Chapter 18: The Sand Dune (Original Archive)
A swirling mist filled with tiny particles sparkled in the noontime sun. "Sun?" Chelydra thought to himself, confused and disoriented. Shaking his head, he looked about him. He had been thrown into the dining area of the small ship, where a window was supposed to look out onto space. But instead, sand covered half the opening and a wind-blown dune could be seen above it.
Amanda lay unconscious just inside the hallway, still strapped into her emergency flight seat attached to the wall. He couldn't see far into the hallway from his vantage point, so he carefully began assessing physical damage to himself before trying to rise.
Arkady's head felt as if it were going to explode. Or maybe it already exploded and by some cruel twist of fate he could still feel all of the pieces screeching their disapproval? Whatever had happened, he was seeing stars without having to open his eyes. There were alarms going off all around him, coming mostly from the direction of the control panels. "Nike?" He said, wondering if he were the only one injured. He decided to take a deep breath to try to clear his head, and that was a mistake. Tiny shards of hurt emanated from his sternum, presumably where the seat harness had maintained his position by force. After what seemed like an eternity, he opened his eyes and looked about. Nike's head was slumped forward, blood dribbling from her upper lip and onto the console in front of her. The hull breech alarm, anti-grav alarm, and deflector shield alarms were screaming at them to take action.
"What the hell happened?" Arkady wondered aloud, then tried to swim through the fog in his brain for the answers.
Rufus, perhaps due to his canine anatomy, recovered from the crash quickly. Nike had announced that they had been hit, and that they were going to crash, but then she had cut the PA and been quite busy keeping them from kasploding. Or at least, that's what he assumed. Hit by what? He wondered, and why? He saw Percy, out cold, hanging upside down from his emergency landing-harness. It was then that he realized that he was lying on his back in his own.
What do you do?
Hull breach? "The hull's ruptured," Arkady shouted to anyone who had ears to hear. His own voice rang in his ears, amplifying his headache. Groan! He reached to release his grav-harness, and was reacquainted with pain. His chest ached from the motion. "Wake people up and apply oxygen, there might not be enough on this planet!" he shouted again, ignoring the pain behind his ears. He sniffed the air for obvious signs of contamination before sealing the faceplate on his enviro-suit. Acutely aware of the pain in his torso, he arthritically removed his restraints.
Free at last, he turned his attention to Nike. "Nike?! Can you hear me," he asked, looking into her face. Carefully, as if handling a delicate flower, he caressed her forehead and opened an eyelid. He placed his other hand on her neck to feel her pulse. His compulsive need for action, and self-control waned as he began to feel increasingly vulnerable and frightened.
"...please don't die..." Arkady repeatedly pleaded, "please don't die..."
OOC: Is her breath fogging my faceplate? Is her pupil dilating?
Sun? Sand? Where were they? Chelydra shook his head in puzzlement and wished for a moment that his genes had been scrambled with rattlesnake or something else more used to desert living.
Standing up he looked around him to ascertain if there was any visible damage to the shuttle or smells of fire or leaking fluids. The alarms ringing through his head certainly meant something had gone wrong.
The first thing he saw was the unconcious body of Amanda. He moved cautiously over and began to check for wounds, maybe he would be lucky and some knowledge of first aid would be left in his head, otherwise Amanda could be in a lot of trouble. "Nike, Rufus, Percy, Arkady?" He called out, "I'm with Amanda in the galley, she's out cold, I'm looking to see how badly hurt she is, what's the rest of our status look like?"
"zzzzzzzzzzzz.... <snort> Mmmm, no, not the pink bunnies!! ... ZZzzzzzzzz ..."
OOC: I love writing unconscious posts. So easy!
Nike remained unconscious, but her breathing was smooth and steady, and her pulse, though slightly low, was in the normal range. "Oh thank God!" Arkady whispered to himself, and leaned her head back gently. He knew that he had to check on the others, so he wiped his faceplate clean and moved through the doorway from cockpit to main hallway. He could see the environmental control room (pressurization tank, etc.) at the end of the hallway. Between the cockpit and the ECR were three doors and one hallway that ran perpendicular to the main hallway that had its own set of doors. "Hello? Anyone conscious around here?" he shouted, moving to investigate.
