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Futuristic Into the Dark

As the A.I. instructed, Alex punctured the young woman with the needle and Teal was brought to awareness in a panic. The sensors on the table that hosted the woman’s thrashing form flashed from blue to a soft red, pinging in alert. Immediately following the ping, Luna’s voice echoed throughout the back of the rover relying swiftly the diagnosis being picked up from the sensors. “Heart rate increase: severe; electroencephalogram readings: severe; hypovolemic shock eminent. Preparing sedative administration; Preparing saline solution and plasma transfusion.” A few seconds stretched into the infinite vastness of time. “Preparation complete. Please insert prepared infusion into patient: Teal’s forearm immediately. Monitoring…” A drawer below the first where Alex retrieved the first needle slid open with a soft hiss. Inside a freshly sterilized butterfly needle attached to a plastic chord feeding into an opaque white bag. The collection lay on a bed of strangely gelatinous moldings, a gossamer fog hanging tentatively around it. The screen directed Alex again, showing the properly procedure for starting an IV. The table beneath Teal continued to glow a soft red indicating her status.





******






In the front of the vehicle, the A.I. attended simultaneously to the female in the driver’s seat. “Greetings friend. I can assure you I am more than equipped with multitasking capabilities. Please direct your attention to the display. Note that the X47-9 All-terrain is equipped with detachable displays for your viewing leisure.” The system unlocked the display with a small ping and waited for Tau to lift the tablet from its magnetized platform. Once the sensors detected the polarization change, Luna continued speaking, the display changing automatically to match her voice.


“The Elita Starliner – also referred to as The Elite - is a class Alpha Xexor, type 7 spacecraft, designed by Huey Loftana and Amita Gujarati, engineered by the finest at CosmoTech & Co. Industries. Her dualistic systems are complete with the finest the Russian Federal Space Agency has to offer in tandem with first class luxury. This is borne out in her design, hosting a double shelled body that separates the functionality of the craft from the lavish amenities. Such includes: a theater equipped with five two-person dinning class tables, two luvsac 8 ft loungers, three rows of recliners, and a stage equipped with holographic and optic displays in both 2- and 3-dimensions and a classic Steinway Brother’s Onix grand piano; a carpeted canteen with dinning seating for approximately 40 with state of the art kitchen, and various art masterpieces donated by the Wan-Jianlin and Fissolo corporation. This oversees the standard-sized ice rink adjacent to the gymnasium and aquatic center. The communal bathing quarters are also located in this center. Adjacent to the theater is the infirmary and additional medical facilities, as well as the living suites. The center of the Elita hosts the cargo bay and observation decks as well as the agricultural powerhouse that sustains the crew. The underbelly hosts the engine room. Unfortunately the specifics of the ship’s payload is something a guest is not authorized to access, kinship or not.” The A.I. apparently was equipped with a personality for jokes in addition to its mechanical precision and information stronghold.


“The inner diameter is 17.24 meters smaller than the outter shell, creating 7.32 meters of crescent space that hosts all the engineering and electrical grids for the Elite. Again, I cannot divulge the specifics of my design to a member outside of the Elite’s crew without permission The flight deck sits fronted at the top level, tucked between the gables of the storage and evacuation areas. The Elite’s height is approximately 18 meters, width 60 meters, and length of 74 meters. It is truly a beautiful culmination of precision and vanity, suited for the distinguished men and women who commissioned its design.”


The tablet sifted through a gallery collection of the features of the Elita as Luna railed through their specifications before settling on a 360 degree rotation of the outer shell of the Elita.
“The ships defense is primarily in its heat and energy shield, strong enough to withstand over 8 metric tons at full capacity. There are supplementary weapons in every major sector of the ship.”


The tablet flashed back to the homepage briefly before auto-loading another file full of the crewmember profiles. Luna began to list off the specifics of all 25 passengers of the Elita. The population number was absurdly small for the grandiose nature of the ship. Truly something for the Elite. Joshua was listed amongst the crew as Joshua Elric Storstandssen, civilian, aeronautics and avionics specialist, 33 years of age, Ukrainian and Norwegian heritage, son of Maria and Elric Storstandssen; additional things of note would be his adeptness for navigation and possible hyperthymestic syndrome and “quirky” personality.



“If there is any area you would like elaboration on, if it is within my powers to provide information, I will comply.”


@Pretzel Heart @Floodwater31
 
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Islia was unconscious, her body had shut down due to the excessive fluids overrunning her lungs and stealing all the oxygen from her blood. She didn’t feel the hand reach out and grab hers, pulling her free from the icy grave, or the ground as her body impacted it, her face settling into the dirt behind the wet ringlets of blue. She’d flopped directly onto her arm by chance, sending a small mouthful of water up through her lungs and erupting from her lips. Her body attempted in vain to restart itself, sensing the presence of air, but unable to properly make use of it with her presently liquefied lungs. Her once tanned skin was now a sick blue, glistening with droplets of water snaking their way from her swollen body and into the dirt.


Something itched inside the lifeless woman, scratching at the surface of her brain, knocking at her consciousness. Asking –
begging for attention.


Screams.
That’s what it was. Several high pitched shrills coalescing into one horrifying sound, manifesting into one terrible emotion: Fear. Everything was black, but the whiteness of forms passing in front of the light, trying to penetrate her closed lids, where plain as day. Ah, realizing her eyelids where squeezed shut was useful; with great effort she managed to force them open with sheer willpower alone. Willpower and the sharp pain spreading up from her left ankle directly to her nervous system, practically yelling PAIN to her brain - so loudly, her ears rang. It was accompanied by a hollow, amplified, sickening crunch that reminded her of biting into carrots, joyfully. This feeling, however, was not joyous and she’d probably never enjoy the favored vegetable again after this association was made.





Water had begun to pool around that same ankle that she’d snatched away from the frantic bodies, all trying to race up the narrow stairwell she lay next to. Exactly what was going on? Who were these people? What was this water? Where- no- who am I? The little girls heart sank. Who am I? The words echoed on repeat in her head, overpowering all the external stimuli: the blaring alarms, the intercom yelling over them, the people swearing and screaming and terrorizing.





Islia covered her ears and huddled herself into an eight-year-old-sized ball, her left leg tucked off to the side with the injured ankle uselessly attached. Pain began to blossom in her head, calling her closer and chasing her away like a beautiful, deadly flower. The petals of her mind grew out into her awareness, the roots sinking deeper, growing more painful, blurring her vision, as they searched – as she searched - desperately for the answer. That flower twisted in on itself and shriveled away as she gave in and the emptiness of her heart poured out through her eyes, spilling down her cheeks and out through her nostrils. The pain was something different now, so acute and holistic that it felt like it’d always been a part of her. Her tears came down in liquid streams greater than the ones that had started to lift the edges of her dress and cover the undersides of her legs, their trails finding their way to the corners of her lips, slipping through them and coating her tongue. Such a sweet taste, enhanced by the saltiness of their composition; they could be delicious if they weren’t so damning. She wanted them to stop and to continue on forever - just like time seemed to do. The world of the sinking ship became secondary to the sunken world of her memories. There was nothing and no one. She felt utterly alone.





But something did scratch at the surface of her loneliness, trying to break through – to tell her something – anything! Her consciousness leaned towards the light of it, waiting in stasis to be woken up. Why? Why couldn’t she remember? Who was she? What was it?!





But there was nothing that responded. Nothing but the screams. Screams of women and men. Screams of angry, scared, fragile beings. Of fading souls and dying people. Screams of the damned. Screams from her own lungs.


Islia woke up in violence, coughing wildly through a burning throat. Water spilled from her mouth, followed by bile and the woman felt her blurry vision shift. Inhale; exhale. Calm.
Calm. She clutched her heart and felt its beat. Alive, afterall. Somehow... She took several additional ragged breaths, each more painful than the other as she continued to concentrate on controlling the overworked organ pumping blood faster and faster throughout her body. Her heart felt like it would break through her chest and spill onto the ground along with everything else that was in her.


As she tried to prop herself upright, Islia fell back in a yelp, vibrant colors of red flashing over her eyesight as the pain from her dislocated shoulder reintroduced itself. No need to be rude or play hard to get. It made itself known without hesitation. She remained flat on the ground, one hand gripping the fabric over the heart, the other lying limp in pitiful agony. In this moment she’d wish she’d died...
"Sebastian!" Islia jerked upright, only making it so far before collapsing onto her side. There was a still form not far from her, laying in the dirt, one of his feet dangling in the water.


Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed, surely deceiving her.
Sebastian? No. Then who? Who am I? She pushed the thought aside and tried to focus. The grooves of the flight suit and outlines of the face found a match in her brain. “Pilot Waldas?” She winced, feeling the several pains of her beaten form fight for attention, her shoulder and broken foot besting them all. “Arden, is that you?”





@Anaxial
 
Joshua closed his eyes momentarily, enjoying the warmth of the woman’s body that enveloped his back. Her head rested on his shoulder and pulled him further into the dream. Ah, yes... that fading dream of a long, luxurious, warm soak in a glorious bath filled with sweet, pungent but soft herbs from the garden. He inhaled deeply and didn’t mind the sweat and earthy smells that filled his nose. It was not something he’d ever be so common as to get used to, but it was nice enough, every now and then, to take in the earth as a spent human being. To feel alive as one is keenly made aware of being alive. And he was alive. Alive and in desperate need of a nap, a delicious meal. What shall I eat tonight? Why hadn’t the trade for simplicity made itself fully known before he’d stepped out the door? Was he really a man to have gone so far and done so much for a group of asshats. With nice firm asses. He smirked, opening his eyes and nodding to himself. It’d been a while since he'd held the rear of a woman. Yes, very nice for the first time in a such a long long time to be so perfect.


The man stepped quickly through the forest, jostling or tapping his head back against the woman’s to keep her from falling asleep. He wasn’t sure how much blood she’d lost, but he wasn’t taking any chances. The two of them made it back to the clearing, Joshua’s breath ragged and his steps labored. Running around in such an elevated state after driving for 26 straight hours took its toll, and then some.
Do I really want to go on? I could just lay down and die here... Joshua and desired death? Self-generated? Co-referential?? Oh, this was bad. Very bad.


