6/3/2011 06:56 PM
Jackknife First Aid Magnum Hammerstrike
Jackknife has split her time between her projects and looking over the data pad that First Aid gave her. She even contacted a software mech to talk to him about the issues that the young medic had with his alternate mode. Now she's ready to give him some news.
First Aid is more than a little eager to hear what Jackknife thinks about the work he's done and asked her to look over, although he's doing a fairly good imitation of his usual calm, cheerful demeanor.
Magnum sneaks up behind Jackknife, gives her a hug, and kisses her on the cheek. "Hey there." Magnum says, letting Jackknife go. Well, that's ONE way for a Mech to greet his femme. Magnum solemnly says, "Sorry if I got you all worried." Then, Magnum turns his head to First Aid and nods, "Greetings, friend."
Jackknife raises a hand to wave to First Aid as she spots him, "First Aid!" she calls out. Then she goes stick still at the sneak hug and kiss from Magnum. She looks up and chuckles, "Well hello there handsome." she murmurs.
First Aid waves back and heads in Jackknife's direction. "Hi Jackknife- have you had a chance to look at the data I gave you?" He glances at Magnum with another smile. "Hi- I don't think we've met?"
Magnum returns First Aid's smile with an honest smile of his own. "I am called Magnum. It is good to meet another fellow Autobot." Magnum allows Jackknife to interact with First Aid without further bothering her.
Jackknife nods to First Aid, "I have indeed." she smiles to him, "And I think I have come up with a solution as well after consulting with my software contact and looking through some technical books on alternate mode construction and transformations.
First Aid does not bounce on his pedes like a sparkling. Or even think about it. Really. Instead, he straightens up. "Great! Thank you! Do you have time to go over the results with me now? I mean, if you're not busy?" His optics are very bright behind his visor.
First Aid turns to Magnum as an afterthought. "I'm First Aid - nice to meet you."
Jackknife smiles to the young medic, "That's why I was looking for you First Aid." a glance at Magnum, "I do hope technical talk doesn't bore you too badly."
Magnum is ignored, but he doesn't allow that to phase him. With a shrug, Magnum replies with a smile to Jackknife, "Only a bit. But it seems that you are busy, and I am uncertain as to how I would add to your discussion."
First Aid looks embarrassed. "I'm sorry, that was really rude of me. It is nice to meet you- I never seem to meet anyone unless they end up in the med bay. I'm just a little, ah, eager, to hear what Jackknife has to say." First Aid shakes off the embarrassment and excitement and offers an apologetic smile.
Jackknife smiles, "Perhaps you can see something neither of us do not. Besides I haven't seen you in awhile and I'm not letting you out of my sight if I can help it Magnum." she notes, a pause then she says to First Aid, "Well first I'd like to ask if you have had Ratchet take a look at your transformation cog?"
Magnum replies with a smile to First Aid, "No worries, my friend. I didn't even get your name." Magnum laughs. "So you are a medic then? Always good to meet another one of Ratchet's crew. Please, feel free to listen to what she has to say." Magnum then laughs a bit at Jackknife's statement with a smile. "I am not letting you out of my sight either, Jackknife."
First Aid nods "I'm apprenticing with Ratchet- I was working with Lifeline in Cubicron too, but... that's one big mess right now. Part of the reason I've wanted to get my alt mode figured out." He glances at Jackknife. "No, not yet - he's always so busy, and I didn't want to bother him with it until I'd gotten as much information as I could on my own."
Jackknife smiles to Magnum, then a nod to First Aid. "Hmm that will be the key to knowing for sure what the true issue is First Aid." she notes, a pause, "I heard about the goings on in Cubricon, but I'm sure Shark is keeping her safe in his unique way."
Magnum gives Jackknife a nod as well, "Yes, I'm sure he is. So something is wrong with your transformation cog then, First Aid?" Magnum asks, optics on the young medic, while inching his way towards Jackknife.