Meanwhile, Chelydra checked Amanda for wounds. She had a large bump on the back of her head, which seemed to be from blunt trauma, and was breathing normally, though her pulse seemed rather slow. He wondered if anyone had heard his call to the others over the din of the alarms. A small maintenance bot whizzed down the hallway, past the mini-hall to the galley. Suddenly, something dark and large seemed to move in front of the galley window. Chelydra turned rapidly, but saw nothing. "Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought," Chelydra muttered aloud, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something had been there.
**What do you do?**
OOC:
Along the secondary hallway, if you turn left, you reach the door to crew quarters, about ten feet down on the right. Right across the hallway from that a mini-hallway with emergency seats and the double doors to the galley/recreational area. If you turn right, you reach secondary door to the equipment room, and at the end of the hallway the landing/entrance ramp.
/5\
/ \
/ \
| |
\_ _/
| |
| |
| |
| 4
| |
| |
___6____| |______4___
|________ __________|9
|7| | |
| | | |
8 | |
| 3
| |
| |
| 2
_\1/_
__/ \__
/ \
| |
\ /
| |
\ /
\ /
-----
Even through the insulation of his environment-suit helmet, the din of alarms caused Arkady's head to ache. Painfully he moved down the hall away from Nike and the cockpit. He headed straight down the corridor to the other side; to the air-lock chamber where he had last seen Percy and Chelydra.
The turtle-man crossed the small galley space to the doors, no point yelling over the alarms, he thought as he exited slowly into the hallway. I need to find out what sort of gear we have on this shuttle in case what ever that is out there isn't friendly. He turned and began to make his way along the corridor to his right.
Arkady turned as he heard some noise, muffled as it was through his helmet/mask, coming from his left. He saw nothing straight ahead.
What do you do?
Had they been alone when they entered the ship? The thought horrified him. Wasn't it bad enough that they might be marooned? Arkady looked down both corridors to his right and left as he passed the center of the ship, but he saw nothing. He hadn't been down those passages before the ship left the Warden, and his memory was dark concerning what might be down them. He hurried down the central corridor toward the air-lock control room; the place where he had last seen his comrades.
"Zzzzzzz...." Percy drooled on himself, and tried to shift his position in his injury-induced unconsciousness.
As Arkady headed for the control room at the end of the corridor, he saw several flashing lights. The hues of green, blue, yellow and red that richocheted from button to wall to wall made him feel a bit lightheaded. Perhaps he hit his head harder than he thought. One computer in particular caught his eye--the one flashing green and blue. Carefully, Arkady hit the query button.
"Atmosphere: safe for humans and most human hybrids. Arrid. External
hull temperature--151 degrees. Ambient air temperature--107 degrees.
Sunny. Afrimus cloud formation forming in the Southeast."
----+----+----+----
Chelydra moved down the hallway toward the main intersection, and hearing voices, carefully moved in the direction of the voices. To his utter relief, Arkady was standing there, reviewing some computer data.
----+----+----+----
Percy groaned at the banging cymbals of the marching band in his brain. But the band seemed to pay him no heed, and as he opened his eyes to see what the heck was going on, they shot fireworks as if to spite him.
Ed. note: Horatio entered play in Chapter 18 on June 19th 2002.
----+----+----+----
The villagers were occupying their summer encampment, protected by the mountains on three sides of a lush desert oasis. The Amaa River sprang forth from the earth here, and bubbled cold and clear into a huge maze of large tropical pools before coming together once more and forming the tradional river form before plunging forth into the desert sand. It was here that Horatio made his summer home; the weather was too brutal to travel about during the deathly heat of the Ithark's summer. The nomads were more than happy to have him join them, since they were always in need of healing, instruction, and priestly services such as betrothing and waylaying.
Horatio was relaxing amid his thoughts of the Warden and who it may have really served when a huge sound, reverbating from heat pack to heat pack, broke his reverie. He looked up to see a huge silver bird streaking from the sky, and it looked as if it had eyes of flame. He spoke to his gehti(native servants), washing in a nearby pool, and they headed toward the downed bird at a quick pace. "Perhaps the Warden has sent me an answer at last!" he thought with excitement.
---+---+---+---OOC: Welcome Horatio!
Arkady breathed a stale sigh of relief into his suit. He released the helmet from his enviro-suit and removed it. His headache had abated only a little; the pain in his chest, not at all. Painfully he turned around at the sound of footsteps behind him.
Arkady was relieved by the surprisingly familiar sight of a nearly two meter tall turtle walking on two legs. "Chel!" he said as he cautiously sat down against the bulkhead to remove the rest of his suit. "Nike's badly injured up in the cockpit, and her breathing is shallow. How is everyone else? Are you alright?" These suits were difficult enough to remove without having to be so terribly sore.
