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Post by Atticus Batman on Oct 3, 2016 11:11:02 GMT
After I made my comment about the diabolical duo in my introduction to the people, Lena Marr stuck her tongue out at me, then smiled sweetly at me as she hugged even closer to Marcel. Suddenly the Vigilant's AI, Lexxy, in the hologram of a small girl, looking distraught, appeared before the small assembled group of Protectors.
"I c-can't co-co... There's no trans-trans..." Stuttered Lexxy, then throwing up her hands in dismay, blurted, "Nobody's listening down there! Nobody is picking up!"
I looked at Lexy then knelt down in front of her and looked directly into her eyes as I calmly and reassuringly said, "Calm down Lexy. You did everything that you could. Now I promise that we will do everything that we can to help them."
Then I stood up, turned around and said sternly, "Taffer, I already had a couple Dark Matter portals loaded on the Riot and a couple delivered to Haele and Vo in Haele's lab just in case we need to evacuate infected to her lab. Which is good because this calls for a slight change of plans. We tried the Protectors way, of extending our hand in friendship in advance, but got no answer. So now we try the direct approach. Everybody get your gear and get on the Riot now! Then Taffer will get us to the surface immediately! We will survey the situation as soon as we land in town and worry about actual introductions once we get there, provided there is anybody conscious and willing to talk for us to introduce ourselves to. Taffer notify Vo and Haele that they better setup and activate the two dark matter portals I had delivered to Haele's lab in their containment areas right away because we are expecting that they will have some new patients very soon, as this silence is not a good sign when it comes to a village of artists. I will notify Kaj and have him keep a look out for the submarine just in case it leaves the island soon."
As I contacted Kaj and apprised him of the altered plan, Taffer notified Vo. Then once we were done, the two of us quickly followed the rest of our team onto the Riot. Once we made sure the portals were indeed on board and in working condition, we entered the Riot's cockpit where Lady and Sandy were already preparing it for launch so we could depart immediately in hopes of helping those on the island below.
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Post by Taffer on Oct 3, 2016 22:36:32 GMT
"Vo, set the lab on strict quarantine. Once the first patient is in, no Votan except you, Lu or Haele should come in." Taffer paused for a moment and added, "Or out. You know, even if you are wearing a sealed suit or immune to the virus, you still can carry it. Good luck with finding the cure, I'm sure this time you'll need it." After he transferred that, Taffer entered the Riot through the cargo hold, checking its contents quickly. The remains of the Garilu were already unloaded from it but the Raptor was still inside, chained firmly to the floor. This was good because Taffer expected it to play an important role in their rescue operation. He checked that other cargo including ammo box and portals was also fastened tightly to survive an overkeel maneuver he planned to perform. After he was satisfied with what he saw, he entered the cockpit and powered up the engines. The cargo bay door immediately opened, letting the lesser spaceship fly out. Taffer had a bad feeling that time was really running out, he decided to make an unusual move to quickly drop the altitude and look over the island at the same time. "Everyone please fasten your belts," he asked, "For real this time. Should be a hell of a roller-coaster." After he made sure everyone was safely fastened, Taffer turned the spacecraft upside down and then pulled it into a quick almost vertical dive, using its frontal thrusters as break to maintain a constant diving speed, replicating the dive bombing maneuver of a WWII Ju-87 aircraft. This time there was no bomb to release, but he used the nose-down time to look over the terrain, noting where the main buildings were located, his EGO marking them on his map. He recovered from the dive right above the protective dome that was shielding the island from above and piloted the Riot towards the coastline. Once he reached the shore, he turned it around and made it enter the island's grounds at low altitude and low speed so that their spacecraft's movement won't be different from a vessel. Once the spacecraft landed, Taffer asked his EGO for scan results. "Many life forms," Em Dash replied, "Alive, but not moving. Life signs… depressed. Only three in a better condition all in the largest building." Taffer paused for a second as he realized what they are going to see at the village. "Our lab is big, but it won't accommodate all of the Votan population of this island," he said slowly as he was still thinking on the solution. "We can reverse the quarantine, placing our healthy Votan crew members into the sealed lab and accommodate the patients throughout the whole spaceship. But that will render it unmovable while we still need it to be actively searching for the submarine." Suddenly he snapped his fingers as an idea came to his mind and he said, "Life pods. There's a whole deck of life pods for the entire crew to be rescued if needed. Each life pod has a life support system in case its inhabitant is unconscious. The deck can be hermetically sealed and pressurized as it's designed to release life pods in the open space. We can place our patients there too." He stood up and walked up to the communication console. "Vo, I'm afraid we'll have more patients than the lab can accommodate. To counter that, please place one of the portals into the life pod deck then seal and pressurize it. Obviously someone should stay in it to place patients into life pods and connect them to a life support system inside the pod." After the message has been transferred, he addressed the team, "All right, I'm sending you the coordinates where the sensors detected people. We'll assemble the portal on the Raptor and drive around the village picking them up. But first we'll get to the largest building where healthier people were detected. They might know crucial details about the infection or at least point us where their hospital is, maybe someone managed to do some analysis there. It would be even better if we could find and transfer at least a couple of Votans right away to the lab so that Dr. Todt could have a sample of the virus and a patient to work on. So let's assemble the portal and move out. I'm afraid that Pappy Naruto guy will have to undergo some treatment before he could tell any explanation which Lena's eager to squeeze from him" Meanwhile on the Vigilant, Lu took her Pulverizer and said to Vo, "I think my little resting time is over and I'm going to the life pod deck. The Pulverizer will help me carry patients around. Don't be afraid, I'll be wearing my suit for all the time."  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Oct 4, 2016 8:45:21 GMT
"Fist thing I'd suggest to ask them, is the existence/presence of the medic," suggested Volodja Uljanov. "Over free hundred people can't build a working commune without decent medical help. Actually they could, but that would be a really troublesome, not to mention that it wouldn't be very sustainable. Even our ancestors had a sort of which doctor, shaman, druid or someone similar heal of wounds and cure diseases. And the medic would be the fist instance they would turn if plague gets loose...At least remains of my common sense suggest me that."
