“Fudgesickles,” BLIM cursed under his breath feeling his left arm freeze and twitch. It was always the same indication that something in his system was about to fail. BLIM calculated his options. On one hand, he would have Fawn take a look at his circuit boards again. But, another pirate moment was not worth it. She had a gift for correcting the problems with his system, as well as causing difficulties along the way. BLIM honestly was not sure if she was genius or an idiot. Weight his other option to instead wait the glitch out, BLIM continued to pick up clumps of fine sand and sift them slowly.
Scanning the objects as he picked them up, percentages flashed next to the item. Garbage. BLIM threw the small chunk of material back into the ocean. A glim in the sunlight caught his eye as he bent down. Glancing to his left, he saw Fawn floating on her back gazing up at the sky. She was mumbling to herself again. A hobby that irritated BLIM.
BLIM felt the twitch in his arm again and the round blue sifter fell into the water. Bringing his arm up BLIM carefully flexed his hand into a fist and inspected each finger. He ran an internal scan waiting for the results. Red warning signs flashed before his eyes and BLIM dropped his arm. There were high levels of radiation seeping from the sea floor nearby. It was interfering with his system and his programs were starting to shut down. Now he needed to call to Fawn.
Opening his mouth to call out, BLIM felt his jaw snap shut tight. Eyes wide, BLIM tried to open his mouth. Slumping his shoulders defeated her waded towards Fawn. To save time, he used his right arm to create a large splash towards her floating form. Startled Fawn lost her balance and slipped under the surface. BLIM shook his head. Waiting for to resurface he ran another diagnostic run through his systems and located the glitch.
He waved an arm towards Fawn when she looked around with a scowl. Placing her hands on her hips she started to yell at him. Rolling his eyes, BLIM pointed to his jaw and shook his head. This action only seemed to annoy her more. As she continued her rant, BLIM began moving his hands in sign. A few years ago when she broke his language system all together, they both learned sign language to communicate for these instances. With Fawn pulling wires and poking around in his brain this happen frequently.
Blinking out of her rant, BLIM saw recognition flash over her facial features. Fawn was an open book. BLIM look at her irritated as she saw over to him.
Radiation, he said with his hands.
“Here? Are you sure?” she said glancing around at the sea floor underneath her wrinkled feet. BLIM did not bother replying. Instead he shot her a glare and pulled up his long shirt exposing cream skin. Fawn quickly typed in her code quickly and struggled to get her tool pouch from her net bag that floated in the water beside her.
“You should have said so soon that you were glitching,” Fawn said with a pout. She never could pass up a chance to get to his insides.
Hurry Fawn, BLIM said.
“Shush, don’t rush me,” Fawn said with a pause. She giggled to herself whispering, “shush.”
BLIM was about to retort back but a new warning flashed. BLIM tried to push the ringing in his ears away as the red light flooded his vision. Warning signs popped up and he was positive he was about to lose power. Bracing himself for the momentary shut down he glanced down at Fawn. She was rolling her bottom lip between her teeth and she concentrated on some cord she currently was unhooking. That’s not good. Who knowns where she will place it.
Relief washed over him the moment she placed the cord in its new home. Fawn straightened with a satisfied look. BLIM waited for some systems to reboot and once his vision cleared he rotated his jaw.
“Wonderful,” he said dryly.
“Hey, I just saved you. You’re my metal damsel in distress. My own sopping wet damsel,” she said with a bright smile. Her smile was always contagious and her outrageous phrases constantly caught him off guard. BLIM couldn’t help smiling back at her. Her dark hard stood out against the crystal water. Her head wrap was soaked to her head. Freckles shone against the water droplets running down her skin. She was like no other human he has ever interacted with.
“Thank you,” he said with a laugh. Fawn sunk down into the water and grabbed his sifter with her toes. BLIM wrinkled his nose and swiped it from her. “Please refrain from using your wrinkled, raisin toes to grab things.” Fawn just laughed into the water as she swam away.
BLIM adjusted his settings to compensate for the extra radiation. Instead he converted the radiation into energy. Switching off his solar absorption, BLIM continued to idly sift through the sand.
The Methri people were almost finished cleaning off the careened ships. People began to bring out their small sloops and catboats to enjoy an afternoon of wishing and relaxing on the sand bar. Colorful sails filled the distance. Some of the sails were patched together in a splash of different hand stitched designs.
Many people flew the Methri flag colors of teal and yellow. BLIM watched as the vibrant dyes erupted off the blue sky. BLIM caught a glance of someone rowing towards him. BLIM zoomed in and groaned seeing the familiar cheesy smile of TORT. The last person he wanted to be around. TORT would ruin his vibe.
BLIM tried to calculate an escape route and came up short. TORT was already excessively waving an arm towards him. A plan formed in BLIM’s mind and we went into action.
“TORT stop!” BLIM yelled. TORT put his ores down and looked over at him confused. “Radiation!” BLIM responded and pointed down into the water.
TORT smiled brightly and continued to row closer. BLIM groaned. That was a terrible plan. Fawn’s idiocy was rubbing off onto him.
“Radiation? I would love to analyze this and bring the readings back to the lab,” TORT said in a monotone voice. “Would you please assist me?” TORT asked with an excited look. BLIM couldn’t turn the poor droid down.
ns 15.158.61.54da2
