Unplanned Journey

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Unplanned Detour

"Mayday,mayday,Mayday. This is the European Space Administration: Explorer Ship "Hawking" requesting assistance. We're five hundred forty two light years beyond the outer threshold of the Milky Way to Darivitus Galaxies' Wormhole. We're outside explored territory by well over five hundred light years and the trip has caused damage to the Hawking. We have seventy dead and all surviving crew, just seven of us, have some injuries. We've sustained life threatening damages and will lose life support within thirty two hours. I have detected an oxygen rich environment on a planet which will take us sixteen hours to crawl to. If we survive the landing with damaged landing equipment, that is where we can be found...I'm sending video and coordinates with this message. Please, somebody, anybody...we need help! Captain Lucille McRae out."

Lucy programmed the message to send on all frequencies on a repeating loop. As long as the ship's communications box was in power it would continue and that box was damn near indestructible...She wished the rest of her once beautiful, now broken, ship had been built as well as these valuable bridge systems, it appeared, the only area of the ship with minimal damage.

That wormhole somehow took them waaaay further than it was supposed to and it had shaken the ship like an infant with a rattle in the process. In all honesty, Lucy was amazed any of them were left alive at all.

As she set the destination to reaching the small earth like planet mentioned in the distress call, she could hear triage setting up just behind the command station, in the empty floor space where a weapons control system had once been but irreparably damaged debris had been removed from the room and replaced with the things needed to live. The bridge had been gutted, space repurposed, as it had become clear to the seven left alive that this was the only place left liveable for them. They would soon work on sealing the main exit and separating the bridge section, in essence, a huge octagonal chamber, from the dead weight of the rest of the ship, to ensure they'd be able to make it to tiny world before running out of heat, air, atmosphere...

Lucy watched the screen showing the crumpled, burned remains of her once beautiful ship as they left it behind, the future unknown for the survivors stuck flying a cramped, little octagon as fast as it can make it, toward an unknown fate on an unknown world.

Lucy fixed her blue eyes on her transformed shanty town of a bridge and suppressed tears. "Chins up, guys. We'll survive. We're survivors. We'll get through this, somehow.", her mixed Scottish-Welsh accent flavouring her words even more with the weariness of the past two day's events worn heavy upon her like a leaden mantel.

 

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OOC: First come, first serve.
Needed,6 additional crew for The Hawking.

Anyone else (aliens, Earth astronauts) pm me with your idea.

The Year is 2295

 

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*bump*

 

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*Seeking fellow writers*

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Jason had been repairing a control panel when all hell broke loose. He still wasn't 100% sure of what happened. One minute he had been calmly laying down with his head buried in the innards of the console putting a patch on it, and the next he was waking up to find he was one of seven surviving crew members.Not every day that happened.

This was supposed to be a basic run and indeed he had doe it many times before. Hell he could be called a veteran. He was an engineer but not one of those hi-tech boys. No he was your basic build you anything fix it type of guy. He could jury rig a system, weld metals, space walk, construct anything he was given plans to and quite a few things not on plans. However if they had complex electronics in them he was clueless. He never could get his head around that stuff.

He had help create the place they were staying in now and he hoped they would make it to the planet. With what they had here he was sure he could construct a shelter for all of them until help arrived.

 

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The ship's Physician's Assistant Bot (nicknamed Pab) was busy trying to revive the Doctor who'd suffered a blow to the head from an explosion in the med bay and had been carried out unconscious by Pab. "Captain McRae, I think it's a concussion. I will treat now. No more serious injuries than this among the living humans. I believe the bridge crew has first aid training. Correct?"

Lucy watched the robot at work and nodded, "Yes, Pab. No worries. You take care of the Doctor. I'll help the others." She confirmed.

First Lucy approached a Science officer whose name currently eluded her, to her great embarrassment. Without addressing them by name she helped bandage up some lacerations caused by shattering glass and pulled a metal splinter from a shoulder, cleaning and bandaging that as well, giving words of calm encouragement as she nimbly buzzed from person to person, memorizing their faces. These might end up the last humans she'll ever know if help didn't come for them...and it didn't seem likely to.

The engineer was busy rigging another system to improve air quality on their flying octagon and he looked fairly unharmed. "Do you have any injuries which could use first aid, Commander?" She asked him.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Jason glanced down from where he was wedged. He was lying atop a beam while working on one of the air ducts trying to increase the air flow by linking the bridges air scrubbers together and then re programming the systems so they only recognized the reduced space. At the moment they were still working on full ships capacity meaning they were hardly working at all.