He brought the woman around to the back of the vehicle where Arthur and Alex stood over teal, who seemed to be on the way to recovery. Joshua lowered Caitlyn and pulled out the medical kit, setting it up to scan her leg. Luna greeted him and happily obliged, linking up and assessing the full range of damage the day had done to her body. Looking up, Joshua called to Arthur, who still had a distant look plastered across his face, pain and fear deepening in his eyes.
Believe she’s alive he’d said. How could this man be that pretentious? There was a certain respect growing for that resilience, almost enough to move him out of the “temporary” camp… and straight into the “Do not pass go. Do not release this psycho onto the world”. Almost, but not quite. “I need you to respond to Luna’s diagnosis of Caitlyn’s status then began the recommended treatment. In the chest under the seats there,” He motioned to a cushioned bench near Arthur, “There’s food and water. Have some, then make sure everyone else gets it to.”





Joshua nodded to the man, expecting him to accept his role and called out to Rule and Tau through the vehicle. “
We could use help back here, you two. Please do feel free to make yourselves useful.”





@Kayzo @Pretzel Heart @wizard nibblers
 
τ



Tau did as the AI instructed, her hands practically twitching at the feel of such nice, up-to-date, and fully functioning technology. At least she wouldn't have to worry about charging up her stuff, now. Though, sadly, Internet was still out. Her quick brain easily assimilated all the new information, storing it until a good use was found.


The two things she did take particular note of was the sheer
wealth of the craft (again, she had to congratulate herself for being on point about the Elita not being military issue), causing her eyes to bug out wider and wider with each additional amenity named, and the blocks that Luna had put on certain information. The engineering part made sense; after all, copyright was pretty much a matter of life and death in a world ran by power-hungry corporations. Besides, for the moment that didn't interest her. Nor would it ever, unless she for some reason felt the need to hijack the ship...which would be a fun challenge, but without any space navigational skills, an utterly pointless procedure that would only end in revealing to everyone else what she was capable of should she succeed. The cargo, on the other hand...In a way, it was also understandable. Still, it felt odd. Very odd. What did the Elita have to hide?


Questions for another,
privater time.





"I have to say, quite an impressive show you've put on here, Luna."


It really was. Someone had been thinking ahead when they snatched a rich-people's luxury space cruise to escape Earth in. Tau had to admire that.






"By the way, it was rude of me not to return the introduction. The name's Tau. You should remember it because I believe you and I are going to be seeing a lot of each other." A few flicks of her fingertips made sure that Luna wouldn't forget it, which would pay off if she ever needed to do deeper hacking. Very minor stuff, programming-wise, so even if Prince Charming did pick up on it she didn't think he'd be too suspicious nor mad. Plus, Tau was enjoying being with such a smooth interface. It felt nice to have a logical, working shelter against her illogical, dismantled world. Especially one with such a fine, slick voice. If Charming had anything to do with that choice, then that was at least one thing she could give him her approval for.


Thinking of Charming...



She reviewed the crew info list, spending the most time on 'Joshua's.' Huh. Was that really his name? The pristine golden-haired photo said it was so, but she didn't recall him mentioning it. Probably because he was already cemented as Prince Charming in her mind. She was further surprised to see him listed as 'Civilian' when she had pegged him so hard for 'Military.' Well, her brain was rarely wrong, so she wasn't going to discount it just yet. Still...his story deeply interested her for some reason. Maybe because it was the only story of which she had anything to piece together, and her mind had always liked puzzles.






Autobiographical memory, huh? Well he should have no problem in remembering to tell me what the Hell happened here.


Of course, she was still bitter about being ignored earlier.






And speak of the devil.


Just as she had been about to ask for more information from her new buddy, none other than Prince Charming himself burst back through the doors. Carrying another 'damsel in distress.'






Maybe Luna shoulda added 'hero complex' to his little dating profile.


So, with her, Alphy, Charming, the two men who were already on her bad list having ignored her and Rule's presence (admittedly, they were tending to an injured woman on a stretcher, but Tau's pride was still piqued), said injured woman, and the new girl... ... ...that made seven survivors. And only
one of them needed to be a chef.


Just one.



She closed her eyes and crossed her fingers, uttering up a prayer to
Schrödinger.


Another thing of note...everyone looked quite exhausted and/or seriously injured. Her and Alphy really seemed to have dodged a bullet waking up when they did, then.






"...whatever just jumped into the forest. I didn’t just imagine that, right?”





Alphy's previously forgotten words floated back into Tau's mind. Her previous hypothesis of Golding Syndrome took a dive in place of this new mystery: The creature of the forest. Roaming the planet. Killing off survivors.


Chilling.






“We could use help back here, you two. Please do feel free to make yourselves useful.”





And there was Captain Obvious, right on cue. Tau replied with a wide, cheesy grin and lazy salute.






"Oh, I am! Been having a nice little chatsy with your girlfriend here, actually. Trying to dig up all your dirty secrets. But I trust that between you guys and Luna, you'll be able to take care of whatever's going on. I mean, not even knowing what actually happened out there, can't say I'd be much use. Right, Alph?"





She just then wondered what her friend had been doing during her own little data extraction. And she couldn't resist the subtle jibe at Charming having earlier ignored her.






"Now then, where were we?" She lowered her voice, turning back to the tablet in her hands and keyboard in front of her, "ah, yes. Luna, mind narrowing down for me the crew members who have shown themselves to be actually alive and functional recently?"





She was pretty sure she'd seen at least one 'chef' listed amongst them.





Please be alive. Please.


<

@Lenchan , @wizard nibblers >

- Elita Land Rover -
 
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Lenchan said:
Islia was unconscious, her body had shut down due to the excessive fluids overrunning her lungs and stealing all the oxygen from her blood. She didn’t feel the hand reach out and grab hers, pulling her free from the icy grave, or the ground as her body impacted it, her face settling into the dirt behind the wet ringlets of blue. She’d flopped directly onto her arm by chance, sending a small mouthful of water up through her lungs and erupting from her lips. Her body attempted in vain to restart itself, sensing the presence of air, but unable to properly make use of it with her presently liquefied lungs. Her once tanned skin was now a sick blue, glistening with droplets of water snaking their way from her swollen body and into the dirt.
Something itched inside the lifeless woman, scratching at the surface of her brain, knocking at her consciousness. Asking –
begging for attention.


Screams.
That’s what it was. Several high pitched shrills coalescing into one horrifying sound, manifesting into one terrible emotion: Fear. Everything was black, but the whiteness of forms passing in front of the light, trying to penetrate her closed lids, where plain as day. Ah, realizing her eyelids where squeezed shut was useful; with great effort she managed to force them open with sheer willpower alone. Willpower and the sharp pain spreading up from her left ankle directly to her nervous system, practically yelling PAIN to her brain - so loudly, her ears rang. It was accompanied by a hollow, amplified, sickening crunch that reminded her of biting into carrots, joyfully. This feeling, however, was not joyous and she’d probably never enjoy the favored vegetable again after this association was made.


Water had begun to pool around that same ankle that she’d snatched away from the frantic bodies, all trying to race up the narrow stairwell she lay next to. Exactly what was going on? Who were these people? What was this water? Where- no- who am I? The little girls heart sank. Who am I? The words echoed on repeat in her head, overpowering all the external stimuli: the blaring alarms, the intercom yelling over them, the people swearing and screaming and terrorizing.


Islia covered her ears and huddled herself into an eight-year-old-sized ball, her left leg tucked off to the side with the injured ankle uselessly attached. Pain began to blossom in her head, calling her closer and chasing her away like a beautiful, deadly flower. The petals of her mind grew out into her awareness, the roots sinking deeper, growing more painful, blurring her vision, as they searched – as she searched - desperately for the answer. That flower twisted in on itself and shriveled away as she gave in and the emptiness of her heart poured out through her eyes, spilling down her cheeks and out through her nostrils. The pain was something different now, so acute and holistic that it felt like it’d always been a part of her. Her tears came down in liquid streams greater than the ones that had started to lift the edges of her dress and cover the undersides of her legs, their trails finding their way to the corners of her lips, slipping through them and coating her tongue. Such a sweet taste, enhanced by the saltiness of their composition; they could be delicious if they weren’t so damning. She wanted them to stop and to continue on forever - just like time seemed to do. The world of the sinking ship became secondary to the sunken world of her memories. There was nothing and no one. She felt utterly alone.


But something did scratch at the surface of her loneliness, trying to break through – to tell her something – anything! Her consciousness leaned towards the light of it, waiting in stasis to be woken up. Why? Why couldn’t she remember? Who was she? What was it?!





But there was nothing that responded. Nothing but the screams. Screams of women and men. Screams of angry, scared, fragile beings. Of fading souls and dying people. Screams of the damned. Screams from her own lungs.


Islia woke up in violence, coughing wildly through a burning throat. Water spilled from her mouth, followed by bile and the woman felt her blurry vision shift. Inhale; exhale. Calm.
Calm. She clutched her heart and felt its beat. Alive, afterall. Somehow... She took several additional ragged breaths, each more painful than the other as she continued to concentrate on controlling the overworked organ pumping blood faster and faster throughout her body. Her heart felt like it would break through her chest and spill onto the ground along with everything else that was in her.


As she tried to prop herself upright, Islia fell back in a yelp, vibrant colors of red flashing over her eyesight as the pain from her dislocated shoulder reintroduced itself. No need to be rude or play hard to get. It made itself known without hesitation. She remained flat on the ground, one hand gripping the fabric over the heart, the other lying limp in pitiful agony. In this moment she’d wish she’d died...
"Sebastian!" Islia jerked upright, only making it so far before collapsing onto her side. There was a still form not far from her, laying in the dirt, one of his feet dangling in the water.


Her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed, surely deceiving her.
Sebastian? No. Then who? Who am I? She pushed the thought aside and tried to focus. The grooves of the flight suit and outlines of the face found a match in her brain. “Pilot Waldas?” She winced, feeling the several pains of her beaten form fight for attention, her shoulder and broken foot besting them all. “Arden, is that you?”





@Anaxial

In the Panic, Arden had almost completely forgotten about the person he'd just saved. He found himself instead scrambling to staunch the flow of red from his leg. With shaking hands and sweat on his brow he cursed silently to himself as he fumbled about, trying to hold the would shut and apply pressure with the makeshift rag bandage he had used before. The effort seemed futile, the flow was steady and already beginning to make a small puddle by his leg before he finally managed to get himself under control and pulled the bandages tight around his leg.



"
Shit... shit... shit..." he whispered to himself as he raised his hands and tried to examine his leg, though the bandage was already turning a slight red, it seemed to staunch the flow and he lay back on the ground, putting his hands to his face. He dug his fingers into his eyes, trying to keep his vision clear, running a hand through his hair seemed to help as it exposed his scalp to the open air and in a moment he seemed to have his sweating under control. He lay silent for a moment, his eyelids heavy, his arms weak, he was turning an ashen white and when he did move, it was sluggish and made him look like a zombie.


