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Post by Huntress on May 27, 2009 16:45:11 GMT -5
She caught it, having enough decency to look surprised rather than relieved. The gem felt warm, and slightly alive in an odd, hard-to-describe way. No wonder, if it was made of souls, or rather one powerful soul...
Come to think of it, Rane had somehow found a way to leave the gem and creep into her head back during the big war. The idea of TMC doing the same wasn't much of a fun prospect. He'd seemed to Hunty like a born space-taker. Yeah, this one's going down to Rane as quickly as humanly possible.
Happily ignoring all mental images that persistently asked what would happen if Rane was to use the gem often enough to open a connection, Hunty tucked the gem in her pouch. It gave a dull clank as it landed on the shinies.
"Well," she said, "I'm glad to see that our guilds are starting to form a significant mutual trust and goodwill essential for an effective coopera- hah, okay, Bloody Mary was right, can't say it with a straight face. Clearly I wasn't cut out to be a diplomat. And neither were you, mind. What'd your Commander say if he knew that you've just given one of the most powerful artefacts in the universe to a criminal who couldn't be trusted with a promise if it was nailed down?"
She was almost positive that there was a small blue rabid facepalm growing somewhere in the room at that point - she knew Bloody Mary well enough - but hey, Fraze had wanted honesty, hadn't he?
Hunty fell serious. "Really, you have no idea how much it means- okay, you probably do, you were there. I did a couple stupid things back during that war... because they looked like a good idea at the time, hah, and now that karma caught up with me, I've no choice but to do whatever I can to fix it. If this was about me, heck, wouldn't have bothered, what's the worst they can do? But this is about my crew, and I have to look after them. And on the other hand, if this leads up to you getting in trouble..." She paused, fingering the pouch with the gem in it. "Well, I'll find a way to fix it when it comes. In any case, I know we have spare hammocks somewhere, the meepits make them when they're bored, don't ask why. In any case..."
There was another pause. Her thoughts, already getting more tangled by the minute like a bunch of yarn pulled from one end, were close to turning into a knot that can only be hacked open with a sword. But somewhere in that tangle, there was something nudging at the back of her mind.
...oh heck no. Bad idea.
...except a very diplomatic one, come to think of it.
...which made it worse. Where'd her thoughts now ended up? Was she now acting in the interests of the crew, or in her own interests? She'd been a figurehead for so long that she could no longer pin down the real reasons behind her actions. Did she even know herself for sure?
Hunty turned to look at Fraze, and a sword went through the tangle. None of it mattered. What mattered was that, well, it looked like a good idea at the time. Take what you can, give nothing back... most of the time.
She stepped forward and, with a smile people didn't often see on her face, kissed him.
"Thank you."
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Post by Rider on May 27, 2009 21:38:02 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Time seemed to freeze again, for dramatic effect. Because even time knows when it's not needed.
From several yards away, Rider licked her finger and stuck it in the air. Mostly out of habit, as there was no wind in the Fleet.
"I feel a great disturbance in the roleplay... as if millions of 'shippers suddenly cried out in squeeing..." She could feel Bloody Mary's eyes on her, "and were suddenly silenced."
"I can feel the fingers of time pressing rather firmly back down on us, and I'd rather be planetside before it happens so I don't get that raw feeling in the bottom of my belly of suddenly not being where I am... or was... or will be." She turned to Keng. "I believe your people have our people. We'll need the pseudo-ninja back. I doubt you'll be able to hold her even if you tried. Deny me her and your folk will come back smelling citrusy-fresh."[/glow]
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Post by Cyborg on May 27, 2009 21:43:30 GMT -5
Cyborg waited and waited for Keng to return. He needed to talk to her. It was very important. He needed to ask her something. Something that would change their lives, and maybe have her gain more trust in him. And her trust was worth millions of shinies to him, her love, priceless.
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Post by Zylaa on May 30, 2009 13:58:31 GMT -5
"I feel a great disturbance in the roleplay... as if millions of 'shippers suddenly cried out in squeeing... and were suddenly silenced."
Zylaa nodded. Once reunited with the rest of the pirates, she had been seized by a sudden urge to start singing "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?", and a minute ago the entire collection of Disney Love Songs had started playing. At once. It was rather odd.
Trying to ignore the strains of "So This is Beauty and a Whole New Heaven's Song Upon a Dream Tonight" now running through her head, Zylaa listened to Rider's request to Keng.
