Galileo's Burden, Phase OMG: Comfortably Numb

[cityship]

All the torches in the village were lit, and the smell of cooked meat wafted through the air. The village center was the site of a tremendous bonfire, surrounded by cushions for the guests of honor. The Oryans performed a ceremonial dance to kick off the festivities, and then came the food. Piles of it, magnificently colored and all lovingly prepared for the so-called sky people.

As the bonfire settled down into cinders and the night wore down, the local brewmaster passed around a jug of banni, the fermented fruit of a local tree. Banni, as he explained to the visitors, was carefully brewed in wooden casks made from the tree's bark. It took a brewmaster to create the mix, however, due to certain special properties in the bark.

The Oryans didn't really explain what those were.

But as the liquor (or tea, an alternative for those who prefer not to drink) was served out, there was a feeling of peace in the village.


(OOC: SUBTHREADS ARE FINE!)

Comments

Around the Bonfire

[cityship]

Great party, man. Pass the crazy booze.

Or just relax... it is getting pretty late.

[greennotgold]

Booze? Fletcher prefers the tea, thank you. He's not feeling particularly boisterous or noisy, but he doesn't mind being around so many people being so festive. It's a nice change.

Still... He's worried. About the sick Oryans, about the de-aging people back on Stacy... He sips his tea and looks around at the others.

[notlewis]

Surprising to absolutely no one, Luis had imbibed a generous helping of the local liquor as he ate.

Also surprising to absolutely no one, he was drunk and using the opportunity to try to shmooze... or something.

"The stars-- ah, dios mio, I haven't seen so many since... since..."

Re: Around the Bonfire

[makeherblue]

The Doctor refused what he was fairly sure was some kind of wine. Smelled like Earth wine, as not very good and probably not the best thing to drink if he was being polite to his hosts. Something said they wouldn't appreciate it very much if he took a sip and then spat it right back out at their feet, which was exactly what was going to happen if it tasted as poor as it smelled.

The tea-ish cup he was offered instead smelled much much better. Thanking the Oryan who offered him the rough cup, the Doctor opted to stand by the bonfire. He dipped a finger into the tea, licked it, and then sniffed it, nice and up close because you really did have to have a good close sniff if you really wanted to enjoy it. Why did they even make that wine if they had this? This stuff was way better! It tasted as nice as Eva’s magic bean bag from XaXing, the Doctor licking his finger again. And again. Snuck another sniff of the cup. He thought he’d had only one cup of tea but when he looked down, the Doctor was startled to find he had a fresh cup magically materialize right in his hands. Odd and it could be him, but he didn’t recall tea cups having their own dematerialization circuits. Rather kind of them, really.

Maybe it was the bonfire or he was catching a Time Lord’s version of Daniel’s allergies, but it seemed like the longer he stared into the fire, thinking back to the Oryan’s Burden and Stacy’s time leak, the more it seemed to swim before his eyes, the sparks dancing in the air starting to blur together. He blinked, shook his head, and swayed a little without quite meaning to.

So this was what it must feel like to be Daniel Jackson: allergies, bad taste in hats, and archeology, all in one Otter Soothing bundle. Strange, the Doctor didn’t recall his eye-sight being quite this bad...

The Doctor felt sorry for Daniel, distantly aware of the cup only loosely held in his fingers.

Captive!

[cityship]

The cave was dark, damp and cold, and only about the size of a living room.

The only light came from a pair of torches flickering near a sealed doorway. The crew was bound with their wrists behind their backs, or otherwise restrained as best as could be managed. A faint humming noise in the air sent a strange sensation through their bodies, though it wasn't immediately obvious what it was.

Mumbled voices outside the door indicate that the kidnappers are nearby... maybe they'll pay a visit.

[notlewis]

"You know... if I knew that being a scientist would get me kidnapped so many goddamned times, I would have chosen a safer career. Like being a spy. Or an explosives agent. Or a crash test dummy."

