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 Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 7:16 pm
Steven nodded as the captain spoke. At least she had confidence in his leading abilities if he didn't. He decided it would be best if he took her advice and retreated to his quarters. It wasn't long before he arrived. There wasn't anything about the room that screamed Steven, but that was to be expected. He was barely in his bed a minute before he drifted to sleep.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 8:21 am
Despite her calming name there wad no rest for the captain. She tried every trick she could think of. Counting sheep. Taking deep breaths. Driving her eyes closed with a wet towel. Nothing helped her insomnia.
Getting up with a groan she put some clothes on and divided to go for a midnight run.
Jogging highly at first she picked up the pace as she made her way through the corridors. There was too much on her mind and she spoke softly to her self as she ran.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 8:27 am
Ran was exhausted as she sat behind the controls still looking at images of the planet they were approaching. Ran yawned and spoke in a tired meek voice.
"So sleepy... this will have to wait Gen.."
Ran made sure all the controls were on auto pilot and she was about ready to head for her quarters but the little girl never made it. Instead she curled up with huge white stuffed kitten and fell asleep in the chair.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 10:30 am
"!"
Error sat up in bed. How long had he been asleep? He looked at the time display embedded in a small panel on a sideboard near the bed. 23:45...only a couple hours. Good. He let out a breath and closed his eyes, dragging his fingers through his hair. He had to get back to finish up the last people needing to be stabilized. He opened his eyes and looked around his quarters.
They were ransacked.
Furniture was overturned and thrown against the walls. The spigots had been torn out of the sink in the washroom. The closet door was off it's hinges, and all of the clothing that had been inside was strewn about, some pieces torn, some just discarded carelessly.
How could this have happened?! Error climbed out of bed and cautiously made his way around the room. He remembered what the Security Officer had told him...
"To lock the door, just tell the AI what your lock command code is."
Error groaned. He had done no such thing. Could the chaos in here be just a symptom of the 'freakin' insane' happenings Security Officer Trevor had hinted at?
The room seemed to be empty, now, except for himself. Shoes and socks weren't destroyed, so he put those on, and an untouched lab coat he found wrapped around the remains of a lamp. As he pulled the lamp back into a standing position, Error caught sight of the mirror in the vanity facing the bed.
Words were scratched into the face of the mirror.
Error walked over to it. He reached out, tracing his fingers along the words. They had been carved in using the broken water spigot pieces.
"WHO ARE YOU"
It read, in bold, sloppy letters. Error's whole hand came to rest on the mirror. He looked down at the vanity, at broken combs and bottles. He glanced up, through his hair, at the reflection in the mirror, marred by the giant words.
"I don't know."
He tapped the mirror with the palm of his hand one more time, and then turned away from the message. Error slipped his coat on and headed out into the corridor.
To his surprise, there was no chaos outside of his room. No fires, no riots, not even anyone lingering around chatting, like there had been earlier when he'd been led to his room. In the silence of the halls, He turned and went to the only other place that was familiar to him, the Medical Center. Maybe two dozen people remained in line, peacefully waiting to be Stabilized. Another Security Officer was sitting at the Stabilization equipment. She stood up and nodded as he walked in.
"Sir. I am Therese Forty-six Delta. I have relieved Officer Melody Eight Theta. She instructed me on use of the machine."
"Good. Thank you. Er, I-I can take over now. There are shutdown procedures that will need to be done when we are finished here."
"Very well." Therese stepped away from the machine and took a stand nearby. He glanced up at her a few times as he prepared the next person to be treated.
"D-do, do I report any er, any security breaches, or possible security breaches to you, Officer Therese?"
"Yes, I can assist with any report you wish to file."
"My room was, er, it was broken into while I was asleep. Or not broken in to, I didn't lock the door and it was, er...well, everything's been broken."
Therese raised an eyebrow at him. So, this sort of behavior was already starting to rear its head in the population.
"Anything of value stolen?"
"I-I-I don't know."
"Right. Of course. I will have it looked into right now. Trevor!" Therese called the other security guard over, explained the situation to him and walked out. Trevor took over her post, though he was much less formal about it. He leaned on the equipment and grinned at the Doctor.
"Told you things were going to get crazy. Might want to be careful. Some folks, you know, they might have what you call misplaced aggression against you, since you're the one tellin' everyone they're clones."
