Active thread - The Red Strain [TRS]

[Tabs]

He knocks at the door of the radio room.

"You in there, Bailey?"

All men inside the station hear something that sounds like thunder close in on Station 10.

"What was that noise, Evans?"

[Pickman37]

In the lab...
George completes the sterilization of six petri dishes and adds the nutrient agar to each of them, allowing the solution to cool. Years of experience allows him to complete the tasks in no time at all.

"Eric, I am ready to add the bacteria to each of our agar plates. Of course, we'll have to allow the colonies to grow over the next few days, recording our observa...."

All men inside the station hear something that sounds like thunder close in on Station 10.

The loud noise halted George in mid-sentence. He made his way to the window of the lab door and peered out into the lounge area, noting that no one was present there.

"Hmmm....what was that? Another storm perhaps. I see our companions are also out and about. We'd best go and investigate."

George removes his nylon gloves and lab smock. As he prepares to go out into the lounge area, his mind considers another alternative for the sound...

Hopefully this is not some sort of prank...we have valuable work to do. Leave it up to the children to already be bored after being here only a few short hours...

[LorenniaNailo]

Eric cocks his head after the thunder rolls. "Yes, we probably should." After making sure he's properly dressed, he'll accompany George outside.

[Mr. Handy]

"Yeah, I'm here!" calls Robert. "Talking to McMurdo. They said to bring everyone inside and for all of us to stay indoors. There's a storm's coming." He dashes off a quick response.

Keeper only,[code]<Encrypted> KMJP37sHjZuq/rO1KL68/2vZzU3XYvi4LWpiQYAX4vkNMx6M78L6snfokT3/dXicTlamwiSeLoleeyc1 g3ilge/XVk/5tTzqaKEEG7k6qKZ5pkyKoAZt2fBgELYGlDvh6vtjL35kGNDfc4U92zPEYitDXNUszsL6 mTt1KNX7+EI= </Encrypted> [/code]

[MadJaymilton]

"Right, then," Evans says. "Can you call them all in?" he asks Bailey. "Xavier wanted me to have a word with everyone anyhow. I was going to wait until we were all gathered for dinner, but we may as well get it done." He sighs and adds, "Would have been nice if Harrison could have had a chance to fix the generator before the storm hits, but I don't suppose we've time for that now."

[Pickman37]

As George enters the lounge, he hears Bailey's voice from behind the closed door of the radio room. He cannot make out what is being said but believes he has heard the word 'storm.' He glances over to his right at the sound of the voice but in the dim light of the lounge, can only make out a shadow of someone...

Looks like Arthur....getting the news. Damn, what is with these stations! State of the art...and all we get is this terrible lighting...

As George fumes, he remembers an old movie he saw as a child with similar effects....The Crawling Hand. Something about the illumination of the room coupled with that dull grey light from outside took him to that place. He shook it off and sensing Eric's enthusiasm, raised his arm to stop the young man...

"No need to head outside. I believe we have a storm brewing."

George walks over to the window in the lounge to look outside...

[Tabs]

"Right, then," Evans says. "Can you call them all in?" he asks Bailey.

"We were concerned about Walther,--he's been gone so long--but if everyone is returning to base, I'd better start cooking."

[LorenniaNailo]

Eric shrugs. "All right then."

[Mr. Handy]

"Just as soon as I'm off with McMurdo," says Robert, adding a little more to his message.

Keeper only,[code]<Encrypted> 0Fp+n0gnobPY+gKX6CbdyGpnUyua2CPB1kxA1LWvnMmCFBGbIGisMzIBWmLeiqOcV6+CnHFAtf8/rvjS Yrds8YSxoz07GQsuqYV3vRhg4wxDHzOkFTd+wA== </Encrypted> [/code]

[Tabs]

Arthur bustles away into the kitchen, happy to do the job he loves, determined to make up--for what he imagines--to be his earlier transgression. He reaches for the music tapes, and Rory Gallagher Irish Tour '74 isn't in it's correct position; odd, he only arranged them the other day? Running his finger along the tapes' back he finds the one he wants and pulls it out, the tape drips a milky liquid and the track listing--written in felt tip pen--is smudged. Jesus Christ. Who's been messing with my stuff? Arthur slots the tape into his ghetto blaster, and presses play. He thinks about Naumann and Janet, he really hopes his lurid imagination is right about those two. Nice one Naumann, nice one son, nice one Naumann, give her another one! He fast forwards the tape to the last track, cranks up the volume, and sings tunelessly:

• I don't want it all
  Just a little bit
  An incy wincy bit
  A teensy weensy piece of your lurve

He chuckles nastily.

Arthur takes a wok, adds cooking oil and heats until it scorches, then, sprinkles in his treasured Scezhuan pepper corns and chili--this baby is gonna be spicy!--he next finds some . . .

[MadJaymilton]

"Right," Evans tells Robert. "Keep us informed then, eh?" The doctor trails after Arthur, following him to the kitchen, but stops on the threshold.

"I'm going to take my kit back to the medlab," he says to the chef. "I'll be right back, though. You let me know if you feel any dizziness." Evans turns to head up stairs, frowning slightly at the raucous "music" that comes almost immediately from the kitchen.

[Pickman37]

Price looks out the window, but already expecting a storm, leans back in towards the lounge before even getting a good look...

"Looks like we should be getting everyone back in." As he walks away, he turns and fires out in frustration..."Maybe some effort should be put in. This is a research station. Throw your snowballs at home...!"

George returns to the lab. He is embarrassed but he has no idea what he meant by his last comment...

[Tabs]

"I'm going to take my kit back to the medlab," he says to the chef. "I'll be right back, though. You let me know if you feel any dizziness."

Arthur nods in reply, too engrossed in the cooking and music to answer.