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"I detected the landing of an unknown flying object, Sir," declared man by the radio and radar equipment. "The satellite image shows presence of humanoids on the island. Some of them are in sealed suits but uncovered faces indicate to...humans, Sir. I am not sure about the essence of sealed specimens though."
"Let me look at them," said Boris and examined monitor. "You...I have seen you. Let me see your face..." That phrase sounded familiar...At least for certain sort of gamers.
"Yes! I remember this man from the house of Doctor Euthanasius. He was his "house guest" I once released, instead of disposing him for good, because he was a human. But he denied his humanity when he fell in love with a Votan girl. That's why I left him to die with the rest of people, but looks like that he survived. Maybe I should obeyed Doctors orders this time? Or not, because recognizing him there allows me to jump into conclusion that maybe the rest of their crew also managed to escape the Island and plan our next moves accordingly."
"Shall we retreat, Sir?" asked the Captain.
"Not yet," replied Boris. "They are going to spend some time on this...Elysium. We can observe their actions from a safe distance. If they decide to help them, then...I know what sort of the bone to throw at them to buy us more time. And continue our series of tests at the same time. The monkey did good on this island but that is not enough to spread the cure for the Votanis plague all over the world. We can't count singly on monkeys. We don't have enough of them to write even a dirty limerick, not to mention Shakespeare's "Selected works" or cause a decent pandemic."
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Post by Atticus Batman on Oct 4, 2016 9:38:01 GMT
Suddenly Taffer snapped his fingers as an idea came to his mind and he said, "Life pods. There's a whole deck of life pods for the entire crew to be rescued if needed. Each life pod has a life support system in case its inhabitant is unconscious. The deck can be hermetically sealed and pressurized as it's designed to release life pods in the open space. We can place our patients there too."
Sitting in the cockpit as well but at my favorite spot, the weapons controls, I merely responded with, "Fine, if that is what is required."
Taffer stood up and walked up to the communication console. "Vo, I'm afraid we'll have more patients than the lab can accommodate. To counter that, please place one of the portals into the life pod deck then seal and pressurize it. Obviously someone should stay in it to place patients into life pods and connect them to a life support system inside the pod."
After the message has been transferred, he addressed the team, "All right, I'm sending you the coordinates where the sensors detected people. We'll assemble the portal on the Raptor and drive around the village picking them up. But first we'll get to the largest building where healthier people were detected. They might know crucial details about the infection or at least point us where their hospital is, maybe someone managed to do some analysis there. It would be even better if we could find and transfer at least a couple of Votans right away to the lab so that Dr. Todt could have a sample of the virus and a patient to work on. So let's assemble the portal and move out. I'm afraid that Pappy Naruto guy will have to undergo some treatment before he could tell any explanation which Lena's eager to squeeze from him."
"First thing I'd suggest to ask them, is the existence/presence of the medic," suggested Volodja Uljanov. "Over three hundred people can't build a working commune without decent medical help. Actually they could, but that would be a really troublesome, not to mention that it wouldn't be very sustainable. Even our ancestors had a sort of which doctor, shaman, druid or someone similar heal of wounds and cure diseases. And the medic would be the fist instance they would turn if plague gets loose...At least remains of my common sense suggest me that."
I responded this time with, "The largest building with the humans it is then. Taffer once we find out where the Clinic is, it would be best if you go to the Clinic and if you need somebody to accompany you it would be best if it is another human, perhaps either Volodja or Sandy, while Lady Lena and I stay to talk to the human inhabitants. Yes our sealed battle armor should keep us protected, but I still think it would be best if we Votans stayed away from the clinic just in case it is ground zero. Unfortunately it is probably best if we don't handle any of the comatose either at the moment for that matter.
However as I am sure you know, the Dark Matter portals are able to scan and remove foreign contaminants as someone or something goes through it, but if we want it to also scan for a specific contaminant to isolate and remove from our clothing armor and gear, then it is best if it's in the portals' limited databases and set as the decontamination protocols' first priority followed by all other known contaminants and then the unknown contaminants to make the most use of it's programming, as those protocols were designed to work in a clearly specified order such as that. I do not pretend to know why they were designed that way, just that they were.
So I suggest that once Haele and Doctor Todt have managed to get a complete sample of the virus, they put it in the portals' decontaminant protocols and then activate said protocols that way, if the contaminant is somehow clinging to the outside of our battle armor, the portals will clear it for us as we walk through them. That way we can be more useful to the recovery team."
