trans_9 | Meat n' Greet

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Meat n' Greet

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a tall man in green armor and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]

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Swelling violins, etc. "Thanks, Cassie. I have to admit I hadn't heard of the Yeerk Peace Movement until I got here, but I'm glad to know that I was supposed to get involved with something like that in the future. And I really am so glad that you managed to demorph."

So she didn't remember being here before... Aftran had barely been aware of Cassie's prior presence on the ship before being taken by GLaDOS, so she hadn't known whether or not to expect her to remember. "Our universe, all of it, has been destroyed by a species called the Ohm. They've done the same to a number of other universes, too. Everyone here was rescued by the Daligig, members of some intergalactic army trying to stop the Ohm. We don't have much choice but to go along with them and help." She sighed.

If Jake and Tobias were awake, also... "It's not all bad. It looks like we have a good chance of succeeding. And all six of you are awake now, it looks like. El... Prince Elfangor was also, for a while, but he's been re-podded." She might have known better now, but that instinctive twitchiness about Andalites was still there. "Karen is here too of course, as well as Iniss 335 and Tom, and another Yeerk called Schmuz. None of us are in humans anymore, though. I've become a nothlit, and Iniss and Schmuz have artificial hosts."

Yeah, sorry, Cassie; a lot to catch up on.

To say that Cassie was confused was an understatement. She could feel her head start to hurt some, but she ignored it.

"You... didn't know about the Yeerk Peace Movement before you came here? But..." Cassie stopped herself. Had she said more then she should have? How could Aftran not know?

But, then, thinking back, Jake and Tobias had also both been somewhat different then she'd remembered as well. She hadn't spent too much time thinking about it at the time, having just been overjoyed to simply see them again, but now...

"Our universe is gone? Others as well? How many total?" Cassie suddenly felt so very tired and weak. How could something so awful have happened? She suddenly looked urgently at Aftran, "What about our families? Our friends? I know that Jake and Tobias are safe, but what about everyone else? Did they..." She couldn't finish the thought. Couldn't think that her parents might be gone. That all those that she had known and cared about might be lost to her.

Another war. She wasn't sure that she could deal with another war. The last one had almost torn her apart.

Cassie's face twisted quizzically. Aftran had said all six of them were awake, but Rachel was gone, a fact that still tore at her heart. And Aftran had mentioned a Tom, but the only Tom that Cassie had ever known was Jake's brother and he had also been lost to the war. And Elfangor had been here as well apparently, but, this also simply couldn't be. She'd watched Elfangor die that night at the construction site. And other then that, the only other name she recognized was Karen's. She decided to start there.

"Karen's here too? I'm glad. I'd like to see her again if she's willing." Cassie hesitated. "I don't understand though. Elfangor's dead. How could he have been here?" She decided not to mention Rachel and Tom yet. She was still worried that she'd crossed some line earlier mentioning things that Aftran had apparently not known prior to being on the ship and Aftran wouldn't have known about Rachel and Tom's fates anyway. An explanation for how Elfangor could be here would likely explain how there could possibly still be six Animorphs and how Tom could be alive as well.

"Also, artificial hosts?" That was an exciting idea. It had come up with the Iskroot, but had never become much more then a dream in the end.

"No, I was still in Karen's head. It's... complicated, but somehow the Ohm destroyed our universe at every point in time all at once, and the Daligig who rescued us took us from different times, also." It hurt her head just to think about. She pinched the bridge of her nose to help herself think. "So, I was taken before I could leave Karen, but most of the Animorphs were taken from much later... That's why Elfangor was here, too."

Ah, the important question. "According to what I've heard, if a person is here, then it's pretty much guaranteed that their friends and loved ones are here, too, even if they aren't awake. So all of your families should still be in the pods." And Karen's parents... "The pod cavern certainly looks big enough to hold that many people. It's like there's no end to it.

