Chiana had been bored all day. For as much fun as the party had been a week or so back, Taxon's fun factor had been ground to a halt lately. She'd thought about tracking down that funny man with the zipper on his head, but instead, she had started exploring the nooks and crannies of Taxon streets. She was currently somewhere in what the map called Central. She recognized it from her arrival. It was a nice enough place, but there wasn't any adventure. Maybe that was the problem. Chiana hadn't been on this rock since she arrived here. After all this time of flying on Moya, the poor little gray-skinned girl was getting homesick for space.
It was perfect timing that she heard the curse came blaring over her tablet. She recognized the voice first, and a quick glance to her wrist showed the hologram of someone very familiar.
"Aeryn?" Chiana's head quirked hard to one side. "Frell me! It is you!" She grinned so hard it felt like her face might crack.
Aeryn stared at the tiny map on the screen as though it held the secrets to getting her the frell out of this smooth, round prison. She grew frustrated, unsure of what was going on or if she was even alive at this point. She certainly felt real enough. She pinched her arm just to be sure. It hurt, and she was even more confused than before. She had been dead. She remembered dying, very distinctly, in fact, because of the way in which she died. Or rather, the person that had assisted in her death. The haunting image of John drifted into her head and she immediately clamped down on her emotions and got them under control, like a proper soldier would.
Aeryn shrugged off the feeling of echoing memories and frowned back down on the Tablet. As though recognizing her annoyance with it, the tablet blazed into light and showed her the face of a very recognizable, overly-cheerful face. Her brows knitted together in a scowl.
"Chiana!" she shouted at the small screen. "What did you do? Where are we? And how the frell do I get out of this
( ... )
"Me?!" Chiana squeaked when Aeryn started in on accusing her. "I've got just as much to do with this as you." She glared through the tablet. "And what makes you think it's about me, huh? Don't answer that." She huffed and gave serious thought to cutting off the transmission and leaving Aeryn to her own devices. That would teach her. After a moment, though, Chiana remembered that this wasn't about settling scores.
"They call it Taxon." She said with a shrug. "Seems to be an alright place. Kind of boring. Not nearly enough stuff to do to keep a girl busy." She shifted her weight before glancing around. Spotting the Sanctuary, she grinned again. "I think I know where you might be. You can leave that room, you know. Shouldn't be anything interesting behind door number one."
"Because it's always got something to do with you!! Everytime we end up-" The transmission feed cut off and Aeryn felt her knuckles turning white as she gripped the tablet with rage. Good thing it was indestructible. "That little tralk..." she hissed through gritted teeth and wished that she had her pulse pistol right then. She would have had an impromptu lesson on the firing range with the tablet as the main target. Before she could fully realize how angry she was, Chiana popped back up on her screen.
"Taxon?" she replied to test the syllables out on her own tongue. They were foreign and strange, but they would do for now. "Yes, but what kind of place is this? For all we know we're being kept under direct surveillance of the Scarrans. And there is no frelling do-" Down the long set of steps, the smooth wall split and formed a door where there wasn't one a moment before. Aeryn took the steps two at a time and pressed her weight firmly on the door. It swung opened and she blinked against the sunlight.
[visual]/[location: Sanctuary]graygirlpipNovember 13 2009, 14:24:20 UTC
"Yeah, Taxon. It's not so bad." Chiana was bored, but she valued the fact that her life wasn't in danger every time she turned around. "If the Scarrons are watching us here, this is a really elaborate plot. I don't know if the boneheads could do it." She was nearly to the Sanctuary, assuming that Aeryn was going to end up in the same hallway as she had just a few weeks back.
"See, it's a whole city. Huge. I haven't really gotten to know most of it. And there's all these people. Most of 'em look Sebacean, but they're... Well, they're not." She watched as the hologram changed when Aeryn opened the door.
"See? You're getting the hang of it." Chiana grinned as she entered the Sanctuary from the outside. "Now, stay there. I'll find you." She wasn't a terrible map reader, after all. Chiana made her way through the hallways of the Sanctuary, following the little marker with Aeryn's name attached. It wasn't long before she could see her shipmate in the distance.
