If Earth Should Die Before I Wake

[SeeMeNot]

Shade awoke to a beautiful Angel before her, with coffee! No wait it was just Hewitt. Close enough. She smiled abd reached for the coffee slowly, feeling her head start to pound when her door burst open and the mayor started making orders. She narrowed her eyes abd looked around to get a bearing of things then sighed.

"Okay. Just a sec." She mumbled and leaned over to search her desk for the keys. They were around here somewhere. After three more drawers she found a set and slowly stood up, her empty bottle falling to the floor and her blanker staying with her as she shuffled past Hewitt to the cell door.

"Hope you know what yer doin." She whispered to Ulrich on the way past. She would have argued more if her head want hurting so badly. She took her time finding the right key though, both to show her annoyance with the situation and because she just couldnt find the right I've.

Finally she pulled the cell door open and stepped aside for the occupant to come out.

"No more name calling or you go back in." Shade grumbled then glared at Hewitt as she sipped at the coffee that she was about to give her.

 

[wombat9966]

Ray had posted the three Crixus units as guards on the cargo doors and then began his search through the two cargo holds. The first had all the vehicles and building materials they were bringing with them. Most of the vehicles had survived. They had several small flatbed trucks, two large mixers, a crane, a multi purpose machine that could dig, grade, roll, bulldoze etc, a dump truck and several smaller vehicles like atv's and jeeps.

All the building materials for their part of the project were still stacked in the back of the cargo hold. Of course a lot of them had come loose and were strewn all over the place and it would take some time to clean up the mess and they had lost several things that were irreplaceable. Several pallets of concrete had slipped and many bags were broken and strewn across the ground. They would be able to collect some of it via the special vacuums and filtering processes they had but they would loose a lot still. Lots of loose nails, bolts and other metal clips and pieces were also strewn about. These could easily be picked up with magnets but again it would take time.

Still there was plenty here for them to build decent houses for everyone once he knew where he was allowed to. If the town had power and sewage he could tap into that. If it was not good enough he could always tap back into the ships power grid and sewage systems.

The second cargo hold had rooms of food and seeds. They still had the hydroponics set up that had full grown plants and seedlings going already, but this room contained bags and bags of seed stock of large amounts of different plants. There were also stocks of flour, sugar, rice and other staples and lots of canned goods as well. Nothing had broken loose in here as everything was stacked tightly together. It looked like they would be able to set up a nice little village once everything was sorted.

He headed up towards the bridge to see how Crixus Prime was doing and how the security situation was going with the computer systems.

 

[DalekRasputin]

Crixus 141 was busy absorbing the final back up from the computer before shutting it down. He turned to see Engineer Green enter the Bridge. 'Please keep this safe' he handed him a small key sized rod 'should I ever be destroyed it will give you access to the computer memory so you can transfer it to another Crixus Unit'. He then said slowly 'I have sensed that some force has rendered all our weapons and the weapons of the colonists obsolete. It appears something or someone wants us to live in peace'. With those words he continued to work 'if you'll excuse me now I have to check the emergency power circuits.'

(Ooc -Still busy in real life. If anyone needs to move Crixus Prime on please do. I'll have more time next week. I will keep reading when I can)

 

[wombat9966]

Ray tucked the rod away into the inside pocket of his jacket and zipped it up. Well looked like all the records were locked up safely then. He would leave the bridge safely manned by Crixus then. He was disturbed about the weapons though but he was not a violent person anyway. Everything he had done so far had been because of the core programming they had put in him. Protect at all costs. Now at least he didn't have to worry about firing a silly weapon. Still he now realized he had a huge advantage over nearly everyone in the colony. He was on a ship with robots that could lift at least half a tonne maybe more and he could lift even more than that. He chuckled. If he wanted to he could take over this place. Yeah and then what. Why would he want that headache? No he had enough problems now without all that other responsibility.

He headed out on a recon of the areas they would need. He had to check, Sick bay, Engineering, The Hydroponics bay, The Mess hall, The fuel cells and a few other smaller cargo areas that had been cleared out. It would probably take him several hours and he just hoped everything was still in working order. Nothing looked damaged on the monitors but you never knew until you tried to make your way there. He took a E-pad with him and set off.