Luis tried to sit up, though it was a struggle as the drugs finished running through his system. There was dirt caked all over the side of his face, and his wrists were starting to chafe from the ropes.

"Nnnn... is everybody okay?"

[greennotgold]

"Um... I--I think so..." Fletcher whimpered a little, struggling against the ropes. He still hadn't summoned the strength to sit up yet.

"Dr. Sera? What happened?"

The Kidnappers

[cityship]

After a long while of being ignored, there is finally some sounds of movement from the other side of the sealed door. It slides open and the dark shadows of people in armor come through the door.

It's the Chosen, their traditional weapons replaced by guns. And behind them comes Mother Reda, with no expression apparent on her face.

"Are you well?" she asks.

Re: The Kidnappers

[makeherblue]

The Doctor is most certainly not okay.

Now, this might be one of those human niggling feelings -- they're oh so fond of niggles -- but he's starting to suspect there was something in that tea.

He knew it tasted too good to be true.

The Doctor's been slumped over with his hands tied behind his back for who knows how long while the other crew talk over his head and yet he has to say, their captors have done a very nice knot job on his wrists. Very thorough, not too tight and yet not loose enough he could wriggle out -- not even with his new body's bony wrists. He should know an excellent knot job when he feels one, given how often he's been captured and imprisoned and right now he's rambling but that probably has something to do with the fact that if he doesn't, he's going to stew in how much his head and body hurt. Knock-out drugs don't always affect all lifeforms the same way and apparently his own Gallifreyan physiology doesn't quite agree with this particular brand.

It's terribly tempting to sink back into unconsciousness again, even with his cheek pressed against the floor. At least the floor feels clean. Did he say clean? He meant clean-ish. The humming vibration he can feel from here is interesting and he'd like a look at that too, as soon as...

The Doctor must have drifted off again. The next thing he knows there's the clatter of footsteps and Mother Reda's voice. He cracks open an eye, still woozy and he sees what he thinks is a Mother Reda-shaped blur and more blurs that look...well, rather like guns that shouldn't be on this planet, come to think of it.

"Guns? I'd love to ask where you got them but..." the Doctor doesn't quite finish, losing his train of thought in the fogginess as he struggles to sit up at the same time. Maybe he ought to congratulate the Oryans on their knotwork, he thinks hazily. The Doctor bumps into someone as he tries to sit up. Okay, right! So maybe sitting up with whatever's still in his system isn't the best idea he's ever had.

Nausea surges up, the Time Lord licking his lips and hoping he doesn't just slump back over. He can't tell from this position if they've searched him or his pockets, nor what happened to his sonic screwdriver. He supposes they could've confiscated all the crew's belongings, but if they tried that with his pockets, they could've taken awhile. He thinks he would've woken up for that.

Re: The Kidnappers

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel got to his feet, bracing himself with a wall. His wrists hurt, sore and raw from the ropes. Maybe that was just one thing to be thankful for. He'd rather they were hurting than going numb. He wiggled his fingers, glad to feel them still there.

Out of reflex, he bowed his head in respect to her. The glasses miraculously survived the movement.

"We're fine." He lifted his head. Blue eyes flicked to the Chosen's weapons, a clear deviation from their aversion to technology, and then to her face. He searched her eyes, hoping what he saw there would get rid of the bad feeling in his gut. "I don't understand, Revered Mother. What's going on here? If we committed some error in the eyes of your people, I'm sure we can work something out."

Re: Captive!

[makeherblue]

Remind the Doctor to ask Mother Reda just what she had in that tea. It’s going to be a question that’ll haunt the Doctor even when he does escape (it’s not an “if” to him; it never is) and he’d like to know because he’s never quite had a reaction to a sedative like this before. Or at least one that was so downright tasty. Home-grown? He can’t see this being cooked up in a lab, not that he did much seeing when this all happened and considering it’s still a bit dark and cold and damp and still surprisingly clean, he feels someone, somewhere, somehow, should be given a commendation. Possibly a plaque. He likes plaques. Big, small, but especially the shiny copper ones. The Doctor is currently alternating between a curious pale shade of sickly green and plain just sickly as his body can’t quite decide what to do with the drugs. Yes. Yes, he will ask about this when he has this sorted and it’s lost on him at this point that he’s started to repeat himself already.

