THE NINTH PLANET
EPISODE 3
Medical Lab - Styx Base, Pluto0735 GMT - Tuesday, August 9, 2112
The door swished open again, and in strode a man in his late forties with a proud bearing. His uniform bore many more decorations than the rest of the crew.
"General Pryce," said Major Natalia Orlova, saluting.
"As you were," replied the man, returning the salute. The door shut behind him. He looked over at Story and his companions. "You must be our uninvited guests. I'd like a word with you later, but first things first." He then looked at the Mi-Go, and his composure shattered. He broke down in sheer terror and certain knowledge of the sheer wrongness of what he faced. A seething rage overtook him as he stared at the alien creature, and he whipped out his sidearm. "DIE!!!" he shouted, shooting the creature. It reeled but remained upright.
Juliette startled as the General fired at the alien, drew her gun and fired as she was sure the general had seen something she missed. But as she was so startled she did not get enough time to aim for something vital.
When the others opened fire, the security officers acted instinctively. Alison Silver fired wildly and dropped her pistol, the sudden recoil throwing her off balance. Robert MacCrimmon shot the Mi-Go. The creature fell to the floor but continued to writhe. Lt. Barrett stood staring in shock, uncertain what to do. General Pryce shot again and only barely missed.
Juliette cursed herself for startling. She held her fire, and instead she said: "General, it is their mind thingy. It arouses fear and turn your head into mush for a moment...Zut alors, qu'ellle cauchemar!"
The Roman blinked as he watched the Mi-Go get shot up in cold blood, unprovoked. He didn't have time to react or he might have tossed himself in the path of the weapons. Now the deed was done, and the creature lay there shuddering in death thralls.
Lucius clapped his hands together. "Right... all right. Very nice," he said. He took a few steps towards the exit. "It was very nice getting to know you all, but perhaps we should be going now. Story?" He leaned in towards the other prompting likewise action."Don't you think we should be going now?" However, General Pryce was standing between him and the door, which was also closed - and he had no means to open it.
Karin threw herself at the Mi-Go aiming to knock it out of the line of attack. This was purely instinctive, possibly due to her professional instinct to save life. She tried to grab the Mi-Go off of the floor, but it was too slippery. Then it began to emit a low humming, buzzing sound. A wave of calm began to wash over the occupants of the medical lab.
Lucius found himself calming and his normal sense of self-preservation waning as he listened to the gentle droning buzz.
Karin sat on the floor beside the Mi-Go. Alison's mind was strong, and she managed to resist the compulsion to hold still. So did Robert, but only just. Edward was unaffected too, and so was Brook.
Colleen Rose watched the conversation calmly, though concerned that it seemed rather polite for ambushers. Bringing it anywhere near her superiors seemed like a dumb idea but she was content to watch right up until the General began shooting. Her brain was a little frazzled by the suddenness of the attack so she simply stood, slack-jawed, as the shots were fired.
Story made his way towards the Mi-Go. "STOP FIRING YOU IDIOTS!" he shouted, looking at Juliette and then the general. "How can you expect to establish peaceful relations if you attack those you know nothing about?! The Mi-Go might as well kill you all... you bunch of monkeys!" Reaching the Mi-Go, he knelt beside it and visually looked it over. Story could see that the Mi-Go was very badly injured, though he couldn't tell much about its alien physiology. He looked at Karin. "Are you okay?"
Colleen resisted the effect and hurried over to the General. "Are you all right, sir?" she asked.
Brook screamed as the general suddenly opened fire upon the alien, ducked and covered. "Noooooo! Stop it!" She shouted from the corner. "You bloody fools! Didn't you hear? It's in telepathic contact with the rest of the Mi-Go! They'll know what happened! Your crew's screwed if you don't stop this!" She moved quickly over to the Mi Go and placed herself between it and the gun-toters. She also just happened to stand in front of Story, protecting him as well.
Karin was unable to move, no matter how much she tried. General Pryce was also frozen into immobility, and so was Major Orlova.
Elizabeth gasped and stepped back in shock, trying to stay out of any fight that ensued. "No, Lucius," she said, watching the scene unfold in front of her. "We see this out. We try to help. We don't run away." She resisted the Mi-Go's calming effect. Her instinctive reaction was to move to the Mi-Go, so she moved to join Brook and Story beside it, hoping to prevent any more bloodshed that way.
"Silver, MacCrimmon, stand down!" Heinrich shouted, puzzled at the General's newfound hostility towards Story and his crew as well as the apparently non-hostile alien. He pointed towards Brook. "Listen to the girl, General! If you continue in this course of action you're endangering the lives of not just the Persephone crew, but that of Lt. Colonel Bruce as well... and possibly the entire station, at that!" He pulled out the taser held at his side and shrugged. "I'm likely saving us all." Heinrich dived at the general, making contact with the taser set on the lowest setting. What he was doing may have been against military protocol, but he was confident that he was doing a service to all the personnel of the base, and that the facts would come out in the end.
A blue arc of electricity leapt between the taser's contacts when it struck General Pryce in the chest, and he collapsed to the floor, twitching briefly before lying very still. Even the lowest setting was powerful enough to lay him out. Silence filled the medical lab, and the crisis appeared to have passed. The Mi-Go pulled itself upright again with agonizing slowness.
"We zzzhould dezzztroy you all!" it buzzed loudly. It paused before continuing. "But we are zzzivilizzzed, unlike humanzzz. You will releazzze me at onzzze. You will all be permitted to leave in peazzze. General Pryzzze, you will take all of your people and prepare to evacuate thizzz bazzze. We shall return the human called Bruzzze to you, and then you will return to your planet. You will never again approach Yuggoth. Onzzze you are on Earth, you will arrange a private meeting between your leader Kaizzzer and our ambazzzador, who will be arriving on Earth. They will dizzzcuzzz reparationzzz and the relationzzzhip between our people. Thezzze are our termzzz. They are not open for negotiation."
When the Mi-Go finished speaking, those who had been paralyzed found themselves once more able to move, with only a tingling sensation that faded quickly as a reminder of the strange alien intrusion on their minds. Only General Pryce remained still, as the taser had stunned him severely in spite of the low setting.
