The Albino Menace!

[cityship]

In the pod chambers, there is a late release, a hideous creature that crawls its way out of the slime and gasps for air, confused. A horrible monster, its species known for its barbarity, spreading disease, and occasionally, for being cannibalistic.

It's a pestiferous beast, a hideous--and intelligent--monster and after getting a suit and its tangled fur cleaned up by Stacy, it quickly goes on the hunt.

There are smells all over, some of them very strange, and the overall smell of this...thing, the creature is in, but there is one it zeroes in on.

One scent.

Its prey.

It moves, running along the ground on all fours, jumping and clinging to outcroppings on the walls. It finds its prey in a large room full of people, looking at the little square in his hand, but despite the people present, the strangers there, it will not be denied.

It zeroes in...and then LEAPS!

Comments

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Yes, because human cultural norms can be easily applied to other species," Brainy says sarcastically, finding another dish, and scraping off some of it into the dish (with a clean fork), before handing it over and going back to his own food.

"You say that without even knowing what members of my species do to relax--or if they do at all."

'They.' Not 'we.'

The pate probably tastes like it looks, a bland, bland cheesecake-like substance with a slight beet-ey flavor to it. It's good in the way macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes are good--it's not particularly flavorful, just familiar (to him) and filling.

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"So what do you do to relax? You, not them."

The shape at least is giving Allen ideas, because a piece of real cheesecake appears on the table beside the pizza box. He picks it up and starts tucking away at it.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

Grife. He had thought he could get around that with question-dodging.

"I genuinely enjoy my work. I work on more private projects in my lab."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

Funny how that doesn't work with smart humans.

"Cool. Tell me more."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"They only superficially resemble all the other projects in my lab."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but what are you into? Biology, chemistry, engineering, all three, some alien science I've never heard of . . .? Which is your favorite?"

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Particle physics. Wormhole physics. Engineering, of course, but being the practical application of the sciences, that crosses over into the other disciplines. Though I dabble wherever I find interest. Biology and chemistry are my team-mate Lyle Norg's particular specialties, though I certainly have enough working knowledge of them to be skilled in those fields."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Wormhole physics, huh? Check this out."

Allen goes around the bar and back into the kitchen, opening the cabinet beneath the sink. Curiously, he has to undo a padlock on the door before he can open it.

"It doesn't function here, but Stacy includes it in the simulations, I guess for accuracy's sake. I've been studying it at home, but there wasn't much in the way of similar studies for me to refer to, so I'm basically having to invent this new branch of physics by myself in order to figure out how it works."

He points underneath the sink, where a visual representation of an inter-dimensional portal swirls with a soft, pervasive hum into the ether.

"Soundproofing the door wasn't as hard."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Oooh, an omni-dimensional focal point." Brainy starts poking around.

"Very unusual placement--gaping tears in the fabric of reality usually aren't caused by kitchen fixtures, but I'm sure you understand that."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"The Powers that Be stuck it there and pulled my wife out of retirement to be its keeper. We have a contact who explains these sorts of things to us, but as a being of the ether, he's less about solid science and more about metaphor-heavy Charges of Duty."

Allen leans against the counter. "Like I said, I already tried to see if it functions in the Sensorium, but no dice. You can be sure I'm trawling the Media Lab for relevant studies, though. I helped design a trans-planar device once, but that was with a lot of help, and only between two specific focal points. This one's a bit more complex. But as far as I can tell for now, similar tech is our best bet for getting off this ship and back to our homes."