Talk About Timing...

[cityship]

While chaos was going on in the city, a level below the Living Areas, the rest of the ship was functioning normally. Stacy, apparently oblivious to goings on in the city, likely do to her malfunctioning sensors there, carried on with ship business.

||Pod Release Protocols Initating,|| Stacy's familiar voice sounded out to the upper levels, though no one was there to hear her. They were all downstairs, fighting for their lives against giant cockroaches.

In the Pod Caverns, there were the sounds of: Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.

The usual condensation and mist sprayed out from cracks in the pods, they ripped open and the people inside slid out onto the floors, covered in slime. One of them, due to his mechanical nature, slid out covered in a sort of oil mixture, in a smaller body than he'd once had.

Pop. Poppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiissss.

There was no one already freed from the ship to greet them, only Stacy herself, and the empty silence of a ship caught in the middle of a crisis.

Comments

[cityship]

||Hello DEC Z5X9-YQ4.||

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

The DEC stood up, surprised. It knew the difference between spoken word and mind-speech, and that was clearly mind-speech. As far as Z5 knew, only two other species had that ability, the first being its own. It instantly put the creature at ease.

'Ah, hello.' It projected, this time louder and more relaxed, 'Excuse me, but would you mind telling me were I am? Is this a training session? This wasn't too far off from the old military training the alien had received on its home planet, and it would explain why the voice knew its name.

However, Z5 hadn't been to DEC in years... why would they want the experiment now?

[cityship]

||This is not a training session. You are here.||

Very helpful, Stacy.

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

Z5 wrinkled its snout, a tad annoyed by the voice's vagueness. But not being told what was going on was normal to the alien, so it let it slide for the time being.

'Well, would you be so kind as to tell me who you are?'

[cityship]

||I am STA'C K'LTRRB'TXFT, though many refer to me as Stacy.||

With her name cam a flurry of emotions. Caring, motherly love, all those things. Those emotions were her name as much as its actual designation.

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

Z5 shuddered slightly as the emotions filled them. It let them, but even without them, it trusted this voice. The feelings it had filled them with only sealed the deal, and made them more sure that Stacy, wherever they really were, was one of its own.

'Stacy...' Z5 said, letting the name fill its mind. But then it also realized something. Something that was missing.

'My tail is no longer bound... Stacy, does this mean I am free, finally?'

[cityship]

||You are here. Your body, however, is not bound, if that is what you're asking.||

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

Z5 shook its head. This voice may have been comforting, but it had a very backwards way of communicating.

The alien shuffled its feet. The slime on its skin was drying, and it was most uncomfortable. The creature was also getting curious - if this was not DEC, and not the planet it had last been on... what was it? The room was gigantic, and she wished to explore.

'Stacy? May I have permission to go elsewhere here? Or, to bathe at least?'

[cityship]

||Follow the lights.||

Phosphorescent ones appeared in pustules along the floor.

[childof-science.livejournal.com]

'Thank you, Stacy.'

The alien didn't question were the lights lead to. Taking orders was something Z5 had done its entire life, and the disembodied voice seemed much kinder then the other people Z5 had served under. So, tail waving slightly, the creature obediently followed the lights.