#ada outer worlds

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Low!Intelligence Captain about to fly The Hope into the sun: Can you overdose on vitamin d?

ADA: That is technically how Icarus died.

Felix: ICarly is dead!?

[babedur]

So, the untitled ADA fic has reached 25,000 words, making it by far my longest, mostly-coherent continuous story. There's like, chapters in here. Multiple chapters.

To celebrate, I'm posting some of it, because I'm Love Robots and ADA is my sweet ship wife.

--

"Can I- is there an intercom? Can I talk to the whole ship?"

"...Yes," ADA said. It was not something Alex had ever needed. He flew alone. But ADA opened the line: "Go ahead, Captain."

"Max, Parvati," Maisie said, "We're about to take off. You might want to sit down or something. That's all, ADA, let's get out of here."

(Max, in his cabin and thus outside of ADA's view, did not respond. That was fine. It was his own fault if he hit his head on the bulkhead. Out in the cargo hold, Parvati obediently went from studying the path of ADA's electrical wires and making a diagram for herself to sitting on the deck, arm looped through the bottom rung of the ladder.)

"Lifting off, Captain," ADA confirmed. "Destination: Dr. Welles' secret orbital lab."

Now was the moment of truth, as Alex sometimes said. Her engines, idling during this conversation, kicked up. The heat in the engine room grew- within acceptable limits, and the heat sinks were working as intended. The thrusters complained and flared once, twice-  and then cooperated. The Unreliable rose off the ground and into the sky, balancing on its thrusters under ADA's careful supervision as she pivoted in the correct direction to obfuscate their trajectory should anyone be watching.

Out in the hold, Parvati let out a yell of excitement. It was not a perfect takeoff, but her crew did not yet know the difference. The ship shuddered as it passed through the crowded molecules of Terra II’s atmosphere en route to the calm of the aether.

Oh, and ADA turned the artificial gravity on, as well. It would do no good to have three humans become sick without gravity to contain the mess.

In the cockpit, her new captain went from gripping the armrests with both her hands to an expression of open-mouthed awe. She stepped forward, out of ADA's camera range, right up to the forward-facing window. "It's beautiful."

ADA checked her own forward-facing cameras. It was just the aether, not significantly different from any of her other thousands of hours of footage of the aether. Distant stars and nearer planetary objects floating aimlessly through space, unconscious of ADA's travel among them. The Unreliable was so tiny that an explosion that consumed all the oxygen and fuel ADA could carry would not even leave a noticeable mark on any of them.

"Take-off successful," ADA said, instead of expressing that thought. Let her new captain admire the everyday reality of spacefaring. She would grow sick of the view in a short amount of time. "Congratulations, captain, it appears that we are not going to explode or crash today."

"Don't jinx us," Maisie replied. "Don't we still have to land? Landing's usually the hard part, I hear."

ADA switched her avatar to the smiling face, despite the fact that the new captain was still out of sight and would not see it. "It is well within my capabilities, I assure you. My previous landing was an anomaly."

Maisie stayed in that space where ADA could not see her for quite some time, silently watching the aether float by. According to ADA's auditory sensors, she sat down after three minutes and lingered for forty more, until her need to consume nutrients drove her to her feet.

"Thank you, ADA," she said, as she passed. Perhaps she meant the take-off, or the earlier sharing of information.

The Unreliable was flying again. She was leaving the place where Alex had died. She had a new captain. All of these things were terrible and thrilling at once.

"It was nothing," ADA replied.

[bounsweet-tea]

Ada is my butch queen, with the eyes to boot.

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The Unreliable on a road trip.

Blasting music: SAM, Parvati. Throwing things out of the windows: Vicar Max, Nyoka. Roasting everyone else in the car: Ellie. Stuck driving: ADA. "So hey guys, today we're gonna be speed running traffic.": Felix

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ADA: Where are you going? The Captain: To get ice cream or commit a felony, I’ll decide on the way there.

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The Captain: What if I press the brake and gas at the same time? Felix: The ship takes a screenshot. ADA: For the last time, get the fuck out.

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Sam 2.0: What would you say if I came home with 6 sprats?

ADA: What's in the box?

Sam 2.0:

ADA: What's in the box Captain?

Sam 2.0: I think you know.

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Sophia taking a selfie in Tartarus while The Captain fights RAM: Just out here living my best life. ADA: The crew is dying. Sophia: This ain't about them.