|
|
Post by Ilana Logan on Oct 22, 2022 17:20:36 GMT -5
Space, halfway between Osirus and Bellerophon
June 23rd, 2518
AST: 5:45 AM
Ilana sat in the galley quietly drinking a cup of coffee while Sam puttered around, presumably getting ready to start cooking breakfast. Ilana was drawing an image in charcoal that had been described in the book she'd been reading recently. A young girl with long hair and a bow on her head sat on a mushroom, a torn piece in each hand. The mushroom she sat upon had two pieces missing on either side of the girl. A caterpillar sat on a flower next to her, puffing on a hookah, smoke dancing around him in psychedelic patterns.
An odd smell wafted on the air, drawing her out of her concentration. She cocked her head to the side, eyebrows knitting together in thought as she sniffed a little, trying to discern what the smell was. It wasn't something she could place outright. She'd never smelled anything quite like that before. It was - well - odd. A bit earthy, but also a bit chemical, a hint of sweetness, with an undertone of that smell your socks have after being in boots in the heat all day.
She leaned back in her chair, setting the charcoal on the table. She wiped her hands on a piece of naked leather and stood up. She walked around a bit, trying to gauge the direction the smell was coming from, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. She put her hands on her hips, cocked her head to the side again and took a deep breath. Well that was a mistake, Ilana thought as her head swam uncomfortably for a moment. The feeling was gone as quickly as it had arrived.
Bits of her conversation with Ana tickled the back of her mind and a slight expression of concern crept over her face. If they didn't know her well, one might easily miss it. "Hey Sam. Before you start cooking, do you want to run down to the cargo bay with me to check on the haul? Something smells off…"
Normally she'd have no problem running down to the cargo bay by herself but for some reason, just then, she felt a creeping sense of apprehension. Like a child afraid to go to the bathroom at night, she didn't want to go alone. Not because she feared the darkness, but because she feared what was in the darkness.
|
|
|
|
Post by Samantha Greystone on Oct 22, 2022 17:48:44 GMT -5
It had been easy for Sam to fall back into the routine of being on a ship. They had been off the ground for a few days now, and Sam had been in her element.
No one had figured out what had happened with the cameras or if they had, no one had mentioned it to the young woman.
She was getting the stuff together to make French toast as there were eggs and bread that needed to be used but was only at the beginning of prep.
The smell was lingering where Sam was. Could something have gone bad? No, it didn't smell right for that.
At the sound of Ilana's voice, Sam tilted her head up to look at the other woman.
"Hey Sam. Before you start cooking, do you want to run down to the cargo bay with me to check on the haul? Something smells off…" Ilana asked.
"Sure," Sam wanted to find out what that smell was, as well. Certainly, trying to eat breakfast with that odor, in the room, would be difficult at best.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ilana Logan on Oct 22, 2022 20:14:51 GMT -5
"Sure," Sam said agreeably.
Ilana gave her a nod and took the stairs down to the main level. When she reached the landing, she paused. The smell was a bit stronger here than it had been upstairs. Not overpowering, but noticeably thicker. She wrinkled her nose in distaste.
She turned toward the cargo bay and continued the short distance from the stairs to the doors. She pressed the button to open the airlock door into the vestibule and walked through, hearing the gentle whoosh as it closed behind her. She pressed the button inside the vestibule to open the second airlock door into the cargo bay and as it opened the smell caused her gut to twist, stopping her dead. It was strong here. Very strong. An ominous laughing carried up to them from the lower level and goosebumps broke out over her body.
Apprehension washed over her like a wave breaking on the shore. She shook herself, feeling a little unsteady, and walked out onto the mezzanine. She stopped by the railing and looked down into the bay. It was almost the same as she'd left it. Almost.
There was a fine dusting of a cinnamon brown color on almost everything on the starboard side of the lower level. The crates the cargo was stored in were no longer there. By looking, you really couldn't tell there had ever been crates. Where the crates had been, there were the plants, or not plants. She remembered Ana telling her scientists used to think they were plants, but knew better now.
They were lined up along the wall exactly where the crates had been. Brown-topped mushrooms with long, spindly white stems that faded into a bright blue clustered neatly in each space as though the crates they'd been inside of had just ceased to exist. Not far away from the plants, in the midst of the brown dust, Roman was lying on the floor on his back staring up at the ceiling. He was completely naked and still laughing that oddly frightening laugh, moving his arms around as though pointing out constellations in the night sky.
Ilana looked over at Sam and said, "Shénme guǐ?"
Ilana darted to the wall, pressed the button to activate the intercom, and said, "I'm not exactly sure what's happening down here, but I'm in the cargo bay and I could use some help figuring it out."
Shénme guǐ means what the fuck
|
|
|
|
Post by Samantha Greystone on Oct 22, 2022 22:03:06 GMT -5
Sam walked to the cargo bay, with each step the smell became greater. When the door to the cargo bay was opened, the overwhelming scent made the young woman's head jerk slightly and her nose scrunch up. It was stomach churning.
Not much surprised Sam, by this point, but what her gaze fell upon in the cargo bay did. Clearly, they looked like mushrooms, of some sort but what happened to the crates? It was then she spotted Roman, naked, laughing.
IIana seemed to take the words from Sam's lips. "Shénme guǐ?"
Before Sam could think of anything else to say, Ilana was on the intercom. "I'm not exactly sure what's happening down here, but I'm in the cargo bay and I could use some help figuring it out."
Seems as if the brunettes first week was definitely going to be interesting.
|
|
|
|
Post by Marina Kseniya Sebastien on Oct 22, 2022 23:00:17 GMT -5
Engineer's quarters
05:40hrs, AST
Rina blinked awake in her bunk, jerked clean out of a dream she couldn't remember, and feeling disoriented as if drunk. She looked at her watch and saw the time. She'd somehow overslept her 05:30 alarm. How the hell had that happened?
