Jump Space is timeless, at least as far as humans (and most other sapient species) mark time.  In a grey, featureless void, where the Universe technically ends at the edge of the Jump Field, a little less than a metre from the ship's hull, Time doesn't really exist, and Space hangs on only by the skin of its teeth.

Anything which disrupts the Jump Field is to be avoided.

Within the hull though, time moves as normal, starting at some point in the Past, and sliding into the Future, at a steady, continuous pace.  One second further for every second that passes.

It's been a little more than eighty-six thousand of those seconds since Saskia and Tylen started spraying the solvent into the air system.  The sensors on the filter arrays are registering a 55.7% decrease in the organic matter clogging them, and the figure is improving steadily.  The smell of the solvent is even starting to fade, or maybe everybody is getting used to it.

No new stowaways have appeared, and a visual inspection of the filters by the engineer shows that the eggs, and any hatchlings which had already appeared, are turning into a liquid sludge, which flows down into the lower sections of the filter arrays, with very little encouragment.

Shui's new pet refuses to fall over and die, in spite of the change in its diet and environment, and seems to be actually thriving in its new enclosure.  Every time anybody moves close to it, it promptly becomes very attentive, chirping, buzzing, and waving its antennae in a friendly manner.

Conrad goes back to his standard navigator's J-Space routine of doing nothing much, interspersed with spells of familiarising himself with the computer and nav systems.

In between constantly checking the corners of any room they happen to be in, for any signs of unauthorised movement, especially small unauthorised movement, Yas and Tylen run gunnery sims to pass the time.

And finally, Saskia goes through to see Jago, and declares the cleaning of the filters to be a success.  Even if there is no further improvement, there is more than enough life left in them to last until the ship lands at Arkadia.

Now... there's just the matter of the live female bug somewhere on the ship.

Shui continues to experiment with her 'pet', even to the point of placing her hand within the enclosure and allowing the creature to examine it.  If it climbs abord, she makes a habit of removing it from the container and carrying it around her office, or placing it on the desk with some food as she works.

She is very careful, though, to never allow it out of her sight.  She is also very careful to fully close the container (with airholes) - that other bug is out there, somewhere, and she wants to keep this one safe.

The doctor is convinced that this creature is more than it seems.  She does show it to Conrad, when and if he comes for his morning exercises.  Hopefully he remembers them...and hopefully he hasn't thrown away his plant.

She is pleased, though, that the infestation has been contained.  Now it must be eliminated.  That could take time - this is the sort of infestation and elimination with which Shui has little training or experience, and she leaves it up to their semi-professionals.

Lunchtime.  She heads down to the galley to eat, still wearing her lab-coat like an absent-minded professor.  Tea is prepared, and she sits at the empty table in silence, pondering what she has seen thus far.

”Penny for them,” Jago offers as he emerges from the bridge and sees the doctor sitting in quiet contemplation. He grabs his lunch from the coffee percolator and brings the steaming cup over to Shui and pulls out a chair.

“You look troubled, is everything OK?”

Shui glances up when the Captain arrives, and smiles politely.  "Captain Lanza," she greets him.  "A...penny?"  For a long moment the Doctor considers the words, then nods.  "Oh!  Yes, I comprehend."  One doesn't travel as much as she has without picking up something here and there, even if english isn't one's native tongue.

She looks back down into her cup as he pursues that idea, wondering about her current issues.  She taps one finger upon the side of the vessel, then turns to face the Captain.  "The animal we captured," she begins, "is mildly psionically active.  It displays behaviour that may be instinctual strategy, or planned manipulation, or even genuine emotional bonding.  I believe it may even be self-aware, as I understand such things, though I do not yet have proof."  Her fingers again drum against the side of the cup before she stills them instinctively.  Excess noise....

"I am uncertain as to where I should proceed.  If it is self-aware, how intelligent might it be?"  She frowns.  "Keeping such a being captive runs counter to my beliefs.  And yet, at the same time it seems pleased by its surroundings...is that, again, instinctual survival mechanisms coming into play, or is it actual emotional comprehension of the situation?"

