Alternative Views: The Starshine Dilemma

[Jishdefish]

A warm mist drifted about Rafaelle, waking him. His eyes focused on the greenery of the bottoms of leaves and the hint of sunlight beyond. He tilted his head erect, still groggy, he was in the Atrium he realized belatedly. The monitor was on, showing the control room and the channel was open. Three figures marched into view, the first was Luna, followed by Erin and Leon. Luna was the one speaking, the other two listened, if a bit perturbed by what she was saying. "... can't even move, we should have done this earlier. Who knows how many could have been infected." The doctor nodded, but Erin was livid.

"I can still find a cure! Just give me time. You're being stupid, none of us have shown any signs, and we were all around him the most!" Luna shook her head, lifting her arm. Her hand hung limp.

"Not all of us. I need this removed doctor, but it won't be any good unless we get rid of him too." Leon looked haggard.

"Leon? Are you listening to this?" He looked helplessly at Erin.

"She makes sense. I'm afraid she's right. We'd better do it now before he wakes... It's better this way." He nodded to Luna.

"But... but you just CAN'T! A doctor can't kill his patients! Are you that heartless!?" A chill ran down Raf's spine as a grim realization came over him. He tried to move, but his body was like lead below his neck. His breathing was shallow. He let out a cry, but the door was closed and he doubted it could even be heard over the radio static.

He looked at her, but couldn't hold his gaze. His stammering started up again. "L-l-look. I-I can't-t g-g-g-get y-you to underst-t-tand, b-but it-t's f-for the g-g-good of t-t-t-the..." He broke off. Luna spoke for him.

"What Leon is trying to say is that it is for the good of the colony. He is detrimental to our cause, and has to go, no matter his part in getting us planet-side. We have no choice." She stepped up to the command console and typed a few keystrokes. She was close enough to the camera to make out the contours on her irises. "P-please..." Raf gasped, but if she heard she made no sign.

"There, the oxygen will be drained from the air in there with the press of this key." By this time Erin was practically sobbing and Leon could have been carved of stone. Luna sighed, almost looking him in the eyes as she pressed down the Enter key. "You were a great leader Raf, I'm sorry it had to turn out this way...."

Raf started, sitting up suddenly. His back popped at the pressure and he fell back down with a hard thud, gasping. He looked around the best he could. He was on the floor, which was tilted a good forty-five degrees toward the front of the craft. The computer where Luna supposedly typed in his demise was dark and sunlight filtered in through the now opened radiation filter behind it.

It was all just a dream, they had landed, he wasn't paralyzed, they weren't putting him down. He was alive. Now if he could just get the strength to stand up in this higher gravity...


OOC: I did not control your characters, don't worry, it was just a dream sequence. I thought it would start this chapter off with a bang. Well, thread started, feel free to post!

[Falconer]

Jason was sitting atop the colony's main building, welding down the communications antenna when he saw a large object streak through the sky, disappearing behind a hill. Frowning, he clicked his radio talk button twice, alerting others that something was odd.

[Pandora]

ooc: I think you got the characters perfect sorry it's taken me so long, been in a rush trying to get every thing done with the book before the end of summer.

Ic: Leon awoke to most of his body aching horribly. He'd made it inches away from the safety pod's when ever the ship had made impact with the atmosphere of the planet. He was fairly sure he shouldn't have made it alive, but apparently being knocked unconcious somehow saved him. He wasn't sure what the science for such a thing was, as he was pretty sure things didn't happen that way, but he wasn't going to question having the chance to live.

While enduring quite a bit of pain, he used the ship wall to pull himself onto his feet, and limped over to the pods he'd left Erin. He made a promise to her, and no matter how bad he felt he intended on keeping it. Plus he also wanted to get the wrist com he'd given her to see how'd thing go with the others, and to as if the coms in the stasis chambers where all up and running. He wanted to take care of the crew still strapped in the chambers as soon as possible.

[Ersska]

OOC: Ha ha! When I first started reading your post, Jish, I was like "he can't do that! that's my character! i'm still playing as her!" Ha ha!

IC: Erin had managed to strap herself into the safety pod before they had crashed. She hadn't lost consciousness, but things had gone dim for a minute. Even strapped tightly to the seat, her body had still been jarred by the impact. The safety harness had pressed into her, leaving bruises she was sure. Her head ached, her thought process was fuzzy, and she felt the urge to go to sleep. Probably a concussion, she thought, but couldn't remember hitting anything. Erin fumbled with the buckles on the harness for a few minutes before she managed to get all of them undone. As she stood up, she was overcome by a sudden bout of dizzyness. With the pod appearing to spin around her, Erin slumped back down into the seat and held her head in her hands.

