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.

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.

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.

[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.

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."

RANSOM

[cityship]

"The goddess Avani has spoken. She is angered by the unclean ones who have come to Her land. She has sent Her wrath down to punish those who have turned away from Her... and the answer has finally come. The source of this blight are the nonbelievers. The infidels who have come to poison Orya away from the knowledge of their one true creator."



Reda steps into the light, and her Chosen soldiers, wielding rifles, standing back near the kidnapped scientists.

“Captain Kennedy,” Reda says, as stoic and calm as always, “The great goddess Avani has spoken. She demands a donation from the nonbelievers who have poisoned her island with their presence. They are the source of the sickness that destroys my people’s faith... the sickness of knowledge that turns their eyes from Avani and towards false idols. They must be purged from this place, and Avani demands penance for their sins...”

"Avani has spoken. “If you pay a tithe of 10 million credits in Her name, she will forgive their transgressions, and I will liberate your crew.”

Re: RANSOM

[governmentninja]

...well, its not like Leon hasn't seen this plan before. Its like she copied half of Saddler's notes. Leon managed to refrain from rolling his eyes, and instead made himself look a little worried.

"That's a rather large donation. It's going to take us some time to come up with that many credits..."

Base tactics in hostage negotiations. Stall; see what kind of kind of time frame they give you.

[cityship]

"I am sure you will be able to work quickly if it means the ongoing safety of your crew," she replies.

"There is a full moon three days from today. The villagers believe that a sacrifice on that most holy of nights will please Her, enough for Her to lift the Burden from the dying."

She glances back over her shoulder at the kidnapped victims.

"I am not sure if I'll be able to convince them to wait much longer."

[governmentninja]

"I understand. We'll work on gathering the credits. We'll be in contact soon."

Leon tapped the screen, terminating the feed. Alright, that gave them a good amount of time to work with. Time to get the plans started.

[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..."

[cityship]

"And Captain?"

Reda smiled serenely at the camera. "Do not try anything daring. It would be a shame if anything happened to them."

The feed flickered out.

[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?"

[governmentninja]

Yeah, even if Leon weren't in charge, this was the absolute wrong crew to say something like that to.

"Idiot," he stated, once the feed was closed.

"Stacy, calculate the amount of time we have until the full moon rises." He'd need a slightly more precise clock than 'three days' to work with. "And see if you can calculate the signal's exact point of origin."

[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?"

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"Oh relax, I can get us out of here." Peter said, prepping to rip apart the ropes binding him like so much tissue paper.

Only that's not what happened.

"...as soon as we figure out why I can't use my super-strength."

[morphitudinous]

Hear that faint thumping sound against the ground? That would be Billy after testing the sturdiness of his bonds, flopping in such a way that the side of his head smacked the dirt. It...somewhat helped for warmth, and it definitely helped his guilt along. Stupid, stupid, stupid Billy. Why on earth had he accepted that drink? Why hadn't he morphed and used the energy to escape when something felt wrong? No, he just had to let this happen, right in the middle of an ongoing crisis. And unless his calculations were missing a critical factor, he highly doubted he could escape...at the moment. Maybe it would come to light later, but he needed time to scold himself first.

His mind immediately jumped to worst case scenarios. Death was likely, especially ingestion by a hostile creature or simple starvation. Wouldn't that be a fun thing for the others to inform his friends from home about, should they ever awaken? Sorry guys, Billy was here, but he got himself caught and died a while ago.

But...everything would be okay if he died, right? Angie could run Engineering. Jamie was a better Ranger leader than he ever was. And Ronnae could take Beast Boy for a lover. That only left Kaya, but surely someone would comfort her.

"My connection to my power's been cut as well," Billy reported in a dull voice, almost sounding dead. Not quite hopeless yet, he owed his friends a fight, but this was a significant disadvantage. What was left? Gnawing at it? A sharp enough rock?

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

Peter, who was next to Billy, rolled his eyes. "Dude, save the Eeyore voice for when we're completely doomed."

