"The Forgotten": A post-apocalyptic tale

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Pausing Ty looked at her and tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe I said anything about your skill based on being a girl. I was informed you used to swim in high school. If you’ve had competitive or tactical combat experience after that I’ll happily reassess my statement. I’ve glossed over Senior Airman Young’s file. And although he took basic training he has no expertise in SEAL training, no combat swims, Delta force, no Ranger school, no Airborne. Nothing to show he has any practical skill.”

“And my examples were potential excuses if you didn’t want to be in the water with me, not a degradation of your capabilities or courage.”

For the first time since entering the Saloon this morning, Rita looked to Ty and maintained her gaze. There were two topics fighting inside her skull for the right to form words in her mouth. She addressed one with a simply stated fact: "I can do this dive with you. I'm not scared."

“Good, I’d rather not have anyone here afraid of me,” Ty replied. And then she said it, she vocalized her deepest thoughts.

Finally, she asked, "Are you and Leslie like boyfriend and girlfriend ... dating, I mean. Like ... are you a couple ... exclusive couple?"

“NO, Leslie and I spoke of it after our first encounter. Which was not in the sauna. Due to my being one of two males, and the hyper-aphrodisiacs pumped into our bodies during our extended sleep cycle it only reasonable to assume that I would be requested to satisfy the urgent need of those inclined to be with men.”

“Once more individuals are awakened that situation may change.” Looking at her he sighed, “Due to the nature of my military career I have not had the opportunity for ‘relationships’. Ladies don’t date guys that are always on a mission or deployed somewhere where the likely hood of being killed in action is high.”

“As for when I lost my virginity, I was the last of my friends, I was in a committed relationship with her for over a year before it happened, we were each other's first. And we were still to young to do what we did. But we loved each other. There is no hope of finding her again as her death is the reason I joined the military.”

“As for what could happen in the future, I can’t predict it.” Ty finally said.

 

[Alice2015]

Ty and Rita:

“I don’t believe I said anything about your skill based on being a girl," Ty said.

Rita opened her mouth to tell him that he'd misunderstood her, that she hadn't been accusing him of any sort of chauvinism. But he went on, speaking about the swimming experience in her youth.

“And my examples were potential excuses if you didn’t want to be in the water with me," he went on.

Rita took note of how Ty said with me. Was he thinking that maybe she didn't want to work closely with him because of the conversation she'd overheard between him and Alice the day before? Or was he thinking that because she wanted him to be her first lover, she might feel uncomfortable working closely with him at all?

She would have loved to know which way he was thinking. But then another thought came to her: maybe he hadn't meant it that way at all and was only giving her a way out of what could be a dangerous mission. Yeah, that was it, Rita convinced herself.

“NO," Ty said firmly when she asked him if he and Leslie were a committed couple. He spoke about the lack of males and -- though he didn't use the word -- the horniness that one and all had been experiencing.

Rita couldn't help but smirk a bit at this portion of the conversation. Military men didn't often find themselves in a female-rich environment that provided them with abundant opportunities for sex. She wondered what Ty's first thoughts were when he was reanimated only to find he was one of 2 males in a group of 7, particularly with everyone hopped up on cryo aphrodisiacs.

He spoke of his first time, of being in love, and of losing that lover. Rita's expression turned more solemn and -- this time using his given name -- told him, "I'm very sorry to hear that, Ty."

“As for what could happen in the future," he mused, "I can’t predict it.”

Again, Rita smirked a tiny bit. She imagined that Ty was saying There's gonna be a lot of new women to 'service'. Of course, he could have meant that the male-female ratio would significantly drop, and he'd no longer be in that much demand. To this thought -- for right or for wrong -- Rita said, "Oh, I think that even if there were twice as many men as women, you'd still be in demand."

She suddenly realized how forward that had been and simultaneously giggled and blushed. "Sorry. That just sort of..."

She went quiet, feeling silly.

Just then, the Doctor entered the Saloon, caught Ty and Rita's eyes, and said, "Well, c'mon you two. Medical checkups for one and all. Can't have you drowning there in the black waters of Greenland."

 

[Alice2015]

Adeline Legrand, in stasis, Level 8:

Deep in suspended animation, the beautiful French woman knew nothing about the Richardson International Bunker Complex; she knew nothing of the flooding it was suffering; she knew nothing of Greg Young, who had descended the stairs yesterday to inspect the bunker; and, finally, knew nothing of that same man opening her pod and raping her while she slept.

Greg had had enough pre-cryo period experience with maintaining the pods that he'd been able to prevent the facility's AI from detecting that he'd opened it in the first place. What he hadn't known was that after he himself had entered stasis 144 years ago but before the last of the Project's still-animated personnel left, a change in the code regarding the monitoring of the filtered air would lead Bertha becoming aware of an issue with Adeline's pod and, thus, result in her reanimation.

What Greg also didn't know was that his seed was to find a lasting home inside the beautiful redhead. Adeline had been ovulating just prior to entering stasis; the egg was still viable, unaffected by the woman's current state; upon exiting stasis, her egg and Greg's sperm would encounter one another; and the repopulation of the planet via the occupants of the RIBC would begin.

To the surprise of one and all, though, Adeline Legrand wouldn't be the only bunker occupant to become pregnant in these first days of the start of a new life.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
After running through the battery of tests, and in one case running on a treadmill, in his boxer-briefs, with a breathing apparatus on his face to measure oxygen retention.

After laying on his back with a 110# (Just over Rita’s weight) above his face for five minutes. He was finally and reluctantly given the all clear, but if he felt anything he was to return to the surface. No Heroics.

That made him pause inside for a second as his mouth continued to spew the words she needed to hear he considered, did she have – true – feelings for him?

Could he develop them for her? Could he put her through the nightmare that was his life?

Could he do that to anyone? Ever?

Laying on the bench with the weights he looked over at Rita to check her progress on the treadmill, an had a chance to see her tits bouncing as she ran, at least she had a descent rhythm going.

There was a weird reflection going on with the glass so he turned and looked the other way. Sr, Airman Young had been walking by and was no standing and watching her. It wasn’t the look of ‘wow, she looks cool’ or ‘that’s interesting.’ He had more of a ‘I'm a gonna fuck her sweet little throat until she likes it.’ look.

When he glanced around and saw Ty watching him, he waved and started walking again. What were his assigned duties anyways? He’d talk with the Captain after the dive. That man was off. I this was a combat zone, Ty and Young would be having a serious conversation behind the barracks.

But considering their situation that conversation couldn’t take place. Not Yet anyways. Maybe he could be put back in stasis? In the old world, Ty would have probably just punched him in the face for the way he looked at Rita.

That was part of Ty’s mental problems. The Psychiatrists told him he had a Guardian complex as a result of the PTSD and the Survivor’s Guilt. He couldn’t protect Michelle, so he tried protecting everyone else. Especially females.

Anyone that reminded him of her, he protected. Sometimes (often) when that protection wasn’t needed. Looking back at Rita he took in her slender form, and well he was a human being, and a guy, and still under the influence of some of the drugs. So he looked at her ass as well. It was firm and sexy and very nicely shaped. Would she want him to fuck her doggie style? Or missionary? Had she ever even touched a man’s cock? At her age she had to have seen porn at some point in time.

Hell in the old world she would have been offered positions in porn movies. At least for a few years until she’d fucked everyone and everything in the business. Thank god she was to smart for that shit. Unfortunately her smarts got her here, trapped in a flooded bunker.

As she finished her run, Ty was given the all clear to put the weights down.

