A day in the life and times...

Beep Beep Beep! Beep Beep Beep! Beep Beep Beep!

"Mmmmhh..." Groggily reaching out from her sheets, curled into her blankets like a cacoon, Laelynn slammed the off button to her alarm, pulling the sheets even further over her head, only for her far more annoying and persistent second alarm clock to kick in, a robotic arm geared to tracks in the ceiling of the ship entering her room, holding a large, brightly colored can. "Good Morning, Miss Morbane. I have retrieved your morning energy drink, as per usual, and the current time is 9:01AM Galactic Standard Time." "Alright...thanks P.A.L. Just give me a few more minutes..." "Understood, I shall return to my standard duty of monitoring the ship and our flight path immediately."

Peeking out from her covers, Laelynn stared out the window to space, observing the various distant stars and nebulas, taking a deep, long breath as her eyes adjusted, sleepily rubbing them in a mild daze as her pupils dilated. "Yeaaah, I should have known it was a dream..." Bringing herself to sit up and gripping the energy drink can, her demeanor quickly picked up, a mild smile spreading over her face as she shook her head. "I don't know what's more preposterous, the idea I'd sign a contract with anybody, or the the idea of radiation and dark matter interacting, none the less a whole proven thesis on it.~" With a crack of the top, Laelynn took a sip of her energy drink, eyes going wide as she immediately spit it out with a look of disgust.

"P.A.L, WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA! THIS ISN'T STRAWBERRY SUNRISE FLAVOR! THIS IS SOUR ORANGE!" She yelled in exasperation, only for her loyal robotic assistant to speak over the ship's speakers. "I must apologize, Miss Morbane, but that is the only flavor we have left." "And why the hell didn't you tell me then?!" "I was prepared to, but as I was going to, you told me, quote on quote..." Pulling up a recording from the previous day, P.A.L. set it over the speakers for all to hear. "P.A.L, don't bother me right now! If I lose this game because of you, I'm turning you into a hair dryer!" Laelynn raised a finger to protest, yet, as her mouth opened, no words came out, before she only lowered her finger, taking a deep sigh and pressing two fingers to compress the bridge of her nose. "Fair enough..."

Slightly regretting her decision to spend her day off yesterday in competitive video games instead of handling the essentials, like restocking her supply of sodas and energy drinks, Laelynn rolled with it, forcing herself to take another sip of the sour orange energy drink, despite it usually being her afternoon choice and unraveling herself from the blankets, stepping out to the main area of her ship in her cyan blue pajamas, staring up to one of the ceiling cameras. "Anything interesting happen while I was asleep P.A.L? I.M.G Job Requests? Fluctuations in the ship's systems? That sort of thing?" "A few notable, but small jobs have been listed by the I.M.G since you fell asleep. Besides that, nothing abnormal to report. The ship is running at one hundred percent efficiency." "At least that's good news." She stated, rolling her eyes. After all, she was capable of programming a ship's destination and maintenance herself in reality. She really only made P.A.L as a back-up plan against things she couldn't foresee, and of course, to lighten up her work load allowing her to play more video games and do more experiments. Even if they were annoying, her A.I creation was certainly useful.

"Well, I'm going to get ready for the day, so in the meantime, do a wide range search of fast food places around the sector that have specials or coupons available." "Do you have any preferences this morning?" "Anything, as long as it's not that vegetarian crap you keep trying to press onto me." "But according to my database, biological creatures need a balanced diet with vitamins along with raw fuel, which a diet of fast food does not provi-" "That's final P.A.L. No arguments." "Understood, I will begin my search immediately." "Oh, and while you are at it, maybe search for a place to restock on energy drinks.~" With a final word, Laelynn entered the ship's restroom, perhaps the only place on the ship where there were no cameras for P.A.L to access, preparing for the day ahead.

