Chandeliers. Tablecloths. Gold-pressed latinum cutlery. Once a luxury restaurant. Now covered in but cheese. A robot waiter approaches the first person in. "Would you like to try our menu?" It asks.
"For the record, the fungi does burn, so do proceed with—" Oh! Hello there, robot. Sure, he'll bite, while keeping a safe distance. "What is on the menu?"
Following behind, Essen saw the robot approach Ivi. In an instinctual response, her hand hovered over her phaser, but didn't grab it -- the robot was... Friendly? It just handed him a menu? Well. At least this robot wasn't hostile. "What's on the menu, sir?"
"Cheese. Lots of cheese. Hm. Well, unfortunately, I happen to be lactose intolerant..." He politely handed the menu back. "Thank you very much, even so."
"Whoa, do you think... wait, who owns this, did we get told that..?" He was also thinking of taking something to go, but it was more along the lines of the latinum cutlery. But also, it might be good to know who owned the ship anyways.
"Thank yo---oh no..." Essen looked at the robot as it just said it had acknowledged the hostile trait. "What does this place have against lactose intolerance? They must really love cheese that much..." Essen handed the menu back to the robot.
Lente was also lactose intolerant, but more importantly (because the lactose intolerance wasn't actually all that much of an impediment to her when it came to consuming dairy products) she was still pretty grossed out from the gross fungus-infested cheese everywhere, so she declined a menu too.The security protocol felt like a personal attack, though. It wasn't her fault her body stopped producing lactase past a certain age! That was normal for mammals!
He responded with a sharp-toothed grin, faceted, robotic eyes twinkling with mirth before security protocol was engaged. Oh! Unfortunate. "Maybe move back, sir," he said, already prepping his phaser.
"It's intolerant of the lactose intolerant!" Paco said shocked as the robot began security protocols as he pulled out his phaser and began stepping back
"...Man... I hate cheese..." Maya quietly said to herself as she prepared her phaser. Not really lactose intolerant; she wasn't the biggest cheese fan.
"I don't think ice cream specifically is part of the consideration, to be honest," Lente said, backing away too as she gripped her phaser a little tighter.
"This place does not accommodate for people's dietary needs? Wow..." Personally he didn't have to worry, but damn. Cringe. Subconsciously he tried to move in front of the milk-hostile crowd, all the while prepping his phaser.
"hold on." *Maya said as she approached the robot, wanting to see how close she could get to it before it starts getting mad with a tricorder on hand. *"May I have a menu please?"
A three is good. Ivi moved his head and the menu clunked against his chair, probably. Meanwhile, the robot, upon being asked for a menu, threw one at Umali. Clearly, that was some sort of glitch; it stopped, aghast at itself. Maya was not a registered lactose intolerant! It had just attacked a customer! "Customer abuse detected. Hostile trait. Security protocol activated." It smacked itself in the face with a menu.
Only Saren's shot hit. It didn't kill the robot immediately, but it did scramble its systems again. "Lactose intolerant detected." It hit itself again. We now have the world's first lactose intolerant robot.Meanwhile, another waiter robot approached. There were about two others, including this one, that were functional. "Staff abuse detected. Please leave the premises." It put its hands on Saren's shoulders, attempting to escort him back out the door of the restaurant.
seeing his cousin get smacked by the robot cheesed off Paco a little bit, and as the other waiter-bot attempted to escourt Saren away, Paco took a shot against that one🎲2
Rolled: 1d6
[2] ➜ 2
18:23
"...I have cheesed it... dang it." Paco said to himself sadly
The robot escorting Saren away stared at Paco, who did, in fact, hit. It took the shot like a champ, though. "Staff abuse will not be tolerated. This is your last warning. Please leave the premises." It turned to Maggie, who had also just shot it. Now it was sparking and jerking, holding onto Saren too tight. "Abuse. Abuse. Abuse."
The confused lactose intolerant made a horrible sound when hit. It sounded like it was in pain. None of the other robots had made a sound like this. "Connection established with - connection lost."
