The Lucky Penny - IC thread

[happyturtle]

Dan and Lexi return to the ship with their illegally procured goods. Kerouac sees that Lexi was happy when she left and miserable when she returned. He is used to her moods shifting rapidly. She's not moody, exactly, she just lives in the Eternal Now. However, he's rarely seen her this unhappy without high gravity being involved.

ooc:

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Make two empathy rolls if you want to learn more, the first one for Lexi and the second one for Dan. You get +1 familiarity bonus for Lexi, and she's not opposing. Dan can oppose with a Bluff if he wants (and it's up to him whether he's even still dwelling on the disintegrator incident--you read his present emotions, not his past ones).

Ambir, while outwardly calm, is inwardly going into a manic frenzy. Kerouac can almost feel the emotional collapse coming.

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I'll give another day of real time before we advance the story. Any last minute things anyone wants to do on We Made It?

[rubakhin]

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Jeez.

(4d3)[1][2][3][2](8) (+1)

(4d3)[2][1][2][1](6)

[happyturtle]

Kerouac can tell that Dan is in some way the source of Lexi's misery. She's a little bit angry at him, while at the same time feeling closer to him. And she's feeling guilty.

He can't get a read on Dan. Must be the emotional woman and alien in the room drowning him out.

[rubakhin]

Kerouac is pretty exhausted. It's not easy being able to read how everyone's feeling. Even less so when everyone's running full-throttle like this. He kinda just wants to ignore everyone, break into whatever opiates Lexi brought back with her, and go to bed. Of course, that would be bad. (Moreover, it would eat at him even worse if he tried.)

He walks close to her, trying to look inconspicuous, and drops his voice down to a whisper, so that Dan can't hear. "Lex? Is something wrong?"

[happyturtle]

Lexi feels a sudden rush of affection towards Kerouac, at his concern, but she waits until Dan leaves the room before answering. "Oh, you know, Dan hit on me, I told him I didn't mess around with my crew, and he begged and pleaded and made me feel bad." This is clearly meant as a joke, but Kerouac can tell she isn't planning on telling him what really happened. "Kerouac, do you trust me?"

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Not sure how 'trust' came to be such an important theme in this game, but I'm enjoying it.

[rubakhin]

Kerouac furrows his brow. So it did have something to do with Dan, but he doubts he's going to get answers from him either.

"Yeah, of course I trust you. You're my captain, and you're a good woman."

[happyturtle]

"And the rest of the crew? Do you trust them too?"

[rubakhin]

"I wouldn't be traveling with them if I didn't trust them."

[happyturtle]

"That's exactly how I feel. We're a team. All five of us. And I couldn't do without any of you." She takes both his hands in hers and meets his eyes. "Listen, you probably know I'm not telling you everything, but I swear to God, it's not because I don't trust you. Okay?"

[Thanatos 51-50]

When Dan left the room, it was to dutifully deliver a Whistelr to each crewmember.
Lexi already ahd hers, and he had accidently left before handing Kerouac his. Not wanting to intrude on their conversation, he made a mental note to break into his room and leave the weapon on his desk.
As he handed the weapon to each crewmember, (Carefully avoiding Ambir as he did this - no need to freak her out!) he solemnly added the simple piece of advice to "Practice in your spare time."
What he didn't tell them was that he was also planning to rig the Gravity to stay at about 1 g the entire trip to Blue Sky to keep everyone acclimated, and he'd be running PT for the less physically inclined crew-members and those used to weaker gravity.

As soon as he handed off the weapons, he moved into the autokitchen and re-programmed it to include slightly higher amounts of carbohydrates and other essential nutrients for the mission.
It was going to be tense, and everyone would need that little extra bit of energy JUST in case.

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cooking - (4d3)[3][1][2][1](7) To re-program the auto-kitchen, if nessecary

He hid all the illegal supplies he could in the less conspicous "smuggler's spaces" hidden throughout the ship.
Except for his weapons and the Slaver, which went into his personal cache.
The Assualt rifle, in particular (Which he was trying to think up a name for... "Vera" sounded somewhat right, but just a tiny bit off...) has stripped, cleaned, and re-stowed in a special little niche he had kept empty near his rack just for whenever he got a weapon like this.
Then he gets to wrok on those repairs he promised Mark.

Anybody reading Dan's emotions (or anyone with an unearthly keen sense of smell!) would get a quite clear reading of stress, only slightly more elevated than his usual pre-mission preperations. He is, however, doing his best to be calm and amiable to any crewmember (and even Ambir!) who approaches him.

