Dynamic Patrol: Gel Squad! Episode II

Chapter 7: Odenridge

Polly and Gauge materialized near a pile of rubble. The safety protocols wouldn't let them materialize where they want to go because they'd be embedded under massive amounts of debris. "What the heck?!" Polly shouted; he looked at Gauge, who was just as confused as Gauge, raised an eyebrow, and fiddled with the device in his hand. If this wasn't him, he double-checked the coordinates, and the computer flashed, 'spatial jump complete.' In big red text across the green monotone display. "Maybe it's broken." Polly slapped it, and Gauge moved it out of range and used his other hand to push Polly back away from his bubble.

"Stop! This is delicate equipment; mess it up, and we'll be stuck here!" Polly looked around again, "The storm isn't as bad here." He observed, "Should we take our helmets off?"

"Absolutely not." Gauge replied quickly, and he fiddled with the device again, "Well... we did arrive where we were trying to get to. But it looks like this building had been destroyed." Gauge reset to scan mode and moved slowly around the area. It was easier now that there wasn't wind constantly bashing up against their suits.

"Maybe it was a sandstorm?" Polly asked. He looked into what remained of the Central Plexus, a crater of cement, rocks, shingles, and other building materials utilized in the construction of a skyscraper; there were miscellaneous items, too, like chairs and light panels, but that was all that Polly could see, the rest was degraded beyond recognition. "Yeah, it was a storm that did this. But that's odd. These buildings stood for over 100 years before Omeocoon was officially repopulated. There's nothing here, it's all rubble." Gauge observed around. Constant environmental changes destroyed most of these buildings: "Well, those charges weren't designed to enrich life. They were designed to destroy it, Polly."

"Why do you always have to state the obvious? Look. Can we get the hell out of here?"

"You're snippy today."

"I just don't like seeing my planet like this," Polly exhaled a sigh filtered by the mechanical excess of the speaker. "There's nothing here. Let's not mess around anymore. Let's go to the station."

Gauge took a knee and went for some rocks scattered around the place. "What are you doing?" Polly observed, "I'm collecting samples."

"Mom didn't ask for samples. We're here to observe, not change the space around us. Do you know how wreckless that is?" Polly turned his flashlight on and pointed the light beam in Gauge's face; he reeled back and shielded his eyes. "Hey, what are you doing that for!? Stop it!"

"Give me the teleporter thingy, and stop acting like an idiot!" Polly ordered, and as soon as Gauge surrendered the device, Polly punched in the coordinates for the station and was prepared to activate the teleporter.

Gauge rubbed his eyes, still a bit startled from the sudden brightness of Polly's flashlight. "Alright... no need to get so worked up, but you've gotta admit, collecting samples could be useful for analysis later." Polly sighed, shaking his head. "Maybe, but we can't risk altering anything in these environments. Our primary mission is observation, not interference. And when we make our report to Mom, the last thing she'll want to hear is that we took a rock from the surface, and suddenly President Hanson of the DP never existed."

Gauge nodded in agreement. "I guess so. Where are you putting us exactly?"

"Well, if the scans are right, the multi-tool is detecting that the station's taken severe damage... half of it is missing. Jeeze, these guys were really roughing it. So, let's start with the command center; I'm not detecting any life signs up there, so we can access the computer. It'll be a massive bit of information for us, seeing as we only know very little about this era since they neglected to keep logs most of the time. They were like cowboys. And don't forget the time machine."

"Oh? So you can download stuff off the computer, but I can't have a rock?" The tripod, camcorder-looking device was teleported with them; this time, he folded the legs and took the time displacer off of its mount, storing the device in a specialized duffle bag, which was actually just a typical duffle bag, but with the Insight Mechanics logo embroidered on the fabric.

"That's different; we're making a copy of logs, not 'taking' the logs. That rock is irreplaceable. I'm trying to get knowledge to help us study this period, and you're fooling around." Gauge was going to respond, but the device trilled, letting the duo know that the conditions were optimal for transport. "Don't talk anymore; hold your breath or your lungs will collapse." Gauge complied. Unfortunately, Polly wasn't joking; this device was a prototype... Polly activated the teleporter, and with a shimmering light, they vanished from the desolate scene.