"...holy shit the cheese probably made the robots sentient..." Maya quickly said as she went to the robot and scanned it, also attempting to open it up and see if she could see what it was trying to connect to before it was lost
Ough, ouch, fuck.
"It's self-defense, good sir!.." with how much the security bot was sparkling and twitching, Saren wasn't sure if this could even work - but the Romulan did clench his teeth, did grab onto the bot's appendages that were currently trying to crunch his shoulders into 2D planes, and did try to hurl it over himself, hoping it would let go or, at least, break down even further. 🎲5
The lactose intolerant weakly threw a menu at Ivi as Maya approached. No need to roll, though, it was a pathetic shot. "To file a complaint regarding one of our staff, please call the number..." It rattled off a number. "Tampering with Mind Trip™ technology without permission is grounds for legal action." Regardless, it let Maya do what she wanted. On investigation, it seemed it was trying to connect to the AI, and briefly maintained connection before a shock to its system reset it.Meanwhile, the other robot was flung over Saren's shoulder. It found this very disorienting, flailing its robot limbs like a cat in space. "Please return me to vertical alignment."
"The cheese is probably forcing the robots to not connect back to the AI." Maya said as she continued to prod and investigate the robot. "it forced a reset as it tried connecting to it"(edited)
What--?! She was just trying to joke! It worked?! "Hey! If you can hear us! You don't want us to attack?" Essen said. "We're with Starfleet! We're here to help!"
There was a lot going on here, to say the least. As everyone kept shooting at the one that started taking Saren out, he kept an eye out for any more that might be heading towards them, and then - holy shit, did Saren just toss that thing like.. okay, no, mental note for later. Luckily, the helmets were probably a little bit too tinted to see the slight blush on his face. "I think it might be us attacking them that's losing their connection, actually," he said as he went over to Saren, silently looking him over to make sure he was undamaged.
"Wait, what if we call the number..?" He asked as he heard the robot try to make the call.(edited)
Essen looked to Allan and nodded. "Hey, uh, waiter bots," Essen said. "Can you call that number..." Listing off the number they said before. "...please."
"The robots disconnect when they try to connect to Brien. I'mma try to fix this one and see if removing the cheese would help." Maya said as she tried to do just that, scrape off the cheese and fix whatever was borked by it.
Shit! The connection lost again. "No no no no! Crap... Well, it seems like Brien wants us to talk with them directly. That's what got the bots to stop. Brien said don't attack."(edited)
Achille, who had been here the whole time, believe it or not, was looking around awkwardly, wondering what he could do to help everyone. He felt... more than a little out of his depth.
Breathing heavily, he straightened out, only to immediately hunch his shoulders, making a displeased sound somewhere in the back of his throat. Might not be bruised, but damn were they sore! He'll live, though.His helmeted head turned towards the telephoning robot, tilting at it curiously. Closer to the room?.. "I wonder what room they're talking about. Maybe there's a central server hub, or something like that?.."
"Oh. Right, the room-" Allan looked back at his tricorder, which he had saved the floorplans too, and announced that he had the floorplans earlier, but forgot to mention that.. "The AI's actually in the next room over, um. According to the floorplans."
Essen looked to Allan. "Does Brien know we won't be able to get to them that easily? We can't use phasers on the gunk, that would burn it. From what Brien said it seems they want us in that room."(edited)
There is no other way. All the other doors were also gunked up like this. If you have to figure out how to get through any of them, it might as well be the one that leads directly to your objective. However, the solution is NOT burning them... With fire, anyway.
Essen looked around. "Is there anything else here that can generate heat? Enough heat to maybe melt the gunk, but not enough that it would burn it? Phasers would burn it."
"I meant, like, we call him. Not through the bots," Allan said, taking his PADD out of his pocket, "like... if we try calling the number?" He tried doing that.
"Has anyone run a full panel on the gunk? Like found out its chemical makeup so we can get rid of it easier?" He added, unsure of whether he should voice the thoughts that he was having.
"I have some scans done here, cadet," he offered his tricorder to Achille. "It is dairy and fungi, the latter being comprised of multiple species of Earth mold, including penicillin. Take a look, if you want to."