***

Stripped down to his underwear Ty duct taped a knife to his right leg just above the ankle and a second one to his left wrist. Hen he walked over to the nearly naked Rita and taped one to her left wrist.”Just in case we need to cut anything to get through. The tip is blunt enough to be used as a flat head screw driver as well.”

Flicking his flashlight on he handed her the prybar, 3’ of wrought iron just in case they needed to force a door or anything. He himself took the grease marker in hand. It worked great underwater and he’d mark the walls every 10 feet or so to give them markers for the way out. Just in case.

The plan was to take in air from the tubing and then exhale into the water, using gear from the medlab he’d hooked up a negative flow chamber. Meaning water wouldn’t go up the hose.

Looking at Rita, he held he hose as he went into the water.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Alaina:

Looking over the test results of the simulation Alaina nodded to herself in satisfaction. After uploading the change she gave everyone a warning that they’d be switching to emergency power for three minutes as the system rebooted,a nd since the emergency lights wouldn’t come on for five minutes, they’d be in the dark for those three minutes.

“Powering down in Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Powering off.”

Hearing the shunting as everything went dark she hoped and prayed that everything came back on. Was she a failure? Would this work? What if it didn’t work? Would everyone hunt her down in the dark and kill her? Would they eat her as they descended into madness from the dark? Would she be raped?

When the lights came back on, she gave a scream of terror. She knew it would happen but without power she couldn’t tell how long she’d sat in the dark. Alone.

Motion drew her gaze and she saw The Airman.. Greg standing there looking at her. “Sorry, the lights coming on startled me.” she said as she went back to her terminal. Pulling up a camera she assigned it to the monitor just above her central terminal, so she could watch the Monitoring station door. And him.

He was still there, so she turnedd and looked at him. “Yes.. Airman? Or is it Mr. Young?”

“You can call be Greg,” he said stepping forwards with a smile. “I was just wondering. Um.. do you like guys? I caught you and Marcy (he’s mispronouncing it) yesterday, and I didn’t want to disturb you. Sounds like you were having a wonderful time. And I was wondering if you liked cock as well, because I’d be willing to.. help you out. If you help me out.”

“Sorry, yesterday she kinda caught me off guard. I do like guys, more than girls, but unfortunately, I don’t have time at the moment, I have several critical uploads happening. That was the only one where I needed to reboot the system though. At least for the day. Can I get a rain check on the um.. sex?”

“Yeah, sure. Maybe tonight, when you’re not working on computers.” he said, his hand tightening on the clip board he was carrying.

FUCKING WHORE?! Spread your whore legs for a fucking dike but not for a man’s cock?! You should be begging for my cock. BEGGING?!? You’ll beg for my cum to grow inside you. You're gonna beg for me to touch you with my cock. beg for me to fuck your whore cunt. Beg for me to let you suck my cock. You’ll beg for the permission to swallow my cum! YOU NASTY FUCKING WHORE!

“I’ll see you later,” he said as he turned and walked out, leaving her alone.

“Bertha, let me know if he comes back to this level again, please.”

“Of Course, Alaina.” the computer replied impassively.

Turning back to the console she noticed a light flashing. Leaning over she looked at the readout. Crypod Alpha-Zed-Alpha-Three failure.

A couple taps and she had that cryopod’s schematics brought up. Skimming through the data she hit the intercom. “Captain. Doctor Leslie. Crypod containment failure. Level Eight. Crypod Alpha-Zed-Alpha-Three.”

Grabbing her data-pad and a connector cable she hit the door at a full run. Maybe she could fix the code on the pod. Or make sure they woke up correctly. Fuck? Had she done this? Had the power outage fucked the system? FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!! Was everyone gonna start waking up and totally fucking the supplies? Was it a cute guy?

 

[Alice2015]

Ty, Rita, and Leslie in the Gym:

(OOC: Ignore the "outfit" Leslie is wearing in the pic below. Just imagine her in a lab coat that shows off her cleavage and -- in the back -- ends high enough to show off the delicious lower curvatures of her firm, pear shaped ass.)

Rita couldn't keep her eyes off Ty as Leslie put them through their paces on the exercise machines, testing their hearts and lungs for the upcoming dive. Each time he looked her way, though, she quickly diverted her eyes to anywhere else. The Doctor monitored their vitals, took her notes, and frequently gave them directions.

Rita also noticed how the Doctor seemed to show particular attention to the man who everyone knew by now was the Lieutenant's lover. Occasionally, Leslie laid hands upon Ty as she directed him in an exercise. Rita may have been a naive virgin, but she knew flirting when she saw it.

Ever since Rita had begun growing her tits in her early teens, boys -- and later men -- had told her that she was beautiful and even sexy at times. And yet she didn't think she compared to Leslie whose more mature and confidence presence -- and her position as the bunker's medical doctor -- made her seem like a Goddess to the meek little plant lady.

"Okay, we're done here," Leslie announced as she tapped at the screen of one of the computer tablets on which she'd been documenting results. "Nothing more to be done here in the gym. Let's head upstairs to the Infirmary to finish up."

........................​

Later -- Rita and Ty on the 11th Level:

Immediately after Doctor Leslie had approved them both for the dive, Rita and Ty headed to the lowest level not currently flooded; the 12th level currently had almost 2 feet of water above its floor and, of course, 13 and 14 were fully submerged. The cryo pods on Level 12 weren't in any immediate threat as only their pedestals -- which had no electronics in them -- were partially submerged.

Just as she had in the Gym, Rita watched Ty closely; just as she had in the Gym, she diverted her eyes whenever he looked her way. Rita felt so ... conspicuous. The exercise wardrobe she wore was closer to underwear than to swim wear. Her nipples were already pressing hard against the underside of her top's fabric, looking like little mountain peaks waiting to be climbed. She'd been wearing another top when she arrived, but Ty had reminded her of the snagging potential and she'd shed it. She thought she caught him ogling her generous tits as she stripped off the top, causing her to blush and -- surprising herself -- smile at the attention.

"Are these for the sharks?" Rita joked as Ty strapped knives to their limbs.

When she answered yes to his question about whether or not she was ready, Ty used the main stairwell to begin their descent to the wet levels. He'd shown Rita how to use the breathing device that he himself had created, but she still felt a bit uncomfortable and awkward with it in her mouth. Ironically, the fish had never gone snorkeling or scuba diving. She'd been very comfortable with unassisted free diving.

Behind and above them, Alice and Greg unrolled the hoses that would deliver air to the pair after they'd submerged. The Captain ordered them all to take their time, watch what they were doing, and avoid taking chances. Rita watched as Ty entered the water, his beautiful male form slowly submerging until his head disappeared as well.

She realized at that point that her heart was pounding like a jack hammer. What they were doing here wasn't pool swimming or platform diving; this was something like she'd never imagined she would do, let alone something for which she'd trained.

Bubbles of air burst up to the surface of the water for what seemed an eternity to Rita but was only about a minute or so. Ty was testing his breathing device before he had Rita join him, apparently. She felt a sense of relief when his head popped back up, followed by a sense of dread when he gestured her to join her.

"Can I change my mind?" she asked Alice with a grimacing smile. The Captain told her she could, but Rita quickly said, "No ... no, I'm ... I'm just kidding. I got this."

She stepped into the water and immediately trembled throughout; Greg had found a thermometer and dipped it into the water earlier, finding at a brisk 44 degrees Fahrenheit. He'd looked at her tits, smiled, and said about her already noticeable nipples, "Those puppies are gonna be huge when you come out."