"And-- yes, the science department created them for Iniss and Schmuz. The blue box they created wasn't as advanced as the real thing; for some reason, they had compatability problems with it."

"That does sound complicated," Cassie said, unable to think of much more to say in response. None of this was helping her headache. Still, that could explain how Rachel and Tom could still be alive, a thought which drew a smile from her. They must have been taken from some time before their deaths. Cassie looked around suddenly, as though they'd appear if she looked hard enough, but that quickly proved to be silly. She'd have to track them down later.

She was sorry that she'd missed Elfangor though. She'd always wished that she could have had one last moment in which to speak with him, but that was not be apparently unless he came back. Hopefully, Ax had at least been awake at the same time as Elfangor. She'd known how much he'd missed his brother.

Cassie was pleased to hear that her family should be somewhere aboard, even if not awake. Sleeping was safe at least.

The information about the artificial bodies and the blue box definitely held her interest. "Compatibility problems with the box? What happened?"

She also realized as she listened that she didn't recognize the names of the two Yeerks Aftran mentioned, but her friend had said them as though they should be familiar to her. "Do... I know Iniss and Schmuz?"

"I'm not sure. I don't really know a lot about the technology." She shrugged sheepishly. "Some kind of negative reaction, though. Oh-- And, Iniss 335 was the one inside of Tom. Tom's free now. Schmuz 44356 is..." She paused. "I don't know, actually. He isn't anyone I knew from home. His number is higher than anyone's should be, too... He was inside another crew member for a while."

The mention of the Yeerk that had controlled Tom caused Cassie to wince. She was sympathetic to the Yeerk cause, but that didn't erase all the things she remembered him doing and all the pain that particular Yeerk had caused. But, perhaps, he was different now. After all, he'd left Tom while aboard the ship and he hadn't in her reality, even when he could have morphed into another body instead of continuing to enslave Tom.

And Tom was free. For that, she was very glad. He hadn't deserved his fate.

Cassie thought of Jake again, wondering where he was. She wanted to make sure he knew that Tom was both alive and free. That Rachel was alive too. Perhaps, that knowledge might help him some. It was a hope worth holding on to at least.

"So, how long have you been here? Where is Karen? You mentioned that she was aboard and awake."

"A long time. It's hard to keep track of the time here, but a few months, at least. Maybe a year? For most of the time Karen and I were being tested by this A.I. called GLaDOS..." Ugh. Just that memory was irritating enough.

"Karen is in our room. I thought it'd be safer there... Last time there was a podpop, a naked, skinless man with his brain exposed burst in and declared himself the ruler of the ship. He turned out not to be much of a threat, but better safe than sorry."

"You have been here a while. Does... it ever get any easier to deal with?" Cassie asked, concerned. "And what is this GLaDOS? I've never heard the name before?"

"Really? If that's the kind of thing that happens at these times then she'd definitely be best staying somewhere safe." Cassie hesitated another moment. "Who was this guy and why would he do a thing like that?"

"It's one of the artificial intelligences run by this ship's computer systems. It runs tests on us to make sure we're healthy, I guess, but they're generally tedious and time-consuming."

"I... don't know why he'd do that," she replied. "According to someone else from his universe, his name was Lord Zedd and he was a... well, villain, I guess." For lack of a better word. "There are all sorts of people on this ship."

"I see," Cassie said slowly, filing the information away in her mind for later. She hoped that she'd be able to remember all that she was learning today.

"A villain?" Cassie was no longer sure that there truly were such beings. She still believed that evil existed, but the lines that she used to believe in between good and evil had faded long ago. They had been crossed too often with those she viewed as "good" doing bad things and those she'd considered "bad" doing good or at least doing only what they felt they had to do to live. But she trusted Aftran's judgement and knowledge. At the very least, he must have been choosing to do bad things to earn such a reputation. It was something to keep in mind for now. "Yeah, there definitely seem to be all sorts around here."

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Meat n' Greet

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