Ring ring. "Hello? This connection is more stable, but I don't think it'll hold for much longer than my robots can. Oh, but why did I just waste that time talking, then? Why did I just do it again? Shit."
He nodded before he went to look at the tricorder. He was starting to get an idea, but, he wasn't sure if it was a good one yet. "Do we have access to solutions that can get rid of mold and fungi? And the break down the dairy too..." He spoke quietly, not wanting to get in the way of the phone call.
Yes! It's stable! "Brien!" Essen called out. "We aren't able to get into your room, the door is covered in a bunch of this fungus gunk. Do you know how we can dissolve it or otherwise clear it so we can get to you?"(edited)
"Hii, Brien, um, we're trying to talk to ya, yeah, but the door's closed, like, solid with all the cheese clogging it up, right? So we're, um, kinda stuck, right- yeah, what she said." He nodded to Essen.
"The gunk blocking the doors looks like the fungus, but it's not actually the same - it's just also orange. In the kitchen, there's one functional replicator authorized to -" Static.(edited)
"Brien? Brien!" Essen called to them. "Do you think the bots will let us into the kitchen?" Essen asked Allan. "We'll need the functional replicator authorized to do... something..."
"Fuck, okay, a replicator, let's go, then, I'm sure it can make... something that could, like, dissolve it?" He looked to the scientists as he moved to go to the kitchen.
Essen thought in her mind to the robots, 'please don't run after us please don't run after us please don't run after us please don't run after us...' as she followed Allan.
He caught Allan's glance, only to then look at the other scientists in the room: "I think that was our cue to follow."
And that he did! After all, there was a mini-puzzle to solve.
Congrats! You're now in the kitchen. No channel change. It's basically the same room. There were various kitchen apparatus, as well as things like vinegar and various cleaning materials. This was the kind of environment that would require kind of acidic things, it seemed. The question was whether or not they would be able to create an acid that could dissolve the glue blocking the door. Improv chemistry.
Vara'l continued to tag along with the group. As he walked in with the group to the kitchen, he continued to keep his eyes open, phaser held at a loose ready as he moved. Hopefully the Robots wouldn't regard what might be about to be attempted as a hostile action but.. if it turned out that they did, he wanted to be ready to open fire upon them.
"I... know a thing or two about chemistry, even if I haven't taken it in a year or two. I've had to clean up a few messes at the very least." He offered, hoping that the others would trust a cadet with helping on this task. Really, he wanted to check if Vinegar would be able to do something, that did help get rid of mold.
"We probably need to get something that has a stronger concentration of acid, would probably be enough to dissolve the cheese by breaking down the proteins and fats holding it together..." Paco suggested, though initially wanting to look at a supply closet for cleaning supplies, using a functioning replicator was much simpler and so he went towards that. "Okay... time to replicate some concentrated kitchen degreasers. Those contain strong acids..."(edited)
"Can we also check what this replicator is able to replicate? Maybe that can give us a bit of a hint?" He offered. He agreed with Paco's analysis of the situation, however, that was essentially what he was going to suggest.
"I'd assume just about anything...? It was hard to tell from what he was saying, but it sounded like it can at least do the chemicals you want, if that's what you're talking about? Wouldn't hurt to test it, either," he gestured to said replicator like the Will Smith meme. "All yours."
"It... almost sounded like this replicator was special.. in a way, but that might be because it was working..." He stepped forward to check any allowed compounds and see if they matched up with acids that he knew.
"Mhm... yeah I was just about to that. Like right now... I- I thought that was implied" Paco said with a confused look, standing next to the replicator before he went to try replicating the kitchen degreasers and seeing what else it can replicate while waiting
"See if you can replicate bleach and ammonia. " Maya suggested with a shrug "Both can clean grease stains. Ammonia especially can dissolve fat and grease. Maybe mixing them can work"
Achille looked panicked for a second. "Respectfully, Lieutenant, mixing bleach and ammonia would create toxic gas... and I don't think that is a good idea..."
