Stranded In Space - Chapter 3
Stranded in Space is the On-Line game I am running in the forums at the Resource Masters site as a Playtest for the HARP Sci Fi game, now available as a beta release. If you want a bit of a sneek peek at what can be done with HARP Sci Fi, drop by and take a peek. http://www.rpgrm.com/rmsmf/index.php?board=96.0
Here’s a summary of the third part of the adventure, the summary for the fourth part is coming soon.
Everyone trundles down the hallway, which is about 2.5 meters wide, and 3 meters tall. (about 8 feet wide, 10 feet tall). It is quite well lit, with white glowing panels in the ceiling, although occasionally there is one that is burnt out or dim. The floor is quite dusty, and clearly shows the footprints of Zaras, the Medic and the robot.
The doctor presses the “close door” button as he moves through the door, just behind the baron, grinning as the group jumps and turns at the sudden sound.
“A bit jumpy boys?, I’ve got something for that…” he says, slapping his medpac.
Gustav looks behind him, for the way he would need to run to if everything went pear-shaped only to see the airlock doors shutting.. He gives a slight grimace..and draws his pistol ready. He peeks forward past the bulk of Dutch…
The corridor is wide enough for the group to travel side by side, Dutch is in the lead, followed by Reegus and Gustav, then Phill and Prescott and finally Toulann and Dr. Gribble taking up the rear and providing support to the others either medically, violently or sarcastically.
After about 300 meters, the corridor opens up into a wider area.
“Well Phill, I think it’s time to earn our whoring money,” Dutch said. “You and me up front Phil…that’s unless anyone else wants to get shot at first?” Dutch turned to Toulaan and said, ‘Keep your mind out for the other two. We don’t want to blast them…particulary the medic.” Regus, I think you should stay with the Doc, after all you are the pilot.” says Dutch as he gave a small wink at the Doc. Dutch turned towards the open area and pulled out his rifle and released the safety switch. Anyone taking notice would see the motto scratched in the back of his helmet saying “Live Fast, Die Young”.
“Sounds like a fair plan to me,” Reegus replies while fumbling with his small pistol.
“Aye, Aye.” Toulan responds “Although all this metal is difficult to scrye through, I’ll alert you to their presence once I find them.”
“Ahem!” The doctor coughs through his swig of restorative. “You have a perfectly good medic here.” He looks worriedly at Dutch. “We have only been in space for a short time and already you are developing feelings for the nurse…”
Dutch stopped, turned and replied,”Feelings…?” His face turned pale when he saw the questioning look on the others faces. “Don’t fret Doc” his voice deeper and gruffer, “You’re still the best gut splitter I know.” Dutch could still see the look of doubt about him and said,” The Doctor…,”he frowned at the Doc looking back smugly,”…is revealing his twisted sense of hucking fumour.” He then looked the others in the eye and says “And if anyone here insinuates that I’m a shucking firt lifter I’ll ram his teeth so far down his throat he’ll be shoving his toothbrush up his arse to clean his teeth! With that Dutch turns around and started down the corridor.
“Lead on dutch” says Phill. “I like to shoot at things… and that toothbrush thing reminds me of this hazing they once did to… this guy… at basic… who wouldnt shut up. Man it was soooo funnny. The guys were laughing about it for years, I mean WE were….”
He notices people looking and trails off into silence…
The doctor’s deadpan voice suddenly sounds worried, “Hey Dutch, whats that critter crawling on your boot?” He levels his Las rifle at the many legged organism …
“What Many legged critter near Dutchs foot…? ” thinks Gustav, taking a quick look around, checks own feet..
“Oh CRAP!” realising what the Doc meant…and dives out of the way… “It’s ME, It’s ME DON’T F&%@ing SHOOT!!”
As Dutch looks over his shoulder and turns his foot. He is shaken by the doctors low whistle at the universally recognized homosexual pose that he has been tricked into assuming.
Before he can swear again the doctor soothes him.
“Shush Dutch, honey. Don’t sweat it. Remember if it happens in deep space or prison it doesn’t count.”
The doctor assumes a defensive posture using the Baron as partial soft cover.
Dutch clenches his fists as much as his jaw and says through clenched teeth.”Laugh it up Doc, just make sure you hide your toothbrush when we get back to the SHIP!” He strides off ready to shoot the first thing in sight.