"The hull's been breached, but the computer indicates that we'll be able to breathe on this planet. Have a look," Arkady nodded slightly towards the blinking computer interface. His head felt like it wanted to be elsewhere. "I can't recall what an 'afrimus' cloud is, but I'm sure it's not gonna be good."
OOC: afrimus? a google search came up empty
Arkady placed the suit and helmet in the suit storage compartment next to the air-lock and sealed it shut. It triggered a sudden memory of how he'd always been a neat-freak, and how he'd spent most of life living alone.
He put his boots back on and headed as fast as his throbbing head would allow him back into the ship. "We'll need some med-kits, Chel!" There was a supply room door on his left before the corridor intersection. He opened it and went inside. "And I sure could use a weapon," he thought to himself, "preferably non-lethal." He had never killed anyone before. But he had never been in as much danger as he had been in the last few hours.
OOC: afrimus? a google search came up empty
OOC: It's a unique cloud formation to a few fictional planetary systems (i.e., I made it up!) <grin>
"Whoa!" Percy decided he'd better stay put for the moment. At least until the pain and blindness subsided. "Hey, anybody, what happened? What's our status?" He called out, eyes closed, to the others on the ship, hoping for a response. He wasn't panicked, yet, but he had a distinct nagging that things did not in fact get better off-ship like they were hoping. "Well at least those crazed robots aren't blasting at us anymore," he consoled himself to pass the time.
As Horatio picks his way across the shifting sands of the great inner desert he reflects on the strange twist of fate that has just lifted him from performing the most mundane of priestly services all the way to its most sacred rite. He prays, briefly, to be worthy of this honor for he is sure that what he has seen is a true vessel of the fallen.
Unbidden the great question keeps rushing into his mind, the question for which he is banished, the question that he must not think. He pushes it away and begins chanting the ritual intonations for purification of his soul.
As he crests a last dune he sees stretching before him the silver bird is in fact a vessel made of metal. The writing on the side is in the most ancient of scripts and makes little sense but he is certain that this vessel could only have been sent from the true source.
Fighting down the rising tide of excitement Horatio gathers himself for a few seconds of silence then thrusting both arms in the air he begins the Dirge of the Fallen. A ritual of both welcome and despair, the most sacred and the most rarely used ritual that all acolytes must learn before entry into the priesthood.
As he finishes the Dirge Horatio allows himself again to speculate about what providence has delivered here. Then, pausing only briefly for one more look from the crest of the dune, he descends towards the vessel seeking a point of entry and a perhaps a better life.
"Glad to see you made it down in one piece Arkady. Amanda is back aft, out cold with a big lump on her head, so I'll take one of those med-kits for her too, if we can find them."
He considered telling Arkady about the shadow he had glimpsed outside but decided there was no reason for paranoia, it was just a shadow after all.
"well, we can breathe the air and that's something. Don't suppose you know anything about local food or water? I sure didn't see much of anything on the way down. And how are the rest of us? Did everybody make it down ok?"
Thoughts of leaking fuel, and who knew what else from the shuttle had Chelydra a bit worried, but he'd let the engineering types deal with that. His knowledge of shuttlecraft stopped at about the point that said landings were supposed to be a lot smoother than what they had just been through.
[Amanda] stirred. "Uggggh." She murmured, feeling a bone level pain throughout her body. Her head felt the size of a message bot. Somehow in the fog of her mind she decided it would be a good idea to get up and look around, not thinking of further injuring herself. As she tried to stand, her leg collapsed, and all was once again black.
[Chelydra and Arkady] entered the supply closet, and thankfully, the med kits were marked very clearly. There were six. Also in plain sight was dehydrated food packets and bottled water. Several other large sets of boxes were present, but at first glance their contents were not obvious. There was another door at the rear of the large cubicle, marked 'Munitions', and it had a computerized card lock on the door handle. "Well, whaddya think?" the Turtle-Man said to Arkady, but before the pilot could answer he thought he heard a voice calling for help. "Did you hear that?" he said to no one in particular.
[Percy] The band seemed to be marching away, because their sounds were beginning to fade. However, it also seemed that they were stopped in traffic about a football field's length from his auditory nerve. "Looks like I might have some permanent built in background music," he thought wryly and almost laughed in spite of himself. He looked at the floor, and realized that if he unbuckled himself, he might hit it with a great deal of force. "Not the best thing for an injured man." He thought. "Ok, Plan B."
