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When All Else Fails (RP)

Started by Ivy Mariani, October 17, 2010, 11:05:46 AM

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Ivy Mariani

'This is the medical log for the Echo Valley facility, Doctor Seris dictating. I just took over the leadership of the small medical team overseeing a small archeological dig about about three miles from the facility location. While most artifacts brought to the surface have been unremarkable there have been a few things worth taking note of since my arrival here three days ago. I was only getting used to the layout of the facility and the medical room which I'd be spending almost all of my waking hours when something was brought in. Some kind of box made of the same stone we've been seeing scattered about the surface of the Colony Planet, Alpharia.

What most people don't seem to realize is the damage that we did to our own planet wasn't the reason why we left. While it was something that would have posed a threat in the future we would have had another century before it would have caused us to find someplace else to live. It was our own doing that caused us to have to leave Earth. The Ferenzi Virus was responsible. A virus that left most of the world's population either comatose zombies or ruthless, cunning killers. Only a handful of the governmental staff who were responsible for the design of the virus escaped with their lives. Those who were able to make it out alive were those who I learned from, people who by all intents and purposes would have never created something like this if they knew what it could do to people. It took the worst traits out of those it infected and amplified them by about a thousand percent.

No one was safe. The virus was spreading too quickly for us to contain it. Even my team who was trying to find a cure came up empty handed by the time we were all forced to evacuate. By then the virus had been running rampant for a month, if you weren't dead you would be, if you weren't infected it was only a matter of time. My team was relocated to the Alpha Mountains, a military facility much like Echo Valley, but it was the first facility to be established upon our arrival on Alpharia. The planet had long ago been discovered, and our space travel capabilities took us longer than we would have liked to get to the planet. While light space travel had been developed it was no where good enough to get us here in a relatively short time. Years past, five to be exact, before we were able to get to the planet and another three years before the first facility was built. While there are numerous colonies scattered about the planet.

The military controls all human resources, all job creation, all land development and everything else necessary for our survival until some form of government can be properly established. As it is most of the world leaders died before our departure, there are only a few monarchs left and those we do have can't seem to decide on who is going to lead where. Right now there is a talk of having a coalition of leaders, almost like the village elders back when our own world had been getting onto its feet and the cradles of civilization were just being established. I think it would work, assuming each leader can put their differences aside and realize this is difficult for all of us, just not them.

I've work to do now. I'll be signing off this dictation for the time being. I'll leave more dictations once my work is finished, I'm sure I'll have a lot more to talk about at than I do right now.'


Terra Seris pressed her thumb onto the small pad near the computer she had been reciting her logs into. A small voice played over the speaker next to the pad she still held her thumb onto. 'Please recite directive.'

"Save dictation log Seris one." the thirty year old spoke clearly, making sure to pronounce every word precisely. A small light flashed on the computer that had been built into the table top.

Green letters appeared on the screen one at a time, slowly forming words.

Directive: Save dictation log Seris one...
Initiating directive..
Please stand by...

Directive complete...

'Thank you Doctor Terra Seris.' the voice spoke again. The computer screen went dark as Terra removed her thumb from the pad and stood from the chair she had been seated in. Taking a slow breath she looked out the window at the landscape that had been replicated to look like Earth. Large oaks were present in the hologram presentation.

"Computer." she spoke as she walked through the lab, preparing for any sort of activity she might encounter.

'Yes Doctor Seris?' the calm female voice filtered through the air. She had hated the voice the first time she had heard it.

"Change voice simulation." she pulled out a few medical scanners and double checked them to ensure they were working properly.

'Voice change simulation complete. Is this more to your liking Doctor?' this time a male voice came from the computer.

"That works perfectly thank you." she smiled in spite of herself.

'You're welcome Doctor Seris. Is there anything else I can do for you?' the computer was often so obliging, it was like an assistant made out of a machine rather than flesh and blood. Sometimes she preferred it to human contact.

"Yes could you change the window hologram for me. Something other than trees.. Maybe a mountainside lake. Something from Alaska." a sigh came from her as she thought of her home in Juno. The one she had been forced to leave to head to D.C in order to work at the Pentagon and near the White House as she worked feverishly to formulate a cure for the Ferenzi Virus.

'Of course Doctor.' the male voice came again as the image screen flickered. A perfect replica of a landscape from Alaska came into view. It was something she was grateful for, at least the engineers were conscientious enough to keep records of what Earth had looked like before they had to leave. If they ever found a cure they could return, now that light speed technology had been perfected they could get there in days or months rather than years. She just hoped that things hadn't changed too dramatically from how they had been when they left.

