"The Forgotten": A post-apocalyptic tale

[Alice2015]

The room was eerily silent after Kirk asked his question: what did Greg do that was getting him out back into cold storage?

Alice peeked Adeline's direction, making eye contact with the Frenchie for just a quick beat, then began, "I'm not going to get into that at this time ... but, I can assure all of you--"

"He raped me," Adeline suddenly said with a calm voice. In an instant, all eyes were on her. She expanded, "Airman Young raped me ... the day before I was reanimated. It is the reason I was reanimated: pod failure."

One might have expected Adeline to show deep emotion while speaking about the violation of her here like this, surrounded by people who were essentially strangers -- two of whom were her lovers, yet were still strangers in other ways.

Yet she was amazingly calm as she looked the questioner in the eyes, then shifted her gaze to Alice. Adeline looked to each of the others as she continued, "I wasn't going to say anything. Those who knew ... they and I had decided to keep this between us. It didn't seem to be something of which the entire Community needed to be informed."

Adeline hesitated a moment, then set a small object on the table before her that was about the size and shape of an old fashioned oral thermometer.

"This early, these things are typically only about 75% accurate," she said as she stared down at the word pregnant in the device's little window. She shrugged, looked to Alice again, then to the Doctor. "So... we'll give it another week or two and test again."

The range of emotions on the faces was vast, from horror to fury. Adeline lifted a hand in a polite hold on gesture, finishing first in her native tongue, then in English, "Ce n’est pas grave ... it is alright ... I am alright. I welcome this."

She chuckled, shaking her head at her own words. "I do not mean that I am alright with being raped. I mean to say ... I am alright ... I welcome the opportunity to bring forth our Community's first new member ... regardless of how this came to happen."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Ty was half tempted to just ignore orders, he’d done it before, and beat the man to death. With The Prisoner’s testicles as target practice for a game of Foot meets Balls. She wasn’t just raped, she was most likely being forced to remember it daily for the rest of her life. Every time she say the child's face. Not to mention everyone around her would remember it as well. Airman Gregory Young would not be woken up in Ty’s lifetime, not if he had any say in the matter.

Kirk:
“Sorry I asked,” Kirk said. “That’s not something I’d ever do.”

 

[Alice2015]

After Kirk's apology, there was another moment of silence. Alice feared that allowing the group more time to think about this might lead to a lynching, so she broke it up with a firm, "Okay, then ... back to work, everyone."

Leslie was the first to hop up. She'd known about the rape, of course, but the news that that rapist bastard had knocked Adeline up was simply too much for her. She headed straight for the door, up the stairs to the Infirmary, and into the compartment's bathroom ... where she'd hidden her stash of Fentanyl inside the tampon dispenser. She unbuttoned and her blouse and pulled it open, applied one of the patches ... and even before she began to feel the effects, applied a second one to the flesh over the other scapula.

Back in the Saloon, Rita and Adeline had also risen and headed for their workstations. Rita arrived in the Hort Lab to look down at her hands and find them trembling. She hadn't known about the rape, and now to hear that and learn that Greg had gotten Adeline pregnant was simply overwhelming.

Adeline, of course, knew all of this already better than anyone else ever could. She dropped into a chair in the Monitoring Station to see if she could learn any more about the satellite from which they'd most recently gotten some information.

"Lieutenant, please accompany me," Alice said to Ty. "I need to inform Airman Young of his fate."

Down on Level 6 in front of Greg, Alice got right to the point: "Airman, you will be put back into suspended animation tonight at 2200 hours. We have better things to do right now than to deal with you. Plus, the Doctor needs to prep your pod. We wouldn't want something to go wrong and kill you, would we?"

Alice was surprised when all Greg did was stare at her in silence; she'd expected his to be himself, mouthing off and generally being an ass. She turned, finding herself face to face with Ty. She studied him a moment, moved closer, and said in a firm whisper, "Nothing ... happens to Airman Young, Lieutenant. Understand?"

She knew Ty would like nothing more than to beat Greg to death. Alice needed him alive, though, at least until Leslie had her sperm donation. She reminded him, "You have a pump to install, Lieutenant. I'll send Rita down ASAP."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
“Sorry Captain, The Pump isn’t ready for reinstall yet. I’m still working on replacement parts for it. And as a reminded for Pod preparation. The Prisoner can’t eat or drink anything for at least 12 hours prior. So that’s now. I wouldn't want anything to happen cause I let him have a sandwich for lunch. Bacterial contamination and such.”

“Rita can find me in the maintenance bay, Captain.” Ty finished as he headed up the stairs.

Alaina:
After the dismissal Alaina headed to the Monitoring station diving into computer code before she could think.

Kirk:
He didn’t have anything to do until tomorrow, so Kirk went into the kitchen and washed dishes, including all the coffee cups and his tray from earlier. That done he cleaned counters and then made more coffee. Fuck what a way to wake up.

 

[Alice2015]

Alice and Ty:

Ty informed Alice about the pump, then reminded her about the nutritional requirements for entering stasis. She nodded to him, saying, "Thank you, Lieutenant."

She watched him as he departed, wondering just what was going through his head regarding Greg. Ty was a true military professional; Alice appreciated that, depended on it. One day she just might let him beat someone to death who truly deserved it. Hell, Greg might one day in the future still get his turn at partaking of Ty's fists with a more permanent conclusion.

Adeline and Alaina:

The French woman's attention shifted between the screen before her and the beauty sitting a few feet away. She had so very much enjoyed having Alaina's face between her thighs the other night. Having Marcia's mouth upon her own at the same time and God knows whose hands all over her body had only increased her joy.

