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Sempre Maria; Fresh Flesh upon Skeletons
Topic Started: Nov 4 2009, 05:56 PM (631 Views)
Kuno
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[ *  *  * ]
Shaking and nodding, the specters engaged in a short game of push-away, trying to convince each other who should return to the forge. None desired to abandon such a special experience, and it seemed after a minute of squabbling, that they'd all be entering the zeppelin. Pinefern stuck behind the other two. Had either of them felt comfortable with forcing him, it would've been him to go back. They wanted to start traveling by their own devices in short time. Among the three envoys, Pinefern was the most skilled in their profession. With the credibility of Outer Ocean travel increased one-thousand-fold, the project would speed up considerably. It would start as soon as he returned to rally the builders, but his only thought right now was to get a better view of what kind of alien had built this craft.

The eager engineers scrambled onto the widely opened mandible of the skywhale with little notice as they bumped and rubbed against each other. There wasn't any solidified social tradition to regulate such sterile things as single file lines, so their individual characters remained unabated. Sandeyes left a message through the radio, as they organized on the lift. It was something brief and uninterpretable, but it could be most easily identified as, "Don't wait for us."
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Vaka
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[ *  *  * ]
The skies ignited with a brilliant, nearly invisible flame as plumes of smoke trailed from the sinking ship. A great shadow darkened the village below, almost entirely blotting out the sun. The observant land dweller could have most likely seen the Leaserian crew inside scrambling to a chance of survival, but chances were anyone below was acting similarly. Marlon held tight on a grab bar above him and prayed that his other restraints were still functioning. The iron cage surrounding the passenger hold of the zeppelin should have proved flexible enough to not completely shatter upon impact, but there were no promises. As the gas chambers above near-completely deteriorated, the zeppelin entered a freefall. Within seconds impact was witnessed in the form of a cascading fireball accompanied with the most horrid screech of earth meeting metal. Just a tenth of a mile above the village, smoke masked the wreckage.



As the group gathered unto the lift, Verlyn copied a short command through his radio. Almost immediately after, the hissing of hydraulic lifts resulted in a rapid rising of the platform. The world below began to melt away as the passengers entered the comparatively dark interior of the ship. The light in here seemed dreary, and at the same time nearly blinding in its intensity. An unnatural, white light. Large crates of unknown contents lined the walls, most likely packed with supplies necessary to this journey. With a gasp of some hidden machinery, the lift locked in place. Its occupants were now sealed inside the iron whale.

"This is just the cargo hold. Crew stations are on the floor above..." One of the Leaserians commented, almost unenthusiastically. Though this was top of the line in terms of commission, this military zeppelin was ages behind available technology, most of which this particular crew was very familiar with. Still, the interest of the guests seemed to provoke some sense of excitement. The tour continued to progress through the upper quadrants of the ship.
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Kuno
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[ *  *  * ]
The engineers looked about leisurely as the platform lifted. Many specters were still under the thumb of culture shock after the Awakening. In a significant fraction of those maladjusted folk, one of shock's manifestations was intense technophobia. The only occupations who were reliably immune to panic were the engineers and the spiritual leaders, mostly because of familiarity, though it could be said that many leaders' concepts of death had developed to a point where they lacked life to care much for their livelihood. To unbind their minds from this nightmare, the leaders wouldn't deny fate. By little stretch of the imagination, neglect was among the leading causes of release.

It couldn't be said often enough that engineers were some of the most balanced specters there ever were. It was why they often found themselves doubling into distantly related jobs like diplomacy, scouting, and psychology. There was even a spiritual sect of engineers developing to exert their influence on the Visionary Generation's executive body. The wealth of engineering duty had attracted some of the most ambitious and willfully powerful lifeboats of all. Possibly half or more of the landmass's inhabitants might call themselves engineers by the end of a decade!

Although such vigor was representative of the specter engineers, too much of it was lost in the company of unfamiliar aliens. Watersalt, the only able to speak on her own behalf, was very mellow and laid back in the eyes of the other two, and she had spent her whole ride leering into the dead woods. Sandeyes was more eager, with his big platelike ears unfolded, as he carried a scoop of beach sand away with the lift, letting the pile slowly sift through his grip. Pinefern's behavior was the most likely to steal attention, as it consisted of jumping on the platform among other purposeful acts to judge the stability of the machine.