"Thank you, that will be all for now, please turn the light on outside the door so people know they can come in." grabbing her lab coat from the hook on the wall she turned and pulled her long chocolate colored locks up into a bun before looking at herself in the mirror. Her green, almond shaped eyes tilted upward slightly at the corners, reminding her of her Asian heritage from her mother. Her mother had been among the first of the scientists who were killed when the virus broke past the containment walls, she'd been working as a geneticist while Terra was working as an assistant at a local clinic in Juno. When she got the call from D.C. about her mother and that her father had gone missing, it was then they called her to come pick up their work.

A lot of her features reminded her of her mother. The high cheekbones, the dark hair, the olive tone of her skin. There was little she saw in herself that made her think of her father. The curve of her bottom lip perhaps, or the way her cheeks dimpled a little when she truly smiled, but everything else was either a perfect mixture of her parents or the features of her mother. Turning her back to the mirror she draped her stethoscope over her shoulders, feeling the familiar weight of the tube against her skin she placed her hands into her pockets and waited for whatever the day was going to hold for her.
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

Raphael

Empty hallways, quiet labs, serene motionless landscape and a dark storage room - that was all the security monitors had to offer. Rob sighed and leaned back in his chair, hands on his head, chewing on an unlit cigar. What he really, really wanted to do at this moment was put his feet up on the desk... alas, it was against regulations. And Sgt. Robert "Rob" Rhodes, alias "Hound Dog", head of security of the archeological dig site, did not like breaking regulations.

Instead, Rob allowed his mind to take him back to his early childhood, to a peaceful and boring Iowa where he grew up running and screaming and playing cowboys with his mate Mike "the Mite" Strandler and his older sis Jess. But his sis was now dead, and Mite Strandler was dead, taken by the Ferenzi. He remembered the panic, the fights on the street, the blood-crazed savages that turned on their friends and families. He remembered sitting on an old rocking chair in the dark, with a shotgun pointing at the barred door, with just four bullets left, waiting for that last face-off. Just like in the movies he had loved watching as a child, except this time it was him there, and it wasn't cool. Nor epic, nor heroic. It was scary, sad, and lonely.

But the people that broke down the barred door were the military, a unit looking for survivors, and he joined them even though he was a kid. And he saw what happened to those of his unit who broke regulations.

Rob shook off the memory and concentrated on the present. He checked the readings and his eyes slowly wandered through the monitors. Nothing to report. The monitor linked to the security camera in the storage room was dark, and he caught his reflection in it: the burly face, the heavy eyebrows, the dark two-day beard, the brown cowboy hat over the brown uniform. He winked at his reflection. Then he noticed the beep.

It was the comm-link to the settlement a few miles off the dig site. The settlement was the research facility's only link to the rest of Alpharia, the monorail car was the only transport in and out; and all their communications - from the nav-sat to the open phone line - were redirected to the settlement's communications tower.

Rob cursed under his nose and pressed the button that opened the security phone line.

"Hound Dog calling White Tower; Hound Dog calling White Tower; come in, White Tower."

All there was on the other end of the line was radio silence. Rob tried again, and again, but there was no answer. He shook his head and attempted to reach somebody on the open line, then on the emergency line, but the result was the same. Rob felt the tension rising in his gut. Communications never failed, they were about as secure as anything could be in humanity's new home. Something was wrong.

"Follow the regulations" Rob told himself. When something was wrong, the first one to be notified was the head of security. The second one to be notified was the boss of the facility. He reached out for the intercom and pressed the 1.

"Head of security calling head of research. Sgt. Robert Rhodes calling Dr. Terra Seris. Sgt. Rhodes calling Dr. Seris." For a few seconds, no one answered. Rub cursed again and decided to skip protocol. Protocol and regulations were not the same thing.

"Terra, pick up the damn phone. Something's going on."

Ivy Mariani

'Doctor Seris.' the electronic voice came back over the airwaves as Terra busied herself checking her supplies. Things had been slow here, boringly so. But what could she do? She had nothing left to do but endure. She couldn't leave her post and go for a walk on the off chance something did happen. She'd end up in lock up or paying a hefty credit fine that she just didn't have with her. Most of her credits were locked up in her room and she didn't want anyone going in there. She didn't want them to see the pictures of her family who she had lost so long ago. It was a scar that would stick with her.

