trans_9 | (no subject)

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Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.

There was condensation and mist spraying out from cracks in oblong glowing things that were clustered along the floors and walls of the huge, ancient-looking caverns.

For now, the ones that were cracking were the closest to the floor, but perhaps later, the figures sliding out of the pods would be sliding out onto the slimy walkways and platforms above.

Pop. Poppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiissss.

There was light, and unconscious minds breaking through the top of the briny, harsh waters of consciousness, as their bodies did similarly and broke free from the pods, sliding to the floor, shivering in pools of slime.

Once the temporary blindness that some of them had passed, and once they were free of their sleepy stupors: somebody had some splainin' to do.

But there would be no explanations, as the only thing that could explain was only watching, silently, almost as a mother would look at their child right after it was born.

Pop. KASCHUNKhissss.

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Okay. A couple questions, one answer. It was an answer he didn't like, either. Tony could be a little accustomed to getting his way. This silence didn't set right with him, and his jaw set obstinately.

Still, damnit, he knew when someone had the upper hand. Or tentacle. Or whatever the fuck this thing might have.

"Okay. Thanks for sharing. Anything more cryptic you'd like to tell us?"

"Alright, fine, who are you? Let's try that one."

||My name is--||

Instead of a name, Cybil and Tony would get a burst of feelings in their heads. Maternal love, duty, and honor, all mixed up together. ||The closest approximation of my name that can be produced by human vocal chords is STA'C K'LTRRB'TXFT.|| A pause. ||You may call me Stacy, however.||

Telepathy? Oh, no. His brains were important. "Do you read thoughts, or just, you know.. force, uh, empathy?" Tony had ground his back teeth through the transmission of emotion. Yes, it was relieving that they were recognizable, human qualities, but they weren't his, and he didn't like the trespassing on his mind.

"Stacy. That's.. cute." Still, a name, and they knew nothing else.

||Information classified.||

Sorry, no information for you. Ask another question?

"Is where we can get some clothes classified?"

||No, the location of the Clothing Room is not classified. Please follow the lights.||

A line of...pustules at their feet lit up, leading away into the dim light of the pod caverns.

Clothing room.. wel, they'd have to have something for all these people. Too many pods to count, really. The room was dim and seemed to stretch forever, at least from where he was standing. And who was to say there wasn't another set of rooms? Hell, a whole planet full of them?

Then the lights went on near his feet, and he jerked backwards two steps, surprised and disgusted at the same time.

"Bioluminescence." Like a jellyfish.. or a glowfly. "Is this whole place.. alive?" What he'd give for a regular old light bulb.

It was going to be hard to tinker with anything in here, wasn't it?

||Information classified.||

Try not to think too much about that, Tony.

"Annnd it's clear that rhetorical questions are out," Cybil said.

Hmm, now how where the mechanics of this going to work?

"Get walking," she said to Tony. "You're going in front."

"I thought working with the military was bad. Jesus." Tony was groaning, then, already tired of all this. Having some sort of idea at all would be.. nice.

Then Cybil was barking orders at him, and she didn't really sound like she was going to take any shit from him at that point. He let out a long-suffering sigh. It wasn't like he could really cover both.. well, she probably knew he would look the moment her back was turned.

"Fine. Enjoy the view." No more arguing. Time to start moving.

"I'm a little more worried about making sure you're not enjoying the view," she said. "I've got more things to cover and the same number of hands."

"Maybe I should do something to make sure you areenjoying it." Like what? His dignity was already gone, stripped away, mind you. God help her if he decided he felt like making this worse, somehow. "I think most of my worst plans are hatched by trying to get some woman to come look at my ass."

Seriously, there were worse things.

"You don't think these are the sort of aliens that probe people, do you? I'm not down with that."

"If they are? We're already naked and covered in goo. We've probably already been probed. And there's not much more you could do than walk in front and be covered in alien KY. Maybe walk up and down stairs, I don't know," came an amused voice from behind him.

"Wouldn't you like, know? You ever had someone complain after a cavity search?" Was he serious? It was hard to tell whether or not this topic actually bothered him. Probably not.

"I think we're all ramps in this place. Too bad for you." She sounded.. better. "Are you smiling? I hear a smile. I don't dare check for myself. I don't need bruises, too." Keep your eyes in front, Tony..

"Criminals complain about everything."

They really did.

Deadpan. "You heard wrong. There's no smile at all. My sense of humor was surgically removed when I graduated from the police academy. They do that to all of us, you know."

