Mysterious Circumstances (pm to discuss joining)

[slippedhalo]

"Slowing the pace, now..." Kate announced but her computer shocked her arm briefly and she winced at the pain of a shorted computer in link with one's sensitive skin. Looking down briefly showed her that her link was broken. She had control of the navigation but not the throttle. "Shit!" She hissed, waving her blank screened left arm above her head so April could see it. "I've got no throttle controls, nor breaks...I only have navs!"

April was wide eyed at the first spark that shocked Kate's arm and had anticipated that throttle would be lost to Kate at that point. She'd linked herself up to her chair via her arm computer and was accessing the throttle controls already. Kate's final ok would change that control to April. April would take over controlling the speed and Kate would steer. "Say the word, Kate. I've got throttle." April announced.

Kate called out, "Yes! I love you! Good girl!" Turning her attention back to the green island not far from their quickly speeding vessel, "Computer, transfer throttle and breaks control to Commander Foster!"

"Transfer Ready."


"April had the ability to slow their descent, now, but had to use finesse to keep them from crashing. Kate had to keep the angle of descent reasonable to keep them from crashing.

Natalia found herself mumbling prayers in Russian and shutting her eyes tightly to avoid looking at the quickly approaching city they were so close to before they bounced once on a bare patch of earth just outside the town...The bounce shook the people in their buckled seatbelts...Then, bounced slightly once more before settling into a fiery skid across miles of land...right into a lake which luckily stopped the ship from further skidding and put out the flames on the hull. The ship floated atop the lake, a smoking mess of hot metal, detached from the dome it had towed...The dome was about a mile and a half away from the lake, unbelievably, undamaged.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

"Holy shit!!" May accidentally blurted as they sat there floating. She gasped, they made it. That was great. Her hands hand been clenching unto Cy so hard he turned on and was still screaming.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Jason had picked them up as they had been coming in high up. The two ships had been glowing red just as he had been taught in school but then he noticed something. They were not just glowing red they were on fire and traveling rather fast. Oh hell.

"Move people," He shouted at the gathered crowds as he raced at the council. "Dad somethings wrong, that ship is out of control. We need to clear this area." His Father may not have seen eye to eye on him on some things but everyone knew he had excellent eyesight. Already the crowds were dashing for the edges of the clearing and his father yelled at the Councillors to do the same. Jason picked Hilde up in his arms and ran for it. It was a sign that she didn't protest.

They made the edge and Jason set her down and turned back to look for stragglers. Luckily most people had made it and the tight knit community was helping those that were having trouble. He looked up and saw the ships careening in and knew they were defiantly in trouble. They would land nowhere near the prepared land and not in a controlled manner. He just hoped they landed safely at all.

Finally the craft hit and as it did the big dome at the rear came off and started to skid. Jason was horrified as it was headed towards some outlying farms and their livestock. He was the one who had ordered the livestock be placed in the furthermost fields and now people could pay for it. Luckily though it stopped before that and just destroyed wheat and other crops although that was bad enough.

The forward craft kept coming bouncing towards them and the town. For a second Jason thought it would hit Infinity itself but it made the plateau and skidded across it and then down into the lake, finally stopping. Steam immediately rose up as the heat from it's hull met the cool waters of the lake and the ship was obscured. Who knew if anyone had survived.

Jason moved up and surveyed the damage. By some miracle the barn and their tempory housing was still standing and three plots still had the materials. All of them had been on the near side of the clearing where they had taken refuge. The other side was a disaster. A deep gouge was ripped through the earth and the plots and materials were destroyed. The landing was a total disaster.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" May cried slightly quiet, she unbuckled, and Cy followed her quietly, "is everyone okay?!" She yelled through some small debris and flickering lights, along with some dust. As much as she hardly knew them she felt she had to stick with them and care for them as they had comforted her.

 

[Othermoose]

"Ok? That was fucking amazing!" Erik shouted unbuckling himself from his seat and jumping up. "That was such a ride! We were moving so fast! It was just..." Erik continued to go on about how much he had enjoyed the ride while the others began to unstrap themselves from their seats.