[Corva]

Luna looked up at the sunlight filtering through the ships windows. "Now that was a difficult landing" she gasped. "Harder than the early manned rockets." She looked over to Raf. "Raf? Raf? You okay?" Undoing her belt, she got up and walked over. He was lying on the floor, which was at a 45 degree angle. The higher gravity made it difficult.

[Jishdefish]

"I'm... I'm okay, it's just this higher grav. I think I could use a hand though." He offered his left hand, the working one, and she took it. Once to his feet, he leaned on the control chair. "Thanks. I suppose we ought to go check on everyone... Especially the doctor. The last things he said made it seem like wasn't buckled in..." Raf tried to keep his eyes from her hand, the one that had been paralyzed in his dream.

OOC: Nah, anyone can do caricatures of characters, I don't think Luna would be that cold, nor Erin that sobby. Thanks for the compliment though.

[alondor]

Walking through the forest when he sees something jet across the sky Alondor cricks his neck so he can find out what it was. Hearing the two clicks Alondor, ever curious, runs to see what the thing was

[Falconer]

Jason slid down to the ground, encountering one of his friends, a girl named Sarah who worked in the greenhouse. "Whoa, Jason, what's the rush?"
He pointed to her radio and cocked his head.
"Oh, I turned it off earlier. The battery's running low."
Jason rolled his eyes, then gestured rapidly.
"A meteorite crashed? Where?"
He pointed, then signed, Is that explorer near there?
"Oh, whatsisname, Alondor? I think so, he mentioned he would be in that section at the Gathering yesterday. Weren't you listening?"
He shook his head, gesturing at the vehicle depot.
"Working, Jason? Really?" she asked disapprovingly. "You know Sundays are rest days."
Some more signing.
"I know cars don't fix themselves."

[Jishdefish]

Elondor's and Jason's radios crackle. "...eturn to base, I repeat, this is M-fox, return to base for briefing." The voice is clearly feminine and belongs to someone they both know and trust, the captain of the expedition to the planet, and de facto leader of the colony.

* * * * * * * *

"A hard landing, understatement for sure. You did well, probably better than I could of." He followed along the wall, leaning against it to climb up the incline a bit easier. Raf was out of breath by the time he reached the doorway. "Wow... I do hope... there is some.... water here. We... might just... die of exertion. I don't think I should of... lowered the gravity before landing." He said, between breaths.

[Falconer]

Jason excused himself and began walking toward the two-story building in the center of the colony that housed the Gathering room. As he passed the residential buildings, Jason mused over the progress the colony had made since they’d arrived. The chemical lakes had been avoided, the crops and livestock were doing well, and, most importantly as far as he was concerned, the equipment was proving to be reliable.

The only concern that plagued him was that ever since their arrival, they had been unable to contact Earth. He and two others had worked on the problem in their spare time for several months so far, but something about the atmosphere blocked their radio signals. One of the scientists was working on a program that would allow them to send an optical tightbeam signal to Earth, but in the meantime they were alone here.
Blinking himself back to reality, he ascended the wood steps and entered the main hall.

[alondor]

OOC Jish my character's first letter is A not E

Cursing mildly Alondor runs back to the colony slowing only when he had to get checked out for medical purposes. He then runs off to get to the conference room, stopping when he sees Jason Alondor yells "Hey Jason wait up"

[Falconer]

Glancing back, Jason paused, allowing Alondor to catch up. You find anything of interest? he signed.

[Corva]

OOC: There should be; it's a Waterworld! It is d we're on, right?

IC: "There should be," she replied. "But we seem to be on solid land. At least, it seems solid. I may not know much geology, but know enough to know that this place shouldn't have much, if any, dry land."

[Jishdefish]

OOC: Sorry, Alondor.

@ DragonRider: Umm... no, you're a bit mistaken, we landed on Dia, not Cleo. Cleo, or Gliese 581 C is the water world, Dia is a super-Earth. One of the theories is that Dia is covered in water, though, in this interpretation all of its water came from Cleo when it was destroyed and it was desolate beforehand.

IC: Ethaena set down the radio as the crew and some of the older children filed into the room. She looked down at the laptop before her. It was directly connected to the satellite that was their ship and home for a large number of years. The Seed mostly served as a weather satellite for now, but it had the capability to have communication relays if any other colonies would be established. But also the Seed had an astronomical telescope, and thus Ethaena had been informed by the former communication's officer of the mass approaching the planet.

"We'll begin this meeting with a small history lesson. Who here has heard of the Element?" Very few of the children raised their hands, but a majority of the crew members did.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Raf blinked. "Did you miss the whole 'the planet we were supposed to land on got blown to smithereens' bit? All our training was for there, this planet wasn't even supposed to be habitable, but for the destruction of the other." He chuckled. "We would be in the lap of luxury on Cleo. I mean, floating in water is much better than living in high-gravity."

[Pandora]

Ooc: yeah Leon would have to have a very good reason to just give up on a cure too, but otherwise i thought you really did do good.

