Schutzengel - Personal Logs

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Chapter 14: The Gas Miner
811 A.S

"[font=Book Antiqua]Alright, So..." Mark said as they left the elevator and entered Level B-1, then pointed at a computer on their left and said, "This way!" The boy followed silently and waited for Mark to continue, "So, This little thing is what controls this whole Place." Mark said while patting the monitor gently and chuckling, then added, "But you can never trust a Computer, can you? Thats why we have some crew around each Gas Miner as well." then started typing something and said, "The Machine you saw earlier, The one I was fixing, is more of an 'Engine'... You know, The Generator that keeps this whole place running!" And then as he tapped Enter, and turned back to the boy, three of the machines around the room started working with a loud roar, which nearly made the boy jump. Mark chuckled as he saw the boy's reaction and said, "Don't worry, these things are just getting a bit old! That's all!" then put a hand on boy's shoulder and walked to one of the machines, "See? This thing is the pomp. We take the gases in through the vents on different parts of the Miner, and pull them all in to 'Refine' them..." Then paused and continued after a short chuckle, "Or whatever you may call it!" and walked to another one of the machines as he said, "To bring it all here! This," he continued as he tapped the body of the machine he was standing next to, "Is the Compressor! We compress all the gas so it'll be easier to work with. If we didn't have this little piece of junk here, this single miner would've been larger than the Naha itself!" and pointed at the next machine and said, "So, That is the Boss! Without that, this whole Miner would've been built for nothing! There, is where we ditch the 'trash' and keep the gas that can be turned into clean H-Fuel! You might have also noticed the vents on the other parts of the Miner that throw this trash out!" Then grinned as he turned to the boy and said, "And from here, the rest happens underground! The other useless junk you saw in B-2. There is not much to see, and I'm kinda tired..." and said after he smelled the collar of his work suit, "And definitely need a shower! So We're gonna go... Up!" And walked toward the elevator while laughing. The boy stood there looking at the glass tube linking two of the machines, and noticed the light blue liquid running through it. "Hey! C'mon!" Mark yelled and waved toward the elevator, "I'll tell you the rest of the story on our way back!" So, they both walked back toward the shuttle when the boy realized Mark is not carrying anything, "You forgot your things!" He told Mark, but Mark chuckled and shook his head without saying a word.
Once back in the Shuttle, Mark started again as they sat down, "So, from there, The Gas goes to B-2, and as you can guess, it's generally the Machines doing all the job! They take the Gas, Refine it or whatever, and turn it into H-Fuel, Then! You can fly ships!" They both chuckled, and after a few silent minutes, the boy asked, "But you said there are a crew on each Miner, how come I didn't see anyone down there?" Mark grinned and answered, "Because the Damn thing was not working genius!" "Oh, yea, That!" The boy chuckled and scratched his head, then Mark said, "Well, yea. When we get to Naha, the other's gonna back to work with this same shuttle, So don't worry, you won't run out of Fuel!" And started laughing, the boy chuckled as well although he didn't find it funny, and after a few silent minutes, the shuttle finally docked with Naha and they got out. Mark turned to boy and said, "Alright, I'm gonna need a shower now, then catch ya at Bar!" The boy scratched his head and said "erm... Yea sure!" So Mark grinned and said as he was walking to the door, "Don't worry, The Drink is on me!" The boy grinned and said "Alright then!" and headed toward his ship, he was thinking about putting his bag in his ship and going to Bar, but just as he climbed back into his cockpit, he realized how tired he was, which was strange because he hadn't done anything that day, so he sat on his seat, thinking 'Ok, I'll take a short nap then catch up with Mark at the Bar.' and closed his eyes.