NationStates Jolt Archive

"Umm... yes... sir." Open foot, insert mouth. Story of your life, bro. Now I just hope he's a real O-3 lieutenant, or at least an O-2... Rojacamiseta follows along behind the much larger creature, wondering who hated him enough to put him on the away team ready roster this week.

Dergan walked a few paces, then stopped and looked down. "Hey, do you have a first name? Or do you just like being called Ensign?" He kneels down, intently studying the ground in front of him while shielding it from view. He nods, then reaches down and picks up a couple objects from the ground. "Here," he says, as he tosses a claw of some sort at his partner. "What do you think of that?" He stands up, but can be seen putting something shiny into a container.

"Er... Miguel, sir--" The ensign flinches, barely catching the claw against the hard plate on his chest. "Umm... it's a claw." Brilliant. Try analysis. "Umm... looks sorta like a bird's talon, like it's supposed to grip something from this flat bit here." The claw is, indeed, sharp at the tip and has a wide, flat curve on the inside at one end. It could imaginably be used to both cut with the very end and grip with the base.

He raises an eyebrow at the confiscation of the metal. "Pardon, but what's that, sir?"

Whiptail shifts uncomfortably in his suit. He follows along behind the others, his keen animal senses alert for any surprises.

Dergan turns to face Miguel, holding a container in his clawed hand. The outside of container is blinking, changing from orange to yellow to green. He smiles. "It's my analysis container. It takes a small sample of a material and breaks it down to its basic components. I suspect that this piece of metal will fit the makeup of the alien artifact that was found on Rime." The container beeps, and a series of lights is displayed on the container before it turns itself off. "Yup, just as I expected. This metal is identical. Are you just out of the Academy?"

Dekker tosses the stuffed monkey over his shoulder.

"That obvious, eh?" Rojacamiseta chuckles nervously. "Sounds like a bad space opera set-up... neophyte O-1 stuck in a dangerous situation way over his head. Usually it ends with the no-name getting vaporized with no one really caring because he was an excess character in the first place."

He shakes his head. "Meat-shielding. Me all over. Well, I plan on not getting vaped, and therefore plan on avoiding stupid risks." He grins. "So why the hell am I down here?"

Dergan chuckles along with Miguel. His eyes change again, and orange streaks through his red eyes. "Just loosen up and you'll be fine. I learned 40 years ago that ranks and regulations have their place, but on missions like this, you have to become family." He pulls out his DatPad and the lights above his eyes start flashing. "You call this in to the captain, and I'll mark this spot in my DatPad."

"Loosen up... heh." Miguel nods. "Yes, sir."

Toggling his comm channels, he connects with Captain Masters. "Ma'am, we've found something over here. A sort of odd claw and some metal that matches whatever we've been looking for."

"Oh, Miguel, one more thing. Don't call me sir. Anything else is fine, but not sir."

Dekker lightly smacks Beth on the shoulder. "Let's go, the techie has found something interestin', it's worth a shot." Dekker heads off in that dierction, careful not to step on any more stuffed monkeys.

"Oh, Miguel, one more thing. Don't call me sir. Anything else is fine, but not sir."
"Umm... okay... Lieutenant Raspho." I doubt that was what he was looking for. Why'd the Academy have to drill customs and courtesies for so long if the active-duty types just drop it? Looking down, he pulls his tricorder to scan for more concentrations of the odd metal. "Err... there's a density irregularity, but it starts under three meters of rock. Not the easiest place to get to, especially seeing how we're just standing on gravel. Anyone have a cassion?"

((ooc: Hi all. I'm back. ^^;; Could someone please gve me a recap of what all I missed. I'm so so so so so SO very sorry for going MIA for all this time. Please forgive me. *Bow repeatedly.*))

OOC: Sweet Dancing Baby Jesus! Your back!

Update:
Several more explorers have joined the expedition, and the team has returned from Rime. The full events that happened are still unknown to the newcomers (as well as the team ;)) but they have landed on Reason, the next planet. Janice however fell into a coma - it has something to do with the translator, but we're not sure what. We have just begun exploring Reason.

IC:
Beth huffed over a rock, looking at the ravine below. A stream of the liquid flowed through it - or more properly sloshed. There didn't appear to be any kind of weather other that the occasionaly wind current - certainly no hydrologic cycle. She turns around and takes a seat on the rocks as the call comes in from Dergan.

"What do you have?"

((OOC: Thanks. Um, I assume Celestial is there with Beth and co on Reason?))

OOC: Yes she is. Any chance we might get a speach from the Nameless One?

OOC: Yes she is. Any chance we might get a speach from the Nameless One?

((OOC: We brought him with us? Gawd, I really should backread. ^^;; It'd be easier...))

OOC: No idea - up to you actually. He/It is either still on the planet, or in a suite of rooms across from Transporter Room 2.

One of my other nations (modern tech).

((OOC: I backread what I missed. I'd like to congraduate Tim for the job well done with the Gasu. ^_^ Couldn't have done it better myself.))

*Celestial dashed into the transporter room, putting on her helemt and slapping her comm-badge with one hand. She had been late and missed the breifing, and didn't go down with the rest.*

Celestial: "Scotty, beam me down!"

Techie: "Very funny Celestial."

Celestial: "Aw come on, please beam me down with the rest."

Techie: "Wait... Beaming down one..."

*She gets the funny feeling as she vanishes from the transporter room and reappears on Reason, alone.*

Celestial: "Sappy mo fo! He beamed me down away from the others! Oooo! I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when I get back!"

*She slaps her comm-badge.*

Celestial: "Cap'n Masters, where are you guys? Sorry I'm late."

OOC: No idea - up to you actually. He/It is either still on the planet, or in a suite of rooms across from Transporter Room 2.

One of my other nations (modern tech).((OOC: The Nameless is still on Rime. He is forbidden from leaving his ship, tho that does not apply to any of his Moragus or the Gasu, which he'll probably want back soon. :P Drat, I had wanted to have him request that Beth have her ship free his from the icy terrian... Oh well...))

(OOC: Nice to see you back, and thanks for the compliment. I sorta winged it, but as it didn't have to do with the culture you established, I guess it worked out.

As for the Gasu and Janice, I sorta plan on them living. There's a few cures that maybe we should discuss over TG.)

"Ma'am, we've got a sample of metal that matches the parameters of whatever you found on Rime plus a sort of claw-thing." He holds it out to her. "My scans show that there's a density irregularity about three meters under us, but it'll take some digging through this gravel-like stuff to get there."

Dekker hands him a small round object. "Try this." The object is obviously a grenade, sonic by the looks of it. "Nabbed it from the armory before we left. I've got three more."

(OOC: Riiiii-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-iiight. Hand the butterbars a grenade. What, you wanna get us all killed?

This coming from a future USAF butterbars himself. ;) )

Miguel looks down at the spherical grenade in his hand. "An M-84/s sonic grenade?" He looks back up at Dekker with a confused (and slightly uncreative) look. "This isn't for demolitions work, much less drilling."

"Nah, it's one of those concussive force thingies. 'Figure it could blow away enough of this gravel stuff to let us at the 'surface irregularity' thing." Dekker says with a slightly demonic grin.

OOC: Future USMC, join the club.

*Celestial worried her lower lip abit, then slapped her comm-badge again.*

Celestial: "Cap'n Beth? Dekker? Hello? ANY one listening? This is Celestial speaking, I'm lost. Where is everyone?"

Dekker broke his attention away from his explosive toy, then looks down at the odd-shaped badge on his suit. "Hey, this doohicky is beepin', what do I do with it?"

Whiptail responds to Celestial's call. "We are far to your left, I can see you from here."

Whiptail responds to Celestial's call. "We are far to your left, I can see you from here."

*Celestial blinks, not recognizing the voice. She taps the comm-badge.*

Celestial: "And who is we?"

Miguel looks at Dekker oddly. "Umm... you press it and then say something to the extent that you're listening."

Looking at the grenade, he shoos everyone away from a point that seems to be nearest the density irregularity. "Okay... er... fire in the hole." He drops the grenade, bounds off, and lands, keeping his head down.

Nothing happens.