"H-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-L-L-P!!" He yelled, hoping someone else was conscious.
As [Horatio] crossed the threshold of the final sand crest, he felt a surge of excitement and felt a bit dizzy. The shiny bird was just below him, cock-eyed and angled bizarrely in its sandy nest. His companions hung back, timid and afraid.
Not Horatio.
He walked up to the bird, and felt its shiny skin. It was smooth and hard, like bone or a blade, and his skin seemed to sizzle with the contact.
A thud from within startled him, and he withdrew to watch for a few more minutes.
"Are you going to approach it again?" Foryin managed to stammer.
**What do you do?**
"Yeah, I thought I heard someone calling for help," Arkady replied. He thought for a moment about the ship's other occupants. "What about Percy and that talking dog? We may need to revive more than just Nike and Amanda," he said as he grabbed two med kits. "I'm certain my ID won't open that munitions locker, but I'll bet that yours or Nike's will. Let's get our comrades up and about first and come back here to stock up. Maybe Percy can shed some more light on our situation." He grabbed a bottle of water out of the bin as well and turned to leave. Outside in the corridor he shouted, "Where are you," to whomever might have been calling for help. He listened for a response as he headed towards the cockpit and Nike.
OOC: Med kits? Are these the same as Zhaxier encountered after his trip down the airshaft in chapter 4?:
"At the bottom of the cabinet lies a green bag with a medical red cross on it. Grabbing the bag, Zhaxier moves over to the table, opens the bag, finds the injector, loads a new vial, and then injects himself in the shoulder with it. Zhaxier flinches slightly. The medi- kit holds 5 more doses. Tiny nano-bots fill Zhaxier's blood stream and begin racing toward any wounded area to repair it. Zhaxier's nasty purple and blue shoulder wound disappears in minutes, as does all his other minor wounds. Their duties completed, the nano-bots turn inactive and die. The entire process seems almost magical."
Percy heard someone calling from the corridor. He shouted again. 'Hey! I'm over here!' Realizing that 'here' wasn't very descriptive, he elaborated. 'In the entry, uh, exit... hatch bay... area... foyer room!' he shouted on, still a bit dazed but trying to be helpful all the same.
Then, suddenly, Percy noticed Rufus, still strapped into a harness in the emergency seating a few seats down from him. At least he thought it was Rufus. He widened his eyes and squinted them in succession, trying to regain clarity of focus. 'Rufus?!' Percy queried in the canine-man's direction.
OOC: Med kits? Are these the same as Zhaxier encountered after his trip down the airshaft in chapter 4?
OOC: No, but they are very similar. These particular med kits are made for field medicine; therefore they contain not only nano-bots but also some mysterious injections of various sorts. Arkady and Chelydra are not sure what they contain, though they suspect pain killers.
Chelydra, too, grabbed a bottle of water and guzzled it, sticking another into his belt.
[Meanwhile, Percy] 'Hey! I'm over here!' Realizing that 'here' wasn't very descriptive, he elaborated. 'In the entry, uh, exit... hatch bay... area... foyer room!' he shouted on, still a bit dazed but trying to be helpful all the same.
He wondered if anyone heard him. His attempts to get Rufus's attention had been unfruitful. Not only did the dog-man not answer him, but now that Percy thought about it, he didn't seem to be moving at all. "Well, that can't be good." Percy said aloud to no one in particular.
[Back in the supply room] This time, there was no doubt. Percy was alive, and calling for help. "You want to go get Percy while I go to check Nike?" Arkady said, torn between his preconceived plan and the new choice.
"My training says that we should stay together, at least until we add another to our number." Chelydra responded.
***What do you do??***
OOC: Each kit contains multiple nano-bot healing injectors and multiple injections of a more uncertain nature? If that's the case then Arkady will only take one kit and a couple of waters.
Arkady was torn for a moment. It seemed like days since he had left Nike unconscious and bleeding in the cockpit, but he trusted Chelydra's advice. They had to stay together. Percy was closer. But if he was capable of shouting, then he was in less danger than Nike. On the other hand, if Percy was conscious, he was probably just immobile. Freeing someone might take less time than reviving them.
"Let's free Percy first then," he said to Chelydra, "come on, let's hurry!" Arkady prayed for Nike's well-being as he followed Percy's voice into the hatch-bay [OOC: room number 5 on the map]. "How could we have missed him when we were examining the ship's computers," he wondered to himself.