In the open area that Dutch strides into, the first thing in sight seems to be a robot sitting behind a ticket counter. The area resembles a subway station, to the right is a set of tracks, no train at the moment. Slightly in front of the tracks is a ticket counter with the robot sitting behind it. There is an open area with a few chairs directly in front of the group, and on the wall to the left are what appear to be a couple of elevators and a couple of doors.
Dutch in his anger walks over to the ticket dispensing robot and says icely, “So when’s the next transport?”, his finger tapping the trigger guard of his rifle.
Phill chimes in, “Out of the way Dutch I got this one… I don’t like robots… grumble” and levels his largest weapon at the robot…
“Perhaps if we just get tickets…?” Gustav says hopefully, wanting to avoid a firefight. “I suspect just shooting it will just attract security…” He continues looking around nervously..
“Where is it you would like to …. “ the robot starts to say, then “Oh my!” as Phill levels his gun at him. As Phill gets closer to the robot he can see that it isn’t actually standing behind the counter, it’s built into the counter, a torso with arms and a head but no legs connected directly to the counter top.
The doctor walks up and speaks to the robot. “Can I get a first class, one way ticket to hell. Please.”
Phill, still keeping his gun pointed at the robot says “Answer the man you talking hunk of metal”. He clicks off the safety and puts the targeting laser on the robots forehead.
The robot responds in a polite voice, “We don’t have a location called ‘hell’, is there some other destination you would like? Perhaps Guest Quarters?, can I please see your clearance card? Thank you.”
“Show him the card Phil, just be ready to show him the way to hell if necessarry!” drawls the Doc.
Dutch joins th conversation “Where we can obtain a Jump Drive for our ship, Can you tell us where we need to go?”
Gustav the Rat pipes up, “That technological stuff? Didn’t I mention that? Well, I think there’s a odd group who worship that sort of stuff…they live at the end of the line..” he reminds Dutch rather hesitantly, after all Dutch has a gun..
Dutch looks at the rat still trying not to think of that ancient movie with a big rat and some kind of mutunt ninja turtles. “Right….” Dutch turns back to the bot and says, “Next question. Did you see two others that passed by here a little while ago?”
“Oh yes!, they’ve gone to the Guest Apartments, would you like to go there as well? I can summon that car for you, the attendant at that station will be able to assist you and check in your weapons and armor for you if needed”
The robot seems to sound relieved to be able to answer a question finally. As he says this, he starts to reach for a button on his console, it is one in a bank of several similar looking buttons. His hand pauses above it while he is looking at Dutch, waiting for a reply.
Dutch looks at the robot suspiciously and says, “Not just yet.” Dutch then turns to Phil and whispers “If that bot so much as goes for that bucking futton…Blast it.” Dutch then walk over to the captain. “Something is up.” He says, tapping his trigger guard.”I think we need to get the ship fixed first before we search for the others…what do you want to do cap?”
Gustav, having seen the robot press the button… “ahh ’spect the train will be here soon…” he says trying to reassure the more anxious (read impatient) armed members and trying to prevent a firefight over a misunderstanding. Just in case, he also eases over by one of the pillars, getting some cover ust in case there is an accidiental discharge of weapons.
Prescott Harland walks up to Phill, “Rein down your horses Phill. Not time to go rampaging” Expecting the car to arrive soon through the big blast doors Prescott joins Gustav behind the left pillar. Speaking to the robot as he moves for cover “Tell me, where do the elevators and stairs lead?.”
“The stairs lead up to the gardens, as do the elevators, although the elevators also leads to other areas, but they are closed pending maintainance” says the bot.
The Esper sneers dubiously, “Just how long has this maintenance been pending?” While waiting for the answer the Baron sighs forelornly to himself, “I knew I should have taken those electro courses.”
“Just being curious … what are those areas closed ?” says Prescott
The Robot responds. “Ahh, sorry for the misunderstanding, it is the elevators that are closed for maintenance; the other areas are open, providing that you have the proper clearances of course. The maintenance on the elevators has been pending for ……. ……. …… …… 18 years, 3 months, 11 days, 8 hours, and 17 minutes.”
There is a slight a clicking sound coming from within the robot’s head during the pause before he says how long the elevators have been waiting for maintenance.
“Hey tin-man. I have something to cure that rattle.” Says the doctor as he rumages in his medical kit for some insta-cast spray.
Prescott glances at doctor “Humans ain’t enough for you Doc ?” returning his attention to the clerkbot “I fear we are not used to this area … do you have any kind map at hand ?”
