Play@YSDC

Medical Lab - Styx Base, Pluto
0720 GMT - Tuesday, August 9, 2112

Major Natalia Orlova, Captain Karin Bauer, Sergeant Heinrich Kohl, Private Alison Silver, Story, Elizabeth, Lucius, and Brook were waiting in the crowded medical lab when Colonel Indira Patel opened the door from the corridor outside. The stern-looking Indian woman was in her mid-forties, very tall and with a tough look about her. Accompanying her were Captain Juliette Desjardins and Lt. Edward Barrett, still wearing spacesuits, and Private Robert MacCrimmon. They were holding the alien at gunpoint. The creature was about the size of a small child, with an oversized and bulbous head that had multiple tiny antennae. It had a green web-like covering on its body, and it had thin semitransparent wings. It also possessed several spindly appendages that ended in pincer-like hands and feet. It was like nothing they had ever seen before, and the mere sight of it was unnerving.

OOC,[b]Story[/b], [b]Elizabeth[/b], [b]Lucius[/b], [b]Brook[/b], [b]Karin[/b], [b]Heinrich[/b], and [b]Alison[/b], please roll Sanity. Sanity loss is 0/1d6, so you lose no Sanity if you succeed but 1d6 if you fail. If you lose 5 or more Sanity, you must roll Idea. If you succeed at the Idea roll, then you go temporarily insane. If you fail at the Idea roll, you do not.

Elizabeth is shocked at seeing the alien, but not unduly unnerved.

Heinrich's eyes widen at the sight of the alien, but he nonetheless moves forward and reaches down to help heave the alien creature onto the examination table.

Karin had steeled herself to seeing her first alien up close but has been expecting a dead mass on a stretcher. Having one walking into the med-bay was altogether too much. She sinks down onto the floor, mumbling something about 'tea'.

Juliette observes the impakt the creature has on her colleagues, and studies the strange faces. She had forgot all about there beeing some strangers at the base. She studies Karin with worry as she sinks down. "You allright capt. Bauer? Try not to look at it, and maybe the sensation will pass." She studies the unlikely guests. How did they get here?

Story observes the creature for a moment and then looking at the soldiers he says "Has your prisoner spoken?"

OOC,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3301105/]Sanity - 68% (1d100=55)[/url]

"Bozhemoi!" cried Major Natalia Orlova, recoiling in horror. She was somewhat shaken, but she managed to regain most of her composure and saluted the colonel. "Colonel Patel," she stammered.

"As you were," said Colonel Patel, returning the salute. "It can speak English, but it hasn't said much. Captain Desjardins reported that it has unusual mental powers, so be careful."

Alison Silver stayed calm and helped the sergeant place the alien on the examination table and secure it with the restraints.

"Do not be afraid," buzzed the alien in monotonous English. "We mean you no harm. We come in peazzze."

OOC,I still need Sanity rolls from [b]Lucius[/b] and [b]Brook[/b].

(I don't have Invisible castle at work. Could you please roll for me?)

Brook hides behind Story when they bring the alien in.

Juliette, helmet under her left arm, she kept her aim until the creature was tethered to the table. Her face flushed from the long hours of maximum adrenealin, and she suddenly felt depleted. She lowered her gun and her voice could not quite hide the fatigue. "I am sorry, Colonel Patel, but may I be excused long enough to get out of this suit and take a break. I need some sustenance." Juliette looked around her at all the people in the room, and continued, "There seem to be enough people her to keep the creature in check."

Karin looks up as the pilot speaks and her medical capacity takes over. "Juliette, let me give you something to restore your levels; you look all done in." Karin gets up and grabs some revito-patches. "Here, put this on your arm and then go and get some food. Keep the other patch for later." Then she turns to face the alien. "Okay fella. Are you just following standard alien protocol or do you really mean that?" She switches on the scanners above it. "We also mean you no harm so please just sit still." She realises she is gabbling but it's the only way to keep focused on the job. "Okay, please stand back everyone or we'll get mixed readings. Mr. Story the results will show up on that screen there." She adjusts the scanners and then stands back.

Elizabeth hears Karin's request, and steps back, towards the edges of the room. She watches the alien with interest, quite captivated by it.

Lucius was obviously grateful to have his dagger back. He checked it quickly for any new blemishes before tucking it away and watching as the alien was brought in.