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Post by Lena Marr on Oct 4, 2016 17:56:32 GMT
The ride in the Raptor from the Riot to the village on the southern bank of Elysium was uneventful, and they parked on the outskirts so as not to alarm the residents. The walk, however, to the large central hut was downright spooky, enhanced by the dawning light, with dozens of Votans scattered throughout their path haven fallen wherever they were and in the midst of whatever they were doing. A large Sensoth had fallen while pushing a heavy load in a wheelbarrow, with the Sensoth now lying amidst the spilled rocks he was carrying. Three pre-teen Votan girls were obviously jumping rope and fell where they stood doing so, the Castithan girl obviously in mid-jump, for the jump rope was tangled around her skinny chalk white legs, whereas the one handle was still in the red clay colored hand of an Irathient girl and the other in the hairy hand of a Liberata. The small group of Protectors saw numerous scenes such as those on their way to the hut where their sensors said three people sat, not comatose like all those they had run across on the way there. All had been quiet along the way, even Lena Marr who was usually quite talkative, for all were apprehensive as Taffer opened the door into what appeared to be a bar with a small stage where a elderly black human guitarist sat, wearing sunglasses but not playing; just sitting grimly on a stool in the center of the stage with his acoustic guitar in his lap and appearing lost in his own thoughts. A large burly white man with long blond hair sat by the bar, alternating between taking gulps from a whiskey bottle and tokes from a large bong on the counter, either too drunk or too stoned to notice that they had entered. Only a thin tall teen mulato girl noticed their entry, rushing over to them with the small silver cross around her neck clutched in her milk chocolate hand, asking, "Are you Angels come to answer my prayers?" "I've been called many things, but Angel was never one of them," Replied Lena with a wicked grin that could not be seen through her suit's helmet, "Now can you direct me to Pappy Narruto?" The young girl looked surprised at the question, replying, "His hut is closest to the water, because he likes to rest his feel in the waves, but he's..." "TYVM," Said Lena, not waiting to hear the rest of the girl's answer, as she exited the hut. "I'll go with Lena," Said Lady Christianna, quickly following on Lena's heels.  |
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Post by Taffer on Oct 4, 2016 22:49:45 GMT
"I'm sending your suggestion on the portals' decontaminant protocols to Vo to be relayed to Doctor Todt," Taffer replied to Atticus, "But I wouldn't rely on those too much as I wouldn't rely on any other single piece of tech when it comes to hundreds of lives at stake. The portals on the Vigilant will stay in isolated rooms with closed air cycle until Doctor Todt and Haele create a vaccine or other way to eliminate the virus. We have no margin for error now so better be safe."
Once they stepped out of the Raptor to continue their way on foot, Taffer was silent as he contemplated their further actions taking into account what Atticus had noted on the Votan part of their team and their safety. He took a mental note on where three Votan girls lay thinking those should be the first ones to be transported. He was still deep in his thoughts when he opened the door into what appeared to be a bar. A thin tall teen mulato girl rushed over to them and had a quick talk with Lena. He followed Lena and Lady with his eyes as two girls left to see Pappy Naruto and then switched his attention back to the teen girl.
"Unfortunately we're not Angels but people of flesh and bone," he answered her question as he stepped forward with his helmet removed, "But we happen to be in the best position to help people of Elysium and hopefully prevent such disaster from happening anywhere else. My name's Taffer. What's your name?"
After receiving her quick answer, he continued his talk, "Okay Misty, now we need to know how it all started and the best bet in our search is the local Clinic. Can you give me directions on how to find it?"
As the girl pointed a direction for him and described how the building looked like Taffer said, "Great, thank you. I'll start for it right away. Please tell my friends if there's something else you noticed that might help us or maybe your friends here might know."
Then he turned to his team mates and said, "Archer comes with me. Everyone else, listen to what Misty has to say and then start evacuating people to the lab. Kids first. Marcel, I know you'd like to follow Lena so you can do just that. But before you go, please take one of the portals with you and assemble it where you find Pappy Naruto. Something tells me evacuating him for treatment is what Lena will want to do. Atticus, I think you better stay in the Raptor and operate the portal. It means transporting people will be on Volodya and Sandy. Use the stretcher and Raptor's rear winch to pull them up to the portal to save your strength; you'll need it a lot. We'll help you on that once we get back. Frankie, Let's move out."
While they were moving through the village, Taffer saw more and more unconscious people around. That was why he chose Archer on this job — she looked she was the most mentally stable in the face of this sight. Not the unconscious bodies themselves, but the fact that they had to ignore them and follow to their primary goal without stopping by and trying to help people around them right away. Taffer learned this lesson the hard way when he was a teenager among a gang of same-aged orphans. That they scurried through destroyed villages or small towns searching for food and other loot they could sell for food and clothes. Sometimes they could find wounded people trapped in collapsed houses or partially buried in the upturned ground. They tried to carry hem to their hideout and care for them, but soon they realized that this only resulted in their hideout being raided soon after those people could get up on their feet and walk away. They probably meant no harm telling to the "authorities" about a group of starving kids hiding in a cave or an abandoned house, but the aforementioned "authorities" seemed to be more interested in looting their hideout and turning them into slaves rather than helping them survive. As a result, the last bunker they found was never shown to anyone not from their gang and Taffer learned to suppress his sympathy to the wounded as he searched them for any valuables and moved on as others did too.
This time it was different. He didn't have to hide his sympathy to those unconscious Votans around but he still had to pass by them without slowing down as he knew the information he was going to search for in the Clinic might be crucial to rescuing them successfully afterwards so it should be collected ASAP.