"Shark's in Cubicron?" First Aid asks. "I.. that's good. I'm glad someone is." He sighs. "But I really hope I can get back to work there soon- Lifeline works too hard as it is." He visibly shakes off the tension that has crept over his frame. "I don't have an alt mode yet, Magnum, and I was getting some strange errors when I tried to load schematics for one."
Jackknife notices Magnum scooting his way closer to her and isn't about to dissuade him either. "If it's not the cog itself, it is most definitely related to the software and how it's talking to the hardware." she states to the youth. A nod to the question, "He's undercover, watching out for Lifeline. This is according to Starfire so I don't know more than that." she states. A pause, "You honestly believe you don't have an alternate mode?"
Magnum hmmms, and places his head into the palm of his head. It appears Magnum is sizing First Aid up. "What schematics have you attempted loading?" Then to Jackknife, "What has been done to diagnose the problem, Jackknife?"
Jackknife looks back at Magnum, "I believe that's First Aid's question to ask as I'm not privy to what occurred before he came to me." she notes with a smile.
"As far as I can tell? Yes. If I do, I can't access it." First Aid says. "My original plan was for something like Lifeline's truck form, which is where I got the original mass error. She's not THAT much bigger than I am. I thought it was something to do with the mass differential, which should have been within tolerances, but apparently wasn't. At this point, I'm looking at a hover car form- I won't be big enough to transport patients unless they're pretty small, but at least I'll *have* an alt mode, and being able to get where I'm needed quicker would be good."
Magnum picks up the dicebag and rolls against his intelligence. Magnum's roll fails!
Magnum scratches his head and shrugs, "I don't know what to tell you, First Aid. Best have Jackknife hook you up to the diagnostic machine and let her work her magic." Magnum smiles over at her, defaulting to her construction knowledge.
Hammerstrike exits his assigned barracks, walking with his usual orderly and stiff gait. As he rounds on of the corners around one of the many warehouses, he pauses momentarily and squints his optics at the trio of comrades. Upon recognizing them, he strides onward until he closes the distance between himself and the others, nodding his head in a polite greeting to all present.
Jackknife considers Magnum's suggestion then nods, "May as well do so. It'll give me a better idea of what we really need to do to fix you so you can take on your alternate form."
"Now?" First Aid tries to look non-chalant about it, not terribly successfully. "Hi Hammerstrike." He smiles at the other bot as he comes up to the group.
Magnum looks over to Hammerstrike, and doesn't recognize him either. He associates First Aid's greeting to the new Mech with the name and hopes it's right. "Greetings, friend." Magnum smiles and waves over to Hammerstrike. And Magnum thinks that it figures, whenever he gets a bit of opportunity to see Jackie, it's always busy.
Jackknife nods to the approach of the mech, "Hello Hammerstrike. Have you met Magnum?" she asks politely. Then a smile to First Aid, "Yes now, unless you got other pressing matters that are more important?" she inquires.
First Aid shakes his head. "No, not at all."
Hammerstrike pauses only briefly about the collection of Autobots before glancing beyond them, then back to First Aid. He leans forward slightly, saying "Do not forget to practice," he says quietly before straightening up again. He looks like he is about to continue on his way when Jackknife speaks up. He glances over at Magnum for a moment before back at Jackknife. He squints at Magnum with some uncertainty. "I... think not." He thrusts out a hand in a formal gesture of meeting towards Magnum. "Hammerstrike," he states, albeit a bit redundantly.
Magnum smiles and greets Hammerstrike with a firm grip handshake. "Good to meet you, friend. Please, relax around me." Magnum releases his handshake and will allow Hammerstrike to go on his way or to join the group as he pleases. "If you care to join us, Hammerstrike, Jackknife is busy with her technical talk about First Aid's altmode problem."
Jackknife nods to First Aid and smiles as the two mechs shake hands, "Well then shall we head to repair bay then?" she asks, "Or we can go to my lab, I do have a scanner there."
