From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Feb 18 2008 - 20:05:07 PST
=Explosive Toothpaste, Part 2=
(cont’d from “Struggling With Thomas Varn”)
LOCATION: Elcar Village
SCENE: Great Hall
STARDATE: [2.8]0218.2032
“Take it apart?” Trella asked, coming up behind Crichton as he separated his tools. “You can do that?”
“Dunno’,” Crichton shrugged, looking back over his shoulder at her with a slight grin. “Guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
“How much time do you need?” Trella asked, clearly not very happy with this change in plan as she eyed the door warily.
“Dunno’,” Crichton shrugged again.
“I thought Engineering was an *exact* science,” Trella murmured, returning to the door.
“We like to let people think that,” Crichton said, taking up one of his tools as moving towards the Window. “Otherwise, nobody would want to fly around in something we built.”
Twenty minutes later, the innards of the Window were laid open before him. It wasn’t a terribly complex technology- truthfully, it was barely more advanced than a plasma-screen TV- and it hadn’t been hard to disassemble. However, the very simplicity of the technology meant that it probably wasn’t the source of the problem.
“I’m not seeing anything in here that might explain the aberrant behavior in the children,” Crichton said, leaning back and rubbing his aching neck. “Or that might blind Thomas, for that matter.”
“What about subliminal messages, or other audio-visual elements?” Trella asked.
“I’d have to get a look at the signal itself before I could say,” Crichton shrugged. “Anyway, Andaran physiology isn’t exactly my specialty. I’ve got no idea what kind of light or sound patterns might set off behavior that extreme. I *can* tell you that it’s got nothing to do with the Window itself.”
“So removing the Windows won’t solve the problem,” Trella said, frowning.
“Not necessarily,” Crichton pointed out. “This village isn’t exactly the technology capitol of the quadrant. The Window is probably the only piece of technology able to receive the signal’s transmission and relay it to the Andarans.”
“So removing the Windows might force whoever is behind the transmission to change their tactics,” Trella nodded. “If they wanted to keep driving the children insane, they’d have to find another way to reach them.”
“Assuming that someone is out there doing all this on purpose,” Crichton said.
“It seems unlikely that a transmission that causes madness and homicidal violence in children would occur by accident,” Trella replied. “And it is exactly the type of sedition tactics the Dominion are known for.”
“But the Dominion already run this place,” Crichton said. “Why would they attack their own protectorate world?”
Trella looked like she was about to reply, but a sudden noise from outside the Great Hall put a stop to all further discussion. Trella began to creep towards the door to see what had caused the noise, while Crichton turned and, rapidly, tried to reassemble the Window, making no small bit of noise in the process.
“Crichton!” Trella whispered harshly behind him.
“Sorry,” Crichton whispered back, biting his bottom lip as he continued his hurried work.
Outside, they could hear a muffled voice say, “Is someone in there?”
Trella immediately ducked behind one of the rows of seats, disappearing from sight. Crichton didn’t notice- he was too busy finishing the reassembly of the Window. Behind him, the door to the Great Hall began to open.
“What are you doing?” an angry voice came from behind him. Crichton spun, hydrospanner still in hand and eyes wide, and saw one of the Andaran night guardsmen standing in the doorway, brandishing what appeared to be a weapon.
“Uh…” was all Crichton could manage. The Andaran began to advance on him.
“You were sabotaging the Window,” the Andaran said, scowling. “You are the one behind the attacks.”
“No-” Crichton started, but he could see the Andaran wasn’t listening. He closed his eyes as the Andaran raised his weapon, aimed at Crichton…
A second later, Crichton opened his eyes, only to see the unconscious form of the Andaran guard sprawled out at his feet. Trella Palandora stood behind the fallen Andaran, staring at Crichton.
“Thanks,” Crichton said.
“If you’re quite finished, I suggest we get out of here,” Trella said.
“Right,” Crichton smiled. “Won’t be a minute.”
He turned again, and very quickly completed the repairs on the Window. Then, he and Trella picked up the fallen Andaran and dragged him outside, propping him up against building across the street from the Great Hall.
“We’re going to have some explaining to do tomorrow morning when this guy reports back to his superiors,” Crichton said.
“We can’t afford to let him compromise our cover,” Trella said, glancing around the abandoned square. Her eyes leveled on a row of tiny bottles lined up on a table across the street. She ran up to it, grabbed one of the bottles, then quickly returned to Crichton.
“Here,” Trella said, handing a bottle of what smelled like strong alcohol to Crichton. “It’s an Andaran wine. Pour a little into his mouth, then put the bottle in his hand.”
Crichton quickly did what she had said, carefully placing the bottle in the unconscious guards’ hand. “Sorry about this, fella,” he said. “Hope we don’t cost you your job.”
“Quickly,” Trella said. “We have to move.’
They both rose quickly, and made their way out of the town square, towards the freighter.
NRPG: Got part two out tonight!
So its not the Window that’s causing the insanity- the Window is just the medium for transmission. So who’s behind it? And what are they after?
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jake Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
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