A Gate To...?

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Still in the city.

Considering the sheer size of the megalopolis that Stacy was carrying around, Lyta was hardly surprised that even after hours walking up and down its 'streets,' she still got the feeling that she hadn't even begun to scratch the surface with this place.  If the large blue--and perfectly symmetric--blue tree had taken her breath away, then what she saw when had turned this last corner had left her just as awestruck in its beauty.  A massive gate, cast in gold filigree, with the shapes and forms of what appeared to be angels carved into its surface--each flawless, as if it'd been etched into the giant doorway by a skilled craftsman.  It was beautiful, yet at the same time mind boggling.  The contrast of the 'ugliness' of Stacy's interior with some of the gorgeous structures she carried inside of her left Lyta with more and more questions the longer she explored.  And rarely with any answers.

Comments

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

"I've heard that before," Lyta snarled, tightening her grip on Cybil even further as she pushed against the presence.

"Get out of her head..." she demanded. "Now!"

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Keep going, they're on the defense. Nathan was encouraging her in his thoughts even as he found a large piece of broken mortar.

He then flew straight at the gate, and bashed against it. And then again.

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

A figure cloaked in black shot out of Cybil, only half-visible, as if made of of smoke.

"You fool! You have no idea what you've done!" it said, staring down at Lyta with smoldering, red eyes, that were visible from the depths of its hood, before it disappeared completely into thin air.

So close, yet so far away, and he had to hope desperately he hadn't been picked up by the sensors, he didn't even have time to concern himself with the idiot trying to bash open the gate, he had to hope she knew enough now, and that the program would hold them at bay...

[cityship]

"An exercise in futility," ?? said to Nathan. "Based on an erroneous assumption."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"S-stop," Cybil gasped from the floor.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Severing the connection once...whatever it was...had dissipated into thin air, Lyta felt her legs give out from under her and slipped to the floor in a sitting position next to Cybil.

Taking her hand from the other woman's shoulder, Lyta looked up at the display screen with a questioning expression.

"What was that?" she asked, then dropped her gaze to Cybil, hoping one of them had an answer.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to trust some automated machine right now?"

Nathan bashed the gate a few more times, and only stopped when his hand was looking abraded and bloody.

He finally landed on the ground, dropping the rock.

"Was hoping one of you could tell us, how is she?"

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Cybil just lay on the "ground" of the city, gasping for a moment, trying to catch her breath.

"There are monsters, on the other side of the gate," she panted. "Angels. With bright eyes. They'll kill us all if they're let out. I don't know how I know, but I know. We can't open the gate--and we shouldn't try."

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Lyta stole a quick glance of the door. She wasn't lying.

Finally looking back at the collapsed and gasping form of the captain, Lyta's face softened in an attempt to be reassuring. "We won't," she promised.

"But you need to get some rest. We need to get you to MedLab or a doctor or somebody..."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"I'd say we should cordoned it off, but that might encourage one of the teens for looking closer. Gotta be a hospital or infirmary around."

Nathan glanced at the gate one more time, and then said to Lyta, "With your abilities, you said it has to be line of sight, but think you can do something to help discourage any of the kids from coming this way?" After all, Matt was able to get a room of press to listen and focus on Nathan, at least that's what the former politician's counting on.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Lyta's brow furrowed. Could she? Yes. But it wouldn't be easy.

She nodded and looked up at him. "Yes. I could implant an Asimov block in everyone's heads," she said then, realizing that given that non-telepaths in her universe were usually weren't familiar with what an Asimov was, it wasn't likely these people were either.

"It's a command, like a safety net," she explained. "You put a block in someone's head that keeps them from doing a certain thing--to try to kill you, for instance--and they can't do it, no matter how much they may want to."

She looked back down at Cybil, already feeling guilty for pressing so hard. "But I'd have to do everyone individually and it's time consuming. It could take day for me to get through all these people."

Just then she remembered Pat and Toxin. "...and there's no guarantee it'd work on everyone anyway."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"I know some people back home that could have used it. Good idea, whatever it takes, do it. It'll limit who we'd need to watch still."

Nathan was definitely a morally grey person still.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"No," Cybil croaked, sitting up and wiping the blood from her face. Her nose had become just a trickle.

"You're not messing with anyone's thoughts," she said. "After we find some sort of Medlab, we're having a meeting. Everyone on the ship. The two abducted AIs said there were blind spots in You-Know-Who's sensors around the ship. The bug armor kid might be able to find them. We'll find one and have the meeting there, and I'll explain what just happened and what I know to everyone the best as I can, and we'll see if anyone else has figured out anything about Stacy."

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Lyta nodded. She liked option B. Not only did invading people's minds and erected telepathic blocks without their consent go against everything she believed in, but it was such a difficult and exhausting process that would leave her drained for much of the time.

"Do you remember enough of it?" she asked with a concerned look. "You've got blocks all over the place..."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"Fine as long as we got some way to keep people the hell away from here."

Nathan added, "Probably enough, and you could help with those blocks."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"I remember...something. It just doesn't make any goddamn sense," she said to Lyta.

In response to Nathan, she said, "Could she? Possibly. Without killing me? Unlikely. I've still got a blood pressure head ache. I'm lucky I didn't just have a stroke. Now somebody help me up." She held out a hand. She could walk, but she'd need to lean against one of them.

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

"She's right," Lyta confirmed as she climbed up, then took Cybil's hand to help her back up, as well.

"Even if I took them down one-by-one, I'd have to figure out how they were put in and then figure out a way to take them down safely," she explained. "If I just go bull-dozing mental blocks, I could kill her.

"Hell, if I'd had to push much harder to get that thing out of her head, I could have put her in a coma."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

"Fine, then we'll keep looking for other options."

Nathan then went over to Cybil's other side, and got his arm underneath hers to support her.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

After she'd gotten her feet under and gotten somewhat steadier while leaning on Nathan for support, she asked, "Stacy, do you have some kind of infirmary."

Stacy's voice was faint here in the city. Perhaps one of the places where the sensors were weak.

||Please return to the transport tubes and you will be taken down to the Medical Wing.||

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

Each of them supporting their weakened captain, Lyta and Nathan helped Cybil make the long and arduous trek across the city and back to the tubes. After a short jaunt down the tubes led them to the Hub, they were taken even further down all the way to the bottom of the hub and gently placed on the floor.

Then, following Stacy's guiding commands, they gradually found their way through the medical wing and to the infirmary. "Hello?" Lyta called out once she realized that the room was all but empty.

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Nathan glanced around, "Think I see a bed somewhere, let's get you to it." He started to move toward one to help get Cybil to lie down.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

She managed to get into the "bed," which looked almost like the inside of a venus flytrap. A soft pad with things like looked almost like insect legs around it, pointed down at the floor. "Goddamn these beds are disgustin--holy shit!"

Someone had suddenly appeared in the room.

[cityship]

He was wearing a Starfleet standard uniform, and he'd blinked into being in the center of the room.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." Then the man started and looked around. "This isn't a Starfleet ship..."

[waylostandfound.livejournal.com]

Nathan blinked at that, but then walked right up to him.

He then remarked with a underlying growl to his voice, "No it isn't, but we don't have time to explain. You got a patient, so get to work."

[lytaalex.livejournal.com]

"You may want to do a brain-scan," Lyta offered, secretly hoping that with the obviously advanced technology at his disposal, he might be able to find something that would shine some light on whatever it was Lyta had driven from Cybil's head.