"Shit!"
She kicked off the covers and bolted upright. Her feet hit the floor, she stood up, and her quarters spun and tried slamming the floor into her face. Rina's bare elbows and knees took the brunt of the fall and she stared muzzily at the deck, panting as if she'd just run a marathon. Which was impossible. They were in the Black and there was no going outside for a run. But it was also impossible to ignore her pulse trying to pound its way out of her neck, either. Or how her stomach wasn't quite sure if it wanted to run that marathon without her.
Rina took a deep breath and let it out and struggled to focus. There was an odd metallic tang at the back of her tongue and her nose was stuffy, couldn't smell a thing. It itched. She rubbed it and her knuckles came away with … dirt? Something cinnamon brown was mixed with crusty gunk. Looking up at the atmo vent nearest her, Rina saw the faintest puff of something wafting from the grill.
"Shit!"
Something's fucked the scrubbers … She clawed upright and walked along the wall to the vent, stretched up on her toes and hooked the lever on the vent with a finger tip, wrenched the louvers shut. She slapped a button on the comms, missed, and raised her hand for another try when Ilana's voice crackled from the speaker:
"I'm not exactly sure what's happening down here, but I'm in the cargo bay and I could use some help figuring it out."
Rina flinched at the volume and fighting another wave of dizziness and nausea, she made it to her door and got it open. Hers were the aftmost quarters to port on crew deck and the door to the mezzanine was a mere 5 yards away. The air was a little cleaner in the corridor and sucking down a great draught of it, Rina felt her head start to clear. She managed to make it to the mezzanine door and cycle it open.
The smell got past her nose and she gagged, buckled around the doorframe, and clutched it to stay upright. She stepped inside and sealed herself in the airlock. A spark of recognition ignited in her head and her brain jumped into gear.
Airlock. Breathers. Starboard hatch.
She got a mask on in two shakes and twisted the valve wide. She heard the hiss and the oxy hit her blood like a match to gasoline. Rina planted her palms on the bulkhead and breathed, working through the hit, and felt the universe go solid again. She grabbed two more masks from the hatch, cycled through the airlock, and found her captain and Samantha at the rail. Rina thrust the masks their way.
"Get a breather on. Something's contaminated the scrubbers and …" Rina followed her captain's gaze over the rail and her brown eyes went wide. "Sonuvabitch."
Shock froze her in her tracks and the small corner of her mind that was unaffected by the brown dust let her know that she'd staggered out of her quarters wearing nothing but a sports bra and bike shorts. Her scars, and there were quite a few, were visible to anyone with eyes to see.
Not that there was anything she could do about it. Besides, she had more important things to worry about. She ran her hand along the rail and rubbed her fingertips against the dust they'd picked up.
"What the hell is that stuff?" A beat. "Why's he naked?"
(EDIT: Rina’s quarters are to port, right behind Ilana’s—17 Sep 2023)
|
|
|
|
Post by Ilana Logan on Oct 23, 2022 9:38:29 GMT -5
5:55 A.M.
Footsteps behind her let Ilana know that at least one of the crew had answered her call. She glanced back to see Rina, who was nearly naked herself. Ilana didn't take time to think into that too much and turned back to the naked man in the cargo bay.
"Get a breather on. Something's contaminated the scrubbers and …" Rina said, trailing off as she reached the railing on the mezzanine. "Sonuvabitch."
"What the hell is that stuff?" Rina asked. After a pause, she added, "Why's he naked?"
"That's a great couple of questions and I have an idea as to the first one, not so much the second, but the more important thing is why is Roman very clearly moonbrained from it?" Ilana sighed. "Also, we probably need to get him out of that mess and into a shower. Get it off of his skin. Sam, if you don't have a breather in your bunk, grab one out of the armory. We need to sort this out, and ending up as high as he obviously is won't help anything. I'm going to grab mine from my room."
Ilana jogged back to her room, opened her personal armory, and took out an NBC mask. She stopped at the comm on her wall, pressed the button to activate the ship-wide intercom again and said, "Anyone who doesn't have an NBC mask in their room needs to go straight to the armory to get one before heading down here."
She released the button and put the mask on. After ensuring it was snug, she jogged back the short distance to the cargo bay, and headed down the stairs to try to get Roman out of whatever that dust was and into a shower to get all that shit off of him. Where are his clothes, she thought, realizing it's not just that he had taken them off. There were no clothes lying in the cargo bay either. Surely he hadn't been wandering around the ship naked before he got to the cargo bay.
She stopped in front of him, arms crossed, clearly annoyed. "Roman, what happened to your clothes?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Roman Kline on Oct 23, 2022 9:47:06 GMT -5
Roman lay in the soft grass outside of House Xuéxiào, Finn next to him. Where are my clothes, he thought, but couldn't bring himself to care. He giggled feeling almost outside of himself. Above him, the night sky swirled beautifully. He looked over at Finn, noticing his clothes weren't missing. A shame, that, he thought. The thought made him laugh again.
"Wake up…" Finn's voice whispered.
He had only a moment to be confused before he felt as though he were falling through the earth at a terrifying rate of speed. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists tight. He slammed to a stop as suddenly as he had fallen. He opened his eyes and found himself lying in the cargo bay of Savannah.
It looked… wrong. Vines were creeping down the walls toward the floor, trailing along the mezzanine railing and down the stairs. He looked around and saw they were slowly, very slowly, creeping their way across the floor toward him.
There were people on the mezzanine, but he didn't know them. In the back of his mind, a thought was tickling his brain that he did know them, but one had a mask on and one was very crooked, limbs bending the wrong way, neck just a little too long.
He sat bolt upright and his head swam for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone in a mask coming down the stairs. The way she walked, carried herself, he was certain it was Ilana.