Leaning back, she rubs her brows.  "My apologies.  Long-winded and possibly ridiculous."

"Gotcha, Will!  Hahaa, I win again!  God, this is boring," Yasmine blurts out as she finished yet another sim sitting.  She sighs and pushes away the controls, gets up and out of the seat to walk out on the bridge.

"Are we there yet?" she asks anyone in earshot in her best annoying voice, sounding pretty much like a little girl.  She looks however nothing like a little girl in her tanktop, camouflage trousers and army style boots.

"I'd go take another cup of cocoa if I didn't think I'd o.d. on it already," she comments with her normal voice and leans in over panel next to Conrad to support her weight on both arms, the back of her hands facing her and the fingers drumming the front of the panel.  As she stands there, looking a bit like a fashion model posing for a shoot, she looks at everything and nothing on the panel - almost itching to push a few buttons out of pure boredom.

Saskia has finally reached a decision.  It's been days now, and the dressing is almost as black as the sky in interstellar space.  It needs to be changed, and the wound looked at.  It keeps itching, for a start.

Maybe Shui should look at it again?

At least the doctor hadn't hurt it when she examined the injury.  She'd been very gentle, and nice to talk to as well.  Thinking back, Saskia doesn't recall speaking to the woman much before.  Come to think of it, she never talks to anybody much, except her engines.  Well, and Yas, of course, but Yas is different.  Saskia has known her for a long time.  Back in Saskia's Navy days, Yas had even served briefly on the same ship, though Jar-heads and Navy didn't mix so much.

But Shui seems alright, any way, and she hadn't lectured Saskia too much on keeping the cut clean.

Nervously, the engineer starts to scratch at the dressing, then stops herself, cursing under her breath.  "Sholtz it, Saskia Naomi Blake!  You served in the Emperors Navy and got a medal for having more balls than most male officers.  You shouldn't be so frelling squeamish about a little scratch!"

Screwing up her courage, and her eyes, she tears the dressing away.  Now for the next step - building up the nerve to look at her hand.

”Hmm,” Jago frowns, “’the animal,’ I take it you found something other than the creature we were looking for, how come I’m always the last to find out what’s going on, on this boat.”

Jago’s tone is resigned rather than annoyed, and he lapses into a thoughtful silence.

“I’d like to see it,” he says suddenly. “I take it that you’ve not been able to identify it yet, perhaps the passengers can help, Mr Janur was very helpful about the Harpers Termite, I wonder if there is a connection between them.” The Captain’s rhetorical musings again fade away, but the frown remains as he sips his coffee.

Coming out of her room, Saskia heads for Shui's quarters first, then changes course towards the crew lounge instead, when she hears voices from that direction.  Sure enough, Shui is there, chatting to Jago.

The engineer crosses the lounge and grabs herself a coffee, before turning around to face the doctor.  She raises her injured hand, "Look, it's better, thanks."

The hand is better.  No more than a deep scratch and some bruising remains to show where the bleeding wound had been.  Saskia studies the injury for a long moment, her face growing visibly paler.  Then, with a shake of her head, she says, "It's better."

Shui blinks in surprise, and frowns.  No, she...yes, he's right.  She didn't tell the Captain about this.  Unforgiveable.  Why not?  Normally she is so meticulous about such things....

Was it because it was working on my mind?  Has it distracted me so much?  She hopes that isn't the case.

"My apologies, Captain Lanza," she replies, sincere and quietly distraught.  "I should have told you immediately.  It will not happen again."  The doctor waits a beat to consider his suggestion, then nods.  "I have the information on this arthropod, but it is possible that Mr. Janur will have more detailed knowledge based on personal experiences.  I will inquire of him.  Thank you.  As for viewing it, please come around to my quarters at any time that is convenient for you."

Closing her eyes, Shui wraps her hands around the hot cup of tea and considers the implications.  Hopefully it was a lapse on my part.  If not, I shall have to remove the creature from the ship.  And she does not wish to do so.  Not at all.  Suddenly the doctor feels a stab of concern - from where does that wish originate?

Will she second-guess all of her feelings, now?