He saw the concern on the Captains face and smiled at her. "Just some bruising and minor cuts Captain, I will be fine. Well I will be as soon as I finish this. We will all breathe a little easier once I finish this last connection."

He returned his attention back to the duct and carefully opened the panel next to it. The small service panel was normally easily accessible with a ant grav platform, but with non available and with the damage done on the bridge, he was having to stretch awkwardly to fiddle with the delicate circuitry. The problem was this was not his area of expertise either. Still he only had to connect this relay to this panel and...

The sound of the air flow speeding up was music to his ears. The scrubbers were now working at their peak performance levels. They would now survive for a while longer. What happened now was up to the captain he guessed. Hmm he had never noticed how cute she was before now.

 

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Lucy double checked all systems and made sure there'd be an alert when within specific range of the planet. She also set an alarm to alert them if anyone tried contacting them on any frequency, if any significant objects or phenomena crossed their path, if vessels are spotted, or if the bridge pod has need of any systems adjustments. She set an alarm to gently awaken them with earth top 40 music from 07:30 hrs, ship time. Lucy then dragged out the needed box from storage which contained 8 emergency travel packs. It was unsealed. Usually these boxes contained 9 packs. But, with just seven humans and one robot, 8 was perfect so the missing one wasn't a big deal.

The packs looked colourful but a button on the main closing toggle could change the bright color to chameleon-like camouflage on both the backpacks and the attached popup tent, sleeping bag units, leaving only the interior and main toggle coloured brightly. Lucy dumped out the box and tossed the packs randomly at people who caught them. The last three were purple, blue, and yellow.

Without actual preference, she took the purple for herself and tossed the remaining two to Pab who caught the yellow first and set up the tent bed to put the still out cold Doctor inside, tucking the matching pack inside the yellow tent. Pab then held up the blue emergency pack and buzzed, "Captain, I do not require sleep. I recharge via thermal energy via contact with living beings in my work and solar energy when it's available. A tent seems unnecessary...and I require no rations, none of the clothes, grooming supplies, the collapsing cup and bowl..."

Lucy nodded. "I know, Pab. I'll have you divide up the contents you don't need amongst us humans and you may keep emergency medical supplies or whatever you wish in your pack. As for the tent...well, everyone sometimes wants a moment to themselves and privacy. Even you may enjoy that. Keep the tent. Those tents may soon be home to each of us. I know you're also weather proof but still, you deserve your own space."

Pab nodded, gold pinpricks of light which made its irises within the black orbs of its eyes, dilated and spun as it processed the idea. "Thank you, Captain. I am truly honoured and quite pleased that my first "home" of my own is my favorite color as well."

Lucy was surprised at the reaction from the robot, ""honoured", "pleased", "favourite", you sound very convincingly emotional for a robot."

Pab turned toward her fully, its gleaming, copper coloured, synthetic skin shone beneath the bridge lighting. "Yes, Captain, I am created with an empathy application installed. It allows me emotion, not as strong or varied as human emotion, but I can feel pleasure, pain, annoyance, sadness, and a few things in between such as pride and honour. I meant what was said previously.Thank you, Captain."

Lucy wondered why she hadn't known about the empathy app before. She felt a twinge of guilt over not knowing enough about each member of her crew before setting out on these missions. Well, she'd get plenty of time to get to know these seven..."You're very welcome, Pab. I'm curious why blue is your favorite color."

It stroked the fabric of the pack and replied, "Blue, it was the first color I can recall seeing when conscious upon creation. I saw the blue sky out the laboratory window, then the blue eyes of my programmer, Dr. Marcel Van de Water, and your eyes, Captain...Blue is a lovely color."

She had to smile at the robot waxing poetic. "I'm glad you like it." She then turned her attention to the crew as a whole. All but the Doctor, asleep in his tent, stood holding their packs and looking to her for leadership. She explained, "Nobody slept last night. We were too busy trying to save lives and hold our ship together. We're all exhausted an we have fifteen hours before we will be needing all of our energy for a flawless landing and any surprises awaiting us on that unknown planet...I want everyone to get at least seven hour's sleep before go time. Pab, you are now our official nightwatchman because you don't need sleep. You'll awaken us if any alerts sound or if any other emergencies arise. As for the rest of us, I want lights out in five minutes and we'll meet again for breakfast rations at 08:00. Get some sleep, crew. That's an order.Dismissed."

