trans_9 | Rule One: Never Split Up The Party

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Rule One: Never Split Up The Party

Who: Ax, Jonas, Paco, Jeka, OPEN
Where: On the move
Summary: Crew members released from GLaDOS’ clutches request information.
Warnings: None

Several holes opened up just inside the Hub and ejected a handful of crew members out onto the corridor floor. It took several moments for them to extricate themselves from the tangle.

“Hair. HAIR!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to pin it down. Jonas, Ax’s back legs are tangled in your cape, can you do something about that?”

“[Tell him to stop kicking and I will try.]”

< This is not kicking. >

“[Then please squirm less. Do you see anyone?]”

“I don’t see anyone, but we’d better get this worked out before we need to run.”

“Amen, sister. Ow!”

Once on their feet again, they all pulled out their omnicoms to find out what they’d missed and to let the rest of the crew know that they were back.

“I don’t see anything about Brainy or Brenda,” Paco said, disappointed. Jeka huffed unhappily, running her thumb over her Legion ring.

“I’m going to report in to Security,” she said. “Aximili, do you want to come with me?”

 Ax replied.

“Aaand Jonas is already tearing off to go find his girlfriend, so looks like it’s just me and myself going for food again,” Paco said as the other teenager in question vanished around a corner. “Catch you guys on the flipside, assuming we’re not about to get ambushed by tentacled space-snails or something.”

[[OOC: Say who you want to talk to in the subject line!]]

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Speak of the devil, Allenby was heading in that direction when she saw her fellow engineer in the unlikely group, just about as it was breaking up. "Hey, Aximili!" she called, waving. "Long time no see! You get caught by GLaDOS or somethin'?"

< Yes, we were, > Ax answered, pausing for Allenby to catch up. < What have I missed? I was taken right after GLaDOS came back online, was anyone harmed in the attack? >

He was going to need to contact the other Animorphs and assure them that he hadn't been returned to the Pods. Hopefully they hadn't thought he'd died in the attack either.

"Uh... a lot," Allenby said with a wince. "I was runnin' mazes when it started, but I got released right in the middle of it." She rubbed the back of her head. A whole hell of a lot of damage had been done there. Not just to the City and the ship--though there'd been plenty of that--but to everyone, even if it wasn't physical.

But there were some definite things that stood out. "None of the current crew got killed, even though SHODAN cut off Sickbay for a while. But she attacked the pods." Her fists clenched at her sides as she remembered that gloating broadcast. "While everyone was still under her power dampeners, she pulled people out of the pods and murdered them with her robots."

Ax's tail twitched, rising higher over his back.

< That's terrible, > he said. < How many people were lost? Was Stacy able to identify them? >

Had any of the crew lost friends and loved ones? Had any of the Animorphs?

"About a dozen. I think thirteen or fourteen," said Allenby. "That AI announced their names while she was murdering 'em in the pods. A couple of people's parents, someone's little sister... and a bunch of people she just killed at random to make everyone in the pod caverns feel even worse."

Allenby hadn't been in the pod caverns herself, but SHODAN had broadcasted it all over the ship just so the whole crew would know about it and not be able to do a thing.

If the AI announced their names of those she murdered, then the Animorphs should be able to tell if if they'd lost anyone. Perhaps the names are even on the omnicoms somewhere.

 he said unhappily.

"We sorted her out, at least, though god only knows what other AIs are lurkin' in the shadows." Allenby had even heard a little about one called Hal 9000 that had similar goals, though not much else. Like the Warden wasn't bad enough.

And how Allenby had picked up that bit of information was part of the answer to Ax's next question. "Sakura and some gal named Barbara found a secret record of some kind--a log of the first crew, rebelling against the Daligig. It was a real eye-opener, lemme tell ya."

All four of Ax's eyes blinked, one of his stalk eyes even swiveling to look at her, leaving its twin scanning the hallways alone.

< Really? > he asked. < What did-- > He cut himself off, holding his breath for a moment. < Is it safe to talk about here? > he asked, this time in private thought-speak; not that it probably did much to keep Stacy from listening in on their conversation.

Allenby shrugged. "I don't see why not. They made a public announcement and invited everyone into the Sensoriums to watch what happened, so it ain't exactly a secret."

She grimaced at the memory of that record. "It was awful. We saw the last minutes of a mutiny against the Daligig. They mowed down half of 'em--the ones that survived got shoved back into the pods. And the Daligig who showed up to gloat made it clear that they were all just slaves."

Edited 2012-03-31 20:23 (UTC)

Really? Ax repressed a wince. Well, that was certainly less than subtle.

< What have the Daligig on board said about the recording? > he asked. Not that he was ignoring the other facts Allenby shared, but that seemed the most important information to obtain.