Vara'l nodded at the alright. "Just keeping a eye out." Was all he'd then uttered when he'd responded then as he'd just continued to keep watch. Or well, all he'd said at first, the addition when it followed a explaination that expanded upon the earlier simple reply. "Given the previous hostility of the robots, I just want to make sure that if anything else comes to interfere with us, Lieutenant."
When the cadet proceeded to say what they said, Vara'l turned and fixed them with his storm grey hued eyes for a moment and then nodded in agreement as he looked to Maya. "Please don't do that, Lieutenant, if you were intending to."(edited)
"Yeah, I think I'll also keep watch with ya," he said to Vara'l, doing that, and figuring Maya had been told enough times now not to do the Bad Combo to comment on it again, addressing the rest, "let me know if the replicator starts being weird with the permissions, though," he could probably tweak it to give things if needed, but from what Brien said, it sounded like they wouldn't need to.
The compounds did match up with the acids. Also, this replicator was authorised to print some pretty powerful acids. Most weren't allowed to do that. Perhaps that was what Brien had meant by 'authorised'.
"Okidoki. Let's start with hydrochloric acid. That's already a very powerful acidic cleaning agent" Paco said with a smile and a nod as he inputted that in to the replicator before leaning over to Achille. "...She's my cousin by the way... she's probably joking" glares at Maya "...probably..."
"Alright... I hope she was joking..." He spoke quietly, a little relieved to hear that it was a joke after all. He was never good at telling when people were joking.
"Alright! Cheese is mostly made of fat, 'cause milk, and acids dissolve fats through hydrolysis. Since the door is glued together with cheese, this should probably work." Paco explained as he got the container of acid. "Would you like to do the honors of freeing the door?" Paco offered to Achille. He is a cadet, and also let him do the honors of printing the thing, so it was fitting
"Maybe I should replicate a spray bottle first... that would make applying the acid much easier," he rambled on to himself before looking at the acid in the container.
A place to keep a eye on things located, one that complimented and supported the position near him Alan had assumed, Vara'l slipped over to that and watched. Watched outside as he continued to hold his phaser ready. He certainly wanted to not be surprised by Robots while the others worked on this so pulled his mind away from doors and glue for a time and just focused on what he could see in front of him as he watched.
"I think splashing the bottle of the stuff would be enough. its quite a big bottle." Paco suggested to him. "...if this doesn't work, Acetone probably would..."
"Then I will splash it on the door," Achille spoke with a nod before he went to do just that, taking extra care not to get any on himself in the process.
Sizzled right through the glue! Didn't get all of it at first, though, so it would require a few more splashes. You could easily go back and forth splashing the door if you wanted, though - your PPE will protect you!(edited)
"Nicely done, everyone," Saren nodded his approval. There was something very satisfying about watching people of his division figure things out... especially the younger ones.
"Yay science indeed," he agreed, checking the floorplan again, and then looking up at the door, "well, it's definitely the right room, still. Shall we?" And then he walked up to the door if literally anyone said yes. Or pushed it open, if it was that kind of old fashioned door.(edited)
"We shall." Vara'l responded to Allan as he followed the other with his phaser still grasped tightly and in a at the ready hold. He slipped in with the others.
Time to replicate! First order of business... a large plank of material! Second order of business... very strong glue! Third order of business... general first aid supplies and things to help patch the suit if it got breached.
"Oh, sweet, well, that works- I can hold that, if you want," Allan offered, holding his arms out to carry the giant plank while the cadet would replicate the rest of the things.
Now with the real platform they made along the way... made, Achille turned to Lieutenant Allen. "Thank you, it is much appreciated. I can hold everything else and help move the platform to where it needs to go too." Anything to be helpful.
"I... think we might need more of these planks... I'll get those replicated too..." He added as he turned back to the replicator to make more platforms. Better safe than sorry... right?
"Yeah, that's a good call," he agreed, holding the plank under his arm if he could as the cadet made more of them. "Maybe, like... I dunno, three sounds like a good number, right?"
"Yeah, I think three should be enough. If it's not we can always come back to make more of them too," Achille responded after he made the final plank needed.
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