Futuristic Cosmic Deep (open)

[Lord Saethos]

Eichkern quirked his eyebrow at what Haliday had said, aware enough of what Chalcidians were to get the inferences, and for a moment, feeling a slight twinge of sympathy. There was a sense of familiarity in her words.

At her next comment though, her frowned somewhat. Referring to the condition Deimosians were in as a 'disease' was something of an offense, to nearly all Deimosians, even the ones like Eichkern who weren't wholly beholden to the dogma of the faith. He chose instead to shrug it off, realizing that she may not have known how offensive it sounded, and opting to let it slide. After all, she wasn't held in much greater favor than he was. Perhaps even less.

"Doctor, I hope you don't mind me saying, but usually I have to take people out for dinner before we get to these parts." He chuckled. "I mean shirtless is one thing, but taking little mementos from me too? And you know, most people settle for a lock of hair or something, a biopsy is certainly new to me."

He removed his jacket, and then his undershirt, revealing the firm, girthy form of his muscles. One might even say it was impressive.

Of course, for a Deimosian, he was lucky to have somewhat softer skin than others like him. The deep scars were still there, the marring, but somehow he managed to look good in spite of it.

To a non-human, these features might not even have registered as something that could be aesthetically unpleasing.

Before Haliday could do anything further, he raised a hand. "Just to note, I'm not some kind of plague rat, doctor. I haven't been going around spreading some 'Deimosian traits' to anyone. Not yet anyways..." He smirked boyishly.

"Point is, you can study this all you like, but I can also tell you right now what you ought to be most afraid of, and that's doing anything that'd expose what's inside of me, to what's inside of another person. Take a biopsy and blood sample if you have to. If you're really worried, destroy the samples afterwards, and give me a bandaid."

He offered a friendly, sincere smile. As far as Eichkern was concerned, Haliday was going to be his comrade. As such, it was important to work with her, not against her.

 

[obscured_light]

The Captain's eyes lit up and she gave Capriole a playful grin, "Absolutely anything chocolate."

~* Capriole Halve *~
​

Capriole nodded, the hues of her green seemingly growing warmer in its appearance.

"Then I shall make something involving chocolate," she assured the captain before gesturing to the still mumbling robot absorbed into herself. "But with your permission, I must go see if the engineers are about. Chef B.R.D. is needed and if I must make do without, I would like to know sooner rather than later."

~* Mari *~

Mari nodded and waved to Hector as he left before turning around to face the shiny rocks before her once more... ​

 

[egglover]

"Oh no, you continue to do your work. I mean to go down to engineering anyway so I shall take him," the Captain smiled and tugged gently on Chef B.R.D's robotic arm that poked out of Capriole's slimey form, "Come on, you."

He was released from the green woman with a strange sort of moist pop and her slime seemed to slowly shrink back into her like elastic. This did not phase Captain Suleiman in the slightest. The robotic chef continued his ramblings as she pulled him away from the kitchen and out of Capriole's figurative hair, nodding to her a quick goodbye.

 

[PiePillager]

Much like the technical deck before it, the Crew Deck was in pretty good shape. No technical issues to speak of, though the power output in the rec room's exercise equipment could be strengthened a bit. Hector thought about checking in on how the cooking was going. Shouldn't be too long now before the crew was served dinner, he estimated and he hadn't had much to eat before the flight began aside from that Zonkoian chili. Shit was fire both figuratively and literally. Tasted good but burned a hole in your stomach.

As these thoughts circled around in his head, he spotted a familiar figure walking out of the cafeteria, though not the one he initially expected. It was Suleiman, the captain of this voyage. He only really met her once before. A conversation he barely really remembered, given he was preoccupied with repairing generators in a ship scrapyard he used to work at back on Earth. But, he figured it was his work there that had impressed her in the first place.

Looking at her now, she seemed to be carrying...some sort of robot with her. Curiosity peaked, he walked towards her to figure out what the deal was. "That your personal assistant?" he asked sarcastically, nodding towards the robot she was dragging out of the room. Hearing it spew out rants regarding a "can of pasta" (?), his eyes flitted from it towards the kitchen with disdain before they settled back on Tish for more of an explanation.