Stepping out of the restroom a short time later, now fully dressed in her signature black, shoulder strap sleeveless shirt and brown, construction grade jeans, and a towel wrapped around her head, Laelynn took a deep breath as the steam spread outwards around her ship, only to be filtered away by the ship's ventilation system.~ After all, humidity control was a huge factor in keeping a ship's maintenance. "You find anything good P.A.L?" "There is apparently a coupon valid for another thirty six hours at Taco King, which states a two for one special. Breakfast Burritos, I believe they called it?" At that, Laelynn's eyes lit up, a smile growing on her face as she finished up, it had been ages since she had a breakfast burrito after all, despite their place as a classic breakfast food.~

"Good job P.A.L, set the course!~" "Understood. Establishing coordinates..." Having eventually dried out her hair, Laelynn tossed her towel aside to the nearby laundry bin, taking her usual seat at the front of the ship, spreading her elbows out and tucking both hands behind her head as she leaned into the chair. "Kind of lame my showers can only last five minutes when I come to think of it..." Of course, while that was enough for some people, showers had become a treasured luxury for the ex street urchin, a time of rest and warmth that she didn't have access to before. Yet sadly, water was not only valuable for survival, but heavy, meaning she only could carry so much at a time within her ship without taking extra risks or expending more credits on fuel.

Kicking back in her chair, Laelynn reached out to a nearby drawer, pulling out a bag of BBQ chips after finishing her energy drink, after all, a pre breakfast snack was part of her morning ritual.~ With a crispy pop, the bag opened as she began to nibble one chip at a time, taking a deep sigh as the ship redirected itself to Taco King. "Miss Morbane, may I ask a question?" "Yeesss P.A.L, what is it?" Laelynn whined out in an annoyed fashion, taking a bite of yet another chip. "Why arn't you just creating the water you need?" Waving a palm off at the A.I. camera, Laelynn only let out a dismissive breath, shaking her head. "Silly P.A.L, it's not like you can just make water from nothin-" Mid bite through her potato chip, Laelynn froze, eyes going wide. Of course, such an elegant solution, yet one so simple it merely passed over her mind! She didn't need to create water from nothing, just the resources she had available! 

"P.A.L, you're a genius!" Taking a moment from her excitement, Laelynn placed her chip bag down, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, I was the one that designed you, so I guess that's no surprise...~" "Of course, I am programmed for excellence." Shrugging off how her A.I. had an idea that she herself hadn't thought of, Laelynn brought a hand to her chin, tapping it while staring to the ceiling, deep in thought. Hydrogen was the most found element in the universe, and with her ships atmospheric generator that provided oxygen...it was actually more than possible to produce water while in mid space flight.~ "Well...Looks like I got a new project.~" Laelynn muttered to herself with a bit of glee in her voice, pulling out a few pieces of paper from her captain's seat desk, getting to work on the calculations and designs.~

Taking a bite of her newly bought, piping hot, breakfast burrito, Laelynn continued writing various calculations on paper, setting up a design for her newest ship upgrade, yet, pausing ever so often, her chewing slowing as her eyes narrowed in on the papers. "Having issues, Miss Morbane?" "Psssh, never!~ I'm just trying to figure out how to optimize this design!~" Yet and still, Laelynn was stressed, taking yet another deep breath. Her expertise was in physics and engineering, and while certainly not a novice, chemistry was not her most focused study, none the less creating a precise way to break down and recombine atoms at will in a controlled manner. Yet and still, she was anything but a quitter, the dozens of papers with scattered formulas and blueprints scattered across her ships floor clearly proving that.