Error didn't look up, but glanced his eyes a couple of times at Trevor, trying hard to be busy finishing up the last of the Stabilizations. How far would people be willing to blame him for something he had no control over?
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 4:04 pm
Ran woke up in the middle of the night... She had fallen asleep at her post. The little girl yawned and dragged her stuffed animal... She used the bathroom washed her hands and then went to the kitchen to get a glass of water to drink. The small girl then looked out the window having no desire to go to her room and having a bit of insomnia... Out the window were several stars and small planet still quite a distance from them she sighed... her memories..
" I guess I don't have parents.."
She continued to look out the window her thoughts and emotions giving her no rest.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 7:53 pm
Oh-Six hundred hours. Sharp. Officer Melody tried to stifle a highly-unprofessional yawn as she rejoined her team in Medical Podbay One, the site of yesterday’s accident. The bodies had been removed overnight by a robotic crew of ‘cleaners.’ Melody had learned that the bodies would be ‘reprocessed,’ and stopped herself from asking for any details.
Already in the Podbay were Therese, Alec and two Engineering officers who had been assigned to helping in the investigation. Melody walked up and introduced herself.
“Hello. I’m Melody Eight Theta, and I’m the leader of Delta Squad.”
Melody recognized one of the engineers as the tall red-headed woman who had been gossiping about the food supply in line yesterday at the Stabilizer. She was crouching in front of one of the pods. She looked up, smiled thinly and nodded.
“Debra Two Delta. And this is Suresh Ninety-Nine Epsilon.” The bronze-skinned Indian nodded as well. He was busy using his datapad to download information from the same pod. Before Melody could continue, Trevor walked in.
“Running late already, Officer Trevor?”
“Sorry, it won’t happen again. I just had trouble getting to sleep last night.”
“You’re damn right it won’t happen again. But, excused this time. The last twenty-four hours have been anything but normal.” As if Melody had any idea what would be considered ‘normal’ on this ship. In her new life. She turned to the Engineers.
“Yesterday, ninety-nine people died without any defense. We need to find out WHY that happened.”
“Ninety-eight.” Debra spoke up as she pulled herself into a standing position.
“Excuse me?”
“There were ninety-eight deaths. There were only ninety-nine people in the podbay.”
“There are one hundred pods.”
“One of them was empty.” Immediately, Debra had everyone’s attention. “The cleaning ‘bots reported in that they disposed of 98 bodies. Now, before everyone jumps on me for ruling out the obvious of another survivor, I’d like to point you all to the pod that Suresh and I are inspecting here. As far as we can tell, there was NEVER a body in here.”
Suresh nodded his agreement.
“This pod indicates a F.T.I. That stands for Failure To Incubate. It never had any genetic material in it to create a clone.”
“Is this where the error started?”
“We don’t know yet.” Debra and Suresh turned their attention back to the pod as Alezandir plucked at her elbow.
“What is it, Alec?”
“Melody, this pod is the one that the Doctor was in.” He pointed at the pod directly adjacent to the empty pod being prodded by the Engineers.
“You’re right, it is. I think our theory about the problem starting here is starting to mount up in evidence. Debra, Suresh, once you’re done gathering data here, I’d like you to remove these two pods and take them to one of the science labs for further examination. Before we can wake up any more crew, we need to determine what this error was.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
“Thank you. Trevor, you and Therese will be inspecting the rest of the pods and downloading their data into the case database I’ve opened for this incident. We’ll look over all the data with a fine-toothed comb.”
“Wheee.” Trevor sarcastically waved his index finger in a circle before heading off to start downloading information. Melody narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t recall Trevor being so snarky before. Alezandir looked at her for his orders.
“Alec, you and I are going to check out The Source.” The Source. It was, as mentioned by Doctor Error the previous night, the place where all of the consciousnesses not yet downloaded into cloned bodies were being kept. Although it was possible that this problem was just related to the pods, Melody wanted to see The Source for herself. Alec nodded and the two informed the rest of the team where they were going.
“Where is that computer AI?” As Melody and Alec left the bay, the air shimmered in front of them, and the ship’s AI hologram appeared. “So, just ask for you and you appear, huh?”
“To a certain extent. There is an upper limit to the number of projections I can process at once.” The AI cheerfully informed them.
“Fascinating.” Melody replied in a voice that indicated it was anything but. “Please direct Alec and I to The Source.”
