If Earth Should Die Before I Wake

Ray moved to support Nicky and hurried to catch up with Sanne as they made their way to the dining hall. He had slipped the pistol into his tool belt and thought no more of it. He also thought no more of the man he had just killed. Sure he could have probably subdued him, after all he was much stronger than he looked and tougher but his programming had kicked in again. Save his supervisor even at the cost of his own life. She had knowledge that was more vital to the project. Of course that was moot now but it was hardwired in there so he was stuck with it.

They arrived at the dining hall and Ray helped Nicky to a seat. "I guess you might have to wait for a doctor buddy. Looks like they are busy over there," he said indicating the triage scene. He then looked for Sanne and walked over to stand next to her.
 
It was finished. The eye had not been saved but his wound was sealed and hopefully would heal without infection.Sister Mary Grace instructed the others to further sedate Evan Vygotsky so he could sleep and hopefully heal a little with rest. She found it a pity that he had to lose his eye but better losing an eye than a life.

Alex helped the guys at her side in carefully moving the patient to the darker corner. He was already asleep. The sedation and stress had taken over. She did another head count. " Computer, where are the stragglers?" She asked the ship's computer.

"Please explain "stragglers", Lt. Commander."


"Show me the ship schematic again and highlight the living. Put them on holoimager if there are any working security camera's nearby."

Soon, they could all see who else they were waiting for and where they were located. Nobody was very far away.

"Alright...suggestions, anyone? And, anybody got any theories on what the heck happened?" She asked those around her.

In the meantime, Sister Mary Grace had washed her hands and removed her blood stained habit and collar. Her robe had been taken off before to give her arms room to work without the big sleeves getting in the way. In plain black trousers and a light blue blouse, she rolled up those sleeves and tied her fiery red hair back up into the bun she'd had it in before at the nape of her neck, only made neater now that it could be seen without her habit covering. Ready to move on to the next patient, she turned to the nearest wounds and was grateful that everything she faced now was fairly routine first aid issues, much less tricky and serious than Vygotsky's eye had been.
 
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Cheri helped Quentin into the dining hall just in time to hear Rivers asking for ideas, "Ma'am, I think there was an irregularity in the wormhole which caused the problem. It seems to have held the ship for a moment instead of passing it through, like usual... perhaps the wormhole collapse had already begun while we were still inside it...the result is the damage and, maybe, letting us out in a completely new location."

"Another part of the universe." Suggested Van Egmond between inhaling from a soothing nebulizing inhaler the nurse held out for her to breathe the healing vapors.

"Or, maybe even an entirely different universe..." chimed in the petite redheaded nun softly. Heads turned to her in seeming surprise. She nodded, "...It's a theory I've read about. There could me more than one universe, strung together by these wormholes."

The room murmered for a moment before Alex shook her head, "Whether it's our old universe or some strange new one, the point really is that we're far too far from anything we've ever known."

Rose stopped sobbing for the first time since waking and in an ominous voice, stated, "We're never going to go home, not to Earth or Beta, ever again. We'll die alone out here."

The room grew silent.
 
"We won't die as long as we find a planet that can support us," Ray piped up. "Look at the people who have survived. You have a doctor over there so we will have basic medicine at least. If I am not mistaken that man over there is a botanist and can identify edible flora among other things, You have an excellent leader here, a series of robots to help out, I myself am a construction engineer and the lady over there is my boss. Together we have the knowledge to build just about anything we would need to survive. Surely you all have skills we would need too, so don't think we can't survive.
 
Alex smiled at Ray's attempt to bouy their spirits. "Hope. Ray, I like that you remind us to keep hoping. If we find a sustainable world, maybe we'll be OK..."

Cheri shrugged, "I saw green and blue, what looked earth like, out the viewport in the corridor a little while ago. But,II'm not sure how far that planet is or if it sustains life...or if we could even get the ship moving again...but, we are drifting toward it." She said hopefully.

Sister Mary Grace tucked a stray red strand behind her right ear before sidling up beside Ray and softly commenting, "I'm just a nurse, actually. But, thanks anyhow."
 
Ray smiled. "Well we know some things are working because the force fields are holding, the lights are working and we have gravity and life support right. So if there is somebody here that knows about the engines or whatever it is we need to repair I guess I can give it a go. Believe me, the company made me very good with my hands. I just need somebody to tell me what to do when it comes to things outside my knowledge base," he smiled.