"Can't keep doing this... Can't keep going..." He muttered to himself before it turned into a few panicked sobs, terrified of bleeding to death yet that outcome seemed only minutes away. He sat up and rested his hands on the grass and saw the puddle of blood, it wasn't too bad but it was significant. His vision turned red and he suddenly had a flash of anger, slamming a fist into the dirt he rolled over on his stomach and grumbled incoherently through gritted teeth as he crawled towards the running water.



Arden brandished the canteen from his hip, his hands shaking as he screwed the cap off and dunked it into the water. The small plastic container filled in a few seconds and it was raised from the water. He fumbled in a pocket for a moment and pulled one of his six purification tablets out and tore the plastic seal. The tab was dropped into the canteen and Arden laughed victoriously. Setting it aside for a moment to allow the tab to do it's work, Arden leaned forwards and splashed water in his face, cooling his face and calming himself down. In that moment, he forgot himself once again, taking a moment just to enjoy the noises of the forest and the river. Adjusting himself so that his good leg was submerged by the water, Arden lay for a moment until he heard something- coughing, retching, he'd forgotten about the person he'd just saved! They could have drowned, they could have been dead! Arden looked over a shoulder as the figure awoke and stared in disbelief as the person spoke.



"Y-yeah- Yes. I am Lieutenant Commander.. uh.. Commander..." His voice trailed off, it had been lost, he was in disbelief that another person had survived that crash and further disbelief that survived that fall! It was like he was dreaming. His eyes did feel so... Heavy. "I don't... You're alright? Really? Are you... Are you hurt?!" He said forcing himself to say SOMETHING useful!



Scrambled away from the water, Arden pushed himself up and put his weight on his good leg as he sort of took an extended triangle pose to reach for his Canteen. His arms weak, this small 18oz canteen felt like it weighed a ton but he shuffled towards Islia regardless. "You don't look too hot- you alright?" he repeated as he almost handed her the canteen. He scoffed a bit and hooked the canteen on his belt. "Probably don't want any water right now..." he said, more to himself than to Islia.
 
Neha surveyed the wreckage of the ship wedged between two solid pieces of rock through her telescope. She was trying to assess the likelihood that anyone had managed to survive the crash from her perch in the tree, thighs clamping tightly onto the branch.


"What do you see?" Alyvia looked up her from down below, her blonde hair flicking stylishly away from her head. It was something of a silly question to ask, Neha thought, because even Alyvia could see the ship from where she stood at the base of the tree. Although she couldn't see it in the same detail Neha could with her telescope, the wreckage looked bad enough that it seemed safe to surmise that nobody was still hanging out on that ship. It was stuck in such precarious a situation, she couldn't imagine anyone lucky enough to survive the apparent crash wanting to play the odds.


"Don't think anyone's over there," Neha responded after a beat.


"Mm," the other girl said in response, looking back at the wreckage. Neha closed the telescope and slipped it into her jacket pocket before swinging one leg over the branch so that she sat side-saddle in the crook. "The survivors probably evacuated to the lower elevation."


"Easier than scaling a cliff," the purple-haired girl agreed. She grabbed the branch firmly with her hands and then eased herself off, twisting so that was able to swing down to a lower branch. She repeated this process until she reached the lowest branch. "They likely went downstream." From the utility belt around her waist, she removed a metal ring with a hook hanging from it. She attached the hook to a loop on her belt, then pressed the button beside it. The metal ring snapped open, a half moon on either side of the hinge. Holding the open ring to the thick branch she currently straddled, she pressed the button again and the ends of the metal ring secured itself to the branch. She tested it by yanking on the wire that ended from the ring when she straightened, and once she was satisfied that ring would hold tight, leaned back and fell from the branch. Instantly, the repelling apparatus caught her. She repelled to the ground quickly, controlling the speed of her fall with a second button. Feet firmly on the ground, she disengaged the ring and called the device back to her with two more button presses and was stowing the device back in her pack before Alyvia had even finished picking up her pack from where she'd dropped it. "Let's walk a bit and see if we can find them."


She shouldered her own scouting pack, which she'd found in the scouting vessel she'd used to escape several months previous. She was thankful she'd decided to keep the vessel and hidden it away instead of ditching it entirely. She hadn't found the pack until her third sweep of the vessel, something she blamed on shot nerves from mental distress and . This pack had been a lifesaver. The two girls walked to the edge of the cliffside, carefully peering over to survey the rushing water of the river below for any indication that potential crash survivors might have headed that way and then headed downstream, Neha scouring the rushing water below and Alyvia the forest for signs of the survivors. As they walked, the taller blonde filled the silence with amiable chatter. While Neha normally would not have minded Alyvia's idle chatter, today she found herself wishing she'd gone to scout out the disturbance on her own. Something about all this business was putting her on edge. She'd been on this planet for many months now and there had been no visitors, no indication that any other people were even alive to come. Other ships that had been bound for this location should have arrived ages ago. Her sister's ship should have arrived ages ago. She had waited and waited and waited. And nothing. Then suddenly one day, a ship had fallen from the sky. It brought all kinds of questions to her mind. Was this the beginning of something? Had the other ships been delayed for some reason? Had they decided to change course? Had they learned of the epidemic that had plagued her own ship and decided to wait before landing in case it was still contagious? Or perhaps they were watching for signs of hostile life? There was no way to know unless she found someone to ask.


So basically, it all boiled down to this: Thoughts of her sister were making her cranky and Alyvia's non-stop talking wasn't helping. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to be able to think. On the other hand, Alyvia had been good to her and a distraction might help her take the edge off so she half-heartedly tried to participate. But as they walked, that participation morphed until she was merely responding to Alyvia with occasional "I'm listening" grunts. Except she wasn't. Which is why it took her a moment to register when the tone of Alyvia's voice changed and the seemingly endless chatter stopped.


"Neha, over there!" The two girls hurriedly shuffled to the cover of the trees. Neha pulled her telescope from her pocket and held it to her eye to survey the situation, narrating what she saw. A man pulled two figures from the water and dumped them on the ground, peering at them anxiously. He seemed injured himself. Neither figure was moving. "They'll never make it if he doesn't administer CPR," Alyvia was saying, squinting at the scene herself. It wasn't until the flash of blonde bobbed into the lens of her telescope that Neha realized Alyvia was gone.


"Alyvia, wait! We don't know if they're friendly or not!" Neha hissed after her, but Alyvia either hadn't heard her or she didn't care. She continued forward until one of the figures miraculously jolted back to life. This pause in her scouting partner's forward movement allowed Neha to catch up to her. She grabbed the blonde's elbow firmly. "What are you thinking? We don't even know if these people are worth saving yet."


"And we'll never know if we let them die." The blonde met Neha's cool stare with her own. "They all look seriously injured. I doubt they could seriously pose a threat to us right now. Particularly because" she indicated the rifle strapped to her back. Neha knew she had another gun hidden beneath her jacket, a knife round her ankle. "They look harmless. And, in fact, I'm pretty sure if we don't help them, they will continue to be harmless…" She paused, fixing her companion with a pointed stare as she finished, "...as corpses." At that, without waiting, she ran forward, hand raised as she called out a greeting then added, "Seems like you guys need a little help. Everything okay?"


Behind Alyvia, her purple-haired companion closed her mouth, which had flapped open in disbelief at Alyvia's blatant disregard for their own safety in approaching these unknown subjects, and narrowed her eyes in irritation.Yes, Neha really wished she'd been alone today. She took a moment to talk herself down from wanting to smack Alyvia and then followed grudgingly. Even from this distance, she could tell that things were really not okay. And while she knew she should help them, she also couldn't shake the feeling that this meeting was the beginning of the end of the little bit of peace she'd managed to secure for herself since landing on this planet all those months ago. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.


@Lenchan @Anaxial
 
Arthur watched as a draw slide open in the medical bay. He took the needle from it and pushed it into Caitlyn's thigh as the screen instructed. He had no idea what it was. He didn't really care enough to check. Arthur's thoughts were with his child. Best case she was alone, somewhere in the forest.


"Luna, how large is your agriculture house?" He asked of the AI while he worked. As Luna began to explain, Arthur turned to Caitlynn. "I bet you wish I'd let you do that?" He Joked. Arthur recalled when he had occasionally gotten a new nurse while donating blood. There was a trick to painlessly inserting a needle which Arthur surely did not know. He looked back at the screen. "I'm supposed to wait 2 minutes before the next step. So, here is some..." Arthur selected a box from store and studied it before he punched a straw through the tinfoil seal. "Orange juice. Lucky Girl"


Arthur froze for a moment, looking into space. Without saying another word to Caitlynn he went to find Joshua in the front of the rover.
"Where are we going?" He asked.


@Kayzo
@Lenchan
 
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Caitlyn took the small box of orange juice and began to sip on it. "Damn, I'm just getting pampered today. Orange juice and a protein bar, What a win. I should get hurt more often!" She said with a grin to no one in particular. The pain in her leg was slowly dumbing down, and it wouldn't bleed anymore. What a relief. She thought, watching as Arthur walked off.


(Sorry for the short post. Isn't much I can do.)


@Ironrot
 
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((In advance I apologize for both the length and quality of this post.))


Yunevich

As Alex began administering the narcotics into her system, her heart rate dropped and began to stabilize. The writhing that had once caused quite a scene within the operating room dulled down, the girl left now entirely knocked out. No memories of war flooded her mind now, no inspirational words of encouragement from her mentor. Just she, laying there, rapidly bleeding out.



 
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The needle went in, injected it's payload, and extricated it's self without a hitch, when Alex reinserted into where whence it came, a small amount of water did indeed fill the device to rinse it as it slid back into it's lair. That's when the alarms began, what the hell was in that injection?! “Heart rate increase: severe; electroencephalogram readings: severe; hypovolemic shock eminent. Preparing sedative administration; Preparing saline solution and plasma transfusion.” Fuck, why can't I be right when I'm being optimistic? “Preparation complete. Please insert prepared infusion into patient: Teal’s forearm immediately. Monitoring…” A drawer silently opened with a blood bag, that's not blood, ready to be fed to a blood starved patient. What the fuck do I do?! The video! The screen depicted the same cartoony doctor tying a band around the same cartoony patients arm with a number two in the bottom left corner. I missed step one, wait for it to come around. Three was the doctor patting the patient's arm causing a line to become more prominent. Find vein, common sense. The number four was next, it showed the doctor wiping the arm with a small ball. Cotton ball, alcohol. The doctor stuck the needle into the vein causing step five to come to a close, this was followed by both the doctor and the patient giving big smiles and thumbs up to the screen, the patient now with a IV drip on a pole. That's great, but get on with it! After what felt like entirely too long, the video began re showing the clip where doctor cartoon found the vein, wha- that doesn't-, it was then Alex noted that the number in the bottom left had changed to one and there was no band from step two. Why the hell do you do step two twice?! How does tha- just do it. Upon closer inspection, the band and a single moist cotton ball where in the drawer. The first thing he did however, was find the vein and tie the band onto the arm, there that is, tie.. that.. tight. Stop shaking. Now we grab the cotton ball an- where's the vein?! The vein had disappeared sometime between finding it and turning to grab the cotton ball, forcing Alex to begrudgingly find it again. After the area where the needle would bite was nice and sterile, he grabbed the bag and hung it on the hook above the table, I swear that wasn't there before, and held the needle above the vein, still there. And just like that, the needle bit her and began flowing the prepared liquid into her veins.
 