"Yes?" she didn't raise her eyes from where they were now. She was watching her fingers flip through different files of people who had been through the facility. Most had gone through with clean bills of health. Others had been exhibiting the first symptoms of the Ferenzi Virus and had been immediately quarantined only to be executed days later. The human population had been dwindling in the days since the last of the transports had been sent off the planet. They would be arriving in a matter of days now, at least that's what the reports were. 10,000 people in each transport and there were three arriving. There would be a small handful of medical crew coming to help her but it would still be hectic to make sure that no one carrying the virus would get through.

'You have a call.' the voice came through to her ears.

Sighing she straightened, having now lost count of the files she needed to remove. "Open the line." placing her hands onto the low of her back she looks up at the ceiling though it wouldn't help her see who was calling. "This is Doctor Seris."
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

Raphael

"This is Doctor Seris." her voice came, muffled through the speaker. Rob suppressed a sigh of relief.

"Doctor, this is Sgt. Rhodes. I think we may have a situation."

This was a good phrase, he thought. "I think (personal opinion rather than fact) we may (pointing out that it was all rather uncertain) have a situation (not a state of alert, not an emergency, not a disaster - just a situation, which could be anything from a broken antenna to someone's cat drinking a vial labeled "HIGHLY TOXIC".) Drawing attention without causing panic. Because it could be anything, or even nothing. Surely not an...

Rob swallowed. His throat had gone dry and sore all of a sudden. He didn't want to finish the thought. "... an outbreak".

"Doctor, White Tower isn't responding. All lines are dead. I've been trying to reach anyone for over five minutes now. It could be just a technical problem but I figured you would like to know. I'll keep trying."

He could almost picture her mind pushing the alarm button. It was a button in everyone's head. Everyone was always edgy, always nervous, waiting for the Ferenzi virus to strike again. Hoping that it wouldn't. But somewhere deep within knowing that it will. Sooner or later.

And what made it worse - one of the first signs of an outbreak was always the dead phone lines.

He remained on the phone waiting for her answer.

Ivy Mariani

She listened to him, hearing every word, running them through her head over and over again until the sentences blurred and everything became a ring of noise in her thoughts. Frowning she thought about this. They hadn't had a solid outbreak case in weeks, the last person showing signs had been executed and the numbers of those who had been showing symptoms had been on the decline since they had arrived at the facilities. Grimacing she rubbed her thumb and middle finger on either side of the bridge of her nose, trying to figure out just what could be going on. It wasn't likely the virus, it just couldn't be.

"Take it easy Sarge." she attempted to smile so it lightened her voice. "The facility is new there's bound to be some bugs to work out yet. Look at how long it took for com systems to stay up in the Alpha Mountain facility." she had a good, valid point. One that was a strong case against it being the Ferenzi virus. The Alpha facility had spent several weeks without steady coms because towers kept buckling under the heavier gravity on the planet, wires short circuited, radios malfunctioned. That was a plausible explanation right? Faulty wires, crumbling antennae and bad radios.

It had to be.

"Just keep checking in with them. If it's a wire issue you're bound to get through. I know they were calling for a sand storm this hour, it could be what's causing the communication problem. Some kind of interference. The sand is pretty magnetic during the storms." she'd kept a highly detailed report on the weather in case something went wrong outside the facility, made it easier to navigate in the planetary suits. "If you can't reach them best I can suggest is call the engineers. We haven't had a case of someone showing symptoms of the Ferenzi virus in a week now. I don't think that could be the case now." she didn't want to say, she hoped that was the case now. How would that instill calm?

"Just keep me up to speed okay?" no sooner did she say those words did she receive a mail on her computer. Turning to look at the page she clicked it open with a tap of the screen. Enlarging it she smiled as she looked at the report. "Check your mail Sarge, there's a brief report. They've got some com systems down for routine maintenance. They should have them up and running by tomorrow morning.  White Tower was likely one of the ones on the list for the maintenance. I don't think we have anything to worry about." she sounded a little less tense than she had been, part of her was hoping that was all it was going to be.
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

Raphael

Rob was listening to Dr. Seris' voice, smiling. He wasn't sure if she was trying to calm him down, or herself. In any case, she was right: the moment she mentioned the brief report, a message came through on his monitor. He opened it and his eyes glanced through to the end of the list. The comm-tower of Bravo 3 settlement wasn't anywhere on the list.