"Deny me her and your folk will come back smelling citrusy-fresh."
A terrifying threat, Zylaa thought, but said, "And what about the book? We need to check that out." Because really, if we go through all this without getting any shinies, I will have to shoot someone.
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Post by Goosh on May 31, 2009 15:46:14 GMT -5
Goosh pulled a stray weasel off his arm. Zylaa had left him once the Fraze/Hunty 'shipping had reached critical levels. Goosh had followed, still sparkling in the station's fluorescent lights.
"And what about the book? We need to check that out," Zylaa was saying to Rider.
"Point," said Goosh. "And I'd prefer it if we got out of here relatively quickly, so we don't all turn into singularities by way of time quantum. Although at this rate we won't get back home till October."
The Yurble scratched his horn, bored, and then paused. "Oh, and we should probably get this sorted out as well." He gestured towards his sparkling form. "Unless you guys want to be a beacon in the night, I suggest we find some scientists and get them to reverse this." His voice trailed off into a crystalline echo.
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Post by Fraze on May 31, 2009 16:25:53 GMT -5
At this point, Fraze should have expected what was coming. Music should have swelled to a heartstopping, tearjerking crescendo. Instead, what he managed was "You're welc--mmmph."
Fraze was caught supremely off-guard by the kiss, though he soon realized it was far from unwelcome. Very, very far...
far...
far away...
floating, soaring...
was never like this...
Fraze pulled away. "I'm taking this as a 'yes, you are most welcome to join our crew as an ambassador.' I would be glad to discuss this with you in much greater detail, but I don't think now is the time."
He sighed. He didn't want to do this next thing, which was why it was best to get it over with. "You're probably right, I am a bad diplomat. Which is why I'll say this now. Didn't you have something you needed to deliver somewhere? Tell you what. I've got a friend who works in the library who owes me a favor. A really big favor. Saved him from getting killed and court-martialed pretty much on the same day. Or her. It. Whatever. Species with five genders, the pronouns are a nightmare. Anyway. I'll tell him to make you a copy of whatever it was you wanted. You can keep the copy and return the original."
-----------
Merpo, meanwhile, was fretting about the same issue. He was nervous with anticipation--this could be the day that, at last, he could get back home. No, more than that--this could also be the day that culminated all of his research, after two torturous decades of waiting.
He picked up the communicator once more. "Th-this is Merpo. How much...longer?"
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Post by Huntress on Jun 6, 2009 11:39:51 GMT -5
Hunty had very nearly forgotten about the communicators again - granted, she'd very nearly forgotten about everything else in the universe as well - but now she turned to shoot a glare at the bag standing next to the leg of the table. How come Merpo always had such glorious timing?
The bag moved and Bloody Mary stuck his head out of it.
"What'm I gonna tell him?" he asked, radiating cheery helpfulness all over. "I mean, if we wrap everything up a-sap and get out before we hit traffic, chances are we'll get back on the planet well before sundown, but that depends on whether or not you'll be planning to discuss anything in greater detail."
Hunty raised a disapproving eyebrow.
"You did say that we should talk everything out," she said dryly, but with something quite like a grin in her voice.
"Yeah, but there's some things a meepit just shouldn't eavesdrop on, thank you all the same," the meepit said without any hint of guilt whatsover. He dove back into the bag and a moment later his hoarse voice, a little muffled, announced: "Good morning, starshine, the Earth says hello. O'something. Expect a special delivery later today. Over n' out.
"Nearly forgot," he said, bouncing out of the bag. "I wanted to give this back." The silvery piece of the skinsuit slid off him and turned into a puddle of mercury on the floor. "I'll assume you have a way of picking it up. Odd little thing."
"Was that how you got in?" Hunty asked, now mostly curious than anything else. You couldn't get angry at Bloody Mary. It was never of much use, so you'd only waste your own nerves.
"Nah." The meepit climbed up Fraze's clothes. "Used the Realms. Last time for me in this lifetime, mark you, I hate that place and it hasn't gotten any nicer. They just wrote me off as grey, or maybe rainbow, it's hard to tell how that suit acts in the Realmlight. Anyway, so, you. The book in question is in that bag. I'ma ride along until it gets copied so that nobody tries anything funny. Don't touch it!"
Hunty, who'd been about to pick the bag up, pulled her hand back. The voice had been like a gunshot. "What?"