Rita continued down the steps until she, too, was up to her neck in water. She missed a step and reached under the water to grasp at Ty, finding his torso with both hands. Smiling with a bit of embarrassment, she told him, "I'm glad you're here with me for this." She glanced up the steps toward the other male, then looked back to Ty, saying, "Instead of ... well, you know."

He gave her the mouthpiece and hose he'd tested, gave her some last-minute instructions on how to properly breath with it ... and down they went. Although they didn't have scuba tanks, Ty and Leslie had managed to jerry-rig some medical face masks to work under water so that they could see what they were doing.

Rita found it odd -- frightening even -- looking around the 13th level once they reached it. There was a great deal of equipment, but the thing to really pop out to her were, of course, the pods. The 7 members of the community currently reanimated had all come levels above this one. Level 13 and 14 had suffered nearly all of the deaths, some from systems malfunctions and others from drowning.

Rita had expressed her dismay regarding the AI allowing so many people to drown before finally reanimating the captain. But Alice had explained that the protocols had to balance the immediate loss of life from the flooding with the long-term loss of life from too many people being reanimated without the resources -- food, water, power -- to keep them alive.

Back above water: Alice, Greg, Leslie, and Alaina:

Alice watched the pair slip under the water as she and Greg managed the hoses. Suddenly, Alaina's voice came over the intercom, announcing, “Captain. Doctor Leslie. Cryopod containment failure. Level Eight. Cryopod Alpha-Zed-Alpha-Three.”

"Ah, fuck," Alice growled at the news. They didn't need this right now. Earlier, Alaina had done a reboot that had cut out the lights for what seemed an hour but was only 3 minutes. Alice had asked if she could put that off until after the dive, but the hacker had told her no. Speaking loud enough and in a tone that would cause Bertha to understand that she was responding to the other woman, Alice asked, "Is this a serious issue, Alaina. I mean, deal with right now, this instance?"

The woman indicated that it might be, leading Alice to tell greg with feigned confidence, "You got this."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Alaina:
Kneeling on the floor next to the pod Alaina was plugged in and typing like heroin addicted monkey having a seizure for a fix.

Looking up as the next person of authority entered the room she said. “Shouldn’t be happening. None of the other pods failed. She’s at 28.3% and cycling. 28.8%. The systems shows a containment breach and atmosphere desegregation and I can’t rely on the pod clock cause it say breach occurred 115,289 years ago? I need to run a full diagnostic on the pod, but right now.. we’re getting a new resident.”

“And yes, I’ll check all the pods, everywhere.” Alaina was stressing so bad she was having a panic attack. Her hands were tingling and she was shaking and she wasn’t breathing right either. Way too fast for her body to process the oxygen she should have been absorbing.

“37.9%,” She called as the system started flashing green, the seal releasing, but not with the hiss of atmosphere exchange that had occurred with everyone else the Captain had released.

“Looks like she tossed and turned in her sleep. Do we dream? Nightmares? In stasis? I don’t remember dreaming but I only had the one episode.

“What’s that smell?” She asked confused. Looking back at her tablet she started reading off the chemical air mixture the pod should have had, “Captain, somethings wrong. The atmosphere of her pod.. it’s wrong. It’s the same thing we’re breathing now.”

Disconnecting from the pod she did a wireless transfer of data as a gurney was slid in. Helping to move the red head from the pod she looked at the Doctor and shot her pertinent information.

“Adeline Legrand,” Alaina said. “5'4", 128#; 32B-24-36. Pod activation… March 23, 2039. That... that puts her as one of the First pods.”

“Um.. Captain, she’s French, not American.” Walking with them she accessed the girls file in the main frame. “Multi-lingual. Um.. nine languages? Oh.. damned. Nine languages before she was twelve. More degrees than, anybody should have.” Reading off more data that was, or might be, essential she tried to stay out of the way. Once at the Infirmary she helped transition the girl to a bed then rolled the Gurney into the hall.

 

[Alice2015]

Alaina, Alice, Leslie, and even Marcia with Adeline on Level 8:

When Alice arrived on Level 8, she found Alaina on the floor tapping away on a computer tablet like she was playing whack-a-mole at a miniature amusement park. She looked up at the captain only briefly, returning to her frenzied work as she called out, “Shouldn’t be happening."

The hacker-turned-bunker tech chief spat out information that Alice only partially understood. Alice, like Ty and Greg and -- of course -- the doctor had all been educated to one degree or another about pod operation, but the deeply technical stuff was not in Alice's wheelhouse.

Leslie exited from the stairwell and immediately began tossing questions Alaina's direction. The latter responded, "I need to run a full diagnostic on the pod, but right now.. we’re getting a new resident.”

"What about the others?" Alice asked, already moving from one pod to the next, both peeking inside and looking at the status screens near the foot of each pod. "We need to know--"

Alaina cut her off: “And yes, I’ll check all the pods, everywhere.”

Leslie moved to Alice's side, pointed out three specific measurements on a panel, and told Alice, "Check these on all the pods. They should be in the green. If they are, we're okay." Then, with an annoyed tone, she asked the boss, "Why didn't Bertha catch this?"

"Don't know," Alice responded. She called out, "Bertha!"

As Alaina continued to work on Adeline's pod and Alice had a conversation with the AI about both the situation and the status of the remaining, occupied, and functional pods throughout the facility, Marcia came bursting onto the scene. She'd been wandering about looking for her lover without success, and when she asked Bertha where Alaina was, the AI had told her not only Alaina's location but her purpose for being there.

Marcia, of course, had no knowledge of how the pods worked or even what all these numbers were that Alaina was calling out to the others. But she could see that the hacker was having a panic attack. (This would have been a good time for the cook to have some of the doctor's squirreled-away Fentanyl patches.) Marcia moved quickly to sit directly before the squatting Alaina, took the woman's hands into her own, and spoke to her in soft voice, "Slow down ... be calm ... I'm here with you ... we're all here with you. Allie, we need you ... we need you to be calm and to help this woman come back into our world safe ... secure ... in good health..."

Marcia could feel Alaina's accelerated heartbeat pulsing through her wrists. Without concern as to either whether anyone was watching or would think anything about it, Marcia leaned in and pressed her lips to her lover's, a soft but erotic kiss; even here, Marcia could feel the trembling in the woman.

"Better...?" she asked when she pulled back again. Releasing Alaina's hands, Marcia whispered, "Okay ... do your job the way only you can do it."

Alaina returned to her work, seemingly with more calm than before as far as Marcia could see. Alaina stood to look down into the pod with Marcia and Leslie, saying, “Looks like she tossed and turned in her sleep. Do we dream? Nightmares? In stasis?"

"No," Leslie answered simply.

"I don’t remember dreaming, but I only had the one episode."

"We don't dream," Leslie stressed firmly. Looking at the condition of the woman's clothing, though, she understood what Alaina was saying. Adeline's posture even seemed just a bit off; she should have looked like a corpse at an open casket funeral, all stiff and perfectly laid out, but her legs were apart just a bit and the thumb of one of her hands was actually under the outer edge of her thigh.

“What’s that smell?” Alaina asked. She read measurements off to Leslie, then called to Alice, “Captain, somethings wrong. The atmosphere of her pod.. it’s wrong. It’s the same thing we’re breathing now.”

Alice had returned to stand with the other three women by now, telling the doctor that all of the other pods were in the green. As Alaina began reading off the specifics of the pod's occupants, Leslie leaned closer to Alice and whispered, "Someone's opened this pod. And I mean recently!"