Looking up, he slaps his palm against his faceplate. "Well, duh, Miguel, it works better if you activate it. Sorry, sorry everyone, I'm just a bit nervous." He walks up to the grenade, primes it, pushes in the fuse, drops it again, and bounces off again.

*WHAM*

Gravel (both in pulverized and solid flavors) goes flying everywhere, tiny little sharp rocks bouncing around. "Okay... bad idea."

*Celestial's sensitive ears pick up the sound of the explosion, and she uses that as the marker to her destination. She taps her comm-badge as she runs for where the explosion came from.*

Celestial: "To whoever just blow up that bomb, I sure hope you're on my side!"

"Interesting... a claw. All we've seen are stuffed monkeys - no predators. Still..." *WHUMP* *Patter* "We should all be on the lookout for predators. Judging by the sized of the claw I'd guess it to be about a meter long - but I might be wrong."

Beth walked over to the big hole in the ground, waved hello to Celestial, and pulled out her 'corder. "Yep, something down there. Well, something other than a big rock. Several of the elements match the other ship, but not exactly. It's smaller too - the other ship was easily a klick long, but this looks to be 20 meters or so."

OOC: We can dig it out of the ice if you want - though I would want to hear a history lesson or something before we do. Don't want to free an ancient evil or anything.

"Yes, hmm, it is a small one. It's a wonder someone didn't blow it up trying to dig it out or somthing." He switches his vision to infrared. "I'm not getting anything special in infrared. The usual temperature differences, but nothing else."

Miguel winces. "Sorry." Hopping into the new crater, he brushes away some gravel to reveal a battered but glossy green surface, resembling the shell of some crustacean. "Well, we have hull. Now, how to open it?"

"Good question - last time we had a key of sorts. Expose as much of it as we can I suppose. This one might be simpler than the other. Why put a liquid metal on a fighter."

Beth begins digging, moving toward the center of mass. "Um, maybe more grenades are appropriate. You can set them for up to 2 minutes or rig them for remote detonation via 'corder."

*Celestial waved to Beth as she joined the others.*


Celestial: "What'd I miss? Anything important?"

"Nothing yet - unless you like little stuffed monkeys. Got something interesting here, but we need to uncover more to figure out what we have found." Beth said as she waited for charges to be placed.

*Celestial blinks.*

Celestial: "Stuffed... Monkeys?"

((OOC: Um... BUMP... N'stuff...))

"Umm... I'm far from being a demolitions expert myself, ma'am." Miguel rubs the back of his helmet. "Maybe someone who won't get us all killed would be appropriate." He looks at Dekker. If he had the foresight to grab the grenades, maybe he'll know what to do with them.

"Grenades? We don't need no stinkin' grenades. Attila! Where'd you wonder off to? I didn't have you plugged into the recharger all night for nothin'! Got some excavatin' to take care of!"

Whiptail shakes his head in amusement. "You might have let Dekker handle the grenades. He's a professional mercenary after all." He shoulders the MP-5. "Was the blast enough?"

"I agree. No more explosives for you," Dergan says, shaking a finger at Miguel. Switching his vision back to normal, Dergan pulls a capsule out of his pocket. He presses a button, and it expands into a full sized shovel. "Always be prepared," he explains, then starts digging.

"Hmm, maybe we can just vaporize it - like we did with the ice on Rime." Beth pulls out her phaser rifle, cranks it up to 'It's not going to heal' and aims at a low dune a hundred meters or so away.

*BOOM*

Sand shoots high into the air, raining down on everyone. The entire dune is scattered all over. "Um, I don't think it should do that. Hold on a second..." She fiddled with the controls and shot a closer patch.

*boom*

"Hmm, that was on heavy heat damage. Must be the makeup of the sand. Shovel's it is..." Moments later she is shovelling away with a folding entrenching shovel from her pack.

Dergan looks up for a second, examining the blasts created by the phaser. "Hmm, guess that means we won't be cooking with a campfire tonight."

Attila was soon in the pit with the rest of them, flinging gravel and dust away with its back legs.

"No, silly. Whadaya think you've got micrites for?"

"Oh." Attila sprayed a stream of grey muck onto the ground. "I guess we could at least see if they'll survive in this environment. Any help with excavation is likely to be minimal."

Dekker chuckles. "Guess I won't need this then." He flings an incindiary grenade over his shoulder. "Hey, wait a sec. If the sand reacts to heat, maybe this thingie will help." He grins demonically. "BOOM." More laughing. "Oh yeah. I got you guys something." He tosses a stuffed monkey to Beth and to Whiptail. "Enjoy."

*Celestial helps dig too, not wanting to be as useless as she was on the last trip.*

Celestial: "One hundred bottles of warm milk on the walls, one hundred bottles of warm milk. Take one down, pass it around, ninety-nine bottles of warm milk on the wall..."

*She sang, hoping the others would join in.*


((OOC: What? She's part cat!))

Beth sings, for a while. After the third time through a significant chunk of the object is exposed, though it doesn't look very shiplike. "Vaguely... troutlike. Wouldn't you say?"

It was about 20 meters long - perhaps 10 at the widest. And it does look vaguely like a trout. "Look at those... eyes." Two ovoids were in a rough eye position, if most fish had their eyes one behind the other on one side of their body. Most ships are symetrical along at least one axis, and this thing was not.

*Celestial blinks and taps the "eye" with one hand.*

Celestial: "Odd... It's solid... I think? Um, should we scan this thing or something?"

"May as well try it - but the last one didn't return much of anything useful." Beth began to scan the assumed hatch, trying different wavelengths and combinations of timing and wavelengths. After about 5 minutes she gave up. "I'm just going to write a little proggy to do this for me. Don't step on it, please."

She worked for about 5 minutes - she was quite good at programming - and set the 'corder down to work. "I'm going to work on uncovering more of this thing - maybe we are scanning a weapons port."

"99 errors and bugs in the code, 99 errors and bugs! Fix one up, recompile, 100 errors and bugs in the code!"

"100 errors and bugs in the code, 100 errors and bugs! Fix one up, recompile, 101 errors and bugs in the code!..."

Dekker works on in silence, he preferred Maker's Mark Whiskey.

Dergan keeps workin on uncovering the tail end. He was humming to himself, not because he wanted to pass the time, but because he wanted to drown out all the singing.

Miguel works alongside Dergan, because he prefers the humming to the singing, revealing a hinged plate inset into the 'tail.' "Odd. This looks kinda like an atmospheric control surface." He twists it back and forth experimentally.

"How much do you want to bet that this is a sort of lancer... like a fighter or something... and the cockpit or whatever is on the bottom?"

Miguel works alongside Dergan, because he prefers the humming to the singing, revealing a hinged plate inset into the 'tail.' "Odd. This looks kinda like an atmospheric control surface." He twists it back and forth experimentally.

"How much do you want to bet that this is a sort of lancer... like a fighter or something... and the cockpit or whatever is on the bottom?"

Dergan stops his digging to watch Miguel play with the plate. "I don't know. That seems like a plausible explanation. But we don't know how far this ships extends underground. It could possibly go for miles. If only we could get an aproximate weight, it would be a lot easier to tell. Good work though."

"Either way, it gives a possible reason for those eye-bits. Probably sensors, either ground tracking, if I'm right, or for looking to the side, if you're right and this is a nacelle at the end of some wing or pylon or something.

"And while we can't scan the ship itself, we can scan the ground around it--map the area around the shadow and boom, we have a possible volume of the ship. Maybe even get a shape. Now, we just need three tricorders hooked up into a network so they combine their signals, come up with three-dimensional points through triangulation, and get ourselves a nice picture of the outside of the thing."

Miguel grins broadly, feeling smart all of a sudden.

Dergan smiles, pleased that Miguel can come up with his own ideas. He pulls out his borrowed tricorder and holds it out. "Here's mine."

Miguel takes it with a grin, looking for the world like some little kid who's just figured out long division on his own. "Thanks. Captain, if we can hack these into your tricorder, then we should be able to get a decent map."

*nudges Attila with foot*

"And a second equivalent sensing unit."

Miguel looks at the growing collection of sensing equipment. "Great. Now we have enough sensors... all we have to do is program them to work together... which is something I can't do." The ensign frowns.