Despite the difficulty, she had a problem she wanted to fix! She wasn't going to sit around complaining, scientists change the rules, break them, or if needed, make their own! She would keep on using trial and error until she made a breakthrough and got the results she wanted, that was how a true inventor lived their life! "My sensors detect stress. Do you require assistance, Miss Morbane?" "No thanks P.A.L. My brain will get dull if I start letting you do everything for me, besides..." With a resolved breath, and subtly admitting her trouble to P.A.L, Laelynn formed a smug grin, tossing aside her most recent diagram and making a new one. "This is actually the first time I've been challenged in awhile.~" After all, stress was a true artists fuel, something Laelynn knew all too well as an ex street urchin where the success of her inventions determined if she would eat that week.~

Yet and still, despite Laelynn's persistence, she found herself having more and more issues as she attempted to synthesize water from base elements. Surely, she was a genius, but not infallible, nor perfect. After a few hours of fruitless endeavors, and almost filling her ship with toxic fumes, Laelynn had decided to take a break, biting into some leftover burrito from the last fast food joint she visited. "Miss Morbane, I wish to reiterate that I could be of assistance in this matter." "And I'd like to reiterate I don't need it. I can figure this out myself!~"

Despite her bravado, Laelynn clenched two hands over her head, gently rubbing her temples. Sure, she worked with chemistry before, but only for electrical charges and ether manipulation, never having once delved this far into the precision of molecular chemistry. "I think I'm going to take a break P.A.L." Laelynn's tone changed as she worked with her computer terminal, removing her lab gloves and goggles before loading in a new game she just obtained. "Understood, is there anything I can do for you in the meantime, Miss Morbane?" "You could run a search on games going on sale, otherwise, not much else. Oh, and get me another energy drink." "Affirmative." Scowling in bitter defeat, Laelynn took a deep breath as the game fully loaded up, leaving her to her own devices as she mused what part of her design needed to be changed. 

"Fuck!" Laelynn tossed her game controller to the side, pouting at yet another competitive loss in her gaming session, reaching over and taking a sip of her recently opened energy drink can. Sure, she had the intelligence and strategy for top tier gaming, but her reflexes were slow compared to other professionals, partly in due to her having an actual life, trading off her time to train in the game between inventing and work for the IMG. Crossing her arms over her chest, she pouted, lower lip pressed forward. "P.A.L, I think I need another snack to calm down. Anything close by?" 

"There is a Smoothie Shack a mere light-year away, and they appear to be having a sale according to my database." "Let's go there then, I need some brain food." Laelynn stretched her arms high in the air, carefully cracking her neck side to side, quite easily unsettled by her lack of success in both invention, and gaming today. "At least tell me there is a sale on their bacon burgers today..." "I am afraid not, Miss Morbane." Muttering another expletive under her breath, Laelynn signed. Whenever she wasn't being pulled into some nonsense from a failed heist, it was just general bad luck. Maybe she needed to work on a luck changing invention at this point, if only that was possible.~

Sparks and flashes lit up in rapid succession across the ship's main room, Laelynn having rage quit from her gaming to go back to work on a water synthesizing system, donning protective, circular neon purple goggles to prevent that accursed "arc eye," a plasma soldering torch in her right hand, and a bacon burger from Smoothie Shack in her left, despite the lack of coupons. After all, in her mind, logically speaking, fat was the most calorie efficient compared to carbs or protein, and with the energy her brain consumed, that was energy she needed. Also, it was just delicious.  Laelynn took a step back as she turned off her soldering tool, wiping a beat of sweat from her brow, and tucking up her goggles over her forehead.

"Well, that's most of the hardware done, just need to figure out the chemistry part of it..." "Miss Morbane, I sense more stress than usual from your biological scans, have you thought about just buying a water synthesizing system? I did find a coupon online an-" "P.A.L, I'm not buying one. Period." "But Miss Morbane, isn't this the most logical option?" Laelynn could only chuckle in a childish manner, shaking her head. She did base the pseudo cognitive centers of P.A.L's "brain," per say, on her own, but she never expected P.A.L. to lecture her on logic, and honestly? They were right, yet also, so, sooo wrong.~ "I appreciate the coupon P.A.L, but that's not the point. I'm doing this my way." There was a moment of silence at this remark, Laelynn pulling out her next set of tools, only for P.A.L to speak once more. "...Miss Morbane, may I ask why you are taking this course of action, then?