 

[egglover]

"Oh, Jordan," Captain Suleiman said through gritted teeth as she dragged the robot behind her, "What? My assistant? No, no, it's uh, the chefs assistant."

She plonked the malfunctioning Chef B.R.D between them and they both stared at him for a long moment as he shouted profanities about canned pasta. Tish glanced up at Hector and shrugged, "You're just the engineer I was coming to see, actually. Are you too busy to have a look at him? I would do it myself but, well..." I am the ships Captain, she thought absent-mindedly. Engineering wasn't part of her job description anymore.

 

[PiePillager]

"The chef's assistant," Hector repeated after a moment. Suddenly any hopeful thoughts looking forward to tonight's dinner began to rapidly sink. He shook his head a bit to knock himself out of his stupor, muttering something to the effect of. "You know how to pick 'em, huh?" as he walked behind Suleiman and knelt down to observe the flailing robot. First, he turned him over to look for any signs of external damage. Finding none to speak of, Hector began to wonder if this was a common issue with the manufacturer. He wasn't familiar with Terra-Farm's robotics necessarily. They were much more commonly known for home appliances. Their robots were only a recent development, only breaking into it in the last year or so.

Hector figured if this was a common enough occurrence, that he would've heard something through the grapevine about this. Maybe it was someone's idea of a prank. "Well...I can fix this. I'll have to get a closer look at him back in the lab, but...pretty sure it's a programming oversight. Cpu's getting imbalanced signals, probably frying his brain," Hector surmised, knocking on the robot's head for emphasis. "Got him like an addict, obsessed with pasta...or cans...or fuck if I know. "

Hector stood up and looked back at Suleiman. "I'll take him off your hands. Should have him up and running in about an hour," he explained. He thought for a moment and then asked, "Lemme ask you something before I go...how much of this crew you handpick?"

 

[egglover]

The Captain blinked and, after a thoughtful moment, spoke bluntly, "Everyone. I picked everyone."

 

[druidquest]

“I should hope no one plans to swallow any medical samples,” Dr. Haliday sighed, retrieving a skin swab from one of the cabinets. “Hold out your arm, please.”

She stepped over toward Eichkern, her thin, clawed legs oddly silent against the polished metal floor of the ship. She withdrew the swab from its sterile tube, one of her lower hands taking Eichkern’s hand gently and turning it palm-up. She brushed the swab lightly against the inside of his forearm a number of times, then placed it back in the tube before sealing it. Dr. Haliday released Eichkern’s hand then, directing him to turn to the side so she could see his back.

“I would recommend you close your eyes as well,” she said, leaning over him as she examined his skin. Pitch black, covered in slightly off-colored, twisted scar tissue. Looking at him first hand, Dr. Haliday wasn’t surprised epidermic illnesses could grow to be so malignant for his species - missing the early signs wouldn’t be difficult at all when they had such a dense forest to hide in.

 

[PiePillager]

"Oh!" Hector asked in somewhat of a mocking surprise. "Shit..." he followed up with a shrug as he began to pick up the remains of B.R.D. "Ain't my place to judge, but...you mighta needed to go over an extra background check or two. Safety of the crew is number one, goin' on a trip like this, you feel me?" he asked, looking Suleiman in the eyes as he spoke. Hmm, cybernetic. Hadn't noticed that when he met her briefly before, but then again, he wasn't paying that close attention.

 

[egglover]

"Thank you for your concern, Jordan," Suleiman said, her tone hard to read, "I have done extensive background checks on all of the crew. We only have best of the best working on this ship."

Tish smiled at him reassuringly.

 

[PiePillager]

"I mean, shit checks out for the most part," Hector admitted. "You hired me, engineering staff knows what's up, pilot seems good, scientists are down there doing their thing, you feel me? But..." he exhaled shaking his head slightly. "Malfunctioning robot? People call that an oversight. Hiring a disease as your doctor...that shit don't sit too well. Not with me. Probably not for a lot of people."

"You probably...I mean, I know for a fact you probably the type to think they harmless. Just people like the rest of us. But you and me both know what they do. Everyone does. And now we gotta walk and look one in the face to one every time we scrape our fuckin' knees. Now I know what you about to say, humanity's come a long way in the name of tolerance, Zonkoi came a long way in the name of tolerance, Posonid....eh," he waved his hand a little. "You know what I mean? But this ain't some new race that just popped up tryna make a name for themselves."