In her years of life (and her time spent on board the TARDIS), historian and educator, Barbara Wright, had never come across anything so...unique as the creature before her. Bright blue and horse-like, it's back was turned to her, and while her primal instincts screamed at her to run the other way, her more curious side wanted to hang around and find out more.

Its tail, arched like a scythe, did make her weary, however, and rather than make initial contact, she thought she'd just observe. And stalk a little. But casually, so as not to seem hostile.

Ax, as always, scanned the corridors around and behind him with his stalk-eyes. As such, he noticed the human woman (or at least the human-seeming women, as there were non-human species on board this ship who appeared identical at first glance) very quickly after she began to follow him. Once he had concluded that she was absolutely following him and not just traveling in the same direction, he paused and turned to face her.

< Is there something that I could help you with? >

The voice in her head...it were almost as though she were in the Sensphere again except that it felt as though there were another person in her head. Barbara was so distracted that it took a moment for her to realise that the centaur-like being (for she had no better name for it) had turned to look at her.

...and it didn't have a mouth.

"Hello?" she tentatively tried, not actually connecting the voice in her head with the blue centaur. There was the assumption that it could hear, given the ear-like growths on the side of its head, so she kept her voice level. "Can you communicate?"

< No, > Ax replied, keeping his face as expressionless as possible for the moment. 

He waited just a few seconds longer before he relaxed his facial muscles into a smile. Hopefully she'd be able to read it and wouldn't think he was making fun of her.

< Might I have the pleasure of your name? > he asked. < Mine is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. As it's rather complex to say aloud, you may call me 'Ax'. >

There was that voice again, and had Barbara not been watching the blue centaur for sudden movements, she might have missed the smile-like movement where he mouth should have been.

"I'm Barbara Wright," she replied, seeming as he (and it did sound like a he) gave his entire name. "Is that you in-in my head?" it sounded quite ridiculous to say out loud.

< Yes, > Ax answered, tilting his chin in a nod. < My species communicates via thought-speech. It would be remarkably difficult of us to speak like humans do, since we lack certain necessary anatomy. >

Another joke. Sort of.

< It is a pleasure to meet you, Barbara Wright. >

It was utterly fascinating to hear - well, not hear hear - someone talking without a mouth.

Her eyes roamed over the centaur taking in the four eyes and the similarities it had between a fully grown man and a horse. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too. Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"

< My homeworld is...was approximately eighty-two light years from Earth, > Ax said, continuing to scan the corridor with his stalk eyes as the two of them conversed. < Assuming that you know where Earth is, of course. The large somewhat-empathic tree down in the City is from my home as well. > He assumed that she'd seen the tree, it was one of the major stops on the City tour as far as he knew. He hoped it hadn't been damaged while he was indisposed.

"I know Earth," Barbara replied happily, "I'm originaly from London. I haven't seen the tree, though." The only flora Barbara had seen on board the ship were in the indoor gardens, and she'd only visited once with the Doctor. It was fascinating, perhaps she'd have to visit again.

"How come there's a tree from your world?" she asked curiously, watching the stalks as they swiveled about.

< Really? > Ax cocked his head to the side. "Interesting. Do you spend much time down in the City? >

He shrugs his slender shoulders in response to her question. < The same reason the ship took so many churches, I suppose. It's a very important tree. > He's going to have to check on it, after he talks to the Animorphs. Or perhaps he can get them to meet him there.

"I spend a little time in the city, especially when there isn't much for me to do," she replied.

Barbara tilted her head to the side and asked: "so the tree has spiritual significance to your people?"

Ax shifted his weight a little. < Yes, I suppose you could say that, > he demurred. While he might be one of the only surviving Andalites in existence anymore, he still didn't feel entirely comfortable sharing information about his people. He's trained too long for that, been on the front lines of a guerrilla war for too long, even if he wasn't in the same kind of one here.

So, he changed the subject: < What do you do otherwise? >

Despite the lack of humanness about Ax, the way he moved just a little hinted that he wasn't terribly comfortable talking about the tree. Or was upset about their conversation. So Barbara indulged him.

"On the ship? Very little. I am a trained historian, however, and back home I used to teach it in a school - how did they educate on your world?"

< We had teachers much like they do on Earth, > Ax said. He had attended Earth school a few times -- the two days he'd been pretending to be Prince Jake while the real one was tied up in a shack in the woods having a Yeerk starved out of his head, and another time shortly after when the Animorphs had been trying to teach him how to behave more "normally" as a human. < Have you been teaching on the ship? >

Barbara shook her head, "no, I haven't. There isn't really much of a chance - not enough children to establish a school and those which are here have little to no interest in studying whilst in the middle of a war. I don't blame them, though. There were days I didn't feel like studying during the war. Of Earth. During the 1930s and 40s, of course." Because she wasn't a teenager when the Daleks invaded Earth.