*Celestial claps her hands.*

Celestial: "Good thinking guy! Cap'n Crunch, you can program them to work together, right?"

*She asked Beth, using the nickname she made up for her without really realizing it.*

"Yes... But first - lets throw stuffed monkeys at Celestial!" Beth hurls a random monkey at her, then picks up her 'corder and begins to work. "Ok - best results if we spread them out slowly. Team up, move outward about 10 meters every 30 seconds or so..."

As they walked backward more data was accumulated, with the multiple inputs allowing cross checking of the display. Once they were 100 meters away Beth called a stop. "Looks good - now let's find out what it looks like."

OOC: Does Attilia happen to have a projector, or could she make a 3D model out of foglets?

((OOC: How many people deleted their posts? I did like once or twice. Hmm... Must be at least one other person...))


*Celestial cuddles her stuffed monkey and looks back at Beth.*

Celestial: "I wonder what's inside this thing? Hopefully lotsa fish, or maybe a never ending fountain of warm milk. I'm hungry again..."

*She would have been gnawing on the stuff monkey's ear, but her helmet was in the way.*

(OOC: Stupid crazy phpBB bugs.)

"Stuffed monkeys. Maybe the aliens on Rime were from Taiwan?" Miguel flinches pre-emptively to protect from the probable repercussions of such an insensitive statement.

"Well, it's bigger than a fighter... I can tell that much from the display. Looks like this thing is like a stabilizer on the end of some wing... must be a sturdy thing to get buried sideways without snapping."

*Celestial blinks.*

Celestial: "What's a 'Taiwan?'"

Dekker laughs. "It's a city back on Earth, where they make all sorts of stuff. That's why everything says 'Made in China' on it." He shrugs. "Odd that we'd find so many of these little critters just laying on this remote-ass planet."

OOC: Does Attilia happen to have a projector, or could she make a 3D model out of foglets?

OOC: Da.
IC:

Attila spewed forth a stream of foglets, which began organising themselves into a 3D rendering of the object. It streteched just over two meters tall at a scale of 1:15, the end fading away into the background. About halfway down, there was a small gash in the wing-structure, acompanied by a large, dense, irregular mass.

*Celestial points at the gash.*

Celestial: "Think it got shot down?"

*Blinking her eyes several times, Celestial looks back at Beth.*

Celestial: "Maybe we can enter from there?"

"Hell, we can try." Dekker says, tossing a sonic grenade up and down in his left hand, the right one gripping the grip of the phaser rifle, which rested on his right shoulder.

OOC: :twisted: :twisted:

Whiptail glares at him through his suit. "You are like a child with a new toy, Dekker." He shoulders his MP5. "Perhaps we should attempt to find an entrance?"

*Celestial looks at the new guy, Whiptail, and promptly loses all color in her face.*

Celestial: "It'sa-it'sa-it'sa a liz... A liza... A liz-liz-liz..."

*She gulps hard and looks like she's about to bolt.*

"It's pretty far down. 15 meters - we would need to reinforce the walls as we dig. We could also have the 'Columbia' try to pull it free with the tractors. But that might damage it." Beth pointed to the gash on the foglet model. "But if the sand goes down that far, it might have flooded the ship as well. Plus we have the local liquid table to worry about.

Of course - maybe it's not a ship. Maybe it's the peak of a really tall building of some kind."

Whiptail stares at her, obviously annoyed. "I am no lizard. I am of the Dark Argonains. What are you, cat-creature? A Khajit?"

Dergan tries to scratch his chin with a claw, but his hand bumps into his face-plate. Frowning, he settles with rubbing the top of his head. "Do you think we could stand very far away, and shoot the sand, so we can get to the opening?"

Whiptail stares at her, obviously annoyed. "I am no lizard. I am of the Dark Argonains. What are you, cat-creature? A Khajit?"

*Celestial blinks.*

Celestial: "I'ma Krowemohian. Uh... I've had bad experiances with lizards before, and um... I'm a little jumpy around anything that looks like one, especially when they're bigger then me."

*Her tail swished back and forth nerviously.*

"Well, we don't want the sand to blow up and frag the ship... we need some earth-moving equipment." Miguel moves around some gravel with his booted foot. "Could we use the transporters to beam away some of the sand, or the tractor beams to move it away? We leave the ship sorta where it is until we can dislodge it or get in."

OOC: Techwanking time.

IC:
"We could have the tractors put a cylinder of force around the object, then move it slowly outward shoving the sand aside. We would all stand on the object while this is happening, then 'ride' the small area of sand left down to the gash. Tricky, and we might want to try it on another area first."

"Sounds suicidal. Lets do it."

Ummm... I'm not much for life-threatening risks... but an O-6 had the idea. How can a mere ensign argue it? Do I have a better idea? No. Well, if I die, then every single problem I've ever had in my entire life gets solved. "Errr... sounds a bit too dangerous for my blood, ma'am. Then again, I don't wanna live forever so let's go for it." Miguel kicks himself internally. Oh great, trying to sound heroic. Trying to win medals gets one tombstones and pathetic epitaphs.

Beth discusses the idea with the tactical officer aboard the 'Columbia' for a few minutes. "Ok, we are going to try it. But first - a test." She pulls out one of the universal stuffed monkey's and pulls it about 200 meters away. "Ok, lets see what happens."

The test appears to go well - the sand is forced outward in a 20 meter circle and the sand inside slowly spreads out. It keeps expanding, but slower. "Foxworthy is upping the power, it's giving a lot of resistance." Beth explains. Then the stuffed monkey suddenly explodes in a ball of brown fabric and brass cymbals. "Any more monkey's want to volunteer?"

"Durrr... um... no. Why don't we just lift some of the gravel out with the tractors? Y'know, pick up, move, dump? Might take a while, but Columbia has a lot of power and we've nothing but time."

"We have time, but does our compatriot aboard the 'Columbia' have anymore time? This ship could be what we need to help her, but it will only work if she is still alive when we get to her." Dergan shrugs. "Just a thought."

"Good point Dergan. We can use the tractors to shovel the sand out - it will only take a half hour or so, is my guess. If we can think of something else while Foxworthy does that, we can switch plans."

Beth contacts the 'Columbia' and soon sand is being scooped away in large dump truck sized loads. The tractors are not meant for fine control, so the sand is simply sprayed over a wide area. But progress is made.

"How is Janice doing by the way Doctor?"

*Celestial sighs and sits, tracing firgures in the sand with her finger.*

Celestial: "Hey Cap'n Crunch, can I ask you something? Who named these planets? I mean, I personally can think of a million better names for a world then Rime. Here's one: Ice World Hoth, or just Hoth for short. And for Reason: Desert Planet Tatoonie. Don't those sound a heckuva lot better then Rime or Reason?"

"How is Janice doing by the way Doctor?"
Janice's situation is still deteriorating, but at a slower rate due to the transfusion. The noduled cells have continued to exploit her fever to increase their rate of mitosis; the total population is now doubling about every two hours. Her liver and kidneys have reached the limits of their absorption capacity, and the noduled cells are now collecting in her musculature, breaking bonds in the striations. The resulting atrophy is not yet life-threatening, as the cardiac and diaphragm muscles are still clean. If left unchecked for long, however, her skeletal muscles will be rendered useless.

Whiptail glares at Celestial. "I too have had bad expeirences with cat-creatures. The ones in my homeland are compulsive thieves. I will watch you." His normally golden eyes take on a slightly red tint.

While he was waiting for the sand to be moved away, Dergan found a comfortable spot on the dune and laid down. His eyes changed color from red to blue, and his breathing slowed considerably, but the lights above his right eye still blinked at the same pace.

Whiptail cocks his head to one side. "The blue one seems to be having trouble deciding what color his eyes should be." He leans in a bit closer.

The digging proceeds quickly enough - the rough guess was close enough - 35 minutes later the gash is visible. The tractors are not precise enough to pull out the sand without potentially damaging the structure though.

"Time to get digging folks. Hopefully it didn't flood the interior." Beth slides down the slope, barely keeping her feet. Foxworthy has left a good 50 foot area relatively smooth outside the gash for a entry camp to be setup.

*Celestial gets up and goes to Beth's side.*

Celestial: "Let's start!"

