Docking Bay Module - Styx Base, Pluto 0810 GMT - Tuesday, August 9, 2112
Story, Elizabeth, Lucius, Brook, and Juliette emerged from the docking bay's internal airlock into the curving corridor that served as an antechamber. It was a good thing the pilot was going with them, or it would be very hard for them to find the medical lab considering their unfamiliarity with the base. Before they could proceed to another airlock, the one at the left end of the hall hissed open to reveal Lt. Edward Barrett. He entered pushing an antigravity cart containing four fire extinguishers and a couple of aerosol spray bottles.
Lucius was amazed! "What wizardry is this? That cart... It floats!" He didn't recognize what was on the cart... Not that he would have noticed anyway. I mean... a cart without wheels!
Juliette giggled a bit at Lucius' reaction. She then asked Lt. Barret. "Evenin, Lt. Have you seen either Captain Bauer or Lt. Colonel Bruce recently?" She looked at the containers. "And what is this?" She gestured at his cargo.
"Ma'am," said Edward, saluting Juliette. "Captain Bauer was in the medlab with Sergeant Kohl before they left with Colonel Patel for the Security Centre. I don't know where they are now. I haven't seen the security chief. I hadn't even known he was back yet." He addressed both Juliette and Elizabeth. "The aersol containers contain a fungicide I've weaponised. So do the fire extinguishers, but in larger quantities. I was instructed to bring them to the docking bay in case the Mi-Go turned hostile and we needed an edge." Then he turned to Lucius. "It's an antigravity cart, sir. It uses magnetic repulsion to stay afloat. If you want to know more details about how it works, you should ask Major Orlova or Lt. Hu. They're the physicists."
Lucius peered underneath the cart and saw that there were no wheels. It was just hovering about a foot above the ground.
"Major Orlova and Lt. Hu..." Lucius acknowledged with a nod to Edward, standing up again. Out of sheer disbelief he couldn't prevent himself from trying to press down on one corner and in awe he discovered it made little difference to the positioning of the cart. "Amazing..." the Roman stated simply. "They would have burned people for this sort of trickery ... demon magic they'd call it."
Looking to Story he asked, "All this astonishing technology, and they can't heal a human brain yet?"
Looks away from the hover cart to Lucius. "Sometimes it's best not to tinker with the brain my friend. As good as humanities medical abilities are there is better. Trust me when I say this... the universe is a big place with technologies so advanced humanity could only dream of them..." Looks Lucius in the eye while placing his hands on Lucius' shoulders. "I promise my friend I will do my best to undue what our time together has robbed you of. Know that I'm truly sorry for the anguish my meddling ways have brought upon you. I will get you, Brook, and Elizabeth home... I will." Smiles and looks at Brook, then Elizabeth.
After a moment Story turns and looks at Lt. Barrett totally changing his tone and intensity. "Fungicide you say? What an excellent idea. Though I hope it doesn't come to that."
"Yes we found some alien tissue on the floor of the science lab," says Elizabeth to Story. "Captain Bauer was able to analyse it, and determined that fungicide might be some sort of defence against the creatures. If needed of course. As you say hopefully it won't be."
"Yeah, I don't look forward to a fight with those freaky things," said Edward. "Their weapons seem pretty powerful, and just looking at them gives me the willies. I hope it doesn't come to it either. And we've made some amazing advances in the medical field. Captain Bauer is a highly skilled neurosurgeon and a good psychotherapist. If there's nothing else, I'd better get these to the docking bay fast."
Juliette had removed her helmet and shaken loose her rather long hair. She smiled a mysterious smile at Story.
"She won't be at the Security center. Only Colonel Patel was there. She is probably on her way somewhere else. Hmmm.. "
Juliette looked at the canisters, and fire extinguisers and then at lt. Barret.
"You were ordered to bring these to the docking bay, probably at a pace. They have repressurized the docking bay, meaning they are probably all heading this way. LT. Colonel Bruce have probably headed straight for the Control Center. We have not heard any public anouncementes yet, c'est possible que ..."
Letting her sentence stop, Juliette sorted through the corridors of the module in her head and chose the way from the medical enterto the docking bay, not passing the Control center. But before leading the way she locked eyes with lt Barret.
"Lt. Barret. Right outside this door are the MI-goo. They have not been hostile yet. How do you think they will react on seeing this? Bide your time a bit. Suit up. Find some tools and supplies and pretend to be freighting it all to the Charon. Request the aid of our collegues outside. And do not bring just these things. " She then turns her attention to Story.