A soft tone sounded from the speaker before Adeline, gaining her full attention. She scanned the dozens of lines filled with thousands of alpha-numeric characters; to 99.999 percent of the world's population -- now or a hundred and fifty years ago -- what Adeline was seeing before her would have been gibberish. Even Adeline didn't understand it all. Compared to Alaina, she was a kindergartner sitting in a third year University programming class.

"Hey, sweet cheeks," she said, smiling to the other woman when their eyes met. "I was running a program to look for familiar code patterns. I found one."

She tapped some keys, sending the information on her screen to the large monitor on the wall before them. Using her mouse, she highlighted a line of text, asking, "Recognize that?"

Adeline knew Alaina would; if she had seen it in amongst all those lines, the most skilled hacker likely still alive on the planet would. The French woman stood from her chair and walked over to stand behind the other. She leaned over Alaina's shoulder, asking, "See it?"

After she received her answer, she pulled Alaina's hair back from her neck on one side and erotically kissed her with wet lips. Still whispering, Adeline said, "You can thank me tonight in that very special way only you can." She kissed again, adding, "Well, you and Marcia, anyway."

She stood tall and headed for the exit, telling Alaina, "I'm going for coffee. Be back in a bit."

Marcia, Kirk, and Alice:

Marcia took a double take when she entered the kitchen with the leftover containers and found Kirk at the sink washing dishes. She couldn't help but scan him from head to foot and head again, letting her gaze stop for a long moment on his sculpted ass. He looked incredible in his uniform. She found herself reconsidering her earlier pass on sex with him.

"Thanks," she told him as she passed by. "Sometimes I get a little help from the others with the cooking ... but they rarely get their hands soapy afterward. I appreciate it."

They were just finishing up when Alice arrived, saying she was just checking on how everyone was dealing with the recent news. Marcia answered, "I'm not surprised really ... about the abuse, not the pregnancy. Is Adeline sure about that?"

"We'll know in a week," Alice answered, adding, "Maybe." She looked between them, then ordered, "Marcia, can you go find Rita in the Hort Lab and ask her to find Ty in the Repair Bay."

Marcia gave Kirk -- and his fine ass -- one last look before she left. Alice turned to the newest member of the Community, saying, "Let's sit and talk."

She poured two mugs of coffee, then led Kirk out to one of the tables. Without violating Adeline's privacy with too many details, she talked more about what had happened to the French woman. Next, she turned a tablet to him, showing him the list of priority tasks they had, in many of which he would likely play a role.

She sipped at her coffee again as she contemplating talking to him about a more personal issue: sex. Alice kept quiet on the topic, though. She was desperate to feed her need, as the girls knew and Ty likely suspected. But she was the Community's Commanding Officer and Kirk's direct supervisor; under normal circumstances, it would be entirely improper -- and in the military even illegal -- for her to suggest to him that they bumped uglies down in one of their beds.

She stood, telling him, "Well ... as I said, you're not required to be on duty until tomorrow ... but if you wanted to get to work sooner than that, Alaina and Adeline need help in the Monitoring Station with some hardware issues, Rita had an irrigation unit that isn't working properly in the Hort Lab, Ty -- with Rita at this moment, if I'm correct -- is working in the Repair Bay on Three, and Leslie is most likely down on Ten reactivating Airman Young's cryo pod. Take your pick, I guess."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Kirk:
“Actually, I was wondering if you were doing anything today, anything critical? Once I ‘clock in’ as it were I have a feeling I’ll be busy for a while. So before that happens, I’d like to get to know you. As a person, not the facility commander.”

“As for myself, I’m straight so I won’t be making any advances towards your security Officer, I’m probably the oldest here. I have several Doctorates, which you probably know from an information packet about me. I wrote my Bio-Engineering Dissertation on Gene splicing and it’s applications in Selective Genetic duplication towards the betterment of the Human species.”

Seeing her expression he clarified. “Gene splicing and cloning. With the removal of bad, or junk, DNA strains. I proposed that we take a step forward in evolution and remove certain strains of DNA markers. Cerebral Palsy, MS, Allergies, etc.” Pausing he admitted. “Yes, my research and field indicate that humans could build a better human. Stronger, faster, smarter. But I just wanted to remove the junk and give a better opportunity for advancement and growth. Not to make a superhuman. On the evolutionary scale Humans are one, just one, percent smarter than chimpanzees. What if we were two percent? Five? Or just one point five percent?”

“We could have accomplished so much. Instead, we fucked it up and tried making cures for the conman cold. And made a virus that wiped us out. Or some idiot thawed out a fifty-thousand-year-old pathogen from a glacier. More than likely someone was making a virus to attack ‘the enemy’ whomever the enemy was.”

“Fuck I’m horny. Is it to forward for me to ask if you’re involved with someone? I’ll shut up if you are, but you’re the only one in my age range, hot as hell, and you have a gorgeous voice.”

“I’ve already thought about military protocol... commanding officer and such. But I’m not a yank, I’m not even active military. I’d never been assigned to a US Military Unit even when I was active.”

“I was dating someone when I went into the pod this last time. But well, I’m single now.”

Alaina:
“Get Alice or Ty, I haven’t written a translation code yet. Fuck I hate old people!” The shit couldn’t even be proper Binary, hex, oct, Pascal, FORTRAN, Java, or even fucking C+.

 

[Alice2015]

Alice and Kirk, in the Saloon, with the carafe:

(OOC: Yeah, yeah -- more Clue humor.)

