Era1 Universe: The Global Appetizer Course

How does your character react to a sudden, flashing light?

The phone rang.

From the greasy depths of the fighter jet's very guts, the engine, Ametrine poked her head up and looked around before realizing where the sound was coming from. This was one of those times in her life she wished she had an assistant. She pulled herself out of the engine compartment and slid down the ladder.

The phone kept ringing.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'!" She yelled at the inanimate object. She'd forgotten the grease rag in the engine block so she wiped her grubby hands all over her overalls and picked up the phone. "Yes?"

"Hey, Ames?"

She paused for a moment and tried to place the voice. It was too awkward if she had to ask but she was still learning the voices of the different members of the rebellion. "Lari?"

"Ky, actually," the voice on the other end of the line chuckled warmly.

"Oh. Ky! Right, hey, what's up?"

"Well, there's a bit of a problem down here in the radio room."

"Define 'problem'?" Ametrine held the phone between her ear and her shoulder and continued wiping engine grease on her denim overalls. She quickly added, "why are you down in coms? I thought you were working main floor research."

"We're short-handed today and a call went out for dispatch in one of the outlying districts. I had to cut my studies short and head down here to help out in coms."

"Why didn't anyone call me?"

"I don't know. Look- I'm running the main control board and there's this flashing light. I don't know what to do."

Ametrine blinked. She tried thinking of how the main control board in the radio communications room was set up but it was still new to her. If she saw it in person she might be able to figure it out. But she wasn't there and couldn't be there for a little while. "What color is the light?"

"A vibrant cherry with a cinnamon undertone-"

"Red," Ametrine interrupted. Maybe she had schematics around here.

"Alright. Red. Yes. Red."

A moment of silence passed awkwardly between the two.

"Ky, where is the light and how is it blinking?"

"Well... it's on the control board. And blinking? Uh... off... and on. Then off again then on again."

Ametrine knew the girl meant well but it was really showing this wasn't her area of expertise. "No, Ky, I mean where on the control board is the light? And is the light blinking slow? Or fast?"

There was a bit of humming on the light before Ky returned. "The light is on the right hand side of the board. And do you have a metric for defining 'slow' and 'fast'?"

The schematics for the board had to be somewhere in this mess of papers strewn about the workbench. But... where? "There's no 'metric'. Is it fast or slow?"

"It's just blinking!" Ky frantically yelped back.

Ametrine took a deep breath and uttered a string of cuss words in old gem under her breath. "Okay. Blinking. Fine. Is there any tagging near the indicator light? You know, something that would say what the light is for? Like 'Contact Range Failure' or 'Distance Output Max Trajectory'?"

There was silence on the line.

"Ky!"

"Sorry! Sorry! I-I don't know! It's just a red, blinking light!"

"Work with me Ky! I can't get over to coms for at least a half an hour or longer."

"This is why I'm in the medical field and not the operations board!" Ky yelled back though her tone was desperate not angry.

Ametrine plopped herself down on the old worn stool at the desk and sighed to herself. Ky probably was feeling like her. A fish out of water. She glanced up and behind the desk was a corkboard. Amongst the notes and diagrams was a photo of her and some of the rebels at the beach. That was the best day she'd ever had. That was the first day she really felt like she belonged. Ky was pretty new to the rebellion as well. She probably felt all uneasy and nervous, especially being in this position.

She took a deep breath and began digging for the schematics. "Alright Ky, we'll get through this together. But you've got to work with me. I know you're a smart gem but don't look at things so analytically. Give me surface clues and we'll figure this out."

"O-okay..."

"Good. Now, around that red blinking light are there any tags on the board? They're typically white with black stamped letters. Sometimes they're handwritten tags."

"Uhhhh... I don't see any. It looks like there was one once. But it's not there anymore."

Ametrine uttered another swear but kept digging for blueprints. "Alright. Are there any other lights with tags around it? Even if they aren't lit up?"

"Uhh, oh! Yes! There's a light to the left that's labeled 'Maximum Field Range Output Com Line 2'. The one to the right says 'Maximum Field Range Output Com Line 4'." Ky gasped. "That must mean this light is number three!"

The biggest smile brightened Ametrine's face. "Yeah! That's the spirit! Okay, if that's the field range lights it means that whoever is on that channel won't be able to communicate. You need to go to the left side of the board, find the toggle switches that say 'Maximum Field Range Output' and turn off," she paused and looked at some notes she'd found, "you'll need to turn off numbers one, two, five, seven, nine, and fifteen."

"That's a weird set of numbers," Ky nervously giggled as she went about her task.

"I had to write it down because it kept throwing me."

After a minute Ky returned. "I did it and- it worked! The flashing light went off! Thanks Ametrine! Oh- I've got to go! I hear radio chatter now!"

Before Ametrine could comment the line went silent as Ky hung up. She sat back and smiled to herself. "Atta girl, Ky. Welcome to the team."