miles away.
I felt myself relax more as we got further away from the crash site. A mere ten minutes later, we were at least twenty miles from where we were.