“The Source is off-limits to anyone below Ranking Officer level without express permission from a ranking officer.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I have that, then.” Melody pulled out her datapad and tapped the screen. A holographic recording of Lt. Commander Usher played.
“I give Melody Eight Theta and her team full authority to investigate the Podbay incident, and all permissions that investigation entails.”
The AI watched the brief message and nodded.
“Permission accepted. Please follow me.”
The AI program led them down expansive corridors, into elevators, and through a service shaft, down into the bowels of the ship. Minutes stretched into nearly an hour of just walking, moving further and further down inside of the ship. By Melody’s estimation, nearly an hour and twenty minutes passed before the AI finally stopped in front of a large, clearly reinforced set of metal doors.
“Inside of this room is The Source. All who enter The Source must be verified. Please stand still for verification.”
An electric eye above the door ignited, and a light shone down on Melody.
“Melody Eight Theta. Verified.” It slid over to Alezandir.
“Alezandir Four Delta. Verified.” The light doused, and the sound of the doors unlocking themselves broke the quiet. Slowly, the two doors parted. Melody could see as they opened that they were nearly a meter thick. Nobody was getting into The Source without permission.
The two officers stepped inside of the room…and it was stunning. It must have been the height of six of the ship’s decks. It was completely circular on the inside, with platforms and railings circling a giant, cylindrical obelisk in the middle of everything.
The Source. It was enormous. Almost…majestic, in a way, Melody concluded. Alec, his mouth gaping, seemed to agree. Hesitantly, Melody reached out and put her hand on the Obelisk. It was smooth and cool. The surface was completely pitch black, dotted by tiny lights all over it. Each tiny light did not mar the surface, but rather seemed to be ignited underneath the surface and shining through the obelisk’s skin.
There was a small black patch on the other side of the obelisk that the two noted as they circled around it. Alec turned to the AI and asked.
“Why is it black here?” He touched his hand to the darkened region of the Source.
“Each of these lights is a single Essence,” The AI replied. “When an Essence is removed from the Source, its light goes out."
“So,” Alec reasoned, still running his hand on the blackened area. “This is where my soul was stored, before it was put into my body?”
“No.” Replied the AI. “This quadrant was the location of the Essences of Medical Podbay One.” Alec drew his hand away and clenched his fingers into a fist. Melody let out a low breath. The Essences were gone, then. No chance of putting them into a new body. Those people were truly dead.
“Melody,” Alezandir touched her elbow again as she stared up to the very top of the obelisk, six stories above them. “I do not think there is anything to learn here about the incident.”
“Look at it, Alec.” Melody ignored his plea to leave. “There are THOUSANDS of little lights on this thing. Thousands of souls. A whole city of people, sleeping.”
“A city of people, not dead or alive.” Alezandir grimaced. “A man-made purgatory.”
Melody ripped her eyes away from the amazing sight of the Source. Obviously, Alezandir did not share her awe. She nodded at him.
“You’re right. There’s not much we’re going to learn here other than the fact that the people in Medical Podbay One are gone for good.”
She followed Alezandir out of the Source Room and heard the slow grinding of the massive doors closing behind them. She had been in that room before, she realized. She had been one of those little lights. How long had she been there, she wondered, in man-made purgatory? She shook her head to clear away the thoughts.
“Let’s head back up. I’d like to try to interview our “Doctor Error” again.”
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 1:49 pm
*Commander Usher reviewed the report on Dr. Error's room. The man seemed to be behaving erratically and Usher suspected he knew how the room got trashed. Usher sent orders to Alpha squad. They would detach two of their members and Error's room would be under a rotating guard while he slept. Rook Sixty-Seven Omega and Albrecht Thirty Alpha would do.
Usher had a lot to do and little time to do it. He couldn't spare time to teach the bloody Commander how to properly do her job so he sent his protests in writing about the elevation of an ensign to second in command. He attached the properly cited rules and regulations so she could peruse those at her leisure. Usher would tackle the subject of the small girl at the conn later.
Finally, he started a list of gear that the foraging team would need. Weapons and survival gear were a must. Adequate food supplies and water would be needed as well. He would lead the security teams on the mission of course. No need to put anyone else at risk.*
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elsewhere:
*Clones, the man thought. He couldn't believe it. It was disgusting...a sin against God! How could any humans go against the will of God like this? They were horrors. Demons. ABOMINATIONS! The products of sinners filled the ship! He needed to do something. Penance was needed...a cleansing. But how?*
Forgive us, oh Lord, for our arrogance!