As she moved to pop open her purple tent and organize her things within she heard others finding space on the bridge for theirs and doing the same. They were all on auto pilot emotionally, still in shock. Likely, the heavy weight of this situation won't really hit them for many more days. Until then, they'd need her to be strong and decisive. She'd get them to that planet alive and make sure they could sustain themselves there or she'd die trying. Just as she was about to crawl into her sleeping bag a hard, synthetic, seven fingered hand touched her shoulder. She turned to see the shiny, bald head of Pab leaning into the opening of her new "home" and it attempted a toothless smile. "Sweet dreams, Captain. I am on duty now?"

"Yes, Pab."

"I will not let you down, Ma'am."

"I'm counting on it." She said. Pab left her to seal her tent shut and it took the Captain's chair as the bridge lights dimmed to minimal. "Goodnight everyone!" She called out, hoping sleep would come to her weary body without her overburdened mind interfering.

 

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Pab took a seat in the chair, cushioned for human comfort, and watched the starfield on the view-screen, whizzing by them in the darkness which he could see more clearly than humans in. This new nightwatchman position was a responsibility he felt honoured to be entrusted with. He was still holding onto his sky blue backpack and smiled in his way as Commander (?) Head Engineer set up his tent, the last of the humans to tuck themselves in for the night. "Goodnight, Commander." Pab said cheerfully.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Jason looked over at Pab. He didn't have any problems with Bot's at all and knew them to be highly intelligent and fun to be around most of the time. "Night Pab, oh and call me Jason. I think we can loose the titles from now on in my case. Where we are going I think we are going to have a lot more to worry about." He smiled at the Bot and then thought of something. "You know something Pab, we are the ones that gave you your name. Well when I say we I mean the people in sickbay did because it was just easier to call you that instead of your full title. However it is not really a name is it and I was thinking maybe you would like to have one. I mean you are smart enough and every bit as much a part of this little group as the rest of us. How about you think it over while you keep an eye on things tonight. If nothing else it will give you something to think about."

Jason curled up and gave him a little wave. "Well goodnight. Maybe I will wake up and greet a new friend in the morning."

 

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Lia Williams was still shivering. It hadn't stopped since the accident two days ago. The world of the science lab had crumbled around her, life hadn't been normal since. The shivers had been reoccurring off and on periodically since. It took her a long time to fall asleep in her bright red tent and just as she drifted off the 07:30 music had woken her with one of her favourite songs and bridge lights slowly brightened.

Lia emerged from her tent still feeling groggy, seeing the robot was heating a pot of coffee and a vat of something on a camping stove. The Captain was also just coming out of her tent as well. They made eye contact, smiled, and nodded. Others were not long after Lia and the Captain...

(Ooc: creating characters to npc so we can move along but anyone who wants one of them as their character just let me know.)

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Jason woke up and was disorientated for a minute. he was staring at a bright orange ceiling instead of the white of his cubicle. Just where was he? As he sat up groggily the events started to flood back into his mind. Oh yeah. He was one of the survivors on the bridge section of the spaceship. he had spent the past day repairing it and making it safe enough to survive a landing on the planet they were heading to.

He groaned as he slipped out of the tent and folded it back up. Slipping it back into the pack he looked around. Pab was making coffee and he immediately moved towards it. The captain was up as well as the lady from the science lab he thought. Well that was the uniform she was wearing.

"Morning Pab, Morning ladies. Any change in our situation Captain?" he asked as he filled his cup from the pot.

(Ooc: would you like me to create another one as well?)

 

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Ooc: Sure. I may have a taker for doctor but so far have heard nothing else. I'll write more in about five hours, after work.

 

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Pab greeted each human, offering them all coffee except a tall woman from Security named Monique who hated coffee and Pab scrounged up tea bags for her since she preferred tea. Monique seemed quite grateful. Pab showed the assembled group the vat of hot cereal with dehydrated fruit and explained, "This is a good source of nutrition and, other than rice, one of the few food supplies we seem to have quite a lot of. I will likely prepare this cereal for breakfast every morning until we find another equally filling and nutritious food for our breakfasts." Pab then began doling out heavy ladels full into individual's proffered collapsible bowls.

Once everyone was seated in a circle eating their breakfasts Lucy sat to join them all, beginning the meeting with introductions. "We may not have all been introduced. I think, although I'm still the Captain, I'll forgoe the use of titles and last names since we're pretty much each experts in varying fields and we all need one another to survive here in an unknown galaxy. I'm Lucille McRae, I'm twenty-nine, thirty come April. The Hawking is...was my first Command. I answer to both Lucille and Lucy. I hate Lulu or Lu, try either of those and I'll deck ya. Let's go around the circle and introduce ourselves. We can ask each other questions and talk over breakfast. No need for formality."

Lucy looked at the head engineer who sat on her left side. She smiled and indicated it was his turn for introducing himself to the group.