He stood up carefully and saw the world distort a bit, bending in places it shouldn't have, turning on its side for a moment like a ship caught in a wave. He turned toward her as she reached the bottom of the stairs and she asked "Roman, where are your clothes?"
He looked down and for the first time since coming around in the cargo bay he realized that hadn't been a dream. He was standing in the cargo bay, mezzanine full of people, and he was totally naked. He looked down at her and said, "Honestly love, I don't know where my clothes have gotten to."
He laughed again and put his hands on his hips. "I swear I had them on when I came in here."
|
|
|
|
Post by Jay Fuller on Oct 23, 2022 14:08:50 GMT -5
Jay was laying on his bed, reading a book. Lately he'd been waking up early, which he was unhappy about because he had selected this particular day to be the sleep in day. Yet he was up at 5am, staring at the ceiling. So, he went to his trusty reading habit.
He was in his comfy clothes: black, loose fitting cotton pants with little white and gold plants dotted around them - ferns, mushrooms, and flowers resembling lavender and some trees. He was shirtless, barefoot, and overall barely awake. He smelled something that was unusual, but it wasn't potent enough to be distracting. His initial thought was it was something cooking, or perhaps some incense one of the new people brought on board. Regardless, he didn't particularly care if it wasn't happening in his bedroom.
Then, the comm went off and Ilana's voice echoed across the hall, medbay and in Jay's room. "I'm not exactly sure what's happening down here, but I'm in the cargo bay and I could use some help figuring it out."
Ugh, nevermind.
Jay furrowed his eyebrows a bit. He got up, threw on the loosely fitting tank top that was on the desk, and put on some shoes. As he rounded hallway past the medbay, he became aware of the strange, earthy, sour smell getting stronger. It got worse as he descended the steps into the cargo bay.
He was trying not to gag as the smell got thicker and thicker, and somehow more putrid. His arm brushed the doorway as entered the cargo bay's mezzanine, a weird brown dust. He brushed it off, looked up and froze in his tracks.
Mushrooms were in the cargo bay. Lots and lots of large, kinda colorful mushrooms. He stepped forward, not saying a word, and kind of entranced in how it all looked kind of beautiful. And then his eyes immediately fell to the naked Roman on the floor, looking like he and his thoughts was a million miles away.
"...we probably need to get him out of that mess and into a shower. Get it off of his skin. Sam, if you don't have a breather in your bunk, grab one out of the armory. We need to sort this out, and ending up as high as he obviously is won't help anything. I'm going to grab mine from my room." Ilana was saying. She then instructed everyone to get a mask on.
Jay gave one more passing glance at Roman, concern crossing his face, "Looks like he's having a great start the day," he said. He ignored the horny goblin in the back of his brain that, even in the most egregious of circumstances, would try and draw his attention to any slightly-uncovered man within looking distance.
Jay bolted back to his room, put on the mask on and snugging it up. He also threw on a cardigan that matched his pants, reaching to his knees, and a pair of medical gloves. Something about the weird dust - or were they spores? - being on every surface made him want to cover up. He ran back downstairs. As he returned, Ilana was standing over Roman where his clothes went.
Roman was surprisingly chipper for being naked in a room full of people he just met. Maybe that was his thing. He said, "Honestly love, I don't know where my clothes have gotten to. I swear I had them on when I came in here."
Jay raised an eyebrow. He remained silent, listening to what the others were saying.
|
|
|
|
Post by Samantha Greystone on Oct 23, 2022 15:43:09 GMT -5
"Get a breather on. Something's contaminated the scrubbers and …" Rina followed her captain's gaze over the rail and her brown eyes went wide. "Sonuvabitch."
Sam caught the mask that was thrown her way and put it quickly. She then heard the Captain. Sam, if you don't have a breather in your bunk, grab one out of the armory."
The young woman proceeded to do that; it must have been the shock that made her not think of it sooner.
Sam knew to always keep breather on her bunk. It was something installed in her from her parents. She quickly grabbed her own mask and put it on. It made sense to use her own, in case, for some unknown reason extras were needed.
Back to the cargo bay, Sam had Jay arrive right before she left. She tosses the breather back to Rina, to do what she needed to with it
"Honestly love, I don't know where my clothes have gotten to. I swear I had them on when I came in here."
Hallucinations. Sam had a little experience dealing with people who had them, before though she clearly couldn't help the man physically the idea to talk to him, to keep him calm came to mind.
|
|
|
|
Post by Helios Hamilton on Oct 23, 2022 21:01:44 GMT -5
Helios sat on a hammock he had set up in his room working on downloading the gamedisks he had stolen into empty disks. He swayed back and forth as an odor hit his nose, he was not fond of it but ignored it as best he could. The Captain's voice sired over the intercom.
"I'm not exactly sure what's happening down here, but I'm in the cargo bay and I could use some help figuring it out." Helios stared at the intercom for a few seconds.
"Nope." He said with no interest of interacting with the crew if it wasn't life or death. Helios copied yet another disk, then another,and another one when the captain's voice on the intercom again.
"Anyone who doesn't have an NBC mask in their room needs to go straight to the armory to get one before heading down here."
"Nothin goes smoothly." Helios muttered as he opened a crate in the corner of his room, it's where he stored most of his weaponry and gear. He grabbed an NBC mask and tossed it on, Helios left his room, grabbing his Bowie knife, and made his way to the cargo bay. Helios didn't get far from his room.
"Oi watch it!" A voice shouted at him, puzzled he looked around not seeing anyone. "Down here clodpoll!" The voice shouted yet again, Helios looked down and saw a fish tail under his boot, he moved it to see a fish with wings.
"Go Shi!" He shouted stomping it and it yelled as it flew up toward the ceiling.
"Yi Da Dwei Bun Chou Roh, why you do that?" The fish asked staring at Helios, Helios turned and walked back to his room in pure confusion.
