trans_9 | Man, you look just like I feel [Open]

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Man, you look just like I feel [Open]

Despite the uproar that had taken place only a day earlier, it was all quiet at the Susono Inn. Well... mostly quiet, anyway. It was home to some of the most stubborn crew members on the ship, almost all of whom had gotten involved in the brawl with the Kessek.

Allenby's arm had been broken. Simon had taken a hard one directly to the ribs. Zouichi would probably take a week to get back to real fighting form.

And Howard... well, it would probably take Howard a while to recover from what had happened.

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"But this isn't wear we come from. This is a ship that wakes us up naked, calls itself 'mom' and tells us we're in a war. Rules don't apply." He pets Sushi on the head after being coaxed by enough headbutting.

"No, but they could be. We don't even know where the air filters on this ship are. We have no idea what we'd do if something went wrong. And he pretty much called me paranoid for worrying about that."

Part of the problem was that Mark was a terrible therapist. Part of the problem was that Howard has become downright allergic to 'don't worry'.

"In some ways. But look at how the society here is set up. With rules and rights. Crime isn't a major problem, or violence. We don't want for food or supplies. I think that goes a long way toward explaining why people seldom come out of their bubbles." He paused. "Unless you're talking about that girl who sat in her giant robot for two weeks not eating anything. Even I can't explain that one."

Zouichi frowned. "You're right, of course. Although what I'm worried about is what extended exposure to an atmosphere of no airborne pathogens is going to do to the crew's immune systems."

"Then people are dumb. That girl especially. I talked to her a bit and all she wanted to do was talk about how back home she got fed Soylent Green, and it's kind of like...that's nice. But we're not back home, so shut up and eat something." Howard rolls his eyes. "It's not even like it's that hard to avoid the slop. You can get by with beer calories for a few days at the Drunken Dragon if you have to, and Hydroponics has fruit. That purple-haired kid even runs a restaurant."

Basically, Howard is baffled that Maria not only didn't bother to find out what's in the slop, but that she didn't look for alternatives either.

Howard frowns. "I thought of that too. So far we haven't really done any extended stays on a planet, but what if someone contracts, I don't know. Space malaria?"

Zouichi looked mildly exasperated. "I ran into her while she was still refusing to eat, and told her where to get actual food. Also that she should get herself to Medical to get checked on. She wouldn't leave -- just started interrogating me about what Medical was going to do to her and giving me attitude when I suggested the solution to her problems wasn't hiding under a rock. Or a robot."

He frowned. "Honestly, I'm not sure how she missed the guide. Or all those people regularly coming in and out of the Hangar. You'd think she would have done something other than... whatever it was she did."

"Anyway, guess we'd better hope that our medical team is prepared for 'space malaria'." He paused. "I'd be immune, likely as not, but I'm not sure how much that could be useful for developing a treatment or vaccine."

"Hey, if she wants to hole up and starve to death, that's not really our problem. When I met her she was going on about how she'd rather starve than eat human flesh and it's like yeah, okay, I'm sure your two week fast totally gives you the authority on cannibalism." Howard rolls his eyes. "I'm betting the people in the Hangar did see her, she just ignored all their advice. She came in for a physical, though, so at least she's not dead."

Howard bites his lip. "I'll keep that in mind if we ever run into space malaria, but with Science gutted, we're really not equipped for anything but surgical work. Which is so not good."

"I don't want her to starve to death. But she does need to stop expecting everyone else to provide her anything and everything she needs. I don't think she really knows anything about the Daligig. Not about the recording, maybe not even about Punishment." In his book, there was being overwhelmed, and then there was willful ignorance. If Maria didn't want to be treated as ignorant or incompetent, it was her responsibility to manage some kind of bare minimum on her own.

Zouichi frowned. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen anyone in Science around since... well, forever. Are they one of the repodded departments?"

"I didn't say I wanted her to starve to death, just that it's no sweat off my back if she does." He stares up at the ceiling and glazes over for a moment before coming back to attention.

"Yeah, Luis Sera got stuffed back into his snot-wallet. I don't even know who else is in Science, and that's just sad because Science and Medical are supposed to be integrated."

He gives Zouichi a thumbs up and a forced, exaggerated grin.

"Oh, well then. Huge difference." Jeez, Howard, one of these days someone was going to confuse your inability to care about human life with actually wishing they'd fall off the face of the earth.

"...They are?" New one on him. "Do you know anyone in Science?"

"Depends. I might know someone who's in Science and just not know they're in Science, because Science is a ghost department that only exists in a parallel dimension to the one we live in. Or maybe all the Science people are gremlins who only come out when the moon is full." If Howard sounds pissed, it's because he is. He's tired of working around these departments.

"Why not both? Maybe one day we can even track them down and tag them. You know. For science."

For some reason, the idea of stalking, tranq-ing, and tagging scientists really seemed to appeal to Zouichi. Maybe turnabout was fair play.

Howard laughs, and it does feel good to do that, even if it sounds a little hollow. "On that note, do you have any tranquilizer guns I could borrow?"

Just not a tranquilizer coil rifle. That sounds like a disaster.

"No, I have a taser. I thought Medical would be the ones with the tranq guns. There might be some in the armory, though."

In fact, there were most likely many tranq guns in the armory.

"That's what I wanted it for, hunting down people for medical evaluations, but the department doesn't trust me with a gun of any kind." Which is clearly because they're a bunch of jerk mcjerkfaces and not because he's been caught stealing from the med bay. "I could go to the armory but I'm trying to keep my head down, now that our Evil Overlords know my face."

Zouichi looked thoughtful. "How about talking to Lash? She had a whole pile of weapons from the planet when I last saw her. And if you want to do it under the table, what better way?"

Howard, were you still stealing from Medical? Shame.

"Because that means dealing with Lash, and she likes to try and push me off cliffs or freak me out. I mean, normally, sure, but not now."

Was anyone under the impression that he'd stop?

"...off of cliffs?" That had to be an exaggeration. "Okay, then I'll ask Lash if she has a gun, and then I can... wait, what are you going to do with these tranquilizers? Strictly Medical usage, right?"

But you were making such great progress, Howard!

"Seriously! She pushed me off the cliffs Stacy put here! I mean, she caught me, but it wasn't near as funny as she thought it was." He folds his arms in a most cross way. "Yeah, strictly medical. You know how I am with guns."

None of said progress had to do with theft!

"Alright. Then let's hope she picked up some nonlethal pieces for her collection." Hope being the operative word here, considering it was Lash.

Also, Howard? If you used it on anyone, you'd better tape it.

"How is Orc doing?"

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Man, you look just like I feel [Open]

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