 

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Ooc: Lia and Monique are up for grabs.
Lucy, Lia, and Monique are three ladies so far. I'm thinking no more than four ladies and three men, the Doctor may be taken, he's male. Jason is taken. That leaves room for one more man.

Needed: 2 men
2-3 women

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

"It feels like I am back at school again," grinned Jason. "I'm Jason or Jay and I'm the engineer around here. If you need anything built, broken down or repaired then I'm your man unless it requires a fine knowledge of electronics. I know enough to get by and jury rig a system that is already there, maybe, but for complex stuff better find someone else. My Family has been in the construction business for 20 generations now so I guess it's not only part of my blood but in my genes."

He smiled at the people gathered around and then looked over at the science officer. "How about you Doc. What sort of scientist are you?"

 

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Lia swallowed a mouthful of glop made slightly more palatable with the fruit stirred through it. She then smiled and pushed a honey coloured curl out of her eyes before speaking. "I'm Lia May Williams, Doctor of Xenobotany...That means I study newly discovered plant species and I specialize in splicing known species and new species on a cellular level to invent super plant species. I was a member of the team which invented the concrete weeping cactus." She announced proudly despite no one else seeming to have heard of the still obscure new species. She explained further, her caramel coloured hands a flurry of movement as she articulated often while talking. "It's a plant which produces an element much like wet concrete and if the fluid emitted is collected and used while still moist it can be shaped into all manner of forms, much like concrete. This stuff can be hardened with heat and used as a building material. All natural building material, and non toxic. Quite handy."

Lucy had to ask, "I don't suppose you packed one or two of those..."

Lia nodded emphatically. "Actually, I packed four and other helpful plants as well, medicinal plants, vitamin rich vegetables...I have roots and seedlings galore, guys. If there's a place to plant something I will make it grow." She vowed.

Lucy grinned, "I'm glad you're with us, Lia, and Jason, excellent."

Lia added, "Oh, and I'm twenty-eight, my mother was Mexican and my father was Jamaican. I was raised in Mexico until I was about four, then we moved to California, U.S.A. and my sister was born in California, and we used to visit family in Jamaica during Summer holidays...when my parents died in a boating accident my younger sister and I had to move to France where an aunt and uncle took us in. I was sixteen then. I finished my doctorate in Belgium and got onto a research team there, working for a few years on the Belgian carrot crisis before being taken on by the E.S.A. ... And, here I am now." She finished. "Captain...um, I mean, Lucille, where are you from?"

Lucy shrugged, "I'm Scottish and Welsh with a bit of Irish mixed in my dad's family. I actually thought I wanted to be a firefighter for a while before deciding on becoming an astronaut."

Pab added, "Fire trucks, hoses, lots of action, saving lives...what's not to like? I can see the attraction to fire fighting for someone with a personality also suited for exploration and the responsibilities of command."

Lucy nodded, smiling wistfully she said, "On days like two days ago I wish I had stuck with firefighter..."

Pab asked, "Jason, where do you come from?"

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

"Oh sorry, I guess I should have mentioned that. I'm an Aussie or Australian so I am a thorough mongrel when it comes to bloodlines," he smiled to show he was having a bit of a joke with them. "My family tree reads like an atlas. I have Scandinavian, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Danish on one side. The other has Italian, Roman, Egyptian, Greek, French, and Spanish in it. There are also jokes about a little Russian and German and maybe a little Polish being slipped in and maybe even some Thai or Japanese for flavor." He laughed at his own little joke.

"It is amazing with all that exactly how I have turned out," he said indicating his body. He was 6 foot 4 and lean and muscular because of the work he did. He had rich brown hair with a hint of red in it, and his now two day face growth was even redder. Deep blue eyes looked out of a strong angular face, that was not classically handsome but wasn't bad to look at. He had heard himself described as ruggedly good looking.

"I'm only 27 so so far it looks like I am the baby of the bunch. Does anyone know the Docs story and if he is going to be okay. No offense Pab but having a fully trained Doc would come in handy. Oh and did you think about what we talked about last night Pab?"

 

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Pab imitated a shrug. "Jason, choosing a name for oneself is quite the daunting endeavour. I'm considering historical, practical, and auditory pleasure...It's led me to narrowing my choices from an almost infinite amount of names to a selection of ninety-one-thousand, three-hundred-fifty-six possible names I may like..." Pab tilted his head and scratched a non-existent eyebrow to indicate confusion over a tough decision. "I'm afraid it could take longer to choose a name for myself than one night. It is something I am taking seriously but I enjoy the conundrum. Thanks for asking."