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Bluff - (4d3)[3][3][2][2](10) Engineering - (4d3)[3][3][2][3](11)
Bluff is to appear calm, Engineering is to get to work on the ship's external systems and rig the grav generator.
Also, I hope you enjoy the Firefly referance!

[rubakhin]

"That's exactly how I feel. We're a team. All five of us. And I couldn't do without any of you." She takes both your hands in hers and meets your eyes. "Listen, you probably know I'm not telling you everything, but I swear, it's not because I don't trust you. Okay?"

"Okay." Kerouac nods, and gives Lexi's hand a reassuring squeeze. "I understand. And I know I do way too much prying. It's just kind of hard not to when you can feel everything but you don't know why or what's going on. Just take care of yourself, that's all I'm asking."

[happyturtle]

Lexi leans down and kisses Kerouac's cheek. "No, you never pry. You're the best." Then, with a sudden grin, "Now, as much as I'd love for us to get trashed right about now, I bet you could use a hand with the engines."

[happyturtle]

ooc Dan:

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What he didn't tell them was that he was also planning to rig the Gravity to stay at about 1 g the entire trip to Blue Sky to keep everyone acclimated, and he'd be running PT for the less physically inclined crew-members and those used to weaker gravity.

Lexi's going to murder you in your sleep, you know.

Yup, you succeed at both the cooking and engineering rolls. Ambir does not approach you at all.

Lexi's mood has improved a bit by her chat with Kerouac. Seems to be a knack of his, making people feel better. But she has a good imagination, and every now and then, she sees a very clear image of Nathan using the disintegrator to disassemble her crew one by one, saving her for last. "Damn you Dan," she mutters. "I'm going to kill you for putting that picture in my head." Why did I even get it? I'd never even thought of owning such a horrible thing, till I got a hunch the dealer had one. She somehow fails to follow this line of reasoning, not being quite ready to let her conscious mind realize what her subconscious mind knows.

She pops some uppers in order to pull an all nighter on the engines. She'd rather go back into the City, hit some bars, pick up a boy or three, and make the best of her last night planetside (Probably not going to be much partying on Blue Sky, that's for sure) but for once, she figures she'll do the responsible thing. It won't kill her, so long as she doesn't make a habit of it. And Kerouac was right... she'd been neglecting the engines too long. It was a wonder he hadn't walked off the job in disgust months ago.

Without quite realizing that she's doing it, she avoids both Nathan and Dan. When Dan turns up in engineering, she remembers that she needs to check up on Ambir and learn some more about the autodoc. (And thus doesn't notice Dan's work on the gravity generator.) The last thing she does, while Kerouac is walking Ambir home, is to return the fusion drive and thrusters to operational capacity. Once that is done, she downs enough drugs to hopefully keep her from having nightmares, crawls into bed and turns on the 0-g sleep field (mercifully a separate device from the main ship generator) and is soon passed out.

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I figured Kerouac would have wanted to be sure Ambir made it safely home and didn't collapse on the streets somewhere. If he didn't do that, let me know and I'll rewrite that bit.

[happyturtle]

Midmorning, a few hours later, Lexi is awakened by a searing headache. Truth be told, it was what woke her up most mornings. "Sleep field off," she groans, and she is gently lowered to the surface of the sleeping plates. That's when she feels it. Gravity. Hated, evil gravity. One hand slaps out to a nearby terminal. Even half-awake and hungover, she can type in the keystrokes to reset the gravity generator without looking. But nothing happens. She sits up, slowly, feeling as if her bones would break under so much weight and tries again, actually looking at the screen this time. Ugh. She had done it right after all. It just wasn't responding.

"Hate you Dan," she mutters. She has no doubt that he is the one responsible for this hell. "Ought to wake you up in 6g sometime, see how you like it." This is not a new idea, but as it required her waking up earlier than Dan, she had never actually managed to carry it out. She closes her eyes again. The light from the screen is stabbing her brain. And unlike typical mornings, she aches all over. She remembers she'd been working on the engines, had been doing some heavy work. Can't remember why it had seemed so important.

Kerouac liked to treat hangovers with the hair of the dog, but Lexi was a firm believer in modern medicine. She staggers to the clinic, her eyes still tightly shut. It was no accident that her room was right across from it. She says it's because she's the only one with medical training, but the real reason is that the autodoc has a hangover cure.

