The two groups were free, Punchy had been safely left in a shield bubble, and now that Brainiac 5 was free from his mother's control and closer to himself again, it was only a matter of stopping Brainiac 4 from enacting her plans to harm the crew.

That task was probably easier said than done, of course.

Things were looking rather dire for the captives of the Brainiacs. They were very securely trapped, no one knew where they were, the old Brainiac 5 appeared to be completely gone, incapable of his old morality, and apparently, Brainiac 4 had some sort of plans that involved getting past Stacy's defenses.

There was no sound in the hangar, where the signal could be traced to something transmitting it that was hidden among the ships. The omnicom itself that was in Brenda's possession was transmitting, but there was something else in the hangar that had been amplifying the signal and carrying it along through the shielded depths of the ship back when the omnicom had been in the lab and wirelessly hacked by the strange mental array attached to Brainy's brain, and that was what they were tracing the signal to rather than the omnicom itself, months of hard work finally letting them crack the code.

There were no sounds of running or of someone being chased. That was possibly alarming. Silence, when someone had been running for their lives, was a bad thing.

[ooc: Closed to: the Brainies, Danny Phantom, Brenda, Red Robin, Zuko, Shoutaro, Jeka, and Punchy. Cole-player, I'll give you your cue to hop in and witness the trap going off by email and give you a setup when it's time.]

Less than an hour after the ship leaves Agrestic's orbit, an announcement is broadcast throughout Stacy.

|| Attention, crew. Your crewmates, Howard Bassem and Charles Merriman, have been apprehended attempting to desert. They will now be given Punishment. According to established guidelines, you are all requested to report to the Observation to witness the Punishment. Attendance is not mandatory, but highly suggested. This will serve as a reminder of the consequences of treason and desertion. ||

On the observation deck, Archon Yavek, Archite Rekkti, two other Daligig and a handful of Kessek soldiers stand outside a spherical force field. Inside the bubble, Orc and Howard are suspended by tentacles looping around their wrists. Orc's ceased thrashing around and struggling against his restraints; rust-colored fissures have developed around his shoulders and forearms from the strain, but now he simply hangs there, looking defeated. Howard's nose is bleeding, and every time a drop falls to the bottom of the forcefield there's a small sizzle. He's weeping and begging the Daligig with every plea possible, but they act as if they aren't listening. Instead, they wait for an audience.

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?”

< I should talk to Allenby first, I think. Tell them that I’ll be by soon. > 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!]]

Harry Potter was, inexplicably, unbelievably (given the circumstances) bored.

Then again, maybe it wasn't so much boredom as the fact that he was used to running and fighting and running and mulling over puzzles and running and fighting and so on and so forth, that being stationary for so long was difficult to get used to. Knowing even more was to come had him keyed up with a sort of nervous energy that was difficult to disperse.

He tried fighting holograms with his magic in the Sensoriums, but that didn't help him in the least bit, because he only got more ramped up instead of letting the coiled up spring in his chest release. (Hands down, the feeling was far worse than previous chest-feelings he'd had in the past). He wandered the hallways aimlessly but that only made him feel more restless. He poked his nose in places he was fairly certain he wasn't supposed to go, like the Bridge and the Special Weapons lab, but that didn't help, either. He stared out the Obs Deck window, he canvassed the Art Hall, and he even took a hike through the city, but the feeling wouldn't go away.

In the end, he wound up in Hydroponics, laying down in the grass, the fake sun on his face. Pulling the legs of his plantsuit apart slightly got his feet free and let him wiggle his toes in the grass.

This is relaxing, isn't it? You can still do relaxing, can't you?

He couldn't, though. He just couldn't. In fact, he was fairly certain that even if Ron and Hermione had been there, and they'd been lounging around by the fire of the Gryffindor Common Room, he still would have had trouble.

Why couldn't he seem to let his guard down for even a moment?

[ooc: You can have your character find Harry in just about any area of the ship! Just specify where your character ran into him. Also, please note, I will be tagging this VERY slowly until probably Friday or Saturday, due to school.]

The City didn't have weather as most people knew it, but it was nonetheless a beautiful day - warm weather with a nice breeze, Stacy's sun-equivalent shining in the sky... almost as if it was reflecting the emotions of at least one of the ship's crew. In the middle of the Park, someone had set up a little white lattice archway amongst the hedgerows, decorated with ivy and roses and lilies that looked remarkably real (if they were, in fact, synthetic). In front of the arch were several rows of white chairs, more than enough for anyone who cared to show up.

It was a beautiful day for a wedding.