"What the fuck, what the fuck, What the FUCK!" He shouted as he walked into his room and grabbed his crossbow. Helios loaded a bolt and went back outside where the fish was waiting.
"Would you-" Helios shot the fish mid-sentence and it screamed.
"Liu Kou Shui De Biao Zi He Hou Zi De Er Zi, stop attacking me!" The fish shouted and Helios paused staring at it.
"Why?" He asked loading another bolt and raised the crossbow.
"Because Clodpoll, I'm not attacking you!" It shouted at Helios, he'd lost his goddamn mind there was a talking, flying fish in front of him.
"Fine you know what, this is normal." He said lowering the crossbow and slinging it over his shoulder.
"Not by a long shot, but don't you have somewhere to be?" The fish asked and Helios cursed, the cargo bay. Helios ran to the cargo bay where The captain, Rina, Sam, Jay, and a naked Roman stood in the cargo bay which was covered in mushrooms and what.
"Mushroo-" he paused before looking at the fish, then the mushrooms, and then once more to the fish.
"Oh, so your not real?" Helios asked the fish as it began to circle him.
"I'll show you not real." The fished muttered slapping Helios with his tail, Helios definitely felt it but knew he couldn't trust himself at the moment.
Translations
Go Shi - shit
Yi Da Dwei Bun Chou Roh - Big stupid pile of stinking meat
Liu Kou Shui De Biao Zi He Hou Zi De Er Zi - Son of a drooling whore and a monkey
|
|
|
|
Post by Samantha Greystone on Oct 23, 2022 21:05:01 GMT -5
Fluttering was heard among the fungus. Hazel scanned along the growing vines, the walls, and ceiling but saw nothing.
Then came the chirps and squawking growing ever louder, until Sam could no longer hear anything but the noise of hundreds of birds ringing in her ears.
Instinctively, her hands covered her ears but it did nothing to block out the flood of noise.
The corner of her right eye caught something flying by. Her head snapped quickly in that direction but saw nothing. Then from out of her left eye, the same thing, turning in that direction, still nothing.
One by one, heads, in black, brown, red, white appeared among the ever climbing vines. Small roundish heads with breaks and big black eyes.
Eyes that looked into and stole your soul. Beaks that could peck and peck at a body leaving nothing behind but a hole riddled corpse.
Sam's breathing grew faster as she watched the birds take off one by one. They were coming after her.
Turning to run, enormous flightless birds blocked her path. There was no escape. The birds all began to attack.
Sam screamed, fell to her knees and battered at the invisible birds.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jace Cisco on Oct 23, 2022 21:42:14 GMT -5
Jace had fallen asleep on the bridge. He couldn't help, but relax in what felt like a new home. Ilana had added a new living quarters for Jace and he couldn't help, but just live in this new home. Though the all too familiar chair is what he claimed as a bed leading into this early morning.
The intercomm came over as almost screeching, Jace jerked his head up, but felt like he was in quicksand he was sluggish.
"I'm not exactly sure what's happening down here, but I'm in the cargo bay and I could use some help figuring it out." Ilana came over the intercom. The words was lost on Jace as he watched the intercom on the wall move. The cover had begun moving as if it had become a mouth the words forming with the lips. Jace's mouth just fell as he was trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
The radar normally manned by Helios then began speaking and Jace drew a knife. The voice was gargled almost static and incomprehensible. Jace began to run off the bridge when Ilana's intercom box looked at him and began talking to him again.
"Anyone who doesn't have an NBC mask in their room needs to go straight to the armory to get one before heading down here." the box said to him.
Tilting his head as he ran passed more confused than ever he tripped and slid down the steps. He made his way to the armory and found a mask. He hesitated as it began the gargle static talking to him as the radar did. He placed the mask on him and began stumbling. His mouth was so dry. He felt so slow and tired voices kept coming through the corridor there was so many he couldn't keep up with them all. He made his way down to the cargo bay his world tilting back and forth. As he turned the corner he saw Roman rolling in a brown powder. He saw the plants growing around him, mushrooms in fact animated and smiling as they spoke to him.
"Ilana if thats our gorram food stuffs I think we need a new cook." Jace leaned against the door way pondering why Rina was naked too or damn near and spotting Jay coming over in just pants. "Buddy if there is anymore clothes coming off I am going to say this is coming close to the brothel I ran into on Ariel."
Jace's humor couldn't last beyond that his mouth was so dry, but the voices were beginning to die down as he focused breathing into the mask.
"Cap'n what is going on?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Jay Fuller on Oct 24, 2022 12:32:46 GMT -5
While waiting for Roman’s response, Jay became aware of a slight tension in his neck and shoulders. He stretched his neck a bit, but the feeling didn’t subside. His breathing began to become shallow, and he felt the need to consciously pull the breath further into his body. That made him slightly uncomfortable, but he didn’t take too much concern out of it.
Jay was then distracted by Helios shouting from upstairs. He came down, saw the mushrooms and began muttering to himself. "Mushroo-" he looked at the open air next to him, "Oh, so you’re not real?" That was when it clicked, and he should have known once his breathing changed. Oh, shit.
As if on cue, a paper airplane gently floated from the hallway behind Helios, drifted around, circled the cargo bay as if unencumbered by the ship's artificial gravity, and back into the hallway out of sight. That's not how that works, he thought. He took in another deep breath, clenched his fists. A wave of anxiety washed over him as he had no idea what was coming. He had one bad hallucinogenic trip in university, and thought never again. Some water, or fresh air would be really nice right now.
Sam began to scream, swinging at the air. Jay physically jumped, shouting a little himself. His anxiety continued to spike, and another paper airplane flew across his vision. Then another. One of them looked like inside the folds was lines of handwriting; a message! a voice in the back of his head shouted. He wanted to read it.