Dutch comments, “You don’t know the half of it.” he looks at the Doc rummaging through his bag. “Last time he tried to fix a love bot that had a nasty twitch.” Dutch smirks to himself at the memory. “Man, the owner was not happy when he went to use her, she squealed like Silthy bitch on heat!”
Phill pipes up, feeling the gun getting heavier and histrigger finger getting itchy, waiting for the robot to move… “When you guys are done talking to the robot, can I shoot him?”
“I wouldn’t…bet he’s got friends with bigger guns than yours…” Gustav adds helpfully.
“That way…the way that goes to the garden…wouldn’t go there…” he says shaking his head “…heard there’s big mind-melty type creatures with claws n’ fangs n’ udder nasty stuff”
“Stand down, Phill,” Dutch says. “Save your ammo for something that’s worth it.” He notices the disappointment on Phill’s face and reassures him further, “Our rat friend here says there’s creatures out there with claws and fangs and the best part, they bleed.”
“But Dutch, I really like the way robots spark when you pop them… well maybe we’ll find some bigger ones.”
Looking dissatisfied Phill mumbles almost inaudibly “just wanted… stupid … metal…. wrong with that?”
“Don’t worry Phill” says Dutch “As soon as we find some nasties you can spray their intestines all over the plucking face.” Dutch reassured. This put an anxious glint in Phill’s eyes. “But make sure you leave some for me and Reegus here.” Dutch said as he slaps Reegus on the back of the shoulder. “Ain’t that right .”says Dutch with a hint of amusement in his voice.
The Doctor suddenly moves right up to the robot.
“Hold still, this will hurt me more than it hurts you…”
He fills a syringe with a mixture of coagulant and plasma replacement, grabs the droids head and tries to inject the foaming mixture through an orifice.
The robot starts flaying his arms, trying to push the Doctor away as the Doctor trys to get him in a headlock, the Doc manages to jam the syringe into the robots ear just as the robot hits a fairly large red button on the panel in front of him. At the same time there is a rattling and clanking that sounds like it’s an approaching train car.
“Ungrateful mechanoid. Snarls the doctor.”
He steps away from the robot and casually awaits the arrival of the train.
“Hey, ratfink. I’ll bet you a free healthcheck that the security droids get here before the train.”
Gustav rolls eyes and slaps his own forehead
“Tch , we’d better offer them the doc that will save us trouble … now and after.” Says Prescott
“I dare say I would worry less about my injuries.” the Esper mutters into Prescott’s ear.
Prescott cannot help but suppress a laugh and whispers back “At the very least he can act as a sanitizer if he breathes upon a wound, with all the alcohol he exhales there would be no chance at infection “
A single train car pulls up and stops, the door to the car opens up. At the same time, the large blast doors on the opposite wall from the hallway the group entered start to open, then stick abit and start to grind. A set of large mechanical feet can be see on the other side of the blast door, about three feet in diameter.
The doctor is first onto the train. “Let’s go!” He yells. “Ratty, assume the position….”
“Everybody, MOVE!” Dutch yells, his rifle aimed towards the blast doors. Dutch backs towards the train keeping a close eye on the blast doors.
There is a brief blur of movement and then Gustav taps the doctor on the back.
“What position would that be exactly…?” he says looking for (better) cover inside the train… “I told you that might happen…or did I?…Ohh well, the devja-vu’s been playing up a bit recently…” he says tapping the side of his head with a worried expression.
The Baron follows the newly acquired furry ally into the train and finds a spot away from the opening (preferably out of line of sight from the blast door.)
There’s a horrible metal on metal screeching sound as the blast door slowly jerks up a little further…
The doctor tries to keep the image of twenty lab rats pinned out ready to be examined by schoolchildren.
“So its a mental problem, is it?” He casts a professional eye over the large rodent. “I have a reasonable success rate with that kind of thing.” The doctor starts rummaging through his bag, oblivious of the S.E.P. outside.
Holy sh**!” says Prescott when he sees the large feet behind the door. Quickly thinking, he turns to the clerkbot “Would you mind sending us asap on our way when we’re … (hesitation) all aboard.” “There will be no need of your guard friend once we’ve taken this guy (showing the culprit) out of here.”
