Benji Baker & Yazmin Cormick
Yazmin knelt at the back of Benji's cryotank terminal. She viewed the screen as it displayed the readings from the machine. Honestly, the girl had no idea how these things worked. She'd never really taken a look at them beyond stepping into it. This wasn't some networking issue that she could break into with a terminal. This was a hardware issue and that would require parts. She pressed on the touch-screen terminal and brought up the cooling unit. It was the only thing left that she hadn't checked. The screen displayed an orange alert with an exclamation mark that read "Cryocooling Error - No Activation."
"Well what the frick does that mean?" She muttered absently. She pulled out one of her screwdrivers that she'd taken from her case, and opened the rear hatch, exposing the innards of the machine. She stuck her flesh hand in, but a flash of cold from the wires caused her to recoil and draw her hand back. She sighed, inserting her mechanical hand into the hatch. The prosthetic limb's sensors were highly temperature-resistant and only registered contact, not cold.
"Chilling." She said, completely aware that no one was listening and that her pun was awful.
From what she deducted, the cooling unit must have malfunctioned, and the gas was diverted into the machine's inner workings. She new from experience that units under serious cold-stress would completely shutdown. The inside of the cryotank shouldn't have been this cold. She used her mechanical arm to move the wires out of the way, and slid her head into the hatch so she could look around. She stifled a laugh as she could see the fog of her breath when she stuck her head inside.
"Found the problem?" Benji blurted both rather loudly and surprisingly, making that his second time giving someone an unexpected, unintentional scare. It is seemingly becoming a habit of his to sneak up on people like that, though it is unplanned. "Oh sorry about that, didn't mean to startle you there, Yaz." Benji unfolded his arms with a frown with a wrinkle of worry showing, "Y-you didn't hurt your head, right?" He feared that he may have caused her to bump her head against whatever was on the inside of the machine. "Because if you did, it's a good thing I'm a doctor, right? Ha, ha... ha," Benji's laughter was awkward, but that obvious. He feared that he had only made himself look even more like a weirdo in front of Yaz. He had already regretted his breakdown in the kitchen, and now he might prove himself to be a nuisance with the sudden unexpected scares. But Benji is never this self-conscious. No he is more of your fun-loving, happy-go-lucky guy- it was the cryo-tank that swayed him this way.
"No, seriously I'm really sorry." He brushed his fingers through the short strains stitched to the scalp while at the same time releasing an embarrassed sigh, "I seem to just--... My cryo-tank might not be the one thing that's broken." Benji furrowed his brow and shook his head, noticing what he had said and thus disagreeing with it. He started talking fast again, something he does only when put at unease, "N-no that's not right. I'm not insane. Maybe a few loose bolts, but not a nutjob. I know I lost it in the kitchen, b-but it won't happen again, I promise! It-It's just that I get a bit shaken up because of... well..." He ceased with a silence, a pause. Benji knew he needed to finish that sentence, although he prefer not to, but that is what happens when being born as an open book. Sometimes he can't keep shut about things, well really he never keeps quiet ever. Yet Benji committed to saying it, he had to, because he couldn't leave her hanging even if he knew whatever he says beyond this point is being taped through the surveillance cameras located throughout every room on the ship, except the restrooms and bedrooms for privacy. Each recording is stored and can be easily viewed at the cockpit with the rest of the other panels operating the ship. But even if he did ask if he can speak in private, that would be recorded and if anyone was to watch that through they might have a fair suspicion against Benji. It was just best if he needed to say something, he would just say it now while he had the chance.
"It's the cryo-tanks... I just wish that none of us have to use those things again. And don't get me wrong, I want it fixed because, well, we might have to use those things again. And if we for sure do, what if there is no way to fix mine. I'll be back by myself again, but then it will permanent. Because if it's broken, it's broken and then that means humanity must go on without me, which also means I can't stop you guys. Everyone else will have to return to their tanks in order to of course preserve their bodies for what can last lifetimes for the ship to reach it's destination. That means I get left out, literally. I will to stay on the ship wandering alone until... I guess I expire from starvation, according to what I overheard Echo saying that we only have three years of food. And I won't let it happen-- I don't want to die from starvation, and more importantly, I don't want to die alone... I'm willing to save myself before it happens."