[visual]/[location: Sanctuary]0ne_woman_armyNovember 13 2009, 16:45:07 UTC
Aeryn listened as Chiana's voice continued to speak to her through the tablet, though she wasn't looking at her just then. She had somehow managed to switch the screen to show the map of the city again and was following the small blinking dot labeled "Chiana" through a series of hallways.
Aeryn wrinkled her nose in a frown. "Yes, I doubt the Scarrons would be this clever or put such an effort into our capture... but it doesn't mean they couldn't have had help." Aeryn Sun, Devil's Advocate and cautious trap-finder extraordinaire. Disregarding her shipmate's orders to stay put, Aeryn started navigating through the hallways towards the small "Chiana" dot.
She heard a familiar voice and even Aeryn couldn't help but smile a little when she saw a thin, gray girl waving at her. She may not understand how she got there, but she was certainly glad to see a face she recognized. "Chiana!" Aeryn trotted over towards her. "Where are the others? Have you heard from Pilot yet?"
[location: Sanctuary]graygirlpipNovember 13 2009, 16:52:34 UTC
Reunions were nice. She had to admit that. Maybe with Aeryn around, things could get kicked into gear and they could find a way off this rock. Chiana perked up at that thought. At the mention of the others, though, her expression dropped a little.
"I've only found Crichton. I'm not sure if the others are even here." She tapped the communicator on her top, "Busted. If Pilot's around, we haven't found him." The more she thought about it, the more depressing it seemed. She was suddenly kicking herself for indulging in luxuries rather than trying to fix the issue. What if the whole crew was getting sucked into this place, one by one because of her wasted time? Chiana twitched as the guilt overwhelmed her.
[location: Sanctuary]0ne_woman_armyNovember 13 2009, 17:10:52 UTC
She was glad to see her, she really was, but there were more important things than heartfelt reunions at the moment. Aeryn had to find out what had happened to her right before she had been brought here (or rather how she had been brought here. As far as she knew, bringing someone back from the dead was an impossible task), where the others were, and how to get back to Moya. She watched Chiana's expression fall and felt her own hope linger as well.
"Crichton?" she asked hesitantly. She felt a lead weight drop in her stomach though did her best to keep her exterior cold and collected. The thought of seeing him again after what had transpired between them was... less than thrilling.
She cleared her throat and tapped her own comm to be sure. "Frell. Look Chiana, don't..." Aeryn was never good with comforting others, but the look on the other girl's face made her want to try. She wrapped an arm awkwardly around her shoulders. "We'll be fine, we always are."
[location: Sanctuary]graygirlpipNovember 13 2009, 17:28:51 UTC
"Yeah, Crichton." She paused. "Not sure which one, though. I mean, if he didn't come with you then he should be." She stopped, "Frell if I know. I never understood that whole cloned Crichton thing anyway." The split of the crew hadn't been too long ago, but it had taken a strain on all of them. She was glad to see Aeryn, and for now that was all she focused on.
"Hey, who's worried?" She said with a less-than-convincing smile and a shrug. "C'mon, I'll show you around." She had learned a bit about Taxon, or least enough to make for a makeshift tour guide. As she moved to put her arm around Aeryn's shoulders, she caught sight of the map. A red dot still blinked.
"What the frell is that?" She said, grabbing Aeryn's tablet and turning it upside down, then right side up again. "D'ya think we should follow it?" She gave Aeryn a smile, much more enthusiastic. This was what she had been looking for, been hoping for. Aeryn had brought the adventure.
Re: [location: Sanctuary]0ne_woman_armyNovember 13 2009, 17:43:13 UTC
Aeryn listened to Chiana talk about him but didn't really hear it. None of it made sense in her mind, and the longer she talked the less it seemed so. Aeryn shook her head and held up her hand. "Wait, cloned Crichton? Do you mean the chip Scorpius put in his head? One of them is bad enough, what the hezmana are you talking about?"
