"Listening to others, considering well what they say" (Part 3: Maingate Hotel)

[cityship]

The Maingate Hotel was pretty extravagant, and an entire section of it had been eked out for the crew's use during their stay. They had several suites, three communal areas, a conference room, their own kitchen with a chef on call if they required her.

They were all teleported from the main teleport pad of the hotel into the conference room, which was a large enough room to be able to hold a group their size and had plenty of chairs arranged in a circular pattern so they could mostly all face each other or whoever was in the middle of the room.

Everyone had to settle down so they were all able to talk, and the meeting itself would have to be carefully controlled so they wouldn't all talk over each other. But they were up for the task, right?

[ooc: Guardian Setup, General Mingling, Clone Checkup, Newbie Briefing, General Briefing, More Mingling, Back to the Meeting, and The Idea Guy sections are open. Backup characters introduced to the plot can join in the mingling subthreads if they want. The opening of new subthreads will be announced here and the ooc. Please read the linked OOC post for a plot timeline.]

Comments

[thewunderkind]

"Well yeah, I'm definitely worried about that," she replied both surprised that Zetta didn't seem too preoccupied about it, and the fact she was worried about something at all. "You're not?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"I'm a book, good luck cloning that," Zetta said. "All they can copy are bodies. Not training, not power, not personality. Even if they made a dozen girls who looked like you, none of them would BE the one and only Wunderkind, right? Cheap copies of us can't compare to the real thing."

[thewunderkind]

"Maybe," said Wunderkind replied carefully. "They probably won't be able to clone you. Then again we don't know exactly how powerful their cloning technology is..." Lash pushed down the chair down so it was on 4 feet again. "And no, I don't think they can copy a person's thoughts or their intelligence either. However...I'm pretty certain my CO powers could be copied and used by any potential clones."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"And they won't be your equal," Zetta said. "A clone Lash wouldn't have years of training or experience as the Black Hole Wunderkind to know the devices inside out and out, and know the best strategies and the best way to use that power. You'd kick your clone's ass without breaking a sweat."

Give him credit, he hadn't made a joke about a twin threesome. That showed he was taking her seriously.

[thewunderkind]

You could live the dream, Zetta.

"That's true but...urgh!" She looked really frustrated at the whole ordeal, getting up and pacing back and forth before crossing her arms. "Look don't tell anyone just yet, but Black Hole used clones before, alright? We figured out that the CO powers might be genetic, and we made a few clone prototypes as test subjects. Heck the first great war I was a part of was caused by a perfected Andy clone going around the other nations causing trouble and pretending to be him. They just required insane amounts of power for us to grow and create one, and they'd die after two months. I can't even imagine what our wars would have been like if we had had access to the same technology these people have now."

A pause.

"Not to mention I'd feel so insulted seeing myself out there looking dumb and speaking like an idiot!" Oh there we go. Back to the really important stuff.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

And yet you joined the Power Ranger team, Zetta didn't say, through one of the most heroic exertions of willpower he had ever made in his 35,000 years of existence.

After he could finally stop biting his tongue, he cleared his throat (so to speak). "So you're worried that your CO powers could get out there even if it's not from a competent version of you."

[thewunderkind]

"It's not only that," she admitted, although that was a large part of it. Her ego really was that large. "Although imagine armies of clones who could suddenly climb walls with ease. I talked with Lex a short while ago and he mentioned the laws here were written in such a way that they were fluid enough to be hard to grasp at first, and the possibility the GIA might not have known all about them. But let's imagine for a minute that they did."

Lash were you becoming a conspiracy theorist.

"Sending down a good amount of us, getting us cloned and then using that in the war against the Ohm. Would be pretty handy, don't you think?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Yeah, that actually would be," Zetta said thoughtfully. Unfortunately, he hadn't exactly taken this the way Lash had hoped. "But all the clones on board would have whined and complained if they'd just asked, or even ordered. This way they got what they wanted and it's too late for them to stop it. That's actually pretty clever!"

[thewunderkind]

Urrgh, this was getting so frustrating! Lash groaned before speaking again, unsure how to answer this properly.

"I don't want to be cloned. I don't want any of us cloned." Which, she realized, was pretty surprising to herself. "Worst clones not being the original or whatever. Point is, we've all been had and I don't like being had at all." She pouted back to her chair again. "This mission really sucks. At this point I feel like it's more feasible stealing the technology than playing in their camp."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Yeah, it's a mess no matter how you slice it," Zetta said. Amazingly, he was actually attempting to show some shreds of empathy for Lash. Don't read too much into it, damn it! "Even a demon has his limits, but frankly, the thought of that medical technology pretty much wins the day. That's gonna keep people on the ship alive and fighting."

[thewunderkind]

The wunderkind put her head between her hands thinking about everything so far. It just felt like whichever direction she looked, they were running into four different walls. "Yeaaah. Now we've got the possibility of clones and invaluable healing technology on the line. Wish I had been taken to the hospital instead of being given a tour of the place, I could have tried to decipher something instead of sticking my hand inside upside-down fountains."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"...Hey, it'll all work out. Don't worry!"

Seriously, the Overlord was actually reassuring Lash.

[thewunderkind]

That did get her to calm down. Somewhat.

"Sorry." There aren't that many people she'd say that at all. "It's just that you just don't become a Commanding Officer without thinking about all the possible outcomes to something. Especially with what's on the line and the fact I'm part of the team responsible for the expedition at all." She gave a tiny smile.

"That party to celebrate Alex's departure when we come back better be worth it."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"If I can find a way to work 'no cloning Lash' into the negotiations, I will," Zetta said, confidently. That might almost have even been a promise.

[thewunderkind]

"Deal," she replied with a wider grin, having a feeling that would probably not happen but it was really sweet uh badass of him to offer it like that.

"In exchange, I'll find a way to make sure they don't chase you out with pitchforks and torches when we return on the ship."

Lasers. Lots of lasers.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Hyaaa ha ha ha ha! I didn't spend all that time building a Fortress in the City for nothing, Lash! I'll put up quite a fight when they come for me!"

With the help of her lasers.

[thewunderkind]

"Well I'll make sure to play the loudest music for the occasion then. Something that makes defending a castle worth it, and all."

Lasers and giant robot.

She then helped herself to part of the sandwich pile which had steadily been building for the past twenty minutes.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"It has to have gratuitous electric guitars," Zetta said. "We demons are kind of big on that."

And somehow, for this moment, everything was all okay in the lives of the otherwise-irritated book and the otherwise-upset Wunderkind.

[thewunderkind]

"I'll see if I can get you one powered off those Tesla Coils. I'm sure you'd find that very...enlightening experience." WHAT A PUN, she clearly was a master at this. Anyway. She sat up to get herself a drink from the tiny fridge only to return holding something that looked like a cube in brightly wrapped colors.

"Did you see the stuff that's in there?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Oh, no, let me just walk over there and look." The book made a very sarcastic motion as if to walk, which backfired on it horribly when it fell off the table and tumbled to the floor.

[thewunderkind]

And...Lash laughed at him because let's be honest, that had been a pretty hilarious spectacle. At least from her point of view.

"Tee hee hee. You okay down there?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

The book flopped around and swore a lot, but it wasn't very clear with his face on the floor.

[thewunderkind]

ALRIGHT FINE, after a few more seconds, she did her best to help him push himself upwards.

She was still grinning, however.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

The book glared at her fiercely. "So what is it?!"

[thewunderkind]

She didn't even flinch.

"Instant food packets! Imagine if we had this on the ship!" Lash held up the entire list she had found right next to mini-fridge. "I have no idea what durian is, but there's some in there in a bar form."