She climbs into the coffin and pulls the lid shut.

Twenty minutes later, the lid swings open, and Lexi sits up, fully alert and completely recovered. She now remembers everything from the day before and is appalled that she had used a recently upgraded autodoc without testing it first. But it worked, and worked damn good. Her head is clear. Her aches and pains have vanished. She is full of energy--ready to take on the world, even if she has to do it in 1g.

If it hadn't been for the gravity, she would have raced to the kitchen at top speed. She has so much energy that she needs to burn it off somehow, but she'd never be able to run in 1g. She does manage a trot that is almost a jog, that must have amazed any of her crew who witnessed it. She dials a breakfast, then looks around for everyone else. They'd want to lift off soon.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"How'd you sleep, sugarplum?" Dan asks Lexi as he strolls into the compartment, a badly-burned piece of toast in his mouh as the other two held a datapad, upon which he was making a checkmark.
"All the externals I was working on yesterday are green." He explains, smoothly as if he didn't notice the Gravity. "As soon as Mark is up to it we can take off."

He sets the datapad on a counter, and uses his now-free hands to pull up a stool before he proceeds to conciously eat aforementioned toast.
"I figure, since we're heading to a Terra-like colony, we need to bulk up a bit. Low-grav has been spoiling the crew - myself included." he says, calmly, matter-of-factly. "I volunteer to run PT. Nothing too strenous, of course, but if we're all moaning and groaning about the gravity, that'll be a dead giveaway on Blue Sky.
People gotta be able to run if the going gets tough, you know."

As soon as the toast is gone, Dan reaches for a orange and a juicer. He kept such antiquties about the kitchen for really no identifiable reaon, other than he may just like cooking for himself instead of having a machine take care of it.
It becomes readily apparent that hes talking to himself more than anyone present.

Then, he begins muttering various bits of calethenics hes planning on putting the crew through, complete with "laps around the cargo bay".
After a while of this, and quite a few "hmmm... no"s, (subverted with the occasional "That sounds okay, but...") he suddenly brightens and looks directly at Lexi.
"How do you like 'Veronica'?"

[happyturtle]

How could anyone possibly function so well in this hellish gravity? It just wasn't right. Lexi thinks black thoughts in Dan's direction. "When did you become responsible?" Lexi asks. "And who the hell is Veronica?"

[Thanatos 51-50]

"New autodoc must see irresponsibility as a mental disease." Dan jokes as he takes a sip of fresh orange juice.
"And I was wondering what you thought of the name,Veronica, you know, for our baby?"
Dan shoots Lexi a look as if this should be common knowledge and she should have picked up on it right away.

It readily becomes apparent that Dan has yet to annoy the Capitan, today, and he was trying to start the day off right.
Its also pretty clear that hes warming up to the idea of being some sort of heroic spy from the vids on this current run, hence his over-the-top and somewhat uncharecteristic planning.
He fiddles a bit with the datapad until the building schemtics appear, then he studies them like a schoolboy pouring over his textbooks.

[happyturtle]

"I hope you weren't enough of an idiot to use the autodoc before I could get a chance to test it," Lexi says. She has no idea what 'baby' he's talking about. "Listen, about the gravity. Couldn't you, you know, build it up gradually over the journey? Please?"

[happyturtle]

While Lexi is failing to convince Dan to turn down the gravity (Damn him!) a delivery arrives from Ambir. The first crate contains the Blue Sky uniforms with their hidden weapons, along with extra buttons and a spare length of Sinclair molecular chain to practice with. The second contains the anti-grav belt, Puppeteer first aid kit, and personal gear for Chiron. Lexi takes it to an empty cabin to set it up for Chiron's use. The anti-grav belt she hangs on to though. After grabbing a shower, she tries it on. She could live in free fall if she wanted--heavenly!--but that would be awfully blatant. She dials it down to reduce her weight just slightly, about 0.8 gee, then puts her jumpsuit on over it. With any luck, Dan won't notice that she isn't quite as miserable as she ought to be.

Soon the ship and its crew are ready to depart. As is her custom, she sings along as the ship's speakers blast the Lucky Penny's official anthem: "Good Luck Charm" by King Presley.

"If I found a lucky penny
I'd toss it across the bay
Your love is worth all the gold on earth
No wonder that I say

Come on and be my little good luck charm
Uh-huh huh, you sweet delight
I want a good luck charm
a-hanging on my arm
To have, to have, to hold, to hold tonight"

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Mark, how about a Piloting roll for the normal space part of the journey? With a Superb success, you can reach the edge of the system in .75 days instead of 1 day.

