IC-Ep 4-Isolation(Karin Bauer only)

[Mr. Handy]

Aboard the Persephone - Styx Base, Pluto
0850 GMT - Tuesday, August 9, 2112

Lt. Colonel Howard Bruce, Captain Karin Bauer, and General Richard Pryce all entered the Persephone's main cabin. The general moved quickly to the pilot's seat, secured his straps, and began the preflight checks. "Better strap yourselves in," he said. "We'll be taking off shortly, and you'll need to be in your seats to withstand the acceleration. Once we're safely out of Pluto's gravity well, I'll reduce acceleration to Earth normal and you'll be able to move about the cabin and start the examination."

[aine]

Karin takes the furthest seat to the rear so that she can monitor the two CO's. She secures her fire extinguisher nearby, hoping the General is too busy with his pre-flight checks to comment on it. She grudgingly concedes to herself that the General seems well in control of the situation; almost relishing flying the Persephone home. He has changed from the shadowy figure floating around in the background of the base to how she imagined he'd been in his younger, more active days.

[Mr. Handy]

Lt. Colonel Bruce sat in the co-pilot's seat, next to General Pryce, and strapped himself in. Karin secured herself in the third seat, in the rear of the main cabin, and watched the two of them. Before long General Pryce finished his checks. "All systems go," he said. "Secure for liftoff." He fired up the engines, and the Persephone flew upwards, out through the open dome and into the sky. The G-forces pressed the three of them into their seats, which were designed to cushion them against the acceleration.

Shortly afterwards, the acceleration began to decrease. "We've achieved escape velocity," said the general. "Setting course for Earth." Before long, the acceleration was only the equivalent of Earth's own gravity. It would remain so for half of the voyage, at which point the ship would decelerate at the same rate. The trip would be a very long one, lasting more than two months. "All right, you can now move freely."

The security chief unbuckled his straps, stood up, and removed his helmet. "I'm ready for the examination, Doctor," he said. He started to remove his spacesuit.

OOC,[b]Karin[/b], please roll Medicine and Psychology.

[aine]

"Thankyou Sir." Karin unbuckles her harness and removes her helmet. She reaches for her med bag and unpacks the equipment necessary while she waits for the Chief to remove his suit. "Two months! I guess we'll have plenty of time for report writing." Karin grimaces, not relishing two months of confinement. She promises herself a week of surfing on the cape if she ever gets leave. And a serious bout of soul-searching.

Spoiler:

medicine(70) psychology(30),
1d100=94, 1d100=24

[Mr. Handy]

Now that there was plenty of time, Karin thoroughly examined Lt. Colonel Bruce. He did have some physical injuries: cuts and bruises apparently caused when the Mi-Go originally snatched him. She wasn't able to effectively treat those injuries in the close confines of the ship, but they would heal naturally well before the Persephone reached Earth.

It was her mental analysis of the security chief that produced the most informative and alarming results, however. After conducting a battery of psychological tests, it became apparent to her that he was completely devoid of emotion. His motions seemed wooden and mechanical. None of this was consistent with her previous psychological profile and personal observations of him. He hadn't been like this before the Mi-Go had taken him. Story's earlier assessment of him made a lot of sense. Some form of alien mind control could explain Bruce's behavior, and he still seemed to be experiencing its effects.

[aine]

Karin frowns as she finishes the assessment. At least there is no sign of physical invasion by the aliens and he seems to have all his mental acumen but the lack of emotion is very worrying. Did this mean the aliens had taken Bruce's emotions leaving him a husk? Or do they still maintain control or is he now one of them in all but physical appearance. She decides to try one last attempt,

"Chief, did you hear about when Darth Vader meets Luke Skywalker in the street at Christmas? And Darth says, 'I know what you're getting for Christmas', pointing a long black finger at Skywalker who looks at him quizzically, 'How?' He asks. Darth Vader replies in his deep voice, 'I felt your presents.'"

Karin looks to see what the response is from the Lt. Colonel.

[Mr. Handy]

"I fail to see the relevance," replied Bruce.