As soon as he was free from his seat David rushed over to Kate's side. "Are you hurt? Is everything alright? Should I get Yuet?" He asked gently combing her hair out of her face.

As the ship bobbed up and down in the water Austin finally lost his battle against the motion sickness. He fell out of his seat and began vomiting on the floor holding his hair out of his face with one hand and propping himself with the other. "April!" Adrianna called out over Austin's heaves and chokes. "What's wrong with him? Is he dying?" The mermaid asked frantically swimming around her ball, fearful and unsure what was happening to Austin. She hadn't seen any of the humans throw up before, and she was terrified that Austin was dying, even more do when he began to cough up blood. "April! His mouth is bleeding! Save him!" Adrianna screeched as she hammered her fistis against the side of her transport ball.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

May irritated at the ignorance of Erik, the screaming of Adrianna, and all the lovely gushy stuff of David and Kate. Walked to the exit of the ship, were she opened the latch and sunlight blinded her, well whatever light, it looked just like earth, she jumped unto shore and instantly regret it. Seeing all the people she immediately turned around and jumped back on, where the ship bobbed, she turned around to outside and vomited her breakfest outside, all the people overwhelmed her. And when she was done she stood straight.

"There's people out there. A lot of fucking people."

 

[slippedhalo]

Kate looked up at David and around the steamed drop ship. "I'm ok. My arm is slightly burned from electric shock...The computer fitted to it is busted." She explained as Yuet rushed to her and used her own left arm to scan her.

"You fine, I take care of arm later. Baby fine too." She added before heading to Austin.

April stood once Austin was in Yuet' s care. She headed to where May was and squinted unto the sunny scene waiting outside the airlock. "It looks like we were this morning's entertainment. There's a big assemblage of people waiting for us out there."

Kate took David and Aziz' s assistance to stand on legs slightly wobbly from nerves. "Us? Wow!" She managed as the group met near the door. "I guess David, April and I should lead. The rest, assemble as you'd like, although, I'd feel better if we were a cohesive group flanked by Erik, the second security officer. Let's get ourselves in some order and meet up on the hull. Hopefully we won't have to swim to shore."

 

[Othermoose]

After a few more heaves Austin finally stood up panting. "Fine." He coughed to Yuet. He wiped the blood from his mouth before walking over to April. He leaned against her and looked out at the bright landscape before him. The beach was filled with people. People who Austin would be forced to socialize with. He reached down and intertwined his fingers with April's before hoarsely whispering his largest concern for the moment: "Sunglasses?" He asked her.

"What should Adrianna do? I think she's eager to get into the water." Erik said to Kate as he watched the mermaid crane her head to see the water. "I would like to meet all of the others, but I can wait if..." Adrianna gasped as she was inturupted by a sudden lurch from the ship. The ship began to move towards the beach, and after a moment a male mermaid popped out of the water and began speaking to the group. His speech pattern was different from Adrianna's, and the group couldn't understand anything he said, but after a few quick adjustments on his arm computer, Austin started a translation of the merman's speech.

"...a pleasure to meet all of you. Don't be alarmed by the tremors, we are moving your ship to the beach. I am called Bevin. I represent the merfolk, and I've been told you house one of my people?" "Yes yes yes yes yes!!" Adrianna squealed rolling her transport ball towards the ship's exit. She rolled the ball into the water and opened it rushing forward to Bevin and wrapping her arms around him. "It's been so long! I'm so happy I'm not the last one of us!" She weeped against his chest, her face stained with tears of joy. "Fear not. We may not have many in our ranks, but you are not the last of your kind." Bevin said kindly stroking Adrianna's hair.

As Bevin and Adrianna talked David and Erik arranged everyone into a spear-head formation. Erik replaced April on Kate's left side because Austin refused to be seperated from April going into this situation. He and May seemed to have similar fears of crowds.

