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[meatship]

Stacy stopped in midsentence, wherever she was talking--a pause in midsentence or mid-lecture or mid-nag.

The only time she did this was the time that preceded a shipwide announcement of--

||Pod Release Protocols Initating.||

Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.It was a small batch this time, but still new was new and the

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[cesscanmelt]

There's a puddle on the floor.

It's sight to behold: a big, silver puddle, shimmering in the light from Stacy, a sort of greenish, harsh glow against the aformentioned silver.

The puddle, while shimmering, is making a serious of noises that are hardly distinguishable, but if you listened closely -- if you were telepathic -- or if you had your ear up against it, you would hear something along the lines of "ohgod" and "notagainnotagainnotagain".

[meatship]

||Please remain calm|| came a reassuring telepathic voice. ||Kincaid, Cessily, you will be able to stabilize yourself in a moment, once the effects of podsleep have worn off.||

[cesscanmelt]

And it's true. She can, after a minute.

She picks herself up, piece by piece, molecule by molecule. Patches form across what looks like a face. Dark red hair surfaces and falls down what looks like the beginning of a spinal cord. Blue, translucent, glowing eyes float to the surface, above what looks like a nose.

Cessily's first breath after being on the floor is like birth, "--ChhhkohGOD--"

First there's a dull ache, and then there's raw, bone-breaking pain, across her temples and in her gut. "Ohgodithurtsithurtsithurts--"

[meatship]

||The pain will subside.||

[cesscanmelt]

And of course it does. Eventually she can feel her face and her hands, in the sort of distanced way she does, and she can breathe again through relatively well-shaped lungs.

Then she takes a leaf out of Julian's book. "What the hell is THIS?"

She's naked, and she's cold (even if her nerve endings aren't what the used to be), and most importantly she is naked.