"Damn straight, and you know why? You're infringing on their rights to be stupid." Yes, well, Tony wasn't too aquainted with the common criminal. He was more used to embezzelment and attempts to sell company secrets. It was no wonder he played certain cards close to his chest.

Literally.

"Did I kill the funny?" Bringing it up in conversation may have reminded her that things were incredibly awkward here. Then she had mentioning it being removed, and.. he was laughing, finally. She might try to kill him later, but he didn't think he'd hold it against her. She was something else.

"Now, that's no way to live. Besides, I've met cops that have senses of humor.. rotten ones, but there." Business, damnit, focus. How did he manage to let his brain wander when he was in the middle of some alien hive with no clue what was going on?

"That's funny, because I haven't met any, and I am one."

She was kind of wondering the same thing, how she was with some naked stranger on an alien ship and not freaking out.

Up, up, the walkway.

They could see the caverns sprawling below, all the little pods glowing in the dark.

"That is some view."

A careful pause.

"And so's the cavern."

"Really? Maybe it's the challenge, then. I've always heard that if you can make a cop laugh, you might not end up with that speeding ticket.." Though from her initial grittiness, he was going to assume she handled a hell of a lot more than traffic violations. "Or your local precinct is staffed solely by assholes." That could also be the case.

It kept his mind away from the weirdness, at least for awhile. Whatever kept him from curling up in a fetal position in the corner was a good thing. He'd try to think about the back-and-forth banter, because trying to think about everything else was just too much. The enormity of it might crush him.

"I guess. I'm more into impressionism than, I don't know, H.R. Giger." Then.. well, she'd dropped the punchline. It actually tok him a second to realize she'd.. definitely lied about her sense of humor.

It was hard to shame the shameless, though, and he fought to keep from peering over his shoulder. "Thank you. I work out."

"If someone makes me laugh, I usually ticket them anyway--because that's irony and irony is funny."

Ugly. Ugly. This whole place was ugly.

"I was thinking Dali."

She was NOT going to comment on his ass again. She had used up her daily allotment of come-one kinda jokes. Mostly.

And she'd try not to look at it.

"If only there were melting clocks lying around--then we'd at least know the time."

"What, dashing people's hopes? You lied, though. You have a sense of humor. You're just a sadist on top of it." Tony managed to say it without any real bitterness what-so-ever. He had no problems with police, after all. It was a job he'd come respect.. at least, after his little unplanned vacation. "Find the little joys in your job, I suppose."

"I haven't seen any flying tigers yet. His work is surreal. This is.." Fuck. What was even the right word for it? He drew a blank. "Well. Alien." Maybe he'd change his name to Captain Obvious.

"I bet you the time is classified. If I had anything to bet, that is." It looked like she was all out on compliments. At least she looked..

"If you had anything to bet, I would wonder where you were keeping it."

Deep breath. "Aliens. Aliens are better than--"

What could she call that? What could she call Silent Hill?

"Sci fi is better than horror, at least. So long as we're not dealing with the kind of aliens you need Ripley around to take care of."

She could deal with this. She could.

It was less horrifying than where she'd been.

"Would you believe where I just came from was worse than this?"

"Yeah, considering you took a good look.." That was the sort of thing he would continue to bring up in al future conversations. "It ruins the mystery, though. Nothing at all left to imagination." For a moment, though, he considered. "We could start betting for favors, of course."

Aliens.. over horror. "What, back to zombies?" Of course he didn't know what she'd meant. His particular tormentors had always been human. Augumented, sometimes, but all-in-all, human. "God, yes, I haven't seen any forklifts or airlocks. Do you think that's classified, too?"

"No. Well, yes. Nobody's come out here to waterboard me, so I guess I've been in darker places, too. Just not recently.." Did he want to know? "Could always be hurting.. or dead, I imagine. Being uncomfortable is a little better." Tony had walked away with an odd perspective on life.

Cybil had an odd perspective on unlife.

She also hadn't walked away.

"To be honest, I'm still not sure I'm not dead."

"This is a pretty far cry from heaven. Even if I did wake up near a naked blonde." That had been one of his criteria for waking up dead. Right?

"Not exactly what I thought hell would be like, either. Not enough fire and brimstone.. even if it smells a bit funny in here."

Was that it? Was he dead? He hadn't remembering doing anything alltogether weird. "I had a pretty normal day, as far as I can remember. I didn't do anything to get myself killed. Actually, that might be an off day for me."