[aine]

"Oh."she says. "Okay. Well, you can get dressed again, thank you Chief." Karin makes her way over to the General, hoping hoping he is still an ordinary human at least. "Sir I have my report on the chief. He is physically and mentally fit, barring a few scrapes, but he has lost his emotions, even more than was natural or is natural for any human being." She looks at the General."In my opinion this could be due to three possibilities.
One, the Mi-Go have somehow sucked his emotional capacity out of him, leaving him unable to appreciate a good joke. But he is still the Chief and is as such a war casualty and should be treated as such.
Two, the Mi-Go have some sort of mind control on him; as they have no appreciable emotion, this is passed onto him. I don't know how far their control goes but I'm not sure it could reach back to Earth. Therefore, if they have any ulterior motive for having this control it should manifest soon before we are away from Pluto and we need to be on our guard. But it does mean we should get our Chief back once it wears off.
Thirdly, All that is left of the Chief is his physical shell. Somehow the Mi-Go have totally taken over his body, or there is one inside; although I couldn't detect it. This means we are taking a Mi-Go back to Earth. If the Mi-Go are a hive-entity and all have the same 'brain/mind' whatever you want to call it, they would then have a foot hold on Earth. That's beyond my scope as to the ramifications of that. Maybe the chief would be able to mind-control all the humans he meets." Karin lapses into silence at the thought. Then,"It would be a good idea to relay this to the Charon's Ferry and the Base so everyone knows the score."

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you, Doctor," said General Pryce. "We cannot know what the Mi-Go may have done to him while he was in their custody. I think we need to give him the benefit of the doubt until we have proof, but do please continue your observations. I'll relay the message back to Charon's Ferry and the base. It is too bad the Persephone has no long range communications. We will not be able to communicate with Earth until we get fairly close." He checked the scanners. "Charon's Ferry still has not lifted off, but there is likely someone aboard it." He opened up a channel. "Charon's Ferry, this is Persephone."

"Sir, this is Major Orlova aboard Charon's Ferry," replied Natalia's voice. "We're almost ready for takeoff. We're just waiting for Sergeant Kohl to return."

"Good. Captain Bauer has examined Lt. Colonel Bruce. Physically, he has only minor injuries, but mentally he does not appear to be entirely himself." He repeated Karin's analysis and speculation about his condition. "She will continue to keep him under observation."

"Thank you, sir. Is there anything else?"

"Not at the moment, Major. Carry on. Persephone out."

[aine]

Karin leaves the General to his piloting. She checks her fire extinguisher is still handy and then goes to sit with Lt. Colonel Bruce. She is still worried that the Mi-Go would not want word of their existence to get back to Earth and feels very vulnerable in the small space craft. "Chief, what was it like in the Mi-Gos' home? Did you discover what happened to the original Persephone crew?"

OOC,Do we travel FTL or is it just regular shuttle speeds? Can we maintain contact with the Charon's Ferry all the way home? Also, once the course has been set, will the Persephone continue on it until she reaches Earth's orbit or does it need regular adjusting. I'm assuming that it doesn't as there are no currents in space but wanted to check.

[Mr. Handy]

"Their base was very strange," said Bruce. "There were many weird multicolored lights, and the organization was unusual. There were many places that could only be reached by flying. Had the Mi-Go not borne me, I would have been unable to get to them. I did meet the original crew of the Persephone: Captain Kowalski, Lt. Carvalho, and Sergeant Kassim. Their bodies had been damaged beyond repair when they engaged the Mi-Go in battle upon their arrival, but the Mi-Go were able to preserve them alive after a fashion."

OOC,FTL travel doesn't exist yet (much of the research done at Styx Base was aimed at achieving it), so you just go at normal speed, which is why the journey will take months. [i]Charon's Ferry[/i] will be close enough that the ships can stay in touch. They can even dock with each other if you let them catch up. [i]Persephone[/i] will continue on her course, but the course may need adjustment. There are no currents, true, but the slightest error in the ship's angle of trajectory could add up to missing your destination by many thousands of miles if left uncorrected, considering the immense distances involved. The course will need to be monitored, though not all that frequently. [b]General Pryce[/b] will be taking care of that; he has 65% in Navigate.