 

[Horus_rules]

When Shades slide past him to let Mary out of the cell, motioned for Hewitt to move out of the way. He extended his hand out to meet this beautiful redhead that emerged from the darkness of the cell. When the sunlight hit her skin, Ulrich was almost left speechless again. He bent down and kissed her hand before looking her in her stunning eyes.

“I offer you a formal apology about the manor in which you were taken from the ship and held against your will here in this cell. I assure you that these actions were performed, although with good intentions, without prior authority from my office. The sheriff was simply trying to follow my orders to protect the colony from enhanced individuals who might disrupt the simple understanding that the people have of this planet. You see, so far all of our alterations have been hidden from their view. They saw your ship's salvation as an act of the Gods they pray to, not of an alien presence. None of them know of that presence on this planet and I am afraid it would start a panic if they were to find out too soon. .” He offered her his arm. If you and the Captain will follow me, we can go to my quarters through the adjoining door.

He looked at Hewitt. “You have heard more than you needed to and will be our guest for a few days, until all this can be worked out. Sister’s cell will be a good place to keep you safe, although I do not think it will be necessary to lock it, will it Shades?” We’ll talk more when I’ve worked this situation out.” He turned his attention back to Mary. If I could ask you to be my guest for a few days here until we figure out how to explain your exceptional beauty to the people of my colony, I would be most appreciative. Anyone of your crew that needs your healing powers can be brought to the jail and treated, if that pleases you.”

 

[slippedhalo]

Mary Grace stepped forth and took the offered arm, curious as to this man's sense of awe of her. It was flattering and creepy simultaneously... She looked to Alex, "Captain? Is that arrangement alright with you?"

Hewitt scowled at the announcement that she was basically being put under arrest for being at the wrong place at the wrong time (however purposefully she'd put herself there) and panicked a little as Shade stepped toward her. "Oh, come on! This isn't fair!"

She handed over the coffee cup. "I come here to try to help you out and ease your hangover and THIS is what I get in Thanks?! Y'all suck!"

Once in the cell she sat down on the cot and pouted, "I've got a show tonight. There's only five dancers in that bloody place. I'm a headliner. Without me...Oh, God! Without me Eddie might put Julie in my place, Julie! She's a backstabbing, deceitful, over ambitious, conniving little slut! I can't have her do y job even once! She'll try to take my place!"

 

[YoungLisa]

Rivers was not impressed by any of what she had seen and heard especially being toild her weapons were useless. Not that it mattered on a one on one situation because in unarmed conflict her only defeat since graduation was against Ray and that was because she was restricted by her skirt, the skirt which still carried evidence of the consequences of that defeat the memory of the ‘spoils’ of which a smile to her face. What bothered her was the thought that her ‘poker’ bluff was also almost certainly useless.

Once in the prison and confronted with the request from Mary Grace to meet with the colonists she knew a decision had to be made. “Sister I would rather you return to us but I will not order you to do so.” Turning to the Mayor she said “If my colleague decides to stay I insist I remain with her. In which case I will need to contact the acting Captain and inform him.”

As she waited for the response she saw the new inhabitant of the jail. Taking the Mayor to one side she said privately “I do not appreciate members of my crew being held against their will and I will not tolerate such action again. I hope that is understood! However on this occasion I am willing to overlook these events in the interest of future co-operation. I’m not trying to tell you how to run your affairs but I would not object if you chose to release the offender with no further action being taken.”

Turning to Mary Grace she said “I need an answer so I can let Engineer Green know he remains in charge.” As she looked at her she saw the nun in a new and different light. She recalled her affection for Admiral Phillips but put that down to a silly ‘schoolgirl type girl crush’. But this seemed different, very different and she suddenly had feelings she had never had before for a fellow woman. Calling herself to order she reminded herself that Mary Grace had taken a vow of chastity and that those thoughts were not fitting for a senior officer to have for a subordinate. Her skirt still bore the stain from her night with Ray Green, what more did she want? “Sister … What are we doing?” She waited the reply hoping the nun had not read her thoughts.