[medicalmind.livejournal.com]

"Obviously they want us alive, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to all this trouble," Scarlet added, attempting to sound reassuring. She couldn't claim that all her higher cognitive functions had kicked back in after whatever drug they'd been slipped, but she was aware enough that she'd righted herself and was looking around their prison, trying to get her bearings.

"We'll find a way out of this. We're all smart people, right?"

[hi_there_aliens]

"'m fine," came Daniel's muffled voice from the other end of the room. The archaeologist was lying face down, arms pulled tightly behind his back. He turned his head with a sigh of relief. His neck was killing him.

He shouldn't be surprised by now. Waking, tied up, fuzzy, and face pushed into cold rock and not a clue how he got there was not how Daniel liked to start a day. Or night, and yet somehow he found this happened a surprising amount to him. Whoever said archaeology was all books and cataloging never ran with SG-1 or this crew.

Daniel took the time to consider the options and their surroundings. When you were lying, bound, there weren't actually as many of each you'd think. The room itself was small. Nondescript. Damp. It looked like he'd come to in the middle of a conversation. Who knew how long he'd been unconscious. Scarlet seemed convinced that there was a malicious intent at work. Daniel wasn't so sure. There had to be an explanation. They should try and talk to the tribe before assuming it was always coming down to hostiles and hostile intent.

And frankly, wars started over less.

Daniel managed to roll himself onto his side. His glasses were hanging lopsided, barely perched on his face. Absently, he noticed that there was an oily splotch where a lens had pressed against his cheek and eyelid. He wished someone had their hands free. It was going to annoy him to death if he couldn't get it cleaned.

He licked at dry lips. His mouth tasted like sandpaper. "Maybe there's been a misunderstanding. We don't understand a lot about the Oryans. We may have offended them," Daniel offered. Okay, well, it sounded kinda lame given the circumstances. That feast had been in good will. He hadn't felt any hostility behind their actions. He was sure the Oryans appreciated the aid, but...

If only he could speak for the entire night. Daniel had obliged them and followed along, drinking the offered mix. He'd only taken a small sip, both to try it out and for politeness' sake. It wasn't like he'd never gone with the local customs and foods. He didn't remember that much after that. That got the anthropologist in him worried. He'd lost time. Either that drink had been incredibly potent, possible with a different effect on human physiology, or drugged. Time lost meant there was a large window of time and it was possible that he, or anyone else, might have royally ticked off the tribe. If so, they had to smooth this out, fast.

He seemed to come to a decision. Awkwardly, with a Herculean effort, Daniel got to his knees.

The archaeologist staggered over to the sealed door. "Hey!" He called out. "I think there's been a misunderstanding. Where is Mother Reda? I have to speak with her!"

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: 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.

[couldputitback]

Faiza had been struggling with her bonds about as long as the others had been awake. "You know, this is somehow part of the superhero experience that I never had to deal with before now." And it pretty much sucked.

She didn't have fine enough control of her powers to be able to help with the ropes, but she tried anyway. After a few moments, she shook her head. "And mine are out for the count, too." Just as well. They were rather gross. "There must be some sort of power dampening here."

It was a struggle to sit up, but she managed, not pitting her hijab out of place. Actually, she was happy to see that it still was in place. "Nobody did anything that the Oryans considered offensive, that I could see. Well, unless they're insulted by bad karaoke. Which, if they're insulted by that, they shouldn't be plying guests with so much drink."

[greennotgold]

Everyone else was getting up... Fletcher finally forced himself up to a sitting position. He'd managed to avoid smudging his face with dirt, but one of the flaps on his headband was now filthy. Nothing a little alchemy couldn't fix... if he could still use it. No one else's powers were working, and while Fletcher himself would hardly call alchemy a "power", the rest of the multiverse probably didn't agree.

He closed his eyes to make himself calm down and concentrate on the transmutation circle he was drawing on the ground behind his back to help undo the ropes. Of course, once he was finished nothing happened. "I can't use mine..." he added, then fell silent as he listened to the discussion of what they could have done to deserve this. He couldn't think of a thing.