![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Morty-Enters-the-Dome-300x300.png\")
<\/p>\n\u201cOmega, comm check?\u201d Morty called, verifying the repairs to the junction circuits.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcknowledged, five by five. Be advised the area remains in vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAyup, we figured as much.\u201d<\/p>\n
He moved methodically through his gear check, from head to toe and back again, just as Garth had drilled them \u2014 relentlessly, unforgivingly. It had taken just one death from carelessness to drive the lesson home permanently.<\/p>\n
Suit check complete Morty touched the door control to seal the airlock<\/p>\n
\u201cOmega, verify airlock secure, then cycle, please.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAcknowledged.\u201d Morty felt his suit tightening as it adjusted automatically to the dropping pressure. All the indicators in the helmet were green, and then the air lock cycle completed and the door opened.<\/p>\n
Unnerving would be a colossal understatement. Horrifying\u2026 Morty nodded to himself, horrifying… yes, that captured it, now that he understood what he was looking at. The first time he had entered here, it had just failed to fall in to place in his head.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dome Thirty-Nine was dead. The door opened onto a scene of frozen devastation, with debris scattered about as if a giant had run rampant, destroying all it could find. Born and raised in D26, Morty had no real knowledge of Tornadoes or Hurricanes, or he would have chosen a more appropriate simile. There had been a debris strike that vented the atmosphere one hundred and seventy-four years earlier. Much was expelled into the Void, and that which remained was scattered about the landscape, including the dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cComm check, please, Morty,\u201d Omega prompted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcknowledged, sorry,\u201d Morty replied, \u201cit just gets to me whenever I see\u2026 this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand, Morty. Humans need time to process emotion. It is worse when there has been a fundamental shift in the reality you once knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morty allowed himself a faint grin. Folks always commented on how he and Omega communicated. As stilted as the statements were, they were the best Omega could do in the way of empathy. Moreover, he only extended that kind of courtesy to Morty. Drove the others a bit mad, honestly nuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cPath to the power junction box is still clear?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it has been for more than one hundred and seventy-four years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Omega also only attempted humor with Morty, which was for the best, really. Morty set out at an even pace. Moving in the suit was easy now that it was fully functional again, and he was glad they had found the battery packs for the motion-assist vacuum armor. He had a little over four klicks to cover, and dragging the suit without power-assist would have been\u2026 best not to think about that.<\/p>\n
It was impossible not to look at first. It was not as if bodies were thick on the ground, no. It was that they were everywhere. No matter which direction you looked, there would usually be a dead body in sight. Frozen and desiccated, but still frozen in the horror of a death they did not comprehend. The mind can only handle so much of that and he began to slide his eyes over them without really looking. It made it easier.<\/p>\n
The power junction box was really more of a large room. Control panels similar to those all through the Ark were strategically placed, but were dead. Omega had determined the strike had severed all three redundant comm systems to the dome. The previous work had been to repair a radio frequency based system so Omega could walk Morty through the process of shutting down all power to the dome.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocate the main distribution switches- they will be at the far end of the room, surrounded by a steel cage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGot it.\u201d Marty tried the door. \u201cLocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUse alpha four seven six charlie nine victor\u201d<\/p>\n
He keyed the code into the door and it vibrated, popping open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are four large switches directly across from the entrance. These are the emergency power cut-off. Once engaged, restoring power to the dome becomes a very difficult process. Each switch requires an access code to unlock it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
One by one, Morty pulled the switches. When the last one was disengaged, the entire room was plunged into darkness. Morty froze for an instant, counting under his breath. At five the emergency lights activated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOmega, still with me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere else would I be? I recommend you exit as quickly as possible. Protocol will seal the dome in twenty-four hours if the alarms are not addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlarms?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBe grateful you are in vacuum. You should make your way back to the airlock. There are two more just like this to address.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstood, heading back- let Dylan know that D39 is fully offline. Off to D44!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cOmega, comm check?\u201d Morty called, verifying the repairs to the junction circuits. \u201cAcknowledged, five by five. Be advised the area remains in vacuum.\u201d \u201cAyup, we figured as much.\u201d He moved methodically through his gear check, from head to toe and back again, just as Garth had drilled them \u2014 relentlessly, unforgivingly. It had taken just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":179,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-218","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222,"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/218\/revisions\/222"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaeddy.com\/TheStarlost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}