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Post by Lena Marr on Oct 5, 2016 3:41:35 GMT
Lena Marr looked at the unconscious body of Pappy Naruto lying on his bed in his small hut by the sea, surrounded by his many books and within distance to hear the lapping of the waves on the seashore. It would have been calming to most people, but to Lena, it only enraged her to grab him by his artist smock to try to shake him awake until Lady Christianna intervened grabbing Lena's wrists with her two small hands, increasing their density so they were like heavy weights stopping Lena from shaking Pappy any further. "Not helping," Said Lady with a pretty pout on her chalk white face. Lena let Pappy's smock go, letting his limp body fall back onto the bed, saying, "Okay, Okay, BGF, you're right..." But noticed some movement against the pale blue of his artist's smock. Lady must have noticed it too as she released Lena's wrists, because her pink eyes grew big through the clear face plate of her sealed suit as she said, "See that?" "Yeeeeaaaahhh," Answered Lena , as she looked around the hut for something that might enhance her eyesight, finding a magnifying glass that Pappy Naruto kept to aid his ability to read as his eyesight began to fail as he got older. Lena focused the magnifying glass on Pappy's tunic and took a step back, shocked by what she saw. The tunic was streaming with small insects that vaguely resembled fleas, and as she looked to the rest of his body, it too was covered with the bugs. Lady looked over Lena's shoulder focusing a small flashlight where Lena looked, uttering a small gasp at what she saw. Lena then examined the bed with the same results - the wall, the floor, the same result. Everywhere they looked, even their own gloved hands, were swarming with the near microscopic bugs. Suddenly Lady began to weave and sway, and as she raised her hands to her woozy head, she noticed a small puncture in the sleeve of her sealed containment armor just before she lost consciousness. As Lady fell, Lena caught her and gently lowered her to the ground, being careful not to stab her again with the Bowie knife she still held in her right hand and apologizing repeatedly to the unconscious girl, "Sorry, sorry, SORRY BGF, but it's you own fault! You shouldn't have followed me! I can't have you see what I'm about to do! I really am sorry, but I won't let your kids grow up without a mother! I promise you that!" Sheathing her knife, Lena then unsealed her glove, taking it off with one hand, holding her breath hoping that what she was about to try would work and that the virus had not mutated so that she would be affected too and, more importantly to her, that the cure she held within her would no longer work. Concentrating and coordinating with her EGO's psyche who at the moment was Greed, her hand began to glow, not with the orange light of an overcharge, but with a bright white light. The mutated medical nanites in her body replicated at an incredible rate as she placed her hand on Pappy Naruto's forehead and they swarmed onto and into it, immediately destroying the virus in his body while inoculating him to the Votan killing virus as well as they imploded, leaving no trace that they were ever there. Pappy Naruto's sky blue eyes fluttered open, looking at Lena in surprise as he muttered, "Who are you?" Lena smiled a wicked grin as she resealed her glove on her hand before slugging him and knocking him into unconsciousness again, replying, "Your daughter you SOB - and that's for abandoning me!!!!"  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Oct 5, 2016 9:10:41 GMT
Volodja Uljanov frowned for a second when he heard about their task. Then he grinned and said: "I am a lazy man and following the principle, according to...let's formulate it using verses: "If you want to spare your hands and feet, Then the bright idea is everything you need."" Volodja looked around and announced: "Moving over three hundred people to the portal is a tedious task. That's why we are going to move the portal to them by building a mobile evacuation point. We are going to use this wheelbarrow and install portal on it. And who's ATV is it? Sheriff's? Time to be a law abiding example, Sheriff. Don't drink and drive and those other epistles, you know...We are going to commandeer your vehicle to move the wheelbarrow with the portal along, while we pick up patients and load them into the portal. Then we deliver them to the "Raptor" which is way too big to move freely around in this tiny village. Atticus will take care of the rest. Especially when we add a roller conveyor to the system to deliver people to portal with MINIMUM physical effort. Maybe even two conveyors, because Atticus could put one portal facing the other and conveyor between them so he could lead patients from one gate, leading to "Vigilant" in no time. I think that "Raptor" has enough space for that. Result should be fast an efficient. And takes minimal amount of labour force. What do you think, folks?"  "If you wonder, where we get tools and materials for the construction work, then I am happy to announce that among three hundred artistic people are usually few sculptors who work with metal. They will provide us with everything, starting from chisels and finishing with welding equipment. Some potter or mason has probably a has a conveyor as well. We can use it then. I believe that it's better spend 15 minutes on constructing necessary equipment than spend hours to carry people on a stretcher. Will you give us a hand, Marcel?" Latter grinned devilishly and said: "I am sooo terribly sorry, but I had a clear orders to deliver this portal to Lena and help HER in any possible way. Who am I to question those orders?" "Fine then. I can do it myself," decided Volodja. "Sandy will be driving and I will do the rest, like picking people up." Volodja begun to work on his installation, he called: "Mobilis in Mobili" It was a motto of the "Nautilus" - the submarine in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and meant "moving within the moving" in rough translation. Since this mobile portal was meant to move sick people to the ship, plus they were on island of artists, that piece of functional art needed a name. One can't fight traditions all the time, you know. Volodja didn't knew that pair of keen eyes observed actions of Sandy and him on the monitor... |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Oct 5, 2016 12:02:48 GMT
"I've been called many things, but Angel was never one of them," Replied Lena with a wicked grin that could not be seen through her suit's helmet, "Now can you direct me to Pappy Narruto?"
