trans_9 | Foodplot: Parte Uno [Closed]

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Foodplot: Parte Uno [Closed]

After the 'bitching about Stacy' session finally reached a head, Sakura and Howard decided to actually do something about all the questions they had about their spacefaring fleshy home. Granted, they couldn't really find anything out about the Ohm on their own, and the Daligig were Right Out, so that left exploring the ship itself.

Time for them to find out what it is that they're putting in their bodies.

They drew on a few people they trust, or at least have figured out well enough to not distrust (more than they usually do), and now they're gathered at the mess hall at some awkward hour when no one is there to eat. They've brought Kanoe Zouichi (specialties: stuff going boom and wrangling Howard into being cooperative) and Ian Chesterton (specialties: hot cocoa, also science). And Ian's brought Barbara Wright (specialties: ??? and pissing Howard off).

Howard's tucking away at a tray of slop, figuring that if they're going to find anything that puts them off eating food forever, he might as well enjoy sweet, delicious ignorance now.

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"Can you actually translate an entire language from a single word? I mean, we don't even know if it's a word or a chemical symbol or whatever, some other way of defining water." Howard glances over at Zouichi. "It was water, right?"

"It was water," Zouichi agreed. "Stand back, please."

He took a few steps back himself, set the shell accelerator output on his gun to the appropriate setting, then pulled the trigger.

The pod was gone.

Or rather a significant portion of it was gone, but Zouichi wasn't interested in the remnants of the thing that fell to the ground. "Generally, no. However, we can begin to infer other words through context. Assuming their language base is similar to our own."

When Ian stepped back he took a look at what he could see of the next chamber. Since there didn't seem to be much more to discover from here, he stepped into it. This was definitely a science lab. He wondered what the tentacles were for and as one descended he got a hold of it, to see what it would do.

As soon as the pod is destroyed, a tentacles descends from the ceiling and feels up the hand Zouichi used to pull the trigger.

The tentacle that Ian grabbed, by contrast, flails and thrashes in a desperate attempt to escape. Its tip becomes needle-thin and it stretches back as if to strike Ian like a snake.

"Whoa, it's like tentacle central up in- Ian, watch it!" Howard notices the needle point and decides he's going to happily avoid the tentacles if he can.

Zouichi slapped the tentacle aside, backing off rapidly while keeping an eye on the tentacles. Any move to harm the people in the chamber, and some more destruction was going to go down.

Ian let go of the tentacle and stepped back before it could do anything to him. "Now we know not to touch the tentacles." Part of him wondered what it would have done if he hadn't let go, but if it had done something awful, this wasn't the best place for someone to give him medical attention. So instead he went back to see what the tentacle was doing in the other chamber.

Howard's a very good medic. He is probably not such a good medic when they're covered in grime and he's got pretty much none of his equipment. And probably especially not good when they're camped in a giant nostril cavern.

"I think it's also telling us not to blow up any more hologram generators."

The tentacles retract, although it seems that they're rushing away not because they're sated, but because they have a destination somewhere they need to get to immediately.

Zouichi lowered his gun. "Wonder where they're all off to in a hurry. Let's get out of here sooner rather than later." He hated it in this nostril cave anyway.

He followed after Ian, if only to make this end quickly.

"I'd like to know where they're going." They must be doing something. It was just a question of finding a way to follow them without touching any of the tentacles.

The room they're in, probably the last place they'll be, is bereft of grime and goo, but the tentacles bring tiny trays of clear substances over to the counters, where they are placed under microscopes. Not human microscopes, by any means, but magnification lenses all the same. If one were to look into the microscopes, they should notice that cells are duplicating in the dishes.

The dishes smell strongly of the dead cow from earlier.

"Man, these counters are too tall for me." Howard stands on tip toe, trying to get a good view, but it's mostly impossible. He keeps checking over his shoulder for stabby tentacles, too.

Zouichi took a glance in one of the microscopes, although he wasn't sure for whose benefit they were included in the room, as they were all unmanned. "Shmeat," he announced. "Most likely, anyway."

Which made sense, right? The ship had cloning capabilities. Although why the ship didn't clone things other than revolting fetal cows was anyone's guess.

Now this was something Ian understood. He looked through one of the microscopes, and then checked the next to see if the same thing was happening under that one too. "They're making meat," he said, since shmeat hadn't really come up in the 60s. "But it smells like something died in here." He really hoped that wasn't because they were using the dead cow to make food. If that was the case he was never going to eat again.

"...the fuck is shmeat?" Howard bounces a bit on his feet, trying to be able to see into the microscope with no success. "I guess this is our last stop for samples."

And with an, at this point, practically mandatory eye-roll for Ian, Howard adds, "it just smells like hamburger, jeez."

"Cloned meat," Zouichi said to Howard. He considered offering to lift Howard up to see through the microscope, but Howard never seemed to take him up on his offers.

"I imagine it's from the same source as that cow earlier." It did not smell like hamburger. It smelled like a million dead feet.

Ian frowned at Howard. "That's not what hamburger is supposed to smell like. The cow should be freshly dead when you strip it and if the meat smells like this it means it's gone off and will make you ill if you eat it." If they were using meat that smelled like this to make the food it was a wonder he hadn't come down with a bad case of food poisoning yet.

"Cow is cow. Believe me, that one's still edible, even if it's stinky." Howard finally gives up getting to the microscope and pokes at a petri dish instead. "I have cows in the city, you know. Or at least, until the Chancellor wakes up again."

He squints at the dish. "I bet there's antibacterial stuff around here somewhere, though. We know Stacy filters viruses and stuff out, so our immune systems would be shot if anything contaminated the food. There's probably a filter in the chute."

The tentacles return to the ceiling and reach down to grope the tops of their heads. Apparently they aren't quite done feeling them up - or are trying to hold them in a specific place for something to come get them.

Zouichi grimaced at the feeling of the tentacle scrabbling at his helmet. "So let's grab some of this to go and get out of here. We have a cow pod to carry back."

Or rather, he had a cow pod to carry back. Not that he was particularly looking forward to that, either.

Ian felt the tentacle touch his head at the same time as he saw the tentacles going for the others. He batted at the tentacle and stepped backwards, away from it. "I think that's a good idea." Despite still not knowing much about how the food was made on Stacy, he still felt like he knew more than he wanted to.

The tentacle was following him, so he turned and went back the way they'd come.

The tentacles retreat, just in time for something else to drop from the ceiling...

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Foodplot: Parte Uno [Closed]

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