"Here we go." David said as the merfolk pushed the ship up onto the beach. "Make us look good." He joked to Kate. He put a steadying hand on her shoulder, and together they stepped onto their new world.

 

[slippedhalo]

Kate led her crew out to face the crowd, of which, a definite pecking order was also assembling. The eldest in the crowd stood at the forefront. A handsome, Sinatra eyed man who appeared in his fifties took a step forward and waved.

The merpeople led the drop ship safely to sit at the edge of the makeshift pier the humans had literally just constructed for them.

Kate waved back, leader to leader, they were sizing each other up mentally.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Jason looked behind him as the rest of the people moved up. The councilors circled him and surveyed the damage and his father laid a hand on his shoulder. "It is a tragedy my son but thanks to you no lives were lost. Things can be rebuilt, lives are harder to replace, especially here."

The rest of the councilors nodded and then looked at the ship, or at least where they assumed it was. Steam still shrouded the thing. "Very well we will gather on the shore and hope that the new people inside have survived," began Alec in a loud voice. "All those citizens wishing to stay and watch can gather on the downward slope. Councilors we will get as close to the shoreline as is safe and wait to see what happens."

Then Alec turned to Jason. "See if you can find something that will reach from the shore to the ship so they don't have to swim to their new home. That would just not be right."

As the crowd and the councilors made their way towards the lake Jason hunted for things to make a bridge. It was not a big gap, maybe twenty or thirty meters but in a world were most things were made out of wood it was a significant way. He wished they still had one of the machines from the city up here so he could just pile dirt up to it. Wait that was it.

He grabbed several of the strongest men from the crowd he could find and after scouring the wreckage of the plateau they found some good pieces of lumber. Hauling them done in two man teams the quickly formed a rough bridge then piled dirt on it before going back for the next bit. In this way they soon had a reinforced dirt bridge made. Up close he could feel the heat of the craft but it was already cooling off and he could hear movement inside.He motioned the men back and then joined the councilors.

"I'm pretty sure someone survived," he told them just as someone opened the hatch vomited and then yelled back inside about them. Then another face appeared and called something back inside. Well at least three people had survived then.

 

[slippedhalo]

I think this is a good response to your last one, Aussie...

Kate led her crew out to face the crowd, of which, a definite pecking order was also assembling. The eldest in the crowd stood at the forefront. A handsome, Sinatra eyed man who appeared in his fifties took a step forward and waved.

The merpeople led the drop ship safely to sit at the edge of the makeshift pier the humans had literally just constructed for them.

Kate waved back, leader to leader, they were sizing each other up mentally.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

OOC: yeah it just took me a bit of time to write mine. You had already answered it before I posted it. Amazing that LOL.


IOC:

Jason could now see that there were quite a few people that had survived. If he remembered rightly the one that had just waved was called Kate. She was the one who was supposed to be trained as the leader and pilot. Looking back up at the landing site and at the ship he shrugged. Looked like the training could have gone better. Still his dad was doing his best to salvage something of the situation. Personally Jason just thought he was itching to deliver his speech. He didn't get to speak in front of people all that much anymore and when he did he relished the opportunity. He was good and Jason normally liked his speeches, but he was dreading this one.

He looked over the rest of the people as they walked down to the ramp. He was able to pick out all of the women of course, they matched their profiles very well. What was more telling however was the way most of them were walking. All of them seemed to be paired up and the leader was obviously pregnant. Now that had not been in the files and the journey was not that long. Obviously something was wrong there. It was also obvious that the large man standing on her right was in love with her. His constant looks and helping hands made that clear. The way the man next to April clung to her and her whispered words seemed to make them a couple and the others seemed to have flowed into a natural pattern as well. Natalia was next to another large man and glanced at him constantly, Yuet was next to a slender man and occasionally touched his fingertips then let go. The only members that seemed genuinely alone were May, although she was carrying some sort of machine and Jocelyn and her brother. He was the only male he knew was on the ship. The rest of them were a mystery to him and he only knew that it was him because of the description that was in Jocelyn's profile.