[aine]

Karin's eyes widen. "They're still alive? And we didn't rescue them! Why not? It's incredible." Her medical curiosity surfaces, "How were they preserved, were you able to communicate? I suppose they couldn't be moved but, wow, spending the rest of your life in an alien city. Were they comfortable? Happy?" Karin shudders, glad she isn't destined to that fate at least; although she isn't looking forward to getting back to Earth, the Kaiser and the so-called Peace federation either. After her experiences on Pluto, a seed of rebellion has been planted in her heart. If she survives the likely court-marshal that she's expecting, life is going to be very different. And difficult.

OOC,Karin is very much aware that she is totally dependent on the General for getting back to Earth alive as she cannot fly the shuttle. She is still expecting Bruce to 'turn' and is considering, quarantine excepted, that it may be better to dock with the Charon's ferry where there are more people to deal with Bruce should he turn violent.

[Mr. Handy]

"The Mi-Go had machines that keep them alive," said Bruce. "You would be fascinated by them, Doctor. The technology is incredibly advanced and would be a boon to medical science. With the aid of these machines, the crew can see, hear, and speak. They were comfortable, but I would not say happy. Who could be happy under those circumstances?"

[aine]

"I almost wish I could have seen it too. A whole alien city and the machinery too! Cyborg or prosthetic? Will they live out their natural lifespans do you think? It would be a long and lonely life for them. Do you think the Mi-Go will allow them to return home on the next expedition from Earth?" She turns and speaks loudly to the General over the hum of the engines, "Sir, as there is no evidence of exotic contaminants on the Lt. and he doesn't need isolation as such, maybe we could dock with the Charon's ferry. We can still monitor the chief but the journey would be a lot more comfortable and less of a strain for you piloting."

[Mr. Handy]

"The devices were prosthetic," said Bruce. "I think they will live a very long time, perhaps even longer than they would have otherwise. I think it can be arranged for them to be returned to Earth."

"Yes," said General Pryce. "The Mi-Go did say that their ambassador will arrange for that. We could dock with Charon's Ferry, but it has not yet lifted off. We dare not slow down to let the others catch up until they're safely away from Pluto."

[aine]

Karin raises her eyebrows at Bruce's statement. Then, "The Charon's Ferry hasn't left yet? The Mi-Go must be tearing their hair out. So to speak. Is everything okay? Should we go back?"

[Mr. Handy]

"We cannot go back," said General Pryce. "I'm sure the Mi-Go would regard that as a breach of our agreement and possibly a hostile act. I will contact Major Orlova and get an update." He opened up a channel to Charon's Ferry. "Major Orlova, this is General Pryce. I notice that you haven't yet taken off. What is the reason for the delay?"

"Sir, Sergeant Kohl had difficulty finding the visitors' craft," replied Natalia. "He did not know it had been moved to the astrophysics lab. It is therefore taking longer than- Bozhemoi! I'm reading energy weapons fire from the docking bay! Gotta go!" She cut off the channel abruptly.

[aine]

(Assuming Karin can hear the exchange) "Hell's bells! The Mi-Go have lost patience, I knew we couldn't trust them! Sir, we must go back- I'll be needed to patch up the wounded if there is gunfire." She glances at Bruce to see his response to the exchange and reaches over to pick up the fire extinguisher.

[Mr. Handy]

Bruce was completely expressionless.

"We cannot go back," repeated General Pryce. "By the time we could reverse course and get back there, over an hour would have passed. By then it will be too late to affect the outcome even if we arrived in one piece. That is assuming the Mi-Go do not destroy us if we turn around. No, our only chance is to continue for Earth and hope that the others escape."

[aine]

Karin looks at him aghast, "You can't leave them all to die! Are these the tactics that promoted you to General, abandoning your troops?" She shakes her head, "What is an hour when we have a two month journey ahead? And why worry about a 'hostile' maneuver when all hell's breaking out planetside? It's too late to maintain this so called peace." She thinks privately to herself that dealing with the Mi-Go is no different to the Nobel Peace Forces back home.

"Where's your humanity? They will die if we don't rescue them!" She looks at the expressionless Chief. She is considering the possibility that Bruce is somehow controlling the General. She'd rather try a humane method of knocking the Chief out for a bit to see if there is any change. She walks over to her med case, puts down the fungicide,

Spoiler:

Does she have tranquilizing tabs in her med case for field-use, something that would last a short time; less than an hour? If so she will attempt to inject/place one on Bruce.