"Chalcideans ain't something anybody should fuck around with. And you let one onto the ship...Cap'n," he spoke, his last word layered in heavy sarcasm. "But hey...not that I'm the one to question your decisions," he stated, beginning to drag B.R.D back to the elevator. "And next time the expedition needs you to make some 'big decisions' hit me up. Maybe your eyes need a lil bit of extra tuning to read the fine print!"

 

[egglover]

Suleiman's robotic eyes narrowed, "If you so believe that you are capable of better decisions, then perhaps you could have hired a human doctor on your ship that is, oh, well proficient enough in Human, Zonkoian and even Rindikan biology, but fails in Kalkin biology and thus endangers our Kalkin crew members. Or perhaps you could have hired a xenologist who has less experience than our Dr. Haliday, and therefore cannot recognise when a new alien race would enter our ship and kill us all. Let us not forget why we are here, on this ship and on this expedition."

Captain Suleiman gave him a snide smile whilst she passed him to the elevator, her head held high, "I would watch your tone when there are faults in your own history, Chief Engineer Jordan. Do not attempt to question my judgement when you have not even done your research on your own crew and Captain."

With that she stood to face him in the elevator and gave him a professional nod, hands clasped behind her back, as the doors closed in his face.

 

[PiePillager]

Hector didn't give too much of a response as the doors began to close, simply opting to give Suleiman a salute. Hector also made sure he had just enough time before the doors closed enough for her to see that the previously mentioned salute of his was missing four or so fingers.

 

[Pacificus]

Daytona tapped the side of his head a few times, checking his sensors. They were fine.

"I will contact engineering and attempt to acquire a system schematic." Daytona replied. "Pursuit into the ventilation system is highly dangerous. We will wait here for engineering to send over the system diagram."

Daytona sent a quick message to the Blackbirds Chief Engineer. "Chief Engineer, I require a schematic of the ships ventilation system for a security sweep. Request you send one ASAP."

 

[Wing06]

Tristan continued to crawl through the ventilation systems. He had yet to find a suitable exit point. He'd seen a few crew members through some potential exit points and made a mental note to try and loop back, but the fear of being pursued kept him moving forward. He had also not forgotten about the creature that had slipped into the vent before him. Whatever it had been was silent and left no trail.

"There's gotta be somewhere I can hide around here...blend in somehow. Just have to make it to the next port, slip out and try again at starting a new life..." Tristan muttered as he continued his trek through the Blackbird's Cry's ventilation system.

 

[DarKnight36]

"Interesting plan," Haul said as Tristan turned a corner to find the Zumolkan aiming a pistol at the interloper's face. "Too bad I don't think it's gonna work out for you." Haul smiled, all teeth.

***

Matias pressed the elevator call button, with the intent on heading to the third floor. He had a good idea of who the gun thief was, and perhaps they had headed back to their room to stash the weapons. If so, he could do a quick search of the room and no harm done.

The elevator doors opened and Matias cocked his head slightly in surprise. The Captain was inside.

"Captain," Matias said smoothly. "How goes the ship tour?"

 

[egglover]

"I may not get to everyone by tonight," Captain Suleiman admitted, "Things aren't as smooth as I'd hoped. Is everything okay, Kingsbury? You look as though you're on a mission."

 

[DarKnight36]

Matias smiled. "I tend to give off that persona. But I was heading to Crew Quarters to see to a minor security breach. Nothing to worry about really. Our Security Officer is also seeing to a potential stowaway, but I'm confident that will be worked out shortly. I trust you picked the right people for the job."

 

[egglover]

Tish raised an eyebrow, "I'm afraid not everyone would agree with you there. Nevertheless I should check in on the Security Officer if you are good to handle this minor breach on your own?"

 

[DarKnight36]

"As you wish," Matias said, replacing his captain on the elevator. "Last I checked, he was in cargo."

 

[PiePillager]

Hector swore to himself, forgetting that he hadn't done a diagnostics check in the cafeteria like he originally intended, having been sidetracked by Suleiman's request...and her surprising naivete. He figured he could double back later. First he'd take the elevator down back to the Technical Deck and carry this malfunctioning chef in for some repairs and then he'd make his way back to the Crew and Upper Decks.