The robot responds in a slow distant voice. “Of cccooourrssse, once everyone is on bbbbbooooaarrddd I willll senddd the ttrraaaiin onn it’ss wayyyy…”
One eye flicking back towards the nasty little robot he does not trust, Phill occasionally levels his gun at the new threat and backs towards the train… letting the others get on first. Humming… “pop pop fizz fizz.. oh what….hmm mm mm mmm mmm”
Prescott sighs “Everyone on board gentlemen ! Unless you wanna have a look at big foot!” then jumps in the train, looking nervously at the god-be-praised slowly raising blast door.
Dutch turns to Phill. “Ok Phill, everyone’s on board, so let’s get the huck outta fere.” Dutch says as he pushes the door closed behind Phil. “That bucking fobot is gunna pay big time when we get back!”
As soon as the door to the train car closes, the train starts moving. Just as it heads into the tunnel, there is a loud screen and a bang, the blast door has finished opening and you get just a glimpse of the robot behind it as you head off into the tunnel.
(http://www.icewebring.com/Stranded/ED209.jpg)
Gustav looks somewhat anxiously from side to side… “Are we nearly there yet?”
The doctor finally finishes rummaging in his pack and draws out a syringe with a large needle on it. “I knew I had some veterinary supplies in here somewhere.”
He flicks open a cutthroat razor in is other hand and give a reassuring (his best professional one) smile. “Come to poppa little guy…”
Prescott is seriously starting to doubt his boss’ sanity for taking this looney Doc aboard. He wishes he had a stunner/paralyzer to get him off everyone’s nerves.
The train travels for about three minutes before it goes past another station. The quick glimpse of the station looks rather odd, it seems to be overrun with vines or roots, the air also seems to be getting more humid. Some of the roots look like they go right over the edge of the platform and towards the tracks. There has been a few splashes in the last 15 or 20 seconds as the train has gone through some puddles and the wheels of the train have been screeching more than they did at the beginning of the trip. The tunnel ahead is less well lit and appears to be sloping downward and to the right, which would be moving closer to the middle of the ship. There is a disturbing “Thump” that comes from the floor, as if something was just run over just as the car goes past the station.
“Speak about a rundown place.” “Whoever was in charge no longer seems to be here.” Says Prescott
Dutch yells over the rattle and screeching, “First bit of road kill this train seen I’ll bet!” commenting on the crunching noise. He looks over at Gustav the rat and says, “Hope it wasn’t anyone you knew?”
Gustav flinches somewhat. Then looks over at the others. Then speaks to Dutch with a shrug “Possibly..just hope it was Uncle Scratt…never liked Uncle Scratt..” He stubs out the remains of his cigar, and gets another out, lights it and starts puffing away nervously.
Baron Toulaan watches stoically as the scenery goes by, apparently in a trance.
The Doctor finally realises that his behaviour is being ignored. He puts away the syringe and sits iquietly in his seat studying his razor. He looks at the baron from time to time.
Dutch looks over at Gustav lighting up, ‘Yeah, I know what you mean” he says, starting to get used to the furry rodent,”I had an Uncle I didn’t like too,” Dutch thought he might light up a cigar as well. “The bucking farstard met an unfortunate end…got himself sucked out of the air lock.”** Dutch says as he leans back and puffs away with a smirk on his face.
The Baron continues looking out the window as a maniacal chuckle echoes through the Doctor’s mind. Apparently, nobody else heard or noticed the Esper do or say anything.
Phill looks out the window wistfully looking for some vent for his destructive feelings. Feeling his stomach grumble he thinks he should have packed more sandwiches. He glances over at the big rat again…
As he glances out the window, Phill notices that there are still a lot of roots/vines along the side wall. They are noticeable because of the way the orange flickering light coming from ahead of the train further up the tunnel reflects off the wet glistening surface of the roots/vines…
He looks around the car, it’s a single car train with a small automated cab section at the front. There is a fairly large window in the door that opens into the cab section which allows you to look ahead if you were standing in front of the door. There also seems to be some sort of vending machine near the back of the car which might dispense snacks of some sort…
As soon as Phill spots vending machine he decides that important is important… checks his pouches for credits and then decides that he’ll just bash his way into the food…. ummm food. He ignores everything else and starts heading towards the vending machine.