"Story, you certainly do meet the strangest people. First the ghouls, then the Black Pharaoh, and now this strange fellow," Lucius said. The strange sight didn't even seem to phase the Roman. He steps a little closer, put his hand upon his chest and said "Do you have a name? I'm Lucius."

When Brook got a look at the creature, she wasn't bothered by it at all. She had seen so many aliens that one more didn't matter too much, and this one seemed pretty harmless.

"By all means, Captain," Colonel Patel told Juliette. "Take a break - you've more than earned it."

Lucius found that his dagger was undamaged. The creature replied to him, and to everyone in the room: "We are the Mi-Go. We mean you no harm. We want peazzze with the humanzzz."

Colonel Patel frowned. "You've got a funny way of showing it," she said. "You attacked Lt. Colonel Bruce and abducted him! Where is he? What have you done with him?"

"He wazzz going to attack us. We had to protect ourzzzelvezzz. He izzz zzzafe. He will not be harmed."

"What have you done with the crew of the Persephone?"

"They are zzzafe. They are our guezzztzzz."

Karin began her scans of the alien and started to analyze them.

OOC,[b]Karin[/b], please roll Biology.

Brook peeks at the alien from behind Story, then smiles a little. "Hi, Mi-Go. Cool wings. Can you fly?"

Juliette looked at the vile creature, accepted the patch from Karin with a grateful smile, saluted the Colonel, "Thank you ma'am, " and turned to leave the room as the creature spoke and stopped by the door. As Brook spoke to it, Juliette looked at her and answered. "They can fly, and don't you go and get to friendly to it. It still has kidnapped several of our men." She then looked at Colonel Patel. "The next question Ma'am should be: How are they kept safe? Safe according to our conventions or let us say... the Cybermens?" Juliette left the room with her question hanging in the air.

Brook looks at the pilot as she leaves, then back at the alien. "Are you related to Watto, by any chance?"

Karin watches the readings avidly but wonders how she is going to interpret them on a physiology totally different from human.

Handy,Biology (51%) [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3303745/]1d100=84[/url]

Story studies the creature for a moment and takes a step near it. "Mi-Go... are you from this planet?"

Karin studied the readings from the scanner, but they made no sense to her. Whatever this creature was, it bore only superficial resemblance to Earth-based lifeforms. It seemed to defy analysis, appearing as neither animal nor vegetable. The readings indicated that it was more like a fungus than anything else. Natalia, who was also reading the scans, was equally perplexed. "It is life," she said, "but not as we know it."

"We can fly," buzzed the small Mi-Go. "We have no knowledge of any 'Watto.' Yuggoth izzz our planet."

"Where is Yuggoth?" asked Natalia. "Is it outside the solar system?"

"Thizzz izzz Yuggoth."

"Well, what have you done with the crew of the Persephone?" demanded Indira. "How have they been kept 'safe?'"

"When they arrived on Yuggoth, we came to greet them. They were hozzztile. They attacked uzzz, and we were forzzzed to zzzubdue them. They were...damaged, but we have prezzzerved their livezzz."

"We want them back, and that goes for Lt. Colonel Bruce as well!"

"You demand thizzz, yet you keep me prizzzoner and threaten me with violenzzze."

"What about a trade?" suggested Natalia.

The Mi-Go paused. "That could be arranged."

The door closed automatically after Juliette left.

"I'm afraid I can't make much sense of this, I'm only getting steady readings on the eukaryotic levels." Karin stares hard at the Mi-Go. "And that makes it fungi. Do you think he tells jokes?" She sniffs. "I don't think it's harmful to us but maybe just duck if it sneezes a cloud of spores." She walks over to the alien. "Mi-Go, I am Karin. Tell me, are the human prisoners conscious?"

"It keeps saying 'we'... like it has no individuality," Lucius observes. "Mi-Go, are you in contact with your others? If so, please assure them that all of the humans are not of the same mind. These very people treated us with hostility when we arrived. They are cautious and scared, and perhaps a bit too premature to violence, but I'm sure we can find a peaceful resolution."

"You have a good point Mr. Verres. Mi-Go could be hive creatures. In which case they may assume we are too and expect humans to always act in a specified manner. However, thanks for the vote of confidence," Karin mutters sarcastically, " I don't think differentiating between you visitors and us 'violent' crew is going to help matters."

"Is the Lieutenant-Colonel alright?" Heinrich asks.