Ic:
Leon had sucessfully made it back to Erin after searching the pods over. he went quickly into checking her vitals as any good doctor would, and after seeing that she was shaken but stable. Leon wordlessly took the com back from her wrist, and pressed the button to speak. since he'd caught the end of the conversation from the com.

I'm fine, and So is Erin for the most part. Hey can you open up the coms in the stasis chambers now and see how the people in those things are doing, and ask them if anyone needs medical attention if it's possible to get them up and working that is. I'll need to go around and redo the head count either way, but it would be nice to know what kind of work I've got ahead of me.He huffed at the com with exaustion.

[Ersska]

Erin perked up when Leon opened the pod door. She was happy to see that she wasn't alone. Erin sat in somewhat of a daze as Leon proceeded to check her vitals and took the wrist com. The rough landed had only made her feel worse than she already had, and she debated on whether or not she should tell Leon.
"I-I don't f-. . .," she started to tell him, but decided it could wait. "Uh. . .Do you still need my help?"

[Pandora]

Uh, well uh, only if you are still up to it. I'll, I'll understand if you r-rather just take a breather. You are pretty bruised up. Leon rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Now that he had his own enjuries he didn't know if he would be able to keep up with Erin to make sure she did over do it. On the same note he didn't want to be alone at the moment.

[Ersska]

Erin attempted once more to stand, but the dizzyness and higher gravity didn't go well together. She wanted to get back to her plants, but the atrium seemed so far away. Erin knew she couldn't get there own her on. She sighed. Admitting defeat was a little easier this time but still something she didn't want to do.
"I'll go with you," she said to Leon. "But I think I'll need the wheelchair again, just for a little while though." She didn't want to seem too helpless.

[Jishdefish]

OOC: Ethaena is M-fox by the way.

Ethaena smiled. "It seems our education system isn't nearly up to par. Anyway, the Element left many centuries before we did, to a neighboring planet to Dia, but unfortunately, the beam we rode on was not detected by Earth until it was much later in their journey, and impossible for them to come back." She shook her head. "About 21 years before our mission was sent out, their computer stopped responding. At that point the ship was considered lost and probably destroyed by an unforeseen disaster. Earlier today, much earlier than I would have liked, a mass was detected by our ship's telescope. I believe it is the long-lost Element. I sent out a relay, but they haven't responded, I'm not sure whether our systems are compatible with their antiquated computer, or whether they survived all those years alone in space." She looked at Jason. "Sarah has told me that you were working and you saw it, a meteorite in the sky?"

[Pandora]

yeah sure, well need to find it. It wasn't tied down so it went flying during the landing. I know this because I think it was what knocked me out. Until then I think I'll have to carry you. Now if I remember it was on the other end of the hall not to far from here. I think I can make it that far at lest. He told her nervously, and before she had a chance to object because he knew she would he picked her up and started to carry her on his back, still limping as he went.

This is odd, I thought for sure we would have gotten an answer back by now. Maybe we should go check out the bridge, and make sure everyone up there is alright. Let's just hope that the coms have just stopped working or something. Leon jabbered on trying his best to mask how nervous he was. Lucky he thought he spoted the chair a small ways off and it didn't look as if it was too banged up to be used.

[Corva]

Luna forced herself to her feet. It was harder than she was used to, due to the extra gravity. "I'll need to go check on the embryos. They were strapped in, so they should be okay..."

[Jishdefish]

"Yes, of course." Raf let her take the lead through the hallway, the doctor, with Erin on his back, shortly came into view.

Rafaelle gave a wave. "Glad you two survived the landing. I was worried. The ship deactivated when we landed, I think it was something built into the software, but anyway it knocked out the coms. We should have some radios in storage that will work from now on." He took a deep breath. Did the air seem fresher? Maybe it was just his way of expressing relief. He felt like shrugging, but didn't.

[Corva]

"Erm..." Luna got a mortified look on her face. "How many people were there on the ship?"

[Pandora]

Leon quickly placed Erin in the chair as soon as the others showed up. Then he tried to push it by rocking it back and forth, the wheels were slightly rocky, but it seemed that it would still move good enough to be used. It made him hope Erin wasn't prone to motion sickness.

Oh, so the coms are out. Well it's good to know you are ok captain. How has your arm been since the crash? I was hoping the coms would be up so I wouldn't have to do so much work. Plus if the ship is powered down we might have a little bit of a problem. Remember those people we found who weren't infected we closed up. How are we going to open the doors to free them?
Leon asked getting a bit frantic.

Then he turned to luna.

Uh, I thing a little over 200, I can't remember everything right now, I might have sufered a slight cuncosion. I'm not sure at this point though.

[Corva]

"How many were berthed at the time of landing?" she anske anxiously. "Would they have survived?"