"Just where are you from? Your friends are not from the earth as we know it, but the seem human. And you yourself have obviously traveled very far to get her. How?"
Not waiting for a reply but with a simple hand gesture to bid them to follow she starts on her chosen path.
Lucius looked of mixed emotions when he was told he would be taken home. He knew he might be better off back in Rome. He would certainly not have to worry about what sort of atrocity they'd come across next. But he would miss out on all the adventure. Question was... was his sanity (or loss there of) worth the adventure? He decided to say nothing to Story regarding the promise to return him to home and just leave it to fate.
When Juliette questioned their origins, Lucius nearly answered. But he recalled that he had, on several occasions, been apparently too honest about time travel and the others had to tap-dance over the facts and mislead the people they spoke to with deception. He didn't understand why they wouldn't want to brag about it more often. Time travel seemed like quite a wondrous thing, and very worthy of boasting. Still, it wasn't his rules they had to abide by, it was Story's. If he wanted to keep it a secret, so be it. He promised himself to be more careful regarding the topic in the future.
To Juliette, the Roman merely smiled and offered a shrug to her question.
Removing his own helmet Story, in a rather surprising revelation, says: "Oh my friends are from Earth... I'm from Gallifrey which is in the constellation of Kasterborous. Roughly two-hundred and fifty million light years from here." Without waiting for Juliette response he stops, jogs back to the hover cart, and picks up one of the aerosol spray bottles. "Lt. Barrett, you mind if we hand onto one of these?"
OOC,You can actually edit your own posts if you want, using the Edit button in the upper right of the post (it appears when you're logged in).
"Yes, ma'am," Edward said to Juliette as she headed around the curve to the left, to the airlock that led to the tunnel to the reactor module, which would allow them to reach the lab module without going through the central module. "I'm still wearing my suit, so I just need to put my helmet back on. I was going to pass these off as just more supplies for the evacuation, as the Mi-Go don't know they're anything other than what they look like, but you're right, it'll help to disguise them if they're mixed in with other stuff. There are some oxygen tanks and pumps stored in here, so I'll gather some of them too and get some of the others to join me so I can fill them in." When Story revealed his origin, Edward's eyes went wide. "You...what? You're an alien! But...you look..." He paused, and Story's question registered. "Captain, is it all right to give him one of these? I want to make sure there are enough left for everyone in the docking bay."
Lucius saw everyone else was taking their helmets off, so he took his off as well. Lucius responded to Edward, "He might be from another planet, but he's far more decent than our fellow Earthlings, I've found."
"Yes Lucius is right," adds Elizabeth, addressing herself to both Edward and Juliette. "I'd trust Story with my life. He is completely dependable. Maybe not human, but if anything better than that, and he always does the decent thing."
"Well, we'd better get moving," said Edward. He handed one of the smaller aersol containers to Juliette. "Here, ma'am. You can keep it for yourself or give it to them as you please, but I don't dare spare any more. The docking bay is where the Mi-Go are, so we'll need this stuff if they try anything." He turned to the intercom and activated it. "This is Lt. Barrett. I'm bringing in some supplies to be loaded onto Charon's Ferry, and I'm going to need some help."
"This is Lt. Hu," replied the astrophysicist. "I'm sending out Bond and Torres."
OOC,Good question. For most people, that would require an Occult roll, but to [b]Lucius[/b], this isn't mythology, it's part of everyday life. Make a Know roll, please.
"You can't seriously be considering taking Charon's Ferry out of here... there's no coming back from that, lad," Lucius warned. "'Tis a bad omen, indeed!"
Edward laughed. "She brought us out here all right," he said, "and she'll get us back to Earth just fine." He shrugged. "I'm not the one who picked the name for the ship, but it does sound ominous when you put it that way, like coming here was a one-way journey."
Juliette chuckled at Lucius reaction, "And, as the pilot, am I then the Ferryman, Charon in person? Well anyway we will be bringing Persephone with us back, and I have actually used the Demeter to search for Persephone, and I did find her under the ground... hmmm. interresting." She hastened onwards, expecting the others to follow her, murmuring for herself: " I wonder if she ate the pomerandseeds."
Juliette led Story and his companions into the airlock and out the other side, then along a lengthy tunnel and through another airlock. Edward remained behind outside the docking bay.
OOC,[b]Edward[/b] is moving to the thread linked below.