 

[slippedhalo]

Mary Grace shrugged. In all honesty, she was curious about this Ulrich fellow and his intentions as leader of the Colony. "I'd like to find out more about this Colony and its leader, Captain, if you don't mind. "

 

[YoungLisa]

Rivers was not happy with Mary Grace’s response but she was bound by her word. Besides she hoped the good nun had not read her thoughts! “I told you that you had the choice. But I’m going with you … that IS an order!” Turning to the mayor she said “May I use your office please?” Then before he could reply she added with firmness “ALONE!”

Once alone Rivers tried to contact Ray but having no reply she assumed he was busy. Diverting to Crixus Prime she asked if all was well. On receiving the affirmative she continued “Inform Engineer Green as soon as you see him that Sister Mary Grace and I are safe and are going on a ‘getting to know you’ visit to our hosts. Tell him our weapons have all been disabled but so have those of the colonists. Remind him I’m quite safe and he knows how I can handle myself. Meanwhile he must continue in command until my return.” The robot said he would carry out her instructions and Rivers responded “Rivers OUT!”

Re-joining the others she said “Time is precious. I want to get on with this and then get back to my people.” Again she noticed Mary Grace but put all thoughts of lust out of her mind. Or at least she hoped she had.

 

[SeeMeNot]

Shade listened in on the newcomers and Ulrich with sine interest. But she lost that interest quickly when coffee was handed over by the lovely Hewitt. She sipped at it gratefully while listening to Hewitts complaints.

"Well... The bar might shut down for a few days. Afterall we don't want anyone drunk while they work with our new friends." She chuckled and looked around the cell.

"Would you prefer to stay at my place for the time being? That cell is not too comfortable I imagine and who knows how long it will take to sort this out." Shade suggested kindly. She turned at looked at the Sister Mary.

"Your invited aswell. Besides if I have to make an actual arrest in the coming days I can t have people seeing you two in here. "

 

[Horus_rules]

“Mary, that space suit doesn’t look comfortable and Captain Rivers, I sense that you need some clothes to wear while your soiled clothes are taken to our laundry facilities.” He looked at the Captain knowingly and then turned to look back at Hewitt and Shades. He read their thoughts; they were scheming to get her out of the jail cell and into Shades’ bed. “Hewitt, you may stay at Shades place if you swear to keep what you have seen her to yourself. Girls, I also need you bring some appropriate looking clothes back for theses to ladies to change into.”

He walked Mary and Rivers into his quarters and offered them a seat in his living area. “May I offer you both a drink?” He poured each of them a glass of ionized water and handed them the glass. “Shall I call you Sister or Mary? You must forgive me for my earlier behavior, besides you iridescent skin, you are the only redhead on the planet. My family was originally from Scotland and I have a rather soft spot in my heart for redheads. My mother used yo show me memory card pictures from her old country and I was always drawn to the redheads. So you'll kind of like a unicorn to these colonist.” In spite of himself, Ulrich blushed at his confession and he felt his heart race a little faster.

Ulrich took a sip of his water and sat down on across from the two ladies. “Mary, I am glad that you have decided to give me some time to arrange for a story to explain your extraordinary skin and I am glad that we will have an opportunity to get to know each other better." His gaze turned to Rivers "Captain, you are certainly welcome to stay here, but I only have two bed rooms and I would think that your presence is needed to aid your people in setting up your new settlement, instead of staying her to chaperon the Sister. Besides, won’t your lover miss you and be even more stressed than he already is?”

 

[slippedhalo]

OOC: Hold the phone!
This planet is NOT Terra Beta.

Everyone please go back and reread pages 1-3 if you're confused. There's been a lot of fudged details I let slide because the main story was still working out. But, this, where they are and how they got there, is FAR too important for us not to all be on the same wavelength with.

 

[wombat9966]

OOC:
I got that but I thought we were carrying supplies to Terra Beta were we not?

 

[slippedhalo]

OOC: We never got there. The Mayor's speech above about "arrival" made me realize some more of us may be confused.