Well it looked like his dad's plans were in real trouble now. Not only had nearly every one of them formed a partnership, leaving his plans for getting his son a wife in ruins ( Jason actually smiled at that. He hated to be pushed into things), but his speech would really go over real big now when he tried to tell this group he was basically going to separate them all up and then try to make the females into breeding stock. perhaps he should warn him. Then again perhaps he should just let it play out he thought with a grin on his face. After today he could use a good laugh.

 

[slippedhalo]

Kate smiled and indicated her burned skin on her left arm. "My apologies for the bumpy touchdown. My personal computer and the throttle control had some technical issue. It left us flying in much too fast and April had to take control if our speed from her chair whilst I steered...It looks pretty bad. Again, my apologies for the scorched fields. It could have been worse..."

"No one was seriously hurt or killed in the process. That's most important." Alex reassured. He introduced himself as head speaker for the council.

Kate introduced herself and the rest of her crew.

Then, Alec turned a microphone on and seemed prepared to make a big speech.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

May since minute one didn't want to be here. To many men. Her eyes and expression held a dangerous look in both. And she didn't do anything to hide it. She didn't want to send off the wrong impression but her distrust was great. She swore to herself if one touched her instead of flinching she would probably punch them. Kate introduced them all, to Alec. When his eyes found hers, she made no move to change her expression. Her head started to hurt and small flashes of her nightmares danced in her head. And her headache grew slowly and small but very painful, and the flashes started to increase. As Alec got unto the stage and prepared to speak.

 

[slippedhalo]

The eleven new humans were given places of honor in the front row of seats on the stage as other people assembled to sit in the crowd to hear Alec give his speech. Yuet took a seat to Kate's left to care for the burns caused by the computer malfunction. David sat to Kate's right. April Sat beside him, Austin still not leaving her side. Aziz took a seat beside Yuet and Erik Sat beside him. Jocelyn and Caleb filled in the seats between Erik and May. Natalia, last to rise to the stage, took the last seat on the end, beside May.

Yuet frowned, "I'll need to have May try to repair the appliance or else I'll have to remove it. But, for now it can wait. I am just going to heal the burns and let it be for now." She announced softly to Kate.

Kate did something sneaky before Alec reached the podium. She opened a comm link among her group so they could quietly communicate among themselves without attracting too much attention by rudely talking over their host. "Thanks, Yuet...Gang, how are we really doing? Does this seem odd to you at all?"

Nat smiled at a group of men sitting in the crowd not far from her with a hunger in their eyes she knew well and hated much, then she whispered for the comm channel, "...Odd...well, I kind of feel like a turkey must feel in America the night before Thanksgiving...We're being looked at like..."

"...The eagerness...it's disconcerting." Said April, getting the same feeling. "I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about these people."

Kate nodded almost imperceptibly, but her crew saw she'd heard and acknowledged their worries. "Alec seems disappointed...keeps eying my bump with contempt." She noted. David growled at this news and she put a staying hand on his to settle him down.

Yuet nodded, "Not many women our age..."

Aziz chimed in, "If they lay a finger on any of you ladies I'll defend you with my life."

Caleb spoke up, "I'm wiry but fast. I can fight if I have to. Nobody's gonna hurt my sister!"

The women in the group shhed him, not wanting their secret communications throughout the speech to be detected.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

"I have a knife and pistol.... I stole it.. Sorry but I thought it would sometime be necessary... Guys.... Women had rights and stuff on earth... But we didn't really consider what rights they had here. Maybe... I don't know... It's not looking good.. Hope there's a bridge." May said sighing. She spoke quietly but it was getting harder to concertante with the guys lust looks in the audience.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Alec had examined the newcomers as they had filed off the ship and he had not been pleased with what he had seen. The leader who he had high hopes of marrying his son off to was obviously pregnant. Just how this could have happened was beyond him. All candidates were carefully screened so that they were not pregnant when taken on board and only given fertility drugs a week or so before landing to prepare them. So how was she so advanced in pregnancy? Obviously something had gone wrong. This was going to make it harder to palm her off now, although he could turn it to his advantage by proving she was of good breeding stock.

