Carpathia IV: Episode 60 - Adventure Time
Space, NCCS Shadowdancer
Joust's quarters, almost as spacious as the Captain's quarters with plenty of open space in the living room, a long couch spanning several windows along the bulkhead, tables, chairs, and everything else one might expect in a well-appointed condominium unit. If someone were to close the curtains on the windows to block the view of space outside, it would be difficult to guess you were on a starship if you didn't already know that.
Dominating the living space, in the center of the room, was a massive table, or at least what seemed to be a table. Wrapped all the way around the outside were places for people to sit with niches in each position for drinks and snacks. This narrow portion appeared almost as an afterthought, for the main attraction was the center of the table. Turned off, it seemed to be nothing more than a large monitor screen.
As the Shadowdancer hurtled to its next destination, the planet of the bouncy, blobby creatures, Joust's quarters were alive with activity. The big table flourished with an elaborate holographic image projected on top depicting a pastoral landscape with colorful flowers, green hills, and green, fluffy trees. A simulated wind blew through the landscape, making the leaves dance and the grass wave hypnotically. Five little holographic characters, clad in various permutations of fantasy medieval garb, milled about the landscape near a cave opening.
The first was a human female, clad in a black robe with gold embroidery snaking around her chest and arms. She carried a staff and sported a jaunty, floppy hat that drooped down to her back. Another was a female komodo with straight, red spikes and wearing an eclectic ensemble, mostly white, but with some red and black trim that was almost invisible behind the collection of colorful scarves and strings holding the whole thing together. Over her shoulder, she carried a loose satchel full of potions.
The other three characters on the board were male. One was a nekohuman wearing minimal, loose-fitting clothing with a sash tied around his waist and a headband which streamers of fabric that fluttered in the breeze far past the tie. The second was a demon, strong and stoic, with a single horn, heavy armor, and a massive, two-handed sword. Rounding out the group was a tall, slender tokki in a low-cut peasant shirt and loose-fitting pants. Tied to both sides of his waist were holsters for his knives to accompany the boomerang strapped to his back.
While the little holographic characters did their own thing on the board, five real people engaged in an enthusiastic discussion of what to do next while one more, Joust, watched with interest, hanging from the ceiling at the end of the table.
Teren: Commander, we have...
Joust held his finger to his mouth and waggled it back and forth.
Joust: Remember! Here, I'm not Commander! You must call me the Adventure Master!
Immediately cowed, Teren corrected himself.
Teren: Sorry, Adventure Master. We have decided to explore the cave.
Joust reached down and swished his finger around the touchpad on his control panel. The four little characters proceeded cautiously into the cave just before the entire board transformed into the cave interior.
Joust: You enter the cave and find that it is dark and damp, with moss growing on the walls and shallow pools of water on the ground. Watch your step! The ground isn't just uneven, but also slippery. From somewhere deep inside, you can hear the slow, heavy breathing of a large creature. It sounds like it's asleep.
Tamati: We'll need a torch if we're going to go deeper.
Minnie: Should we, though? We've only just started and we're not at any kind of level to take on a big monster.
Nalma: If it's asleep, we could observe it. Bit of a practice before our real mission coming up soon, isn't it?
Ramei: Whatever is in this cave seems far more menacing than a bunch of blob creatures. Besides, we've already dealt with them and we have an idea what they can do. We have no idea what's in this cave. It could be a dragon.
Nalma: That's good, isn't it? What's wrong with a dragon?
The others shook their heads while Teren put his paw on Nalma's shoulder.
Teren: No, Nalma. The dragons in this game aren't Draconis dragons. These are old-style human mythology dragons.
Minnie: The kind that sit on piles of gold and eat people.
Nalma's eyes widened as he reached up and scratched at his ear.
Nalma: Well, that's not very nice, is it?
Tamati: You ever wonder if dragons find these sorts of games racist?
Teren: I wouldn't worry about that too much. They probably have their own games about us.
Ramei covered his mouth but did not stifle his giggles.
Ramei: Yeah, it'd be called "Suburbs and People."
Giggles turned to laughter while Minnie raised her hand and waved it around like an overenthusiastic first-grader.
Minnie: Oh! Oh! Suburb Master, request permission to have a meltdown at my son's soccer game!
As the laughter increased, there was a beep over the intercom followed by the Captain's voice.
Aire: Senior officers to stations. We are approaching the planet of the blob creatures.
Joust reached down to tap on his control panel and save the game. Around the table, the rest of the group were already halfway to the the door.
Joust: To be continued, then. Time to observe some real creatures.
The screen on Joust's game table went dark and he followed the rest into the corridor.
Nalma, Teren, and Joust all spilled out of the lift and rushed to their stations. Each had hardly gotten to their seats before the orders started coming in. On the screen was a familiar sight, a planet surrounded by rock fragments. It was the same planet on which they encountered the blob creatures several months ago.
Aire: Helm, bring us in nice and slow, one quarter induction. We don't want to disturb the locals.
Teek: Yes, Captain. One quarter induction.
Aire: Nalma and Kit, set up the observation system.
Kit: Yes, Captain.
Nalma: It's mostly ready. All we'll need to do is fine-tune the system once we're in position.
Aire leaned back in his chair, awaiting the time that the Shadowdancer could get into position, during which time he leaned to his side to converse with Joust.
Aire: Command must be very interested in these creatures to send the Shadowdancer here again.
Joust: They are unique. So far, we can't translate their language with the limited information we have. I'm interested in that too. Were you here the first time the Shadowdancer came?
Aire: Nope. That was the last mission before I joined.
Teek: We are approaching the designated coordinates, Captain.
Aire: Full stop once we're in position. Let's have a look at our subjects, shall we? Phobos, pick an asteroid and zoom in on it, preferrably one with plenty of the blob creatures around it.
Phobos: Yes, Captain.
Aire expected an image on the viewer within a few seconds, but after almost a minute, the viewer did not change.
Aire: Is there a problem, Ensign Leingod?
Phobos: As a matter of fact, there is, Captain.
Finally, an image appeared on the viewer and it was rather disconcerting. As instructed, Phobos found a rock and, just like Aire ordered, it was populated with the blob creatures. This was all well and good, except that every single blob creature had their eyes affixed firmly at the Shadowdancer. Hundreds of eyes, unmoving, unchanging, staring straight at them. On first encounter months ago, they cheerfully bounced and played across the asteroids, at least when they weren't shooting at them, but now, they were still, as though the lot of them had been stricken with rigor mortis.
Aire: Are they dead?
Amenaru: We are picking up their life signs, assuming that we have correctly tuned our sensors to recognize them.
Phobos: I looked at the visuals of at least a dozen different asteroids. They all look just like this one.
Aire: Nalma, are we in the correct position?
Nalma: Affirmative, Captain. We shouldn't seem any bigger than a grain of rice on a starry background to them.
Aire: We were ordered to observe their natural behavior, but that might be impossible now.
Joust: Technically, I suppose this is their natural behavior when they spot a spaceship they've seen before.
Teren: Not really the behavior we were hoping for. Their eyes must be far sharper than we thought.
Aire leaned to his side and tapped his armrest anxiously.
Aire: Let's just follow the plan for now. Maybe they'll get bored of us and resume being their normal selves.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