"Everything I've said up until now, feel free to call me bossy and fickle and whatever else," the meepit said sharply, sinking lower on Fraze's shoulder. "But if you look into that book, I swear to all gods I will bite you. You had no clue what you got yourself into when you promised to fetch that book, and if you were to find out, you'd know far too much. Get that book copied. We'll take it to Merpo, leave it with him, walk away, and that's the end of it, and we'll never think about it again. Understood?"
Hunty stared at him. She had to admit that she'd never even thought that taking the book could have any consequences more serious than 'aw man, I can't find this data I need for my research about bacteria on planet Zlorf'.
"This has the potential to become yet another thing that'll eventually come back to bite me, doesn't it?"
"Only if you let your curiosity get the best of you," said the meepit, and nudged Fraze in the neck. "Same to you. I'll be keeping an eye on you for your own good. You both just got yourselves into something big, and you still have the chance of getting out clean if you're smart enough to remain small and unimportant and unaccountable for everything, and I intend to make sure you'll do that cos sadly enough, I like you both. Now, hup-hup, off to find that grammar-slaughtering buddy of yours."
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Post by Kengplant on Jun 8, 2009 13:09:27 GMT -5
Rider's voice sounded something like a large pack of post it notes being thrown at her face to remind her of something she'd forgotten about.
"OH jeeze! I forgot about that. Ummm... uh... that might be a problem, see, all evidence still points to Speck having taken down the defenses. However... The evidence will be mostly witness reports from what they remember seeing on cameras before the timelapse. We literally changed history there so that it didn't happen.. I'm not really sure how that will effect the outcome, or if we can charge her for it... Umm..."
Keng looked down and shuffled her feet a little. This was awkward. "I'm not sure if we can release her right away. As I said all the evidence for the event that was but never became... uh... yea... something like that... anyways, the evidence is gone. There's still likely to be an investigation, and a trial, if it's any help I can testify for her that she would have no chance of having enough knowledge of our technology to set up a game of holo-ball never mind hack into our security. I'm sure that no charges will be laid and she'll be out within 2-4 weeks. I can see to it she gets back to you afterwards but... well... she DID hack into the security systems. The programmers are going to want her to show them how she did it if she can remember and... it's kinda a serious charge."
Keng gave an unhelpful, apologetic shrug.
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Post by Fraze on Jun 15, 2009 1:55:11 GMT -5
((Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to play around with a throwaway character before throwing it away. Figure out the pronoun forms and win a pat on the back.))
"I've been involved in far too many big things before." His mind skimmed over a blur of negotiations and reconnaissance missions, paused for an instant on assassinations, and went on. "The only thing that keeps you alive and out of a life sentence in a military prison is--well, mostly luck. But other than that, a quick jerk of the head toward whoever is above you. Cynical as it sounds, that's just how it works with chain of command. I really don't want to get embroiled in anything more, so honestly, thanks for the heads-up. "Now," Fraze continued, not missing the irony, "I'll get you to the guy I know." On the way, he did his best to explain to Hunty and Bloody Mary the basics of pronouns for a five-gendered species, knowing this information could never possibly prove useful.
The guy in question looked, if anything, androgynous. Or rather, hul looked completely devoid of any recognizable human gender traits. Hui species was herbivorous, with several natural predators on hui homeworld--as such, hui eyes were set far apart on either side of hui face, though otherwise hui looked vaguely human. After a brief introduction, Fraze began. "We really need a copy of this book, and we need it in a hurry. It'd take too long to go through the official channels, so I was hoping I could ask you to do it," Fraze told hum. The being across the table looked nervous--this is the default state of being for any species with natural predators. Hul fidgeted with a paperclip and spoke at a varying pace, as though hui mind was on several different things at once, and rotated the level of attention given to each. "I can getittoyou in a b o u t h a l f a n hourhowdoes that sound? But if I g e t c a u g h t itcouldmean a lot oftrouble for me."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it," he responded. He knew better than to use "we" in that sentence, given who else he would be including. "Doyou k n o w w h a t's in it?" "Not a clue." As the unnamed library worker walked off, Fraze turned around to look at his companions. "Don't worry, hul's a prey species. It's a completely different kind of psychology. Humans are curious and meddling by nature, because they have no predators and very little that they fear instinctually. That guy's ancestors had things trying to eat them as few as six generations back; fear of the unknown runs deep in their blood. Hul won't ask questions, and hul won't get involved in anything that could make hum a target."