*She gets out her shovel and starts to dig.*

Miguel slides down the side of the excavation and starts preparing an emergency bubble shelter from his field kit. "Just in case we need a rest sometime."

Dekker lays his rifle down near Dergan, then dives into the hole, digging with a small entrenching tool, which also worked wonders as a weapon.

The digging continues for an hour before what could be called a bulkhead is hit. The object is clearly made by the same species as the 'Rime' ship, but is either much older or more basic by design. A door, meant for three armed bodies is dug out of the sand.

"Now the passageways are going to be a little odd - the species is tri-symetrical and moves like a bullet or arrow. Of course we need to get the door opened first..." Beth had tugged on the door, but it hadn't budged.

Dergan shifts and stands, his eyes changing back to red. Occasionally, an orange orb will float through his eyes from left to right. He focuses his gaze on Whiptail. "My eyes change with my mood. This ability occurs in about half of my species, although my eyes change much faster than most of the rest of my species." He picks up Dekker's gun and leaps down towords the diggers.

Miguel brushes off a triangluar niche next to the door. "Check this out. A keyhole or something." One side of the niche has a damaged hinge, as if a door was ripped off. Inside the niche is an odd eggbeater-like metal structure, four prongs that curve around and meet in the center. Fumbling his hand around it, he twists a little and tugs, pulling the metal structure out until it clears the hull and stops on something. "Maybe it's a mechanical emergency door-thing." Twisting it with all his strength for a full turn, the door moves maybe a millimeter.

"The gear change is pretty bad." He flicks his wrist as he steps back. "Designed for something way stronger than me."

"Excellent job - forgot to think outside the box there." Beth said. "Dergan - will the handle of that entrenching tool fit through here?"

She indicated the egg-beater shape. "Leverage or strength, I think I would rather have leverage."

"I don't know, El Capytan. Dekker has the entrenching tool."

"Silly me. Course I have one too..." It fits, and the door is slowly cranked open revealing a dark interior. While strikingly similar to the ship, there are marked differences. The walls are tri-part, with spiraling grooves running along them, but they are also smooth floored, as though meant for bi-pedals. The material is the same dark green, but there are hints of 'decoration' the other artifact did not have. A raised series of swirls in a light gray color are next to the door, perhaps a script of some kind.

There are also a series of ovoid panels on one 'wall' with triple holes on the front. They are also marked with the script, though only single, large 'characters' are present.

Rojacamiseta steps inside first, looking around carefully. He is the security detail, after all. "Hello? Anyone home?" Hearing no response, he starts investigating the curious ovoid panels. "Does this match up with any language we know?" He slaps his faceplate. "Scratch that. Alien species. Alien script. No basis for a translation matrix. Ignore the ensign, he's just forgetting where he is."

*Celestial steps in, looking at the alien script on the walls.*

Celestial: "If I was an alien that defied the laws of logic and physics on an hourly basis, what would I write on the walls? Um... Hmmm... 'Beware the Ju Ju Bird!' That's what I would write, cause Ju Ju Birds are scary!"

*The passageway lead further down, slanted at an angle because of the position of the ship.*


((OOC: More of Celestial's inane sillyness. ^_^))

Ensign Rojacamiseta leads the way down the corridor, hand resting lightly on the grip of his phaser pistol. "Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimbal in the wabe; all mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the jabberwock, my son, the jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the jub-jub bird and shun the frumious bandersnatch!" He chuckles. "Learning 'Jabberwocky' is like a rite of passage in my family."

He looks over to his left, smiling, looks right, then doubletakes to the left. He points. "What's that?!"

(OOC: Honestly. What is it? I dunno.)

*Celestial looked, shining her light down the corridor. It was a corpse, of one of those creatures they had encountered on the ship on Rime.*

Celestial: "He's dead Jim..."

Miguel jumps back as the light flashes off the corpse. "What the--" He restrains himself from pulling his phaser. "If... if you're saying it's dead... I'm assuming you saw a live one." Stepping forward carefully, he peers at it from a safe distance.

The creature is crumpled on the floor, limbs clutching at its torso, curled up as if it died suddenly and painfully from a heart attack or some such. "I understand what Captain Masters meant about 'tri-symmetrical' now."

"That he is." Beth stepped up to the corpse quite carefully. She knelt and began looking it over. "It's a drone. Well, it looks like a drone."

For those who have not seen them before, the creature has a central 'trunk' and an arrow shaped head. Three arms below the head, reaching forward, and three legs reaching backward. All are quite powerful, a single arm can carry a 200lb human with ease.

The corpse looked... deflated. Beth didn't touch it, but began scanning it with her 'corder.

(OOC: Well, that art I outsourced to Dread Lady Nathicana came back.
http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/scolopendra/alien_scolo.jpg
Methinks she did a damn fine job, given that it was just a late-night imagining on my part.)

"Umm... is that entirely safe?" Miguel looks around. "Well, maybe it's not freshly dead, but something killed it. I'd very much not like any of us to be next. Grammar be damned."

(OOC:Cool. Very cool.)

IC:

"Cool. Very cool. DNA samples? Does it even use DNA? Or some other genetic mechanism? Oh, exobiology not my field. Need Dr. Hillary for that. Dr. Gage only know Planetology and robotics...."

Examines the dead alien. "Hmm, looks like my grandma. I wonder if they're related. No, no, something like this probably doesn't use DNA. The complications a form such as this one requires something with much more variation and complexity than DNA could provide." Stands up, feeling a little bit disoriented in the out of proportion hallways. "I'd like a sample, but I don't want to touch the thing. Who knows where it's been."

((OOC: Eeep! It's even scarier then I imagined!))


*Celestial prods it with a finger.*

Celestial: "Wonder what made it die? Think it was a virus or something? Hmmm..."

*A sudden chill ran down all of the away team's spines, as they all felt that they were being watched by something with less then friendly intentions. A feeling of foreboding and evil seemed to wash around them, adding further to the sense of being watched.*

Celestial: "Egad! You feel that? It felt... Evil..."

*Her tail began to swish back and forth nerviously, the neko spooked.*

"Okay..." Miguel looks around, quite unsettled from all this. "Please tell me that someone on this team is a psion and just playing tricks. Really. 'Cause if it's not a gag, then I am quite honestly freaked."

Scenes from various sci-fi movies flashed in the back of his mind. They're everywhere, man, everywhere! It's game over, man, game over!--Aww, I know I shouldn't have watched that last night. Just bloody knew it.

Beth shivered a bit. She had felt it as well. 'Buck up. Stay calm. Be the Captain.' Then a thought hit her. "Maybe it's a warning device - instead of big flashing lights and gun turrets they project emotions. They do think differently you know."

Beth walked down the tunnet, to see if the feeling increased. She watched what was ahead though - just in case said gun turrets came into play.

Shaken from the feeling of being watched, Dergan follows Beth dow the hallway. "These aliens really need to work on their social skills. Leaving dead bodies around, watching us from where we can't see them. It's like they don't want us here or something." He is also scanning the hallway, but in infrared, trying to spot anything that could be harmful. Unconciously, he hefts his laser rifle and checks to make sure his other stuff is safely put away.

Miguel follows Dergan, phaser pistol unconsciously ready in his right hand. "You're not kidding. Even I'm a better host than this, and I failed my etiquette course at the Academy. That's why they drilled all this formality into me."

*Celestial hops on the band wagon, following the Captain. The feeling appeared to fade the further they got from the Drone corpse, but soon it sprang back up, with it another emotion, this one of dispair. The non-human members seemed to be most effected by the sensation.*

Celestial: "We shouldn't be here, we have no right to be here, please, let's get out of here. Something bad is gonna happen!"

Beth forced herself to keep walking. It was like fighting against the current, but she was winning an inch at a time. 'We should just turn around. No, we should keep going. Think of Janice. What if what happened to Janice happens to you?'

The tunnel curved into the darkness, and they neared a junction of two tunnels. "Just ahead - first turn. We can make it there at least."