"Ah also doesn't this ship have scanners or something that might be able to detect if that planet is ok for us or something, or is that still just a movie thing," Ray asked sheepishly.
 
OOC: Anyone we're missing in the dining hall, get there soon, please.
Oh, and don't forget we have as many NPC's as main characters until spots fill up. Feel free to occasionally go schizo (I'm not the only one who can make actions or speak for Rivers, Van Egmond, Winston, Vygotsky, robots, weepy Rose, etcetera...

;-)
 
Rivers nodded, "We have scanners, sort of, but I haven't had a chance yet to check if they're up and running. I guess first is the grim business of, um...collecting and identifying the dead...We can have the robotic crew do that. Meanwhile, I should look for the command centre and check what's working there, such as scanners. Someone should check Medical..."

" Medical is a mess. I think junior and I got all we could from it." Chimed in Sister Mary. She'd forgotten the young man's name, he who'd also arrived with a first aid kit. She nodded his way as she spoke.

Alex frowned at this news. "Oh. OK. So, let's try to be careful then. First aid kits don't last forever." she warned. "I'll need basic recon of which parts of the ship are beyond repair and what needs repairs where. And, that and basic survival will keep us all busy for days." She said. "I want my crew close. When were not working we'll meet up here. I see the storage bay still has sleep packs stored for maintenance crew. Everyone grab one and bring it back here. Sleeping quarters will be the dark part of the dining hall and the corridor from here to the rest rooms. Spots will be first come first serve. What time is it?...22:35...Alright. tomorrow night we'll meet in the cargo bay at 21:00 for a brief memorial service and flushing the deceased...we have no means for burial or cremation so space release will have to do. So...questions? Who's going to do what? I don't plan on much sleep tonight so I'll get started as soon as you are all ready." Alex looked at each face, checking for comprehension and readiness.
 
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Sanne had been looking at Ray as he spoke and now she realized just what he was thinking. Maybe she could put her skills to use in this crisis. She tried to link up her neural link and data link to the ships computer servers. Within seconds she received a confirmation tone and she was accessing information from the shipboard computer system. She was locked out of a lot of the more sensitive areas but she was able to access schematic's of the ship, dangerous areas, repair details and even maintenance manuals.

"Ms Rivers, I will take Ray and we will go for a trip down to the engine bay. We can check things out there and make any necessary repairs. I have been able to access the ships files and will be able to upload the files to Ray as they are needed. We will also repair anything else that needs it on the way down and while we are there too."

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Ray was going to volunteer to do some light repair work up in the dining hall and maybe make it more comfortable for people to sleep when Sanne had spoken up. She had gotten a great idea and had gotten around the fact that he couldn't interact with the computer directly. Already they were making a good team. It was probably all that programing they did back on Earth. Now hopefully they would have a bit of luck with the engines and he wouldn't have to do much.
 
OOC: Come on, guys. It's an ensemble work. Wombat and I can't do it all alone! Where's my peeps?
 
Several Hours Later:

Alexandra Rivers walked the "sleep corridor" which was lined with unconscious, resting crewmen, exhausted from a hard evening of ensuring the ship would make it through another day. There was no place left there to settle down so she moved to the dining hall, empty except for Rose and Evan who were asleep in each other's arms in the dark area. Hmm, she never would have seen them as closer than just work friends and both of them were listed as married with spouses waiting for them on Beta...Then again, disaster brings out strange reactions in people. Alex reasoned perhaps surviving the events of the day had brought them closer and, at the very least, in need of comfort. What's a snuggle between friends when you're hurting?

She put down her sleep kit, unrolled a grey bedroll with built in head cushion and zipped in sleeping bag, wiggling into it to get comfortable then turning onto her side facing the sleeping pair across the aisle...She sighed, yes, it would be nice to have the comfort of some arms around her, or the privacy for a good sob...But, alas, that was not to be. Surprisingly sleep wouldn't come quickly despite her exhaustion. The last to sleep tonight, she hoped to be the first one up and four bots would work on repairs and keep watch through the night for them.

It was frustrating to Alex that the great idea of sensors was a miss just yet. They were not working properly and trying to callibrate them was giving her a headache so she moved on to adjusting the ship's trajectory, directing it to float toward the green blue marble Cheri had seen. Yes, it was close enough to be visible with the naked eye...but without working engines it could take decades before they'd get close enough to land on it.