The doctor calmly listens the newest voice to start speaking in his head. “Find anything funny in there?” He mutters, looking ahead to see if the train is really heading into an inferno. Why yes, the train does indeed appear to be heading into an inferno… or, at least a fairly large fire. No immediate answer to the other question. “Errr …. guys …. “, he says
Seeing the expression on the Docs face, Dutch looks towards the front window of the train and curses. “You’ve got to shucking well fiting me!” Seeing the blazing inferno ahead Dutch reaches up and grabs hold of The Emergency Braking Lever and gives it a yank. It doesn’t budge. Dutch looks again at the oncoming inferno getting closer and begins vigorously pulling at the lever.
The lever suddenly moves and flips down, there is a horrible screeching noise and everyone gets thrown forward as the train suddenly starts decelerating. There are sparks flying off the wheels of the train. Phil had just noticed the card slot in the vending machine when he finds himself skidding along the floor towards the front of the train. “Frack…” he says, gets up and heads back to the vending machine fires his rifle at the coin box. “Make me fall down will ya”
The doctor watches his razor fly out of his fingers as he grabs for support. He watches the baron carefully in case he might need any “medical assistance”.
Deep in his musings the baron is caught by surprise and falls into the doctor, taking them both to the floor with a heavy thud. Toulaan gets up and looks down at the doctor, “Thank you. You broke my fall perfectly.”
The doctor uses his capoera skill to flip the baron under him. Then uses any appropriate hand-holds to regain his feet.
“No problem. We really should talk about your diet. I think you are getting a little heavy.”
Having miraculously avoided his companions and serious hurting in the sudden and forceful braking Prescott gathers himself back up and observe the situation
“Everybody’s ok ?” Praying for it to be since he wouldn’t like the doctor to have a helpless victim at hand.
Gustav checks to see if he is on fire, he isn’t so he goes over to check that the vending machine isn’t and borrows as many items as he can and starts stuffing them into his bag.
Reegus finds himself regaining consciousness in a roughly upside-down position at the front of the train. His head is a little groggy (he has trouble remembering just what happened since originally arriving at the station), but he has his wits about him now.
“Ow. Whatever we just did… let’s not do it on the way back.”
The vending machine has blown apart, there are little bags all over the back part of the train. On many of them the ink has faded to the point of being unreadable, some of them have mould on them, others just seem to be dust. There is one type of snack that seems to look like it is still okay, a yellow spongy roll with some sort of creamy filling. There are about a dozen of them laying around.
“Alright Flinkies,” says Phil as he picks up one and eats it… barely pausing to spit out the wrapper “I love these things” he says with a mouth still half full. He begins gathering up the other Flinkies.
The Flinkies are a little dry, but otherwise fine. Gustav manages to scoop up five of them and stash them away for later as well. “Flinkies, the snack with a half life, not a shelf life!”
Having heard that the “Flinky” bar has a nutritional content somewhat less than its wrapper, Gustav decides against trying one, after all it might be good for barter at a later date….
The doctor notices Regus’ plight and starts rummaging in his bag for something to help.
As everyone gets dusted off and looks out the windows of the train, they are greeted with a strange sight. A little way down the tunnel, there seems to be a giant tree trunk which pushes up through the roof of the tunnel. There are several roots branching off this, one of which extends down the middle of the track towards you. It looks like another train car hit this, got lifted off the tracks and flipped to the right and is now jammed in the tunnel between the root, the trunk of the tree and the side of the tunnel. There are flames coming out of the train car, and root itself is on fire. Several smaller side roots are also on fire, these extend along the side walls and the roof of the tunnel and extend back to where the groups train car is and several meters back behind it. There are also a lot of orange emergency lights flashing in the tunnel, which adds to the effect of the fire being larger than it actually is. Everything in the tunnel is fairly damp, so the parts of the tree that are on fire are burning quite slowly. Most of the smoke in the tunnel seems to be moving up through the roof near the tree.
As he encompasses the whole scene Prescott says “Tch ! Could have warned us of it , little ‘hand and a half’.” as an afterthought “Not meaning you Gustav.”
He steps out of the train “I’m going to take a closer look. Anyone care to join ?” Without waiting for others to join he goes forth , he moves as close as the fire will permit , looking for ways to bypass the root on sides , up and down. He sticks close to the side of the tunnel that the other train car ended up on, and manages to get almost right up to the other train car. Considering the conditions, Prescott figures that the fire has got to be very recent, within the last hour or so.
Dutch gets up off the floor, his hand still clutching the lever which had broken off from the force. Dutch hears Prescott say, “I’m going to take a closer look. Anyone care to join ?” “Yep, count me in.” Dutch replies throwing the lever to the floor, and stepping out of the train to join Prescott.