*The emotions emulated became stronger, turning from dispair into intense sadness akin to watching a loved one pass away before your very eyes a million times. Celestial was already in tears, clinging tightly to Miguel as they ventured to the junction.*


((OOC: Ugh! There I go again, hi-jacking the dungeon. V_V Um, do y'all mind if I kinda act like the unoffical DM of this RP? I mean, if it annoys anyone, I'll stop and let someone else take over. ^^;; ))

(OOC: I've no problem with it... I always figured you had somewhere you wanted to take this anyway.)

Miguel winced at the emotions, barely noticing that he had a sobbing neko clinging to his shoulders. "Well, if it is a defense mechanism, ma'am," he mutters through clenched teeth, emotions barely in check, "it's a damn good one." To keep his focus, Rojacamiseta forces himself to get angry--the preferable response to fear and sadness, compared to despair--and his eyes dart about the odd corridor.

(OOC: I've no problem with it... I always figured you had somewhere you wanted to take this anyway.)

Miguel winced at the emotions, barely noticing that he had a sobbing neko clinging to his shoulders. "Well, if it is a defense mechanism, ma'am," he mutters through clenched teeth, emotions barely in check, "it's a damn good one." To keep his focus, Rojacamiseta forces himself to get angry--the preferable response to fear and sadness, compared to despair--and his eyes dart about the odd corridor.

((OOC: Neato. ^_^ Um, yeah, I do kinda have somewhere I plan to go with this, but I really don't know if it's Kewl with Sunset. Um... I think I'll TG him and check to see if it's kewl 'fore I go any further. ^^))

Beth stopped suddenly, and sunk to her hands and knees sobbing. She saw, quite vividly, her son dying on some unknown rock. Sequences of his dead, varied but all ending the same ran through her head. 'Mom, why couldn't you be here? You could save me.'

She knew he was fine. But her heart said otherwise. He wasn't an explorer, he was a command cadet. Just like her. She was crawling this tunnel. She would keep crawling.

*The emotion of sadness pounded the group for some time until they reached the passageway, then abruptly the emulation stopped. They no longer felt the heavy weight of depression upon them, as everything seemed to go back to normal.*

Celestial: *Sniffle.* "What... What happened? It just stopped..."

"Silly aliens, screwing with emotions. Might not even be intended, they had no idea of our neurology when they built this thing. Oh, get up, may as well try to find out what's causing it."

"Defense system, at least that's my guess. I've actually read about something similar, but it was a sci-fi novel. Required reading in the academy as part of 'Creative Command Actions'. 'Fifth Column' I believe was the title."

Beth looked around for a moment, and suddenly began laughing. She pulled out her 'corder and phaser pistol. "Speaking of sci-fi... here we are on an alien world, with energy weapons and recording devices dreamed of during that century, making our way through an alien structure using techniques for defense from the same century. Half of us are not human and we have a self-aware robot with us. We might as well be wearing snug black uniforms."

Beth laughed some more, and put both tools away. "Whew, ok, I needed that. Lets keep going."

*Celestial giggled uncertainly.*

Celestial: "So then, which way? Left or right?"

Miguel didn't stop being angry after the emotions suddenly ceased. Instead of a defensive mechanism, now he was honestly steamed. "Bastards screwing with our emotions." Grumbling to himself, he looks around, not laughing at Captain Masters' attempts to lighten the mood. Scowling rather darkly, he keeps his thoughts to himself.

The lights above Dergan's right eye blinks furiously, and his eyes change from light red to a blood red with black spots running through it. His claws extend out a little, and he lets out a low hiss. "Never liked it when our telepaths did that to us at the academy." His skin begins to change, slowly taking on a red hue and developing black spots to match his eyes.

"Right. We can find our way back that way. We should take a break first though - Eat something, think happy thoughts, that kind of thing." Beth sat down and hit some buttons on her suit control. "Mmm, nutrient paste. Tasty." She took a drink from the water tube, then some nutrient paste, alternating between the two.

Dergan nods once, and sits down without a sound. After a few minutes of quiet, a low humming sound can be heard coming from inside his suit. If you look into his eyes, they are changing to a pitch black color, and his skin is beginning to heat up.

Miguel slowly calms down, controlling his breathing and slowly clenching and unclenching his hands. Opening his eyes, he notes Dergan. "Hey... Dergan... is something up?" He sounds rather concerned.

The air around the suit begins to waver, as if it was a hot day. "Field......can't stop.......uncontrolled.........away." He lets out a loud hiss, starting to shake with effort.

"Umm..." Miguel gulps. "He's gonna blow?" Backing away slowly, Rojacamiseta motions for everyone else to do the same, except a lot faster. "Hey... tell me... you going to explode or just flip out? 'Cause if it's the latter, I've got some heavy stun which should cool you down slightly. If it's the former, then I should get to running faster."

I'd like to say that everything's cool and okay, but it obviously isn't...

"Shoot......before.........berserk. Can't stop.........field.......emotions.........shoot."

"Shoot it is." Miguel raises his phaser pistol and fires, shooting an orange beam straight into Dergan's chest. "Catch you on the flip-side, pal."

As the beam hits his chest, Dergan's metal implant above his right eye shorts out, shooting sparks across the inside of his suit. A flash of light brightens the entire area, and the beam feeds this light, growing to a blinding intensity. Then it all sucks itself back into Dergan's body, and he collapses to the floor. His eyes turn a flat white, and his skins changes to match. He is breathing, but it is very shallow.

Holstering his pistol, Miguel steps forward, kneeling down by Dergan. "Anyone have any idea what that was? Or, better yet, how do we help him? Someone give me a hand here." The ensign struggles carefully to get Dergan to lay on his back, then takes up one broad shoulder. "C'mon, he needs help!"

Beth helps to roll him over. "Probably the next effect - strange that none of us have felt it yet. He may be more sensitive though." She pulled out her 'corder. "He is out, of course, but no major damage this thing can detect. His implant is shot though."

Beth looked down the hallway. "I think I would rather find out what we are facing right now." She started walking down the hallway, with her 'corder out. "Maybe we can pick up the method they use - if we can we can at least be prepared."

"Well, if it's enough to knock Dergan over," Miguel eeps, "begging the Captain's pardon I say we drag his ass out of here and regroup outside where it's slightly safer."

OOC: Hmm, a red shirt doing the smart thing. This can't be a good trend.

IC:
"You are right - let's go back outside. Get Dergan back into fighting condition. Then we can try again. Everyone grab a limb - if we run we should be able to get through just fine."

Beth grabbed one of Dergans legs. "Ready? Lets's go." They began running out of the ship.

OOC: nope, not one bit

(OOC: Just because 1) he's a redshirt, 2) is actually named 'redshirt,' and 3) is a fresh ensign doesn't mean he's hopelessly stupid. I imagine him as Starfleet ensigns should be--cautious enough to not get salt-cubed.)

Miguel takes up a leg. "Thanks, Captain."

Color begins to return to Dergan's skin, taking on a blue-green tint. His eyes, however, do not change one bit.

*Upon reaching the hole where they came in, the group find it covered over by what looks like thick organic growth.*

Celestial: "It looks... Kinda like fungus, or something. Eww! It's moving!"

*Indeed it was, before their very eyes the growth was moving, attempting to cover the hole from which they entered. Weather it was purposely trying to keep them in or was merely repairing the damage to the ship was unknown. Within seconds the entire hole would covered in the fungus-like substance.*

(OOC: *shakes a fist* Durn ye for posting simultaneously yet first*)

Miguel makes sure that Dergan gets set down lightly (hey, how's that for thinking ahead) before gently shaking his helmet. "Hey, Dergan... you okay in there?" He looks rather worried.

Full color returns to Dergan's skin, but his eyes remain the flat white color. He gains consciousness again, and seeing someone overshadowing him, he reaches up and grasps Miguel's throat with his claws. Then his vision clears, and he realizes it is Miguel, and lets go. "Geez, you don't have to scare me like that." He looks around and frowns. "Where are we? What happened?"

EDITED BY THE IMMORTAL AND OMNIPOTENT SENIOR GAME MODERATOR!

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!

No, really, problem resolved.

((( OOC: Continuity error? Where? I don't see a continuity error. Are you messing with my mind again?)))

((( OOC: Continuity error? Where? I don't see a continuity error. Are you messing with my mind again?)))