Whatever...Alex was worrying herself to a restless sleep. Morning came too soon and she awoke with the same headache she'd fallen asleep with.
 
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Morning:

Mary rose slowly as she felt significant stiffness and soreness in her left knee. She'd taken care of everyone else's injuries but had neglected her own and now, hours later, she was paying for it. She unzipped her sleeping bag and lifted her trouser leg to mid-thigh. Her knee was swollen and dark purple, the surrounding area was an irritated pink and blue, quite a contrast to the milk white skin of the rest of her leg. Her legs were long and toned from her active youth...not that she was so old now. But, at times like these, she felt it.

She didn't notice the eyes watching her move in the darkness or the hunger with which they followed the curves of her exposed flesh. Had she known she likely would have been mortified or even frightened given her past... As it was, she remained in her own mental world, doing what she could to quickly reduce the pain and stiffness as much as possible so she could rise and get to work like all the others were beginning to do.
 
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Having spent the previous, disastrous day performing medical assistance that he wasn't qualified for, Mitchel should have slept the sleep of the righteous. He didn't. Bundled up in the dining hall with the other survivors, not knowing the fate of the ship and their lives, coupled with the moans and groans of the injured, sleep didn't come easily. Most of the night was spent staring, eyes moving to whatever person happened to draw his attention.

When morning came, Mitchel stood, stretching uncomfortably. As others began to stir, he moved to Commander Rivers, crouching to get her attention. "Commander, if it's all right with you, I'd like head back to hydroponics and make sure everything's all right. The supplemental food and oxygen could be crucial." Obtaining her asset, Mitchel moved to the hatch, working his way down the corridors to the hydroponics lab.

Stepping inside, he began checking the plants, the nutrient feeds and soundness of the entire hydroponics rig.
 
Sanne and Ray had left early. They knew if they didn't get the engines working soon then they probably would be stuck out here until they died. Thanks to Sanne now being able to tap into the ships computer system, they made it to the engine bay with no problems. Ray only had to move one small pile of debris, but with his new strength it was of little concern. As they opened the hatch they were met with the sound of silence. Not a good start as normally it would be hard to hear anything above the sound of the antimatter engines and the energy fields used to contain them.

Sanne led them to the main control panel and every switch was in the off position.
"Oh hopefully this is going to be as easy as just throwing a few levers," she exclaimed.
Ray just grinned wryly and stood back. It was never that easy.
Sanne brought up the schematics in her head and began to throw switches one by one. The big engines started to roar into life before warning klaxons went off, red lights flashed and the whole board shut itself off again.
"That's strange," she muttered to herself "why was there a power spike there. the power should be flowing there not there." Turning to Ray she nodded to herself. "Yes you will be able to do it. Proceed down to the third engine. Go up to the fourth gantry and there will be a green tubing cluster about the size of your arm. Call me when you have found it and I will give you further instructions."
Ray hurried off already sure this was going to be a busy day.
 
Ooc- mind if I take Cheri off your hands?;)

IC:

Cheri awoke to the cold reality that was her life now. No Earth, no Beta, the ship crumpled up like a used-up tissue...she wished that she could have died in her sleep rather than wake up to this mess. But she didn't, and so she had to get ready for another day of surviving.

Herring Mitchell, she held up a hand as she moved to stand. "Wait up, I will go with you. Better to split the work than miss something." Looking to Rivers for affirmation, she headed out the door, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

As they stepped to the hydroponics lab, she began at the other End of the room working quietly, not really knowing what to say.
 
Mitchel accepted the assistance of the xenobotanist. He worked quietly for a while, making small adjustments to the nutrient flow to the bank of food producing plants. They'd need those just a bit more than the pure O2 producers.

Eventually, he glanced over at Cheri. "You know, survival may come down to what you and I can do. It's true. So long as the ship holds together, they need me, and you to a lesser extent. And if we find a planet to set down, they'll need you, and me to a lesser extent." He shrugged. "That kind of pressure sucks, but I've been doing a lot of thinking about it, and it's true. Think you can handle it? I'm not sure I can."
 
OOC:
Character List

Alex Rivers -no writer yet...possibly pending for YoungLisa

Sister Mary Grace - Me

Cheri Winston - CarmelLove

Mitchel Templar -Midnight Walk

Ray Green - Wombat9966

Quentin Armitage - Craygus13

Crixus Robots - NPC's and DalekRasputin

Sanne Van Egmond - pending...