And frankly, Nanoha needed it. After the chaos and confusion; the rage and terror on Galilee... she didn't think she could ever forget that horrible sense of loss and emptiness when she'd thought that Fate was gone, if only for a day or so. But this would go a long way toward exorcising those demons - a day that she'd dreamed of for years.

Of course, she couldn't go greet anyone yet. She was in her wedding dress, after all! These things needed to be proper.

(ooc: Tag the respective subthreads, please! Mingling is highly encouraged.)

Medical Bay had a habit of being busy, and upon the return of some of its members (including the head of Medical Bay) from Galilee, things only got busier. Most the tech needed to be pieced out, but some of it was usable. Discussion of making those small technologies replicable and training people in Med Bay in how to use them was only one topic on anyone's mind.

After all, there'd been a Pod Pop in the interim, which could mean more people coming into the Medical Bay. Not to mention, discussing ideas of how to work better as a group, in light of events on Galilee.

[ ooc: Log's open to mingling for medical workers or those interested in learning; it will have one subthread designated for nursing training with Rory, another for those wanting to make IC connections for further training, and one for general discussion of things those working in Med Bay may want to see. ]

[[OOC: Bendytimed to before Cloneplot, after Melting Clock]]

Jeka was forcing herself not to hide in her room this time. It wasn't as bad as the first time she'd been transformed, of course, but being returned to...her post-transformation appearance was still disappointing. If not for the memories she'd have lost, she almost wished that the clock had kept that last portion of her personal timeline.

But it would do her no good to brood over it in her room. Especially when she had things to do. Primarily training in Medical and her work with Security, but there were other things she could find to do -- such as help Sakura with her omnicom. It would be a distraction at the very least, and she had promised.

She and the human had agreed to meet in the Media Library after Jeka finished eating. Hopefully Sakura hadn't been waiting long. Jeka slithered through the corridors, hovering several feet off the ground with her flight ring, as usual. At least she could wear her flight ring again, it was so...creepy to have to crawl around on Stacy all the time.

"Sakura, are you here?"

Lately Ben had been kind of restless, and thus had been buzzing around the city. It was way too quiet with everything going on, and as much as he hated being idle, there was really no helping it at times.

He had gotten a RideVendor remote from Philip and had taken out one of the cycles for a spin. A few false starts and he was roaring around the city at a breakneck pace before pulling up to the park. Removing his helmet, he brushed his hair of sweat. "I really like motorcycles," he declared to no one as he got off and began to do a few warm ups.

While training in the sensoriums was always fun, he was often finding himself preferring the city more and more, and he selected an alien from his watch, an old standby favorite.

"CANNONBOLT!" yelled Ben as he began to roll and bounce all over the place.

The omnicoms were actually quite sturdy as it turns out -- sturdy enough to survive being dropped in horror when a certain crew member puts a few anonymous comments together to identify an unknown sentient -- and from there, that sentient's tormentor.

"Captain Kennedy, I need to speak with you immediately," Jeka said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "Where are you?"

Oh grife. Oh grife, oh grife, oh sprock, oh grife.

The crew was in very deep trouble.

"Why did I come in here?"

There were very few things Sasami regretted. One of those things? Walking into the art hall. She'd never thought it was needed to come visit here, but, after the whole thing with the Tapestry, curiosity came and bit her hard. The Tapestry wanted to show her things of the future. She'd just wanted to see things of the past. Out of curiosity, she looked at the first statue before her and gasped at what was being shown.

Herself at 3 years old, on a small platform, dead (at least in her mind). Over her was the form of Tsunami, ready to assimilate with her and revive her.

She stepped back, reeling in fear. Why did it show her that?! Of all the things she could have seen, it was that.

"Please, change it! I don't want to see this anymore!" Sasami pleaded, but it seemed like it was stuck at the moment.

A good number of those affected by the clock had reached childhood, and required supervision. Several of the adults had offered to help, and no one was quite sure anymore who had first suggested it, but it was decided that one night, there should be a sleepover, something fun for the children. The idea had grown; Eva had offered Cassie's house, after getting permission from the other non-deaged resident, Aximili.

In the end, it turned out to be a packed house. There were about twenty children running around, and thankfully, there were five adults and two teenagers supervising. Luckily for Eva, she had made sure to childproof the house the best she could beforehand.

It was going to be needed.

[Planning post is here. HAVE AT. A description of Cassie's house is here, and if you have any questions about it, you can ask Lisa (Eva), Blue (Marco), Cait (Rachel) and Kaylin (Ax). Start up subthreads for stuff, and try not to wreck the place. :D; ]

Down in the City, there was a very determined yellow snake climbing the outside of the bathhouse.