((OOC: Nope. Tim is trying to cover up the truthIS A REALLY COOL GUY, but I won let him! The truth is out there!))

Only slightly edited by Scolo (the blue parts). All in fun.

Full color returns to Dergan's skin, but his eyes remain the flat white color. He gains consciousness again, and seeing someone overshadowing him, he reaches up and grasps Miguel's throat with his claws. Then his vision clears, and he realizes it is Miguel, and lets go. "Geez, you don't have to scare me like that." He looks around and frowns. "Where are we? What happened?"
Miguel eeps slightly at the neck-grab, but keeps his cool and helps Dergan pry his fingers from his throat. "Still in the ship; there's something covering the exit. You said something about going berserk and told me to shoot you... so I did. Everything okay in there?"

Dergan frowns again. "Berserk? I told you to shoot me? That doesn't sound like me." Puts on a thoughtful expression. "Tell me, was I creating some sort of heat or something?"

*Celestial pokes the fungus-like growth.*

Celestial: "So um, what do we do now? Should we last our way out?"

"Yes, yes you were. Now we have a problem. We will have to find an actual door, unless this auto-repair stuff is smart enough to make a new one on it's own. Or we can try blasting our way out - but that didn't work so well last time we tried energy weapons on these things."

'Odd - if the outside seals we might be able to grab the whole thing with the tractors and get it into space. What a find that would be...' Beth tapped her com-badge. "Captain to 'Columbia', anyone hear me?"

Miguel is unconcerned with the fungus. "Yeah... you were pretty steamed back there. Changed color to black and everything. What was that?"

*Silence greets Beth. Like with the previous ship on Rime, the material of the walls seems to block transmissions. Celestial groans.*

Celestial: "Oh great, don't tell me we're trapped?"

"Ok - I won't. Assumption time. The structure is live, but the crew is dead. So we need to find another exit. I think we should make our way up towards the tip - there were those two nodules up there and one could be a door."

Beth looked over at Dergan. "Can you move yet?"

*Celestial sighs sadly.*

Celestial: "Please let's try not to run into another of those things like on Hoth."

His eyes widen in suprise. They are still a plain white, while his skin is changing to a blue-orange stripe pattern. "Uh, are you sure I turned black? Because that shouldn't be possible for someone of my age. And even if it was, the rage that accompanies the turning of black should have driven me comletely insane, and made me destroy everything in sight. But you are all still here. Hmmm, interesting."

"Yes capytan, I can move just fine. And by the way, nothing like what happened on Rime will happen here. There's nothing here to infest us."

"Well, lets move then. We should find a way out first, then see about exploring the rest of the structure."

Beth was getting anxious. How long before someone decided twice was too much and attempted to blast their way in? Whether the ships phasers could cut through the hull was another issue, but she didn't want to end up as salsa.

Dergan walks up behind Beth. "Don't worry, your crew likes you too much to make you into salsa. Besides, I don't think it would taste very good either."

"It was sorta dark red with lots of black splotches, but your eyes were totally black." Miguel sets his phaser pistol to Kung-Pow-Hole-In-Chest and aims it at the fungal growth. "Permission to fire?"

"It can't hurt - but I think we should try a remote trigger. In case it bounces."

Dergan shakes his head. "That just can't be, I'm too old for that to happen. That only happens to growing telepaths, and only before the age of two. That never happens to anyone, even someone as talented as me at changing colors." Another thougtful expression comes over his face. "Hey, tell me, what color are my eyes?"

Miguel hands the phaser over to Captain Masters, then looks up at Dergan. "Bleached-bone white. Kinda creepy."

His face goes slack, and Dergan slumps against the wall. "No possible way. It's just not possible. But yet, it is and has happened. Oh, and captain, don't worry, I don't believe the phasers will pierce this things hull. Salsa would be a very bad way to end up."

*Celestial stays close to Beth, scared.*

Celestial: "This place is creepy... Uber creepy..."

Everyone moved back down the tunnel-corridor as Beth setup the phaser. She came back at a quick jog. "Set it for 1 minute, so 30 seconds or so. I put it close to the base - if it does bounce it might vape the phaser causing an explosion. So everyone get down."

Beth followed her own instructions and lay down, feet toward the potential blast area. 20 seconds later...

Hunkered down, Miguel looks over at Dergan (who, if he was still slouching against the wall, got dragged along by the hand). "Hey, you gonna be okay? What's up?"

((OOC: That's muh cue! ^_^))

*Celestial lays down, and covers her head. She whispers a quick prayer.*

Celestial: "Goddess Cori, please wtach over me and keep me safe, hold my soul and bring me peace."

*The Phaser goes off after the timer expires, blasting a fist sized hole in the wall. A wave of paranoia washes over the group, almost as if in response to them shooting a hole in the wall. The paranoia was enough to make them question where each other's loyalties lies, and if they could really trust each other. This new wave of emotions is accompanied by a rumbling going thoroughout the vessal, as if it was suddenly comng to life.*

Dergan puts his other hand to his head and lets himself be pulled along. "Yes, I'll be fine. There's just too many voices around here. Beth keeps talking about becoming salsa if her crew decides to shoot us out of here, and Celestial is scared even more than she is showing. I'll just need a little bit rest sometime soon."

Totally out of the blue, Jerome suddenly blurted out "No... we don't. Definitely not. But maybe it could get through the growy stuff."

Noticing the others' reactions to the 'tele-emotions', he looked at them quizzically. "What now?"

The wave of paranoia gets to Dergan, and his eyes glow a bright white before going back to their plain white state. He seems not to be affected by the wave of paranoia, and the affect on Miguel is dampened a little bit.

Beth ran to the door to see what damage had been done. "Damn. It looks like it's regrowing too."

While she waited for everyone else she had a sudden flash of insight. "Dergan, why did you say there was nothing to infest us here?"

*Celestial and the other non-humans were affected worst by the emulated emotions. She withdrew from the others immediately, brandishing her Glock.*

Celestial: Crap crap crap crap, I can't trust any of these guys, they're gonna end up getting me killed! I gotta get out of here! I gotta escape!

Miguel blinks. Why would he question the Captain's motives... and not Dergan's? Odd. So very odd.

"Is it just me," he broaches, "or is this thing using our emotions against us? I know, trust the ensign to say the blatantly obvious, but maybe we should regroup outside and send in some sort of robot scout. Also... maybe we should cut throught the fungus instead of trying to vape it. Less violent."

"Whoa," he raises his hands at Celestial's... oddity, "Calm down, there. We're all wanting to get out, just like you."

Dergan looks confused. "Didn't you say that was how our friend in space got the way she is? I swear you could have said that."

He looks over at Celestial. "Don't think that way, it's the ship trying to get us to kill ourselves. You can't escape without our help, and we won't kill you."

*Celestial shook her head.*

Celestial: "N-no... no way! You want to leave me here to die! I-I-I can see it in your eyes, you think I'm worthless! Get away from me!"

*She takes a couple steps back, the barrel of her hadgun bouncing all over the place.*

Beth was finally overwhelmed by the emotion being projected. "This is stupid. I can get out of here myself. Your all just holding me back. Maybe on purpose..." She quickly made her way down the tunnel. 'We got out of the last one, I can get out of thise one. Keep moving. Don't let them stop you."

She broke into a jog, and took every chance she got to go upward.

Dergan's eyes start glowing again, but this time, his skin starts turning black again, and red spots are appearing around his eyes. The gun seems to get heavier, while a soothing feeling enters Celestial's mind.

"No, we must stay together." Dergan's skin grows darker, and his eyes glow brighter. "Beth, come back now!"

OOC: he just went through a change that allows him to control emotions as well as affect the outside world a little. he's using it without knowing that he's using it, so it might now work too well, so u are free to decide if it just pisses you off or somethin

Miguel wishes that he had his phaser handy. As it was, it was still where Captain Masters had left it. Keeping his hands raised, he tried to remember his basic psychology. Okay... don't appear threatening, try to be reasonable.

"Really, why would we want to hurt you? Think about it." Instead of stepping forward, he steps sideways, trying to make eye contact. Draw her attention but don't appear threatening. Get her to point the gun away from the others. "You only started worrying after we shot the wall. Remember earlier, the sense of evil? The ship can mess with our emotions. You're being used."