"...I’d like to get to know you..." Kirk told Alice. "As a person, not the facility commander.”

"I have a few minutes," she responded. She didn't, of course; there was always a list of things that should have been done yesterday. But, it was just a few minutes, she told herself.

After making clear his sexual orientation and lack of interest in Ty as a potential lover -- which, of course, left everyone else who wasn't shackled to a pipe -- Kirk talked about his extensive and very impressive education. Just as he'd seen in her expression, most of what he was talking about was way over her head.

She understood enough of it, though, to wonder whether there was a connection between Kirk's work and the Garden of Eden Program, of which, of course, she'd only recently learned after Adeline informed the Community about it. There was a significant difference between the two, though: Kirk's work was about making humans better, while the Program's had been about finding humans who already were.

“We could have accomplished so much," he said about the idea of people having more access and use of their brain. "Instead, we fucked it up..."

Kirk talked about how humans had destroyed their planet and their own selves. Alice agreed; she might be one of the oldest people in the bunker, as Kirk would point out in a moment, but she'd lived her entire life in a world that was slowly but surely dying.

“Fuck, I’m horny," he said, suddenly changing the subject.

Alice couldn't help but laugh. She'd dealt with the cryo drug's side effect herself, three times actually, each time worse than the last.

Kirk turned the conversation more personal, asking, "Is it too forward for me to ask if you’re involved with someone?"

Alice considered answering but didn't. She couldn't. Her answer, of course, would be no. Kirk might see that as confirmation that in these circumstances, they were made for each other. He spoke of military protocol, pointing out that there was nothing in it that would keep them from hooking up.

“I was dating someone when I went into the pod this last time," Kirk said. "But well, I’m single now.”

Alice couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Yeah, I, um ... I guess our previous romantic relationships are probably null and void by now. I wasn't involved when I went into stasis. I knew better. I was going to be in stasis for 9 months. I really couldn't ask someone to wait for me. I mean, I could have, if I'd been in love. But I wasn't seeing anyone, so ... it was really..."

She realized that she was rambling. There was reason for that, of course; she was as interested in fucking Kirk as he was in fucking her. "Back to your question: no, I'm not involved with any of the others at the moment. And yes, you and I ... it would ... seem logical that we might hook up."

Alice hadn't been looking at Kirk but did now, smiling. Her eyes fell to his torso. She knew from what she'd seen when he was reanimated that Kirk was nice under those clothes. Reluctantly, she said, "But ... right now is not the time for me to be hooking up with anyone. Maybe ... maybe later ... maybe soon."

She stood to leave, hesitated, then smiled to Kirk. "If I do decide to, um ... you know, hook up..." She paused, looking him over again before asking, "Rain check?"

Enter Adeline and Alaina:

Before Kirk could respond, Adeline called from the doorway, "Captain...? Alaina needs you in the Monitoring Station."

Alice nodded confirmation, gave Kirk one last smile, and headed for the door, the stairwell, and her destination with the French woman in the lead. On the way, she asked, "What's this about?"

"I discovered something, a signature, in some code I was reviewing," Adeline said back over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs two steps at a time. "Alaina did something with what I found -- don't ask me what, I couldn't tell you -- and got us access to that satellite we hooked up with yesterday. It's all a bit over my head."

They continued another half a level of stairs without any more explanation, leading Alice to ask with a bit of frustration, "So what's this about?"

"Oh, sorry," Adeline said as they reached Level 1 and stepped out into the foyer. She stopped suddenly, turning to look at Alice with a wide smile. "We got a Tweet." She chuckled, saying, "Well, not really."

Alice followed the other woman to where Alaina was once again tapping away at a keyboard. Adeline dropped into the nearby chair, moved the mouse to refresh a black screen, and pointed. "See...? It's 140 characters, like Tweets. I mean, like they were in 2006, when Twitter first started, when I was just 3 years old."

"Tweets," Alice murmured, asking louder, "We're getting Tweets? Do they even call them Tweets anymore. I mean, did they still call'em Tweets in 2041, when they put us in cryo?"

"Yes," Adeline responded simply. "After Elon Musk sold X and it went back to being called Twitter..."

She saw the expression on Alice's face; it showed her apathy on the topic. "Anyway, Tweets were based on the original limited length of SMS messages, 160 characters. Twitter cut that to 140 to give 20 characters for the username. There could be some connection between that and this message ... or not. It could be totally coincidental. We don't know, and I don't really think it matters.

"All we know is that the message we have now has been edited hundreds of times over decades," Adeline continued. "We can't read the previous messages, but the code behind it tells us that it's been around for a long time, that it's been changed again and again, and that this most recent version was updated less than three months ago.

Alice leaned in between the two women and read: I am Ella. I am 19. I live in Seashore. My father is a fisher. My mother sells salvage. I sew, weave. I am single. I look for replies daily.

"Interesting," Alice mused, more to herself than to the others. "So ... can we reply?"

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Alaina:
“Can we reply, simple answer is yes.” Alaina replied. “Long answer is yes we can reply but should we? Where is Seashore? Is this a trap? How is the sender getting the message to the satellite? A simple radio? No. They’re using computer of some kind to transmit a signal to the sat and over write the previous message. Its like having a document file on your computer and constantly changing said file. I can tell you when the file was created, and what the latest file says, but none of the intervening messages.”

“Unfortunately the system doesn’t have an auto-save or restore previews function. “Looking at Alice she asked, “What message do you want sent?” At another station a subroutine was running, and a book was laid out so she could hand encode the protocols for translation.