"Our White Tower isn't on the list" he spoke into the intercom. "But you're probably right, they most likely just forgot to put in all the locations. You know how it is - they put someone in charge of Coordination, then the poor S.O.B. sneezes in the hallway and before you know it, half the staff is quarantined and the other half's neck deep into the mess. Missing reports, wrong orders, and nobody's got the key to the Server Room. I'll keep in touch, but I think we've got Code Green. Sergeant Rhodes out."

He leaned back again and crossed his fingers above his chest. "Computer!" he said.

"Yes, Sergeant Rhodes" the digital voice replied immediately. Rhodes liked the facility's AI. It never broke any regulations.

"Computer, run comm-link verification protocol."

"Initiating verification protocol of communication link status, sequence seven-dash-seven-one-five. Please stand by!" the electronic voice announced.

It was about to take 15 to 20 minutes, Rob thought while his eyes were completing another routine check on the security monitors. Everything looked good. He opened the line again.

"Hound Dog calling White Tower. Hound Dog calling White Tower; come in, White Tower."

Silence.

Ivy Mariani

With the com link disconnected she went back to the files, her fingers going through them slowly. Still she thought about the mail she had gotten, the conversation she had just had. Flashbacks of her kid sister and her own young daughter succumbing to the Ferenzi virus flashed into her head, causing her hands to shake and her fingers to stop their movement over the files.

She could hear their screams, see their faces twisted in agony and rage. Closing her eyes she tried to fight the images away but they stuck fast, frozen into place in her mind. Shaking her head to clear the vision, she forced her eyes open, her body to move and resume its work. She was sure everything was fine. The virus hadn't found them again. They had been too careful.
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

nk

“Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked...”

“Money don't grow on trees...”

“I got bills to pay..”

“I got mouths to feed..”

“There ain't nothing in this world for free..”


Jake continued to sing the lyrics of one of his favorite songs before sighing heavily at the problems he currently faced. They'd told him they'd wanted a solid, dependable, reliable, techie and that- surprisingly enough- in a nutshell, summed up Jake. Yet even if he was all of those things and more, how the hell was he supposed to work under these conditions? When Jacob B. West fixed things, he wanted to fix them to last. Or at least he tried to... but this stuff here? This was just plain abnormal.

Wires among wires filled Jake's vision as the light from the hallway attempted to fill the small hole whose entrance was no more than one foot high and two feet long. Small, dark and cramped were the conditions Jake was currently under but those he could deal with. The freezing floor and the problem he currently faced however...not so much. He felt the cold floor's temperature continue to slowly bleed through his paper thin uniform as he laid on his back and attempted to figure out which one of these bad boys was the red headed step child of the family. It would've been simply easier to take the whole thing out and just buy a completely new set instead of what he was currently doing now, but given that he'd have to go through the higher ups (I.E: The Doc, and Sgt. Hardass), he sort of preferred doing this, instead of resorting to that. He didn't have anything against them personally, but he kinda hated the fact how they always seemed to lay into him every single time he happened across them. They always said things such as 'He should stop slacking off' or that he should obey some regulation or another and well...that grew really old, really fast.

A small shock to his finger ripped him away from his thoughts as the 25 year old cursed loudly and whipped his hand back hitting another batch of wires in the process. The hallways lights flickered and dimmed for a moment to his surprise before reverting back to their previous illuminance. Jake held his breath for the second they had dimmed as he wondered if he had inadvertently caused his own workload to increase but breathed a sigh of relief once the lights return to the brilliance they had previously shown. Seriously though. Another work order was the last thing he wanted on top of the seemingly endless amount of repairs that needed to be done in this dump.

"And they call this place new huh..?" Jake said semi-sarcastically as he continued to fiddle with the circuitry. "Man, I hate to see what this place would like if it went to hell."

LucianLuna

Lucian or Luc as his friends called him was in the kitchen making sure everything was ready and in order for the meal services later today. He was sitting at a table and drinking some water while going over what food was provided in the kitchen and planning out what the meals would be for the day. Luc didn't have any family left around. Didn't have much of a family to begin with. Just two brothers who were both dead now. he missed his brothers, especially his twin. He was real clothes to his twin before the virus took him and his older brother. He sighs and wipes those thoughts from his mind. Best not to think about that now. They were gone and he couldn't change that. Luc stood up and started to wipe down the tables with a rag. Once the tables were wiped down he went into the kitchen and cleaned the dishes left over from last night then wiped down the counters as well. Luc always kept his kitchen clean. A clean kitchen meant the chef took pride in his work which meant you were bound to get good food. He had no idea there was trouble elsewhere while he was handling his duties in the kitchen. Luc decided to make stew for lunch and since stew took hours to cook he decided it best to get it going now. He grabbed the big pot and put it on the stove then added water and broth to it to simmer. he then grabbed some vegetables from the fridge and clean and chopped them. Next he grabbed the stew meat. Once the liquid in the pot boiled he added the meat and vegetables to it and put the lid on for it to simmer. By lunch the stew should be done. He had nothing else to do for now so he sat down in his chair and relaxed until it was time to serve lunch.

