morally_cryptic | for soresumaster

"Well," he brushes his fingertips over the thing's hull again. "No keyholes. If it's a passphrase we might be here a while trying to guess it." And that was only if it was created by a species whose sounds humans could replicate. Which wasn't a given when they didn't know where it came from.

"Waiting how?"

"Patiently," comes immediately to mind.

Anakin just barely resists the urge to facepalm (in true mimic-Kenobi fashion) if only because he's still holding the light.

"Patiently. Okay. Very helpful. Hold this."

Which would be him passing the light into Obi-Wan's hands.

Obi-Wan takes it, and automatically re-angles it for Anakin's benefit. The inner shell shimmers a moment as the light shifts over it.

"Patient, anticipatory, but as if it's in some kind of-- of deep sleep, or standby mode, or whatever the computer equivalent would be."

"Hibernation?"

Maybe he should be using tools again but Anakin tends toward being tactile so he reaches in past the wires to touch the fingers of his left hand to the shell while at the same time touching it through the Force as if that might give him a better handle on it.

Then again, it's not like it's the first time he's done just that with a machine.

"Hibernation...?" he muses, and finally nods once, sharply. "Yes, that's it. Hibernating, and waiting for... Something, anyway."

When Anakin reaches in, Obi-Wan braces himself, just in case, ready to pull them both back if he needs to, but nothing happens. The shell is almost-- inert, like some sort of heavy shielding material, though it is not opaque to Anakin's Force-probe: The shielding is nearly half a meter thick, and dense with circuitry, and inside are a number of things that, while not, as such, alive, whisper through the Force of the potential for life.

They're quickly getting back into the realm where Anakin could easily become distracted for quite some time without realizing how much time has passed. He's certainly fascinated enough to keep exploring what he can through the Force though he murmurs a bit distantly to Obi-Wan, "....some kind of seed....?"

"--A seed? Interesting; that would explain the sense of... hibernation... Can you show me?" he asks.

"Think so." He pulls back enough to put his focus on Obi-Wan again, "it's worth a shot anyway."

And as soon as the other Jedi is ready, he'll take them both back in again...for lack of a better term for it.

Obi-Wan takes a moment to center himself, and then nods, reaching out to Anakin through the Force.

"Ready," he says.

Anakin nods as well, lets his eyes slide closed, and reaches out to the device again.

With Obi-Wan there with him, he looks a little deeper. So far he's had no sense that they're actually disturbing anything so it seems worth looking if possible.

It feels as natural and as easy as breathing to let Anakin guide him here, through the maze of wires and circuits to the bright potential inside... The thought that the inner shell of the probe was capable of hiding this is both intriuging, and disturbing.

It's more than just a single seed.

"Oh," Anakin breathes. That was interesting. Somewhere in there he's started thinking of the probe as some kind of life sustainment device for what it's carrying inside the shell.

He doesn't really have to say it aloud, not when they're connected through the Force like this, so Obi-Wan can just as easily tell that his next thought is what the hell do we do with it?

And Anakin will be able to feel his own bafflement as well, and his fascination with the contents of the probe.

Open it up?

Sardonic amusement there. Easier said than done. Hadn't he been paying attention.

But then, with the two of them...

Time to find a way.

After all, there was pretty much nothing they couldn't do when working together.

It is not without reason that they are seldom apart.

Out loud, Obi-Wan says, "Someone activate the bio-containment field, please."

Just in case. Though he doesn't sense anything harmful here, it wouldn't do to contaminate the entire hangar.

Another reason they're often together: Anakin's response to possibly dangerous situations (when they're not involving people he's personally invested in, anyway) can generally be summed up by YOLO. So it's just as well Obi-Wan was there to be the more sensible of the two.

"Here goes nothing," Anakin says once the containment field is on.

Maybe they hadn't found the way to open it with purely physical means but with the Force there's little that can remain hidden for long. "Should just take the right nudge..."

"There," Obi-Wan agrees, and he draws back, just a little, mentally and physically. "Do it; I have your back."

"Never doubted," Anakin says with a trace of a smile and then he gives the probe that little nudge even if he's also mentally holding his breath a bit in case it blows up in their faces.

And here, finally, the probe shows its age. Invisible seams in the shells, outer and inner both, crack, yes, but the mechanisms that would fold them open, tuck them away, or otherwise move them... jam. And then they make a rather horrid noise, and Obi-Wan takes a half-step back, grimacing, and covering his ears.

Obi-Wan isn't the only one to cover his ears. Anakin scowls at the probe.

"Well. Things were moving along too easily," he remarks. "Guess it's time to get the tools again."

"At least we can see a bit more of what's under the shells," Obi-Wan remarks.

"True," Anakin says as he reaches for the light again, "maybe we can see what's jammed the mechanism too."

Hopefully.

"It may be a case of nothing more than time. We should try a lubricant first, I think." Though he does come up beside Anakin again, to peer more closely at the probe.

"If you insist, Master."

Lubricant is easily enough retrieved though it takes Anakin a few moments to decide where best to apply it.

for soresumaster

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i don't know if you've read it but i'm having vague Rogue Planet flashbacks

ohhhhh man I have not read that book in a million years but you're right XD;;

:)

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