 

[Alice2015]

Alice, Adeline, and Alaina:

Alaina verified that it was in fact possible to the respond to the message, questioned whether or not they should, then -- in case Alice's answer was yes, asked, “What message do you want sent?”

Alice contemplated the ramifications of responding to the signal. If this Seashore was nearby -- here on what remained of Greenland or maybe even in Iceland or extreme Northeast Canada -- they could be inviting some unfriendly guests to their bunker.

The name Seashore told them nothing, of course, as the sea shores that existed when they went into stasis no longer existed. Hell, using the map they'd downloaded from one of the anonymous satellites to which Alaina had connected earlier, Seashore could be what had once been Memphis, Tennessee, previously 400 miles from the Gulf of Mexico; or Palm Springs after the Gulf of Mexico had spread northward to incorporate Mexico's Laguna Salada and the California's Salton Sea; or even the tiny little burg of Fargo, Georgia, population 333 (c. 2041), unofficially the Gateway to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the place of Alice's birth.

Of course, Alice was only thinking of locations in the US, probably because: first, the language of the message was English; and the only current world maps they had were of North America and Greenland. The SMS could have been coming from any English-speaking country across the world or even from an English speaker in any location anywhere! There simply was no way to know.

"At least we know there are still people alive out there," Adeline said as Alice was pondering a response to Alaina's question. "You know ... besides us? Do you think they're in a bunker, too."

Alice quoted part of the message as a reminder, "'My father is a fisher. My mother sells salvage' ... so, I doubt it. I think they're outside ... out of doors. That means--"

Rita enters the conversation:

"We can go outside!" an excited female voice sounded from the door. The three turned to see Rita there, wide eyed, obviously having heard enough of the conversation to understand what was happening. She looked to Alice as she hurried into the Station, "Can we go outside...? Is it safe?"

"No!" Alice answered without hesitation. Then, less emphatically, she clarified, "We don't know ... maybe." Turning to Alaina, the Captain said, "Send this reply..."

She considered her words for a moment, then continued, "'We received your message. Where is Seashore? We live in...'"

Alice paused, looking between the others as she asked, "Where the fuck do we live? This bunker is a classified location, even today. And I don't want to tell these people -- whoever they are -- exactly or even approximately where we are."

"Green Island," Rita said. When the others looked to her, she just smiled innocently and shrugged.

Alice smiled at the young woman, then looked back to Alaina and continued, "Okay, so ... 'We live on Green Island, in Northeastern Canada. We would like to get to know you and become friends.' How many characters is that?" She waved her hand dismissively, saying, "Just ... figure it out."
"
She turned back to Rita, asking, "Aren't you supposed to be working with Ty on the sump pump?"

"He's trying to machine a part in the Repair Bay," the young woman responded. She shrugged again, saying, "He didn't need my help."

Rita wondered what the effect would be of saying I couldn't stay there any longer or I was going to tear my clothes off and let Ty fuck me. She knew that would probably be a bad idea, so instead she said, "I'm going to the Hort Lab to work."

She turned and departed, but just seconds later she screamed for help. Alice hurried out into the Level 1 foyer, finding Rita rushing into the Infirmary. Alice followed to discover what Rita had seen: Leslie laying on the floor, unconscious.

"Help me get her up onto the bed!" Alice ordered. The two of them grasped the Doctor, getting help from others as they arrived. As she checked Leslie for obvious causes of her condition, she ordered, "Check for a pulse!"

Leslie was breathing, and her heart was beating; there were no cuts or bruises to indicate that anyone had hurt her or that she had fallen. Alice called out, "Bertha! What is Airman Young's current location?"
"Airman is currently on Level 6 in the Generator Systems Room," the AI responded.

"Bertha, inform Lieutenant Collins to verify that," she told the computer, "then tell him that his immediate presence is required in the Infirmary."

The AI confirmed the order as Alice continued checking Leslie's body for injuries. She felt something on the unconscious woman's upper back, unbuttoned her blouse for access, and found the Fentanyl patch. She knew immediately what was happening.

"Does anyone know if we have a Naloxone injection pen?" She looked between the others with panicked eyes, explaining, "Leslie's self-medicating with Fentanyl. She's overdosing. She needs a Narcan injection, now!"

Drawers and cabinets were already being searched. Alice knew a little bit about opioid addition -- she'd had addicts in her Air Force units or civilians on the bases at which she'd served -- and she knew that a single Fentanyl patch wouldn't cause an overdose. She opened Leslie's blouse further and found two more patches on her other scapula.

"Fuck, Doc, what've you done?" she asked. The Naloxone injector arrived, and Alice ordered, "Into her thigh, right through the cloth."

Down the pen went, and within a minute Leslie gave out a loud gasp, almost as if her heart had been injected with pure adrenaline, something else Alice had had to do to a downed comrade once. Once it seemed obvious that Leslie was going to survive her stupidity, Alice ordered, "Everyone out! All of you."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

"We received your message. Where is Seashore? We live in Green Island. We would like to get to know you and become friends.” Writing it out on paper Alaina sat and counted." That’s 122 characters. And yes I’m leaving out any reference to Canada. For now, at least. Let's get to know her before we spill lifelong stories and give away our location.”

Turning back to her wording Alaina jerked when Rita screamed. Rushing into the Infirmary she knew an O.D. by sight. But Alice was right to check on Greg, just in case. The thought of him loose, god she wanted to throw up.