Saskia's entrance puts an end to her short bout of brooding.  She watches the woman claim a cup of coffee, and then hold up her now-unbandaged hand for examination.  Shui narrows her eyes, adjusts her glasses for a moment, then smiles.  "Yes, it is.  Good.  It appears as though very little work will be necessary, Saskia, though it should remain covered while you work.  I would like to apply a smaller, more comfortable bandage to hold it until it heals completely.  Perhaps some more spray-seal will do the trick."

So...why does the engineer appear surprised?  Almost...frightened?

The doctor places her cup down upon the table and leans forward.  "Is there something wrong?  Does it pain you?"

Jago nods, “yes, I’ll come round soon,” he says to Shui, “is that all that troubles you, the presence of this new insect?”

Saskia’s arrival prevents Jago from perusing the matter further for the moment, but he doesn’t like to see the doctor, or any member of the crew, so distracted.

“All right Saskia?” he ask in a greeting more cheerful than he actually feels.

"Yes, I'm fine thanks, Jago.  I cut my hand, and Shui fixed it up for me.  See?" She waves her hand again, wiggling the fingers at Jago, and walks across to sit near Shui.

"No, nothing wrong.  It's just that - well, there was a lot of, you know, blood." the last word almost whispered, "I've never been good with it.  Just thinking about it makes me feel sick."

Again she raises the hand, this time holding it, briefly, where Shui can see it, "But it's all clear now, and it doesn't hurt either.  Just a little now and then, and it itches a bit.  Thank you."

"Yes, Captain," Shui replies, grateful he isn't angered by her lapse.  Foolish, Shui.  Very foolish.  If you are not careful, you will ruin everything you have gained here.  That is to say, a stable berth.

"Please - allow me?"  If Saskia aquieses, Shui carefully takes her wrist and studies the injury, gently turning the hand this way and that to see if the stretching causes even a hint of pain.  She is very careful - at an sign of discomfort, the doctor immediately backs off that heading.

As Shui examines Saskia's hand, there is a chime from the intercom system, and the display lights up indicating that it's a call from the passenger lounge.

Satisfied, Shui nods at the healing hand.  "It is in fine condition, Saskia.  All the same, I would like to put a smaller bandage on it until it is completely healed.  Something might get into it, otherwise."  Absolutely true, given the work the engineer does.

Standing, Shui eschews the use of her dataglove for the moment to move to the intercom.  It puts space between her and Saskia - the woman is obviously uncomfortable dealing with the injury, and it might serve her well to have a quick end to that part of the conversation.  "Excuse me," Shui says with a smile over her shoulder, before activating the intercom.

"Steward Tiesi speaking," she says quietly.  "How may I assist?"

Yasmine, having received little responde from anyone on the bridge, comes walking into the crew longue.  Seeing Sassy and Sushi she nods to them and then looks at Sassy again.

"Hey, it's still there.  That's good, right, Sushi?" she says with a grin, but then the intercom interrupts and she moves on.

"If it's still attached by more than skin, it's all good.  That's what's what we say in the Marines anyway," she commented to Sassy, keeping her voice down as Sushi was on the com.  "You can move all fingers and stuff, right?"

“Yasmin,” Jago says in greeting when the security officer comes into the crew lounge, “how are things?”

"Hmm?  Oh, things!  Exciting, thrilling, eventful, vibrant...  The usual J-space entertainment.  I'm bored out of my jar-headed skull, but that's no news.  How are things at the top then, looking down at us small people?" Yas replies to Jago with a casual shrug and a really phoney smile on her lips.

"Hello.  It's Miles Janur." says the voice from the intercomm, "I have a locust here.  It's trapped, if somebody wants to collect it.  Or I can just stomp on it.  But if you're planning on collecting it, I'd make it quick.  It doesn't look well."

"Quite ill, in fact."

"Quite good, Ms. Crow," Shui agrees.  Then she's on the intercom, frowning slightly as she assimulates the news.  It is good news, though...she thinks.  Locust?  Does he mean the escaped female?

Hopefully.