The young girl looked surprised at the question, replying, "His hut is closest to the water, because he likes to rest his feel in the waves, but he's..."
"TYVM," Said Lena, not waiting to hear the rest of the girl's answer, as she exited the hut.
"I'll go with Lena," Said Lady Christianna, quickly following on Lena's heels. As Lady and Lena left, I sent Lady an EGO message simply saying, "Be careful, Snow Angel. I know that you and Lena are now 'friends', but remember that she is always up to something."
After Lady and Lena had walked out of and closed the door, I heard Taffer talking and turned my attention back to him. "Unfortunately we're not Angels but people of flesh and bone," Taffer answered her question as he stepped forward with his helmet removed, "But we happen to be in the best position to help people of Elysium and hopefully prevent such disaster from happening anywhere else. My name's Taffer. What's your name?"
After receiving her quick answer, he continued his talk, "Okay Misty, now we need to know how it all started and the best bet in our search is the local Clinic. Can you give me directions on how to find it?"
As the girl pointed a direction for him and described how the building looked like Taffer said, "Great, thank you. I'll start for it right away. Please tell my friends if there's something else you noticed that might help us or maybe your friends here might know."
Then he turned to his team mates and said, "Archer comes with me. Everyone else, listen to what Misty has to say and then start evacuating people to the lab. Kids first. Marcel, I know you'd like to follow Lena so you can do just that. But before you go, please take one of the portals with you and assemble it where you find Pappy Naruto. Something tells me evacuating him for treatment is what Lena will want to do. Atticus, I think you better stay in the Raptor and operate the portal. It means transporting people will be on Volodya and Sandy. Use the stretcher and Raptor's rear winch to pull them up to the portal to save your strength; you'll need it a lot. We'll help you on that once we get back. Frankie, Let's move out."
As Taffer and Archer also headed out I said, "Well Volodja it looks like it us up to you, Sandy, Lestrange and myself to figure out the best way to get all of the bodies to the Raptor and then through the portal for Vo and his team to receive on their end."
Volodja Uljanov frowned for a second when he heard about their task. Then he grinned and said: "I am a lazy man and following the principle, according to...let's formulate it using verses:
"If you want to spare your hands and feet ,
Then the bright idea is everything you need.""
Volodja looked around and announced: "Moving over three hundred people to the portal is a tedious task. That's why we are going to move the portal to them by building a mobile evacuation point. We are going to use this wheelbarrow and install portal on it. And who's ATV is it? Sheriff's? Time to be a law abiding example, Sheriff. Don't drink and drive and those other epistles, you know...We are going to commandeer your vehicle to move the wheelbarrow with the portal along, while we pick up patients and load them into the portal. Then we deliver them to the "Raptor" which is way too big to move freely around in this tiny village. Atticus will take care of the rest. Especially when we add a roller conveyor to the system to deliver people to portal with MINIMUM physical effort. Maybe even two conveyors, because Atticus could put one portal facing the other and conveyor between them so he could lead patients from one gate, leading to "Vigilant" in no time. I think that "Raptor" has enough space for that. Result should be fast an efficient. And takes minimal amount of labour force. What do you think, folks?"
"If you wonder, where we get tools and materials for the construction work, then I am happy to announce that among three hundred artistic people are usually few sculptors who work with metal. They will provide us with everything, starting from chisels and finishing with welding equipment. Some potter or mason has probably a has a conveyor as well. We can use it then. I believe that it's better spend 15 minutes on constructing necessary equipment than spend hours to carry people on a stretcher. Will you give us a hand, Marcel?"
Latter grinned devilishly and said: "I am sooo terribly sorry, but I had a clear orders to deliver this portal to Lena and help HER in any possible way. Who am I to question those orders?"
"Fine then. I can do it myself," decided Volodja. "Sandy will be driving and I will do the rest, like picking people up."
I said to Marcel, "I suppose that I better show you how to setup and activate those portals then. Since I need to setup and activate one in the back of the Raptor anyway, you can learn while I do so. Then I will help you unload the other one so that you can take it to Pappy Naruto's."
As Marcel nodded, he lit one of his cigarettes before following me out to the Raptor. Once there, I showed Marcel step by step how simple it is to setup a Dark Matter portal, then I explained the best way to activate it and connect it to the portal on the Vigilant in Haele's isolation chamber and told him I would enter the code into his portal as soon as we unloaded it, so all he would have to do is set it up and activate it as I showed him and it will instantly connect to Haele's portal as soon as Lestrange turns it on. Then I entered the correct code into my portal to connect it to the portal in the cryo-chambers aboard the Vigilant, that I was suppose to connect it to. I finished my quick lesson just as Marcel finished his cigarette. After Marcel assured me that it was simple, I helped Marcel Lestrange unload the portal that he was to take with him. Then I entered the correct codes in his portal so it would connect to the one in Haele's lab once both were activated.
Once that was all done, I said, "Alright since you know the basics now, you can take the portal to this Naruto's. That way you can send him and any other infected through the portal so that Vo's team can help them."