"Probably don't want any water right now..."





Islia managed a small, ragged chuckle at the harsh humor that spoke to her own. Same as the rest of the crew, she’d rarely interacted with the man, but even from this short exchange she guessed he'd be perfectly tolerable.
Definitely better than a psycho-bitch alien. Her eyes slid down to his leg, the brilliant red of blood looked beautiful against the dark, slick pant leg. So much color in the world, it turns out. Too bad they needed to stop it. But before she could do that…





“My shoulder’s dislocated and I believe my foot is broken. Please-” She swore under her breath, pulling herself upright in the dirt with the uninjured hand. The limb felt strangely normal; abnormal, even, in its absence of ailment. Cradling her injured arm in her lap and motioning to the dirt next to her, she managed to spurt the rest of the sentence out through the cracks in her hoarse voice, coughing painfully towards the end. “Sit and let me have a look at your leg. Islia: another member of the Dawn. I don’t think we’ve ever spoken, let alone formalities.”





Another several coughs caused the woman’s expression to screw up with pain she endured through clenched teeth. Ruminating and stalling wouldn’t make the inevitable less so. Islia took a deep breath and lifted her arm, rotating it out at her side in a 90 degree angle then slowly up above her head. Eventually the motion caused an audible pop accompanied by a sigh of both relief and regret. Her lips twitched as she rolled the shoulder slowly, looking to the dirt under the man next to her. She’d already known the answer to the question she was about to ask, but she
had to ask it.





“Our...captain…?” When she’d noted that it was Arden who pulled her from the rapids and not Sebastian, she already figured the captain of the Dawn was lost to the river. Would hearing Arden confirm be anything like closure? Doubtful. She wished she hadn’t even asked.


But before Arden could confirm, a light, feminine voice rang out behind them and Islia’s heart leapt a bit – other people had survived! However, this woman, Islia was sure she’d never seen. She pushed the blue ringlets of wet hair off to the side to get a better look at source as the woman approached, slipping her hand cautiously over one of the pockets of her pants. The sodor was still there, but the odds of her winning a duel between the woman – and her approaching purple-haired friend; she was absolutely positive now she’d never seen these two before and her heart was pumping adrenaline fast in preparation – was very slim. Islia causally scratched at her leg to mask the inspection of her pocket, trying not to pique any curiosities as to what she might be checking for.



The woman with golden hair looked pleasant enough, but the stoic, almost apathetic expression on her companion’s face didn’t sit well with Islia. There wasn’t much of an option but to be cordial and hope that they weren’t hostile. If so, Arden would absolutely die of exsanguination and she’d probably face something much more unpleasant. Setting her jaw, the woman pushed herself to her feet and stepped forward, in front of Arden in a casual but guarded stance.






“A little help is an understatement, I’m afraid. My name is Islia, and this is my companion” She gestured to the man behind her, only giving up her name out of defensive habit. She'd leave it to him to fill in that blank. “We were both injured during our ship’s crash landing and he is in need of immediate medical attention. Can you help us??” Islia’s honey eyes glinted a bit as they moved from the blonde to her silent companion, assessing the two females. Both looked clean and well organized and human – had more ships made it and settled onto the planet beforehand? It was beginning to seem so.





@RakuRen @Anaxial
 
Rule slung the backpack over one arm and opened it to find the water and protein bars. They were pre-wrapped, so they probably weren’t poisoned, not that Rule probably couldn’t handle a bit of poison considering the literal garbage she eats on a regular basis. While Blondie McTallGuy was fiddling with the controls, she shrugged and took one, just to be safe. Closing the pack again and putting it on her other shoulder, she hopped in the rover. She really didn’t have anything to lose and if this did end with her in a hostile situation, at least Frank has a black belt he earned from the greatest martial arts master in the world. Blondie certainly drove... uh, urgently, and Rule’s stomach turned with the mayonnaise inside it. She gripped onto the wall of the vehicle to steady herself.


When they came to a stop, a few injured people were loaded in, and Rule squished herself into the corner to make room. She felt a crayon snap in her pocket. Oh well. As long as it wasn’t razzmatazz. Tau was busy probing the A.I. for info, but Rule was hardly listening as she fished around for the granola bar she took. She took a nibble and made a sort of sour-lemon face before pulling her tube of mayonnaise out. She squirted a bit on the bar, and took another small bite. Not bad at all. Just as she was returning the half eaten bar and mayonnaise to her pockets, she heard Blondie call for them from outside. Make herself useful? Rule had never done anything that even came close to deserving the description of useful in her life. And she knew nothing about whatever medical stuff was going down there. (Frank had probably tried to teach her before, what with his many doctorates and all, but Rule was never one to listen.) Then again...


“Hey Tau.” She nudged her friend and muttered, “You think if we don’t help, they’ll still let us eat and stuff? We can at least fake it till we make it, you know?”


She hopped out of the vehicle and sauntered around to the back to see Blondie and Some Other Guy standing over a couple of girls who looked... well, they’d more than likely seen better days. she grimaced, and padded a little closer.


“Uh... What exactly would you need me to do?”


@Pretzel Heart @Lenchan
 
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Lenchan said:
"Probably don't want any water right now..."



Islia managed a small, ragged chuckle at the harsh humor that spoke to her own. Same as the rest of the crew, she’d rarely interacted with the man, but even from this short exchange she guessed he'd be perfectly tolerable.
Definitely better than a psycho-bitch alien. Her eyes slid down to his leg, the brilliant red of blood looked beautiful against the dark, slick pant leg. So much color in the world, it turns out. Too bad they needed to stop it. But before she could do that…





“My shoulder’s dislocated and I believe my foot is broken. Please-” She swore under her breath, pulling herself upright in the dirt with the uninjured hand. The limb felt strangely normal; abnormal, even, in its absence of ailment. Cradling her injured arm in her lap and motioning to the dirt next to her, she managed to spurt the rest of the sentence out through the cracks in her hoarse voice, coughing painfully towards the end. “Sit and let me have a look at your leg. Islia: another member of the Dawn. I don’t think we’ve ever spoken, let alone formalities.”





Another several coughs caused the woman’s expression to screw up with pain she endured through clenched teeth. Ruminating and stalling wouldn’t make the inevitable less so. Islia took a deep breath and lifted her arm, rotating it out at her side in a 90 degree angle then slowly up above her head. Eventually the motion caused an audible pop accompanied by a sigh of both relief and regret. Her lips twitched as she rolled the shoulder slowly, looking to the dirt under the man next to her. She’d already known the answer to the question she was about to ask, but she
had to ask it.





“Our...captain…?” When she’d noted that it was Arden who pulled her from the rapids and not Sebastian, she already figured the captain of the Dawn was lost to the river. Would hearing Arden confirm be anything like closure? Doubtful. She wished she hadn’t even asked.


But before Arden could confirm, a light, feminine voice rang out behind them and Islia’s heart leapt a bit – other people had survived! However, this woman, Islia was sure she’d never seen. She pushed the blue ringlets of wet hair off to the side to get a better look at source as the woman approached, slipping her hand cautiously over one of the pockets of her pants. The sodor was still there, but the odds of her winning a duel between the woman – and her approaching purple-haired friend; she was absolutely positive now she’d never seen these two before and her heart was pumping adrenaline fast in preparation – was very slim. Islia causally scratched at her leg to mask the inspection of her pocket, trying not to pique any curiosities as to what she might be checking for.



The woman with golden hair looked pleasant enough, but the stoic, almost apathetic expression on her companion’s face didn’t sit well with Islia. There wasn’t much of an option but to be cordial and hope that they weren’t hostile. If so, Arden would absolutely die of exsanguination and she’d probably face something much more unpleasant. Setting her jaw, the woman pushed herself to her feet and stepped forward, in front of Arden in a casual but guarded stance.






“A little help is an understatement, I’m afraid. My name is Islia, and this is my companion” She gestured to the man behind her, only giving up her name out of defensive habit. She'd leave it to him to fill in that blank. “We were both injured during our ship’s crash landing and he is in need of immediate medical attention. Can you help us??” Islia’s honey eyes glinted a bit as they moved from the blonde to her silent companion, assessing the two females. Both looked clean and well organized and human – had more ships made it and settled onto the planet beforehand? It was beginning to seem so.





@RakuRen @Anaxial

Slowly, silently, this is how a life is taken... Though his body was covered in the ebony black flight suit, his face was visible and it was visibly pale. He didn't look good, not at all, almost two days of constant bleeding had damn near drained him dry and he was struggling to stay awake, let alone stand. His head nodding down before he caught himself and shook awake- forcing his eyelids open. As Islia explained her injuries, and fixed her own dislocated shoulder, Arden was obviously fading. He wasn't listening to her, he couldn't hear her, his vision was red, all he saw was red, his body was cold, it was numb, yet it was somehow comforting. God he'd never been this tired before in his life.



"I don't... Foot..." he said, almost a whisper as an arm was weakly raised to point at Islia's apparently injured foot. Swaying back and forth before he eventually stumbled forward and fell on a knee, crying out in pain as the wound was agitated and he fell to the ground. First on his side, then rolling onto his back, writhing a bit on the ground. "I'm not... okay?" He said, he sounded confused as his eyes closed shut and he went still for a moment, perhaps a moment too long as he appeared very dead for a brief second. Coming back to the land of the living quite profoundly as he took in a sharp breath and swung a weak arm through the air.