He looks over as Captain Masters leaves and Dergan goes black again. Ah, heck.

Without taking his eyes off the captain or Celestial, Dergan whispers over to Miguel. "Do not worry. I am myself."

*Celestial is now confused as she feels a soothing sensation enter her mind while still feeling paranoid. The two emotions clash, the paranoia trying to force out the feeling of serenity projected by Dergen. She cries out and brings her hands to her head.*

Celestial: "AHH! What's going on?!"

*Beth runs down the corridor, a shadow that is like her own yet not follows her, now that she is away from the group it starts to gently drain the life force out of her, not so much at a time that she'd noticed, however...*

Miguel sees his opportunity and rushes forward, quickly trying to grasp the Glock and, if not take it, at least point it somewhere harmless. Why am I not going mad like everyone else? I'm nervous, ya, but... geez. "It's all right, it's all right."

"Miguel, there's someone else here. It's not one of us."

"Oh, great." Miguel twisted with Celestial, trying to not get anyone shot. "Any idea who it is or how to bust them up? 'Cause right now they're causing--urgh--quite a bit of trouble."

*Celestial shrieks as Migual rushes her, his handing knocking the gun upwards, and it goes off, firing a bullet into the curved ceiling. Abruptly, just like that, the paranoia stops. However, the ship suddenly lurches itself to one side, sending everyone toppling onto the floor. Migual and Celestial go crashing onto the floor, the gun goes flying from the Neko's hand and lands a few feet away.*

"No idea who or what, but it's off that way," he answers, pointing down the way the captain went. "Need a little help there." His skin begins to lighten again, and the glow in his eyes dies down a little bit.

*Celestial shrieks as Migual rushes her, his handing knocking the gun upwards, and it goes off, firing a bullet into the curved ceiling. Abruptly, just like that, the paranoia stops. However, the ship suddenly lurches itself to one side, sending everyone toppling onto the floor. Migual and Celestial go crashing onto the floor, the gun goes flying from the Neko's hand and lands a few feet away.*
Miguel scrambles for the gun and stashes it, mismatched, in his holster. "Sorry, Celestial, but needed to be done." Picking himself up off the floor and dusting himself off, he looked off in the direction that Captain Masters went. "Well, let's go collect the captain and deal with the one who is not one of us, shall we?"

Beth ran - first a left, then a 'chute' up, then another left. Then the ship lurched, and the feeling left her. She smacked into a wall, and tumbled back down the tunnel. 'Little tired. Took more out of me." She started walking back toward the group. 'Right, down, right...'

*Celestial blinks several times, then blushes, ashamed of herself.*

Celestial: "I'm... I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me..."

*Beth is no longer affected by the paranoia, however the parasite she's seemed to pick up doesn't leave her just yet.*

"It would be my pleasure." Dergan smiles, walking behind Celestial and putting a hand on her shoulder. "After you, my trigger happy ensign."

Miguel chuckles nervously, needing to as the mood lightens. "But of course." Wandering in the direction he saw Captain Masters disappear in, he calls out. "Captain! Situation's calmed over here, where are you?" Pulling his tricorder, he starts trying to follow her life-signs, but the odd construction of the ship makes it difficult.

"She's just around the corner, but there is something else with her. Be ready."

Miguel looks down at the Glock--an unfamiliar weapon--and shakes his head. I'll bare-hand this one if I have to. He quietly tenses himself, ready for action.

"I'm right here. Shaken, and a little stirred. I need a stiff drink."

Beth walked around the corner, oblivious to anything behind her. She looked at Miguel for a moment. 'At least he's on his guard.'

Miguel looks back at Dergan with a 'take care of the Captain' look, then nods shortly to Masters before stepping past her, drawing the Glock and aiming it towards whatever might be following, standing carefully in a combat stance. At least now I won't hit anyone on our side.

Dergan leans foreward and whispers in Celestial's ear. "Do you notice anything different about her?"

OOC: modified it to fit, didin't see ur post

*Celestial blinks and studies Beth, then shakes her head.*

Celestial: "No, why?"

*Miguel finds nothing behind Cap'n Masters, although if he had been paying close attention to her shadow, he would have noticed it looked, differently somehow. It didn't seem normal. But that could also be attributed to the weird lighting system this ship has.*

Dergan looks puzzeled. "I don't know. Just keep an eye on her. There is something wrong around here."

Miguel is not looking at Masters' shadow... he can't shoot that. He's looking for one of them big alien drone suckers. "I'm not seeing anything." He lowers the Glock and returns it to his holster.

Turning around, the hard can-do look turns quite a bit more frightened. "Let's get the hell out of here."

*Celestial is just as puzzled.*

Celestial: "Um... Okay..."

*She looks around.*

Celestial: "Let's see if we can get out of here now? No more trying to blast our way out, it seems like this ship, or whatever it is, doesn't like that."

Dergan's skin turns back to blue, and his eyes turn back to their bleached white. "Maybe we could try and fly our way out of here. You know, find a control panel or something."

Dergan's skin turns back to blue, and his eyes turn back to their bleached white. "Maybe we could try and fly our way out of here. You know, find a control panel or something."

*Celestial grins.*

Celestial: "I like that idea. Cap'n Crunch, what do you think?"

"I like that idea as well. If we can find a control center maybe we can open communications with the 'Columbia' as well. We can scratch left, up, and left for now though. Just more tunnel. I'd suggest we keep going right as per the original plan."

*Celestial looks at Miguel.*

Celestial: "Can I have my gun back now?"

*She asked sheepishly.*

Dergan smiles, nodding. "Sounds good to me." He carefully looks at every aspect of the captain, noting everything. He notices the weird shadow, but doesn't show any indication that he saw anything.

*Celestial clears her throat in an attention grabbing way.*

Celestial: "Miguel? My gun please?"

Beth begins walking and takes out her 'corder. "Map everything - the faster we narrow it down the faster we can get out of here." She takes a suck of water and nutrient paste and continues. "I'd like to go take a nap myself."

"I wouldn't advise that. Who knows what else is in here with us."

*Celestial walks behind Beth, with Dergen trailing her. Soon they arrive at the junction where Dergan went wierd.*

Celestial: "Umm... I think you guys said we go right from here..."

"It's all the same to me. Just point the way, and i'll make sure you don't screw up too bad."

Miguel reluctantly returns the Glock to its rightful owner. (OOC: And Scolo wakes up from pleasant dreams.) He follows along, rather quietly, confused and a bit frightened from everything that's been going on. He looks either in need of a stiff drink, a long nap, or both.

"Right it is. Let's keep moving - if any of the drones woke up, it would be better to make their jobs harder."

Beth turned right into a new corridor. It was a little bit difficult to walk after the structure had shifted, and she almost fell once and bumped her head a couple times on the ceiling as it shifted.

"I almost wish I had three legs now," she said as she shook her head.

"Four legs, ma'am. At least, that's how many I counted on the corpse."

*Celestial trailed behind Beth as they neared what appeared to be a dead end.*

Celestial: "A dead end? Oh man..."

*On an impulse she looks up, and spies a tunnel leading straight up.*

Celestial: "Anyone know that nursery rhyme, the itsy bitsy spider?"

Beth looked up. A challenge alright. One of those drones could make it up though.

"Well, if we can get a rope up there somehow, we can scale it." Beth aimed her 'corder up - she was looking for the ceiling.

Dergan makes a show of searching different pockets in his pack. "Rope, rope, now where did I put my rope?" Lifts his hands and shrugs. "Sorry, no rope."

"Even if we had a rope," Miguel proffers, "how do we get it up there? I sure wish these suits had geckopads, it'd be a lot easier. Hrm." He thinks for a moment. "Do we have anything which would serve as a rope? Cabling, maybe?"

"Rope - I've got. But securing it, and getting it up there... We could always try a sentient pyramid- lean on the walls for support. Unless the tunnel goes all the way up."

Beth was trying to get a fix on the length still, but the walls were bouncing the signal all over and it was taking some time for the computer to resolve it down.

"Epoxy. Beth's rope, or Attila's. Throw it up with epoxy on the end, it stick to the wall, we climb it."