Like he said: powerful stuff! Or maybe he’s only getting older, because looking around, the other crew seem to be handling themselves. At least, the Doctor thinks, the tea was really really good, strange side-effects aside. Almost made it worth it.

Wishing he had a hand free to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, the Doctor is distracted by a very specific aura of doom and gloom. It’s from the little fella sitting quite close, looking miserable and wishing he was anywhere but here, an expression he’s seen on countless humans over the centuries. The Doctor’s expression softens as he does that awkward scoot against the wall you can only do with your hands tied, literally.

“Have you ever been in prison before?” The Doctor asks suddenly. “Wonderful job on the knots! It’s not me, is it? I don’t think it’s just me.”

He offers the boy a friendly smile.

"The Doctor. I'd shake hands, but...yeah."

[Comforting Fletcher?]

Re: Captive!

[greennotgold]

Fletcher can't help wincing -- not at the suddenness of the question, nor even at how upbeat the strange man seems to be, though that is odd, but at the question itself. Fortunately, the man quickly moves on to something else without giving him a chance to answer.

He looks over with trepidation, and hesitates for several moments before answering. "I'm... I'm Fletcher Tringham, sir. N-nice to meet you..." He frowned. "I, um... I guess so. About the knots, I mean..."

[Checking on the Doctor]

[hi_there_aliens]

When it became clear that whoever was out there was ignoring him, Daniel clumsily made his way back to the rest of the group. The Doctor hadn't moved the entire time. Hadn't said a single thing. The archaeologist knelt by the still form on the floor. He was used to seeing the Doctor as a boundless ball of energy. Gawky, all leg and arms, and he didn't really make that much sense half the time, but so alive.

Worried, the archaeologist could only look at him. Without his hands free, he couldn't check his forehead, but from here, the man looked hot, almost feverish.

"Doctor? Can you hear me?"

[Checking on the Doctor]

this is after mother reda and everything?

[makeherblue]

The Doctor made a mix between a groan and a moan, as if even he wasn't quite sure which was better

"You don't need to yell," he said (groaned, actually. In the end, he decided to go with that one). The Doctor's eyes cracked open a sliver. They hadn't gotten swollen, like Daniel's allergies, but thanks to the drug running around hilly-nilly in his system and his quite frankly superior range of optical spectrum, opening his eyes further wasn't going to be much fun. "So. Captured too. At least the tea was good -- I rather liked it, much better than that rubbish wine; awful stuff -- but...."

The Doctor trailed off as if he forgot where he was going with that one, losing his train of thought, and instead he settled for the always eloquent groan as he tried to sit up. Is this what it felt to be human? He felt slightly out of breath, although he supposed all that talking without a pause could do it. Maybe. The odd thing was he kept getting a rather pleasant after-taste from the drugged tea on top of the well-done knots and the lack of rats. Normally after-tastes were terrible, like a mutant taste of what was great going down, except this...this was just pleasant, side effects aside. He hadn't had quite such a considerate sedative in who knew how long.

He made another attempt to open his eyes, glancing around for Daniel. Daniel, he was annoyed to find, was looking perfectly allergy-less and somehow he'd saved his glasses. By the way, Daniel: there was something on your lens, big old spot on it. Thought someone should tell him.

[not_the_philistine]

Throughout the daytime hours, Goliath continues to sleep as a stone statue. He takes up an unfortunate amount of space, and has had to be chained in interesting ways to ensure that his mobility will still be impaired after he wakes up.

When he does wake, hopefully someone in the know will have warned the rest of the captives to take cover from flying shards of his stone skin.

Naturally, the first thing he notices upon awaking is his limited mobility. The second is the other captives around him, chained in similarly limiting ways.