But he had to focus, it wasn’t real. He reminded himself of something he learned in school: when dreaming, the portion of the brain that processes written language isn’t engaged. Maybe the same goes for processing hallucinogenics.
…or did it?
“Okay,” he shouted – or tried to, he felt as though his voice came out meeker than he wanted to, “Ilana, I think we should figure out how to get these… things off of the, uh,” Speaking became difficult as he started feeling lightheaded. Another plane distracted him, but he continued, “…off the boat.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Ilana Logan on Oct 24, 2022 15:23:22 GMT -5
Ilana sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Tai Kong Suo You Di Xing Qui Dou Sai Jin Wo De Pi Gu," Ilana said, her annoyance at Roman's chipper response to his being found fully nude in the cargo bay painfully obvious.
She could hear faint shouting from outside of the cargo bay just moments before Helios made his grand entrance. "Oh, so you're not real?" Helios asked no one. Sam fell to her knees and screamed up on the mezzanine. Ilana looked up but Sam appeared to be fine. Chaos. It's just chaos, she thought, feeling as though she were going mad.
If they're being affected, it's definitely the spores, Ilana thought.
"Ilana if thats our gorram food stuffs I think we need a new cook," Jace said from the mezzanine. He added, "Buddy if there is anymore clothes coming off I am going to say this is coming close to the brothel I ran into on Ariel."
After a pause, he asked, "Cap'n what is going on?"
"Based on the bit of information I received from Dr. Kiselyova the mushrooms have begun to break down. In some sort of reaction that I'm not smart enough to understand, the spores release which destroys plant material, and only plant material. That explains why Roman is naked. Why he's higher than balls, and it appears some… of… us… are…." She trailed off, noticing for the first time that the man in the doorway up top wasn't Jace. He sounded like Jace, but he didn't look like Jace. His face was painted white with a bright red nose, and shockingly curly red hair. Bright red lips surrounded by an exaggerated blue smile showing way too many teeth.
This has to be an effect of the spores, Ilana thought rationally, while the less rational parts of her were screaming at her to run. Hide.
She closed her eyes and took deep, slow breaths to calm. Laughter bubbled up from those around her: crazed, terrifying laughter. She shook her head, opening her eyes. Jace still wasn't Jace, only now no one else was who they should be either. They all had the same shock-white face, bright red nose and lips, too many teeth, too wide of a smile.
“Okay,” Jay squeaked. She squeezed her eyes shut again. She was afraid to look. "Ilana, I think we should figure out how to get these… things off of the, uh,” he started to trail off, sounding as distracted as she was, “…off the boat.”
"No!" Ilana shrieked a little too loudly. "We have to wave Dr. Kiselyova. We can't afford to lose the payload."
The weird freak Jay started walking toward her slowly. Somewhere in a deep part of her mind, she knew this wasn't real. She started backing away from Jay slowly, hands outstretched to ward him off. She was backing toward the stairs, where more of them waited. "Roman! Get in the shower!" she shouted. "Everyone else, out of the cargo bay!"
She turned, running up the stairs now, screaming, "Rina! Seal the bay off from Life support! Get out of here, now!" She screamed shrilly as she ran past Sam who was shrieking on the floor, clawing at her own eyes. She ran through the doorway, past Jace, giving him as wide a berth as possible.
"Wèishéme yīdìng shì xiǎochǒu!" she screamed, running down the hall. She sprinted to the bridge and flung herself into the captain's seat, spinning around to face the cortex panel. I have to do this while I'm still mostly me, she thought.
She sent what she hoped was a mostly coherent wave to Dr. Kiselyova and the madness took her.
Tai Kong Suo You Di Xing Qui Dou Sai Jin Wo De Pi Gu means Stuff all the planets in the universe into my ass
Wèishéme yīdìng shì xiǎochǒu means Why did it have to be fucking clowns?
|
|
|
|
Post by Marina Kseniya Sebastien on Oct 24, 2022 20:05:31 GMT -5
Rina froze for a split second as Sam started to thrash and shriek at empty air, Jay startled at something clearly not there, and Helios … well, Helios was Helios. Ilana would have her hands full with Roman one deck below. And Rina knew she had to shut off the vents in the cargo bay to keep the mushroom shit from spreading throughout the ship. Ilana must have been on the same wavelength, because no sooner had Rina thought it, Ilana said it. Rina turned for the airlock doors and dithered: Sam looked in a really bad way and Rina did not feel it right to leave the poor woman screaming on the floor. When priorities divide, delegate. Or so a captain told her once after a particularly trying day. "Dammit, Jay, take Sam to med bay." Rina snapped her fingers at the man and pointed to their stricken crewmate. "She needs your help. I've got to go." And that was all she could do for Sam right then. Rina cycled through the airlock. When the inner door cut off the noise and confusion and left her in blessed silence, Rina could finally get her wits together and think. Isolate: lock down the plenum return for the cargo bay, she recited in her head. Close off the bridge, med bay, and engineering. Activate their auxiliary atmo loops. To be honest, there was little worth in isolating those operation-critical compartments now that their pilot, their doctor, and she were affected by the crap in Eden's atmo. But the cargo bay's not gonna share its mushroom shit one damned second longer than it has to. She got the airlock cycled and ran for the panel behind which the return plenum lay. Or tried to. Whatever she'd breathed in while asleep, whatever weirdness the spores were doing to her body, her legs were still unsteady. She stumbled badly but caught up against the bulkhead and pushed off for her goal. She'd grabbed a screwdriver from her workbench on her way off the mezzanine and she used it to pop that panel free. The plenum return cut-off lever cranked easily in her hands and Rina could feel the pressure in the corridor drop just a tick. Adjust: return pressure for the closures. Drop off and step up is going to be a bitch. The plenum was ducted, as it would be for a spaceship's closed atmo system, and the plenum shared its utility conduit with other critical equipment. Such as the return pressure regulator. Rina scowled at the gauge. The numbers were hovering in territory she didn't like. She