"Does anyone know if we have a Naloxone injection pen?" Alice asked, and Alaina started looking for it. God damn it, she’d had to deal with enough addicts in her life! She’d seen the Narcan injectors being used by EMT’s, Cops, and Doctors more than wanted, so she knew what it looked like and didn’t have to look at everything individually.

Breaking glass she grabbed one from a cabinet and ran over, stabbing the woman with a little more force than was needed. Hell the Doctor was lucky Alaina didn’t stab her closer to her personal bits. Make it so she couldn't fuck without thinking about stupidity. But Alaina wasn’t cruel, no matter how pissed she was over this stupidity.

Ty was running down the hall when he heard the glass break and was in the doorway when Alaina stabbed Leslie in the thigh with it.

Alice ordered, "Everyone out! All of you."

“The prisoner is still secured,” Ty said looking at the Captain, but made no move to leave.

 

[Alice2015]

The others hesitated, but when Alice repeated her orders with a loud, authoritarian tone, they headed out with varying degrees of speed.

"She's been self medicating," Alice told Ty. She recalled their first conversation about the supposedly discarded Fentanyl package. Presuming Ty would also recall their talk, she said with an apologetic tone, "You were right, Lieutenant. Sorry."

Leslie, now fully conscious and aware -- and seeing both her lover and her boss staying at her -- began sobbing.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

"You were right, Lieutenant. Sorry."

“There is no reason to apologize. I should have pressed the issue.” Ty replied as Leslie opened her eyes and stared at them both for a second before she started crying.

“Doctor, I need to know where the rest of the medication is stashed. All of it.” Ty said. He kept his face as neutral, and his voice firm, as possible. How long had this been happening? Was she suicidal? Was this intentional, or accidental? What was the trigger for the event? Had Prisoner Young said something to her? Done something to her? Had he raped her as well? If Young had touched her, Airman Young wasn’t going to survive long enough to be returned to cryo sleep.

“If you don’t need me Captain, I’ll go collect the rest of the medication.”

 

[Alice2015]

Alice, Leslie, and Ty:

“There is no reason to apologize," Ty told Alice. "I should have pressed the issue.”

Alice considered the man's statement, wondering, Would I have acted differently if he had? She might not have then, but she would in the future; Alice had developed a great trust in her Head of Security in the days they'd worked together, despite the brevity of that working relationship.

She turned her attention to Leslie when Ty asked for her stash of Fentanyl. The Doctor, still sobbing, pointed in the general direction of the Infirmary's bathroom, saying only, "Dispenser."

As her Lieutenant moved to confiscate the drugs, Alice leaned in close and asked with a soft voice, "What were you thinking, Leslie? You could have killed yourself."

The Doctor turned her face away in shame. Alice grew even more concerned, asking, "Were you ... trying to kill yourself?"

"No ... no!" Leslie said between sobs. "No ... I just ... this place ... it's just too much sometimes."

Leslie saw Ty returning her direction, wiped her eyes and cheeks of the accumulating tears, and said directly to him in particular, "I'm sorry. Don't hate me. I couldn't handle you hating me."

Alice turned to Ty and -- hoping that his presence here alone with Leslie might be beneficial -- told him, "I'm going to go check on the others."

She patted Ty on the shoulder reassuringly, then squeezed Leslie's hand, telling her, "I'm going to leave you in Ty's care a bit. Get some rest."

Pointing an accusatory finger at the doctor, Alice said with as much humor as she could muster, "And don't do this again. I checked into additional Medical personnel, and you wouldn't believe my options ... ick!

She headed out and down half a flight if stairs before she stopped, leaned against the wall ... and began sobbing as well.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
“Why would I hate you?” Ty asked confused as he sat on the floor next to her. “Is this because I can’t commit?”

Had his own trauma pushed Leslie to do this? To try and escape from what was happening? Was it because he’d had sex with Alaina this morning? Because Rita wanted to lose her virginity to him? Had he one this?

No, the drug theft had been days ago. “How long have you been doing this?” he asked as gently as he could. Finding the reason was the first step in fixing the issue.

 

[Alice2015]

Leslie and Ty:

"No, no!" Leslie said when Ty asked if she'd intentionally OD'd because he couldn't commit? She reached out to grasp his hand. "This isn't about us."

She was going to talk more about his interactions with other females in the bunker, plural. It was too hard, though; she wanted Ty all for herself, but if she had to let him put his cock inside other women to keep what she had with him, that's what Leslie would do.

"Before I went into stasis myself," she began explaining, "I was part of the medical staff overseeing the transfer of Stiffs to the bunker. It was ... it was a hard time for me. They didn't tell me that most of the people weren't volunteers ... that they'd been kidnapped ... shanghaied is the word I believe Alice used the first day we were all reanimated.

"When I found out," she continued, her tone emotional, "I complained, of course. No one in Administration would tell me the truth, that a virus was killing millions across the globe every day. We'd been kept incommunicado for months, and by the time I learned the truth, it was too late to do anything about it."

She sobbed again, her eyes tearing again as she squeezed Ty's hand tightly. "The stress ... the guilt I felt over putting these people into stasis for what everyone knew would be years, decades ... maybe even centuries ... knowing that the longer they remained in suspended animation, the better their chance of outliving the virus, but also the greater the chance that they would lose their lives to some failure in their pod or in the systems that kept the pods working."