Ivy Mariani

Her stomach gave a painful growl of protest to her work as she stood hunched over the collection files a little while longer. Another reminder she had skipped breakfast in favor of work yet again. Of all people she knew better. Dropping her stethoscope onto her desk she hit the button to activate her door, waiting for it to slide open she starts walking towards the mess hall.

Passing by someone working on some electrical components she kept her thoughts as positive as she could. Things were going to be fine, they had to be. Everything had been taken care of, the military presence in the facilities were still heavily present. She had nothing to fear.

Stepping into the now empty mess hall she looked around, her delicate lips curling into a frown. Everything looked as though it had been picked up and put away until the lunch time crowds came in. "Luc?" her voice echoed in the empty room as she let her eyes roam over the area. "Luc you still here?" she was hopeful that maybe the cook had something she could get.

She smell of something cooking drew her almost magically towards the kitchen. Peeking carefully in the doorway she looked around hoping that someone was still here.
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

LucianLuna

Lucian looked up as he heard someone come into the kitchen and saw the doctor. "Doctor Siris. I was wondering if you'd come looking for some food. You of all people should know it's not good to skip meals. I'm steal here doctor. What can I get you. We have some pastries, muffins, or I can mix up a quick batch of eggs for you. There's some juice to if you want something to drink." he watched the doctor as he waited for a reply. Luc always scolded people for skipping meals. To him meals were the most important time of day. You got to socialize with others in the place and you got to eat good food. What could be more important than that.

Ivy Mariani

"I know." she laughed and hung her head a little before lifting her gaze again. "It's not the first time this week. Guess work is getting the best of me right now. But at least I remembered to come here before lunch started, that is a great place to get back on track."

Thinking over her choices she purses her lips slightly before leaning against the door frame. "Eggs and a muffin would be great right about now, and some juice of course." she smiled brightly, always glad to have a conversation with Luc. Normally she was always conducting conversations about the newest treatments in transmittable diseases, preventions for the common cold and remedies to help with hangovers. There was something relaxing about having a simple and normal conversation with something else.

"Stew later?" she took a whiff of the air, more than happy to always try and guess what would be on the menu when it was cooking. "It smells delicious."
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

LucianLuna

"Ok Doc, coming right up." Luc puts a pan on the stove to hit up and grabs a couple eggs from the fridge. He puts them in the now hot pan and starts them frying as he grabs a muffin and a glass for the juice. "Yeah. You  guessed right. Stew is good comfort food and comfort food helps when people are having a hard day. If anyone is having a tough time at work this will fix them right up. It's my own form of medicine." He grinned back at the Doctor then flipped the eggs to cook on the other side. He poured some orange juice in a glass and put that next to the muffin then plated the eggs and put them on the table as well. "There you go doctor. Enjoy your meal." He handed her a fork and started to clean up the pan he had cooked the eggs in.

Ivy Mariani

"It is good for people, definitely something about it that soothes the nerves." she smiles, remembering all of the times her mother cooked stew. She had a recipe that was different than most people's but regardless it was still the most delicious thing Terra had ever tasted. Then again, her tastes had expanded over the years and there were very few stews that could rival her mother's in taste.

"Mm.. Thank you for the food Luc." smiling she took a sip of the juice before tearing a piece of the muffin free and popping it into her mouth. Chewing it over she allowed her thoughts to return to the strangeness of the morning, the unexpectedness of the coms drop, the lack of people moving about when by rights the hallways should have had a few people moving through them. She had only noticed a handful here and there before reaching the mess hall, but now? Now that she thought about it, none of them were talking, everything had been relatively quiet.

"Have you heard of anything strange going on today? Sergeant Rhodes was talking to me about White Tower losing their communications, thought maybe it had something to do with the scheduled maintenance.. But even the people I saw on my way here seemed rather skiddish, hardly anyone out and walking around." her eyes rested on him as she slid a forkful of egg into her mouth. There had to be something going on, it was just too.. Coincidental.
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

LucianLuna

"No problem Doc. unusual? Now that I think about it people where strangely quiet this morning during breakfast. hardly talking to each other at all. I thought maybe they just had their minds on work or other things, but there's always some conversation and this morning there was nothing. That's unusual around here. Hope you find out what's going on and I hope it's nothing to serious." he finished washing up the pan and put it back then stirred the stew a bit before sitting down at the table across from the doctor.