"I won't, Hammerstrike. Thank you for the lesson yesterday." First Aid turns to Jackknife. "Whichever is more convenient for you- I really appreciate your help with this, I know you've got your own projects."
Hammerstrike responds with an equally firm grip before withdrawing his hand setting it rigidly at his side. "Pleasure." Despite Magnum's invitation to relax, the mech remains straight in posture, lifting his chin and looking Magnum squarely in the optics. Without looking down at First Aid, Hammerstrike intones, "You're welcome." His gaze shifts beyond the group again, nods again politely, and maneuvers around the group to continue on his way.
...However, unbeknownst to the stoic Hammerstrike, he is the brunt end of some prankster, for there is a bright yellow target painted on his back.
Jackknife picks up the dicebag and rolls against her awareness.
Jackknife's roll succeeds!
Jackknife smiles to First Aid, "I have time for you now, let's go." she states, gesturing towards her lab. "Not far to my lab." she notes, she looks back at Magnum and asks, "Coming with us?" then she pauses and gasps, "Oh my." as she spots the yellow target.
First Aid picks up the dicebag and rolls against his awareness <Because dice are fun.>. First Aid's roll succeeds!
A worried expression at Hammerstrike's sort of chilly response crosses First Aid's faceplates briefly, quickly changing to one of surprise as he spots the er... decoration that someone has added to Hammerstrike's paint job. "Good to see you, Hammerstrike, um... you've got something-" First Aid raises one arm, miming touching his own back. "On your paint."
Hammerstrike did not stop to investigate or inquire as to what it was that made Jackknife say 'oh my' but when First Aid suggests that there's something wrong, he turns and looks at First Aid with a blank expression. Upon seeing his miming, he squints his optics at First Aid. Finally it dawns on him and he cranes his neck further to try and look behind him, but it is no use. He simply cannot articulate his head in the right way to see just what First Aid is trying to point out to him. He finally turns back around to face First Aid. "Pardon?"
Jackknife states, "Someone seems to have painted a yellow target upon your back Hammerstrike. I have some paint solvent in my lab, come with us and I'll remove it while I chat with First Aid."
First Aid says "That's not a very funny prank. I just repainted that armor the other day when you were in med bay."
Hammerstrike looks momentarily baffled, and then his optics slowly narrow as his optic ridges presses them down to blue slits. He inclines his head solemnly to Jackknife's suggestion. "To your lab, then," he says in a grim baritone, ready to fall in step with Jackknife and First Aid.
Jackknife turns and leads the way, her lab isn't too far from our currently location, "Excuse the mess, I'm working on a few projects." she notes. No kidding! Every table surface has something on it. She moves to one of those tables to pick up a scanner, which she turns on and begins adjusting. "We'll just see what's going on with you First Aid."
First Aid follows Jackknife into the lab, looking around curiously. He's a little amazed at the chaos- it's a big contrast between the ultra-organized med bay and Jackknife's cluttered- even if it's organized clutter- workspace. "Of course," he says politely, carefully stepping out of the doorway and trying not to disturb anything on the tables.
Hammerstrike ducks into the lab after Jackknife and sidesteps. He glances around the clutter, seeming disinclined to make another move lest he disturb something and make a further mess. Ince perched in his corner, he remains there, still as a statue, waiting.
Jackknife hands the scanner over to the medic, "Scan yourself while I get the paint remover." she states.
First Aid takes the scanner and triggers the scan, holding still while it runs. "What are you looking for, anyway?"
Hammerstrike continues to stay very still.
You say, "Well to see if there's either a hardware or software issue that would explain things." she states, "Could be the cog itself, or could be the transformation switch relay, or the chip boards associated with both of those. May be a communication issue in the wiring between your neural net and your cog. Might be the software has bad code.""
First Aid ahs. "Shouldn't I be getting other errors, if that were the case? Er, sorry- Ratchet doesn't mind when I ask questions about everything." The scanner beeps in his hand and he peers at it curiously.
Jackknife gets the paint remover onto a rag and moves over to where Hammerstrike is located. "Okay so tell me what the scan says First Aid." she states.