*The man fell to the deck, weeping and begging for forgiveness.*
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 2:52 pm
Ran was walking down the halls... she thought she heard something... crying. She followed the sounds till she found a man on the deck crying and saying some words which she didn't understand. The little girl then walked up to him.. She didn't know who he was or how to react. Ran was not good at these types of situations but the little girl decided to try her hardest. She went up to him and patted him on the head a little.
" It's okay. Everything will be fine. We'll reach a new planet soon and we have enough supplies to last till then. Don't worry. Please don't cry."
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 4:16 pm
*The man flinched from Ran's touch. He covered his face and turned from her.*
Don't touch me, sinful child! We are abominations! Only the Creator has the right to create Life!
*He couldn't let the girl know his identity. No one could know! If the security officers knew that someone was having misgivings about the ship and her crew...*
I-i won't be put in the brig!
*The man ran up the corridor and away from Ran. He had to be careful! He had to maintain a quiet facade. Breaking down like that in the hallway....stupidstupidstupid. The man punched himself in the head as fled into his quarters>*
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 4:57 pm
Ran blinked a moment... sinful child? the creator? She would never understand religion. The former crew of the ship was their creator... she was only trying to help the poor. She sighed. Ran four Omega began to wonder about people sometimes.
It's not like her memories weren't coming back to her either. She was biological engineered clone.. what was the difference between that and a regular clone. A regular clone's DNA is only from one person.. hers were from many. Her eye color, hair color, height, etc were all specifically input into a computer system which found strands of DNA from different individuals to match those traits... Even her intellect was artificial.. part of an experiment from the previous crew to develop the pinnacle of human intellegence. Of course intellect didn't mean maturity.. She sighed
" I guess I should tell the commander"
Ran then walked down the hall slowly dragging her stuffed kitty cat behind her.
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 6:51 pm
It was another hour and a half before Melody and Alezandir had climbed back through the bowels of the ship to the main decks, and finally up to 12-Forward where the Medical Center was. There was no report from Trevor and Therese, so Melody assumed that their data downloading was continuing with no incident.
Melody randomly remembered that Trevor had a twin brother. She wondered if he was still one of those little lights in The Source, or if he was on the ship at all. She would have to ask the computer AI if there was a complete directory somewhere of everyone in The Source. It would also make putting together a memorial for the people in Medical Podbay One easier. She had a feeling that task was going to wind up falling into Delta Squad’s lap as well.
The Medical Center was considerably less crowded than it had been the night before. When Melody and Alezandir entered the glass doors, only the young doctor himself was inside. He was underneath another large piece of equipment, prodding it to live with some tools. He heard them coming and scrambled out from under the machine with a shy smile.
“Good morning, Melody, er, Eight, Theta. Is-is that right? And to you, Alezandir….Six? Alpha?”
“Alezandir Four Delta.” Alec corrected as the Doctor waved his hands a bit apologetically.
“Sorry, sorry. The naming convention, it’s, uh, it’s very confusing to me. I don’t understand how it, uh, it works.”
“This, coming from someone who doesn’t even have a name!” Melody chided him lightly, with a slight laugh. He seemed in better spirits today, at least, though he still spoke in a somewhat stuttering, distracted manner. “Do you really want us to keep calling you ‘Doctor Error?’”
“No, no, of course not.” He had a seat at a desk near the equipment and scribbled something on a datapad with his right hand while his left pushed hair out of his eyes. “But at least the Doctor part is appropriate. I spent this morning taking attribute tests and passed them all with flying colors. I have more to take, of course, but I-I-I clearly possess a doctorate in Neuropathology.”
“And how about the rest of your memory? Anything returning to you?” Melody asked as she inspected some of the equipment lying around the center. “Anything at all? Of everyone on the ship, you’re the one who’s given us the most information so far about our selves and our state of being.”
“No, no memories, I’m afraid. I-I-I don’t know if anything I may have once had will be recoverable. I’m trying to look at it as a…a fresh start. A new life, as it were. I really don’t have a choice in that. I’ll pick an appropriate name for myself soon, I promise. It probably w-wouldn’t be very assuring for people if their Doctor was going around named “Error.’”
Alec smiled lightly in agreement.