Leslie fought off the sobs, wiping away the tears. "I ... couldn't handle it. I needed help, but there really wasn't anyone to talk to. So ... I started using. Not often; not all the time. But ... waking up here, like this ... learning that the world was, in fact, dead ... that the human race had been wiped out by a bug ... it was just too much."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
“From now on you talk. To me, the Captain. Alaina. Marcia. Anyone of your choice. But talk. This cannot happen again. And no I don’t hate you. I’m not mad. Hell part of this is my fault. You didn’t feel like you could talk to me.”

“I guess you never noticed how big my shoulders are and how much I can carry on them.” Until he knew with his own eyes that the world was gone, he couldn’t share anything he knew. Until he knew for certain, then everything happening in this bunker was just a test.

 

[Alice2015]

Leslie and Ty:

Ty stressed to Leslie that she needed to communicate with her bunker mates about her problems, telling her, "This cannot happen again."

"It won't," she swore, "I promise." Those words had been spoken by every addict who'd ever been chastised by people who cared about them, be they family, friends, social workers, or the Law.

"And no, I don’t hate you," Ty continued. "I’m not mad. Hell, part of this is my fault. You didn’t feel like you could talk to me.”

"No, no!" she stressed again, desperate for Ty know that his incapability to commit to a monogamous relationship with her. She understood his reasons, his loss at such an early age of someone he had loved so much. "This is not on you. This is me. This is all me."

When he talked about the burdens he carried, Leslie sat up and threw her arms around his torso, hugging him tightly. "You are important to me. You are also important to this Community. Without you..."

Leslie didn't really know how to describe the part Ty played within the walls of this facility. He was the most important person here, even more so than Alice in Leslie's opinion. Maybe that had something to do with what he could do to her when they were between the sheets naked, maybe not. All she knew was that if she didn't have Ty -- as much of Ty as she had, anyway -- she might have used all of the Fentanyl patches at one time and brought this all to an end.

An alarm went off, and a moment later the facility's AI announced, "We are experiencing a power outage on Level 10. Cryogenic pods on that level are operating on their backup batteries. Immediate attention to this issue is required."

Leslie pulled back to look up into Ty's face, smiled, and said, "Go save the world, Lieutenant."

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Tyrande, Alaina, Kirk & Rita:
Sighing Ty gave Leslie a kiss before he turned and started heading down to Level ten. “Alaina, check the power systems, where’s the issue originating from? Rita meet me down there just in case. Grab the airlines, just in case. MacDonald.. or um MacFerguson.. you’re up. Sorry you don’t get any extra nap time. Meet me in the stairwell on from nine to ten. I’m on my way.”

Taking leaps at a time he nearly flew down the stairs. They couldn’t afford to lose anybody due to a power failure. If they did, he’d just disconnect Young after he was asleep. Slow, but painless.

At nine he grabbed the toolbox and then continued to ten. Handing that one over to MacFerguson he grabbed the Box from ten as Alaina called out the appropriate junction box.

With the panel’s open he stepped back as Kirk took over, pulling out several probes the older man went to work testing relays and circuit boards.

Ty looked at Rita, “Check the pods, report anyone in critical status.” he told her as he headed to the far side and started checking them.

“No critical pods over here, yet.” Ty told the other two.

Looking up Kirk glanced at Rita. “I need a replacement circuit board. RX-42-358Z-R5.” Realizing there was no way she’d, or anyone would remember the sequence he disconnected the board he had and handed it to her. Then he looked at Ty, “we do have replacement circuit boards, yes?”

Ty shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m a Grunt, not a mechanic.”

“Somebody give me an inventory check on a power relay circuit board RX-42-358Z-R5.” he said looking at the board again.

“Checking,” Alaina called over the intercom. “Um.. guys.. those are on level 13. Storage locker 13A. Um.. Thirteen Alpha.” Stairs.. far right corner. Basically across the level from the stairs. They’re in Maintenance Room Two. It may be locked, or seized shut.”

“We need air lines,” Ty called out over the intercom. “Rita. On Level 6, I need the Crowbar from the Repair bay. It’s on the work table next to the pump.”

Already heading down stairs Ty didn’t ask who was doing what, he was going for a long swim across the facility.

 

[Alice2015]

Everyone, pretty much:

(OOC -- Just a little correction: Level 12 is only partially flooded, so I'm going to change the location of the replacement circuit board to a locker on Level 13.)


Wherever there was a reanimated person in the bunker -- even on Level 6 where Greg was still shackled to a pipe -- Ty's voice sounded from the nearest intercom speakers with his orders for responding to yet another situation that could potentially damage equipment and kill people.

Rita descended quickly to the Generator Systems room to fire up the Recirculating Air System to which they'd attached their diving hoses, then grabbed up said hoses -- coiled neatly on the deck -- and carefully strung them out down the stairwell until she reached Level 10, where she found Ty and Kirk already hard at work on the problem.

Rather than continue down to Level 11 -- the last fully dry level -- Rita dropped what remained of the hoses and lifted each mouthpiece to her lips to test them for proper air flow. Finding them working fine, she moved to the two men, asking, "What can I do?"

She didn't know anything about fixing electrical devices and barely knew how such devices in her own Horticulture Laboratory worked, other than turning them on and setting them to the proper temperature, flow rate, pressure, or illumination. But she was a fast learner, and anything Ty put her to doing, she knew she could figure out.

“Check the pods," Ty ordered, adding, "report anyone in critical status.”

As she was moving to the first pod on her side of the floor, Marcia shot into the room; she'd heard Ty's order to Rita and rushed to the opposite end of the row to help the plant lady with her duty.

“No critical pods over here, yet,” Ty said.