OOC: Where everyone is on the ship. Here's what I gathered insofar as to everyone's movements.
Everyone boarded the ship at 9: Landing/Entrance Ramp. Nike and Arkady went to the bridge (beyond 1: Entrance to Cockpit). Rufus and Percy strapped themselves in at 9. Chelydra and Amanda strapped themsevles in at 7. Cheyldra was knocked into 8 when ship crashed. Arkady went exploring and met up with Chelydra at 4: Equipment Room
So I think currently everyone is:
9: Percy, Rufus
4: Chelydra, Arkady
7: Amanda
Beyond 1: Nike
Izzat right? The other day I traced all the clues (equipment room on left (4), foremostly.) about where each might be and this seemed to me to be the most reasonable.
SA, did I get this right or is publius1024 on the right track with locations? At first I thought Percy/Rufus were at 5, too, but now I'm thinking 9 instead?
OOC: Woops! Yeah, I meant 9, the landing/entrance ramp (like Percy was yelling in the first place.) That would explain why neither Arkady nor Chelydra saw anyone in the computer room. Arkady will head towards 9/the entrance/Percy's voice and/or all of the above. By the way, where is the air-lock? I thought it was in 5.
"Right behind you Arkady" the turtleman replied, turning to follow Arkady and the voice. 'How did I manage to miss Percy on the way up here?' he chided himself, 'That bump on the way down must have shook me up more than I thought.' He grabbed a med-kit for the unconcious Amanda and exited the compartment.
'Munitions, that's what we'll need if I wasn't just seeing shadows outside. I'll have to come back and see about getting that door open as soon as we get everyone patched up,' he mused to himself.
OOC: Yes, the air lock is indeed at site 5. Also, keep in mind that Percy is still strapped into his seat in this next round of posts. And C, glad you could post! Try to get some rest!
Arkady and Chelydra found Percy, much to Percy's glee. "Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you found me! I was beginning to think that I was the only one here, or *gulp* the only one left alive. Everyone else is alive, aren't they? Or are they busy doing other things? Did they go off ship? Where are we anyway?" When he paused for breath, Chelydra looked at Percy with a straight face and said, "At least we know that his vocal chords weren't damaged." Arkady chuckled.
Percy, knowing that he always talked a lot when he was nervous, shrugged his shoulders and smiled, but the effort shot pain through his shoulders and back into his head. Arkady prepared a dose of nanobots while Chelydra examined the surrounding area.
Just then, an animal-like screech shook the walls, and then was suddenly silenced.
"I don't think we're alone in here." Chelydra said, looking grim.
**What do you do?**
OOC: Regarding my confusion over the location of Percy and the air-lock. The last thing that Percy did after securing the air-lock was to examine the ship's computers for useful info. If the air-lock was in room 5 with the main computer interfaces, then why did he wind up in room 9? Were there no emergency seats in 5? (Did the safety of a crash harness overcome Percy's sense of comfort from being around computers again? ;) And, _far_ more importantly, did he discovery anything from the computers? 8)
The screech sent another shiver up Arkady's spine and added to the pressure between his temples. He winced from the pain. It wasn't as bad as before, but it still wasn't going away. He wondered if he should give himself a shot too, but again he thought of Nike. She had been in far worse shape when he last checked on her. It seemed like months had passed since then.
Arkady tried to keep his skull as still as possible as he stood and gave Percy the nanobot injection. "Percy, don't yell, my head is pounding. These nano-docs will set you right."
He then noticed Rufus next to him, also hanging upside-down in his harness, still and lifeless. He checked for a pulse.
OOC: If Rufus still lives, Arkady'll prepare another dose and give it to Rufus
Arkady helped Chelydra release Percy's emergency harness and let him down to the floor. As Percy got back on his feet, he said, "We still need to revive Nike and Amanda. The hull has been ruptured, so if there's a critter in the ship it might've gotten in that way. I don't know where the rupture is, but I didn't notice anything fore or aft. Maybe it got in through the crew quarters or galley? What weapons do we have between us? [OOC: Chel - shotgun? Percy - stun gun?] I'm really worried about Nike. I think we should go for her next."
OOC: BTW, why are Percy and Rufus upside-down? The ship isn't upside-down is it? (he said, biting his nails;) Did their seats malfunction or something?
