trans_9 | Hail the Conquering Heroes

Things can happen without Stacy knowing, that much is apparent now. The damage to her sensors is significant. But the fighting clued her in.

After it's all over, after those captured have been rescued, after the injured have been tended to, only the nest is left, and Stacy takes care of it.

||Infestation of Cluster 42, Level 4, Sector 7, Sublevel 12, Zone 37 has been detected. Triggering internal defenses. Decontamination commencing.||

There is a pause.

||Decontamination complete.||

Simple as that, once she knows the problem was there. Her internal sensors are damaged, especially in the city, and so are some of the systems monitoring them. You have to know what's broken to know to fix it.

Such a simple thing and it only took one man dying to make it happen. (His body is gone, by the way, ripped to shreds and eaten. There's not even a spot of blood on the floor. That's the bugs' doing. The bugs' bodies are gone too--that's Stacy's doing).

||Any injured personnel that still have not received medical attention, report to the nearest lift, and you will be transported to the MedBay. Any uninjured personnel, report to the Living Area, to the restroom facilities to undergo decontamination of xenobiological material. Then report to the Obs Deck to meet your new crew-mates.||

Said crew-mates--and the Doctor, who'd skipped out and miraculously ducked and weaved his way to the lift when he'd realized the Master was there--are there and waiting, and just a tad confused.

[ooc: read this first]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I am glad to hear that everyone else survived," Ax said, now scanning over the new crew members. He brightened visibly at the sight of long blond hair.

"Rach--"

Oh. No, that wasn't Rachel. Ax slumped down on one of the fleshy couches in disappointment.

"Thought you saw someone you know?"

"Yes. But I was wrong. Ong," Ax replied, trying not to sound too disappointed. After all, the Animorphs couldn't afford to be down the one they already were, much less be down two. Much less be down Rachel. "Ong ong ong."

That 'ong' sound cheered him up some. Not enough, but some.

Danny's quirked his eyebrows at the other boy's vocal habit.

"...uh, I apologize if this sounds kinda rude, but what's up with the repeating sounds thing?"

Oops. He had forgotten he was trying not to do that anymore. It was more important now than it had been, since any Yeerks on board would be on the look out for an Andalite.

"I like the way sounds feel in my mouth," he explained in a tone he hoped indicated that it wasn't worth mentioning again. "The sound that 'n' and 'g' make when combined is particularly amusing. Ing."

"Okaay..." Weird, but not the weirdest thing Danny had ever heard, and certainly not the weirdest form of speech Danny had ever encountered in his 15 years of life, considering the odd speech of a few of the ghosts he knew.

Ax gave Danny his best guileless look, hoping that the human (he was fairly certain that Danny was human, at any rate) teenager would let the subject drop and forget about it. Perhaps if he introduced a different topic of conversation...

Perhaps he could get some information on the powers he'd seen Danny demonstrate.

"Did anyone successfully battle the roaches or did everyone run or hide? Hi-duh."

Dammit!

"Uh, yeah. Me included. Kinda had to fight when a few people got captured in order to go rescue them, even if they did manage to get out on their own anyways."

"I am glad that it worked out well," Ax said. "Are you a super hero?"

That was the right word, wasn't it?

"Depends on who you ask. Not everyone back home entirely enjoys the fact that I even exist. I like to think that I am one though."

"But you have powers? Zuh?"

Yes, that was safe. Danny had said that he was half-ghost earlier, so "Phillip" would know that. No specifics, though. Ax would have to keep quiet about his knowledge of those.

He really did want to know how Danny produced that scream, though. And the freezing mist.

"Yeah, ghost powers. Flight, intangibility, invisibility, ectoplasmic blasts, ice powers, sonic wail, etcetera. It's kind of a long list."

Ax thought back to his horror movie marathon with Tobias.

"I assume the ice powers relate to the tendency of ghosts and the like to decrease the ambient temperature," he mused. "And these powers came from...?"

"Walking into an unopened portal to the Ghost Zone and still being inside it when I accidentally turned it on."

Ax thought about this. No, he was fairly certain that a "ghost zone" had never been discussed in his science classes. Not even in the ones he had inadvertently ~~slept through~~ become restful in, and not completely alert.

"I do not believe we have one of those where I am from," he said. "Are they common in your universe?"

"Ghost Zone portals? Sort of. Constructed ones designed to stay open indefinitely? No. In fact my family currently has the only one in existence. Natural ones that appear in random places for seconds? Yeah."

Either Danny's parents were careless with their machinery or Danny was the type to go places that he shouldn't. Ax might be able to make the latter work for him, assuming that Danny wasn't a Controller.

"Ahh, your parents are scientists? That's interesting. Ing. Stuh. Ing. It's fortunate that you received super powers instead of an injury."

Technically it's a bit of both. Plus his Dad was stupid enough to put the switch on the inside.

"More like ghost hunters first, inventors second, and scientists third. But yeah."

Hail the Conquering Heroes

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