Gustav gets up and takes a look outside…but he draws his gun as he does so…he doesn’t trust trees…
Toulaan climbs out after picking up a couple of Flinkies and wanders towards the gathering group by the tree. Not worrying about the train, he begins examining the tree.
After finishing a visual inspection he throws out his senses to see if he can find any sentient being within range that he isn’t already aware of.
Toulann doesn’t sense anything, but is still somewhat shaken up from the sudden stop and is having a little trouble concentrating
As the folks moving towards the other train car get closer, they see that most of the flames are coming from what was the bottom of the train, there is some smoke coming out from the side windows, but no large flames. They can get to within 5 meters of the back of the train before things start getting uncomfortably hot.
Reegus pipes up from the train car, “Yeah, I’m right behind you. Well, maybe a little ways behind you, I’m still a little shaken up and probably better stay back a little bit till my blaster hand settles back down,” Reegus finishes with a quick wink.
“I’ve got something for that shaky hand of yours, Reegus…” calls the Doc, as he hurries out after Dutch, just in case he needs a healing touch …
Prescott pipes up, “Don’t be a hero, there’s probably no one anymore … if there ever was.”
Phill… Finishes a second flinky and smiles before heading on after whereever any one is going. Still humming the jingle, “Flinkies are so friggling neat, 43% reconstituted simu-meat…” As he turns to head out, he notices that there are a couple of fire extinquishers hanging on the back wall of the train car near where the Vending Machine used to be. He is also get a nice warm feeling in his stomach, which seems to be starting to spread outwards to other parts of his body. He thinks hard… then decides it might be a good idea to take the extinguishers with him… he takes no notice of the warm feeling, Flinkies never hurt him before.
Reegus notices Phil collecting fire extinguishers and moves to help him (hoping there are enough to warrant two loads).
“Yeah, fire’s bad, right? I can’t imagine that there’s anyone still in there… but if they are, I don’t think we want to meet them.”
There are a total of four extinquishers, one looks like it is completely dead, two look like they have 1/2 to 2/3rds of a charge, the last one looks fully loaded. They are quite large, almost a meter (yard) tall and about 30 cm (1 foot) in diameter.
Reegus picks up the extinguisher closest to about 2/3 full (saving the big gun for Phil) and heads toward the source of the fire. He’s going to try to push the fire back around whatever path Dutch tries taking in order to aid his search progress as much as possible.
Prescott also grabs an extinguisher
The doctors eyes gleam in the flickering light as he hangs back awaiting the possible outcomes of fire, old pressurised containers and flinky poisoning. He pats his medical bag, humming gently to himself as he takes another swig of his homebrew.
Gustav’s ears prick up momentarily at the sound of salvage (i.e. Fire extinguishers) but then realises that they are larger than he is, and immediately looses interest…instead he examines the “tree” a little closer..
With Reegus, Prescott and Phill manning the extinquishers, the fire in the area immediately around the back of the train car is suppressed to the point that Dutch can easily get to the car and pop open the back emergency door. Some smoke comes billowing out, but there isn’t an active fire on the inside of the car. There is however a familiar looking figure in a space suit laying inside the train, except you are pretty sure that last time you saw Zaras he did not have a large spear sticking out of his midriff. At least, you are assuming it’s Zara’s from the markings on the suit, his helmet is still on so you aren’t 100% sure. He is still holding his blaster in one hand and raises it very slightly, then drops it back down as the door bangs open. He also seems to be holding a clump of fur in his other hand. There is no sign of the Medic.
The tree does not completely block the tunnel, if you crawled about half way up to the roof of the tunnel, there is enough space that you could probably squeeze through.
As soon as Prescott recognizes Zaras markings he hurries through the back door “DOC ! EMERGENCY !” “MOVE YOUR ARSE HERE NOW !”
The doctor’s professional “all-is-right-in-a-world-that-contains-me” manner takes over. He strides up to the patient, pushing the Baron out of the way.
“Your mumbo-jumbo nonsense is about as useful as our missing nurse. Use it to find who did this” he growls. He flicks open his medscanner with one hand as he feels for Zaras’ pulse.
The Doctor manages to get Zaras somewhat stabilized, he cuts the ends off the spear but doesn’t remove it, the bleeding is temporarily under control, but the medscanner indicates that there is still internal bleeding and very likely a collapsed lung. He can probably be moved to the other car where there is less smoke and danger of explosion.