Upon seeing Jackknife arrive with the thinner, Hammerstrike lifts his arms and very carefully turns around to give her easier access to his back.
"... I don't even know what this means. Software error: mode conflict." First Aid says.
Jackknife hms softly, thinking that one over as she carefully applies the remover on the yellow upon Hammerstrike. "Mode conflict. Nothing else?"
Hammerstrike remains very still and has nothing to contribute to the conversation while the target gets removed.
First Aid examines the screen on the scanner, pressing a button to shift the contents of the screen. "An error log location- that just brings up the mass errors I got when I tried to load scans before- and a 'data/source missing' error. I've never seen any of those in the journal articles I found."
Jackknife removes a good amount of yellow and odds more remover to the rag to get the rest of it. "Okay so we have mode conflict error, mass error, log location error, and a data/source missing error. Correct?"
"Well, the log location isn't an error, it's just pointing me to the logged previous errors, but otherwise correct." First Aid watches Jackknife wielding the solvent-soaked rag idly- he'd offer to help, but he's still not sure if Hammerstrike is mad at him for something, and Jackknife doesn't really seem to need it.
Jackknife nods to the reply as she checks her work on the yellow spot, "And the scans you loaded were not corrupted in any way?" she asks.
First Aid shakes his head. "They weren't- at least, I don't think they were. I mean- I did them myself but those are fairly standard and I'm fairly sure they were correct."
Hammerstrike drops his arm to his side and carefully turns around again. "Thank you. It's time for me to patrol now," he intones, offering a polite nod before sidestepping to the exit of Jackknife's lab. He glances to First Aid briefly, offering him a second nod, before disappearing out the door.
Jackknife nods to the mech, "Take care." is offered and then she approaches First Aid to take a look at the scanner herself. "Curious." she remarks, "Do you know what your alternate form was supposed to be via your creators?"
First Aid shakes his head. "I don't know who my creators were- or are, I don't know that they're dead, either. I don't remember anything from before Ratchet and Lifeline repaired me in Cubicron a megacycle back. I don't even know exactly when I was activated, to be honest."
Jackknife frowns a bit to that then sets the scanner aside, "Well with you being a medic, you'd want to carry passengers. Perhaps a open bed hover truck or a hover van would do for an alternate mode." she states as she heads over to her lab computer, "Let me call up some specs and software programs, I want to see this if the errors pop up again with a reliable download."
First Aid nods. "Right- that was my original thinking. But-" he shrugs a bit helplessly. "The mass error. Lifeline masses more than I do, and Ratchet says that the mass tolerances for alt modes are more specific than you might think, and if I needed mods to make an alt mode work, I needed to do all the research and bring it to him to check over."
Jackknife brings up a few different specs for open bed trucks and vans. "The scanner should have your mass in its memory." she states and taps on the device to call it up. "Then all we have to do is compare is figure out what part of your mass goes into the alternate form and what doesn't to get the specific number that the mass error won't have issues with so we can get past that part."
First Aid nods again. "So how do we do that? I was just trying to upload different scans and see if I could find something that worked, and I narrowed it down. Here-" he offers a data burst with a link to the scan he'd appended to the data Jackknife copied yesterday. "That was the biggest scan that didn't give me an error."
Jackknife looks at the data that First Aid puts up and hmms, she taps on the keyboard, applying some math to the specs and comparing it to First Aid's current mass. She makes a few adjustments with a few more math equations until she comes up with an altered mass for the alternate form. Putting that into the original scan alters the specs. "Okay let's try this on for size." she states and data bursts a download back to the young medic.
First Aid loads the scan, a look of concentration on his face. "... That works? I don't get the mass error when trying to upload it, at least. How'd you do that?"
Jackknife smiles and looks relieved, "Thank Primus." then a chuckle, "Math equations. Like I said you have to figure out the mass of your current form then make some adjustments via math. Once you apply that to the specs, it adjusts those and you lose the mass error. Any other errors showing?"
