Chapter 38: Chapter 18: Hey got any Grapes?

"Uhm, are you alright?" Ice cautiously reached out and patted the duck on the back as it curled up in a ball, its wing still gently touching his foot.

“I was alone ALONE for a thousand years!” the duck bawled.  "I thought-, I thought everyone died… is Alley still alive? My sensors glitched when Clockwork got knocked into the ship by that strange purple and yellow man.  Who else is here with you?  I can sense a system but I don't recognize the signature… why are Clockwork's automatons with you his system should be disbled." The duck rambled as it asked rapid fire questions.

"Whoa whoa slow down I don't know what you're talking about.  Francis sent me to find the Nano Forge supposedly it will be able to help me get a new arm and leg since I… well.." Ice gestured down at his missing leg and the stump where his arm should be. "Do you know where it is?  Maybe you can show me and we can…. Hangout for a bit?"

The duck looked at him oddly.  "The Nano Forge is right there."  A wave of the wing indicated the entire ship. "Transport and weapon created by Alanna the Amazon and Alice, The Weapon Forge."  The duck had begun to sound like a tour guide. "No access without the command code of the AI Alice." 

"This AI?"  Ice pulled the AI wafer out of his pocket and held it out to the duck.

"Oh mother." The duck broke down crying again wrapped around Ice's hand. "You and Alley went down fighting in the end…. Just like you both wanted.  You! You're a User right?  Hahahhahahha!" The duck stared him in the eye as he reluctantly nodded. The wings suddenly seemed hard as rock and held his hand in place.

"I accept command of the User and AI combat team known as…" The duck looked at him expectantly"

"Oh, uh, Ice and Raven?" Ice answered confused.

"As Ice and Raven.. the.. no designation yet?"

"I uhm uh no?"

"I will serve as the bastion from which they will fight the Rifts as they form and assist them in any way possible.  Command authorization Zulu alpha December bravo delta 1. Designation (poll results here), the Nano Forge.  I await your command." The duck starred at him expectantly.

"Oh ughmmmm Raven… what just happened?"  

"We just gained a warship.  I think the duck is the VI controlling it."

Just then the itch on his leg stopped and the automatons and D.O.G started moving again.

"I have released your …. Servants? Are those the automatons of Clockwork? But how I saw him crushed in that clockwork mech of his.  Then that … person threw his head! I saw it go over the horizon!"

"I don't know a Clockwork… but an AI in a jar in a factory has a bunch of these and he sent us here.  So you're the Nano Forge? Can you make me new limbs? This leg is painful!" Ice was excited now.  They had a ship! They could leave!

"Oh…. We are almost out of the necessary enzymes…" The duck starred at the black staff on the ground next to Ice before quacking loudly  in triumph, grabbing it and running for the ship.

Ice just watched the excitable duck take off before sighing and getting to his feet.  He followed after the duck with the automatons and D.O.G trailing after him.  Once he got close to the ship he saw the duck trying to poke the staff into a slot on the bottom of the ship that was just out of reach.  

"Would you like some help?"

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"I've been running on empty as well. I don't have the nanos left to change size after the fight with you. I can barely keep my form together but this is the Nano Devourer.  I never thought I would see it again!  Do you know what this means! We can charge the power systems, we can refill the enzyme bunker and we can run the Nano Forge printers!"

Ice reached over and pressed the crystal tip into the hole and it slowly went inside the ship. 

The ship shook for a moment and then a door opened on the side.  A neat silver ramp slowly descended.

"You have to love the slow ramp, everyone digs the slow ramp!"  The duck said excitedly.

Ice rolled his eyes.  He tried to see into the open hatch but the inside was shrouded in shadows.  "Are you sure that stick would power up the ship?"  

"Of course!  It's not like anyone fired the laser it had built in. I'm sure it has a nice stockpile of enzymes!"

Ice coughed into his hand. "And, ah, what if they … fired the laser…. At say twenty five percent? Like in an emergency…." 

"Then we would only get partial power and maybe be able to fire the R.F.G as a weapon and be limited to atmospheric flight.  Oh and the printers would be unable to run at full capacity."  The duck was starring at him again very unhappily.  "You didn't  fire the laser did you?" The duck was looking at the reddened skin on his arm as Ice nodded. "Shit,  well we will have to see how much power is left. It takes two thousand theriope to charge the ship fifteen percent.  We need sixty-five percent to breach the atmosphere and eighty-five to fire the nano cannons."

The duck waddled up the ramp as soon as it touched the ground, its tail twitched in agitation.  

Ice followed his prosthetic hitting the ramp with a loud clang with every step.  He winced.  "I hope the new prosthetics are a little… quieter."

The duck was standing at the top of the ramp starring straight ahead as it poked at the air. " Twelve percent. We can take off and we can run the printer but we need to restock to use the guns…."  It mumbled.

Ice looked down at the little mallard.  "We can run the printer? So I can get a prosthetic?"

The duck looked up at him startled like it had forgotten he was there. "Oh uhm yea a prosthetic… we can do that? What tier body do you have? You look like an E to me but so did Marie and she had the stats of a triple S."

"What are you talking about?  I'm a human?" Ice asked, puzzled.

"Say status."

"Status."  A window popped up in front of Ice so quickly he almost fell backwards.  "Oh it's a character sheet um… let's see…"

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