"Everyone here's fine," Marcia reported as she and Rita met in the middle. The latter nodded reassuringly to the cook, who clarified, "All pods on battery ... battery strength fine ... we're fine."

When Kirk looked to Rita and asked for a replacement circuit board with a long, confusing number, she only looked at him blankly. The Scot looked to Ty instead, asking, “We do have replacement circuit boards, yes?”

Between Ty, Alaina, and Kirk, they discovered the location of what the latter needed: the fully flooded Level 13. After she returned from Level 6 with additional tools, Rita found Ty already out of his uniform and in his boxers for the swim. Suddenly, she was horrifically embarrassed: she hadn't expected to be diving today and, therefore, hadn't dressed appropriately for it. Rather than having on her two-piece exercise clothing, she was wearing only a pair of modest but thin panties -- no bra.

She looked back up the stairwell for some sign that Kirk was coming down to join Ty but saw no one. Looking back to Ty, Rita hoped to get a sign from him that he didn't need her, but that was strike two. Reluctantly, she ran her overall's zipper down from between her cleavage to below her belly button and pulled the outfit off her shoulders, revealing a tiny, sleeveless, cropped top that was struggling to hold in her bosom.

Rita blushed a fiery red, knowing that as soon as she went into the water, the top and panties would hide nothing of her womanly features. Oh, Ty had seen all she had to offer already, of course, as had all of the females at one time or another in the Hygiene Room. But the new guy hadn't seen Rita in anything less than a full set of overalls, and she found herself horrified of what he might think or say when she came out of the water.

Still, she snatched up her hose, tested it again, and followed Ty in. The water was, once again, cold as crazy, and aside from the chill running up her spine and the gooseflesh exploding across her arms and legs, Rita's nipples swelled to triple their normal, unexcited size.

Alice arrived just as the pair were disappearing under the surface. She tended to the hoses in an attempt to ensure that the divers had no problems. Over the intercom, Leslie -- who the Captain had ordered to remain flat on her back in the Infirmary -- asked with a concerned voice, "What's happening...? Is everything okay? Someone talk to me!"

Alice reassured her that the situation was being handled. Adeline's voice was the next to come over the intercom, asking, "Captain, do you need me down there...? I'm in the Monitoring Station helping Alaina. Well, not really helping, but--"

"We're fine here," Alice answered. "You and Alaina keep us abreast of what the fuck is happening down here."

Alice felt like she should be doing more, but what would she do? They only had two air lines. And honestly, she'd never been a very good swimmer. Maybe they could fashion a third pair of goggles so that she could at least get her head underwater and monitor Ty and Rita their next time in the pool filling their bunker.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Rita’s best blessing of the day was that Kirk was far to busy using metal probes to test various circuit boards and relays to pay attention to what was happening on the levels below him.

“Dr. Leslie This is Kirk MacFerguson. I’m currently in the process of testing all the circuit boards and relays in the panels on this level against the specs listed on the inside of the panel. The Other Gentleman and the slender female are going swimming for the replacement parts I need which I’ve been led to understand are on level 13.”

“I believe the Captain and the cook are assisting with the dive.”

At the computer Alaina was running through all the components in that section of panels and tracking down spare parts.

 

[Alice2015]

(deleted post)

 

[Alice2015]

Everyone again, pretty much:

Alice had switched her comm's ear bud to Main Channel, allowing her to listen in on the conversations between the others; with Greg shackled, she no longer had Bertha monitoring the Airman's every movement and was now only to be informed if he somehow left his mattress prison cell.

She listened to the exchange between Kirk and Leslie, chuckling at the former referring to Ty as the Other Gentleman and Rita as the slender female. When Kirk reported her and Leslie's current positions, Alice confirmed, "I'm in the stairwell between 11 and 12 feeding the air hoses."

At that moment, the cook arrived on the steps above Alice. Into the comms she said, "I'm leaving Marcia here to assist Ty and Rita. I have other things to check on."

Alice ascended all the way to the Infirmary on Level 1. She checked on Leslie, found her feeling much better -- though still ashamed -- and asked cryptically, "Where's it at?"

The Doctor pointed to a small box, which Alice retrieved, saying, "Thank you for this. You, um ... you remember that--"

"That this is between us, yes, Alice," Leslie said, using the Captain's given name not her rank. "I have concerns--"
"I know," Alice cut in. "But ... I need to do this."

Alice departed and descended to Level 6. Entering the compartment, she closed the normally open door behind her, locked it, and said, "Bertha, override all codes for opening both doors and both emergency hatches to Level 6, please."

There was a soft tone from the nearby wall panel, followed by the AI's voice, "All entrances to Level 6 are secured, Captain."

"That includes Lieutenant Collin's security code," Alice stressed.

"Understood, Captain," Bertha responded.

Crossing to the far corner, Alice knelt near Greg, donned some latex gloves, opened the small box, and withdrew a syringe with a long needle. Without hesitation, the Airman asked, "What the fuck is that?"

"I don't know the medical name for this specific drug," Alice explained as she pointed the syringe skyward and tapped it to force any air bubbles to the top. She reached out with one hand to grab a handful of the man's hair, tilted his head back as he attempted her to prevent it, and stabbed him in the neck, pressing the plunger to inject the contents. "It's a neuromuscular blocking agent."

"Fucking cunt!" he growled, kicking at Alice without striking. "What the fuck?"

Alice moved out of his reach and waited for the drug to take effect. The fight went out of Greg over the next minute or so, followed by his arms and legs going slack and his head falling back to rest against the wall and a vertical pipe. Alice moved closer to him again, giving his leg a kick. Other than being able to move his eyes, Greg was fully immobilized.