After a wait, in which Fraze found it exceedingly difficult to stay quiet, the unnamed library worker brought out another notebook, distinguishable from the original only because it lacked the original's minor wrinkles and tears. Remembering Bloody Mary's advice, Fraze made no move toward the book, but instead waited for the meepit to take it. "Thanks, you can file the original back where it belongs." To Hunty, he added, "Look, I've got a few days of leave, and as a Spacefleet employee I get three free round-trip rides on the shuttle per year. Is there any chance of getting a tour of Tabloid Town once this all blows over?"
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Post by Huntress on Jun 16, 2009 14:45:47 GMT -5
Hunty may have been a natural failure at diplomacy but she'd seen enough odd demon variations and monsters in her time to be able to refrain from impolite staring as they dealt with the alien - or rather, as Fraze dealt with the alien while she lingered around with the general out-of-place feeling most people get when forced to wait in a place where they haven't been before. She didn't even bother trying to remember the pronouns and had anyone asked later, she'd probably have settled for 'they' (if she was feeling politically correct) or 'it' (if she wasn't). Judging from Bloody Mary's grim, sharp look, the meepit probably remembered all the more. When he bounced down from Fraze's shoulder to take the book that was nearly twice his size and skim through it, Hunty couldn't help but liken him to a very small but very strict auditor.
"Looks like the same thing," he said almost grudgingly, as if he'd have been glad to discover that the book had been tampered with. "Can we pack up and get out now?"
"Look, I've got a few days of leave, and as a Spacefleet employee I get three free round-trip rides on the shuttle per year. Is there any chance of getting a tour of Tabloid Town once this all blows over?"
Hunty was glad that she'd just turned her back to examine some sort of a... thing... on the wall. She was unsure whether it was a very complicated graph or a painting, or, as she was now more familiar with the place, the map of the current sector. The red dot in the middle may just as easily have been the petal of a delicate flower or a YOU ARE HERE spot.
"Technically, you owe me a tour around the Fleet, if you remember," she said with a grin. Okay, face, we've been doing far too much blushing for this one single day, would you kindly stop now? "Really... at this point, I can't promise anything. My ship is down by the docks, I've no idea how she's doing and what may have happened in the meantime, and whether the word about our crew being in Tabloid Town has gotten out and whether or not we have to make a run for it as soon as we get down there, and whether the blarf has had to tow the ship out to the sea... and so on and so forth."
"And if we're to assume for the argument's sake that everything's quiet down there and there's no hurry?" Bloody Mary asked, jumping back on Fraze's shoulder. The book was now bent double under his paw with the general carelessness of a species that doesn't care about the written word much.
Hunty, having gotten her face to behave, turned around. "Which cause are you advocating now?"
"Me?" Bloody Mary gave her innocent buggy eyes, which, considering they were in a small dark blue face, failed at the innocence but got an extra helping of buggy. "Don't mind me, I'm just trying to get you to make up your mind. Might want to hurry up for lo, the lark, the herald of the morn hath pierced thine ear and daylight is tiptoeing around the misty mountain tops or something of the sort."
Hunty couldn't help but stare. "The what?"
"I swear, you lot wouldn't understand classical literature if it bit you in the nose," said the meepit.
"It certainly hasn't pierced my ears," the captain grumbled, fighting laughter. "So, uh... I take it that you're coming planetside with us? I need to get," she patted the pouch on her belt, "this lovely little thing sent off, and the book as well, and the ship needs some supplies, so if at all possible, we'll be sticking around Tabloid Town for a day or two anyway. I'm not exactly fully familiar with that place-"
"But you could get a nice extended tour on some of the smaller uninhabited tropical islands down south," Bloody Mary remarked cheerfully, nudging Fraze with the bent notebook.
"No he couldn't, that's where we hide loot," Hunty said dryly. "And we need to get back to the planet first, am I right? I can only hope Keng will give us a ride back, otherwise we'll have to go blow something up in order to get sent out on the Fleet's expenses. Time to go track down the rest of the gang."
When they got there, Hunty was bearing an expression best described as 'watch what you're about to say, I'm fully able to remodel your face'.
"Everyone done with souvenir shopping and the like? We need to get going, I'm a tad worried about how the ship and the blarf may be doing. Keng, can you by any chance give us a ride?"