“Um.. Captain," Alaina said with a bit of surprise, "she’s French, not American.”

This whole situation was confusing Alice like she hadn't been since first being reanimated a week earlier. Alaina continued reading out personal details for this French woman. Leslie said with a firm voice, "We need to get her to the Infirmary ... like now!"

"No elevator," Alice reminded the Doc.

Marcia pointed toward a wall, asking, "What about that?"

Alice followed the woman's gesture to find a stair-climbing gurney afixed to the wall. She ordered, "Help me get it down."

It took several minutes to get the new woman out of the pod and strapped into the gurney. Leslie, who had used one of the devices in the past, informed them, "Battery is charged. It's been on the system. We're good to go."

Between the four of them, the women began guiding the gurney up the stairs; the wheeled stretcher had been redesigned specifically for the steps of the bunker's stairwell and ascended almost as well as a human being would, if said human had six wheels instead of two legs.

After they'd traveled two of the facility's 14 levels, Alice could see that it only took one person to handle the gurney. She ordered, "Leslie, Alaina ... get up to the Infirmary and tap into Bertha again and find out what the fuck happened here! Marcia, get down to 11 and check on Rita and Ty ... on the Lieutenant, now!"

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Lt. Collins:

Sinking into the cold water wasn't bad, he’d gone Polar Bear swimming in Minnesota once, that was cold as fuck. Water had to be glacial run off, or snow melt. That had been January 3rd, 2032. He’d been 15 and had been on a school field trip. Two years later all his friends would be dead.

What was today’s date?

After verifying everything was operational he motioned for Rita, and watched as she entered the water. She should have entered naked, probably wouldn’t have turned him on as much, at last the water was cold enough to stop the ‘little man’ from standing at attention.

It wasn’t need but he moved across this level towards the pods, by the time he reached the first group his eyes had adjusted to the beam of the flashlight enough he could tell the pods were completely offline. Not a flicker or blink,or even a dim dim light showed on the panel. He’d check later to find out when each pod had gone off line so he could build a timeline of incidents. They didn’t need it, but he wanted to know.

Looking into the first pod he determined she’d probably been in her early-mid twenties, the hair said she was military. What was left of her facial structure said she was asian, maybe Asian-American. Three more pods two males, one female. Such a fucking waste of life.

Swinging the flashlight across the room he saw something weird and swam to it, using the pods as bracer points. A chunk of ceiling and re-bar had given way, falling and smashing a pod and it’s occupant. Looking up he motioned for Rita to stop, and to stay back.

The ceiling had smashed their legs. Breaking containment of the pod, but not killing them. The poor thing, she looked to be maybe 16 had a hand wrapped around a piece of rebar. She survived the quake long enough to try and fight to get loose. Probably passed out from shock, pain, and her injuries. Then died of starvation. With her body size.. ten days, maybe 14 after she woke up she died.

Compared to this the rest of them were merciful. At least the rest of them never woke up.

 

[Alice2015]

Lt. Collins and Rita, underwater on Level 13:

The first minute or two Rita was underwater were spent fully concentrating on her breathing. She wondered whether or not it would have been better to simply free dive, without the breathing apparatus and hose trailing behind her. Then again, what with the severe cold, she might not have been able to hold her breath like she had in those warm swimming pools of years gone by.

Rita didn't show much attention to the pods to her left and right, instead keeping her eye on Ty. She didn't really want to look at dead people; she simply wanted to get the job done, which meant sticking with the man leading the way and helping him in any way she could. Rita didn't even look left or right, fearful of what the headlamp strapped around her skull might illuminate. She simply kept the beam, weak as it was, set upon Ty.

She watched as the Lieutenant pushed himself across the flooded compartment, and she was about to follow when her breathing line came up short. She grasped and tugged it to let Greg and Alice know she needed slack; Alice had departed, of course, but Rita didn't know that. It took several seconds for more hose to come to her, and when she turned to join Ty again, she wasn't really comprehending what was in front of her: collapsed ceiling structure, bared rebar, and a smashed cryo pod.

The first indication Rita had that something horrible had happened was when Ty seemed to be waving her away. Almost simultaneously, though, she saw the corpse: the skin gray from exposure to the water; the long, thin hair floating wild in a gentle current; the horrified expression with which she'd died.

Rita panicked immediately, opening her mouth as if to scream. Water rushed into her mouth around the breathing apparatus, and reacting to it she got her arm caught up in the hose and jerked the whole thing out of her mouth. It only got worse when flailing for the hose and mouthpiece Rita knocked her goggles a bit to one side; they instantly flooded with water, leading her to pull them off, freeing her head of them which seemed to be the smart move.

In less than five seconds, Rita had gone from being only a bit uncomfortable to being in an absolute shit fit panic! Her first instinct -- her swimmer's instinct -- was to swim for the surface. But as soon as she'd started upwards, her brain quickly reminded her that there was a floor above her, an overhead actually from this side of it, and it was cluttered with conduits, vent ducts, and pipes.

Rita kicked and twisted to find the way out, the way to the stairwell and the unflooded floor above. She caught sight of the light coming down from Level 12 and kicked to head that way ... only to have her foot -- with only a sock on it -- get jammed between two objects. She jerked, trying to free herself, but all that seemed to do was tighten the vise grip on her.

She was capable to holding her breath for a long time -- she'd once done it for almost 5 minutes -- but she was in 44-degree water, had already swallowed a mouthful of water, and was already a minute or more into her personal record. She flailed and pulled and pushed at whatever was trapping her ... but to no avail.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Alaina:
“Captain,, I apologize for the inaccurate data from Earlier. The Pod was using hexadecimal for it’s clock and I miss translated. It wasn’t 115,289 Years. It was seconds. That translates to 32.025 hours. Her pod failed yesterday.”

“So my reboot didn’t do this, something else happened. Which means I need to get back to the mainframe and figure out what the fuck happened and why. Maybe I can figure out which pod will trigger next, before it happens, not after.”

She couldn’t do anything else in medical, she needed to get back to the main systems. Her data-pad could only do so much so fast, so she slipped out while talking to herself. She wasn’t really talking to herself as much ass she was talking in Cyber to her tablet, running theoretical coding algorithms through her head as she walked, and verbalizing it.

Back in the Monitoring station she sat down while still taping the tablet like an addict on speed.

Then she swiped right and the file was on the main system screen. Running a patch to the diagnostic program she bootstrapped her patch and then brute-forced a diagnostic run.

As that was running, she went through the pod logs to see if any other pods had experienced the same atmosphere anomaly. Only one. It had occurred during the pre-mission days during the month long sessions. A technician, under directive, opened a pod pre-cycle to test the safety, and reset, protocols.

Once the containment seal was broken the cycle couldn’t stop. Emergency protocols engaged flushing the sleep paralysis drugs from the system, engaging the aphrodisiac chemicals – an ass ton of hormones – One set flushed out, a second set flushed in. The atmosphere mix was enhanced, Oxygen and nitrogen blend increased. All the blood went through several cycles of purification each cycle adding more and more chemicals for the awakening, and breeding, process. There was also a micro-shock system that stimulated the nerves and muscles, brain activity. Nothing close to what was needed to brain fry someone. Not unless you shifted that decimal a few places.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Sound carried like shit in water, but he’d heard the scream. Jerking his head up he saw Rita twisting around and flailing as she headed for stairwell.

Where her foot got caught between equipment she seemed to go outright nuts. Like a sea zombie had grabbed her and she was in fight for her life. Unfortunately in her panicked state, she basically was.

