[#005] Operation (Mystery Science Theater 3000)

[samuraiter]

Theme Prompt: # 005 – Long Shot
Title: Operation
Fandom: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Rating / Warnings: PG – No warnings apply.
Bonus: "I should have told you this a long time ago." – Yes
Word Count: 500
Summary: Joel and the Bots attempt to turn the tables.

* * * *

Joel removed the flashlight from his mouth and said, squinting at the panel in front of him as he tried to lay as comfortably on his side as he could in the narrow duct, "It looks like the movies are piped through this old service panel, guys. I mean, the wires in here are definitely vintage, uh, Dr. Forrester stuff. It's really kind of a mess. Zoom in, Cambot."

"Wow, uh, that's a little too close, Joel," said Tom through the headset. "I'm just getting a big blur that looks kind of like wires. Stupid low-definition –"

"Don't hurt Cambot's feelings. Pull back a little bit, Cambot." A whir of gyros as the mute robot complied. "Thank you. That better, guys? Can you see?"

"Yeah, definitely looks like wires now," Crow replied. "So! What happens now?"

"Well, this is where you look at the wires and tell me which ones to cut," Joel replied. "We went over all of this before I opened up the duct, remember?"

"Yeah, sure, right," Tom said, "but why're you asking us what to cut? You can see the wires, too, right? So ... why don't you pick what to cut?"

"Because I had Gypsy download the schematics to you two. I mean, I'm pretty good with the technical stuff, but I'm human. There's a lot to remember, and I wanna make sure I don't make a mistake that'll, y'know, do something like depressurize the entire ship, or set off one of the Mads' booby traps, or —"

"Well, Joel, uh –" Tom hesitated on the other end of the line. "I should have told you this a long time ago, both of us should have, but we can't really understand anything that's on these, um, schematics. Like, not a thing."

"Yeah, Joel," Crow added, "it's just a bunch of lines and shapes and things. I'm sure Gypsy can understand it, but she can't really explain any of it."

"It took me a pretty long time to get down here, guys." Joel sighed. "I mean, I knew it was always going to be a long shot to try and shut down the movie pipeline, but ... there's nothing you can make out? Nothing at all?"

"I'm pretty sure that one yellow wire goes to the coffee maker back in storage, but don't quote me on that," Tom said. "Or the stationary bike."

"Which one?" Crow asked. "The one that plays show tunes, or the one that actually works? Because I'm pretty sure we shot the first one out into space when we had that weird near-miss with the International Space Station."

"Oh, yeah, that one." Tom chuckled. "And the newsfeed started going on and on about alien broadcasts of A Chorus Line. That was a great time."

"Guys, the International Space Station won't be launched until 1998," Joel complained as he replaced the cover on the service panel, but they continued to reminisce as he and Cambot made the slow journey back down the duct.

END.

Comments

[autobotscoutriella]

This is AMAZING. I've never read MST3K fic, and now you've made me feel like I should go track it down! The voices are spot-on, and I love the twist you put on the bonus challenge.

...Now I think I need an MST3K icon...

[samuraiter]

I don't think there's a whole lot of MST3K 'fic (because it used to be more common to see the gang MST-ing other 'fics), but I contribute a little bit here and there. :-) Thank you for reading and enjoying!

[hokuton_punch]

Poor Joel. XD But they tried! This is adorable.

[samuraiter]

They always try! Haha. Thank you for reading!

[badly_knitted]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Not that the venturing did any good either, lol!

[samuraiter]

It rarely does, alas. :-) Thank you for reading!

[m_findlow]

Who says the universe isn't better off for a few show tunes being projected put into deep space? ;)

[samuraiter]

Rocky Horror Picture Show, at the very least. ;-)

[sarajayechan]

I love this. It's hard to know exactly what wire does what if they're not labeled, and Forrester doesn't seem like the type to label things!

[samuraiter]

For being a mad scientist, he's not very good at the 'scientist' part, a lot of the time. :-) Thank you for reading.

[bookmonkey44]

Quite humorous, the back and forth between the robots and Joel. Even if they didn't succeed, well, Joel knows he'll need a new plan.

[samuraiter]

For being a hostage in space, Joel's remarkably chill. I could learn a thing or two from him. :-) Thank you for reading.

[etoile_noire]

Very interesting.
Thank you for sharing it.

[samuraiter]

*hat tip*

Thank you for reading it!