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Post by Kengplant on Jun 16, 2009 15:05:24 GMT -5
"Most of you yes, but I need to speak with Cyborg first. As for the most of you part, as I was explaining to Rider here... it may be a while before I can return Spec to you. Oh, and Bee-Tee-Double-You, ((btw)) where does Cyborg stand right now? Or should we go see Cy and then sort that out?"
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Post by Goosh on Jun 22, 2009 13:31:18 GMT -5
"Erm." Goosh scratched his head, making a sound similar to running your wet finger around the lip of a wineglass. "I'm kind of, ah...sparkly," he said melodically. "So. Um. If we could get that fixed here or in Tabloid Town or something..." Goosh trailed off, sparkling sheepishly.
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Post by Kengplant on Jun 22, 2009 21:55:11 GMT -5
"Sheesh, what do I look like? A kindergarten teacher or something?" Keng asked as Goosh pointed out the sparkly problem again. "Need I sort everything out myself? Ok, Goosh, I'll take you to the medical bay. Cyborg can wait around for a bit longer. I'm already an hour or so overdue, what's another hour or two? He'll live... unless he does anything stupid..." Keng paused uncertainly as she silently chose to not rule that possibility out, "So... umm.. yea.. sparklyness... that's a new one... I'm just going to say I can't guarantee we can do anything about that... if not may I suggest long sleeves and a hood? Anyways, follow me. All this standing around talking is making my tongue dry and my ears bored... and has anyone seen my bear? Nevermind... he probably fell asleep somewhere with a leg sticking out for everyone to trip on."
Keng then proceeded to start walking towards the medical bay/wing/hostpital/whatever they were calling it these days without much care for if Goosh was actually following her, or anyone else. Somewhere along the way it occurred to her that she hadn't mentioned where the pirates could meet up with her for their trip home or how to get in touch with her. There was the option of going back and typing this into the conversation from before then coming back to the walk but that seemed like entirely too much effort, so she kept walking. It seemed a bit awkward -come to think of it a lot of her interaction with the pirates had been awkward the past little while and she wasn't sure what to do about it- walking with Goosh and not saying anything. Not that she could think of anything to say to a sparkling yurble anyways.
For the sake of simplicity time then skipped ahead to them reaching the hospital wing (assuming Goosh succeeded in following Keng there). It is important to note that this has little to do with the fabric of the space time continuum morphing in any strange way, it's just that walking down a hallway can be particularly boring to read about without any monsters waiting to jump out and eat you or flickering lights to reassure you that you are waiting for a monster to jump out and eat you. However as Keng turned the last corner to reach the medical bay wing place, a creature did jump out of nowhere and knocked her down despite the lack of horror movie ques anticipating it's arrival.
*SQUEAK*
Ok.. so it wasn't exactly a monster, but most people have bears pretty high up there on their things-to-avoid-meeting-in-a-dark-cave list.
"Mrmmph." Said Keng from below the pile of fur, incapable of any real articulation.
After a brief struggle Keng emerged from the walking carpet with a sufficiently slobbered on face. "Down Muskoka! DOWN! ...
...
I think I'm going to need to borrow some of their soap.. well.. here we are."
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Post by Fraze on Jun 26, 2009 1:24:15 GMT -5
Fraze watched as Hunty stared at an image on the wall. The small panel below informed him that it was a painting, part of a creation myth of some alien species, done by a member of this species who worked at Spacefleet. After reading more of the description, Fraze had to wonder why this particular part of the creation myth had been chosen. Shouldn't something like this be in a more private area? Spacefleet had fairly strict decency laws. Looking back at the painting, he tilted his head, trying to figure--ohh, so that was how it worked? He considered trying to explain it to Huntress, but thought better of it.
He fought the urge to peek into the notebook as Bloody Mary flipped through it. Simply watching the meepit turn the pages of a book larger than he was fascinating in and of itself, though, so the temptation wasn't that strong. It all seemed to check out. Good, the copiers were supposed to produce page replicas to within a tolerance of ten molecules of drift, including invisible ink.
"Really... at this point, I can't promise anything." Well, that was the best he could hope for in all honesty. The woman was captain of a crew, there always had to be something that needed doing. Fraze always found the dialogues between Hunty and Bloody Mary were something like watching a tennis game. Except in this case, one of the players was perched on his shoulder and using a notebook as a racket. He found himself blushing at the meepit's mention of a tropical island. Which was probably the reason he said it, come to think. So it was that kind of humor. Joy.