Rose -

Evan Vygotsky - NPC

Natalia...-

11:


We have spots for one ship character more. The computer announced twelve survivors before Alec went nuts and was killed. That leaves eleven.




Eventually there will be people on a colony for our ship people to get introduced to. Content humans bred in captivity from settlers over a century before who'd been on a ship thought lost or disintegrated but they survived, met with intelligent aliens who put them on their own planetoid, a perfect environment. The aliens leave them alone except to occasionally help with providing supplies and implemented their current computer gene graphing program which allows them to do selective breeding match ups...arranged marriages of sorts, each woman must have four children (in vitro fraternal boy/girl twins two times) each child having differing biological fathers, before she may choose to not have anymore or breed with a person of her choosing to secure humanity survives...

Any ideas for colonists or aliens please post in the Casting Call thread or pm me.

Now, on with the fun!
 
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Once everyone's aches and pains were taken care of, Sister Mary looked toward the general health of the crew. Mitchell had brought some fresh produce from hydroponics which she immediately saw as an opportunity to be useful and she sorted through the things she could use medicinally and set to work preserving them.

She then began making preserves from some of the over ripe fruit to make it last longer. She jarred some peaches, spinach, green beans, prepared and dehydrated a nutritious stew which could be divided into vacuum sealed pouches and portioned out so they all could always have a couple of meals in their packs at all times, in case any malfunctions on the ship trapped them or in case a crash someplace would leave any of them stranded...just...in case of anything. Fear of the unknown made Sister Mary over prepare.

While she worked on things which could be useful she also brewed coffee for any who wanted some as they woke, staggered out to work, returned looking exhausted... and she'd gotten a batch of blueberry muffins baking, and had left the rest of the stew pot she'd been storing from on low heat so it could be ready to serve for lunch to anyone hungry.

As she kept her hands busy she sang to herself. She found it was her absent minded activities which were lightening people's moods in the dining hall. Even Evan, who was still suffering much pain was sitting up, peeling potatoes for her, humming along as she sang.
 
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Cheri glanced over at Mitchel and shrugged. "It's not a question of whether you can take it or not. It's a question of survival. I may not know how to deal with it, but let's face it. We were going to be important whether we got into this mess or not."

She hugged herself lightly, then looked at some of the overripe and bruised fruits and veggies that dotted the hydroponics lab. "I think we should take these to mess. At least then, we will be able to salvage some of these. I might want to start thinking about cross-pollinating for survival, too."

She was talking shop. It was easier to talk shop than to think she'd never see home again. Talking shop, working and distracting herself with what needed to be done, would keep her from crying herself to sleep.
 
Mitchel nodded. "Yeah, you might as well pull what's ready or starting to go south. I reckon Sister Mary Grace could probably use it. Any supplement to the stored stuff would be good."

He paused, leaning against one of the hydro-banks. "You seem to be taking this pretty well. You don't seem to be panicking like some of the others." He gave a lopsided grin. "Hell, like I'd like to be doing. I'd give a lot just to sit down and go hysterical. Might relieve the tension, if nothing else."

Sighing, he shook his head. "You know, along with cross pollination, we might want to see if we can get more space and break out some of the spare rigs and get more plants going. Depending on how long we're stuck out here, we could use all the help we can get from these little guys." He ran a finger over one of the hanging tomato plants. Mitchel glanced over at Cheri, watching her work for a moment, before digging through a cabinet for a small bin. He walked over to Cheri, setting the bin on a ledge and began pulling ripe fruits and vegetables from the hanging plants. "Here, let me help you."
 
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Ray and Sanne had been working on the engines non stop for over six hours now. Well Ray had while Sanne had been giving him orders. Truthfully though he didn't know which one of them looked the more exhausted. He was doing a lot of running around and heavy lifting, and delicate manipulation as well sometimes, but she had to process all the data and try to workout why the energy flows were not flowing right. It was like someone had come in and rewired the system in Ancient Greek for a person that only spoke Venusian.