"What trickery is this? Who has betrayed us?"

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"Crazy religious leader lady was actually poisoning her people instead of them being sick from a disease, and we were smarter than she gave us credit for. So she drugged us, tied us up, and is going to have us sacrificed. All up to speed now?" Peter said, having ducked when he noticed the cracks forming in Goliath's skin

He walked over, and turned his back to the Gargoyle. "Mind holding still for a sec?" He asked, not waiting for an answer and just using Goliath's claws to cut through the rope binding his arms.

"Much better."

Bendy time to some time later?

[makeherblue]

So talking to Mother Reda doesn’t seem to be doing any good. The Doctor shouldn’t be surprised. Disappointed, yes, but surprised? No and yet he is. He supposes getting older hasn’t done anything about a healthy sense of optimism. Between the sedative cycling out of his system and his body sorting out what was where (legs, hair, impressive chin: all clear), the Doctor was getting better sense of their surroundings. Tied up in the Oryan’s ambitious attempt at a dungeon made it rather difficult to tell if it was day or night, the Doctor spending the increasing moments of focus he had trying to finish Daniel Jackson’s work on the knots and wriggling his wrists madly. Even a good squirm couldn’t get his hands free.

See? He knew the ropes would get chafey if they got wet, the Doctor struggling and shifting across the floor until he bumps into something rather big, muscley and feeling almost like he should know who that big old leg belongs to.

“Oops, didn’t see you there,” the Doctor says, trying to angle his tied hands around. “Got a minute to help me? Of course you do, we’re temporary prisoners, so the one thing we do have is minutes.”

Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[cityship]

A message patched through Stacy's communication systems, broadcasted on the Obs Deck as before.

"I want to speak with those in charge," said a voice, scrambled by some kind of device. "Quickly. Or your crew may not be returning in one piece."

The camera scanned over the familiar silhouettes of Stacy's crew members, tied up and lying around the floor of a dark cave.

Re: Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[not-edd.livejournal.com]

Zedd wasn't feeling too bright. He was still recovering from his attack by Signum and, despite the reassurances of making sure things will be solved, he wasn't too trustworthy over it all.

It was by pure luck that he was in the Obs Deck when the message came up. He didn't care much about this threat, but when he saw those captured...

...all Zedd could do was laugh.

Re: Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Hmm. If this was a joke, it was in incredibly poor taste. He didn't know everyone depicted in the transmission, but it was easy enough to pick out familiar faces -- Dr. Jackson, Sofia, that odd Science Department Head who'd almost gotten himself eaten by that giant plant... what was his name again? Lewis?

Something like that.

Zouichi fished his Omnicomm out of one pocket, tapping out a quick message.

Re: Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[governmentninja]

Of course this wouldn't be some simple humanitarian deal. Leon stepped forward to deal with this situation.

"I'm Leon S. Kennedy, Captain of this ship. Identify yourself."

Re: Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[death_adept]

Jalith had watched and listened through the entirety of the message, the Vindicare once again suited out in his full gear. They had thought to Ransom the crew on the planet, a thought that brought amusement to the otherwise cold assassin. Many cultists, heretics or otherwise had attempted ransoms, very few succeeded and none where he was involved.

While he didn't overly care about the crew on the planet, the potential to put his skills to use took his interest. "Fools," Pushing back from the wall, taking a step toward the Captain, "Perhaps my skills could be of use in this matter,"

Re: Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[alastirra.livejournal.com]

The Farseer happened to merely be in the right place at the right time, a small basket of berries tucked under one arm.

She frowned, full lips curving down at the message and its delivery.

"Not so friendly now, I see."

Alastirra hurried off to make her delivery, hooves clicking.

Re: Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[playsin-traffic.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Great."

This was going to get interesting.

Re: Shipside - Ransom Message/Reactions

[hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com]

Mindy raised her head to the message, scribbling idly on a notepad. When she heard the message, she scoffed.

"Well someone has a high opinion of themselves. So much for a nice diplomatic mission."