“He’s not going to die on us yet, but we need to move him to a proper med-bay.” He strips off his disposable gloves and runs his hands through his wispy hair.
“I’ve fixed people up worse than this with less equipment but I’d rather not play butcher with this poor fool unless I have too.”
The Esper gives way to the doctor surprisingly easily. As the doctor ministers to the patient Toulaan reaches out with his psychic abilities to connect mentally with Zaras.
“What happened?”
The Baron doesn’t get a clear communication with Zara’s, who seems to be deeply unconscious, distressingly near death, but you do get a flash of a memory of the moments just before he passed out. He was standing just outside the doorway of the train car, the station in front of him is overgrown with vines and roots, there are five creatures that appear to you to strongly resemble werewolves, one of them throws the spear that impales Zaras. The medic can be seen lying on the ground a few feet in front of Zaras. The werewolf creatures look like they are probably the same ones that Gustav gave you a visual of earlier. Zaras staggers back into the train car, the doors close and the train starts to move as everything fades to black.
Toulaan turns to the doctor. “Going back may not be an option. The creatures that did this managed it before this train left it’s previous station, one overgrown with vines.”
The Mindbender takes another look at the train to determine if it was going in the same direction as the train he just departed, yes, it was heading in the same direction. It is fairly obvious that it hit the root that runs from the tree, parallel to the tracks, between the rails. The root would initially be under the train car, and it is apparent from the damage to the root that it got thick enough to actually lift the car off the rails and flip it sideways.
Gustav peers into the gloom, ahead down the tunnel at the trees, branches and roots to see if he can see anything hidden amongst them….
There doesn’t appear to be anything other than smoke and a few remaining spots of fire.
Reegus shouts out “Hey guys, I just had an idea. Shouldn’t we think about getting Zaras out of the train car that’s a wreck and get him over to the one that’s… well… not totally ruined? How do his injuries look, can he be moved?”
“Whaddya say doc ? Can we move him ?” says Prescott
The doctor agrees with the others. “We will need something flat to move him on….”
“Hey!” Dutch calls out a little way off. “This long pine box will do” He kicks the box with his boot. “Yep, sturdy enough…hey look there’s the lid too,” he paused then said”Just in case we need it.” As Dutch went over to fetch the lid his foot kicked a hammer sending it skittling across the floor and clanging to a stop at the train tracks.”Hmmmm” Dutch murmerd, he looked around for a box of nails.
“That’ll be fine for now and maybe later.” Grins the doctor. “We haven’t lost this poor soul yet and whilst I don’t enjoy low-tech surgery you’ve been worse. Remember that pack of leopard-bats that ambushed you in the mine?”
Gustav says with a puzzled look on his face, “Pine box? Lid?…what?” he says…then thinks about it for a second. “Oh…a joke.. ah yes..Ha Ha.”
Prescott looks around on the other car, “I see no cloth to use for a stretcher …” He spots one of the side panels from the vending machine that Phill blew up, it seems to be about the right size. “I’ll need an extra set of hands here.” He then goes to the vending machine and grabs the metal slab plate. “And I’m not talking about surgery.” He sighs heavily “Come on help me move this, we can use it to move him.”
Wordlessly, Toulaan joins in hauling the recently destroyed Flinky home to the wreckage of the other train.
You get the panel over to the other train car, and get Zaras loaded up on it without too much difficulty. Getting him out the door is a little tricky, but you get it accomplished and are able to start moving back towards the other train car.
The doctor make ssure that the patient is braced and stable.
“So boss …. forward or back?”
Dutch walks up beside the Doc and says quietly,”Sometimes Doc, I think you’re too good at you job.” Dutch look at the men assisting Zaras onto the makeshift stretcher.”This is not good, he’s goin’ to slow us down.”
The doc looks almost ashamed for the moment. He rapidly shrugs it off with a cough and busies himself with another check on the patient before looking through the carriage to see where his razor ended up.
Gustav heads back to the rest.. “I’ll stand guard…who ever did that…might come back..” he says turning to leave whilst the rest decide what to do next.
He heads past the undamaged train car and gets a little ways away from the burning parts of the roots. Peering down the tunnel, he sees a flicker of light back from the direction the car originally came from.
After getting Zaras to his destination, Toulaan looks about for something else to do and decides to investigate the tree in closer detail. Particularly the other side of it. He lets Dutch know and begins to make his way cautiously around the tree, opposite of the burning train.