Tired of talking through scripted diplomacy, Sandeyes whispered into the translator's ear that she should engage them while he and Pinefern were busy. While they, on invisible tethers, went to pace around the cargo hold, Watersalt remained nearby to engage Verlyn.

She listened for a moment, and replied for another moment, "I'd be interested in seeing the crew quarters and dining places... and any environmental controls you have."
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[ *  *  * ]
Verlyn took a brief pause as he pondered the nature of the question. Though Watersalt's intentions confused him, he couldn't see any danger in fulfilling her request. "Why... of course." The commander snapped his fingers, immediately gaining the attention of one of his troops. He hushed a quick sentence in the Leaserian tongue, something along the lines of ordering him to guide the other visitors. "Please, come this way."

He walked toward the diamond plated steel wall, appearing strangely fluid in its texture. By placing his hand on a section of the wall and with a bit of applied pressure, a panel slid out underneath his arm. There he dialed a quick code, and the wall parted from some almost impossible seam. The room inside was obviously scarcely used, and the thick carpet implied that it wasn't intended for the normal crew members. Of course, the machines weren't expected to make these sort of conclusions with such little understanding of Leaserian society. After his guest had entered the elevator, the doors slammed shut. A faint humming noise accompanied by a lifting momentum began, as they rose to the higher levels of the vessel.

Once the doors had slid open, a more natural, comforting light beamed in. In fact, it was the very light of the distant star object, pouring in through a wall-wide window pane in front of a variety of controls. A few fellow workers sat in chairs around desks, typing, writing, and viewing their work. A woman, appearing in her mid 30s was standing to the center left of the elevator platform. Looking curiously down at Watersalt she spoke in fluent trade language, "Welcome to the gondola, visitor."
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Vestis
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[ *  * ]
Viansko paused mid step as the giant ball of burning gas entered free fall. However as it crashed, Viansko was suddenly shocked by what appeared to be the voices that had been heard before. They made crude motions to get to the ground, while aiming seemingly crude but still efficient weapons at Viansko and the other member of Vianskos team.

Viansko made a motion and Viansko and the other team member slowly got to the ground. She was not armed and neither was the other. Hopefully they would be able to slip away soon. A scouting team would soon no doubt be sent from Control to investigate the crash, and if these creatures were holding them hostage, the situation would turn rather ugly.

Hopefully the other team would just give in peacefully, but one of the members was the Security officer for the outpost, and armed. A state of the art hand gun that could dispatch any group of unarmed units quickly, but if they had numbers, it would be a loss for both sides.

-~-

Said security officer was not as oblivious as Viansko had been. Hearing the soldiers quickly coming up on their side, the officers weapon was quickly drawn as they approached. The newer issue standard Security weapon had been sent from Control only days ago. It was almost like a combination of a handgun and gauntlet. It was easy to slip ones hand into, and merely flexing your pointing finger would activate the firing sequence. The small metal projectiles would break apart inside the targets body, if organic that is.

As they came upon them, shouting words in a foreign language, the officer aimed the gun directly at the center solider. If the gun was fired, it would send a signal back to the Outpost, which would alert Control. Hopefully it wouldn't be necessary.
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Greatak
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[ * ]
Out on the tundra, two of the walrus wearing soldiers effectively communicated that the explorer should get on the ground. With control established, Their tone softened as they attempted to use hand signals to direct their quarry back into the village.

The other pair was not so lucky, faced with a strange object pointed confidently at them, they assumed it was a weapon and stopped. Both of their weapons were pointed at the one who pointed a weapon at them, and silence emerged. One of the walrus soldiers spoke first, pointed at the blazing crash not too far from the village and at the security officer, speaking slowly as if he thought his target might understand.

Back in the village, the leader of the walrus soldiers slung his rifle over his shoulder and crouched down in front of what he thought was the leader of the explorers. He offered a hand on the shoulder of the subdued figure before him, bidding him look up. He spoke a single word, butchered and with a horrifyingly foreign accent, but it should be interpreted as "Hello."
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Kuno
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[ *  *  * ]
When Verlyn snapped his fingers and tempted them to leave, the two male engineers, busily feeling throughout the hold, reassembled their tour group with brief reluctance. Cargo rooms weren't necessarily interesting or new, but it was a rare chance to see processed metal up close. Other than this time, the engineers might have seen it once or twice before (not including their cuticles or the flimsy amalgam of the facilities), but it was atypical, since mining industry had yet to take off with their species. Because the smooth metal walls still attracted Watersalt was leader this time, as they left. Before they had left completely, she clapped her hands together, and thanked Verlyn.