First Aid shakes his head. "No- that was the only one I ever got just by uploading a scan." He picks up the scanner from the tabletop next to him again. "But I'd never seen those other errors before running that scan. What's a 'mode conflict'?"
You say, "Well could mean that the alternate mode selected isn't one that your creators intended for you to have so the software is rejecting it. We could go into the software and tell it to take it, but that would take some time."
First Aid looks pensive. "If it's not the one I was designed for, is there a chance that uploading something else would cause problems down the road? I mean, I want an alt mode sooner rather than later, but I'd rather NOT mess my code up in the process."
Jackknife considers that carefully, "Hard to say. Would have to check for documented cases of Cybertronians that got a mode installed that their systems disagreed with.. so it’s best to find the one that your system will take, then adjust it for mass."
"Right. So... what next?"
You say, "Well you show me which modes you tried already and we try the ones you haven't until you don't get that mode conflict error."
First Aid nods. "I can do that," he pulls his data pad out of subspace and offers it to Jackknife. "They're all on here. I flagged the ones that gave me mass errors. How can I check the mode error? Just re-scan with the external?"
Jackknife plugs the data pad into her computer to get the flagged modes into it then brings up all known modes in existence. "Going to have to delete any downloads you have in your system first. Then do a download at a time."
First Aid deletes the scan, focused inward for a second before turning his attention to Jackknife. "Alright. Uh... that's going to be sort of time consuming, isn't it? I don't mean to be a bother, I know you have a lot of things you're working on."
Jackknife smiles to First Aid, "Ah but I can work on my projects as you go through each of these remaining modes to find the one that does not give you the conflict error. That way you get what you want, and I can get some work done."
First Aid returns the smile. "Okay - he reaches over to reclaim his data pad, looking at the organized mess on the tabletop next to him. "Is it okay to put it here? I won't move anything. Uh, I guess I need the scanner again too, don't I?"
Jackknife takes the project and sets it toward the end, she'll work on it as you do your 'project'. "Yes you will if your own internal diagnostics don't tell you if the downloads are giving errors."
"Thanks for your help, Jackknife." First Aid says, setting the data pad and scanner on the table in front of him and queuing up the next scan file to upload, then clearing the previous error on the scanner and setting it to scan again on the next button tap. He busies himself uploading the file, scanning, and dropping the results into a file before repeating the results with the next scan to be uploaded.
Jackknife nods and says, "No problem. Besides it'd be good for you to be able to travel quickly should we need a medic out there when the warrior types are getting slagged."
First Aid hmms absently, deleting one scan and uploading another. "I have a lot to learn before I'm ready for that, but hopefully someday." Pick up the scanner, run a scan, save the results, pick up the data pad and check off the schematic he just tried, delete it and upload the next. There are quite a few- First Aid was thorough in his search.
Jackknife mms softly to that as she busies herself with working on the weapon in front of her. It's about half stripped down and she's carefully putting it back together again. "You'll learn it." she states matter of factly, "Just give yourself time."
First Aid smiles. "I know it takes time, and work- I'm just not used to being cooped up like this in Iacon." He pauses, running another scan, and a few minutes pass while he focuses on the work in front of him. "Well.... the fix you gave me for the mass error works on most of these in the medium range, but I'm still getting the mode conflict error."
Jackknife states, "Then try something a bit smaller then try a big bigger."
First Aid nods. "Alright. He scans a few more. "Anything else that you spotted that I need to fix before I run all this by Ratchet for final approval?
Jackknife looks up from her work, "Hmm, just tell him what I said about checking the cog and related systems to be sure it’s not a hardware issue. Other than that, nothing comes to mind."
First Aid nods again. "I'll do that." He smiles. "Thanks for your help- I'll let you get back to work?"
Jackknife nods, "You are very welcome. Let me know if you need further assistance."
First Aid smiles and drops his data pad back into subspace. "Have a good cycle," He says as he slips out of Jackknife's workroom.