trans_9 | Why now?

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Why now?

It was the worst possible time for it. The crew was about to be embroiled in a battle for their lives. Half of them were infested with alien parasites and restrained in MedBay.

||Pod Release Protocols Initating,|| Stacy's familiar voice sounded out to all the podmates.

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

There was condensation and mist spraying out from cracks in the pods, as the people inside slid out onto the floors, covered in slime.

Pop. Poppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiissss.

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Oh, that gets his attention. Dean stares at the hologram, and he's only silent for a minute, until the protective instincts kick in, and hard.

"You know Sam? Where is he?" Dean steps forward, looking half furious, half worried. "Tell me!"

"That would be the problem. I don't know. This is a bit difficult to explain, but right now, we're on a massive organic spaceship. You and everyone in these Caverns have been abducted onto this ship. I'm an AI and even I was taken, kidnapped and imprisoned in the ship's computer by the main AI of the ship, Stacy. Others woke up long before you and have been active on the ship. Your brother was one of them."

Was.

Dean's used to danger, abduction, all that jazz. He's confident he can deal with whatever happens, because he has before. Really, dying doesn't matter to him. He's died once already, and as much as he'd hate to do it again, he's not afraid.

Besides, a giant organic spaceship is not the weirdest thing he's ever seen.

But when this AI says his brother was one of them, Dean's eyes narrow. His voice comes out as a growl.

"What do you mean, was?"

"Until recently, your brother was an active member of the crew, but something's gone wrong. Several members of the crew started to attack other members of the crew. They seemed to be under the control of some malign entity or entities--your brother was one of them. They must have sabotaged the ship's sensors, because all sensory input cut out. I'm independent of the main AI and that's why I'm still functional, but without the ship's sensors operational, I have no way of observing what's happened since then."

"... Shit!" Dean cusses, going straight through the hologram. She's not important anymore. He's got his info and that's all he needs. He'll find Sam himself, if he has to, and whatever is possessing Sam or hurting him or whatever will be dead very soon.

It's probably an odd sight, a naked Dean stomping off without any idea as to where he's going, shouting for Sam. Maybe if he yells loud enough, someone will take him to Sam.

"Sammy! God dammit, Sam, answer me!"

"Would you stop running around like a grunt?" the hologram flickers and jumps from projector to projector to keep up with him.

"I can help you."

Lights appear in glowing pustules along the floor, leading up to a ramp and a winding walkway that spirals upwards.

Dean pauses, and stop, though he's twitchy. He needs to be in action, moving, but it said it could help. And then the lights appear, and Dean's running up the ramp and going as quickly as possible, not bothering to say thanks.

There was something wrong, and Dean had to fix it.

"Is Sam this way?" He shouts to the ceiling, or wherever that hologram is. He's not paying attention.

"Clothing is this way. Then your belongings."

She adds, "Including weapons."

When he reaches the top of the ramp, he'll find himself in a circular room with green-black vines dangling from the ceiling, and a metal circle on the floor that indicates where he's supposed to stand.

"I don't need-"

But Dean doesn't finish his sentence, because yes, he does need clothes and his gun. One, nobody takes a naked man seriously, and two, a gun or weapon would be nice for killing whatever had Sam. So Dean sighs, and steps forward warily, eying the vines.

"... I don't like the look of those things." He grumbles, but he steps forward into the circle anyway.

"'Disgusting but harmless' applies," says Cortana. "The vines clothe you in an organic body-suit. I'm told it's uncomfortable, but not painful."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Get on with it, I got things to do." Dean growls in irritation, hyped up.

"Step onto the circle then."

"I'm on the stupid circle! Do it! I gotta find him!" Dean rages, and he's almost seconds from ripping the vines from the ceiling. Y'know, if that was possible.

YOINK!

The vines suddenly reach down and wrap around him, sliding veiny, leaf-like material all over his body.

"Jesus--" Dean lets out a stream of curses as the vines grab at him, but they aren't hurting him, he realizes. Whatever this material is, it feels weird. Hippie-like. Dean is not a hippie.

But his longing for a nice leather jacket and a pair of jeans is not important at the moment.

"Hey, lady. I can get my other stuff later, alright?" He pauses, and then repeates himself for what feels like the thousandth time. "Tell me where Sam is. Is he alive?"

"I...don't know. Sensors indicated he was alive when they were last functional. I can have you bypass Weapons and Possessions, but it may not be a good idea; you really might need to be armed."

Dean thinks about that; it's a good point. He shouldn't just go barging in unarmed against aliens or demons or whatever's got his brother. And he's just realized he's missing his necklace, which, funny enough, makes him feel more naked than he had without clothes.

So, reluctantly, Dean sighs and answers, "Yeah, alright. Take me to the weapons and posssesions place, but do it quick, okay?"

This is as polite as Dean gets, unfortunately.

Lights appear along the floor again.

There's a chamber ahead with thousands of holds in the walls like the inside of a beehive, and a massive drop, but the lights make it appear as if there's a clear pane to walk on, leading out into the middle.

"You won't fall."

Oh, fun. That massive drop looks appealing. Dean keeps a poker face, but he's severely irritated by now, because there's nothing he hates more than having to jump through hoops to get to something. He does hesitate, but he figures the faster he gets his gun, the faster he can kill whatever's out there.

"Yeah, I'd better not." He replies, stepping out onto the lights. When he doesn't fall, he carefully follows those lights, keeping his mind focused on the task at hand.

When he reaches the center, the floor suddenly jolts under him and he's shot along the tube rather quickly.

Away he goes, to the Weapons and Possessions Lockers.

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