Dazed, reeling, and about to break, Arden was punching his final cards as he lay wriggling on the ground in agony, Islia's voice slowly dissipated into what could only be described as white noise- static on a TV screen. His vision no longer red, as he stared into the sky, it was becoming a bright white, the woman he had rescued had become a shadow in his vision and for a moment, Arden felt peaceful, he felt ready to leave, this feeling was gone when another voice, another frequency of static entered his ears. Irrational aggression was Arden's primal 'fight or flight' feeling as he lay on the ground in his final moments. He leaned onto one side and weakly, an arm raised and gripped at the pistol holstered on his thigh. His fingers weak, they slipped right over the gun the first try, his second try he managed to free it from it's holster but it weighed as much as a planet- he was sure of it. It hit the ground with a blunt
thud and Arden put a hand on Islia's shoulder, trying to push her aside to no avail, he could hardly put pressure on her let alone move the girl.


"Islia... Move..." His voice dry and hardly audible as he raised the pistol in a shaking hand and tried to level it on the approaching women- or as Arden perceived them; oncoming assailants.
 
Cameras in the upper corners of the vehicle whizzed quietly as they focused on Arthur; the facial recognition system that had already programmed Tau, Rule, Alex and Teal in great detail was making a new log with his data. The A.I. began listing off the parameters of the ‘agricultural powerhouse’ within the ship to the man while logging the information he was now privy to in it’s database.


“The Elita houses four separate specialized greenhouse areas, all adjacent to one another, all with a parameter measuring approximately 25 square meters and an approximate height of 6 meters. Two of these were dedicated to the growth of medicinal herbs in the initial design, but an additional third house has been repurposed for this functionality. The fourth greenhouse contains saplings of various flora from the planet Earth that remained in existence during the turn of the 30th century. In addition to the greenhouses, Elita is equipped with a two-tier low carbon hydraulic hydroponic vertical system that farms 140 organic crop variations at any given time. In addition to the crops grown, there are myriad seeds in stasis for use; both crops grown and cataloged total over 500 different species. These are stored in the agricultural labs, currently decommissioned. There are an additional two gardens that surround the observation deck.”



@Ironrot


******





“Yes, Tau, Joshua and I have a very intimate relationship, though I suspect ours will be even moreso.” Luna noted and logged the additions Tau made to the display and began creating a few scripts of its own, primarily backup and test functions for any additional, foreign scripts that may be incorporated later.


“Unfortunately, upon entry into the current planet, codename: Pandorica, there were only three surviving members of the Elita crew. None of them held a position of chef when the ship was fully staffed, however, I do believe Joshua is perfectly adept. Crewman Neha Vaidya, female, is the only other Elita member last known to be alive. Her current status is unknown as she is out of range for my sensors.”


The tablet between Tau’s figures pulled up the familiar picture she’d flipped through before of dark skinned woman with long purple hair and a ferocious calm in her expression. The additional stats of the woman gave a few mundane physical stats and personality traits, along with similar information provided in Joshua’s sheet: civilian, co-navigation and cartography specialist, 25 years of age, Indian heritage.




@Pretzel Heart


*******




Joshua nodded to Rule while cutting his eyes away from Tau to the foul-smelling young woman -
she was a woman, right? There was no telling. He’d often joked about it being damn near impossible to find a woman that didn’t suit his fancy, yet here she was: Exhibit A. I’ll be damned if I make that joke again. Joshua turned back towards the ship and tried to mask the visible distaste and nauseous feeling overcoming him. “We need to search the ship quickly and efficiently for any survivors buried under debris and I need to check if any of your fuel cells can be scavenged. The longer we’re here, the greater the danger of us being attacked again, so the more help the better off we all will be.” Joshua’s voice raised and carried to its intended ear, though he doubted Tau would be of any service.





“Luna” he hissed through clenched teeth, feeling his ego get the best of him.





“Yes, Joshua?” The A.I. directed the majority of its attention to the man, recognizing the voice of an administrator and preparing response.





“Nothing Love.” He sighed and reloaded his handgun with one of the remaining five clips, deciding it best not to distribute out any more firearms to the group; one was definitely much more that enough to handle. “You’re just quite astonishing. I’m smitten.”


“You look a bit ragged, yourself, if I’m honest. You'll have to work on delivery if you are looking to score.”





Joshua chuckled audibly at the light jab, actually impressed, as always, by
how human the intelligence of the Elita seemed. As the centuries turned and new technological advancement and understanding emerged, humans had finally begun to let go of the limitations they put on technology by trying to have it replicate human emotion and intellect. It was rare to find an A.I. so sophisticated and still so relatably human. “Compared to these other guys, I’m doing alright, toots.” As for Arthur’s question, Joshua’s expression sobered. He imagined he knew where the question was leading but in truth, the disparaging man from earlier was probably right. His daughter was probably long dead and Joshua didn’t want to encourage a pointless search that would waste more fuel than lives it’d save. “We’re going to get to safety and formulate a plan on how to regroup in search of any other survivors.” Assuming any of them are alive…


With that he informed both Arthur and Alex that he and Rule would be scavenging the ship, and the two set off in somewhat of a hurry, be it excitement from riffling through another man’s lost treasure or the necessity to get “as far-the-fuck-away-from-here” as possible.



@Ironrot

*******


Rule - if looking hard enough - would happen across a few cans of spaghetti, still intact amongst the many that’d burst open and littered the floor. She’d also find various knick knacks that were obviously personal items once belonging to the crew - what good were they to a dead or lost body anyway? Lost treasure, that’s what.





She would also happen across two small boys huddled together, one completely silent with his eyes wide and ears covered, and the other began sobbing hysterically through a cracking hoarse voice as soon as he laid eyes on her. Luckily, neither of them seemed damaged, psychologically exclusive.


@wizard nibblers



*********





Joshua had just picked up a journal to add to the pile of miscellaneous supplies he was toting around in a sheet he’d fashioned into a sack. The fuel cells themselves were completely shot, but he’d managed to scavenge a few other things of use.



The outcry was faint, but grew exponentially with his alarm, causing him to jog towards the noise. As he arrived upon Rule and the two boys, and man and woman cautiously poked their heads out from the treeline. There were others afterall. It’d be tight, but they’d manage. He thought again to Arthur’s expression and pursed his lips, sighing.
No fucking way. That fucking demon ran off with her. She’s a lost cause. She’s gone. He said the words firmly in his head, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. She could be alive. If the thing wanted her dead, why run off with her? Why not just kill her there where she stood? His thoughts darkened at the reasons that ran through his head as the couple introduced themselves to Joshua - already recognizing Rule as amongst the crew of the Dawn, though just barely - and picked up the two children who were too hysterical to move on their own.


The group of five made their way back to the rover and began preparing to leave, the couple David and Edna, greeting both Arthur and Caitlyn with sighs of relief and hugs of warm recognition. The woman asked Arthur about Sally and before his mouth could move his face twisted into the truth. She put her hands over her mouth and sobbed weakly before throwing her arms around the man. David lay a firm grip on Arthur’s shoulder and offered empty words of reassurance. Joshua tried to tune them out, avoiding fueling the flames of hope in his own heart for any of the others. His heart was definitely still beating and he planned to keep it that way. Trampling off after that murderous alien was the last thing on his list of things to do today. He gave a finally check that everything was inside the rover and shut the doors to the back.



Shooing Tau over into the passenger seat, Joshua mounted the wheel of the rover and shut his door.
“Luna shields up on the Landmine.” “And-” The A.I. cut out off briefly from its conversation with Tau, detecting the urgency in the man’s voice. “Affirmative Joshua. Low impact shields up and 100% functional. Shall I contact the ship?” “Just map us home” The display in Tau’s hand flipped to the gridlike blueprint of the area it’d shown early before the colors laid onto the schematic and became a clear image replication. The purple line leading off the map towards the Elita marked a journey of approximately 26 hours and 1300 miles.





"Tau, please replace the tablet against the center field and direct your attention to the interface in front of you. We can continue conversing there."





@Pretzel Heart
 
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As soon as the man fell to his knees again, Islia was beside him - just how long had he been in this condition and how in the hell did he manage to even save her? Unlike she’d managed to do with their captain. She closed her eyes for just a brief moment, but in it she found solace; sweet, subtle, and saturated in the guilt of failure. There was plenty of it to circle around her and it felt somehow comforting. Much better than reality. But there was reality, afterall. Her eyes opened and set on the two woman before them. What a nice idea, cherishing life and enjoying it. She’d let it drift down the river with its owner, much too optimistic for her in the end. Survival wasn’t a bad idea, but all the fluff of life, she’d yet to become accustomed to - the price of growing up in the world they’d all endured. Perhaps the hearts of these women were soft and welcoming, perhaps they were cold and dark? There was only one way to be sure. “Please, he doesn’t have much of a window left.”





The hand on her shoulder then was firm enough to register as a touch, but that was all it did. Her name drifted to her ears in a garbled whisper and she turned her gaze towards Arden just in time to see the fool lifting his weapon for the second time.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?? She swiftly and efficiently disarmed the man and tucked the gun in the waistband at the small of her back before lifting her hands in mild surrender for a brief moment. Please," she urged, "he’s delirious and clearly not thinking coherently.” Her voice was sharp: chiding, but not angry. It said ‘Let me take it from here, champ’ and she lowered her hands and gently pushed the man down further, onto his ass and a pair of fierce eyes met his in warning. Relax Waldas,” - before you end us both with idiocy - “Let me look at your leg.”





The man’s suit wouldn’t work and she’d already disrobed to her thin, filthy undershirt, pathetic in its feeble attempt to protect her skin from the many cuts and bruises it fashioned. At least she was looking more tan than gray now. She sighed and completely lowered her defenses. If these women meant them harm, there wasn’t too much she could do, save the pistol in her belt.
But were they alone? She sat up straight and removed the belt around her waist, fastening it around his leg. Again her eyes settled on his as she prepared to tighten it. He looked like dead weight already, but she couldn’t not try. “This is going to hurt, but it will stop the bleeding till we find a more permanent solution.” Without giving him another moment to prepare or protest, she leaned her weight into the tug, the belt tightening into his thigh and cutting off his circulation. She secured it then forced him back onto his back. He needed to elevate his leg to aid in decreasing blood flow to the area, but for now he was at least safe from further blood loss. And now her attention was back to their newfound frienemies. “Are you both from a different ship? Is it nearby and is there a medical supply?”





@Anaxial @RakuRen
 
If she were a less observant person, Neha might have missed some of the steps in the series of events that unfolded following her and Alyvia's approach. But she wasn't. When the man, ghostly pale and clearly not doing well at all, fell to his knees, she had been worried enough to step toward him as though to catch him. She was too late, obviously, but the intent had flashed across her face: she wanted to help. Even though she knew nothing about these people, she wasn't interested in watching someone die right in front of her.