[Paladin5]

Mark, rather awkwardly, sets himself upright into the pilot's chair of Lucky Penny's . The chair, if you could call it a chair, is an impressive mess of cables and electronic equipement with very little body supports and would probably be considered quite uncomfortable to sit on. Mark then leans slowly back making sure that one by one - from the bottom up - each of his spinal ports connects correctly with the corresponding reciever. Once finished, Mark's eyes glaze over and close as the chair swivels to a near horizontal position. The cockpit lights up and the computer chimes in, "T minus five minutes to lift off. Please secure all loose objects and take your seats." The ship shudders, creaks, groans, and hisses as the maneuvering surfaces and chemical thrusters are put through pre-flight tests and the crew feels a slight lurch in their stomachs as the gravity polarizer momentarily switches between its maximum and minimum settings before settling back on 1g.

After five minutes, with the reactor warmed up, all the pre-flight checks completed, and the crew in their seats, the countdown begins, "T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ..." The roar of the chemical thrusters is unpleasantly loud as Mark smoothly lifts the Lucky Penny off of the pad and, while banking away from the spaceport, ascends to 500 ft before tilting the nose up ande kicking the engines into full throttle - swiftly, if a little uncomfortably, taking the ship into orbit.

Once in orbit, there is a half-a-second of silence before the fusion drive kicks in breaking the vessel free from the bonds of We Made It. Several minutes later, Lucky Penny slingshots around We Made It's moon rapidly heading out of the star system.

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Piloting - Normal Space (+3): (4d3)[3][3][1][1](8)
Invoking "More Machine Than Man" aspect to switch from Great to Epic.

[happyturtle]

Lexi never fails to be impressed by Mark's mastery of the ship. Had she been the one piloting the ship, they'd still be in orbit as she worked out the safest route out of the system. Mark is able to do it without thought, the way Lexi herself can leap and dance in low gee without having to think about how to move her body. Of course for Mark, the ship is his body. A look at the computer screen shows her they'll be in hyperspace a full 8 hours early. "Mark, you're amazing!" she shouts, laughing in delight.

Feeling that things are well in hand here, she fetches her Whistler from her cabin and heads down to meet Dan in the cargo bay. She's hoping to bypass the whole concept of PT and focus on shooting practice. Sure, she's supposed to be impersonating a soldier, but only a soldier walking through an office building in an orderly manner. No one will expect her to be digging foxholes or running obstacle courses.

Of course that's only getting in. It won't be quite so easy to blend in on the way out with a Puppeteer in tow. According to Ambir, the Blue Sky office of General Products was staffed only by humans. No Puppeteer was willing to live on such a militarized world. So they will probably look pretty conspicuous on their way out.

She thinks again of using the disintegrator to dig out, but even putting aside the distaste she and Dan both have for the weapon, it isn't a great plan. It won't be fast, and who knows how much wiring or plumbing they'd break through just getting through the walls of the building. And then there would be whatever underground infrastructure the city possessed. Meanwhile, security forces could be pouring down the lift. Not good.

She shakes off her worries. Nathan will think of something. Or Dan will.

"Okay," she says to Dan and Nathan, holding out the Whistler. Not pointing at anyone, oh no! One time they had been running guns to the Free Wunderland movement, and Dan had caught her handling the cargo carelessly. He'd chewed her out good for that, and spent a few hours drilling her in gun safety, though she'd refused then to learn how to shoot. That was the first time she'd seen his serious side, and it had come as a complete shock to her. She was seeing it again now. "Wanna show me how to use this thing?"

[Thanatos 51-50]

Dan quickly inspected the firearm and Lexi at a distance.

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Awareness - (4d3)[3][2][1][2](8)Result = Dead even, +1 for ranks, +1 for dealing with Lexi, = +2. happyturtle PM'd me saying I'd need a +3, so...

Dan's inspection pauses for a second over the gravity belt, during which time he squints, as if something just isn't right.
"Probably my imagination," he mutters as he inspect's Lexi's firearm.
The saftey was off.
The stupid saftey. Was off.
"Cap'n, would you kindly tell me where the error lays in our current state of affairs - Lack of PT nonwithstanding?"
There is a pause that can be measured in fractions of a heartbeat.
"Your secondary saftey (the one on the gun, not your trigger finger) is disengaged. That means you could, quite possibly shoot some part of the ship. Please turn on the gun's saftey, holster it, and follow me for a warm-up lap around the cargo bay. It'll get the blood flowing. Much better to be aware of you're surroundings, don't you think?"
Dan lays down his overcoat and brand new rifle - unloaded, bolt open AND saftey engaged - nearby before setting off at a slow jog.

