Entrance Post: The Horta's back in town.

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht signed off his terminal with a small sigh of steam. Another day, another round of debugging. This time, it was the medical database. All in all, he was quite ready for a break.

"You should have no further troubles, Dr. McCoy," he said as he glided out of SickBay...

...And right into Milliways.

"What in space?" the Horta said in suprise. "Oh, how did I get back here."

After being Bound for two weeks of subjective time, Naraht had entered the main building and found himself in the Recreation Deck of the Enterprise at the moment he had left her.

"Well, might as well take advantage," he said to himself and headed to the Bar to order some graphite.

((OOC: Sorry for the abrupt disappearance. The mun's life has been wild and woolly. :) ))
Summary: Naraht, after being unBound for a good while, returns abruptly to Milliways. Meets up with Ray and discusses a possible solution for his stair-climbing difficulties.

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[gone_byebye]

Ray was settled in at the bar with coffee, oatmeal, and a slab of clay. The clay was not being eaten. It was being poked with a stick. No, literally.

He looked up at the sound of someone approaching, and smiled. "Hullo, Lieutenant."

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

The Horta perked up at the familiar voice. "Dr. Stantz! It's very good to see you again. After my abrupt departure, I wasn't sure if I would ever meet you again given the...ahhh...considerable distance between our realities."

He turned to the bar. "One quarter kilo of graphite, please." A dark grey block with a slight sheen appeared on the surface. "Thank you."

Naraht crumbled off a few small pieces and slowly ate them. "How is your research progressing? And please tell me they have installed at least one turbolift while I was gone. Humanoid stairs were NOT designed with Horta locomotion in mind."

[gone_byebye]

Ray chuckled. "'Considerable distance' is putting it mildly. Not all of us have access to warp drives capable of slingshotting around the Sun for when we need to pass through several centuries' worth of differential time. But yeah, good to see you, too."

"The research is going okay- I have some pretty amazing new power cell technology I've been working on. Which might interest you, now that I think about it, since I don't believe they've installed an elevator... but the cells will fit very nicely into a motorized gyro-stabilized scooter capable of traversing the stairs, as long as I build the platform wide enough to accommodate you."

In point of fact he was more interested in getting Holtzmann repulsor technology out of Egon's studies of the Spates Catalog, but for now, the idea of a Horta-sized Segway was probably going to be easier to achieve.

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

One of the disadvantages to being a race which has only recently been introduced to the idea of machines is that you don't automaticly think of creating a new one as an answer to a problem. Particularly a personal problem.

"If I had legs, I would kick myself," he said dryly. "Why didn't I think of that? There are exploratory drones on the Enterprise who have climbing abilities. Although they would take heavy modifications to carry me...and I don't exactly have access to them right now."

He shook himself. "It would probably be a great help to have one of those for use here, Dr. Stantz. Perhaps we could design and construct it together?"

[gone_byebye]

"Sure," Ray says. "I'd be more than happy to collaborate with you on something like this. Especially since you know your requirements a heck of a lot better than I do. If it's not an indelicate question to ask, just how many kilograms do you weigh, anyway? That's going to be our first concern when we're designing the suspension system."

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Yet another thing about human taboos that puzzled the hell out of Naraht.

"My last check-up had me at 255 kilograms. Though why my mass would be considered an 'indelicate question' to ask is beyond me."

[gone_byebye]

"Humans get weird about it. Mostly women." Ray had no idea of just how weird it could get- or of how the men could be on the same subject. Indeed, where ignorance was bliss, 'twas folly to be wise. "Anyway, that gives me a better idea of how to rig the wheels, I think- assuming we go with a wheel system and not a track-based device. I haven't got antigrav yet, unfortunately."

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht hissed a chuckle. "Mostly females? I suppose I should be grateful that Horta do not develop gender until we near the completion of our cycle."

He recalled his last experience with stairs in Millways. "Actually, a helpful young human managed to acquire an antigrav unit from the Bar the last time I got stuck, but, all things being equal, I'd prefer wheels if we can create a frame that is well balanced and can swivel sufficiently to manage stairs. When you weigh as much as I do, falls cause considerable property damage when anti-grav cuts out." His voice through the voder took on a slightly conspiratorial tone. "I think the forces of physics don't like when we defy them too much and try to punish us."

[gone_byebye]

Ray nodded solemnly. "Paradox bites like nobody's business," he said, and fished his mechanical pencil out from one of the pockets of his pants. "Okay. I think we can come up with something- I've seen devices that probably qualify, though I haven't examined them up close." He starts sketching something approximate on the nearest paper surface- a napkin. "The control system might be an interesting piece of redesign work, since, um, you don't have human-style fingers, but.."

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

"Not as much as you might think," Naraht answered. "I'm silicon based. Simply leave the control circuits where I can reach them and I can create a direct neural link to them."

[gone_byebye]

"Lucky," Ray says. "Okay, that solves the interface problem. I wasn't looking forward to programming it, but if all I have to do is get the hardware together in a logical fashion? Not a problem."

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

"There are certain advantages to being a 'living rock'," Naraht said dryly. "I believe that our main difficulties will be with keeping the device balanced properly with my weight. We will definately need some high-quality gyroscopes."