She was worried. There were two Crichtons now? Aeryn could barely face one of them, let alone a team-up of all of her worst fears! She tried to push it out of her mind and stared down at the tablet when Chiana made mention of the red dot. "Yeah, it's been there since I..." What was the best term for it? "...woke up. Only if it's a pulse rifle," she said while letting her hand fall to her thigh where a holster should have rested. "I'm stranded in this city with no frelling gun!"
[location: Sanctuary]graygirlpipNovember 13 2009, 18:06:01 UTC
Aeryn unarmed. It was a sight she was convinced she would never see in a normal circumstance. Taxon had proved it self to be abnormal, though, in several ways. Aeryn uninformed, however, was more confusing.
"Well, not sure if it's a clone or not. Twinning, clone, double, whatever." She waved her hand passively. "What? No, Aeryn, don't you remember? Are you tinked? Of course you do, I mean you left for Talyn with one of them." Which one? It didn't matter, and since there seemed to only be one Crichton in Taxon, maybe it wouldn't matter.
"Oh! Right. We need to get you a weapon." She motioned for Aeryn to follow her. There was a hatch just around the corner. Chiana leaned on the wall beside it and motioned. "You just put your hand here and think about what you want. So easy a gleebo could handle it." She folded her arms over her chest and grinned.
Re: [location: Sanctuary]0ne_woman_armyNovember 13 2009, 18:27:05 UTC
Aeryn stared at Chiana as though the girl had just sprouted another separate, but equally annoyingly talkative head. She shook her head slowly but followed her around the corner to the hatch. She stared at it a few moments before doing as the girl said and placing her hand on the pad. She imagined her pulse pistol, complete with holster and a few extra chakkan oil cartridges as she had always worn back on Moya. Much to her surprise, it came falling into a small cubbie near the bottom. Aeryn pulled it out and immediately began strapping it to her leg. "Why didn't we ever have these when we needed them?" she muttered before standing straight again.
"Chiana, you're fahrbot! Talyn and Crais haven't gone anywhere, and last time I checked there was only one Crichton. Believe me, I'm pretty sure I would remember if two of them had shot me down over the frozen lake." The last part came out a little more bitter and upset than she had hoped, but she cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the tablet to change the subject. She
( ... )
[location: Sanctuary]graygirlpipNovember 13 2009, 18:57:19 UTC
Chiana was so taken aback by Aeryn's little spiel that she couldn't think of how to respond. The pulse pistol clunked to the hatch just as she was about to try. She shook her head to clear herself of the confusion.
"What? Oh. Yeah." She gestured towards the door she'd come in. "Let's cut the jibber. That's the way out." Hey, she could be helpful sometimes. She walked towards the door, still a little confused and not sure what to say. Chiana remembered all the things she was talking about, sure, but it was like Aeryn was stuck in the past. Or frelling kinkoid. Both were a distinct possibility.
Taxon's sky was permanently gray. Chiana hadn't thought much of it. Sometimes planets just had gray skies. She glanced around, getting her bearings again.
"Which way?" She wasn't the one with the map with a big blinking dot, after all.
[location: Sanctuary]0ne_woman_armyNovember 13 2009, 19:10:50 UTC
Aeryn cursed herself silently for letting the emotions get the best of her. The Peacekeeper in her mind told her to just shut up and clamp down, but the other portion told her it was okay to express them. For the time being, the Peacekeeper was winning.
Feeling much more comfortable with a pistol strapped to her thigh, Aeryn followed Chiana to the door and outside onto a foreign, gray planet. She looked up at the dark sky and sighed. "How welcoming," she muttered with a snort. With a quick surveying of her surroundings, Aeryn glanced down at the map on the tablet and found the small red dot. "This way," she pointed South-west with a quick check of the coordinates. "I think."
[location: Central]graygirlpipNovember 13 2009, 19:38:10 UTC
Chiana glanced over Aeryn's shoulder when she seemed confused about the map system. Recognition set in, and she bounced excitedly.