Once Marcel started working on hauling the portal to Naruto's, I turned to Volodja and said calmly, "Your plan sounds good as usual. However, I think I better go talk to the dakking Law keeper BEFORE he completely fries his brain with his drugs and alcohol...and don't worry I have no reason to maim or kill this Law keeper at the moment. Then I will come back out. If you are not done building your conveyors at that time, then I will help you finish them. Once that is done, then we can begin the evacuations."
Then I turned and went back into the bar. Once in there I walked past the teen girl and up to the partially inebriated law keeper, where I knocked his drink out of his hand. As he turned and looked up at me, I sternly said, "You heard my friend! You have had ENOUGH! Now as you are what passes for a daking law keeper around here, you better focus and tell me what I NEED to know to help your town!"
The Law keeper started to reach for the bong instead, but with just a flick of my wrist I sent a throwing knife into his glass bong, shattering it.
As I reached over him and retrieved my knife, I said to the young woman named Misty, "The daking law man will have coffee...The darkest and strongest that you have!"
She nodded and said, "His name is Tomas and I will get his coffee right away Mister." Then she scurried off the quickly get him coffee as ordered.
While she was doing so, I sat on a stool next to him and said very strongly, "This is where you tell me about any strange occurrences you witnessed or heard about today. Including any strangers that you may have encountered before my friends and I arrived. If we are to have any chance of saving your community, then you must tell me all that you can....and remember to keep it short as time is extremely important here."
After he had told me all about the strangers he met on the beach with the cage, and what the children had told him about a cute but weird-looking rat monkey, I contacted Taffer via EGO. "Taffer I have a lead. The daking Law keeper talked to two people on the beach earlier with a large cage. He thought they were simply poachers but had no proof. So he made them get back on their raft and leave, but he didn't see a ship in the direction they headed. Later the daking Law-fool got stopped by a young Liberata whose Irathiant friend was unconscious. He took both kids to the Clinic. On the way the Liberata told him about how they found a rat monkey that didn't look like it belonged on the island. However it seemed friendly and hungry so they gave it a banana. The kid swore they never touched the monkey and it never bit them. However that encounter was the only strange thing that the child said happened to them today. So it looks like this Boris guy introduced the virus to the island by releasing a monkey, that was apparently contaminated with it. Hopefully that information makes your search of the Clinic easier."
Shortly after I had finished my conversation with the law keeper and had sent Taffer the EGO message, Misty returned with his coffee. So I said to her, "I better go help my team get your friends back to our ship so that our medical staff can help them. Keep his coffee coming and no more drugs or alcohol for him. If he does manage to get either, then come get me and I will handle it."
Then I left the bar and went back to where I left Volodja working, so that I could help however needed.
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Post by Lena Marr on Oct 5, 2016 13:57:56 GMT
After carefully, almost ritualistically, placing the unconscious Lady Christianna on the bed, Lena Marr dragged Pappy Naruto out of the hut by his bare heels to the seashore, then rolled his limp body into the surf face down. Pappy sputtered as he woke and sat up in the shallow water. Lena thought the old Castithan looked like a wet white rat as she sat on her haunches watching him with cold unblinking sky blue eyes. "Why... why did you DO that?" Asked Pappy Naruto, spitting out a mouthful of salty seawater. "BE-CAUSE you abandoned me," Taking off her suit's helmet and dropping it into the sand so that he could see her face, Lena answered with a frown on her pretty chalk white face, "Your own daughter!" Pappy stared intently at Lena with his own sky blue eyes, wrinkles around his eyes getting even deeper as he narrowed them to better focus on every detail of his face, before slowly shaking his head, saying slowly, "I'm sorry young Lady, but I don't even KNOW you. Back in the day, I had quite a following as a poet, and I suspect if you are my daughter, it might have been with one of my many groupies. I was quite promiscuous back then, and I have to admit if it is true you are my daughter, this isn't the first time I found I had a child I didn't know existed. Did your mother tell you I was the father? Where where you born? What's your mother's name?" Lena sighed heavily, as she fingered one of her sheathed Bowie knives wondering if she she just end this now with on quick thrust, but instead answered, "Sharia Marr. In Lima. I killed her as I was born, and your name was on my birth certificate as my Daddy-O." Pappy shook his head slowly once more, admitting, "I'm sorry, but I just don't recognize the name - and anyone could claim I was the father by just filling in the blank with my name. It was never verified with me." Lena stared at him for some time, seeing the sincerity in the eyes that looked so much like hers, then threw up her hands and fell back into a sitting position in the sand as she lamented, "Well that just figures! However, we can verify it now!" Lena took a device with a needle from her belt pouch then reaching over unceremoniously stuck it into his outstretched leg, removing a blood sample, then stuck it a second time into her own exposed neck. She pushed a button on the end of the device opposite the needle, and soon a series of alternating red and green light's on the devices side began blinking until after several seconds it stopped on all green. She looked at the small screen below the lights and a wicked grin crossed her pretty chalk white face. "One hundred percent match! Since Castithan children get ALL of their genes from the father, only with Castighans can we be THIS sure," Exclaimed Lena with a laugh, continuing in a sarcastic tone, "Well, congratulations Pappy, you are a pappy yet again! Now I JUST have to decide whether I should hug you or gut you! Still haven't made up my mind on that one!"  |
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Oct 5, 2016 17:54:09 GMT
Marcel Lestrange put the Dark Matter portal to the ground and stretched his muscular body. There was no sign of Lena, although he called her several times. Since he did not got any response after few more yells, Marcel entered into Pappy Naruto's hut without invitation and without any hesitations and looked around. Something was not right there. Maybe because he saw unconscious body of Lady Christianna on bed but Lena and her dad were both missing. Then he saw traces as somebody dragged something heavy out of the hut. Traces lead towards the beach. Marcel followed them until he was able to witness picturesque scene, starring Lena and Pappy.
