1
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 4: S [Day 1 | 1810 hrs] A Friend Indeed...
Last post by Dumedion -Her head tilted at his first question with absolute confusion. Potatoes? What? But then it clicked; the scientific names she'd used. Cora's mouth opened to explain and clarify as Sylvain attempted to placate and remove the Moopsy from his neck, only for him to share his thoughts on what they had discovered. The analyst blinked in response, a tad surprised but relieved that he agreed; the added speculation (which she hadn't even considered) only added to her worry, and frankly, her outrage at the entire affair. Granted, they only had the stolen journal of a single Savi researcher, who may or may not have been performing said research alone or under some manner of supervision – but there was more than enough actionable evidence at hand.
Cora stood, frozen with fear at the implications alone – not to mention the moral and ethical wrongness of their so-called ‘allies’. What else are the Savi capable of if they can cross so many lines of morality? Breeding a genetically altered creature into a biological weapon might just be the least of our worries. What if they –
Her thoughts were instantly derailed by something wet and sticky splattering across the entire side of her face. “Ngh,” Cora grunted, one eye closed on instinct as she shook visibly, unsure what to do. "Eeeew," she whined, her hands froze raised up, fingers fanned out. It was dripping off her chin, and cooling quickly, like snot or…The first gag hit her as a silent protestation of her stomach, which really didn’t help her situation at all; Cora’s mouth flooded with acid-laced saliva and opened in a mute heave – the same reflex action she suffered brushing her teeth sometimes when she managed to distract herself and brush too deep. Once the first reflex passed, Cora, without thinking, licked her lips and swallowed.
Oh – no!
She shook herself in panic and started swiping the viscous, green-tinted fluid from her face; determined not to deal with the fact that she’d just ingested saliva from a bone-drinking, genetically modified apex predator that just ate a Savi researcher – then had spent the last several minutes trying to suckle through Sylvain’s skin. Don’t throw up. Don’t do it. It didn’t happen. It didn’t happen, IT DIDN’T HAPPEN, Cora repeated to herself as she flung the drool off her hands onto the floor and pulsing conduits. Her jacket was unzipped and pulled up to wipe off more with a grimace, as the Ensign wondered what they might feed the thing that just slimed her.
Cora shot him an incredulous look – Really? – it said, as the man suggested that they should name it, then suggested yogurt as a high calcium substitute for bones. Even without a specific scientific education in that field, Cora doubted it would work – however, Sylvain rendered the notion moot before she could audibly respond. Again with the potatoes? The analyst rolled her eyes as she attempted to comb the worst of the slime out of her hair with a grimace. She couldn’t get the taste out of her mouth, and the more she tried to pull out of her hair, the more it smeared into her curly locks.
“Uhh, yeah, its common enough, sure," Cora grunted a reply to his query about bone broth, “but...we don’t know enough about it’s digestive system to –“ Sylvain shot up suddenly, faster than she was prepared; the sudden movement caused her to jerk back in response with an alarmed sqeak. “Sorry – sorry,” Cora flinched, shook herself, as he talked. Her nerves were fraying, what with all the…developments, so much so that Cora didn’t fully follow his line of reasoning.
“I’m sorry – hacking? What d’you – oh,” her head tilted at the device, waiting for Sylvain to continue. She frowned at his very odd phrasing, not sure what he was getting on about; from what she understood, Savi had no interest in – ohhhh...
Cora blinked rapidly, processing the possibilities. The analyst cleared her throat quietly with another head tilt at him. “To be clear – and, please stop me if I’m wrong – but…it sounds like you’re suggesting we…use the…,” her hand gestured to the creature – Moopsy – Potatoe – whatever. “Them, on the Savi? And how does that make us any better than them, sir?”
Cora's hands found her hips. Yes, she had done questionable things do get the job done; her moral compass wasn’t always a luxury to have, nor did it always point to true north, but she had her limits. If that was his plan, then she had an obligation to point her objections – which, to be fair – were slim compared to the potential havoc the Savi could cause by unleashing the Potatoes – damn it – the Moopsies – on an entire world or worlds.
She waved his response aside, it was a rhetorical question anyway.
“It doesn’t – but if it keeps these creatures from the exploitation that they have in mind, I can live with that. Actually pulling it off is another matter entirely,” Cora sighed and consulted the PDA again. “We know where the center is. We just need to get there…,” she frowned, concentrating as her fingers tapped rapidly. “This’d be a lot easier with a working terminal,” Cora grumbled to herself, oblivious to the fact that she was pacing away and back to him, past and back again. Each time she passed by, the Moopsy squirmed in the corner of her eye, prompting a deeper frown as she skidding away from it. The enhancer was clamped onto the PDA with a snap, promptly powering up.
“The Savi transporters are crazy advanced. I can’t even begin to understand the physics, but a system is just a system. If I can gain access, even for a single action, I can ride their system using our badges into their buffers,” she murmured aloud, fingers tapping faster and faster as she spoke. “Wait – wait I almost got it….almost…there!”
Cora grabbed Sylvain’s arm just as they both vanished in an instantaneous wink of light…
…And appeared inside a transparent tank of slimy yellow fluid. Cora released a stream of bubbles in a muffled scream of alarm and hit the button again, her free hand clamped tight around Sylvain’s bicep as they vanished again...
…And reappeared, dripping foul liquid, in the middle of some sort of hangar, lined with row upon row of sleek, shiny craft, directly behind a group of four towering Savi. Cora hit the button as they all turned, and the pair disappeared again, leaving only two puddles behind…
…and they appeared again, in a cramped wardrobe of some sort, lined with various outfits and lined with dozens of odd looking devices – almost medicinal looking. Cora frowned and grimaced at what appeared to be restraint harnesses built into the walls. "Ohh, hell no," the analyst hissed as she hit the button yet again…
The pair popped into existence in a vast chamber, clean and whole. Cora blinked and twitched, feeling nauseous at what they’d just seen and suffered through, but otherwise alright, until she realized where they were: Cora and Sylvain, with little drool-slinger on his hip, stood surrounded by dozens, hundreds, of bubbling stasis pods; each one held a cluster of somnolent white balls of fur, each one riddled with tiny silver tubes drilled into their adorable little bodies.
“I think we found the potatoes,” Cora whispered nervously, with a glance at him. "So...right - what now, then," she asked with a shrug.