"I should let you go. I'm sorry I was following you, and if it upset you. I should remember my manners. It was lovely meeting you, Ax."

< It is important for a warrior to be knowledgeable as well as a good fighter, > Ax said, almost reflexively. It had been drilled into his head many times when he was younger. Of course, he hadn't exactly been the best student either... < But it is entirely understandable. >

He shrugged his shoulders again. He gave her that odd sort of eye-smile again. < Most humans don't react as graciously to their first sight of an Andalite. >

"I'm not most humans," Barbara smiled in return. "I hope to see you again, it was lovely meeting you, Ax."

< And you as well, > Ax said, sketching a bow in her direction.

Now to find the Animorphs and find out precisely what he'd missed from them.

Cassie wasn't that hard to find. She was in the media library, listening to some music while scanning through the omnicomm. She'd all ready looked at all the campaign speeches and she was going back over the information they'd learned about the Daligig.

The media library had seemed a good place to start looking for Cassie. Really, Jonas could have contacted her over the omnicomms or the rings and found her immediately, but...

...Well, he wanted to surprise her a little. Luckily for him, he was absolutely correct in his choice of starting points.

"[Cassie!]"

"Jonas!" Cassie immediately set away her omnicomm, got out of her seat, and put her arms around him.

"Were you running mazes? GLaDOS made me do that for ages. We must have missed each other."

Jonas buried his fingers in her hair and pulled her in for a kiss.

"[Indeed I was,]" he answered when they broke apart so that she had a chance to breathe. "[It is a shame that we did. If you will excuse the understatement, running them with you would not have been bad.]"

"She probably kept us apart on purpose. We wouldn't have gotten any work done." Cassie smiled. "Not her idea of work anyway."

She pressed her forehead against Jonas's. "I'm glad you're here."

Jonas grinned. "[No, I imagine we would not have,]" he agreed, combing his fingers gently through her hair.

He sobered. "[What have I missed? Anything important?]"

"A lot, actually." Reluctantly, Cassie let go of him to grab her omnicomm. "There's an election for another Councilor and... well, here's a summary of new information about the Daligig. There's more detailed information in another post there."

Cassie handed him her omnicomm, which displayed this post.

"I don't know if you want to go through that now." Granted, she knew it wouldn't take him too long, probably faster than it would take for her to explain.

Jonas quickly read Allenby and Howard's posts, mouth disappearing into a thin line. "[I see,]" he said after a moment.

He glanced around the room, then up at the ceiling. "[Is there a more...private place we could go to talk?]" he asked. He knew of a few of Stacy's blind spots, but they were some distance away; if Cassie knew of any closer, they could go there to continue this conversation.

Whether the old crew trusted Stacy or not, he was not sure if he wanted to have this conversation where she -- and possibly the Daligig -- could hear.

"I don't know of any nearby." Her days of exploring Stacy had ended after she came back from the dead. "We can go to the City." She offered. "I don't mind the walk."

"[In that case, that sounds like a lovely idea.]"

Gallantly (though with a touch of self-depreciation), Jonas offered her his arm.

"[Anything more on the gossip end of things?]" he asked, if only to keep the conversation going.

Cassie smiled and took his arm.

"Yes, actually. Uhm- Billy got married." That had been surprising. He was only a year older than her. At least she thought he was. It was hard to keep track on Stacy. She wasn't even sure how old she was now.

Jonas' face twisted in confusion for a very brief moment before he realized that she was probably talking about Billy Cranston rather than Billy Kaplan.

"[Oh, that is nice,]" he said. "[I will have to find the happy couple and congratulate them at some point. Though I think I will wait a bit -- I would not want to interrupt any honeymooning.]"

He lead Cassie back toward the Hub, not walking particularly briskly, but certainly with purpose.

Zuko, tired out from a full day of searching the ship and finding nothing, rounds a corner going the same direction as Paco, toweling some sort of unmentionable Stacy-slime out of his hair.

He nods to Paco, a memory scratching at the back of his mind. "You - haven't been around for a while, have you?"

He squints at Paco a little, trying to remember why he knows this guy and feels like he should talk to him.

"Nope," Paco answered, making a face. "I got grabbed and sent on a cake-run. What have I missed? Last I was out and about, there were murder-happy robots and my arm was going all weird on me." He pointed at his mechanical arm; like Zuko really needed the help to guess which one he was talking about.

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Rule One: Never Split Up The Party

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