07-07-2008, 01:25 PM
Bracken found himself in a cavernous underground garden, uncomfortably warm. How the good doctor had managed that he didn't know; Thebe was normally cold at best, and dangerously frigid was more the norm. She spread her hand now to the panoply, grinning like she was displaying a newborn babe.
There were rows of what Bracken had always referred to as 'salad crops', cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, etc.; as well as orchards bearing fruits of many varieties. It stretched for several hundred meters into the distance. Water dripped from the ceiling in a constant soft drizzle. He glanced up. The high ceiling was lit with harsh lights, they hurt his eyes.
Pretty impressive, eh? she asked proudly.
Very, he admitted. But how...
How did we do it?
Yea. I don't hear any machinery at work. Is this part of the pocket of atmosphere your husband found?
Uh-huh, she said, it's the source. There was actually a deep pool of submerged ice here too. We excavated it, melted it and built a pond. She pointed in punctuation toward the center of the cavern. Jacques had a minor in terra-engineering. This became his hobby.
It's quite impressive. It rivals any of the subterranean gardens of Europa; Bethrasse, Cherie's Flauna, Centralia... this is quite amazing, he announced as he stepped lightly onto the manicured path. You tend this alone?
No, of course not. I have a small cadre of metal savants. Epsilon. Gamma. Zeta. With that three contraptions appeared almost instantaneously. Each approximated human form for functions sake alone, making no concession whatsoever to the aesthetic. It was quite obvious they were what they were: titanium robotics.
At your request Dr. DeLucienne, one squeaked metallically. Bracken had no way of knowing which one it was until he spied the Greek alphabet symbol on its chest plate. Ah, that must have been Zeta.
Report please, she said.
Condition green. Nothing that requires your attention, it stated succinctly. Would you care to place a harvesting order?
Yes, apples please. The normal quantity.
Apples. The normal quantity, it mimicked and turned to leave. Its brethren stood by idly until they were dismissed.
Well, it seems that your husband has left you in able hands, Bracken stated, nodding admiringly at the garden and the metal savants that hummed about.
Yes. But this is not what I brought you down here for.
I didn't think so, he admitted and followed her down the path she was now trodding purposefully.
There were rows of what Bracken had always referred to as 'salad crops', cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, etc.; as well as orchards bearing fruits of many varieties. It stretched for several hundred meters into the distance. Water dripped from the ceiling in a constant soft drizzle. He glanced up. The high ceiling was lit with harsh lights, they hurt his eyes.
Pretty impressive, eh? she asked proudly.
Very, he admitted. But how...
How did we do it?
Yea. I don't hear any machinery at work. Is this part of the pocket of atmosphere your husband found?
Uh-huh, she said, it's the source. There was actually a deep pool of submerged ice here too. We excavated it, melted it and built a pond. She pointed in punctuation toward the center of the cavern. Jacques had a minor in terra-engineering. This became his hobby.
It's quite impressive. It rivals any of the subterranean gardens of Europa; Bethrasse, Cherie's Flauna, Centralia... this is quite amazing, he announced as he stepped lightly onto the manicured path. You tend this alone?
No, of course not. I have a small cadre of metal savants. Epsilon. Gamma. Zeta. With that three contraptions appeared almost instantaneously. Each approximated human form for functions sake alone, making no concession whatsoever to the aesthetic. It was quite obvious they were what they were: titanium robotics.
At your request Dr. DeLucienne, one squeaked metallically. Bracken had no way of knowing which one it was until he spied the Greek alphabet symbol on its chest plate. Ah, that must have been Zeta.
Report please, she said.
Condition green. Nothing that requires your attention, it stated succinctly. Would you care to place a harvesting order?
Yes, apples please. The normal quantity.
Apples. The normal quantity, it mimicked and turned to leave. Its brethren stood by idly until they were dismissed.
Well, it seems that your husband has left you in able hands, Bracken stated, nodding admiringly at the garden and the metal savants that hummed about.
Yes. But this is not what I brought you down here for.
I didn't think so, he admitted and followed her down the path she was now trodding purposefully.