Intervention was not necessary, because Marcel was a priori on Lena's side whatever she might do with Pappy Naruto. This unfamiliar Pappy Naruto who abandoned his own flesh and blood did not rose any feelings in Marcel's cold heart. Especially when he discovered that Pappy was comparable with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, author of "Émile, ou De l’éducation" ("Emile, or On Education") - a treatise on the nature of education and on the nature of man. Marcel remembered with a crooked grin that Rousseau who wrote a scarcely a detailed parenting guide which contained specific advice on raising children, stuck his own children into orphanage just like Pappy "The father to all islanders but not to his own daughter" Naruto did. Why? Because nobody paid to Rousseau to raise and educate them. Rousseau's children lived centuries ago, so Marcel did not gave a damn about them. And he did not cared about Naruto. But he loved Lena and when she had a chance for payback, Marcel was willing to support her if needed.
That is why he just lit a cigarette and leaned against the nearest tree trunk, looked Lena and her dad and begun humming an old song about his ding-a-ling.
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Post by Taffer on Oct 5, 2016 21:07:59 GMT
"Thanks for the information Atticus," Taffer replied to him, "But it's unlikely a single monkey could just go ahead and bite all inhabitants of the island for such a short time period. Moreover, if those kids told the truth about not touching it, there's definitely something more than a monkey that was spreading the disease." "Fortunately, finding an Indogene's building in a village is much easier than a monkey in the jungle," Taffer said as he turned to Archer and pointed at the building which had a distinctive hexagonal ornament on its walls.  "Helmets on," he added as he took a step forward, "I don't expect anything dangerous there but better be safe. We'll get in, search around and find out if they got any details of the contaminant before things went south for them." The Clinic turned out to be clean with almost nothing that looked out of order like it could be in case of a wild animal like the aforementioned monkey was on the loose. Instead, they saw three unconscious bodies lying at the examination room. Two of them were kids, one was Irathient girl and the second one was Liberata boy. The third one was an adult Indogene and he was definitely a doctor as he was wearing a lab coat and was still holding a pair tweezers in his hand. Taffer quickly glanced around the room in his search for any clues and his gaze stopped at a data recorder. He quickly grabbed it and his face became even gloomier than it was as he was listening to the latest recording. "I think we found the carriers," Taffer sent to the team, "Initially it was indeed a monkey, but then the virus moved to fleas on it. The unfortunate Doctor's research states they are quite unusual fleas; they have wings and a stinger. So our carriers are small, flying, stinging and come in masses. That's what I'd call a perfect storm. So Vo, once you get the sample, you better tune the portals to remove those fleas from anyone who's being transported." He turned to Archer again and commanded, "We've done here, let's head back to the Raptor. You pick the girl, I pick the boy. It seems they were the first ones who were infected, so their condition is probably the worst and we'll have to give them treatment of highest priority. The doctor will have to wait in the line." |
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Post by Vo Kshaa on Oct 5, 2016 21:53:26 GMT
"Do we need a sample from one of those fleas Taffer told about?" Vo asked through the comm system as he looked at Dr. Todt through the thick glass of the containment chamber. He and Micha Quinn volunteered to be those to stay at the portal and accept the patients coming from the portal, so there were very sparse moments when he could even talk to someone. His Infiltrator suit was shut airtight as he still wasn't sure in his immunity to that particular strain of the virus.
"Yes please," Dr. Todt answered, "You see, the virus has the ability to modify itself according to what type of creature it finds itself in. So having the initial one would be very beneficial."
"The problem is those portals are already destroying those which can be found on our patients as it detects them as parasites," Vo replied, "We'll have to put one in a sample compartment for the portal to recognize it and transfer it intact. I'm not sure if anyone of our away team has those so I'd better do it myself. Lu, it's your turn to accept patients for a while. Ms. Quinn, I'll reverse the portal now to come to the island and pickup a sample Lu's portal at the life pod deck will work for that time. Please reverse the portal again when I send you a message so that I could return back here."
With that said he picked up the sample container and reversed the portal, marking the secondary one as his destination. He chose a secondary portal because the primary one was constantly sending patients and he didn't want to interrupt it. Secondary one, on the contrary, was active but not sending anyone, so Vo assumed it would be better to use that particular one. The first thing he saw to his dismay when he entered through the portal was unconscious Lady who lay on the bed. He rushed to her as Shirra was scanning her condition.
"She's infected Vo," Shirra said sadly in his head, "Same symptoms. I'm detecting her suit was damaged."
"Then we should get her with other patients," Vo thought back as he turned on his Blur and opened a sample compartment. With his Blur on, it wasn't difficult for him to catch a couple of fleas with his knife and put them into the compartment. Once that was done, he picked Lady up and sent a quick message to Atticus, "Lady got the virus. I'm getting her to the Vigilant, Ms. Quinn will take care of her. We're close to finding the vaccine so chances are high she will be cured."
With that said, he radioed back to Micha Quinn and stepped into the portal with Lady on his shoulder.