Moving to her side he grabbed his own oxygen mask and shoved it into her face, then tilted her head down, so the airflow would force the water out. Strapping it over her face put his hand on her diaphragm and pushed, forcing water out. Repeating it he determined she’d survive, even if her lungs were oxygen starved for the moment.

Sliding a hand down her leg he focused his light on her foot to see what the situation was. Hooking his own foot into equipment he pulled her back down and turned her, then pulled her foot out.

With her free he disengaged himself and then pulled her to his chest as he swam for the light. She’d need at least thirty minutes before trying again, just to get her blood oxygen saturation back on point.

Breaking the surface he pulled her to the upper steps and made her sit at the top, out of the water as he pulled the other oxygen line back to them.

“Are you ok?” he asked. He figured something had set this off, probably seeing one of the inhabitants of a pod. But wasn’t going to ask.

 

[Alice2015]

Doc Leslie and Alice with Adeline in the Infirmary:

“So my reboot didn’t do this," Alaina said about the reason for the newcomer's reanimation having begun unexpectedly. She said she needed to get to Monitoring, adding, "Maybe I can figure out which pod will trigger next, before it happens, not after.”

"Go, go!" Alice told the computer wiz. "Go where you're the best good to us, go." To Leslie, Alice asked, "We're good here, right...? Just the two of us?"

"We're good," the Doctor confirmed. Looking to Alaina and smiling, she said, "Go figure this out--" And then, recalling Marcia down on Level 8, added, "--Allie."

Leslie winked to the other woman before going back to the woman on the gurney. Despite the emergency they were facing, she couldn't help but sense the humor of finally knowing for certain that Alaina and Marcia were an item. She thought good for them. Her next thought was about standing in the Hygiene Room with Marcia talking about her own sexual encounters with Ty without the cook fessing up to her own sexual liaison.

Bertha with Alaina in the Monitoring Room:

After she'd left the Infirmary and crossed the foyer to the other room, Alaina returned to doing her best, as Alice had directed. She asked the AI questions occasionally, and Bertha responded as best her computer brain could. When the topic of when Adeline's pod began failing came up, Bertha reminded the Tech, "Communications, cameras, and sensors were non-functional during that time period due to the power outage, Miss Carmichael. Sorry, but I have no information to give you regarding Miss Legrand during that period."

If the reanimated Humans were going to learn anything more about why Adeline was waking up, it was going to be found during the medical checkup Leslie was performing.

 

[Alice2015]

Marcia, Greg, Ty, Rita, and Alice:

As Marcia hurried down the stairwell, passing the fully dry Level 11 and approaching the partially wet 12, there was no sign of the others, only the two hoses stretched down the steps past her. She called out to the only person she knew should have been here with her, "Greg ... Greg! Where the fuck are you?"

She heard movement above her and looked up to find Greg looking down at her. He snapped, "What? I'm working the hoses."

Suddenly, the divers burst out of the water below her. Marcia knew right away that something was wrong: Ty was clutching Rita to his chest, neither of them was wearing their mouth pieces -- Ty's breathing apparatus had snagged and been pulled away -- and the female half of the team was coughing and spitting up water. Marcia hurried down the steps, calling out, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Ty helped Rita up the steps, the pulled at an oxygen line until he had it once again. He asked his diving partner, “Are you ok?”

Rita tried to answer but was still coughing hard, her lungs still trying to expel water that should never have been in them. Then, as the emotion of the moment finally came to her, she began sobbing and through her arms around Ty's torso, hugging him tightly.

Marcia went to them and tried to get the other woman to put the breathing apparatus back in her mouth; she thought Rita could benefit from the processed, filtered air that was slightly more oxygenated than the air surrounding them. But the young thing was still coughing ... and she was clutching to Ty so tightly that Marcia simply gave up.

"I'll be upstairs," she said softly to Ty, meaning the next level up. She smiled, saying with a sincere tone about Rita, "I think she just needs a minute."

Marcia ascended to the next level, finding Greg staring down at the pair below them, smiling like the Cheshire Cat. Looking back over her shoulder, she realized what had the man's interest: Rita's tight ass, wrapped with her second skin exercise bottoms. She turned and shoved him back into the level, chastising, "Jesus Christ! What the fuck's wrong with you."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Collecting the breathing apparatus Ty let Rita cling to him as he brought it close to her mouth, she’d take it when she was ready, but for the moment at least the enhanced oxygen was getting to her lungs. And once she relaxed enough he slipped it back over her face again. “Just take it slow.” he told her in the calmest and most reassuring voice he could.

He could here Marcia and Greg arguing upstairs and he’d find out what that was about in a minute.

After a few minutes of her breathing through the mask he pulled it off and then picked her up and carried her up the stairs.

Setting her on the next set of stairs going to Level 10 he turned and looked at Marcia and Greg. Wearing black Boxer-briefs and showing every inch of muscle he had he looked at the two of them for a moment. “Do we have a problem?” he asked sternly. "That girl just saw her first dead person and she damned near died. So this had better be fucking worth it."

 

[Alice2015]

Ty, Rita, Marcia, and Greg:

After taking a few minutes to recover from her panic and -- possibly -- near death experience, Rita began to wonder if perhaps she should pull away from Ty. She feared that he would begin thinking that her clutching to him was less about needing general comfort and reassurance and more about simply wanting to hold him.

After she'd taken in some air from the breather and giving Ty a nod meant to indicate that she was okay, he suddenly swept her up in his arms and turned to ascend the steps. Surprising even herself, Rita giggled, soft and quietly, but still a giggle. The last man to have done this to her was her father when she was 9 or 10 years old and twisted her ankle in a mole hole on the farm.

He set her down and turned to ask Marcia and Greg, “Do we have a problem?”

Rita couldn't see the pair as they simultaneously and silently shook their heads. Ty continued, "That girl just saw her first dead person and she damned near died. So, this had better be fucking worth it."

"It's nothing, sir," Greg said quickly, fearing that Marcia might fink on him about his inappropriate ogling of Rita.

The cook gave the Senior Airman a glance, wondering whether anything would be gained by calling the man out. In the end, though, she looked back to Ty and backed Greg up: "It's nothing sir. I, um ... I thought I saw a kink in the airlines ... but I was wrong. My mistake."

"Yeah, kink in the lines," Greg repeated, jumping onto the keep me out of trouble with the boss bandwagon. "Poor lighting it all." He reached over to pat Marcia on the shoulder before finishing, "We're good ... perfect."

Sarcastically, Marcia confirmed, "Good ... perfect."

Fast moving footsteps were ascending the stairwell, leading Rita to look up behind her. Alice slowed as soon as she caught sight of the young woman sitting there looking so fragile and vulnerable. With obvious concern, the captain asked, "What happened? Are you alright?"

Rita smiled as best as she could, saying, "I'm fine. Really." Then, looking to Ty and smiling with delight, she said with respect and a hint of affection, "The Lieutenant saved me."

Alice had been coming down the steps slowly and could now see the other three. She looked to Ty first, nodding her appreciation for whatever the hell he'd done after whatever the hell had happened. She looked to Greg and Marcia, studied them a moment, then asked, "What's up with you two?"

Instantly, they both said defensively, "Nothing! We're good."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Ty had spent years in combat evaluating body language and spoken word, glances and fidgets of the body. What was said was as important as what wasn’t said. Maybe they’d been arguing about whom was going to be on top, even though he was certain Marcie and Alaina were a thing, or at least – fuck buddies of the moment.