However, that changed when she saw the man reaching for his gun. Beside her, Alyvia also tensed. Neha didn't have to work hard to resist the urge to look at her. The gun quivering in the man's grip held her complete attention just fine, but she thought her irritation at Alyvia anyway, Told you so. Man, she really wished she could have come on this alone.


The threat was quickly nullified by the dripping wet girl with blue hair who then quickly went about making nice, but Neha wasn't someone who was quick to forgive or forget. The man was clearly delirious, yes. But delirious people were still perfectly capable of killing, and Neha had no interest in dying. She hadn't done what she'd done all those months ago to be killed by a man driven crazy in his own final moments.


When the girl, who Neha suddenly recalled had introduced herself as Islia, turned her back, Neha exchanged a look at Alyvia. She knew Alyvia was a generous person, but the blonde was also one of the best survivalists she knew. Islia had tucked the gun into her waistband, meaning it had been lowered, but it wasn't gone. Her turning her back could just have been a ruse to get Neha and Alyvia to lower their guards, and as soon as they moved in to help, they'd both end up with fatal wounds to the chest. The only way to neutralize the threat then would be to divide and conquer, right? Both women nodded ever so subtly, coming to the same conclusion.


As they had been "chatting," Islia had fashion a tourniquet using her belt for the man's leg. Neha decided she'd take the man, since, again, Alyvia was the best survivalist she knew. Plus, Neha had a feeling some quick medical thinking was going to have to be done.


"While your thinking is sound," Neha said, approaching slowly, hands raised slightly in a subtle gesture of surrender—I mean you no harm, so keep that gun away. "He's only going to end up losing his leg that way. If he survives. Let me handle this."


Alyvia also approached, adding her bit. "Yeah, you should be concerned about your own leg. That thing is like the size of a fl'pifl'nn." Neha shot her a look and then quickly began talking.


"I'm Neha, by the way. This Alyvia. Sorry to say, but there's no ship nearby. Best we can do is treat your injuries and then see what we can find around here." She turned her attention to the man in the flight suit as she crouched beside him. "Sir, I'm going to treat your leg. Please don't shoot me." She muttered the last bit slightly under her breath, but anyone listening closely could have heard it. A quick examination of his leg showed that things were bad, very bad indeed. "How long have you left this untreated?" she asked, though she didn't really expect him to answer. "This may hurt, but bear with me. I'm sure you enjoy being bipedal."


She threw down her pack and immediately began digging out her medical supplies: gauze, a pack of soft, absorbent fabric-like material, several small bottles, and two cups. Having retrieved what she needed, she zipped her pack shut and gently lifted the man's leg, pushing her pack right under his thigh to keep his leg elevated. "If we don't seal this wound, he's going to bleed out. I'll be right back. Don't move, sir." Without wasting a moment, she jumped up and raced into the tree line, a cup in hand.


Alyvia watched her go and then turned her attention to Islia. "Neha knows what she's doing," she said. "Now, let's get this leg dealt with!" Gently, she took Islia's leg and examined the ankle. The sharp intake of breath she took told Islia exactly what she thought: this chick was crazy, prancing around on this foot. She hoped it would still be able to heal normally. "Well, there's not much we can do but wrap it and keep you off it as much as possible. It's broken. You're insane to have been walking around on it at all!" The blonde reached in her pack and dug out her own medical supplies. Two patches and a stiff gauze. After explaining what she purposed to do, she trotted off to grab her extra supplies. She was just kneeling down to splint Islia's foot when Neha came crashing back through the trees, mashing something in her cup furiously.


Before she put the splint on the Islia's foot, she carefully applied the two patches to either side of her ankle, explaining, "This will help with the swelling and pain. This baby has blossomed pretty well, but at the very least now it won't bother you as much when you're sitting down." As she spoke, Islia likely felt a soothing heat began to spread through her ankle. Then Alyvia set the splint and got down to wrapping Islia's foot as tightly as possible.


Not five feet from them, Neha was busily tending to the barely conscious man in the black suit. First, she cleaned the wound using the few solutions available to her in her bottles, gently wiping at the wound with a sock she'd dug out from her bag. Then she held up the cup she'd run off into the forest with. "This is a cream that's going to temporarily seal the wound. Until we can get somewhere with better supplies, it will have to do. Once it sets, it will keep the wound from bleeding as long as you don't move around on it too much. Seems you've lost a lot of blood though. Not much can be done about that right now. Sorry." She slathered the wound with her handmade cream, remembering a moment too late that she should have warned him this would burn. Oops. Well, she was saving his life. Or trying to anyway. She let the cream set a moment and then covered the wound (now plugged with the cream) with a square of the absorbent fabric and sealing it against his leg using a gel from one of the bottles she'd pulled from her pack. Finally, she wrapped it in gauze.


"That should do it." Finished with her makeshift first aid, she leaned back and sighed, reaching for the small pile of leaves beside her. She crumpled the leaves and gently held them out to the man. "Chew these. They'll help with the pain." Then, she reached up to relieve him of the tourniquet.


@Anaxial @Lenchan

Sorry this post isn't formatted and probably reads so hurried. I'll fix it later, but I wanted to get this up before my flight since I will be off the grid for the rest of the day. If something needs to be fixed, let me know and I'll fix it when I can.
 
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They say that in your final moments, the world slows down, you see things clear again, you can accept your fate. This was never farther from the truth, the moment he raised that gun the world seemed to go into maximum overdrive. He felt his hands tensing around the gun and Islia jolting towards him, but then the world went black. It was in this dark, chilling abyss that Arden realized what had happened, he had died. This was the end, the answer to all the questions that anyone could ask, he raised his hands but only saw more blackness, there was... nothing. Fear overwhelmed him, no voice came from his throat- if he had one. No motion could be felt, no sound could be heard. In his final moments, Arden's own panicked thoughts about staying in this abyss forever flooded over him, consuming him like a rabid animal. He spiraled down and just when he thought that the world was over, he received a painful reminder that it wasn't.


His voice cried out, his vision returned, he heard, he saw, he felt, pain. PAIN. All he knew was PAIN as he vision returned and saw a young girl by his leg, tightening a belt around his leg. Arden let out a hearty cry and tried to wriggle free, tried to crawl away from the pain but his body failed him and he only writhed on the ground. His fingers dug deep into the dirt and his face went numb. It was impossible to focus on anything but the grim reminder of his mortality. What only took a few minutes at best, seemed an eternity to Arden, an eternity in this agony, the pressure built higher and higher, the thought of a numb body going numb seemed redundant, impossible at the very least, but it happened before him, his leg went numb and for a moment he swore he didn't have one.


The pressure was gone, a relieved sigh passed over Arden's unconscious lips, he was responsive at least, which brought him back to the land of the living, if only in this unconscious hell. He opened his eyes again, his hands relaxed and he saw two more figures, they were blackened, silhouettes against the piercing white light of the sun, the only thing that he could see. Following the pressure release, another reminder of his mortality came, much less severe this time it merited no response from the man. He awoke.


"Don't... I can't..." his voice retained the whispers of a dead man, hoarse and quiet, it was basically lip reading. His words turned into the mindless ramblings of a man who was reliving his life as he was slowly drained of it. Stabilized by the strangers, he seemed to fall unconscious once again, his fingers twitching to signify life, but otherwise resembling a corpse.


@Lenchan @RakuRen
 
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Arthur listened to Joshua's appeasement. This man didn't care, he just wanted to leave. Arthur wasn't sure if this was callousness or cowardice, but he decided that it had to be one of the two. Arthur could feel the odds of finding his child slowly slipping away, like grains of sand falling in an hourglass. He returned to Caitlyn in an almost trance-like state. Everything felt dull, like the tears which blurred his vision had somehow blurred his other senses too.


The med-bays screen displayed an instruction to dress Caitlyn's wound. He collected a dressing from one of the automatic drawers and applied it to the wound. He wasn't paying much attention and for a moment he worried that he might have been to rough. "All better" He said to the young nurse, clearly forcing a smile. Unsure what to do, Arthur sat beside Caitlyn. She might have said something but he didn't hear it. Arthur stood again, restless. He couldn't be here any more. The walls, though warmer than that of their ship, were foreign. This place was not where he belonged. This was a place without his daughter.


Outside, Arthur began to feel a little better. He paced partway around the rover. "SALLY!" His shout rang out. There came no reply. Arthur tried once or twice more. It was beginning to feel pointless, but he couldn't admit. What kind of father would that make him. He headed into the ship, walking past the corpses outside the medical bay. He looked for the man he had shot. There was blood smeared on the floor, but no body which he could recognize. Maybe he wasn't a murderer. At least not here. And not technically. He though back to the things he had done to protect his daughter on Earth. Did they mean less if she was gone now?


Arthur collected their pack. He didn't dare look inside to check for Sally's, and his own, belongings. He headed back to the rover by an arcing path, allowing himself to wander into the forest. He tried calling Sally several times along the way but was met only with quiet and sounds of nature. He entered the rover. Joshua arrived shortly afterwards with some survivors. Arthur tried to feel happy about it, but failed miserably. David's offer of support only made him angry. He headed into the cockpit with Joshua and Tau. Arthur looked at the map Joshua had called up as the rover began to move. The plotted course was leading them almost directly away from the crash site. Rage and pain welled up inside Arthur. Joshua wasn't even going to look.


"You take time to scavenge the corpse of our ship" Every word was disjoint, spoken through gritted teeth. "for fuel cells and fucking SPAGHETTI!" Arthur was shouting now. "AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO CIRCLE FOR SURVIVORS IN THE TREES!? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU CALLOUS BASTARD?"
 
A new Horizon... how ironic


Pain, red hot searing pain which faded into a dull throb which persisted into the depths of unconsciousness, filling the ash like void of the not-wake with terrible, terrible visions, images, memories. The nightmare, a merciless beast, an unrelenting monster which held on to its prey with an unbreakable grasp, gripped its victims mind and made it watch them all, every bit, every gruesome detail. Like a fever, this poison which had been festering in this conscious must be ‘sweated out’ so to speak, burned and boiled till it lost its potency. Not all of its putrid evil would be cleansed, but enough… to do what would be needed to be done be so. However, no healing is ever pleasant, even less so for matters not of the body, but those injuries of the mind.


Grey eyes snap open amidst the flickering light of the undergrowth, catching the rays and making those orbs sparkle as if they were filled with lightning. A gasp accompanied this unveiling of sorts, a struggled grabbing of air into lungs long without it. An arched back, curving upwards to the sky as if the wish to leave the ground and the struggles of us earthbound creatures had become too much to bear and it wished to flee, away into the sky.