"I'm afraid we'll have to repeat the trick as I saw another patient in that home where I found Lady and I didn't see any of the Protectors nearby so there's no one to pick her up except me. I'll be quick," Vo said once Lady was safely put on the cart. Then he stepped into the portal again and returned with an Irathient girl in a short sari who was also unconscious.
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Post by Lena Marr on Oct 5, 2016 22:46:34 GMT
"I did not know, so I'm your foe?" Said Pappy Naruto with a laugh that was infectious.
Lena Marr laughed too, saying with a wicked grin on her pretty chalk white face, "Gods, that was just... awful! I would hope a world famous poet would come up with something better than... THAT! No wonder I have no artistic talent!"
Pappy continued to laugh, the numerous laugh lines around his mouth and sky blue eyes deepening as he did so, until he stopped and asked, "Not my best work, I'll admit. Now young lady - what is your name anyway? I guess it doesn't matter if you are going to kill me. But if you are not, please help me up. I have a sinking feeling that my people are in trouble."
Lena thought about it for a moment before answering, "My name is Lena, and I can't blame you for being promiscuous as I was once, for lots of sex with lots of partners is SOOOOO much fun, until I met Marcel and found sex with someone you love is even better," Lena had spotted Marcel watching them with cool steel eyes and smoking his trademark cigarette while leaning against a nearby tree, so she waved vigorously yelling, "Hi Pooh Bear! Hundred percent sure this is my Daddy-O! Not killing him at the moment!" Then turned back to Pappy with unblinking sky-blue eyes, stating frankly, "Hard to be mad at you too when you didn't know I existed, let alone put into a state orphanage slash child brothel. Hard to be mad, but not impossible, as I'm still awfully angry about the whole thing; however - for - now, you made me laugh, and that gets you a temporary reprieve."
Lena helped the old Castithan man out of the surf, and as they passed Marcel, she stopped in front of Marcel introducing him, "Pappy Naruto, this is Marcel Lestrange, my true love, my significant other, my romantic interest, my soul mate, my Valentine, my sex toy and most importantly, my Pooh Bear! Pooh Bear, this is my Daddy-O, who-abandoned-me-as-an-infant-even-though-he-didn't-know-I-existed-at-the-time-but-who-I-may-still-kill, just not sure yet."
Pappy Naruto stretched out his hand to shake, as he knew it was a customary human greeting, but Marcel just took another drag on his cigarette, looking at the hand like it was covered in shit. Pappy dropped his hand, then both men followed Lena into Pappy's grass hut. They found her there pacing back and forth in front of the empty bed, throwing her alabaster hands into the air as she talked to herself saying the same thing over and over.
"Oh, my God! Oh my God! OH MY GOD! Lady is gone! Atticus is SOOOOO going to kill me!"
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Post by Atticus Batman on Oct 6, 2016 10:35:22 GMT
As I had gone out to help Volodja finish his conveyer belts, I received Taffer's EGO communique, "Thanks for the information Atticus," Taffer replied to me, "But it's unlikely a single monkey could just go ahead and bite all inhabitants of the island for such a short time period. Moreover, if those kids told the truth about not touching it, there's definitely something more than a monkey that was spreading the disease."
As I listened to that message Volodja and I secured the conveyers to the back of the Raptor. Next I got into position near the active portal and told Volodja I was ready to start transporting patients and sent Lu a communication telling her to be ready to receive them. Then as Volodja and Sandy placed bodies on the conveyor belt and I was sending them through the portal to Lu in the Cryo chambers aboard the Vigilant, I received Vo's EGO message. "Lady got the virus. I'm getting her to the Vigilant, Ms. Quinn will take care of her. We're close to finding the vaccine so chances are high she will be cured."
I angrily kicked the Raptor's back tire and my aura flickered grey and then flashed and stayed white-hot as I very angrily and loudly yelled outloud my response not caring if Volodja, Sandy or the others in the area heard me; as my EGO recorded and transmitted it to Vo as well. "WHAT THE DAKING HELL DO YOU MEAN LADY WAS INFECTED?! WHERE'S LENA?!?! HOW'D IT HAP....YOU KNOW WHAT! I DON'T GIVE A LIBERATA'S TINY FUCK HOW IT DAKING HAPPENED! I JUST DAKING KNOW THAT IF LADY DIES THEN.........LENA BETTER RUN AND NEVER RESURFACE!! FOR IF LADY DAKING DIES THEN I WILL DAKING HOLD LENA SOLELY RESPONSIBLE AS SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE WITH LADY AND THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BEST DAKING FRIENDS NOW!!! SO I WILL DAKING MAKE LENA DAKING BEG FOR DAKING DEATH FOR WEEKS OR PERHAPS DAKING MONTHS, IF NOT DAKING YEARS, BEFORE I EVEN DAKING CONSIDER ENDING HER DAKING TORTURE AND DAKING GRANTING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The angry vow was then followed by a very long rant consisting solely of Irathient swearing and curse words that my EGO refused to send to Vo, for she found the cursing rant way too uncomfortable for her to hear (even though she was forced to as my EGO), let alone force somebody else to hear the huge hurricane of Irathient cursing pouring from my mouth by attaching it to a message. So while those around me were forced to hear my long hurricane rant of Irathient curse-words, unless they somehow managed to tune out the shit-storm of curse-words; my EGO Dinara, at least spared Vo and his EGO from hearing it.
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