[happyturtle]

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The grav belt is under Lexi's clothes, so you don't see it at all. The awareness roll was to notice that her weight is off.

"Oh for god's sake," Lexi mutters, annoyed at herself for forgetting the safety. "It's the frickin gravity. Pulls the blood out of my brain."

Even with the help of the grav belt, the thought of jogging is intolerable. She sets off after Dan at a brisk walk, which itself would have been far more than she could have managed if she wasn't still buzzing with energy from the autodoc. She'd need to check the 'doc and make sure she was still getting her osteo-supplements. It was all too easy for a person to break a bone from moving around in higher gravity than they were acclimated to.

[Thanatos 51-50]

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Er... Maybe I mis-typed? Dan's gaze restsed on the GRav Belt, which was underneath the jumpsuit, and thats the reason he didn't notice it, but something still pinged him as "wierd".
Ya'know, like a someone looking at Clark Kent's face and staring at the glasses for a few seconds.

Dan is... merciful, after a sense, taking the "Warm-up lap" slow and easy (although, still at a brisk pace for him, blinding speed for Lexi ), and stopping after "only" two laps, before waiting for Lexi on the firing line.
Dan spends the time waiting for the much-slower-in-high-gee captain by loading his rifle and, in general, getting it ready to fire.
"See? Don'tchya feel ready to take on the world, now?" He asks, as he aims the weapon downrange at one of the targets he set up last night.
Where do you want to start?

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Whats consdered "short range" and "effective range" for a common handgun like the Whistler in the Known Space 'verse?

[happyturtle]

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Whats consdered "short range" and "effective range" for a common handgun like the Whistler in the Known Space 'verse?

Er, I don't know. Happyturtle never got a chance to learn about firearms before moving to a country with no 2nd amendment. Wanna make something up for me?

"I want to be able to take someone down if I have to. With the mercy bullets, I mean. I know how they work--little slivers of anesthetic that dissolves in the bloodstream. Works fast, but not instantaneously. They might get a second or two to react before they collapse. So I want to be fast." She sighs. "Well, as fast as I can be in 1 gee."

[Thanatos 51-50]

OOC>

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Er, I don't know. Happyturtle never got a chance to learn about firearms before moving to a country with no 2nd amendment. Wanna make something up for me?

The only firearms training I have, the military gave me, and believe me when I tell you I'm horrible with guns. I believe "effective range" for the M9 is something like 50 meters, so we'll use that, unless there are any objections?

IC>
"So, you're worried, basically, about survival? Don't worry about it too much, lethal rounds have to hit somewhere solid to cause death - but they hurt like hell, and might incapcitate you for a bit. More than likely, the guards aregoing to be geared for LTL - thats Less-than-Lethal - if their weapon is even ready to fire."
Dan aimed down his sights for a couple of seconds, held his breath for a short while and squeezed off a practice round.

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Marksmenship/GunCombat - (4d3)[2][3][3][2](10)

"Its pretty easy to draw a pistol quick. Not so easy to get a round somewhere where it'll do good. Not much of a difference, really, with a Mercy Bullet - you just need to strike mass"
Dan slung his rifle and tapped the Whistler he had on his leg. He usually didn't carry heat aboard ship, especially so much of it, but this was special, he wanted to get used to the feel of the equipemnt on his body. In his own special way, he was currently practing infiltrating the building.
He turns away from Lexi and faces downrange once more.
"Get to where you can see me draw." he advises, and, as soon as she complies, whips the weapon out of its holster.
His feet are immediatly planted shoulder-width apart, both arms straight, and his knees are slightly bent, coiled and ready to react.
"Take note of my hands and my stance. Being quick means getting from neutral to here as fast as possible."

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Marksmenship/GunCombat - (4d3)[2][2][3][3](10)For the quick-draw demonstration.

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Both rolls give an unmodified result of +4. (+2Ranks+2Roll) No matter how you slice the round he shoots (penalties against marksmanship, non-zero'd weapon), its more than likely still pretty good.
Also - I'm slowing down posting because everyone else is having computer issues, and I don't want to rush too far through the training before they get back.