And then there was the Captain, she had come down the stairs rather fast for someone just ‘checking’ on things. Walking back down he collected the semi dry girl and carried her up the stairs.

‘Is this a private matter or a public matter?” he asked as he carried Rita upstairs and to the sauna. Once there he adjusted the setting and gave Rita instructions on when she could leave. “We need to warm you up and dry you off,” he said grabbing a towel and setting on the bench outside the door. “Whenever you're ok with it,” he said at the end, though he could have been talking about something else entirely. Was the double meaning intended?

Pulling off his own soaked underwear he dried off as he and the Captain moved to the locker room. Grabbing a second uniform, How many did he have stashed around the place? He dressed and followed her to the infirmary.

 

[Alice2015]

Ty, Rita, and Alice:

Once the nothing matter between Alice, Marcia, and Greg seemed to be handled, Ty once again scooped Rita up in his arms, telling her she needed to be in some warmer temperatures. It was true that she was trembling down to the core, but that didn't keep her from complaining, "I can walk ... I can walk, Lieutenant."

Still, Ty carried her up three levels of the facility, only putting her down onto her own feet when they reached the generator room and he had to detour to turn off the secondary air filter that had been providing their air to them via the hoses. As he was busy, Rita started up the stairs without him; despite still be traumatized about nearly drowning, she couldn't help but giggle as though she was being chased through her home by a flirtatious boy.

Once he caught up to her in the Hygiene Room, Ty set about making the sauna comfortable for him. Once again, Rita spied on him, taking in the most excellent view that was his military-sculpted form. When he wasn't looking at her, of course, she took the time to ogle his manhood. She'd never seen a cock in her life until that first day after reanimation, when Ty had gently caressed his member while Rita and Marcia sat across from him. (How ironic was it that his audience had included a lesbian and a virgin, neither of whom was going to simply stand up, cross the small steam filled room, and mount him.)

When the sauna was ready, which surprisingly didn't take long, Rita entered, stripped, and wrapped a towel around her in case Ty came back inside. She'd felt very comfortable -- horny even -- when she'd been in his arms just minutes earlier, but she was still a bit too shy to expose herself to him. Ironically, she could feel a yearning between her thighs, and when she reached a finger town to check herself, she found her vulva wet and swollen in anticipation of something Rita wanted but wasn't yet ready for.

Out in the Hygiene Room's main section, Alice was chatting with Leslie via the Comms when Ty stepped into the adjacent locker rooms and stripped out of his wet garments to dry off. Despite knowing she shouldn't, Alice stepped close to the door and peeked at him through the window. She was still as of yet to partake of one of her bunker-mates, instead satisfying her sexual needs with her own fingers during her own showers.

Ty was an incredible creature, which nearly had Alice surging through the locker room door to say, Hold on there a moment before Ty once again was dressed. But she resisted and stepped away from the window, telling herself that while in the short term it could possibly be heaven, in the long term it was likely to be hell. Ty was already fucking the doctor, and the cute little plant lady wanted him to put his cock inside her, too. Alice had been in love/lust triangles in the past, but a love/lust square...? Or in such tight living conditions?

No, she wasn't ready for that, and she didn't think the community was ready for that. Ironically, by the time the rest of the bunker's occupants were reanimated, there would be far more interesting and dramatic sexual connections than that.

Finishing her conversation with Leslie, Alice opened the door to the sauna, telling Rita, "I have to go up to the infirmary. You okay here--" And recalling the third person in the Room and his gender difference with the towel-wrapped girl, Alice added, "--with the Lieutenant."

Rita's lips spread in a bit of a smile, and meekly she answered, "I'm okay. Thanks, Captain ... Alice."

The older woman smiled back. She told Rita, "You're safe here with Ty."

 

[Alice2015]

Alice, Leslie, and Adeline in the Infirmary:

Less than a minute later, Alice was continuing her conversation with the Doctor as she entered the Level 1 compartment. She was expecting Leslie to answer her question of how's it going? with an update filled with vitals, but instead was greeted with, "Captain, someone wants to say hello."

Alice's eyes went wide as she saw Adeline Legrand sitting up in the gurney smiling, though meekly at that. The bunker's leader went to her, looking her over a moment before observing, "You're awake."

"Yes, Captain, I am awake," the woman said, her Parisian accent more than obvious. "I am told I owe my life to you."

"Oh no, to Alaina," Alice corrected. She looked to Leslie, asking where the hacker was. Told that Alaina was last seen in the Monitoring Station, Alice told Adeline, "You'll meet Allie soon enough. She's the one who discovered that you seemed anxious to join our happy little family."

Adeline laughed, asking, "Am I a baby ... just delivered?"

"Not too far from it," Alice said. Looking again to the Doctor, she asked, "So, no problems with the unexpected reanimation?"

Leslie's expression showed her concern. Alice asked Adeline if she needed anything, got her the glass of water for which she asked, then casually invited Leslie to step away and talk quietly. The Doctor reported that the French woman's vitals were all strong, though she needed to stay in bed until maybe dinner time. Then, glancing back toward Adeline, then looking to Alice, Leslie said, "I think she's been raped."

Alice also peeked back at the third woman, then asked in whispers, "Why do you think that? I mean, what's your--"

"I did a kit," Leslie cut in, clarifying, "A rape kit ... or as close to one as I can do. I mean, it's not like they provided us with an actual--"

Alice impatiently gestured get on with it. Leslie continued her explanation, "When we found her, she looked ... disheveled might be the right word." They discussed Adeline's posture, mussed hair, and clothing malfunctions when they'd found her; Greg had done a poor job of putting Adeline's panties back the way they had been. Leslie continued, "I told her that the post-stasis checkup for females included an examination of the vaginal canal ... and when I swabbed her, I found semen."

The bunker's leader didn't immediately respond; her mind was spinning with the implications of having a rapist in their midst and the knowledge that the culprit was one of only two men. Alice had a pretty good idea which of the men it would be if it was true. She asked hopefully, "Could she have had sex just before cryo?"

"I asked," Leslie answered. "Told her it was part of the exam questions. She said she hadn't had sex for almost two months before going into stasis."

"Did this happen pre- or post-stasis?" Alice asked, hoping to God that Leslie would say pre.

Instead, the Doctor shrugged, which was one of Alice's less preferred answers to questions. "Can't tell. It could have happened after the sedatives had been administered but before her pod was closed and the body fluid circulator activated, putting her into stasis. Sometimes, the last person with a subject -- an Overseer -- was there alone ... and sometimes they were males.

"Cryo would have preserved the sperm just as it was when it was deposited if it had happen this way," Leslie continued. "There's only one way to know whether or not this sperm was deposited in the last couple of days."

"A DNA test," Alice said, knowing the answer. She asked, "You have everyone's DNA on file, yes?" Leslie nodded. Alice contemplated the situation, then told her, "Do it. Test the sperm. I need to know what I'm dealing with here."

"Ty wouldn't do this," Leslie said, answering a question she knew Alice had to be contemplating out of duty to the community. The man's lover vouched for him: "He wouldn't do this. I know him. You know him. He wouldn't do this."

Alice reached out to pat Leslie's arm, saying, "I know. Just ... do the test."

Returning to the third woman in the room, Alice asked, "Adeline, are you up for some questions ... or do you need rest?"

"No, I am fine with questions," she said with a polite smile.

