Play@YSDC

"Ron, relax, we're here now. We're going to get the ATV, take you and Victor back to Beta and get you all taken care of by Dr. Bloom."

She makes gentle noises as she speaks, trying a few shushes as she approaches him and gently tries to put her hand on his arm.

"You're not alone anymore, Ron, we're here. Have you seen George? Where is he?"

In reply, Ron called out the question to Boss.

"Boss, where is colonist George Long?"

"George Long is in the reactor dome, Officer Drake" replied Boss in its placid and pleasant tones. "I cannot pinpoint his location due to the normal reactor interference. All chip signals are obscured in that location"

It was true. The reactors were top of the line, but low level EM interference did occur. A multiscanner could no doubt pick him up, if it was nearby, but it would not be possible to pinpoint without being nearby.

"Q-Drag! * If George has gone mad..." said Ron, pressing his eyes with his hand, grinding his teeth. "I don't know if he could make it go nuclear, but if anyone can, its George..."

That may not have been strictly true. The reactor was top of the line and had a thousand safety protocols, but given time and ingenuity, one could possibly make a nuclear weapon out of it. George Long was a chemist, not a physicist, but he was a brilliant one, and his ingenuity was legendary. It was certainly plausible.

OOC:   * A common 22nd proclamation of awful bad luck. Quantum-Drag

"We'd better get over there fast, then!" says Sam. "I hope we don't need them, but we'd better bring the plasma pistols."

Hattie stared at the unconscious Victor, then at the ragged Ron and finally at Sam.

"But Victor needs the doctor...we can't just leave him here. He'll die for sure."

"You're right," says Sam, loud enough for Seth to hear. "We'll just have to abandon Alpha and evacuate to Beta. We'll need to leave the T-Prop behind."

Ron seemed undecided, or perhaps he was just to strung out to make a decision. He kept muttering under his breath, about life, death, and madness.

"We can't abandon Alpha, not whilst we have a genius madman in a nuclear reactor. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to die. I really don't want to die" he said, fingers twitching on his plasma pistol.

"Better Victor than all of us..." he said, ashamedly. "If you guys are going to disobey my orders, I'm not going to shoot you, but there is an order of command here, and you will be breaking it..." he said, neck taught. "So make your choice..."

Hattie feels at a loss for words. She looks at the others and then kneels down next to Victor and plants a kiss on his brow.

"Do not go gentle into that good night", she whispers and then she gets up again.

"Let's go save this moon from thermonuclear holocaust, I don't want to imagine the effects of that explosion on Titan's atmosphere."

"Who knows, Victor might even be better when we get back."

"You're the boss, boss," Samantha tells Ron, retrieving and holstering her own plasma pistol. "Might I make a suggestion, sir? Hattie could take Victor back to Beta in the ATV while you and I deal with George. I think between the two of us we can handle him. I'm better at fighting than she is if it comes to it, and I can also repair any damage he's inflicted to the reactor and keep it from going boom. It's up to you, sir." She knows that even if Ron refuses her request, Seth could still bring Victor back to Beta in the ATV.

Ron considered Samantha's proposal, as best he was able. His hands shook, until he clamped them into fists to stop them shaking. He looked like a man who hadn't slept a week. His consideration was a fragile thing at best.

"Yes. No. Yes....Errr...Maybe..." was his considered and final judgement on the matter. He almost seemed not to care. In a daze, he switched the safety on his pistol and started making his way to the reactor.

"

"Be careful, you two."

Hattie looked concerned, but took the opportunity Sam presented.

"I'll go get the ATV and pick up our patient. Maintain radiocontact, okay?"

"You take care too, Hattie," says Sam. "I'll try to stay in touch, as much as the EM flares allow, anyway. Good luck."

Seth listens quietly while the others leave the area. The T-prop sounds interesting but there's no where to fly to. He considers returnin with Hattie but that Dr Bloom is likely to clamp him in the brig. He picks up the fallen plasma pistol, checks it and quietly follows Sam; having worked on the other reactor, he may be able to shut this one down if necessary.

OOC:   Hattie travels to Beta Base Infirmary in this thread Meanwhile...

The reactor power systems on Beta base were running smoothly, compared to the brief brown outs back in Alpha. The whole base, however, was deathly quiet bar the swish of automatic doors opening and closing.

To Sam, Ron Drake seemed strung out at the least, with the eyes of a shell shocked war veteran. It looked like he was seeing but not believing. He kept muttering to himself about how "this wasn't happening...". His grip on his plasma pistol was tight but suspect, with squirming white knuckles and cold clammy sweat.

The beep beep of his multiscanner showed where George Long was...up ahead amongst the panels, wires, and cables of the reactor.

No...more than up ahead. Up. Ron looked up, where the ventilation ducts were. Enough for a small man to crawl through...

"That'll be a real tight fit for me," says Sam, looking up at the ventilation ducts as she grips her own plasma pistol. "I think I can manage it, though - barely."

Whilst Sam was tall and broad, Drake had the edge on her. A squeeze for Sam, but more so still for him.

Ron gripped his plasma pistol steadily. "Rather you than me then..." he said in a soft, and guilty voice. "Look...if you see George, shoot first. Shoot to kill..." he said, fixing her with a glare. "The man is mad, dangerous. Victor might be dead, and who knows what happened out there...he might have done worse...much worse..." he said, gulping.

"He's ruined us...ruined everything. We can't afford to take any chances with him. Not now. If you see him...shoot to kill...." he said, gesturing at her pistol.

"Understood, sir," says Sam, though she has every intention of letting George speak in his own defense as long as he isn't hostile when she encounters him. Right now, all she has is hearsay, and she doesn't even know whether or not it's true that he stabbed Victor. Even if he did, he may have simply gone mad, as Ron seems to have. If she can subdue him or convince him to surrender without killing him, she'll do it. She opens up the nearest grating and hoists herself into the duct shaft.

Seth peeks round the corner and then ducks quickly back out of sight; he's just seen Ron's broad back and beyond him, Sam's legs disappearing up into the air vent. 'One brave and crazy lady.' He thinks, leaning his head back on the cold wall.
It seems to him that Ron is orchestrating The situation and had planned for Sam to go into the vents all along. He considers shooting Ron there and then but if he missed.... Instead he looks around for another air vent hatch.

Sam squeezed herself into the overhead ventilation duct. Getting up was not difficult in the low gravity. Squeezing was. It was claustrophobic too say the least. She could, however move forward, if slowly, with her pistol and scanner ahead.

Beep...Beep....Beep... the sound from her scanner was not loud, and could be muted. A gentle ping to show that George was up ahead. He was not a big man, but neither was he small - he would not be much better off than Sam in moving...

Sam checks her scanner, but it's hard to get a fix on George. Blasted EM interference, she thinks.