The creature which lay on the ground, newly awoken, panting as if it had just run a quarter mile, took a moment to catch its breath and staring off into the air just above. It was gone, the fog that prevented control by obscuring right from wrong, that claw of which survival had grasped the reigns firmly in its grip vanished. The creature reached out with its clawed hands and pushed itself up to a sitting position with a slight groan as it felt its muscles, those bruised by its almost half kilometer fall from above, protest their being forced to work before they had fully healed. Ignoring its bodies objections, the Dredge rotated its head in a full 360 degree circle before coming back around to rest. Its clawed hands slowly curled into fists and lifted a handful of the loamy earth up to eye level. It shifted its fingers around, feeling the grainy soil break apart in its paws and filter between its fingers… her fingers.


Her head tilts to the side like a birds and its brow furrows, or what passed for such on a creature so alien. That is right, she was a her, not an it any more, her. She shook her head, everything was different when her survival instincts did not reign supreme, and everything was so high, so strong. The sense of taste, smell, hearing, the slightest movement she could detect, the barest smell she could identify but… it was all so fast one couldn’t simply stop and savor it. Relish in the sensations of simply being alive, because she knew better than any one that sometimes you simply had to be glad to be alive for one more day.


Finally standing up, slowly filling up to her full height, she rose her arms and stretched said protesting muscles with the laziness of a cat and with the same sensual grace. She moved to take a step forward and finally realized her balance was different from what she remembered back on the ship. Looking down, the realized what was the difference as said cause filled up the better part of her lower view. Frowning, the alien female poked at her new ‘assets’ and snorted at the sensation followed up with the thought. ‘Damn Mammals.’ Shaking a leg and checking out the rest of her, she had indeed changed to more mimic her host, less animalistic, less beastlike than she had before but more… relatable one might say, more a human female. Oh she was still a Serai’Drakhoul and of that there was no doubt, that ethereal grace could belong to no other, her appearance not that much changed so that you could confuse her with anything than what she was.


A thought rammed through her mind. The Girl, Sally. The female froze in place, a perfect statue as her six eyes whirred in place, searching the immediate vicinity for her little frame but not finding it, broke her shock and sent her whirling around in a full circle. Struggling for a name, eventually it coming to her after delving into the memories of which she witnessed in the girls head “SALLY!” roared the female, long throat vibrating with the force of that bellow, though her voice, still not used to producing sounds in english, butchered the sound from her maw into something unintelligible. Something a child of barely 4 would be able to interpret into anything other than a bloodthirsty beast roaring in rage, and not hear the panic in its voice.


 
τ



Ouch...no dice on the chef, then.


She briefly wondered about the idea of a missing crew member, and it aroused her earlier suspicious of Prince Charming and his fairytale spaceship. For if the Elita was really as amazing as Luna had so beautifully presented, then why were some of its surviving crew on the lam?


Perhaps not so much of a 'survivor' anymore...


The question that one of the men had directed towards Luna raised Tau's hopes just as quickly as they had been dashed. Either the man had a specific interest in agriculture, or just an incredibly survival-minded head that wanted to always have one eye on the food supply. In the former case, Tau could only pray that his interest went hand-in-hand with culinary skills. Luna had appraised her "master's" cooking...but AI's could be programmed to say anything. The thought that Charming's whole act was one big, deep womanizing scheme briefly flashed through Tau's mind, but even she considered that too ridiculous to be taken seriously. If nothing else, the prince had taken over as leader...and since Capn` Sebby hadn't shown his head around recently, that might not have been such a bad thing. If there really was a Lovecraftian monster lurking around this planet, it would be nice to have someone to think for the others to keep them level-minded.


Of course by "others" Tau wasn't including herself or Rule, because they would be looking after themselves just fine, and could be trusted not to go gun crazy without parental supervision.


Tau's face took on an almost cat-like smile at the way the AI obediently said her name. Damn. That wasn't going to get old any time soon. In fact, Tau considered finding Luna the definitive luckiest thing of the day...well, perhaps second luckiest, when counting that, compared to every other survivor they'd come across, her and Rule had sustained no major injuries in the crash and, as icing on the sadly proverbial-only cake, didn't have to deal with a scary monster attack.


Who would have thought it'd take the end of the world to turn my luck around?


A fully-functioning AI that could operate at Luna's capacity (even being able to make incredibly-human-like quips back-and-forth with both her and Charming) had floated around Tau like air all her life: Ubiquitous, well-known throughout the world, and yet, whenever she reached out to try and grab it...


Suffice it to say, the only AIs she'd ever come into contact with that operated on a level comparable to Luna's were in corporate backwaters and never friendly. Well, Tau couldn't blame them, as she would probably be unfriendly, too, if some impoverished freedom-fighting punk was trying to inject her with a foreign virus, even going so far to cover up the tracks to make sure it wouldn't get noticed, and thus cured, any time soon.


"Even at uni, we didn't have any AI's like you..." the words were whispered so quietly and on impulse that Tau scarcely realized that they were coming out of her mouth before they had already done so. But by this time there wasn't anyone human around to hear. Alphy and Charming had gone scavenging and even Mr. Agriculture had left in a huff-- before she had even been able to ask him about his cooking capabilities. Damn.


"Guess it's just you and me again, sweet thing."





Tau decided to busy herself going over all the information Luna had already given her, committing it to memory so that by the time she actually set foot on the Elita she would already be able to navigate it with her eyes closed. But the thoughts that were
really going through her head as she blandly sifted through image after image were far beyond the pixels on the screen, reaching down to the lines and lines of coding and infrastructure that had summoned them, and deeper still to an endless stream of 1's and 0's...


Honestly, despite her inherit distrust of whatever Charming had up his flowery sleeves, Tau had no real reason to be preemptively trying to figure out Luna's coding. Maybe her brave statement earlier had been naught but bravado...deep within, she couldn't leave the hard and cold booleans and variables behind.


Even with the Pascals...maybe I was always this way...


She hadn't thought much about her former comrades since hopping aboard the Dawn. There was no need to. They were good guys, they'd figure something out, and she had to believe in that. But either way...what was the use in thinking it over? Dead or alive, she wouldn't be seeing them again.


Alphy had been a rarity, really...in more ways that one. The fact that Tau had taken enough liking to her to actually cling onto the relationship.........the fact that by some miracle the kid was with her again, now.


Thinking about all these things brought back to mind the sad violin and bow still leaning near her.


"Say, Luna...you said the Elita had a piano, yea? So did they keep instrument supplies somewhere...?"


Before she could get a straight answer the fool brigade began piling in, more bodies in tow. New additions included a family that recognized everyone else from the Dawn, though, again, Tau herself could scarcely distinguish them from any of the other passing faces on the ship. The strange exchange between the couple and "Arthur," as she learned was Mr. Agrit's real name, was not lost upon her. So he had a daughter missing, somewhere...named Sally. Well, it had to blow. Losing a daughter you actually cared about.


Though how much did you really think about the kid's future when you named her 'Sally,' of all things?


With Joshua taking command as pilot once again, Tau happily scooted over to the next seat, obeying Luna about the tablet as she did so.


"Shotgun, whoot! And I didn't even have to call for it."


She was immersing herself back in studying the Elita's design when Arthur came up behind them like a a ghost. But the frothing way with which he delivered his next words were no spook's:


"You take time to scavenge the corpse of our ship for fuel cells and fucking SPAGHETTI! AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO CIRCLE FOR SURVIVORS IN THE TREES!? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU CALLOUS BASTARD?"


Tau had to agree that she would much prefer it if all the spaghetti had blown up with the ship, and was actually sorry to hear that it, rather than some human life, had survived. But the guy's reaction was a bit much.


"Hey."


Even in the jaunting vehicle Tau found her feet to stand again, facing Arthur best she could.


"This guy's," she threw a thumb back at Charming, "probably a lot of things, but I think callous is going a bit far. Think you're the only person to lose someone? Look around you. Everyone here is beaten half to Hell, and you want them to go running around in an unknown forest with a monster on the loose? Far as I know, this jerkwad wasn't even a part of our crew, yet he's organized you lot and is even inviting us back to his mansion to boot. In times like this we need idiots like him to keep screaming idiots like you calm. So if you really care about your daughter you should try and come up with a reasonable way to look for her rather than scaring the rest of us. Jeeze you act like you're the only one who just gout outta a space crash."


Tau sat down in a huff, not used to going off on tangents like that, especially with how solitary she'd been for the past weeks. She just didn't like...no, she hated it when people got so uppity about their problems. The whole world had been torn to shreds for crying out loud. And with most of the crew having started as complete strangers, that meant that everyone in the vehicle had left countless behind.


After everything they had done to try and prevent it...all the battles they'd fought, the close calls with the militias hired by the corps, the inside security, the people they'd lost...



In the end it had all been for nothing. If anyone wanted to run about frothing at the mouth it should be her for the sheer stupidity of all it. That kind of failure could drive a man mad.



Still...she knew that it must tear a parent's heart apart to lose a child. Since Charming had never been so kind as to share the circumstances, Tau had no idea what had happened, but as long as there was no body, seemed like there was hope.


"Listen, there were no fires or anything, so until a body turns up she's still alive. Think of the forest like a box, and your daughter like Shroedinger's Cat. We'll all be better equipped to go hunt for her once we've had a chance to settle down anyways."


Technically speaking, her and Alphy didn't need to do much settling to be able to run through a forest. But who knew when night was going to fall - it could be at any moment - and Tau didn't fancy getting herself and her friend good, lost, and dead in the hostile surroundings, so she wasn't about to volunteer.


<

@Lenchan , @Ironrot , @wizard nibblers >


- Aboard Landmine, riding shotgun B) -


((Sorry I wanted to write something that wouldn't be awkward in the face of a time skip...also is Luna the only one that Tau actually introduced herself to? Lol))

 
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MY?I?D




It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
Albert Einstein



Three chunks of metal, grouped together in a strangely uniform way lofted limply over the massive planet that appeared
images%2Farticle%2F2013%2F10%2F08%2Fgravity-3.gif
to be bursting with life. Upon closer inspection, these hunks of metal were far more than that. One was white, a head with metallic looking 'antlers' bursting from the back of it. Labelled in long since faded lettering was the word 'FOX-15'. The android was seemingly feminine. Shorter than those that surrounded it, shaped in a slim and satisfying manner that gave it undoubted elegance. Beside this was something that could only be described as a tank shell. It was left in the position in which it had been crammed into the cargo bay of The Last Dawn. Its arms and legs were pulled in unnatural looking ways, similar to a doll that belonged to a toddler who had no concept of mercy. But let it be known this is no doll. This is a massive Android that looms just a hair over 8 feet tall, having the density of a small asteroid with a knack for survival. Lastly, there's the one that seems further away than the rest. It rests at the height of an average man, just about 6''2. If it weren't for its hardened, black metal exterior that glimmered in the starlight, one could mistake its silhouette for a Human. A cloth that seems to have been woven delicately back in the planet Earth tangles around its body.