Ivy Mariani

Nervously she picked at the muffin, pulling a small piece of it off before nibbling on it. Something felt even more off about this now that she thought about it. People being quiet, the coms being down, the storm. All of it seemed somehow interconnected yet irrelevant to one another the more she thought it over. Maybe it was just nothing. It had been so long since any of them had been back to their homes that it was likely starting to wear on their psyche.

"Maybe it's just something to do with the whole political debate." she focused her attention onto her eggs again. "I know a lot of people are getting frustrated because they can't decide on one solid form of leadership. People are getting sick of the military rule, mean can't say I blame them." she laughed quietly. There had really been some higher ups who were real tools over in the Alpha facility. But in the Echo they had gotten lucky, most of the military staffed there were on the up and up, good men and women all around.

"Then again maybe this whole coms thing has people running scared.. Too much like you know.." she didn't want to echo Rhodes' thoughts. It was just like the start of the virus all over again. Phone line went out, then cable and satellite connections. One by one systems began to shut down until the only thing left running was the electricity. It was scary then, and the thought of a reoccurring event was enough to send a shiver down her spine.
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

LucianLuna

"It's probably nothing Doc. I wouldn't worry about it until you know if there is something to actually worry about. Worrying over nothing will just get you stressed. People panic to easily. As soon as something out of the ordinary happens or something they can't explain they panic whether there's a reason to panic or not." Lucian wasn't really worried yet. Connections went down all the time. I'm not saying you should let your guard down or anything. Just don't start a panic yet."

Raphael

"Panic? What panic? Hey, Luc!" Rob's booming voice echoed through the mess hall as he stepped in. "Sergeant Rhodes reporting for stew" he saluted with a smile, sniffing the air. He took the chair opposite to Dr. Seris and leaned forward, whispering to her ear: "I ran a 7-715. Comm-link's fine, all systems are go. White Tower's not responding 'cos there's nobody on the other side to pick up the phone." Then he retreated back into the chair, observing Dr. Seris' expression.

"I wouldn't worry about politics, if I were you. Frankly, us military people are as tired of governing civilians as they are tired of us." he laughed out loud. "There's a reason why politics should be made by politicians, doc. We're not good with treaties and diplomacy and whatnot. Give us something to shoot and something to..." he hesitated for a moment, remembering he was talking to a lady, and continued: "something to sleep on, and we're happy as it is."

He turned to the young cook and winked at him. "Chef, tell your sarge how long that stew of yours will take, my belly's upset with me."

He laughed at his own joke, but the smile never reached his eyes. He was concerned and good acting was never a part of military training. He looked around and added:

"What's the mechanic doing in the hallway, anyway? Somebody send him to fix the coffee machine instead of poking around with the lights. I can live in the dark but another day without coffee and I'll go ferenzi on people."

It was a military joke, turning the name of the virus into a common verb like that. He said it without thinking, and then he realized that given the current status of affairs, it wasn't the most appropriate of jokes. He shut his mouth, slightly embarrassed, hoping that there would be no awkward silence.

Ivy Mariani

"Honestly I've no clue what he's doing out there." she laughs and shrugs before finishing of her eggs and working on the last bits of muffin and mouthful of juice. She had been hungrier than she had expected, eating so fast she was sure she'd either be hungry again in five minutes or that she'd feel nauseated in the same amount of time. Regardless she had been thoroughly grateful for the meal.

"You say not to worry about politics? You're not the one pulling shrapnel and bullets out of the ones who get into fights because of the politics." she laughs and brushes a small strand of her hair back into place behind her right ear. "Some people when things don't go the way they expect, well they tend to snap. Saw it a lot on my rotations in medical school. Then again.. Most of that time was spent on a transport, confine enough people, put the fear of God in them and you get a bit of chaos. Part of human nature."