He was also concerned how most of them seemed to have formed couples. One or two would have been acceptable but nearly all of them, completely out of the question. The quicker he got them separated the better, but they had ruined part of that plan by destroying the planned village. Still he would think of something, or his son would. The advantages of being on the council, the ability to delegate.

He walked up to the microphone and cleared his throat.

"Esteemed colleagues, New arrivals, Ladies and Gentleman. We are gathered here today to welcome these guests into our society as we were once welcomed ourselves. Most of us here have come to this planet in the same manner as these people sitting before you and you all know how they must be feeling now. Homesick, lost, confused, and yes scared. So we must all do our best to make their new lives here pleasant as they make their way into our society."

He paused to let a small amount of clapping die down.

"Of course they have to get settled first and that was to have been in the town of Infinity, but as you can see that may be a little difficult now," He got a few laughs at that, "But we will make do and my son will see to it that they get all that they need." He pointed at Jason and was surprised when he only raised his hand slightly and waved. Did he not know what he was doing for him.

"After they have settled of course we will begin to acclimatize them and send them out to their new jobs and in most cases their new homes. The Council will meet soon to discuss where they will be best utilized but all submissions will be given a fair and honest going over. Once again I am glad to welcome you all to your new lives here," he smiled at the group as the crowd clapped.


At the edge of the stage on the ground Jason grinned. He had been looking at the newcomers faces and it was hard for him not to laugh. Oh the shit was well and truly about to hit the proverbial roof now.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

The group was silent. As they took in what Alec said. May slowly picked up Cy. "Let's see it buddy." As her head pounded. She grabbed the sharp steak knife, Cy handed to her. She stood up and raised her knife as far back and quickly as possible, a few people from the audience hardly let out a warning before May launched the steak knife, straight into Alec's thigh. Which instantly cut into his leg, halfway deep. Mays flashes suddenly took over from the news, clutching her forehead, May fall unto the stage on her knees. May let out a half chocked scream and gasp, before falling unto her back. Her mouth was now closed, her brown eyes stared straight up into the sky, and blood started to leak out her nose. She didn't blink, or move. She was in her nightmares again.

But this time. She was being strangled. And she wasn't breathing.

 

[Othermoose]

As the mass of men in the crowd ogled April and the other women, Austin moved even closer to April, trying to block her from the crowd. "Does anyone else feel like they're looking at the girls like they're going to put then up for auction like breeding cows?" Austin asked, using his arm computer's speech function instead of his own voice. "Yea. It does seem that way. And I don't like it." Erik said in a low ominous voice.


David ignored the other's conversation and the horny men in the crowd, instead focusing on what May had said. "Where the hell did you get a gun!? We haven't even been here for five minutes! How did you even have time to find one, let alone steal it!?" David whispered urgently into his comm. If the colony leaders found out that she had weapons... David shuttered to think what they'd do. "Everyone just needs to calm down. These people are just like us. We have no reason to think they mean us any harm. Maybe... I don't know, but we can't jump to any conclusions yet." David said trying to calm the group. "Easy for you to say. They can't force Kate to have someone else's kid." Austin typed, wishing he could make his wrist computer take a bitter tone. "These are civilized people. No one is going to be raped or forced to breed. Everyone needs to stay calm and quiet. Especially you May. Keeping those weapons hidden is a matter of life and death. We can get rid of them later. Now everyone be quiet and listen to the speech." David said cutting of the conversation.