"Hey, there's that, that thing." She was really articulate when she wanted to be. "Gris, what I mean is that there's this big... thing they use around here. Transport pods on the ground. Something like that." She shook a hand to indicate that it didn't matter. "There's one nearby and it stops here." She pointed to a space close to the dot, then up to the tram station just a few blocks away.
"Dag-yo." She added, happily. "Maybe this won't take so long, huh?"
[location: Central]0ne_woman_armyNovember 14 2009, 02:39:32 UTC
Aeryn watched Chiana bounce and dance around her like a fekkik and waved a hand at her like she would a fly buzzing around her head.
"Breathe, Chiana. You won't make it another twenty microts talking like that." She gave a tiny smile then turned her attention back to the tablet when Chiana pointed to it. "Grounded transport pods? And they move?" Her eyes followed Chiana's finger to the station and then she looked back down to the mocking red dot.
"It had better be worth this trouble, whatever it is."
It was perfect timing that she heard the curse came blaring over her tablet. She recognized the voice first, and a quick glance to her wrist showed the hologram of someone very familiar.
"Aeryn?" Chiana's head quirked hard to one side. "Frell me! It is you!" She grinned so hard it felt like her face might crack.
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Aeryn shrugged off the feeling of echoing memories and frowned back down on the Tablet. As though recognizing her annoyance with it, the tablet blazed into light and showed her the face of a very recognizable, overly-cheerful face. Her brows knitted together in a scowl.
"Chiana!" she shouted at the small screen. "What did you do? Where are we? And how the frell do I get out of this ( ... )
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"They call it Taxon." She said with a shrug. "Seems to be an alright place. Kind of boring. Not nearly enough stuff to do to keep a girl busy." She shifted her weight before glancing around. Spotting the Sanctuary, she grinned again. "I think I know where you might be. You can leave that room, you know. Shouldn't be anything interesting behind door number one."
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"Taxon?" she replied to test the syllables out on her own tongue. They were foreign and strange, but they would do for now. "Yes, but what kind of place is this? For all we know we're being kept under direct surveillance of the Scarrans. And there is no frelling do-" Down the long set of steps, the smooth wall split and formed a door where there wasn't one a moment before. Aeryn took the steps two at a time and pressed her weight firmly on the door. It swung opened and she blinked against the sunlight.
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"See, it's a whole city. Huge. I haven't really gotten to know most of it. And there's all these people. Most of 'em look Sebacean, but they're... Well, they're not." She watched as the hologram changed when Aeryn opened the door.
"See? You're getting the hang of it." Chiana grinned as she entered the Sanctuary from the outside. "Now, stay there. I'll find you." She wasn't a terrible map reader, after all. Chiana made her way through the hallways of the Sanctuary, following the little marker with Aeryn's name attached. It wasn't long before she could see her shipmate in the distance.
"Hey!" She called out, waving her arm wildly.
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Aeryn wrinkled her nose in a frown. "Yes, I doubt the Scarrons would be this clever or put such an effort into our capture... but it doesn't mean they couldn't have had help." Aeryn Sun, Devil's Advocate and cautious trap-finder extraordinaire. Disregarding her shipmate's orders to stay put, Aeryn started navigating through the hallways towards the small "Chiana" dot.
She heard a familiar voice and even Aeryn couldn't help but smile a little when she saw a thin, gray girl waving at her. She may not understand how she got there, but she was certainly glad to see a face she recognized. "Chiana!" Aeryn trotted over towards her. "Where are the others? Have you heard from Pilot yet?"
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"I've only found Crichton. I'm not sure if the others are even here." She tapped the communicator on her top, "Busted. If Pilot's around, we haven't found him." The more she thought about it, the more depressing it seemed. She was suddenly kicking herself for indulging in luxuries rather than trying to fix the issue. What if the whole crew was getting sucked into this place, one by one because of her wasted time? Chiana twitched as the guilt overwhelmed her.