tried not to stare at the IAQ readings, but adjusted the pressure to ease the strain on the atmo loop downstream of the closure. At least that shit will stay in the cargo bay. Assuming someone doesn't jam the mezzanine airlock open. Rina slammed the access panel back in place and ran down the main corridor for the next task. She passed the stairs down, faced port, and got another hatch open. It was just large enough for her to crawl through. Being in my skivvies has its advantages. I won't have coveralls to wash—OW! Rina flinched away from a hot pipe and squeezed past it and moved on. She'd deal with the blister she could feel rising on her flank later. Assuming there is a later …About 15 feet in, she came to a stop at the main atmo handler for crew deck. She slid back the cover on the controls and closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. Clean: Jack the UV emitters up to DEATH on the scrubbers and critical shaft junctions and couplings. This will kill the spores, but the spores themselves will still be present in the ductwork as particulate matter. Therefore, I'll have to jack the electrostatic platforms in the atmo scrubbers up to DEATH to attract as much shit out of the air as possible. And finally, jack up the fungicidal nebulizers up to DEATH in order to catch what the first two miss … Right. Onward. Her fingers flew over the controls: tapping screens, punching buttons, sliding gauges and dials. You'd think, she groused in her head as she made the final adjustments and slid the cover home, that they'd find some way to do this remotely. But perhaps it was just as well that they didn't give hallucinating crew the ability to asphyxiate them all with the touch of a button. What a wonderful thought. It kept her company as she squirmed back the way she came, blistered herself again on that damned pipe, and spilled out the hatch into the corridor. She landed flat on her ass and thumped her head on the wall opposite. "Shit." She sighed, rubbed her head, and looked up. And saw the snow. White. Thick. And lots of it. Swirling out of the atmo vents she'd just adjusted system-wide. Alarm bells started in her head as her brain caught up with what it meant. Bozhe moi! CO2! It's freezing the O2 out of the air. I must've fucked the gauges. We'll smother! Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet—" Nyetttttt!" The last was delivered on a scream as Rina launched herself for the hatch again. There was still time to fix it. She just had to plow through the snow that had come instantly up to her waist, no, her chest … God, she was freezing, her fingers ice. She dropped her screwdriver and the snow swallowed it up. "Oh no, no, no, no …" she sobbed, dropping to her knees and clawing frantically at the snow. It was mixed with shards of ice and the intense cold made any contact with it sear like a white hot iron on bare flesh. Gouts of snow flew from her hands, tinged pink, then red, as she desperately tried to find her screwdriver. The cold seeped into her bones, into her lungs, and sent tendrils seeking her heart. It was getting hard to breathe, her head felt like it was trapped in a vice, and her vision began to fade. " Rinushka." Rina shot upright at her name, a name she hadn't heard in a very very long time. "Uncle?" she managed to choke past the ice in her throat, her lungs. How did he get aboard? Scrubbing her eyes clear, she blinked hazily past a world gone red, and tried to find her Uncle Anton, he who had taught her winter survival that year she's spent with him at his dacha on Meadow. The corridor was empty of all but snow. Had she imagined him? Was she going mad, just like the others? " You must wake up, devushka," Rina heard him say, above the wind that was picking up pace, past the shriek it made escaping the vents, dumping yet more snow into their ship. " You will freeze if you do not move." She was freezing, even as her fingers and toes, hands and feet, ears and nose, were impossibly on fire. Great racking shudders made it hard to stand, to walk, to find shelter in the blizzard now howling all around her. " You will freeze," she'd heard him say, that late afternoon when a snow squall had caught them well away from the dacha, the day they'd gone to set their trap lines for game and had found themselves trapped by Old Father Winter instead. They'd tunneled under a massive conifer, its thick needled branches glued to the ground by the groaning weight of the snow piling on ... and in the dark cave under the greenery, they managed to stay warm huddled round a candle, draping their greatcoats around each other over the flame. " You must find shelter." Rina scanned the corridor again and spied the green conifer poking through the snow, which was now up to her bare shoulders. If she could just get under its branches, she could survive the storm. " That's it, Rinushka. I am here. You can do it." "I'm coming!" Gone were any thoughts about her screwdriver, the ship, or the crew. Nothing remained but the dire need to get out of the blizzard before she froze. Her bare limbs stung and burned viciously as the ice caught and bit her but she pushed on. She could no longer truly feel her hands or feet, but she stamped and scraped her way to the tree amidships. She could see the hole Uncle Anton had made tunneling ahead of her under its branches. The snow was so deep the hole was almost level with her head and climbing into it was difficult. She slipped and fell and something hard struck her face. A branch, perhaps. Rina righted herself and tried again ... ... And made it inside. The branches closed up behind her and it was instantly dark and quiet. Now that the wind was no longer shrieking in her ears, Rina could hear the thud of her own terrified heart. It still beats. I'm not dead yet. "Do you hear me, Father Winter? I'm not dead yet!" Rina croaked, gripped by elation and an overwhelming sensation of warmth that made her spasm hard. Up ahead, she could see the twinkling of a candle her uncle had lit for them and she slowly, doggedly, crawled toward it. "I'm coming, Uncle," she panted. "I'm coming." ====================================================================== How to speak Russian! Bozhe moi = BO-zhuh MOY = My God! nyet = n'YET = no devushka = deh-VOOSH-kah = [dear] girl |
|
|
|
Post by Samantha Greystone on Oct 24, 2022 23:11:10 GMT -5
"Dammit, Jay, take Sam to med bay." Rina snapped her fingers at the man and pointed to their stricken crewmate. "She needs your help. I've got to go."
What Sam heard was disjointed words, Jay, bay. Hey, those rhyme. As the noise from the birds started to disappear. She had missed anything else that happened.
