The Maintenance Update

It had been many years since Rosalina had first passed by the mushroom kingdom. All those years ago she had requested the help of the red-garbed hero and assisted him in finding the one most special to him: the princess. She had enjoyed the company in those few days it took to track down and defeat the evil known as Bowser, especially the chance to interact with one of her own.

While she adored and loved all of her children, the mother of the cosmos (much like many other mothers) lived her life constantly drained. Not only did she have to upkeep the observatory itself, but she also had to chart courses and steer the ship. This alongside the seemingly endless tasks set out for her as a mother of an infinite number of children left her days long, and repetitive once she left the mushroom kingdom behind and continued upon her normally scheduled route.

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“Aaah!!” Rosalina screamed in terror, as black smoke shot out of a pipe in front of her face. She jumped backwards, and watched as the star regulator fried beyond repair. Some small antenna shot out in rapid formation around the star, as it began to bulge uncontrollably. Rosalina was confident in her emergency machinery, and watched as several contracting rings formed around the small star that powered her ship. The motion of the star slowed to a steady beat, and Rosalina let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s the 3rd regulator this week. I’ll have to run a full diagnostics test soon...” Rosalina said aloud, as she wrote some notes into an agenda. She enjoyed the ease of a schedule, as it let her look forward to seeing some of her favorite planets.

Rosalina walked a short distance over to the main terminal of the observatory. Her light blue tank-top and the racing bodysuit tied around the waist contrasted her normal attire of a nightdress, or other casual wear. She looked up at the monitor, and tapped away for only a few seconds. Rosalina reached for a program titled “Star Diagnostics”, and was just about to touch it when she looked to the right of the confirm button. The program “Observatory System Diagnostics” read a line that stuck out to her. “Last Ran: Four Years Ago.”

Rosalina sat in thought for a moment, debating what she could do. “I’ve already tried the Star Diagnostics, but they haven’t worked. It could be something else in the system, but the only way to figure it out would be to run a system wide check-up...” Rosalina thought. “A system-wide diagnosis could take several hours, possibly even days! And it will put almost everything aside from the bare necessities for life on hold until completion.”

She leaned back against the terminal, looking up at the stars. “Well... it can’t hurt anything right? Besides, I’ve got plenty of things I can do until it’s done.” She thought silently to herself. She confidently pressed the confirm button over the program, and watched as several systems reported in as down for maintenance.