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Ooc~okay so two people left. We basically need a pilot and a computer tech. Pilot to help out with security and drive any drones or vehicles stored on board, and land the ship. The computer tech to help with all the systems that the engineer doesn't know about and the fuel cells. Only calling them Comp tech because of systems. Could just be a scientific engineer.

One would be male other female. So I can create the male character just need to know who I am creating. Pilot or Tech/engineer

 

[slippedhalo]

Ooc: Take what you want and know the Captain would also have basic piloting experience too.

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Ooc~ yeah I was thinking along those lines. After all she is the Captain, should know how to fly the thing (lol). OK how about we give all the usual strong male parts to the women ie: The captain, Security, and Pilot and make the guys into the back up group. The Techs and the Doc. Sorry about Lia but she will just be the odd one out. Also not saying the guys are weak or anything but how many shows or books would have all those roles filled by women? Well on that note...

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Mako woke up almost as tired as when he had gone to sleep. He was used to sometimes having to go days on little sleep, but he preferred his own bed to sleep in if that was the case. This survival tent just did not help, nor did the bright green color suit his tastes all that well. He had been running on adrenalin for the past few days and knew from past experience he was going to crash big time soon.

Crawling out he saw a group of people around a small camp stove and the smell of fresh Caffeine had him almost dashing over. The Pab unit filled his cup and he thanked it while looking around. The captain he recognized as well as Jason. He and Jason had often had to work on projects together. He had not really recognized him in the mad scramble but he was glad to see him. The big Aussie was a friend and in fact the two of them had been dubbed the dynamic duo. He could make any system work, be it computer, plumbing, solar, electrical in fact if it needed waters or something to flow through it he was your man. Jason on the other hand could construct anything given the parts.

It was actually quite strange to see them together. Jason of course was over 6 foot, muscled and jovial. Mako was only 5 feet tall, typically Asian in appearance, and very thin in body shape. He actually looked younger than his friend but was 32 years old.

"Hello all, Jason. Glad to see you made it. Looks like the dynamic duo survives to fight on." He bowed slightly to the others. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mako Fujiwara. I am 32 years old and I was the chief scientific engineer. Hopefully i won't be needed until we land, because if i am things have indeed gone very bad."

He smiled at Pab. "This is very good coffee, is there any more perhaps?"

 

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Pab answered an earlier question, "The Head Medical Officer is Dr. Dennis Hastings. Brilliant surgeon and general practitioner. He's forty-two years old, separated from his wife of twelve years, Diane, due to irreconcilable differences. She's in love with and living with a woman named Janet. He's signed on to this mission to begin anew, a big change from practicing on the Mars station where he used to be. He was born in Kent, England and he and Diane met when he was first assigned to Mars. He's been in and out of consciousness all morning. Doctor Hastings was awake and lucid for nineteen minutes, twenty-three seconds from 03:41 this morning. Then again, at 05:03 he woke up and had a drink of water, and I told him about our current situation. He lost consciousness again at 05:08. I believe once the swelling to his brain has gone down he should recover. It might take a few days."

Pab went into a description of an idea he had while the others were sleeping. He wanted to inform his colleagues that on planet if need arose he had a removable part of his innards which could be fashioned into a waste disposal system (or a toilet) and each gallon of waste only required an hour of Pab processing it internally to produce half a litre of pure, drinkable water and a baked "brick". He knew humans could sometimes find their bodily functions hard to deal with and embarrassing. He hoped this knowledge of his other uses could settle their minds a bit to know he could turn their waste into something useful to them all if they'd let him. As he was likely to be sitting watch for several hours per night anyway, processing waste to make fresh water and bio degradable bricks seemed like a practical use of that time to him.

 

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Lia watched everyone, particularly Mako, as they talked. He was kind of cute...She noticed nobody seemed to want to talk much of the previous day's horrors. Seventy dead...The whole ship they'd left floating behind them in space was a graveyard now. How would they memorialize those people lost in the accident? She sensed now was not the time to bring up these darker thoughts plaguing her, but when? Lia felt the trembling starting again. This time it was her hands and knees.

When Lucy gently wrapped an arm around her, placing her own hand over Lia' s tightly clenched, wringing and trembling fists, Lia was afraid to look over and see reprimand in the other woman's eyes but when she looked up into Lucy's face there was an unspoken sense that Lucy understood, perhaps even kind of felt just as scared and uncertain too only she was handling it just a little better at the moment. There was no judgement in Lucille' s eyes and the spreading warmth of her touch helped Lia calm down and stop shaking quite so much. In a soft, humbled whisper Lia said, "Thanks."

Lucy smiled and winked, whispering back, "It's ok."