They had made great progress though. On the last startup they had finally got to the last panel before it had auto cutoff on them. Ray guzzled down some water and walked over to Sanne tapping her on the shoulder. "Hmm yes, no I'm not ready to tell you what to do yet just what a minute please," she told him politely but firmly.
"No Sanne you need to drink or you will be useless," Ray told her thrusting the bottle in her hand. He walked off and sat down waiting for his next set of orders.
Sanne looked at the bottle and only then did she realize just how thirsty she was. Upending the bottle she drained the remaining contents in one go and then placed the container in her backpack. She actually did feel refreshed. Looking at Ray she gave a half smirk as he sat there waiting. So a construction guy could have a good idea once in awhile, who knew. Picking up her schematic pad she blew up the diagram again. Now if she could just see where the flow was. Damn it was right there...How had she missed that. That meant that that pipe had to go there and that conduit turned to there and the circuit board tweaked a little..
"Ray move your butt, we have work to do but it looks like this should be it. Oh and thanks."
 
Alex was making progress with help from Rose and Quentin and one of the robots. The command center was finally beginning to make sense! She attributed some of that to progress others were making with their repair duties as well. She smiled and was relieved to see she now had partial engine power, enough to direct them more clearly toward an actual green, mountainous looking continent on the planetoid which the newly repaired sensors helped crixus to find and alert her to. Once a course was laid in she turned to her small group. "Great! It's about two. Who feels like a late lunch?" she asked them.

Rose tapped her hand and opened a comm channel to Evan. "Evan, can you get a pot of water going, I'll make some..." but she was interrupted.

"No need to cook a thing. Sister Ginger here has been cooking up a storm all day. We've got enough for an army." Evan joked.

Rose arched her eyebrows, smiling toward Alex. Alex nodded, "Let's go!' She said, leading the way. On the way she made a ship wide announcement. "Lunch is served for anyone who could use a break and a meal. Rivers out."

Sister Mary chuckled at that and grinned when she saw the big table in the room filling up. "Showtime, Evan." she said, and he rose from his seat to set out bowls, spoons and napkins while she followed behind, ladling out hot stew.
 
"Panic is the destroyer of peace," she said simply as she gathered the fruits and vegetables, giving him a smile of thanks. "That's what my father used to say. He also said it about worry, too, which is akin to panic. I can either let the panic paralyze me and be completely useless or I can just deal as best I can."

She shrugged and eyed him. In short work they had filled the bin with what had been ready to go, and she motioned for him to go with her to mess. "I really wish I could sit in a corner and cry, but who would that help, really? Besides, I'd lose my cool points with you if I did. I already lost a lot of cool points last night. I don't have many left" She winked at him, as they handed the bin to Sister Mary* and then she moved to take a seat.

[* OOC - refers to Sister Mary's post about the jams and freeze dried food]
 
It had taken Ray and Sanne another 2 hours of work but finally he screwed down the last hatch. "Okay Sanne what's next on the list?" he called out to her over his communicator.
"Oh you have finished that already," Sanne replied sounding a little impressed, "You are getting a lot better at this. Ahh let me see. We did that, that, that, you screwed that down , Did you re route that steam pipe on level three?"
"Yes we did that about ten minutes ago," Ray replied. He was used to this as well. Sanne was juggling so much she normally ran through the last twenty things they had done. Luckily his memory was not overworked and he knew what had and had not been done.
"Then it was the electric conduit, check, anti matter coils, yes I remember talking you through that, they were a mess so we have the circuit board left to do."
"I just finished that Sanne," Ray told her.
"You did," Sanne exclaimed in surprise. "Then we're done. Get down here and we can give it one last try because if this doesn't work I give up."
Ray picked up his tools and stored them away neatly in his belt before making his way carefully back to the control panel. Sanne was waiting there her hand on the master switch as all the others were in the on position now. They had been trickle charging the ship but this would change everything.
Grinning Ray gave her the thumbs up. "Go for it chief. She will work this time for sure."
Sanne gave him a little smile and threw the switch. A few lights flickered and the engines hummed for a bit but that was it. Sanne looked ay Ray. "I was sure that was..."
Suddenly the lights flared up and the blue lights of restraining fields kicked in. The engines whined into life and settled into a steady hum. Sanne leaped into Rays arms and hugged him in joy. Ray was surprised at first but hugged her back.
She let him go and then realized what she had done and blushed a deep red. Looking around she wouldn't meet his gaze and finally she indicated they should head out of the room and begin the journey back to the dining hall. Now with proper power they could use some of the lifts and get there quicker. Activating her comm link she buzzed the acting captain Alex Rivers."Captain Rivers the engines are online and ready to go."
 
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