Lucius chuckled then folded his hands together and bowed slightly to the doctor, "Yes, perhaps I was a bit too broad with my generalization. My apologies, Karen. You have been a breath of fresh air compared to that of your commanders. Maybe that's where the real root of the problem is." He looked back to the Mi-Go and added, "But the point is that we are quite unique individuals with our own individual ideas of right and wrong, and should not be judged as a whole." He held up a finger and said, "Also makes a good point that they are not behaving this way simply because the Mi-Go are different, but because this group here are by nature an untrusting and suspicious people."

Story steps even closer to the Mi-Go all the while looking at it intently. "Mi-Go, you said that the crew of the Persephone attacked you and that they were damaged." Kneels down on one knee in front of the "alien". "How exactly did you preserve them? After all if Persephone was the first vessel of humanity to visit Pluto, forgive me I mean Yuggoth, then how could you be familiar enough with the species in order to medically help them? Humans are a different type of life form than yourself."

Somewhat mollified, Karin smiles her thanks to Lucius and then turns to the Mi-Go, interested in what it has to say about medicine.

Brook listens curiously at the talk of hive minds and differences of species. She turns to Karen. "Didn't you say it was fungal? Fungi? Fungus can spread itself across very large areas. And they have spores. Perhaps they aren't really mushrooms themselves, but are connected through the spores of a giant fungus growing in the soil of Pluto. I mean Yuggoth. So much cooler name."

Elizabeth nods quietly as she hears Brook speak. She waits to see what the alien will say next.

The Mi-Go looked around at all the people in the lab. "The humanzzz are conzzziouzzz," it said. "They are not prizzzonerzzz. The human known as Bruzzze will be returned to you when I am returned to my people. He izzz only lightly damaged. The humanzzz from the Perzzzephone were damaged heavily. It wazzz not eazzzy to prezzzerve their lives, but we have advanced technology. It izzz true that humanzzz are different. Partzzz are lozzzt, but they zzztill live." It turned its bulbous head to face Lucius. "We each have zzzpecialtiezzz, but we are of one mind. I zzzee that humanzzz are not. Humanzzz dizzzagree and argue with each other. It izzz very inefficient. I am in contact with the other Mi-Go. We want peazzze, and we agree to the trade."

"Excellent," said Natalia. "I hope this can be the beginning of a peaceful relationship between our peoples."

"Not so fast," said Indira. "The general hasn't agreed to this exchange yet, and the decision rests with him."

"Surely General Pryce wouldn't abandon Lt. Colonel Bruce!"

"I wizzzh to zzzpeak to General Pryzzze. Take me to your leader."

Brook stifles a sudden giggle.

Lucius shot Brook a glance, confused at what was so funny. He looked back at the Mi-Go and nodded, "If it were up to me, we'd see to it right away. But I'm a stranger here too. How many of your species are there here on Pluto... Yuggoth... whatever?"

He looked to Story and called him over to the side so they could have a more private conversation.

Story,[color=#0000FF]"We have to prepare for the possibility that the general will refuse. So far, they don't seem a very sensible people. The Mi-Go have superior technology, which means they can probably overtake us if they want, if they see us as uncooperative."[/color]

"We are many," replied the Mi-Go.

"How many, approximately?" asks Elizabeth. "Dozens, hundreds, thousands, what?"

Story whispers to Lucius.

Lucius,[color=#0000FF]"Yes I see your point...lets just hope things don't go sour."[/color]

Story turns his attention back to the Mi-Go.
"Humanity can be a... bumbling race, don't hold it not against them." Smiles.

"We are millionzzz," the Mi-Go buzzed in response to Elizabeth's question. Then it regarded Story with seeming curiousity. "Are you not human yourzzzelf?"

Surprised by the question Story responds saying "Do I not look human?"

Story looks into the eyes of the Mi-Go.

Mr. Handy,In his mind, not known whether his attempt is futile or not, Story asks a question hoping that if the Mi-Go can read minds perhaps it will hear. [color=#0000FF]"Are you telepathic?"[/color]

"You look human," said the Mi-Go, "but when you referred to humanzzz, you did not include yourzzzelf in their number."

Story,"I am telepathic," said a voice in [b]Story[/b]'s mind. It retained the monotony of the Mi-Go's speech, though without the buzzing caused by its vocal apparatus. "Are you?"

OOC,Everyone is moving to the thread linked below.

The Gathering