It was like the Ferenzi virus had taken those exact traits out of people- the worst traits imaginable- and pumped them up like a weight trainer on steroids. Every bit of rage, hate, murderous ability had been amplified so much that people had lost their minds, even in death they continued on until something was done to permanently shut their brain off from the rest of their body. It was like a Halloween movie, badly scripted and overly gory, but it was reality. Their lives had been turned into a Hollywood style zombie flick, minus the shiny lights, diva actors and zero cameras around to capture it for pure entertainment value. There had been news cameras, but in the end they only captured the true horror in the beginning, they weren't around to capture the shocking finale. They had all turned themselves. There wasn't anyone around to be able to view them if they had, no way to get it across the air waves.

"I'm just glad we're civilized to an extent now that we're settled and trying to pick our lives back up from the ground." she smiled as the familiar rumble of the monorail sent tremors through the floor of the facility. She much as everyone else had grown accustomed to the familiar rumbles and noises of the monorail as it took its scheduled routes between the different facilities and colonies. However something unexpected happened..

A large tremor, one larger than what should have been typical, rocked the facility. Dishes, and pans rattled, fell to the floor breaking and skittering a few feet. The loud thrums of an explosion compressed the air, socking Terra in the chest as it blasted against the nearby outer wall of the facility. Gripping the table until her knuckles were white she looked between Rhodes and Luc, terror evident in her green eyes.

"What the hell was that?!" almost as if to answer her question the warning sirens began to sound, yellow cautionary lights light, spun and illuminated areas of every room.

'Warning. Outer hull breach. Warning. Outer hull breach. Shutting down monorail systems, locking outer bay doors.'


"There's people out there!!" the screams of people filtered into the kitchen before others screamed back. "Not anymore! The monorail is gone!"

Standing on shaky legs she tried to concentrate over the blare of sirens, the computer and the glare of the lights.

'Warning. Outer hull breach. Breach contained. Switching to manual override.'

"Manual override.." she breathed looking at Rhodes. "No one has that authorization! What the hell is going on!?"
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

Raphael

The blast almost knocked Rob off his feet, only the year-long martial arts training helped him stay on his feet. What it didn't help him with was think fast. Rob wasn't a fast thinker.

"What the f..." the screeching alarm muffled his next words. He looked into Dr. Seris' eyes and saw panic in them. Not good.

"Doc, you alright? Luc, still holding up, buddy?" he out-barked the noise. Several members of the scientist team were pouring into the mess hall, shocked and confused. The lights flickered.

"Everybody, this is Sergeant Rhodes yelling at ya! Stay here, lock the doors and stay calm! Dr Seris will take care of you. Sunny!" he noticed one of his guys standing at the door, trying to contain the panic. "Sunny, come with me. I'm gonna go see what the hell is going on with the monorail!" He saw private Sundar Singh, alias "Sunshine", nod at him, and he turned around to Dr. Seris.

"Terra" he said quietly. "Can you handle it here while I'm out?"

He was pretty sure she can, having spent the last three years under her command. He didn't wait for an answer. He scooped private Singh along and made his way down the hallway.

"Jake" he told the mechanic on his way down. "Go to Dr Seris. Man, we're gonna need you!"

Manual override.

There was only one person Rob knew of with that level of clearance. The White Tower commanding officer. There could be others but Rob wasn't entirely sure how many or who. He shook his head.

"Sunshine, 12 feet spread, Code Yellow." he barked out. He didn't have to add: Ferenzi. Sunny just nodded and fell back to cover the twelve feet distance. The doors leading to the monorail station were closed, but what Rob saw made him take out his pistol and switch off the safety. The light on the control panel was green. The door was unlocked - someone had unlocked it. Manual override. He entered his security code and the door opened aside with the soft sigh of released pressure. There was nobody but him and Sunny on either side.

"Sunshine, stay by that door, keep your eyes open." Rob whispered and stepped through.

The blast had knocked out the relay and the hallway on the other side was dark. Something was hissing - probably a punctured vent. The doors at the opposite end were partially closed, twisted by the blast. There was no draft, meaning that the outer bay doors were holding up. He walked towards the monorail station, eyes wide open, his senses sharp as they could get.

He was halfway through the corridor when he heard a shot and a scream. It was private Singh. Rob let a curse slip out through his lips as he turned around and ran for the door. It was closed. He entered his security code as quickly as possible, and to his relief the door slid open.

But his relief didn't last long. Sunshine was gone. His gun was on the floor, lying in a pool of blood. There was no one in the hallway.

Ivy Mariani

'Warning. Containment failure, decks 5, 7, 12, and 20. Initiating facility lock down. Please remain calm.'