Yazmin had jumped so hard when Benji arrived that she'd nailed her head against the cold metal of the cryotank. She scowled and turned, wiping a perky grin onto her face in attempts to downplay the pain. "Nope, we're all good doc. I did find the problem, though."
The young woman looked at the doctor as he spoke, kind eyes regarding him with empathy, rather than sympathy. His speaking of his own "brokenness" made her understand him just a little bit better. Without any request for permission or regard for whether or not it would make him uncomfortable, Yaz stepped forward and hugged the man. She was a hugger, to say the least.
"Benji, you won't... expire from starvation. I'm gonna fix the tank. I've rebuilt supercomputers in five hours, I can surely fix an over glorified high-tech sleeping bag." She said, and pulled back, looking him in the eye. "We're here for you, Benji."
The hug, that hug, may have only seemed like nothing more than a comforting gesture to anyone else. But for Benji, that meant human touch. It was something he had been long deprived of that even in the amidst of what he thought would be a perfect welcoming with the friendly greeting, warm blankets, and celebration cake, he never thought once about ever shaking their hand or even what Yaz is doing now by hugging. Sure he wrapped blankets on some, but that was their contact with a sheet of fabric. Now everything felt so real to him. Benji has made the claim of his awakening occurring two years prior to theirs, which was correct. Yet he only experienced that in physically terms, because all this time he could not help but allow his mind to translate the aimless wanderings through the ship whether it be on its floors or in its vents, to be what can be expressed as limbo. They were real people, not a figment of the imagination nor products of a hallucination.
Now was not the time to think about dying, no because Yaz has pieced inside of Benji the belief to be assured that death was not an impending predator. His plot to eliminate both a lonely death and a death of starvation by his own methods of medicine, has for now, been discarded. Besides, that is something for him to moreover discuss with Owen, since Dr. Childs is the crew's psychiatrist. As for Yaz, she was the computer scientist, and because Cryonautics selected only the best of best supposedly, the cryo-tank was really no problem for her capabilities.
But that was the first thing that crossed his mind, that he being hugged by someone. The second thought was to identify who was hugging him. Oh, that's right, that person seems to be Yaz, Yaz the girl who kept his heart a flutter before, but nothing like now. Benji would use the medical term of calling it a heart palpitation- that sensation you get when the heart either skips or adds an extra beat. He could feel it, but hoped Yaz wouldn't, since the heart palpitation can pulse through the chest, throat, or neck. However, would it hurt to confess or even hint to his interest? Benji needed to stop dealing with doubting right now while he still can; whether that be his doubt in his decision to shut off the tanks, or his doubt that leads him to believe his tank is a lost cause and that he himself is a lost cause.
After Yaz had pulled back from the hug following with, "We're here for you, Benji.", Benji smiled back. "Thank you, Yaz. Y-you're pretty great--Um... Like doesn't sound creepy or weird, right? I don't think it sounds creepy or, you know, weird... ha, ha. Hey, have you checked out the ship's library? Maybe when you finish or take a break we could totally hang out there..." He lowered his voice a bit nervous, "Unless that sounds super nerdy... and stuff."
At the mention of the library, Yazmin's ears perked up slightly. "A library? Maybe they have something on the cyotanks so I can be sure I'm fixing the right thing." She said, completely missing any kind of hint he might've been throwing. She turned and looked down at the hatch. "I need to find a flashlight so I can actually see what I'm doing. Maybe there are tools in storage or something. I'm gonna need a soddering pin," She began, turning and walking towards the door, counting the items on her finger. "Something to help seal the cracks..." She said and turned into the corridor.
"Flashlight? Soddering pin? I'm on it," he immediately gave the quick response as soon as Yaz finished her last sentence. He pushed himself to help her not just because Benji is indeed helpful, but that provided him the fastest escape out of the room, as he felt a bit anxious when she overlooked his previous suggestion. Rushing to scamper and storm out of the room and into the halls, Benji quite in fact tripped when turning- he has his clumsy moments. But no matter, he bounced back up and left. He made his simple path to the storage room, trying to make himself useful. Being the crew's doctor, that was the job he was offered when first contacting the company, though now he speculated whether or not the team would even trust him as a person as he even knew his reason for waiting two years before shutting off the tanks was really not a reason at all. The thing is, Benji genuinely wants to tell them what happened, but he just can't.
Vashonn