Alice shot question after question at the woman, and the French woman answered them as best she could. Adeline, it turned out, was the primary designer of the cryogenic stasis machinery that had kept all of the bunker's occupants -- well, most of them anyway -- alive for almost a century and a half. The 32-year-old -- who looked to be in her mid-20s at the most -- had worked 16 hours a day, sometimes more, for more than a decade to perfect the process. Oh, other scientists and physicians had been involved, of course, but it had been Adeline's theoretical concepts and designs that had made stasis possible.

She had initially worked with a French research organization, but when she ran into problems she couldn't solve, they joined forces with an American group working on a similar process. A stipulation of providing her work at all was that Adeline was the first test subject. Her supervisors and fellow scientists fought this, saying they couldn't risk her life.

She agreed to pass on the first, month-long test, the one in which Captain Alice Walker had been the test subject; and she even passed on the second, 3-month long test, the one Alice, Ty, and 6 others had been part of. But she was absolutely insistent that she partake of the third, 9-month long test.

She had no idea, of course, that she'd been in stasis for 145 years until Alice told her so. Adeline went quiet for a long moment, thinking of her family, friends, and colleagues, all of whom were long gone by now. Maybe some of them are in stasis, she wondered.

"I will need a complete manifest of all persons in suspended animation, please, Captain," Adeline said when she finally spoke again.

Alice hesitated, informing the woman, "We've lost some people ... in their pods."

"How many?" the French woman asked. Quickly, she asked, "Pod failures...? Is this my fault?"

"No, no," Lesie responded, having joined the women again to check Adeline's vitals again. "There were some ... glitches ... but I'm sure it's not because--"

Adeline interrupted, saying again, "I will need a complete manifest, please. And this woman who saved me, Alaina...? I will need to talk to her as soon as possible."

"I'll check on her," Alice said. "She'd just next door."

"She needs to rest," the Doctor said to Alice about Adeline. "Can we do this later?"

Alice looked to the French beauty, who reluctantly nodded before laying her head back and closing her eyes. She murmured in her native language, "Ce que j’ai fait, je l’ai fait pour l’humanité. ."

When Adeline didn't volunteer an English translation, Leslie stepped in, saying, "'What I have done, I have done for mankind'." Looking to Alice, she shrugged yet again, explaining with a humorous tone, "I took French. I was going to go to Paris, become a doctor there, marry a Royal, and live in a castle." She chuckled, finishing, "A girl has dreams."

Alice just shook her head, thinking, I'm surrounded by super heroes. She headed out to make the rounds and check on the others.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Checking on Rita once more he verified she was doing ok, and she knew she could call on him if she needed anything.

Stepping out onto the monitoring Station / infirmary level Ty finished the stair climb. He doubted he’d ever use the freight elevator (if it ever got fixed) unless he had to go from the top or bottom floor to the other. The stairs gave him exercise.

Something they all needed, in fact he’d run an exercise regimen past the Captain and Doc, see if the objected then start getting everyone in better condition. Maybe teach them some basic martial arts for muscle toning. Smiling inside his head he realized he’d be surrounded by half naked sweaty women, and that wasn’t a bad thing.

Spotting the Captain he approached her. “You came downstairs rather hurriedly, is everything ok?” he asked. "And I was thinking of an exercise regimen, tone the bodies and focus the minds. Maybe basic martial arts?"

 

[Alice2015]

Alice and Ty, heading to the Sauna to see Rita:

Alice poked her head into the Monitoring Station, asking a very general question, "You ok in here?"

Alaina just looked up for a moment, then went right back to whatever she was doing. Alice snorted comically, saying more to herself than to the hacker, "Okay, good to know."

Who's next? she thought to herself? Adeline was sleeping in the Infirmary; Leslie was hovering over her in between steps for the DNA test; Rita was in the sauna warming up; Marcia and Greg had been put to work retrieving the air lines and checking them out for the next dive. Who did that leave?

As if on cue, Ty arrived on the level, asking, “You came downstairs rather hurriedly, is everything ok?”

Alice actually hesitated before answering, wondering to herself Is everything okay? Their cute little horticulturalist nearly drowned; their newest resident might very well have been raped by one of her male neighbors; the facility was still flooding and the computers/servers/whatever were still on the fritz and -- despite Alaina's best efforts -- were still suffering issues; and Alice herself was still anxiously awaiting putting one of the male's cocks in her and/or one of the female's tongues on her clit.

"Everything's dandy, Lieutenant," she answered, trying to sound sincere but likely failing. She stepped closer to Ty, saying quietly, "Walk with me."

She led him to and down the stairs, asking him about the dive: what went right, what went wrong, how did Rita do? (Alice knew that Rita had had an issue, but she didn't have the details yet.)

When he spoke of an exercise regimen and maybe basic martial arts, Alice perked up. "That's a great idea. I always wanted to take a self-defense class? You know, before Space Force, I was Air Force. I was deployed to the UAE for a year. We were building an air base and my unit got attacked by ISIS insurgents. We got pummeled ... 9 dead, 22 injured. I was trained with a sidearm, of course, and I was carrying one. Didn't draw it, though. Concentrated on getting my people to safety before they all died."

Alice had no idea, of course, that she was describing the attack to which Ty's Marine unit had responded or that Ty himself had carried her to safety.

"I've often wondered whether or not I could have shot someone," she went on as they continued downward. "I think I could have. But if I'd faced hand-to-hand combat ... I think I would have gotten my ass kicked."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Doing his best to explain what happened without putting Rita in a negative light he laid the blame on himself for not securing the room better. Or keeping a better eye on her status and allowing her to see what she saw.

He was fairly sure she’d be good to go in a couple hours for a second dive. Putting it off until tomorrow would just give fear time to set in.

“I’ll start teaching you to use the sidearm as well as a taser. You may need it, and if you don’t even better. But needing and not knowing will kill you faster that knowing and not needing. I’ll also teach you more advanced hand to hand.”

“I think everyone got deployed, or stationed, in the UAE at least once,” Tyrande said, though he didn’t admit to being there.

“Captain, When I was in ROTC I wondered if I was being foolish, if I’d ever be able to take another Humans life. Was I just wasting my time? That night I went to my job, and a customer came in. he was missing his left arm and eye. He was a Freedom Vet, had to be pushing 90. I asked him about his first kill. He’d joined after 9/11 and his first was a Taliban insurgent attacking his base. The insurgent had already killed three US Army, when the Vet shot him in the face with a Remington 870 at ten feet. He told me. ‘When it comes to them or you, always pick you’. He’d thrown up in the sand afterwards. Captain, you know you’re heart and intent. That dies if you die.”

“I’m not sure what actually happened between Marcie and Greg, maybe they were getting hot and heavy and almost got caught. But they were hiding something. I’m gonna go check the lines for kinks or twists myself. I’m hoping the aversion to honesty was over something stupid.” Pausing for a moment as he thought he asked. “Do we camera’s and or sound covering that section of the stairwell?”

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Alaina:
Typing away Alaina was ready to upload a new algorithm for to enhance the data slate when she noticed a subroutine running in the infirmity. Was it one of Grey Worms tools?

Shifting her attention, she dissected the program as it was running and ran it through a filter program. Nope Not Grey Worm. Dr. Leslie’s Authority code had opened it.

And now curiosity got in the way. Why was the Doctor running such a big program, was it a diagnostic for the patient? Nah, that was a different file name.

Switching back to her primary hack set she looked up the file name and it’s protocols. DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID ANALYSIS AND CROSSCHECK. WTF was that?

Pulling up the dictionary word search she dropped the unknown word in and then sat back as the definition came across the screen. DNA. Why were they doing a DNA Analysis and crosscheck? Was the Doc wonder if people were related? Oh, yeah, checking to see if anyone was relate would prevent weird shit in the future.