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"Crichton?" she asked hesitantly. She felt a lead weight drop in her stomach though did her best to keep her exterior cold and collected. The thought of seeing him again after what had transpired between them was... less than thrilling.
She cleared her throat and tapped her own comm to be sure. "Frell. Look Chiana, don't..." Aeryn was never good with comforting others, but the look on the other girl's face made her want to try. She wrapped an arm awkwardly around her shoulders. "We'll be fine, we always are."
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"Hey, who's worried?" She said with a less-than-convincing smile and a shrug. "C'mon, I'll show you around." She had learned a bit about Taxon, or least enough to make for a makeshift tour guide. As she moved to put her arm around Aeryn's shoulders, she caught sight of the map. A red dot still blinked.
"What the frell is that?" She said, grabbing Aeryn's tablet and turning it upside down, then right side up again. "D'ya think we should follow it?" She gave Aeryn a smile, much more enthusiastic. This was what she had been looking for, been hoping for. Aeryn had brought the adventure.
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She was worried. There were two Crichtons now? Aeryn could barely face one of them, let alone a team-up of all of her worst fears! She tried to push it out of her mind and stared down at the tablet when Chiana made mention of the red dot. "Yeah, it's been there since I..." What was the best term for it? "...woke up. Only if it's a pulse rifle," she said while letting her hand fall to her thigh where a holster should have rested. "I'm stranded in this city with no frelling gun!"
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"Well, not sure if it's a clone or not. Twinning, clone, double, whatever." She waved her hand passively. "What? No, Aeryn, don't you remember? Are you tinked? Of course you do, I mean you left for Talyn with one of them." Which one? It didn't matter, and since there seemed to only be one Crichton in Taxon, maybe it wouldn't matter.
"Oh! Right. We need to get you a weapon." She motioned for Aeryn to follow her. There was a hatch just around the corner. Chiana leaned on the wall beside it and motioned. "You just put your hand here and think about what you want. So easy a gleebo could handle it." She folded her arms over her chest and grinned.
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"Chiana, you're fahrbot! Talyn and Crais haven't gone anywhere, and last time I checked there was only one Crichton. Believe me, I'm pretty sure I would remember if two of them had shot me down over the frozen lake." The last part came out a little more bitter and upset than she had hoped, but she cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the tablet to change the subject. She ( ... )
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"What? Oh. Yeah." She gestured towards the door she'd come in. "Let's cut the jibber. That's the way out." Hey, she could be helpful sometimes. She walked towards the door, still a little confused and not sure what to say. Chiana remembered all the things she was talking about, sure, but it was like Aeryn was stuck in the past. Or frelling kinkoid. Both were a distinct possibility.
Taxon's sky was permanently gray. Chiana hadn't thought much of it. Sometimes planets just had gray skies. She glanced around, getting her bearings again.
"Which way?" She wasn't the one with the map with a big blinking dot, after all.
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Feeling much more comfortable with a pistol strapped to her thigh, Aeryn followed Chiana to the door and outside onto a foreign, gray planet. She looked up at the dark sky and sighed. "How welcoming," she muttered with a snort. With a quick surveying of her surroundings, Aeryn glanced down at the map on the tablet and found the small red dot. "This way," she pointed South-west with a quick check of the coordinates. "I think."
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"Hey, there's that, that thing." She was really articulate when she wanted to be. "Gris, what I mean is that there's this big... thing they use around here. Transport pods on the ground. Something like that." She shook a hand to indicate that it didn't matter. "There's one nearby and it stops here." She pointed to a space close to the dot, then up to the tram station just a few blocks away.
"Dag-yo." She added, happily. "Maybe this won't take so long, huh?"
Reply
"Breathe, Chiana. You won't make it another twenty microts talking like that." She gave a tiny smile then turned her attention back to the tablet when Chiana pointed to it. "Grounded transport pods? And they move?" Her eyes followed Chiana's finger to the station and then she looked back down to the mocking red dot.
"It had better be worth this trouble, whatever it is."
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