After hours of inactivity, a twitch in FOX-15.
????????????? ??????? (System restart commencing). The body of FOX-15 suddenly reared back in the emptiness of space, rotating the machine in a wild pattern. Rotating.. Elevation unknown.. Air availability-none.. Analyzing surroundings.. Loading last flight path.. Downloading black box files.. A wave of information flooded Myriad's processor. FOX-15 began to whirr back into life, the sleek slits in its head beginning to glow a faint and beautiful blue. Flight log.. Departed from Earth.. Months of travel.. Corrupted moments of last data-write.. Restoring information... At long last a thought runs through Myriad's 'mind'. Seems as though the lower hull increased rapidly in temperature.. Then an explosion.. No logs after that. Looks like the ship came down on the planet below. Searching for passenger intel. Soon the faces and names of every recorded passenger flowed through the circuitry that allowed Myriad such incredible processing power. In just mere milliseconds she had the files of Arthur, Sally, Sebastien, Islia, all of little Humans that now struggled for survival on the surface below. Sebastien appears to be the leader.. Interesting. I need to stabilize, NOMAD and SPRTN should be around me. Tiny, tiny jets of hydrogen split from some of the joints that powered FOX-15. Slowly but surely, Myriad was able to stabilize herself. SPRTN identified. Analyzing for damage. Aside from a few scratches on the metal hull, nothing. NOMAD... Scanning... Ah, there it is. NOMAD identified. Analyzing for damage. Sadly enough, NOMAD had a few missing parts and shattered sections of its metallic skin missing. Repair imminent. Entry into the atmosphere occurring in... One hour, at our current speed. Identifying solution....





Just minutes after the little HUMVEE carrying the party began to rumble away from the crash site, they were about to go directly into another. A soft screeching sound fills the sky, a bright ball of red crashing down from the sky. It would take mere seconds for the brilliant ball of what could be assumed as wreckage would smash into the earth, sending a shock-wave beneath the transport vehicle. Rocks and dirt fly in every direction, trees again falling over and catching ablaze. It formed yet another clearing, a bubble off of the massive wreckage of The Last Dawn.



Damage assessment... Minimal damage sustained to hull.. Thanks SPRTN.. The words come out as a groan in the AI's mind, despite it being Artificial Intelligence. FOX.. NOMAD.. The massive arms that made up SPRTN, the massive Android unfolded to reveal FOX and NOMAD. Both Androids lay limp at the sides of SPRTN. Damnit.. SPRTN doesn't have the scanners I need to check their status... Myriad was annoyed by the lack of technological advancement in the Android she currently inhabited. However, she could not help but be grateful that the hunk of metal furthered her survival. Out of the crater, SPRTN began rising. Loud mechanical gears and joints began whirring as the metal pistons engaged. At last the creature rose from the ashes of the crater, for some reason stretching. It was a human trait that Myriad had come to find funny and she herself would do it from time to time. She wiggled the fingers of SPRTN's massive hands. Alright big guy.. Lets get out of here. Myriad then uses the incredible strength of her current body to hoist the other Androids onto her shoulders that appeared like boulders. SPRTN was a spectacle of military science to behold as it began carrying both of the limp bodies of metal from the crater.


Upon reaching the edge of the crater, if Myriad's eyes could widen, they would. The truck full of Earthlings would still, most likely, be hurdling toward the eight foot tall Android with two of its own slung onto its shoulders.





((Sorry for the dry writing everyone.))



@Kayzo
@Jarkov Malachai @Anaxial
 
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Instructions came, one after another, all blurring together. Inject this, make insecion, inject that, move bone, move bone, inject this, spray this, cut bandage. Alex followed each to the letter, drowning out everything else, his eyes began to close. No! Awake! Sleep surgery is not an option, you've done what? 54 hou... Bad! Inject into vein. Exhaustion was beginning to set in, between skipping meals and missing sleep normally while on the Last Dawn, the craziness that happened on this godforsaken rock, and very briefly becoming a human discus, Alex was not in prime condition. What does that mean? The screen showed the cartoony doctor giving a thumbs up above the words "All done". It took several moments for Alex to realize the instructions, sleep.. Instead of finding a spot where any sane person would take a nap, because that was of course what he was doing, he lay down in front of the operating table and was lost in the world of dreams, very briefly being woken by a crash.
 
A place to ponder


Tree after tree, branch after branch passed by the Dredge, local flora and fauna exploded and moved out of the females way with an indignant squawk or chirp and a kaleidoscope of fantastical, foreign colors. The black shape shifted, vanished and fluttered through the branches as if it had been born to this planets soil and had never known the desolate wastes of its own home, the frozen tundra’s, the burning plains. There was a place like this on Magnus 7 though, it rarely stayed in the same spot for very long.


The creature shook her head, clearing out the memories of which it could not afford to dwell on lest it suffer another relapse. It was in control now, as much as an Awakened could be in control of itself when the process was only semi-complete. Needless to say, said awakening would need to be completed and for that it needed the girl. The other Terran, Sebastian, his mind flame had vanished from the tendrils which she connected herself to him via the mind. What befell him she could not say but it mattered not. The little girl was foremost in her mind, she must find her. It was a physical and mental need to do so, to fill a biological requirement and a hole which other means simply were not adequate enough to do.


The huntress paused to catch her breath, the exertions of late, whilst in her rage-state of mind had paid no attention being too occupied with eliminating the threats present, had taken their toll. A few… well who knew how long to be honest. An unknown amount of time stuck in a cryo-chamber, unable to move, just barely alive, had taken its toll on her capabilities. She wasn’t as fast any more, muscles weakened from disuse, stamina depleted quicker than she would like and her body ached from the last two days. True she could still kill a human without a second thought, she had gone about that last fight completely wrong but her state of mind was also wrong. Some distant part of her was glad she had been so pissed that she couldn’t adequately fight the humans, that her body was sluggish and not up to the task, she might have felt truly terrible about killing them… might have… maybe… probably not. Her empathy towards the naked monkey’s was the equivalent to what a lion might have for the lamed gazelle.


However the small child… she couldn’t find her, exhaustion was coming close to claiming her. Thankfully, the area seemed vacant of large predators for the moment, the crash and the Dredge’s own presence warded off some of the truly monstrous creatures she had seen lurking about in the shadows of last night. Killing that ginormous bear like beast had further cemented the local fauna’s belief in that the newcomer was not one to be trifled with. The girl was safe from predation for now, though how she was able to hide from one such as she even in her present state both baffled and made her proud. Her host had potential, more so than the rest of the fools from that crashed ship. She had a hidden strength that the Dredge intended to make full use of, for the girl was still an unformed lump of clay, the thumb of circumstance had yet to work its magic upon her. The Huntress was determined that she guide said molding as she had already given the child a gift as she had Sebastian though… he had not yet awakened his and never would from what the Dredge could sense.


Not too far away from where a certain robot/AI/android thingy landed, clawed paws landed on the loamy soil, stirring only the barest few bits of leaves but its impact force could be felt and heard quite clearly. She was too tired to care much about who or what detected that, nothing in the area would be stupid enough to disturb her, and she didn’t smell any humans or hear their heartbeats. Sluggishly she yawned, lips parting to reveal the bright pink flesh of the Dredge’s mouth, a sharp contrast to the grey luminescent lights and black, ebony skin. Curling up into a ball of writhing muscles and coils the Dredge yawned and decided to take a quick little moment to rest… after she flashed her head out like a hidden snake and grabbed a local prey animal, a wee creature about the size of a dog that looked like a jellyfish with legs. Its cry of surprise was cut short as the huntress’s powerful jaws closed absent mindedly upon its squishy body, silencing it.


@Mystik





(fear not, I shall post more even if no one else does)
 

MYЯIΛD




SPRTN rose full form now from the crater, tossing the two limp droids off of it casually. It's massive black hull gleamed through a layer of dirt and rubble, as if it hadn't been damaged in the slightest by the fall. Off in the distance Myriad is able to spot the rover that rumbles over the grasslands and plains toward it, though likely it would have stopped by now. Strangely enough, the AI begins thinking aloud. Almost in a comedic manner a woman's voice comes from the clearly masculine and massive Android. "Let's have a look around, shall we?".


The SPRTN android tilts its head in a full 360 degree rotation, a beam of red light shining out to the treeline. In MYRIAD's perspective, heat signatures were shown as clear as day. Soon, the collapsed form of the Dredge appeared.
"Odd.. that's certainly new,". Myriad begins clanking its way toward the collapsed form of the dredge. "Let's poke it with a stick, shall we?".





@Jarkov Malachai


 
Automatons... oh boy


The androids didn’t get very far before a definitely feminine voice broke the pleasant, if slightly haunting, sounds of the surrounding wilderness.


Come no Further… spawn of MAN.” That throaty voice said, rough from screaming and disuse but it had a hearty element to it, a golden thickness not unlike honey.


Your kind are an affront to Serai and will not be tolerated in her daughters presence.” It was a strain to speak, more mental wise than physical as the muscles in her throat were not used to producing such soft sounds. More often than not, Serai’Drakhoul communicated by rapid bioluminescent changes, not vocally. The Dredge had not smelled the robots approaching and only heard the cracking of leaves and bones as it had dined on a few more of the locals before drifting off to a more pleasant sleep. Its muscles still stiff and aching but a good host could fix that. It had definitely heard them however, clunky beasts just like their creators.


The writhing mass of coils shifted just enough so that a grey, stormy eye could peer between the armored joints and inspect the metal-men. If they had been human, meeting thine eyes would have caused them to tremble from the intensity of which those star pupiled eyes bore into the unfeeling LED of those who disturbed it.


Another flash thought, flitted through her mind, one of which the possibility was unacceptable and improbable as much a dream t'was it. It debated ending them, but the metal men were not Humans, and could not act beyond that of their programming, at least that is what she could understand from the snippets she had snagged from her various human hosts over the years and those currently. They acted not out of emotion and felt none so she needed not to assault them in revenge, though their metallic smell wreaked havoc on her sensory organs and that alone gave her incentive to end their not-lives.


Begone, else suffer the same fate as that of your Makers.” The Huntress warned, not even bothering to get up from where it lay in a tight little dense ball of flesh and armored chitin.


@Mystik


 

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