Closing the files she went back to her own shit, allotting extra mainframe and power to the Infirmary station.

Slicing into system she brought up the inventory. What a way to list it in the system. All the people in Cryo. They were under the inventory heading. Fuck she hated the Government. Printing up the inventory list she went downstairs and started checking on them. Each pod. One at a time with her tablet.

 

[Alice2015]

Ty, Alice, and Rita:

Alice sensed that Ty was covering for Rita regarding whatever had really happened during the dive, but she let it go. It was a sign of teamwork and even more so of his ability to lead, whether it had been his fault, Rita's fault, or no one's fault at all. When he said they'd be ready to go in a couple of hours, Alice said with an obvious tone of delight, "Good! That's very good."

Ty talked about weapons, self-defense, and killing, telling her, "Captain, you know your heart and intent. That dies if you die.”

That was true. No one wanted to kill another human being for no reason whatsoever, not unless they were a sociopath. But, as Ty said, if it came down to you or them...

“I’m not sure what actually happened between Marcie and Greg," he went on. "Maybe they were getting hot and heavy and almost got caught."

As she listened to him continue, Alice contemplated the second man currently reanimated in the bunker. Greg was a good looking, well-built man -- he was less of the former than Ty was but more of the latter -- and Alice would be lying if she was too say she hadn't had fantasies about having the body below her while she fingered herself to orgasm.

But there was something off about him. She wasn't ready to call him a misogynist, the literally definition of that word being hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. But she'd seen him seriously ogling each and every one of the females, even herself and even Adeline, who at the time was still in that state of not animated but not reanimated either. What a pig. Still, she'd seen the outline of his cock inside his tight-fitting boxer-briefs once, and if she could get past his personality failures, Alice could see her rising up and down over that man's groin for an hour or three.

"I’m gonna go check the lines for kinks or twists myself," Ty said as they were reaching the 4th Level. “Do we cameras and or sound covering that section of the stairwell?”

"I'll check in with Bertha on that and let you know what she told me," Alice told him. Ty could ask the AI those questions, of course, but she was in command; if Greg and/or Marcia had been arguing over the former's errors, it would be Alice who'd be responsible for dealing with it. She peeled off toward the berthing area and, more specifically, the Hygiene Room, telling ty, "While you check the lines, I'll check in on Rita."

Alice headed for the young horticulturalist's last known position -- the sauna -- only to hear and then see movement in the young woman's quarters. Crossing to them, she found Rita dressing; she was slipping into sports bra and pair of modest panties that were similar to the exercise clothes she'd been previously wearing.

"What're you doing?" Alice inquired, already knowing the answer; the girl was young, but she was brave, nonetheless.

Rita hadn't heard Alice's approach and flinched, startled before laughing. She got more serious, answering, "We have to finish the dive. I ... I let Ty down. I can't--"

Alice interrupted with a firm tone, "The Lieutenant explained all about what happened and took full responsibility for the incident. You have nothing to apologize for, Rita." She saw the woman's face will with a confused expression, but before Rita could counter the story, Alice continued, "But I'm glad you're ready to get back to it. We need to find this crack and repair it, and the two of you -- each of you -- are our best hope."

Rita's face displayed her immediate pride -- and maybe relief? -- in hearing that from the bunker's leader. She glanced down at the minimal amount of clothing she was wearing and confessed, "I feel a little exposed ... but ... Ty said I need to wear something that won't snag, and this is all I have really."

Alice's lips spread in a wide smile before she told the young beauty, "I'm sure the Lieutenant will be just fine with how you're dressed, Rita." The girl blushed conspicuously, giggling softly. Alice continued, "I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday ... the conversation between Ty and myself ... about you."

"No, that's okay, you don't--"

Alice again interrupted, continuing, "No, I ... I want you to know what happened, because it's probably not what you think it was. I ... I told the Lieutenant about your, um ... let's call it lack of experience with men and how you needed someone who would be gentle and kind with you..."

Rita's eyes had diverted away from the older woman as embarrassment fill her from toe to topnotch. Alice continued, "...and he misunderstood me ... he thought I was speaking about something entirely different and took offense. What you heard was Ty correcting me ... me apologizing..."

As she was talking, Alice was walking closer to Rita, not that the quarters were so large that it took too many steps to do that. She reached out a finger to lift Rita's chin, wanting to look her in the face as she finished, "...and the Lieutenant saying that if you were ready to -- I hate this phrase, but I'm going to use it -- become a woman ... he would be honored to be the man who helped you accomplish this, um ... mission--"

Rita giggled again ... and blushed again, with Alice continuing about Ty's vow, "--and that I would not find any fault with his actions."

"We should go," Rita said meekly, uncertain of how she was supposed to respond to what the captain was suggesting.

Alice let the topic fade away, saying, "Yes, let's get this done." In a louder voice, she called, "Bertha?" Getting the AI's response, she said, "Find Marcia and Greg and tell them they are to report immediately to the Generator Room."

"Both Miss Weathers and Seaman Young are currently on Level 6, Captain," Bertha responded. Then, understanding what the operation was, she went on, Miss Weathers and Seaman Young are working with Lieutenant Collins in preparing for the next dive."

"Good," Alice said, more to herself than to the AI. Then, remembering Ty's request, she asked, "Bertha, do you have working cameras and microphones on Level 10?"

"I'm sorry, Captain," the AI answered, "the cameras and microphones on Level 10 have been offline for quite sometime. I believe that Miss Carmichael is working on the issue."

Alice and Rita -- with a large towel wrapped around her, concealing her half-naked form -- descended until they found Ty just above the current water level, preparing and testing the mouth pieces yet again. Rita's lips widened in a happy smile at the sight of him, and as he looked at the towel wrapped around her, she shed it and handed it to Alice.

She studied Ty's reaction to seeing her in the even more revealing clothes, then -- surprising her own self -- struck a sexy pose, then laughed. Quicky, she said, "Sorry. Sorry! I ... I didn't mean to do that."

Alice was unsure of where this was going and suggested that they got to work. Rita moved down the stairs, stepping into the water up to her thighs; her nipples, which had already been displayed through the thin cotton/polyester blend, grew significantly. She took the mouthpiece Ty offered, tested it in her mouth as she stared the man in the eyes; only after she pulled it out did it occur to her that it might have seemed sexually suggestive.

"I'm ready when you are, Lieutenant," she told Ty. She slipped into her goggles and stepped down farther into the water, knowing that from this point on the trimmed little patch of dark blonde hair at the meeting of her thighs would be visible through her panties. She asked before putting the mouthpiece between her lips, "You ready?"

 

[Alice2015]

As Rita stepped farther down into the water, Leslie called from higher in the stairwell, "Wait! Hold on!"

She reached them, panting from the hurried descent from Level 1. She held out a computer tablet in a shock-proof case with a looped string and what looked like a fob on it.

"I was thinking about how you can't talk to each other down there," she explained, "and I went to Alaina for ideas."

Looking to Alice, Leslie reported, "By the way, Alaina is checking the rest of the pods for problems."

Returning to Ty and Rita, the Doctor continued, "It's waterproof to 50 feet, and if I was paying attention and heard you all correctly earlier, the basement or bilge or whatever its called plus Levels 14 and 13 and a little bit of this one is about 35 feet, right?"

Getting confirmation that she was close enough, Leslie continued, "It has a string loop if you want to hang it ... and a heavy duty magnet to affix it to something metal."

She offered it to her lover, asking, "Helpful?"