Her breath came in ragged, shaking gulps that seemed to cause her whole body to shudder under the force. Her heard was thudding fiercely in her chest, the thrum of her blood filling her ears as the injured began to stagger into the doorway. Wincing she looked over at Luc, praying he had a strong stomach. "I hate to do this to you Luc, but I need to triage here. It's the only place big enough, medical won't cover this many right now."

Most of medical was still being built, half of the room was blocked off and unfinished. Stepping into the main mess hall area and turning to one of the soldiers she grabbed him by one arm. "I need you to get to my office, grab every medical supply you can carry. Send a small team of three to medical, get me crash carts, IV poles, the works. Anything they can get back here I need it now." the man nodded before passing off the injured woman he was supporting to Terra.

"Where are you hurt?" it was going to be a very long day. The woman muttered something about her arm and chest. Giving her a quick look over she nodded. "It's fractures. I'll splint your arm for now, but the ribs will have to wait until we can get you an x-ray." quickly yet thoroughly splinting the arm, she gave the woman a gentle smile before pointing her towards the back of the mess hall. She'd keep those who needed the most care up front, easier to get to and easier to get out if they didn't make it.

Turning she saw one person covered in burns, their body sagging as they were drug into the mess hall. "No, take em out to the hallway, the room across from us. Black tag." the man supporting him nodded and did as instructed. The first black tag of what she knew would be many. One death.

A scream broke through the hall, a few gunshots and people running into the mess hall. "Get down!" someone screamed before a blurred body slammed into them and drove them past the mess hall doors. More screams and gun fire ensued.

Warning. Containment failure levels E through H. They'd just somehow lost hydroponics and the life sciences labs.
Warning. Contamination detected levels E through G. Locking levels. Terra's breath nearly blasted out of her chest as the realization of what was going on hit home.
Caution: Contamination probability on remaining levels 10%. Initiating contamination containment protocol. Please proceed to nearest contamination checkpoint.
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

LucianLuna

Lucian was going to answer the security guy when all hell broke loose. He handed a bowl to the man. "if you still want stew get it yourself. No problem Doc, don't mind at all." He then grabbed buckets and started filling them with water in case she needed to wash some wounds. He went around and put chairs against the back wall for people to sit in while waiting to be seen then lined up the tables for the doctor to use to lay people on that she was treating. "There's bucket s of water and rags in case you need to wash anybody off or clean any wounds. If you need anything else just let me know doc. I'm not trained in this but I'll do what I can to help you in anyway possible." Lucian moved to lean against the back wall so he'd be out of the doctor's way."

Ivy Mariani

"Thanks Luc." she tried to smile but it faltered in the panic that was threatening to cease control of her body. "I need someone to splint any broken bones and send them straight to the back." she called out, at this point not really caring who took up the motions. "Broken bones aren't a priority unless they need setting. Anything that's a cut or scrap or a bruise, go to the back. Anything worse I want up front. Least injured back and work up to the critical injuries towards the doors."

She was trying to organize the people who were well enough to help her. "I'll get to them as I can, anyone with any medical training come and talk with me I'll need an extra set of hands."
"Put your hands all over me."
Ivy's O & Os

Raphael

The main mess hall was... well, a mess, Rob thought as he carefully made his way through the swarm of injured and scared people. Tending to injured staff wasn't his priority - the facility had enough doctors for that. Keeping them alive was - and he wasn't doing his job well.

He approached the overwhelmed doctor and the young cook at her side, and he pulled them to the side quickly.

"Luc, Terra... we have a problem." he whispered, frowning. "The pressure doors leading to the monorail station were unlocked. Someone with a level of clearance enough to activate manual override is inside. Also, I think we lost Sunshine - I only found his gun and his blood on the floor. Worst case scenario - someone who knows all the codes snapped or got the virus, and is roaming around our facility, killing people. Be on your toes and report ANY strangers to me!"

He left them and took position by the mess hall doors, gun out and ready to fire. He knew it was gonna look bad in the eyes of all the panicking people - but it was either that, or be caught off-guard.

LucianLuna

Lucian looked between the other two. "Doc remember when I said don't worry or panic unless there's a reason to. Well this is a damned good reason. " He then went to help the others sort the injured, taking the least injured people to the back and setting them in a char. He left the broken boys and badly injured people for the guys that were trained to take care of them. He then set up a small table and brought out two coffee pots. he brewed coffee in one and the other for hot water. He then brought out tea bags of different flavored teas, sugar, and creamer. he placed some  paper cups for hot drinks on the table as well as what was left of the muffins and some doughnuts. Setting up a snack area for the patients and workers in case they wanted anything.