Find a place to hide and watch. If they want to start trouble and they know we're here, shooting us would be their first step. I'd rather be hidden, but ready.
You make your way to the refresher and turn off the lights. From here you should be able to keep track of Graad and the people with him. If they get too close to you you can always escape out the window. And if they try anything you'll be close enough to intervene.
You hear Graad utter a few words in an unknown language and a few moments later you hear footsteps in the hallway. One heads for the room with the patients while the other heads for the vats of healing fluid. You hear one walk between the beds, raising sheets, disturbing the dividers. One of the patients complains but his complains are reduced to a mumbled apology and then stop.
"Hey! Careful with that! That's sensitive!" you hear from the hallway.
"So, have you found a replacement?" comes the question from the same location.
There is a pause.
"No. Not yet. It's hard to find someone I can trust.""Yes. A lot of expensive equipment here.""I meant someone I can trust with my patients' wellbeing.""Ah. Yes. That too." he responds condescendingly.
The sound of footsteps moves towards Eiwhyl's room.
"Don't mess up my desk."The footsteps pause and there is silence for a moment.
"Why are you staring? I have a system and it works for me."After another short pause the footsteps continue.
"Are you certain that you haven't seen my friend today?""You heard me the first time.""I see."More quiet broken by the sound of things being shuffled around.
"Celebrating something, then?""What do you-"The one from the healing vat room approaches the room you're hiding in. With a jump and a flap of your wings you go through the window. With a few more flaps you twist around and gracefully come to rest on the tower's wall, clinging on a pipe close to the window. You can't really hear what's going on from here, the wind and buzzing of the outside world carries any words that escape the window away. The only thing your can do is wait and watch the window. The light comes on, creating a soft halo in the smog outside. The light is briefly disturbed by a shadow and then a few seconds later it disappears. You wait a few more seconds for good measure before jumping off the wall, twisting around and grabbing the window. You make a quick check to make sure there's nobody in there before jumping down. The door is closed now but you can still hear people speaking through it, though it's a bit harder to track their location.
"-an idiot.""Yes, and you say that despite all your big talk about how much you care about your patients.""A hypocrite and an idiot, then." Eiwhyl replies, though she sounds uncertain.
"Really?""Look, I don't know what you want me to-"There's the sound of glass breaking.
"I want you to stop messing with me and tell me the damn truth." he says, sounding menacing despite not raising his voice.
"Listen here, I have-""I have been very polite. Have I not been very polite?"There are grunts of assent.
"But maybe I was being too polite.""Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get your hands off me!"There's a slam that causes the walls to vibrate.
"I'll ask again. Where is she hiding?""I don't know!"There are grunts, struggling.
"Don't you dare!"She tries to sound angry but you can sense the fear in her voice. She starts speaking quickly.
"Alright, alright! She came here looking for credits but I sent her away, I told her to go back to you, that's the truth, that's all I know.""Ah, so the story changes. Unfortunately, after you lied to my face like that, I'm not sure I can believe you. You see my trust is like glass. Once it's broken, it's really hard to mend."You hear the sound of glass shards clinking together.
"Trying only ends up with you getting all cut up.""Look, I buy only from you, I take care of your people same as anyone else, I don't say anything to anyone, even when you do dumb or sick things. If you do this, I can't guarantee-""Are you threatening me? You know, there are plenty who could replace you.""I'm just saying that Reelo won't like it if he finds out you did something stupid over a misunderstanding.""I doubt the boss cares about what happens to you."You don't know what to do. You want to help but you don't want to end up making things worse. You try to find a way to see what's going on outside, but this stupid machine-door slides open and closed on its own.
"Taking you out would be a waste." Graad finally decides.
Your sigh of relief is cut short by the bang of a blaster bolt followed by Eiwhyl's scream.
"But don't think I'll leave you without a warning.""Damn you! You bastard!""Don't worry. I'm sure it will be all healed up in a few years." he adds smugly.
With that he utters a command in his unfamiliar language and he and his people starts walking away. You hear the apartment entrance opening and closing. The only sound left is the awkward shuffling of the patients and Eiwhyl's sobs.
You open the door to find Eiwhyl lying down on the hallway next to a puddle of alcohol and broken glass, clutching the side of her head, crying.
"Damned bastard." she whispers between sobs.
Among the glass shards there are shards of bone and keratin. The blaster bolt exploded Eiwhyl's horn where it curves just below the ear, leaving it jagged and broken, about half the length of her other horn. The shrapnel scratched her neck and cheeks but didn't penetrate her thick skin.
Age: a few months (hatchling)
Size: about the size of a large dog
Status: tired, satiated
Health: fine
Weapons: claws and teeth
Armor: soft scales
Abilities:
- Short Flight: You can glide in order to survive falls and quickly move great distances. You can even fly upwards for short distances. You can use favorable winds and updrafts to increase your glide time.
- Basic Human Language: You are able to understand many of the most common words of the human language, including some that express more abstract things, though there are still a great many words and expressions that you have yet to learn. You can also read, though it takes you some time to understand the words. You can also speak, though it's sometimes hard for others to understand you.
- Communication: You have a knack for understanding other beings, even those whose language you don't know.
- Basic Nursing: You know the basics of caring for patients and preparing and maintaining equipment used in their care. You can also administer certain simple treatments. However you still lack much of the knowledge necessary for you to be able to determine what said treatment should be.
- Large Sonic Rifle covered by old torn clothes (in Maintenance Tunnels, behind a pipe)
- Pack with plastoid tape modifications (equipped on left side)
- Half-used medpac
- 190 credits (4 blue, 1 red)
- half-used roll of plastoid tape
- flashlight
- small can of droid oil
- small metal toolbox
- Ali's Apartment (Lair): A tiny 2 bedroom apartment. The little human Ali lives there with Dad/Jobal and Mom/Ania. Room 327.
- Ali's Apartment Tower: Apartments arranged in a circle. Clean, bright, mostly locked doors, few hiding places. Little traffic during the night.
- Eiwhyl's Clinic: Sells medpacs and other healing items and provides treatment. Warning: stabby. Room 509.
- Streets: Dirty streets, parked hovercars, shops, building entrances, street vendors, little traffic during the night.
- Maintenance Tunnels: Interconnected tunnels, small and large, going low and high. Connect various streets and buildings. Wires and pipes. Dark, dirty, with old machines constantly rumbling. Scavenger-vermin and hunters-of-vermin.
- Garbage Pit: A large room with mountains of garbage half-submerged in a sea of sludge. More garbage frequently arrives from holes in the ceiling. A monster lurks here, may pull prey underwater.
- Hydroponic Pool: A room with a large pool filled with plants. A ceiling full of bright lamps. A spherical gardener-droid takes care of the plants. Patrolled by hostile gunmen. A corridor leads to other rooms. Storage room. Processing room. Other rooms are unexplored.
- Iyran Grower Shop: A store located deeper into the tower's streets. Operated by a cephalopoid. The grower sells cheap synthetic meat, amongst other things.
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Topic: Surviving in an Alien World [Suggestion Game] (Read 106976 times)