trans_9 | [ >( ] (open to anyone who wants to visit)

[ooc: BENDYTIME, ACTIVATE! Anytime after the crew has returned to the ship.]

When the medics finally woke Steve up from his healing trance, he was not in the best of moods.

For one thing, the trance had left him feeling much, much better than before-- but had not done much for the virus. A good supply of bandages were able to conceal many of the external signs, but he couldn't very well wrap them around the green marks on his face, his fingers or both of his eyes. His levels were stable but until the virus had gone back into remission, he was stuck in quarantine.

For another, there was no news as far as what had caused GLaDOS to go off on him. No clues as to who found out about him, no sign of who might have done it-- just the knowledge that someone on this crew, who he was supposed to trust, was capable of attacking him like that and there was little to be done about it right now.

And of course, someone had to inform him that Zokez II had been nearly annihilated by the Ohm. The beautiful beaches, resorts and cities-- the places where he spent a happy week relaxing, feeling normal, and spending time with Miku-- were gone, destroyed, the people fled and with no hope of rebuilding. His week had been cut short anyway, but now it felt like the whole thing had been ripped away from him. Even the happy moments he had here on this ship were fleeting-- in the end, everything was now just a memory, stuck in the past and never to come again.

And furthermore, he'd slept through it. The first encounter with the Ohm, the stupid aliens who were the whole reason he was awake on this goddamned ship in the first place, and Steve was too busy sleeping off a virus outbreak that nearly stole his mind from him to help out.

"A mistake" indeed.

Steve was not in any kind of mood at all as he sat on the floor and leaned against the bubble, staring at the ceiling. His silhouette was visible through the dimmed bubble.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You didn't get a name?" Ben asked, then sighed. "It's getting to be a pretty big list of suspects."

"How many bald guys are there around here?" Steve asked, just a bit irritable that he couldn't remember. "It started with an L..."

Then he remembered. "It was Lex. That was his name."

"So the people who'd know are dad, Miku, Claire, Leon, McNinja, Lois, Kon, Lex, the medical staff, and probably Stacy. Anyone who they might have told is worth looking into, too." Did he need to add in and look, I'm not really planning on investigating my dad for this? It was probably implied. "Everyone here has the means and the opportunity -- they'd just have to ask this AI to do it, and they could have snuck off to a dark corner and chatted it up any time. So let's think about motives."

"It was during shore leave, so there was hardly anybody on the ship at the time," he pointed out.

"And like I said, you can count out your dad, Miku, Claire, Leon and the medical people." He sighed and leaned his head back against the bubble. "They all know what could have happened and they wouldn't have done it."

"There wasn't anyone on the ship, but they could have asked the AI to do it ahead of time," he reasoned. "It doesn't rule out the shore leave tourist crew." He glanced around them, frowning. "We might be thinking too hard, though. We should just be able to ask the ship."

"The ship can't even control that GLaDOS bitch. I wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't spy on her, either... in any case, it's probably one of those people. Nobody else would have any motive to pick on me."

"Asking can't help," he said amiably. "But we can start brainstorming motives for the others."

"Well." Steve folded his arms and let out another long sigh. "Best motive I can think of is, I'm a freak of nature. People love to poke those."

"A couple of sociopaths do. Most people, not so much."

"You'd probably be surprised," he muttered.

"And it's not like there's a shortage of sociopaths around here."

"I like to assume that people aren't sociopaths until proven otherwise. It's a family tradition. Still... even if the ship doesn't keep track of the GLaDOS program, it should keep tabs on the crew."

"Your dad wishes I could be that optimistic too."

His silhouette turned around in the bubble and he seemed to be regarding it. "I hope so. It'd be really great to figure out who did this and give them a taste of their own medicine."

"Sometimes thinking the best of people kicks us in the butt," he said, with a small, tight smile, "but that's another story." He stood and pushed his chair away. "Is there some sort of protocol for getting in touch with the ship?"

"I don't think so. I've seen people just ask her." Steve reached up and scratched the back of his head. "I haven't tried. I was going to grill her but Dr. Sera said to leave it alone for now so I don't get stuck in here even longer."

Ben grinned. "I've got a lightsaber. As soon as you're not contagious, you're not stuck anywhere."

"Thanks," Steve offered. "But, uh... that's what he meant. Since this virus is the stupidest thing ever created, I'll be contagious longer if I get pissed off." Of course, he had been brooding for the past little while rather spectacularly, but nobody needed to point that out to him.

"And you think figuring out who did this will cool you off."

"No," he said instantly. He knew that one for sure. "And neither does Dr. Sera. I'm gonna kick whoever it was' ass."

"We have this quote -- 'Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.' Think about it."

Steve scoffed a bit. "Yeah, I've, uh, heard that one."

That made sense. There were enough Jedi here that half the ship had probably been Yoda'd at at some point or another. "Tell you what -- you cool your thrusters, I'll talk to the ship."

"Works for me," Steve said with a shrug. "Not like I have anything else to do in this dump."

He paused for a second. "Thanks, by the way."

"Thank me when I figure it out," he shrugged.

"At least you're bothering to try in the first place."

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