“Is worse than my old dentist. His name was Doctor Payne.”
“Did your break-in report get handled properly, Doc?” Melody switched tracks a bit. “Lt. Commander Usher was going to put a security detail on your room. It wouldn’t do to have anything happen to our only Doctor.”
“Yes, I-I’ve already spoken to them. I’m not sure how I feel about being under guard all night, but I suppose it can’t be helped right now. I have also had two science officers volunteer to, uh, to assist as general practitioners. One of them was, er, is a Forensic Pathologist, so she’s quite versed in the human body. Just after it’s dead, usually. And the other is, uh, is a biologist with emphasis on alien life forms, but he has a strong foundation in medicine he cultivated before becoming so, uh, specialized.”
“Good. It’s good to hear that the other branches are starting to get their acts together. Security was first, of course. Lt. Commander Usher runs a tight ship.”
“Speaking of, I should probably, uh, should probably give a report to the ship’s Captain soon here, regarding the health of her crew. I, uh-“ The Doctor was cut off by the sound of his own stomach growling. He looked down at his shirt, surprised. “Oh. I think I need to eat something first.”
“When was your last meal, Doc?”
“I don’t think I’ve had one.”
“Not since you woke up?!”
“No, I didn’t think about it.”
Melody sighed and pointed to the doors.
“Alezandir, will you please take the Doctor to the mess hall? It’s the only food establishment open right now, Doc, and it’s not fancy, but the last thing we need is for our only Doctor to starve to death.”
“Certainly, Melody. Where should I meet back up with you?”
“In the science lab we requisitioned for the investigation. I want to have a good look at those pods…”
And with that, Alec and the Doctor headed out to eat.
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 7:36 pm
The Captain sat at her desk, in her office adjacent to the bridge, looking over the reports that were filed today. These were automaticaly sent to her weather she liked it or not, and she really didn't like it.
From one report there had been a break in in The Doctor's quarters.
"No injuries reported or items stolen... Hmm... I'll have to talk to him about that. I hope he's alright. Doctors can't take sick days. I'll aslo inquire if he remembers his name yet. How odd. Even as Clones, we all have names." She was talking to herself really. It helped her thinking process when she spoke a loud. "How strange that he was vandalized and cannot recall his name."
Others were investigating the the medical pod bay situation.
"They've visited The Source, what brave souls they are for going though this difficult time and with such professionalism." Serene was impressed! "I'll make a note to speak with the officers heading the operation. Offer them some encouraging words."
There were several about the up coming planet they were about to approach.
"Landing ETA approximately 5 hours. Air levels appropriate for humanoids. Life forms visible, thought to be unfriendly proceed with caution..." She continued to read though the reports before finally putting her glasses down, funny how she didn't know she needed them, yet found them in her office, she rubbed the bridge of her nose for a few moments.
Leaning back in her chair, she took in a breath letting it out slowly.
"Could be worse..." She mutters to herself, getting up from her chair, walking out to the bridge to assess an away team for the mission at hand.
She'd need a group to go with her, Usher and the Doctor. She was sure Usher would be opposed to the idea, she she quickly ran through the names, he would respond better to, Perhaps Usher, Steve and Alec. She know this would be better for the by-the-book Lt. Commander, was however no there to please him by any means.
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 6:46 pm
*Usher quickly composed a team for planetfall. All of the security officers could pilot a shuttle so he take a pilot from Alpha and bring Delta with him. Officer Melody had been impressive so far and he intended to reward her and her team with this mission. They would need medical officer...*
Bloody hell!
*The only Doctor they had may be cracking up and didn't even have a proper name. He did work well with Officer Melody though. Hm. Usher's final roster was himself, Delta team, and Doctor 'Error.' He sent the list to the Commander and began issuing orders.*
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 7:20 pm
Ran went to mess hall and grabbed some milk she was drinking it when Gen appeared in front of her.
" Lead Navigator First Class Ran Four Omega you are needed on the bridge."
Despite having a milk mustache the girl gave her a serious expression.
" Thank you Gen. I'm on my way."
Ran went to her post... They were coming up closer on the planet.. Ran scanned the images carefully. Ran choose the appropriate place for the ship to remain as to not be affected by the gravity of the planet. She then placed specific coordinates for the shuttles to the planet to go to.
"Gen.. I need the commander. I don't know what teams she wants to send to planet."
"Very well"
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