OOC: Rufus does not have a pulse. For inquiring souls who need to know for their detailed-oriented minds, though he appeared to be unharmed, he had internal injuries that caused a pulmonary embolism. He's dead, Jim. :) His player had to bow out, and the plot is about to get very complicated, so he had to go ...
Secondly, the ship is not upside-down, but at a strange slant, such that in any given corridor, one seat of seats would be on the ceiling while the others would be almost on the floor. Make sense?
Re: Percy 5 vs. 9 query, let's assume that he checked the computer interface near that entrance ramp, where there is a small computer terminal for controlling the doors, ramp, etc.
OOC: Yes, that makes sense. One last question 8) Is the nose of the ship lower than the rest of the ship?
-And now, a moment of silence for Rufus-
...
"So, um ... did Rufus's universal stun gun survive the crash?" he asked greedily.
"Agreed, lets get Nike back on her feet. And not to alarm you or anything but I did see something moving around outside the ship so we might want to give some serious thought about finding that hole." The turtle-man gave a long look at Rufus, the only other man-animal fusion he had hoped to ask about their common state, some things would remain forever a mystery he decided, but mentally promised a decent burial as soon as circumstances permitted.
For inquiring souls who need to know for their detailed-oriented minds, though [Rufus] appeared to be unharmed, he had internal injuries that caused a pulmonary embolism.
OOC: Lol, that must be me! Well then, I humbly submit to the SA's approval the following:
Sand Dune addendum request 1:
Rufus struggled to free himself from the flight seat, but his weight
and position made it extremely difficult to do so. He fought against
his restraints but made no progress. Soon his fur was soaked in
perspiration and he began to panic. Would he ever escape? He tried to
relax, but he was having difficulty breathing. Then he noticed that a
sharp pain in his chest had begun to bother him. He felt light-headed
and decided to rest for a bit before another escape attempt. Rufus'
strong physique prevented him from realizing that something was
terribly wrong with him. He drifted into a blissful sleep from which
he would never awaken.
What I lack in anatomy skills, I make up for with google searches for +"pulmonary embolism" +symptoms 8)
Sand Dune addendum request 2:
[In the supply room:] Arkady grabbed a bottle of water out of the bin
as well and turned to leave, noticing as he did so that the bag that
he had brought with him was carefully stowed in an inertial dampening
compartment along with the rest of the supplies. He had no idea that
Amanda had put them there while he and Chelydra had been occupied
outside the ship, but he was grateful to whomever had done so. He
hadn't thought about his bag since he had carelessly left it next to
the main entrance. At best, the pod launcher would have been useless
after the crash, at worst? ... Arkady shuddered.
I just know that my inquiring soul is gonna get me in trouble some day ;)
"I think I still have my laser pistol," Percy said to Arkady as the pilot helped him to the floor. He almost tumbled from the slant of the ship. The pain of his wounds didn't help his stability anyway. He hoped that shot of whatever Arkady had given him would help him feel back to his normal self. "Thanks, Arkady," he said calmly as he waited for relief.
He looked to Rufus and frowned. He had felt affection for the dog...oid. He suddenly experienced the memory of a rural house's air conditioner, and burying a dog underneath one. He frowned again.
"Nike needs a medic?" he asked Chelydra. "Well, I say we get to it. I heard that shriek along with the rest of you; I figure we need all the military types we can muster!" He suddenly looked outside the room down the corridor. "Where's Amanda?"
Percy shuddered with the thought. Had only four--possibly five--of them escaped Warden? And, to where had they escaped, rather, crash landed? He steeled himself for the hours ahead which he knew would be filled with new discovery and most likely, danger. Warden's mission of colonization was not going well, he silently decided. Percy laughed aloud at himself from the obviousness of the thought.
As Horatio approaches the vessel he remembers a verse from the book of the eighth coming of the prophet Benalidino.
Seek to enter the presence of the newly fallen through the Gate That Holds Back the Wind. It will be found on the side of the holy vessel and will be labeled with two words from the old tongue - "Air Lock". To apply for entry seek the painting to the left. It will contain two fields of color one of which will be lit from within by the holy radiance of the lord. If it is the green field that is illuminated press your fingers against it and if you are found righteous a passage will be revealed. If instead the red field is illuminated seek yee another path of entry for the Gate shall remain sealed from within for only the fallen may overcome this warding.
Armed with these holy words Horatio begins his inspection of the vessel seeking an "Air Lock".
I humbly submit to the SA's approval the following ...
both requests approved! :) And hey, nice to know that google is up on the biological times. lol
