Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

83. Doom Moon Four - Patching

"Estimated time of arrival to the first exhaustion shaft: 1 minute, Milady."

Flora switched into her mech-suit.

"What is the temperature difference to the outside? Do we risk exploding the overheated engines when we open the door?"

"23 degrees, Milady. 42% chance to damage the systems, a 2% chance of destroying them."

Better than Flora expected, but still not odds she wanted to take.

"I'm going to spray Frost Breath in the air. Aito, distribute the cold slowly."

This measure, combined with gradually opening the airlock, reduced the damage to a minimum.

Aidan landed them right next to the shaft. Flora sprang out of the shuttle and bolted thick metal sheets over the entry point to the ventilation system.

"Next! How's the estimated time looking?"

"Very good compared to before, Milady. Patching all the shafts is now mathematically possible."

Flora speed-substituted the broken parts of the shuttle, for which she could improvise replacements. Then they flew to the next ventilation system.

Flora scribbled more anti-heat, durability, and fortifying rune-schemes.

Aito joined her. She wrote the schemes on duct tape and stuck them to the machines according to Flora's instructions.

While it was a known fact that writing rune-schemes was an art, which a robot could never fully emulate, Flora thought differently. Machines executed a lot of crafts, people claimed could never be automated like weaving or painting. She put more significance into placing the rune-schemes.

With Diagnosis, she monitored the whole shuttle and counter-pressured, pushed, and pulled via Telekinesis.

Because Flora had removed the majority of the floor for easy access to the machinery, moving became adventurous. She envied the octopussy for its ability to dangle from the ceiling.

The enemy activity aggravated the situation. Aidan had to fly evasive maneuvers, which shook the shuttle and its passengers.

"I bet my acrobatics ability is rising," mumbled Flora. One of her feet she wedged in a handhold on the wall, the leg kneed on the floor, her shoulder pressed on the rim of the machines access while her hands and magic tinkered.

"One fighter-jet is trailing us, Milady. We are under attack."

"Aito, deal with it."

The octopus exited through the airlock. She pinged Flora for Overload Built-In Skill, and Flora cast it through the link. It worked fine, even without sight and a good layer of metal between them.

"Please narrate what is happening outside."

"Aitoshuri currently is peppering the fighter with laserbeams. She hit its left rocket system. The jet is returning fire-"

The shuttle shook.

"And destroyed our back gate. The octopussy is still hanging on the remains."

"Oh, dear." Flora had hit her head hard, the helmet protected her it, but the impact knocked back her neck. She rubbed her nape, a futile gesture because of the mech-suit. "How close is the jet? Can I use technomancy on it?"

"Its 100 meters away. The rules for big vehicle fight extend the range of weapons, but not skills. Your marksperson skills work because you are casting them through your rocket launcher. I recommend-"