Sam slowly raised her head. *Pop* *Pop* The birds seemed to disappear in front of her eyes, as if in a cartoon. Her hazel eyes took in the room. They were all gone. No birds.
That wasn't right. Hallucinating. The mushrooms. Right. The birds were never real.
Wait did Rina say something about med bay?
Sam stood up and said to Jay, "I'm good."
There was no need for wasting time with that, now that the birds were gone. It was time to help the others.
As Sam stepped forward, her knee bent slightly more than usual. Another step, the floor shifted again. Up and down the floor went; as if on springs.
It wasn't real but it made walking a little complicated. The temptation to jump up and down was very strong but she resisted. Well, if one hallucination went away so would this one, right?
With a *literal* bounce to her step, Sam walked slowly to the doors of the cargo bay. She wouldn't be able to help anyone with the floors feeling like trampolines.
|
|
|
|
Post by Roman Kline on Oct 25, 2022 16:25:33 GMT -5
Ilana stood in front of him, pinching the bridge of her nose the way that she did when Roman had said something annoying, which was often. "Tai Kong Suo You Di Xing Qui Dou Sai Jin Wo De Pi Gu," she sighed at him. His brow lofted in surprise. She must be very angry with me, he thought.
Disjointed words came to him from those around him. He looked around the cargo bay and saw the boy with the pink hair come through the airlock. A moment later, "Oh, so your not real?" Helios asked, his head swiveling around as though someone or something was walking in circles around him. As far as Roman could tell, he was looking at nothing though.
The young girl, the one who boarded Savannah the day he did, screamed and fell to her knees on the mezzanine, flailing her arms as though she were being attacked by invisible bees. The vines had stopped creeping closer, but they hadn't gone away entirely. Not Savannah, he thought. Eden.
Jace, the pilot, leaned in the doorway looking very tense, though Roman couldn't quite determine why. He was too distracted. Leaves in bright autumn colors began to fall around him in a slow, lazy sort of way. In the distance, he could hear cows. The cargo bay started to melt away, fading into the summer cottage at the lake that his grandparents had on Sihnon.
Jace's voice filtered in as if coming down a long tunnel, but he couldn't quite hear him at first. Then, "Buddy if there is anymore clothes coming off I am going to say this is coming close to the brothel I ran into on Ariel."
Roman snickered like a schoolboy. He heard the heavy jingle of a cowbell followed by a cow scream. It wasn't a moo, but it was definitely a cow sound. The noise the calves make when they can't find their mom. He always thought it sounded like they were screaming.
"Cap'n what is going on?" Jace's voice filtered in again.
Ilana began to explain something about the mushrooms and Roman being high. I'm not high, he thought. Then, Am I? She began to look panicked. More and more with every passing moment. Leaves fell from the trees around the cottage and swirled in the breeze. Why are all of these people here? he wondered. He knew them, but they didn't know his grandparents.
He heard Jay's voice come from a long ways away and then Ilana started screaming, snapping him back into the cargo bay. There were six cows of varying colors in the cargo bay, most of which were on the mezzanine. There was an adorable little brown cow in front of him, screaming in Ilana's voice for Roman to take a shower. The cow began running up the stairs to the mezzanine yelling at Rina to seal the cargo bay off from the life support system. Why would she do that unless it's cont- It hit him. Contaminated.
"Of course! He shouted. He looked down at his own naked body and saw he was covered in brown dust of some sort. The brown cow with Ilana's voice screamed something about clowns as she ran from the cargo bay. Roman began to follow her. Shower, he thought, trying to hold tight to that before some other hallucination found him. He climbed the stairs and bolted past the other cows and down the hall for the showers.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jay Fuller on Oct 25, 2022 18:32:42 GMT -5
Ilana started shrieking at Jay, saying “No! We have to wave Dr. Kiselyova. We can't afford to lose the payload." She was backing away from Jay, hands in the air like he was about to murder her. At least she had the sense to know it was a hallucination.
More paper airplanes. Jay’s mind kept getting pulled over to them – by now there were ten, maybe more just swirling in a dance around the cargo bay. He felt very light-headed, like his sense of reality was shifting. If he stared at something too long it would start to shift and melt, geometric patterns dancing around his vision – most of them were centered around these stupid planes.
They seemed to trigger fragmented memories from Jay’s subconscious. Like the internal voice and imagery in his head was taking over his brain while he struggled to keep grounded in reality. A moment of folding paper airplanes with his cousins, getting teased for how pristine he tried to make them, tearing out his journal pages, folding them up, throwing them out an airlock… his father finding a journal detailing a boy crush, throwing it in the fireplace, throwing paper planes in the fireplace, throwing him into the fireplace.
Jay shook himself back to reality as chaos was ensuing. A paper plane flew past his face, slower than the rest, and he immediately saw his own writing, the purple ink he had used yesterday in his journal. “Shit!” he cried, panic overcoming him. He leapt forward to grab the plane, crashing into the bannister. Thankfully it held his weight, but the paper plane got away.
Ilana ran past him, shouting, "Rina! Seal the bay off from Life support! Get out of here, now!"
From another side of the room, Rina yelled, "Dammit, Jay, take Sam to med bay."
For a moment, he didn’t want to listen or register. He was still pulsing adrenaline, they were going to find his journal pages and know all of his secrets. His annoyances, his issues, who he felt attracted to, what his favorite color was – they’d throw him off the crew for sure!
Wait, wait, wait. he said to himself. He closed his eyes, trying to focus himself despite the swirling patterns of color. They’re not real.
Jay opened his eyes and tried to make his way to Sam. More planes. Maybe twenty now, they were getting more and more cluttered. They were swooping, diving in the air. By the time he reached her, she said “I’m good.” And she literally bounced away. Jay watched her, speechless and confused.