As he was heading down a notification popped up on his pad. Briefly glancing over it, he spotted a message from...the Security Chief?

"Chief Engineer, I require a schematic of the ships ventilation system for a security sweep. Request you send one ASAP."

"Ventilation Schematics?" Hector mouthed. "The hell you think he wants with that?" Hector inquired to B.R.D.

"LEMME HAVE MY CANNA-"

Hector kicked him around a little until he was annoyed enough to stop his spiel. "Yeah, that's what I thought..." he nodded. "I mean, I guess I have access, so uh..." Quickly activating the pass code left for him at the Engineering Office, he went through the blueprints of the ship's layout and quickly found the ventilation schematics.

Exiting the elevator on the Technical Deck, he quickly forwarded the ventilation schematics back to the Security Chief. As he entered the engineering office, he thought aloud, "The Vents..." No real reason for security to think twice about the vents unless there was some kinda breach. First thing Hector thought back to was the strange markings along the wall of the ship's hangar.

Dots were starting to connect a little too much for it to be a coincidence. Lugging B.R.D over to a metallic table, he pressed a button, and soon the robot was put under a light. "You gonna have to rest for a second, bro. Puttin' you under," he stated. Luckily such models of robots weren't like advanced models. It wouldn't be too difficult to find a way to put one into stasis for repairs. And as Hector assumed, it was less than five seconds before he found the panel on the back of B.R.D's neck, flipped it, and pressed a button to put the robotic chef into 'sleep mode' as it were.

Probably for the best as certain programming behaviors made less advanced A.I more prone to annoyingly violent flailing when undergoing repairs. And this one was already crying bloody murder over some damned canned pasta. Taking a seat and sliding it over towards the stairway to engine access, Hector called down, "Hey yo, Haul! Lemme have some telescopic goggles up here! ...Yo, you hear me?" Hector asked, awaiting an answer.

Perhaps the Zumolkan was busy. However, Hector had an annoying feeling in the back of his mind that that wasn't the case. Walking down to Engine Access and pacing over towards the hangar, Haul was, of course, nowhere in sight. "Alright..." Hector threw up his arms with a shrug before opting to get the goggles himself and heading back upstairs.

Pacificus

 

[egglover]

"Thank you."

Captain Suleiman watched the elevator doors close between her and her First Officer and then let out a held sigh. There was too much for her to do, and now a potential stowaway? As much as she wanted to be a good, reliable Captain to her crew she figured that may have to wait for the time being. A dreadful thought suddenly washed over her. She knew she could not hide her not-so-secret secret for long, but she figured she would have more time before he was discovered. Still, she had hired Daytona herself, and despite the headache of explanation that this would burden her with she couldn't help but be impressed by the Security Chief's quick wit.

 

[Wing06]

Tristan's eyes wided at the gun aimed in his face. The small, creature, he wasn't sure what race it was, grinned at him. "Now, now, let's not be hasty," Tristan began, hands raised with his wrists against the duct work. "Are you part of this crew?" He started, "I only ask because, I've never heard of anyone hiring a "ventilation checker" before, and you don't seem to be wearing a uniform."

 

[DarKnight36]

"Well I would have asked you the same thing," Haul chuckled, which sounded like a weirdly aggressive chime. "But you answered that for me." Haul raised the pistol slightly. "But what I meant was, you really fucked up hiding on board this ship. We ain't stopping at a port, human. Where we're going... well no one knows. That's the point."

Haul cocked his head. "So what do you want to do now, hmm? Keep clambering through the vents in the hopes that no one else finds you? Want to give up and explain yourself to the captain? Or do you want me to shoot you?" Haul grinned.

 

[Wing06]

"Human?" Tristan spat the word out as if he'd tasted the foulest food in the universe. His hand went to his belt, and he drew the Vibro blade, igniting it, filling the space between Haul's gun and Tristan's face in a pale blue light as the plasma-coated blade hummed. "I'm just trying to make a new start, I want no trouble, but I will not let you insult me and compare me to a simple Homosapien!" He grits his teeth and slashes his blade at the barrel of Haul's pistol.