Two humans, one meepit, and a notebook made their way back down a twisting mess of tight corridors and cavernous hallways, back to a group that somehow managed to look out of place even when surrounded by a multitude of different sentient species milling about. "Everyone done with souvenir shopping and the like? We need to get going, I'm a tad worried about how the ship and the blarf may be doing. Keng, can you by any chance give us a ride?" Fraze lifted a hand with one finger raised. "I can give one person a ride back, but it'll be a bit of a thrill ride. All right, understatement. It'd involve flying through space with a few millimeters of semiorganic stuff protecting you, followed by a freefall from 1,000 miles above the planet's surface. But, uhm, it would probably involve grabbing on to the outside of Keng's shuttle as it took off to escape the moon's pull anyway, so it's a bit pointless, but it might save room on the shuttle."
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Post by Huntress on Jun 26, 2009 18:13:53 GMT -5
"Where does Cyborg stand right now?"
"Oh yeah," Hunty said vaguely and tugged her corset laces open. Being a de facto utility belt, its inside was ridden with pockets just like the outside was ridden with belts, and one of those pockets now produced a tattered piece of parchment. Bloody Mary watched with curiosity as the captain unfolded the muster-roll, a ship's crew list and one of the most important documents, especially considering that this one could've doubled as a Wanted checklist for any given government. Cyborg's name was still crossed out, with 'expelled and executed for betrayal' written behind the name, but now it got two new words added.
"So," said the meepit, craning his neck, "no redemptiooooo- whoah."
This rather spoiled the solemnity of the moment, but as Hunty was writing her addendum on the wall, paying halfhearted attention to Goosh's sparkly problems, trying to figure out what to do with Speck, and hoping that she'd get to see Cyborg one last time for some well-deserved whackage, it didn't ultimately subtract too much from the overall situation. Still, as she tucked the roll away again, she looked up in a mixture of curiosity and confusion.
Bloody Mary was still standing on Fraze's shoulder, neck craned out and holding on to his ear for balance. He was staring at Goosh and the look on his face was pretty hard to misunderstand.
...what.
Hunty stared at him, then at Goosh, then at Bloody Mary again, then at Goosh, and still it didn't make any more sense.
"Oh, believe me," she said in a voice that desperately held back hysterical laughter, "this can only end in heartache."
"Butbut," Bloody Mary did in a faraway voice, "just look at him!"
"Am looking." She was indeed, but the look was mostly calculative. "He'd probably get us around what, fifteen, sixteen million on the black market of gemstones, but I wouldn't count on it too much..."
"You and your worldly thoughts," the meepit said dreamily. "Come on, really. He's so beautiful!"
"I believe the word is 'handsome'." Hunty had another look. "Or, hrm, no, I think I'm inclined to agree with you there. Dear gods. Someone see if you can fix him, will you? I mean desparkle. You get my point."
Bloody Mary looked grumpy. "I swear, does it have no effect on you?"
Hunty glanced at him, then at the shoulder he was sitting on.
"Maybe I'm just immune," she said vaguely, then her eyes all of a sudden gained her usual piercing spark of determination. "Okay, Speck. I'm not about to argue with your rules of custody, especially as they come with lots of zap-zap guns... I'll expect to be kept informed and trust you not to harm her in any way, lest we all enter a brand new circle of diplomatic hell. As it is, the best we can do is leave her here for the time being, go back home and get the most pressing matters out of the way."
"I can give one person a ride back, but it'll be a bit of a thrill ride. All right, understatement. It'd involve flying through space with a few millimeters of semiorganic stuff protecting you, followed by a freefall from 1,000 miles above the planet's surface. But, uhm, it would probably involve grabbing on to the outside of Keng's shuttle as it took off to escape the moon's pull anyway, so it's a bit pointless, but it might save room on the shuttle," Fraze said. Because continuity is for suckers and you know it.
This at least served to shake Bloody Mary out of his trance. He shot Fraze a meepitglare of the general 'this had better not lead up to anything suspicious' variety. Hunty on the other hand looked mostly thoughtful.
"Is there enough of the semiorganic stuff to go around? Didn't much look like it's in mass production."
"Plus the shuttle had enough space in it to play soccer," Bloody Mary said dryly.
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