Another plane flew by and he instinctively tried to snatch it. He would have caught it too, if there were anything to grab.
He realized he needed to get out of the cargo bay. As everyone filtered out, he tried to follow. So did the army of paper airplanes.
|
|
|
|
Post by Helios Hamilton on Oct 25, 2022 19:15:49 GMT -5
"These people are nuts!" The fish said as both Helios and the fish watched the ensuing chaos, he didn't notice Sam till she screamed and began batting at the air. Jace was griping about the food, then about the lack of clothes, then mentioned a brothel.
"I'm not gonna disagree with you." Helios told the fish after watching the others. Jay began to say something about getting the mushrooms off the ship but Helios was distracted by a spider on the ceiling. Normally he probably wouldn't have been able to spot a spider up there with his eye, but it was the size of a large dog.
"Ta Ma Duh." Helios said starring at the large beast, it looked like an overly large tarantula, it's not real he knew it but still holy fuck.
"Um that's a... wow your not going to have a good time." the fish said quietly backing up through the air, Helios took this note to back up for a minute.
"Calm down, it's not real, it's not-" Helios bumped into a pile of fur, he knew what it was but the problem was that he could feel it. This was a problem, he gulped and turned around. The giant spider stared at him and Helios saw at least twenty more covering the walls.
"Wo Bu Siang Seeng Wo Der Yen Jing." the fish shouted as Helios began sprinting towards the door, while he knew it was fake he still didn't want to deal with a bunch of giant spiders. Helios hit something in the doorway and when he turned to look it was a larger spider where Jace had stood. He turned left and ran even faster jumping into his room, shutting the door.
"Legal cargo they said, it'll be fine they said!" Helios shouted as the fish floated upside down and in front of Helios. He now had time to observe the fish, it was a red catfish with indigo wings.
"My name is Njord." the fish said and Helios relaxed a little, for a crazy hallucination the fish was bringing Helios a slight sense of comfort.
"That's an odd name." Helios said and the fish which scoffed.
"Ok Helios." Njord had a point, not exactly normal.
"Alright well it looks like we're stuck together for a bit." Helios said as the Njord began exploring the room.
Translations
Ta Ma Duh - Motherfucker
Wo Bu Siang Seeng Wo Der Yen Jing - I don't believe my eyes
|
|
|
|
Post by Jace Cisco on Oct 26, 2022 21:02:25 GMT -5
Jace watch as the horror unfolded before him. The voices too loud for him to contend with anymore. He nearly fell to his knees grasping his ears twisting grotesquely almost close to causing injury as the droning and the wailing of the voices began to become too much. The sensory overload he was experiencing was too much. His dry tongue clicking against his teeth as his mouth felt so dry attempting to speak or scream, but no noise came to his ears. The voices becoming underwhelming Jace started fumbling to where his holsters should be, he had to stop the voices he had to stop the sounds! Sweat began to pour of Jace as he felt his shirt sticking fiercely to his chest soaked in what he hoped to be sweat.
Just as Jace began to be overwhelmed SILENCE!
He was standing in the hallway where he recognized leading to the bridge he couldn't recall making it this far or even coming this way. The ship was pure silence. No screaming, no movement, not even the hum of the engine could even be heard. The feel of the place was nothing like home it was eerie somewhat scary. Jace took slow steps past a snowman whose pants reminded him of Jay's but he walked quickly by it.
Snowman? Jace took another look behind him to find the hall empty again. Except for white speckles flowing freely through the air. He sighed in relief that there wasn't a snowman and then noticed his breath could easily show. As snow began to fall at first with small spitting flakes floating down from the dark tempered clouds above him. He grinned and stuck his tongue out trying to catch flakes. He hadn't done that since he was a kid. He missed his brother they used to do everything together. Tears crept to the edges of Jace's eyes as he shed just a small tear for his brother he lost smiling to the memory that came as quickly as this snow. The cold didn't bother Jace much he preferred it, but it seemed to be getting colder with the clouds growing more thunderous and threatening with the heavy grays. The flurries begin to pick up as he began running down the hall? No that must be a mistake Jace was running to his home the old shack on the edge of Fort Vanwood. Tears stung his eyes as he remembered burying his father at twelve due to his bar fight. The memories flooded as he recalled his mother so moon brained from their fathers death she couldn't even tend to them. He hadn't thought of her in years. He didn't even know if she was alive. The war swept them all up in such a rush his brother only ever assured him she was taken care of. That was the last he heard of her. His brother swore she was safe and he sent Jace on the train to the nearby culinary school.
Jace's knees buckled as he fell into door to his house, it was harder than he remembered. He sank the length of the door as he laid on the ground too tired to get up. The snow falling so thick he couldn't see but a few feet in front of him. He just laid there closing his eyes, tears flowing a bit. He missed Fort Vanwood, he missed his father, his mother, and his brother who sacrificed everything even his life in the end to keep Jace safe.
Would his family even be proud of him? Why would they? What had he accomplished.
He was a tattered man. He had no home, he had nothing of value, and he kept his head above water flying for most of the time criminals. He failed to take care of his mom or even bother to go back to find her. His dad laid buried in the ground near their house. His brother died throwing him off a hill during a bombing run. Why was he still alive? He shouldn't be his brother should be. Had Jace paid attention he would have heard that bomber coming, he would have known to clear the hill. He was an idiot and it cost him his brother's life. So what did Jace give back for the second chance he got in life. He healed became an pilot and then a prisoner of the Alliance since then he has been on the run from their grasp. No wife, no kids, nothing to firmly call his or his home. Jace had failed... Jace smiled as the snow began to bury him slowly the tears coming to a stop. He closed his eyes ready, but feared the impending judgment he faced in the next life.
He just hoped they would forgive him in the end. Darkness finally overtook Jace as the blizzard raged.
|
|