Being slightly out of his element with all this running around stuff, Reegus is content to keep his blaster handy and keep an eye out for visitors. “This ship may appear nearly-empty… but if there’s anyone even remotely left in charge of anything around here they ought to be showing up for a big crash and fire like this at some point. While you guys work on getting that stretcher thingy working I’ll keep an eye out up and down the tunnel for ‘visitors.’ If I see *anything* at all, you’ll all be the first to know.”
Gustav, hearing the rather nervous pilot approaching whispers “When you meant anything at all”, he points towards the glimmer of light back down the tunnel, “would that classify?”
Reegus whispers back “What is it those holovid kids are always saying at a time like this? … Oh yeah… Frak.” He raises his voice loudly enough to be heard by the rest of the immediate team, but not bellowed out to the cosmos: “Hey guys! We aren’t missing one of our own with a flashlight are we? Otherwise, something shiny is headed this way!”
The doc takes one last glance at the patient as he tucks his razor into his belt. “Be right back, don’t die on me.” He picks up his laser rifle and goes to see what is happening. “Let me guess. After a large, talking rat we must now be ready to meet a giant firefly?”
Dutch also comes out and looks down the tunnel at the lights, he say’s loud enough for everyone to here, “It’s hussle time, take cover!” Seeing Reegus looking like he’s about to water his boots he says,”Reegus, with me!” and motions him over to take cover. “Phil, you take Doc with you over on the other side.” Taking up position with Reegus he turns to him and says, “Now don’t go loosing your head and go basting the fluck out of everything,” Dutch can see the uncertainty in his face and says, “Look, when you see me start shooting, you start shooting…OK?” With that Dutch turns to face the tunnel and waits with his rifle ready.
Gustav, sensing a firefight, ducks into cover…preferably some that protects him from friendly fire as well. He then draws his pistol and tries to remember exactly what he has to do to get it to work.
Meanwhile, over at the tree, it’s a bit of a tight squeeze but the Baron gets through to the other side without much trouble. It looks like the tracks continue on, straight for about 50 meters, then slope downward and to the right, towards what would be the middle of the ship.
On the other side of the tree everyone else gets into postion. The lights come a little closer then stop. They are probably still about 100 meters away. It looks like it is mostly torchlight, with possibly one flashlight as well. The lights continually move around, but don’t seem to be getting any closer.
Through the crews personal communicators they hear the crackle of Dutch’s voice say, “So…which one of you guys is our diplomatic ambassador?” The sound of a rifles safety switch echoed in the transmissions background.
After quite some time of silence, Dutchs voice came through the intercom again. “Anyone?”
Reegus answers “If you want a good bar fight then I’m your man. But assuming this isn’t the time then someone else had better make with the charisma.”
“Hey, Rat… sorry, I don’t think I ever caught your name… how good is your eyesight? Can you make out who’s coming? And how do you feel about making new friends??”
Prescott also pipes up “Our ambassador as you may call it has gone out of our sight and is not around to be seen. I’ll try quickly to grab him, if not i’ll be coming.” Not over the comm while looking for Toulaan “Toulaan! Where are you?” “Oy Toulaan! Show yourself, we need you out there! ”
Toulaan answers: “I’m on the other side of the big tree, a little ways down the tunnel, looks clear here. It will take me a couple minutes to get back”
The Doc’s finger twitches on the trigger of his las rifle. “Lets hit them with everything we have… before its too late” he growls into the communicator.
Dutch answers through the intercom “Or blast their knee caps off first like we did on “Galean’s” rebel moon station… now that was a fight.” Dutch paused for a moment then added, “So Doc, did you bring your elastic bands for their bloodied stumps? We’ll have to get as much info from them before they kark it on us.” Oh crap, is this comm still on open channel…..hehe.” With that Dutch was silent …for the time being at least.
The doctor cackles manically. He forgets his rifle momentarily as he lifts his faceplate to swig some more homebrew.
Gustav answers Reegus “That’s alright Human…. I don’t know yours either. My friends…call me Gustav…” he says holding out a paw. He then rolls his cigar to the other side of his mouth and starts chewing on it nervously… then thinks briefly takes it out of his mouth and stubbs it out. “My eyesights fine…but it is a bit dark…” he says with a shrug. ” and if these folks coming down the tunnel don’t kill us I’m sure we’ll get along just fine…” he says trying to make out any movement around the lights.