Carpet was something which seemed to mesmerize the specters. The feeling was unlike much of the materials they knew, and suggested strongly of hair or some other living material. Not to suggest that there was limited experience of hair, as on the way here alone, the diplomatic party had crossed many beplagued animals. The plague didn't rot or destroy living materials, but that was often what the specters found most disturbing about it. The blimp by comparison was incredibly vibrant.

Leaving the elevator, they were delighted to see sunshine in the craft. Two of them fanned out again to observe the quarters, while Watersalt took it in from where she was. Never before had they seen so many live creatures in the same place! The engineers respected for the most part that they wouldn't appreciate being felt up like the carpet, but there was the occasional bump of a foot.

Responding to the welcome, Watersalt clapped her hands together with a dull clatter, and spoke slowly, "Good afternoon, skywhaler... What's your name? Mine is Watersalt." She swiped her hand in front of the woman. A motion like it was used as a type of greeting, though it couldn't be expected that Leaserians would know yet. Watersalt was odd among specters in trying it though, as most would be afraid to touch living people. She glanced to her companions, and continued, "Don't mind them. They're just looking." She neglected to point out their touching, of course.

Meanwhile Sandeyes barked at Watersalt, "I'd like to leave on this!" Whether she would suggest the idea comprehensibly to the Skywhalers was undecided, but she could bring it up at her own leisure while Sandeyes was busy.
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Vestis
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[ *  * ]
Viansko was able to understand the implications of their hand signals, and following Vianskos lead the other team member moved back towards the village with the soldier's. She was however worried. Viansko had seen what they did to the residents of this village and Viansko doubted they would hesitate to do the same to her team.

When the hand came to rest on Vianskos should her face, she looked up. The black color of her eyes contrasting sharply with her pale white flesh. She looked up at the soldier as he uttered a crude and rugged 'Hello' to her. With her own neutral tone she responded with the same "Hello" Attempting to make it as similar to the soldiers as she could.

-~-

The security guard was not however please. They continued to make motions towards the pillar of flame and smoke that rose into the sky. As if she didn't see it. However she absolutely refused to lower her weapon. She could not be caught off guard, if only for her teammates sake, who hid behind her. She tried to make a shrugging motion, as if to imply that she didn't know what they would have her do. She didn't want this to turn into a gun fight but she would not be the one to lower her weapon.
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"Enola... Nice to meet you, Watersalt." The female Leaserian smiled, exposing her questionably manufactured, though undoubtedly flawless teeth. Her medium length, cloud white hair seemed to radiate a glow from the background window. She was obviously someone of significance.

The cautious approach from the new ones was expected. The Leaserians had no comment.

"Would you mind to show these machines the controls? Comfort, air regulation, all that... they seem to have some sort of an interest in them, and it really isn't my area of expertise." Verlyn explained the situation in Leaserian, nodding cautiously toward the visitors as they were mentioned. This was followed by a warm smile from Enola, as she invited them into the gondola. As the group stepped from the elevator, Verlyn seemingly vanished from the vicinity.

"What would you like to see first?" She asked, not considering their lack of knowledge in Leaserian life, let alone technology.



A final explosion was followed by a steady, cascading plume of smoke, rising from the wreckage. Had this been one of the newer systems which implemented nuclear power, the entire area could have been subjected to unregulated amounts of radiation. Thankfully, the only product of the zeppelin was a thick, black-stained steam, pouring from a now dying flame. The reinforced cage underneath the mammoth ship was half buried in the ice and frozen earth, trapping most surviving occupants inside. Those lucky enough to strap themselves into something before impact were now scrambling to escape the burning, suffocating disaster. It would be several minutes before any of them reached the surface.

Breaking through a buckled hatch with an axe, the first Leaserians to set foot on this world were welcomed with an unexpected blast of frigid air, which froze the sweat on their broiled bodies. Marlon and the rest of the elite were dressed in a familiar grey gasmask and suit, and all were pulling whatever items were salvageable from the ship. A total of two hundred and thirty crew survived through the rescue attempts, and all dead were thrown back into the smoldering cave.
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