"I know that you were looking to enjoying this," Alice told him as she began unbuckling, unbuttoning, and unzipping him. "But ... that's not going to happen. Leslie assures me that you won't feel a thing."

She grasped the waist bands of his loosened pants and boxers below them and pulled downward, exposing his hips, groin, and manhood. Alice moved closer, grasped Greg's cock, and began stroking it slowly, continuing, "However ... she tells me that despite your inability to feel this, you'll still be able to achieve erection ... and ultimately ejaculate."

By the time she was done talking, Greg's cock was already quickly getting stiff and less than a minute later, it was hard as a rock. Alice smiled, looking into the man's wide eyes saying, "Wow, you really are hung, aren't you? I don't think I've ever seen a cock this impressive before ... I mean, except maybe in porn. What a fucking shame that the ladies of the bunker aren't going to get a shot at this monster."

Alice prepared for collecting Greg's sample. She removed a plastic cup from the little box, removed its lid, and -- tilting the man's cock forward at less of a vertical position -- placed it in place just in time for his powerful spurts to begin filling it. She laughed, saying, "Wow! That was kinda quick, wasn't it, Airman? I would have expected a little more stamina from you. Ah, that's alright. We'll blame it on the drugs."

Ceasing her stroking of him, Alice capped the cup, put it back in the box, shed the gloves, and stood. Looking down at Greg's cock -- still stiff but slowly losing its umph -- Alice informed him, "The drugs will wear off in a couple of hours. I'll be back to uncuff you ... so that you can dress. In the meantime..."

Turning, Alice used her code to unlock the door and stepped out into the stairwell without another word. She locked the door again, this time telling Bertha to allow Ty's security code to work.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty:
Sliding through the water and using the the submerged coffins as leverage Ty shoved his way across the levelas fast as possible. This wasn’t a slow leak that could be repaired at semi leisure. This was life support batteries dying. Several dozen people would die if they didn’t get this fixed in time.

At the door he tried the knob first. Hoping. Futility at work. Without a second thought for potential damage he accepted the crowbar from Rita and went to work.

Doing this underwater, in a rush, and with no leverage was problematic at best. Infuriatingly difficult at the moment.

Looking through the door window he could see the lockers, four feet from the door!!

Window?! Pulling back from the door he looked at the window. Four screws, thin frame, glass with wiring reinforcing. Attacking the window with the crowbar, he managed to shove the pry into the frame. A few minutes of work and he had the window out of the door. Looking at Rita he pointed at her, the window and the doorknob. He hadn’t had time to try and start teaching her ASL or battle commands so he couldn’t do better than that. Not without taking off his mask and actually speak the words into the water.

 

[Alice2015]

Rita and Ty:

Rita found this dive more like their last one than their first two. They'd had to manhandle the sump pump across the deck and up from Level 14 to 11, which had meant walking, not swimming. This time they'd had to carry heavy tools with them, and while Ty had had the strength and power to do so while horizontal with his feet kicking behind him, Rita had found it necessary to once again find the deck with her feet, lean forward, and slow walk the width of the bunker level to get to their destination.

When he tried to get the window out of the door, Rita realized immediately that Ty's lack of leverage was his greatest problem. She moved up close to him, turned her back to his, reached around to clutch his hips, then lifted her feet to the nearest cryo pod. Pressing back-to-back, he was able to stay in place and force the window.

Turning back to him, she smiled, pleased with her ingenuity. Ty likely couldn't tell, of course, not with the breathing piece in her mouth. He began gesturing to her, and while she didn't immediately understand his message, she put together the facts -- small opening, big guy, little girl -- and nodded emphatically to him.

Taking several deep breaths to fill her lungs -- and thus her bloodstream -- with oxygen, Rita shed the mouthpiece and attached hose, grasped the now-empty window frame, and pulled herself through. She felt something painful at her right hip as she cleared the gap, and once inside turned to find blood spilling from her flesh where she'd caught herself on a metal spur that neither of them had seen.

Rita wasn't sure whether or not Ty had seen the soft wafting of blood mixing with the water, but in case he had, she waved off any need for concern and gave him a thumbs up. At this side of the door, she turned the locking mechanisms, then the knob, and putting a foot against the wall as she had the pod earlier, pulled it open to allow for Ty's entry.

She checked the wound again, finding it nothing with which to be concerned, then looked to Ty, who -- as the gentleman she believed him to be -- handed her the mouthpiece again. This time when she smiled to him, Rita had no doubt that he could see the show of delight.

She moved back to give him more access to the room, what with having no specific idea of just where he was heading.

 

[The_Weeping_Angel]

Ty and Rita:
Sliding past Rita Ty looked at her wound, it might be nothing but with water and steel there was rust, and that meant tetanus. Using his finger, he wrote D.O.C.T.O.R. on his arm. And then touched her cut. He wasn't taking chances.

Going to the cabinet he pried open the door and watched as water-soaked boxes collapsed under the change in pressure and water flow, chip boards in sealed static bags floated down to the floor.

In moments they had a score or more laying on the floor, and no way of separating them at the moment. At least four boxes had spilled so four different boards. Shoving as many as he could into Rita’s arms he grabbed as many as he could carry and started the way back.

Thank god this wasn’t video game or they have gators, sharks, barracuda, or piranha to deal with as well. At least down here it was only the fucking cold ass water.

And time.

Once out of the water he pulled his mouthpiece out and looked at Rita. “Doctor. Now.” And then he went to Kirk with what he had.