[happyturtle]

"Don't worry about getting shot. Psshyeah, right..." Lexi muttered.

She watched Dan closely, and then did her best to imitate him, quickly getting into stance and drawing her weapon. She didn't squeeze the trigger--after all, the gun was still unloaded.

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acrobatics - (4d3)[1][3][1][2](7) -1 roll +4 acrobatics -1 gravity penalty = +2 Good

"How's that?"

[happyturtle]

Elsewhere in Known Space…

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Ambir dances. The walls of her small home have vanished, and been replaced with whirling holographic images of thousands of her kind. The dance is intricate, and Ambir dances for over an hour without missing a step, until the image of Chiron appears among the dancers. With a discordant cry, she stumbles and nearly falls. The computer recognizes that Ambir is no longer dancing and stops the program. The holographic dancers vanish. Ambir slowly rises and walks unevenly towards her autodoc, steps into it, folds her legs under her, and tucks her heads down into her chest. The lid of the doc closes over her automatically. Shortly thereafter, the diagnostic software advises General Products and the We Made It government that Ambir is on medical leave.

******************

A Kzin whose fur is filthy and matted sits in a corner, purring to himself in utter contentment. A wire leads from the base of his skull to an input in the wall.

******************

The Minister calls by vidphone. "Have you located Dr Clark yet?"

"We've traced him and the prototype to the Olive Coast. He will be apprehended soon," said a blonde man in an azure blue uniform.

"See that he is."

The Minister signed off, and the blonde man smiled. He was quite certain that Dr Clark would never be found.

******************

The Puppeteer knew his neck was healing badly from where the bioweapon had broken it. He was losing the sight in that eye, and the pain was too great to use his mouth. If medical care was withheld much longer, his captors would have to amputate. Unless they were prepared to let him die. But he had stopped wishing for death long ago. Vengeance must come before death.

I could have killed the bioweapon before it damaged me. I should have. But if he had, the sonics would have been activated, and he would have been as helpless as before. Worse than before, because he would have lost the element of surprise. His captors did not know that he had yet one weapon at his command.

******************

She was an attractive woman with red hair who walked with the strong, confident gait of one who has done extensive physical training in a higher gravity than the 0.71g of Wunderland. There were many Kzin in the city of New Munchen, and as she passed them, she made a point of meeting their eyes and smiling widely. On Kzinhome, this would have led to a duel, but the Wunderkzin had learned to made allowances for humans, and did not assume that the baring of teeth was a challenge. Even if, as in this case, it was.

[happyturtle]

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Just going to progress the story line a bit while we wait for Thanatos to return.

As the shooting lessons progressed, Dan figured out that Lexi was wearing the grav belt. This led to an argument, which led to Lexi turning her personal gravity down to zero, flying all over the room, and showing off how she could take someone by surprise and shoot them from above. Of course when she tried actually shooting a gun with no gravity, she wasn't expecting the recoil, and ended up slamming her elbow hard against the ceiling and completely missing the target. She finally accepted (after much badgering by Dan) that while she could eventually learn to shoot in different gravities, there just wasn't enough time to do this before the mission. Grudgingly, she handed over the belt to Dan and promised to train in 1 gee only.

Amazingly enough, she's actually doing it, and though she's bitching and moaning quite a bit, it's not nearly as much as everyone would have expected. Lexi gives all the credit to the autodoc. She's now tested it and given it the green light, and encourages everyone to use it daily. If you do, you'll find you can train harder without being sore the next day.

While testing the 'doc, though, Lexi comes across something strange. "This is weird," she says. Seeing Nathan in the corridor, she calls out to him. "Nathan, you got a minute?"

[Paladin5]

The computer chimes in, "Brace for transition to hyperspace." After several seconds, the Lucky Penny shudders and another announcement from the computer echoes through the ship, "Hyperdrive engaged. Estimated time to real space return: 4 days."

On the bridge, Mark slowly disconnects from the pilots chair and shuffles over to the mess. Grabbing the cereal dispensed by the autokitchen, Mark takes a seat and begins eating it - making quite a mess as usual. Those who are particularly perceptive might just recognize that Mark always seems slightly agitated while the Lucky Penny is in hyperspace. As is his custom, it is likely that Mark will spend most of the journey sitting in the mess slowly eating sugary cereal.

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Pilot/Nav Hyperspace (+1): (4d3)[2][3][3][3](11) -> Superb (+4)