No colonist other than a few old folks comes from anywhere else.

 

[slippedhalo]

Hewitt shrugged and joined Shade in a walk to her little home. They had clothes to look for.

Mary looked at the mayor, blushing deeply at being called something akin to a unicorn. "Call me what you wish, I've been Mary my whole life." She replied. Something about him confused her. She couldn't put a finger on it.

 

[wombat9966]

OOC
OK. So was my description of goods ok?

 

[slippedhalo]

OOC: Yes, it's OK. Actually, there's a lot they could bargain with, plants and foods, seeds, medicines and products the Colony could use or may never have tried before. Great for negotiating for land.

 

[YoungLisa]

“You want me to leave her alone again? NO WAY!” Rivers was getting angry “I can sleep anywhere so don’t worry about a bed for me.” She hesitated “And, if it IS any of your business HE is NOT my lover! I just happened to have sex with him, nothing more, nothing less!”

Looking at Mary Grace she took a deep breath. We have got to try to repair our space craft because I do not want this to be our home if I can help it. So let’s get the niceties over and get back to work.”

 

[wombat9966]

Ray was halfway through his inspection when Crixus contacted him with the Captains orders. Well he knew she would be safe especially seeing as the guns had been disabled. Anyone that could spar with him would be able to handle anything the town threw at her.

Making his way back to the cargo bay he looked at his list and decided what he would need for the crew. He already had the shelter covered but everyone would need somewhere to sleep tonight. Of course there were all the emergency cots and blankets in the sick bay, they would do until he could start building houses. He had to take food out to them as well. With about 30 cots, blankets, cooking utensils, food and the outdoor cooking equipment he would need the flatbed truck again. he got two of the Crixus units to start loading the cots wich stacked easily and the blankets, while he went and grabbed enough ingredients for a hearty stew, mashed potatoes (instant unfortunately), and coffee and tea, plus the cooking stuff.

Half an hour later he was driving back out to the meeting point with everything the crew needed to survive for the night. He had already checked the ships computer and had found out that the night was going to be warm so the blankets were going to be fine for all of them.

 

[slippedhalo]

Mary laughed a little at this grown woman having an adolescent like tantrum. "Captain, with all due respect, where else would we go? Do you realize how far we are from home? Even if we could get the ship up and running again I don't believe you'd be able to convince all thirty-one people to accept life floating around aimlessly in the dark vacuum of space. I've been trained to heal and to spiritually minister and, like it or not, I accept what challenges life faces me with, even new cultures or difficult individuals. However we may not like the initial meeting of these people, the Sheriff's irresponsible manner, the Mayor and his.... way....I don't intend to risk everyone from The Hawking 's lives on a grudge against two stupid individuals among, possibly an entire population of lovely people we simply haven't had the chance to meet yet. In other words, let's not be hasty. We can be generous with forgiveness. The Lord would want that for us."

She knew The Mayor had heard this speech and turned to add him to it, " As long as we are given no more reasons to mistrust them we should endeavor to try diplomatic relations.... They're our fellow Earth people! How could we turn our backs on them? But, being forgiving does not want blindly trusting. Mayor, if the Captain feels she must stay with me, she must...But, I'll have you both know I am not as helpless as you want to believe. I can take care of myself if I must. But, I don't believe this man or his people would test my patience again. " she warned.

 

[YoungLisa]

Rivers sensed a hint of insubordination in Mary Grace’s laugh and knew she had to rectify the situation. “I fully agree Sister but you seem to misunderstand my position here. I am responsible for the safety of every one of my crew members and I cannot, WILL not jeopardise that in any way. We don’t really know these people and until we do I’m not relaxing my guard”. Rivers didn’t know the weapons had been disabled by an outside force. She continued “We have already had our weapons disabled and only have their word that they know nothing about it.”

Turning to the Mayor she said “It’s nothing personal but I have to protect my people.”