"Waitaminute. We've got that little robot, Attila, right? What's keeping it from climbing up those little ridges to the top and then dropping the rope down after gluing it in place?"

"Mmmm.... yes. Replace throw with climb. Attila climbs up, sticks rope, drops rope. Very good, very good."

*Celestial sits down, waiting for the plan to be set in motion.*

Celestial: "Well then, what are we sitting around here for? Let's go already..."

"Hey," Miguel shrugs, "it isn't my robot." Looking down at Attila, he points up the shaft. "Um... please climb up to the top of that shaft, glue one end of the rope firmly in place, and toss the other end down here for us, little robot."

Attila hesitated. Jerome looked down at it, gave it a nudge with his foot, and said "do what he says, At. Go on, get up there."

"Okeydokey." Attila waited for someone to hand it the rope, held on to one end with its little metal mandibles, and began scaling the wall. Upon coming (to a ledge : to the end of the rope), it spat out a blob o' nanite-goo, and stuck the rope in place.

"And we climb. Or try and fall." Beth tugged on the rope, and finding it stable she hauled herself up, hand over hand. It was tiring though she was in excellent shape. As the darkness enveloped her she switched on her shoulder and wrist light. The light bounce all over as she climbed and made her shadow dance oddly behind her.

"Well, there is a top. It should support two, so someone else start climbing."

"Um, okay, which one of us is lightest? Celestial, I think you are."

*Celestial hops to her feet, grasping the rope.*

Celestial: "I'm going in. If I'm not back in ten minutes, go on without me..."

*She said all melodramatically 'n stuff, then began to climb hand over hand to the top, where Beth was.*

Celestial: "Hello, I was wondering how's the weather's up here... Um, you okay? You look like you've just ran a tricathalon or two?"

*The parasite on Beth had been slowly yet steadily draining her life force the entire time. It found however, that she didn't have nearly as much as a single drone, so therefore multiple hosts may be neccassary.*

"I feel like it. Hopefully no more of those climbs ahead... Let's see what we have though."

Beth stood after a moment, and looked around the tunnel.

*Looking further down the corridor, they see more of the same as before, organic tunnels, odd lighting with no apparent source... Oh, there is also another Drone corpse, like the first one it was clutching it's chest and seemed deflated. The neko shudders.*

Celestial: "They're even scarier dead. I hope whatever killed it moved on..."

*She recalls getting smacked by one, and knew first hand something as strong as they don't go down easy.*

"Let's hope it did. But lets keep moving. We need to find a way out."

Beth continued down the passageways, scanning and mapping everything. Even the drone was examined. "It's like they withered away. Age or disease I'm guessing. But since they are drones they should have just been disposed of."

Beth took another long pull of water and nutrient mix.

Dekker and Whiptail follow behind her. "They ain't so tough." Dekker says as he prods it with his foot.

Miguel climbs up, looking around nervously. The Captain isn't looking too well... why do I get the feeling something is still up? "Maybe they aren't threatening now, but dead things usually aren't." What the hell killed all these things? Some sorta vampire thing? Better question is whether it still poses a threat or not...

*They press further on, walking down the tunnel with much caution. Little dots of sweet start to break out on Beth's face, and she finds that her vision is atrting to get dizzy. Celestial was walking alongside Captain Masters.*

Celestial: "How big do you guys think this ship is?"


((OOC: If I'm overstepping my authority by stating what Beth should feel, please feel free to scold me and lock me in a closest.))

"Well, we know uh... Whew. We know that it is 15 meters from the gash upward, and about 10 meters by 20 meters. So not that big really, but a lot of up and down."

Beth sat down for a moment. "Tired, I really shouldn't be though." She took her 'corder and pointed it at herself. "That's odd - my body core is actually down, not up."

OOC: Lock you in a closet? That's a good one....

IC:
"Hell, I could take one...." Dekker says with a dismissive wave of his hand.

OOC: Lock you in a closet? That's a good one....

((OOC: Yeah, that way I can come out of the closest. BADA-BING! *Dodges thrown rotten vegetables and other projectiles.* It wasn't THAT bad... Er, was it?))

*Celestial frowns, looking at Beth.*

Celestial: "Something's wrong with you. You're a healthy human female in your prime, you shouldn't be pooped out after so little effort."

*A shudder runs down her spine.*

Celestial: "Maybe it wasn't a creature that killed the Drones, but a virus? Did you see how they were all clutching their torso? Maybe they came into contact with some sort of virus and they all died that way?"

Dergan holds up a claw. "Or maybe it is a creature that causes a virus which kills it's hosts, then sucks them dry. Or maybe it is a virus that causes a creature to cause a virus to kill their hosts, then suck people dry. Or maybe it was a creature that caused a virus that caused a creature to cause a virus that kills it's hosts, then sucks them dry. Or maybe it was....." He continues on for several minutes before trailing off into silence. Then he shakes his head. "Or it could be something completely different."

OOC: It wasn't bad, it was worse. Makes ya sound like a homosexual, to be PC.

Miguel shakes his head as Dergan drones. "Oi, that's it. We should autopsy the next dead... thing we come across and figure out what the hell killed 'em. And Captain Masters shouldn't be tired... maybe it's stress, but with her core temperature down? Nah...

"Waitaminute... sucked dry... just on a hunch, Captain, how's your water retention doing?"

(OOC: Dark Crystal, anyone?)

With the mention of the captain, Dergan's skin begins to darken again, his eyes growing brighter. Turning to Beth, he steaples his fingers and looks over them. "Yes, Captain, how are you feeling?"

"Horrible. I feel like I've gone through a meatgrinder. Come to think of it - thirsty, even through I've been drinking a lot of water." Beth tries to stand, but almost falls forward before stumbling to her feet.

"Miguel, do human shadows always look like that?" Dergan asks, pointing at Beth's shadow. "Also, just in case, check for diseases or parasites that may or may not have penetrated her suit."

"Miguel, do human shadows always look like that?" Dergan asks, pointing at Beth's shadow. "Also, just in case, check for diseases or parasites that may or may not have penetrated her suit."

"Shadow? Derg, what the hell are you talking abou--" Miguel takes a good look at Captain Masters' shadow. " ... "

He steps back slightly. "No. No, they don't. They should look just like any other shadow, but that one doesn't." He gulps. "Whatever got those drones is getting the Captain... how do we fix it? Do I grab it?" He looks nervously over the party.

I really don't want to grab it...

"Nah, you won't have to grab it. All we have to do is locate it and let Billy Bob over here," as he points at Dekker," shoot it."

Miguel seems calmed by Dergan's very simple statement. "Umm... right." Blinking, he looks down momentarily before rubbing the back of his helmet with one gloved hand. "Odd... today's been hell on my emotions." How the hell did I calm down so fast?

Looking at Dergan, he notes the darkening skin. Hrm. He's got some sort of ESP, that's for sure. And in the tunnel, when everyone else was freaking out, I kept... calm. And so did he.

Creepy... but it doesn't seem to be bad in any way.

Taking advantage of his new calm, Rojacamiseta closes his eyes and clears his mind. Opening them again, he concentrates on Captain Masters' shadow, looking for the irregularity that spooked him so earlier. There it is. A blobby blotch of dark, like a spot of tar on the shadow. He points directly at it, and speaks deliberately with a soft voice.

"It's right there."

Dergan looks over at Miguel. "It could have been." Then looking at the shadow, he spots the spot. "Gotcha. Billy Bob, would you do the honors?"

"It could have been?" Miguel blinks. "It could have been what?"

It could have been bad, you mean?

Wait, I didn't say that aloud.

His eyes widen slightly. Wow. That's pretty cool.

((OOC: I am not a lesbian! Not that there's anything wrong with being Lesbian, mind you, I'm just not one.))

*Celestial helps hold Captain Masters s teady.*

Celestial: "I got you..."


((OOC2: lol! Dekker's Billy Bob. lol ^_^))

"Are you going to get that thing or not?" Beth asked. Even standing still was tiring now. Definately a nap was needed, though it would likely be the 24hr version.

Dekker hits Miguel with an odd look. "What?" He takes aim, then blows the object he was told to shoot into teenie-tiny pieces. "What did you just call me?"