As they listened to the speech David watched in horror as May slowly pulled a knife from her robot. "Don't you fucking do it you idiot." David growled, but it was too late. She flung the knife and it embedded itself into the leader's son's leg.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!? These people are here to help us!" David shouted at May as he junped up from his seat. He watched as she fell to the ground making gagging noises. "Yuet take care of Alec's leg first." David said going to May. He kneeled next to her and roughly shook her shoulder. "Snap out of it! Do you know what that stupid little stunt will cost us!? Even Austin isn't that fucking stupid!" David yelled with rage as he shook the girl.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

May didn't know what happened. She heard David yelling and shaking her. all she remembered was sitting there with a headache. And her flashes... She remembered getting scared at the men's looks at her petite body, but that was all. Everything was black in her mind, she didn't know if her eyes were open. But her nightmare flashed back suddenly but this time it was David strangling her, and her physical body stopped breathing, once more. May didn't know what was dream or reality, if she was sitting in her chair still, or sick on the ground, she didn't remember doing anything.

 

[slippedhalo]

Security officers dressed like old fashioned London police stormed the stage and pointed devices which looked like Harry Potter wands at the ten travelers still together. A beam emitted from each wand and they seemed to join up in a sort of electrical field to hold them in that area of space A painful electrical field, Caleb discovered as it hit his shoulder when they tightened the loop to make them huddle closer together with one another and he was too close to the edge of the circle of light.

Kate called out, "Please! She's hysterical. Her healing was rushed for our arrival and she requires therapy...Her death was traumatic and full of abuse. It's making her paranoid!"

Yuet nodded and called out. "I her physician. I can confirm that!"

Natalia was privately in her own personal hell. She clung to Erik, her head buried in his shoulder and he could hear her repeating, "Not again. No more. Not again..." while trembling.

Jocelyn saw this and called out, "There's a few of us with good reason to feel anxious!"

 

[SlySparrow0003]

May sat up abruptly, gasping for air, with the blood taste in her mouth. Tears streaming down her face. She saw David's enraged face, Kate's worried face, everything was in commotion, then she saw the knife... May continued to take large gasps. "I-I didn't-oh-oh no, no, no, no,no I-I'm so sorry, I- I'm sorry...." She kept on hysterically repeating sorry, taking large gasps of air as well. This was all her fault, she put them in this because of her. She saw Natalie, and she cried harder. She couldn't live here. She had to go.

 

[Othermoose]

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine. Just calm down. I'm right here with you. I've got you." Erik said wrapping his arms around Natalia. "Kate will get us out of here. She'll talk everyone down, and this will all just be a bad memory." Erik said, hoping it was true. He watched as David shouted to the guards that the entire group couldn't be held accountable for May's attack. Normally Erik wouldn't be alright with hanging someone out to dry like that, but on this situation David seemed right. There was just no excuse for attacking Alec like that. "I really hope Kate can get May out of this." Erik thought as he cradled Natalia against his chest.

 

[SlySparrow0003]

May tried to get as far away from the group as possible. Of course that was nearly impossible. She put her pieces together, the headache grew to much. And May somehow snapped out of her brain and into a frenzy mode, where she wanted to kill everyone around her. But thankfully she had collapsed. She didn't remember the knife or throwing it, or getting up to throw it. It all went blank she was guessing right before then. She just remembered falling to the ground. She stood up and looked at a security guard, "Please... They didn't do anything, it-it was only me. It's not th-their fault." Between the now calming gasps. Cy clutched her ankle. May sat down, and buried her head in her knees. A bridge seemed nice, maybe she would get a instant death for punishment. That'd be great too. She didn't belong here. She was gonna get everyone killed or thrown in jail. She watched Natalie cry. Her guilt and shame probably shone through her, And the blood was now dry on her face. Tears slowly went down her face.

 

[slippedhalo]

Hilde put up her hands and then made her slow, cane led walk up to the podium. She shook her head at the crowd and admonished them with a stare. "Don't any of you remember where you came from and what it felt like here that first day? We put all this pressure and expectation on these people, barely out of childhood, traumatized by some terrible deaths, still reeling from that, they took comfort in one another...We've been there. We know it can happen with earlier wakers. Who'd have thought this batch would have had almost all of them awaken in the first days of healing? And the other three, they cannot be blamed for their confusion. We should first educate them about the laws here, and heal their wounds, physical and emotional...Only then can we expect them to understand us." She said.