[MadJaymilton]

Medical bag in hand, Evans climbs the stairs; although the generator is off, the ambient light and his familiarity with the base is enough to guide him to the med lab without too much trouble. He puts the kit away in the little cubby by the door--everything in its proper place--then pauses for a moment. The doctor knows he should go right back down (it's far too soon for Arthur to be back on his feet with a concussion) but he can hear the chef's music coming up through the floor and he's in no rush to fight his way through that din.

[Pickman37]

BACK IN THE LAB...


Price shuts the door behind himself, forgetting that Eric would be most likely following. He quickly moves over to the samples, making sure his young assistant had finished the job before being distracted by the excitement of the thunder...

He quickly forgets his previous outbursts in the lounge in light of what his assistant may have done or forgotten to do...

Damn! Did he introduce the cultures to the controlled dishes...??

Price holds his breath for a second instinctively when he glances over to the sample under the heat fan, not that he could do anything at this time...

[Dave Syrinx]

In the radio shack-

Robert receives yet another message when Evans hollers from the air lock.

<Encrypted>
7lMeB6do4akpyAQZ5Ix+2VLKybJNm979SBK4zFsIF/Rjgtu/8e09oHT3yLzjMzBp7vnqZza/xAxbqqsK
h7b6HOTOakHweXD6oRzZE+rFl1Sju2Ofr3MsNUD+fabg2Tadhi2PgRyOc8VZRmxaO+vMccG+Rn7G84uT
PqK33/WbZQ2iauLH33vB/HyailZfL8Y+Jc7pTWH0ik8XGOfXLQPCf+s8h2gl1S896BdyGIOOCTk=

</Encrypted>

Now, the sound of thunder warps to the unmkistakable sound of an incoming freight plane, the distrotion of his radio speaker is also a sure tell.
The PA microhone hangs from the wall next to the door. Several codes are next to the dial.

Station meeting - 001
Fire - 555
Lights out - 069
Dinner - 000
Wake up call - 222

Outside the side window of his little radio den, the new drill tower is totally obscured by a gust of snow.
Having read the mesasge, George pushes the chair back and contemplates if he should go out and inform the others...or just call them in and let Evans hadle it.


In the kitchen -
All in on the cooking, Arthur gets in his zone and orchestrates his meal in unison with the music. He only vaguely notices Price and Jones walking back and forth. God bless the batteries in the blaster. The gas to the stove also work without power, so the outage doesn´t bother him.


On the second floor-
Xavier hears the rumbling of the approaching air craft. Turning in his bed, he remembers his time as a pilot in the air force. Then his stomach cramps and he folds like a pen knife. Outside he can hear foot steps in the corridor.

Evans drops his satchel with meds. He looks down the corridor at the emergency locker. Everybody has some space up here....Next to the locker lies Walther´s private room , with the door open. The medical clinic doubles as Evans private space. His partner, Janet, shares room with her husband, obvously. The question is if she wouldn´t be better off sharing room with a more educated man... The long hours they had worked side by side sure felt like companionship and somethung more.
Suddenly, aware of reality, one of the glass cabinets shake from the passing C-170 on the runway. Vials of medicine clatter and then come to rest.


In the lab-
Watching the samples drip away in the fume cupboard George is about to curse out again. Then he is cut off by the careening lights of a transport plane swooshing past the window behind the lab windows. The tail lights grow smaller and are eaten by the white of the storm outside. The thunderous noise ebbs away as the C-170 moves away from Station 10 and closer to the air traffic tower.

In the lounge, Eric hears how someone is moving around inside the generator room. Footsteps comes to a stop just above him, upstairs. Geroge is finally shutting up and a plane has touched down. The chef is dancing in the pantry. The radio man has locked himself in the communications room.
One guy is AWOL. The lovely Janet has left the building and the fly boy is probably stroking the helicopter´s rudder.
Man, could he use a drink right about now.

Welcome to Station 10, last godammed day of winter...

[Mr. Handy]

Robert gets off of the radio and activates the PA system, as it will be the fastest way to reach everyone - it would take quite a while to get dressed for the cold before going outside, not to mention that it would be inconvenient. "All station personnel, McMurdo has informed us that there is a storm on its way," he says. "They want everyone to come inside at once and to remain inside for the duration." Then he exits the radio room and looks to see who is around.

[Tabs]

ooc,[quote]In the kitchen - All in on the cooking, Arthur gets in his zone and orchestrates his meal in unison with the music. He only vaguely notices Price and Jones walking back and forth. God bless the batteries in the blaster. The gas to the stove also work without power, so the outage doesn´t bother him.[/quote] Powercut . . . oh yeah.

Arthur hauls on the string of the window blind, to let in more light, and blesses the 24hr. day of the Antarctic Summer.

[MadJaymilton]

Evans ends his wool-gathering with a shake of his head, putting those thoughts away for later. But they do deserve some consideration, he tells himself as he heads back down the stairs, humming some bars of Vivaldi's Spring. Just have to take your time, Carl. It wouldn't do to rush things when you're all stuck in this tin can.

At the bottom of the stairs Evans stops, seeing Bailey . "I don't suppose McMurdo had any idea how long the storm might last?" he asks the radioman.

[Mr. Handy]

"They didn't say," says Robert. "They did mention that they'd like the body of Childs, which they were expecting to receive. They were a bit put out that they never got it. They'll be sending someone to retrieve it as soon as the storm passes, so you should make it ready for transport. In the meantime, we're all to hunker down indoors and wait it out. We'll need to do a headcount as people enter and make sure nobody gets left outside. Do you know if we have a spare generator? Might be easier to hook it up if we do than to fix this one." He scratches his head. "You examined Childs, right, Doc? How did he die, anyway?"