 

[Horus_rules]

Ulrich reacted to River’s anger by sitting forward and looking directly at her and was about to let her have it with both barrels, when Mary laughed. It was a laugh that diffused every bit of anger and hostility he felt towards her. He sat back and listened to her every word, something about her captivated him. Maybe it was the fact that her thoughts were sheltered from him and she was the only mystery left on the planet for him. Maybe it was her striking beauty, but something inside him was drawn to her and he couldn’t fight it; he had to know more!

After she finished talking, Ulrich looked sincerely at Rivers and spoke humbly, “Captain, please forgive me for invading your personal thoughts and memories. It is a gift, or rather a curse, from the aliens and I have not learned to reign in completely yet. I see and hear the thoughts and memories in all the people’s minds around me. They also gave me the power to alter those thoughts and perceptions, when needed, which is a gift that I have stayed away, from unless completely necessary. Hewitt and Shades will only remember seeing a beautiful redhead and the fact that her skin is translucent will escape their memories for a little while.”

He was lost in thought for a moment and then continued. “I see, through Deputy Sky’s mind that your acting Commander is bring ashore heavy equipment that would indicate your intent isn’t just for a short stay in this colony that I am also sworn to defend the 100’s of people in this colony from your remaining crew of eleven, including yourself. So in good faith, I am willing to grant you permission to build on the ground that is just west of town and you are welcome to tap into our facilities. The people of the colony are home preparing a thanks giving feast for your people, so you will be asked to join them. I understand your concerns for Mary Rowan, but I can assure you, as she says, she is perfectly capable of protecting herself.” He was unaware that he had used her full given name or why he knew it.

He turned his gaze towards Mary, “I would never underestimate you and if my actions here have lead you to believe so, I most earnestly apologize! As I said earlier, Captain Rivers is more than welcome to stay here, I only thought her presence was needed elsewhere and will leave that entirely up to you. You are all my guest here and will be treated accordingly.”

Ulrich withdrew his side arm, looked at it to confirm that it had been disabled as well and tossed it on the table in front of the Captain. “If we had had anything to do with your weapons being disarmed, would we have done the same to our own? I suspect the aliens are being pretty insistent on their directive for us to unite! So we better get to it, huh?”

 

[YoungLisa]

Rivers looked deeply and intently at Ulrich before replying “My original Mission was not to come here. I wasn’t even the Captain of my ship but merely part of a team. Tragically after the accident I found myself the commanding officer of a stricken ship responsible for the lives of the survivors. Until I am absolutely certain there is no danger to my people I will not agree to anything including uniting our peoples. For all we know there might be a sinister intention to all this and we are no more than laboratory rats or animals in a zoo.”

Turning to Mary Grace she said “Engineer Green is in temporary charge of the crew while I’m here because my responsibility includes everyone. Including you!”

“Mayor Ulrich” she said turning her attention back to him “I want to trust you with my colleague and I’m willing to do that. I also hope we can work together and yes if I am unable to take my people away from this planet then I will ensure we co-operate with you in any way we can. I am grateful for your offer to establish a base west of the town and if that is the only option left and we have to stay I’m sure we can co-exist together.” She walked away before turning “I will hold you responsible for Sister Mary Grace’s welfare while I return to my crew. If we can establish trust in this matter it will mean a bright future for all of us. Now … could you please arrange for me to be taken back to my base?”

 

[Horus_rules]

He looked back at Rivers, "I am sure Sheriff Shades and Ms. Hewitt would be glad to give you a ride to the western perimeter of the colony upon their return. I will radio Deputy Sky, just in case they are delayed in their mission for any reason. As for your ship repairs, you are welcome to any of the parts from the nearby ship that also crashed into this planet and any of the colony's engineers. I am no scientist, but I'd guess that between the original damage and the damage you sustained entering this planet's atmosphere, I'd say that our relationship is just beginning."

Ulrich stood and offered her his hand, "I never got to do this properly, so... Welcome!"
http://tvandfilmreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/28-250x320.jpg
Ulrich

 

[slippedhalo]

Hewitt helped Shade to lie down on her sofa, clearing clutter from it first. She stood, looking around the place, "Dang, you're not much for housekeeping, are you?" She said, beginning to straighten up the place more. "What sort of clothes could you spare for super nun and control freak? Something tells me they won't like my show clothes."