Princess Jeka knew that there was a warm place on top of the bathhouse. She vaguely remembered helping design it, or at least making suggestions about how it could be designed. She could technically go inside the bathhouse and get her heat there, but that’s a wet heat and she only liked wet heat when she was shedding.

As she stopped to catch her breath, wrapped around one of the supports, she wondered how she used to get up here so easily. Something about…flying or something. Well, she sprocking (hee hee! How daring!) well wished she could remember how to fly if she’d learned it!

After Sam Henderson's announcement, the Contagion Containment and Treatment lab was going to get busy. Anyone suspected of being affected by the mysterious affliction would be brought here, and put into one of the large bubbles that would keep any potential contagious diseases in - and the patients themselves. Once in inside, they wouldn't be able to get out again until the Medical staff had cleared them.

And before they could do that, they needed to find out what was causing this - and why.

They had a lot of hard work ahead of them.

[[ooc: Just start your own sub threads under the main threads, guys! And if you're happy to have anyone tag in, put "Open" in the subject line. If you've already got plans for who you're threading with, put "Closed" instead.]]

Things had been running as usual down in the med-bay, and to first appearances, this week wasn't going to be different.

But first appearances could be deceiving. This week was going to be different. And as the next few days passed by, the Medical Department was going to find that they now had quite a situation on their hands.

[[ooc: Okay, so this post is just for the affected characters who go into the Med-Bay before Quarantine, the Medical peeps who volunteered, and also the people who bring in said affected characters. If you've already organised who you'll thread with for this, just put their names in the subject line. If you're happy for any of the Medical guys to tag in, then just put "Open". There's also an ooc planning post for this if you want to try and plot for this.

Also, please note that both in terms of the timeline, both Kon and Jeka will be the last two to be brought in, regardless of thread order - they're essentially the ones who'll show up right before Quarantine, and be the ones that clue in Medical as to what's really happening here.]]

Down one of the back alleyways, one might stumble across a small sidewalk market full of peculiar shops. To one side was a store selling hub caps, to the other was a man who'd try to convince you that his potions would bring you eternal youth, really.

But in the middle, was a clock shop. It's collection of clocks in stock was peculiar, made of strange materials and working in odd ways (and if you wanted a cuckoo clock, here you could get one with a real cuckoo). But by far the most striking clock was the one that was draped across one of the back tables. The fact that it could drape at all was a big hint to the clock's strangeness. It looked like a giant, metre-wide clock face that had an unfortunate accident with a Bunsen burner and gone all floppy as a result, like it was melting. And yet, the clock still ticked.

The merchant spoke. "Do you want to see something strange and mystical?"

[[ooc: Alright, this is the post that kicks off the Melting Clock! The clock store Merchant here is Jeepers/Peepers, who's being NPC'd by Allen. Since people other than the Melting Clock guys might want to tag Jeepers/Peepers, please mention in your subject line whether your character is to be affected by the clock or not, so Allen knows who to set the chime off at!

Important Note! If your character is to be affected, make sure that you've signed up, guys. If you haven't filled out the form, you haven't signed up]]

Another Important Note: No more new threads please! If you really really want to thread this out, please ask Allen directly if he's able to. Otherwise, just handwave them coming to the shop.

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.]

( It always started out the same... )

Sasami's eyes open up as she comes to from the dream. Her pink eyes dart around the room, seeing where she was. Still in the Med Bay. There was no sign of Hit Girl - probably went off for awhile. Stuck in here for so long after that incident, she was starting to feel restless. There was so much she needed to get done, so much she needed to see...

"Negi-kun...!" Sasami whispered. She needed to find Negi, see how he was. Maybe she could sneak out without anyone noticing. Attempting to slip off of the bed, she found herself losing her balance a bit, still weak from everything. As she did, she held her head as a slight pain struck her. "Ow... what's... going on....?"

It had been some time since the idea had been raised, the upgrade to the bath house based on an unintended but rather beneficial side effect to the initial construction that had led to the tiles above the sauna to heat up to a rather pleasant level especially so for those reptilian crew members aboard. The intent of the upgrade to make use of the unintended side affect along with some additional heating to provide second level to the bath house containing a series of larger heating pads of a variety of textures for those who wished to use them.

Thus here she was, materials gathered and ready to be used in the upgrades, the bath house closed off for the short period of the construction. The plans for the upgrade projected in a holographic manner from a crystal device not unlike the one that hung around her neck, the plans available for any to observe. With everything in place and ready to begin, all she had to do was wait for those who wished to assist her to arrive.

(OOC: Channel post related to this here)