"I shall be there to collect it immediately, Mr. Janur," she states, ascertaining his position before keying off.  "Captain, Ms. Blake, Ms. Crow - excuse me.  Apparantly I have a bug to collect."  Without further comment, Shui hurries off to stop by her quarters and pick up a container before continuing to the location of the comm.

How distressing.  She had just been settling into a nice conversation....

"Don't let the bug bite!" Yas calls after the rapidly retreating doctor.  A few moment later the Flying Doctor cruises by on an emergency call to some migrating grasshopper that has caused migraines among the grassed hoppers of Profit Margin.

"Nuke 'em from orbit, only way to be sure!" she calls after the woman with the fishy name as she homes in on the sick little bug.  Sick in what ways are probably best left alone.  Don't want to catch a bug when hunting bugs, after all.

The bug is there alright, in the rear passenger lounge, which is currently serving as the main battle bridge of an improbably large cruiser.  The insect, originally four-legged, now only three-legged and depressed-looking, is trapped in a plastic drinking beaker, with a holoreader balanced on top of it as a makeshift lid.  The label on the book cube reads "Ace Brannigan 14 - Ace and the Star Pirates of the Rim!!!!!" (yes, with that many exclamation marks).

Miles stands by as Shui retrieves the creature, "The children caught it." he gestures towards where the children are waiting for all hostile forces to vacate the bridge of their cruiser, so that they can continue their battle with the Jump Space Pirates (technically impossible, but very exciting anyway).  "They say it fell out of the air vent, staggered about a little, and then it lost a leg when they cornered it."



Meanwhile, back in the crew lounge, Saskia is drinking her coffee and reluctantly giving her crewmates a tastefully blood-and-gore-lite description of her injury.  The tale of how she managed to jab a coil degausser deep into her hand, between the first two fingers, is still fairly gruesome, even in the engineer's toned-down version.

"Wow, Sassy, why did you do that?" Yas jokes with the engineer, but puts a comforting hand on her shoulder along with a gentle smile on her lips to comfort Saskia as she retells the accident with obvious discomfort.

"Some free advice - try not to do it again if it bothers you that much.  I could tell you about a guy in the Marines that did something similar, but with a bayonet and... well, maybe not the best story to tell," she tells, reminiscing her past in the Marine Corps, but then stopping herself before she tells something that will make Sassy turn the whiter shade of pale and then pass out or something.

Shui's eyebrow, one of the consistant tell-tales on her face (one of the only tell-tales much of the time) rises at the sight of the myriad of exclamation points, but she forbears comment.  Instead, she greets Miles with a smile, and nods to him.  "My thanks, Mr. Janur.  And thank you," she says to the children, giving them a small bow.  "We have been looking for this particular boarder for some time.  Well seized."

The doctor efficiently prepares a quick transfer between bottles.  The creature does not look healthy in the slightest, and she needs to know why.  Also, she feels terrible for it - the arthropod looks downright miserable.  Taking great care, the doctor urges it into the second, sealable container, then takes primary container, book, and sealed insect with her when she leaves.  "I shall return this," she states, from the door, "when I have finished an examination of the stowaway."

Her smile fades as she paces the hall, on the way to her quarters.  This brings her through the lounge once again.  "Captain Lanza, we have the arthropod in question - whether or not it has laid more eggs is open to anyone's guess.  However..."  She holds up the container.  "It appears injured.  Perhaps ill.  I need to examine it, determine if it holds an infection of some kind...and what that might do to us."

The woman gives the room a quick smile.  "Likely nothing.  But it never hurts to study these things."

"Uhm, wouldn't tha tbe all that stuff dumped into the vent system that made mommy bug sick too?  I mean, if it kills the, uh, eggs, why not affect her too?" Yas says with as shrug as the Flying Doctor returns with her POW.

"Or maybe it was something it ate that didn't agree... with being eaten," she also offers with a side dish of grin.

Saskia peeks at the insect sitting in its container, "Ew!  That's what those eggs turn into?"

She squints at it, moving to make the most of the light, "Yes, do a check for pentathialic diphosphanise.  That's what's in the stuff I sprayed into the system, and it ate away at the eggs pretty well.  Might have done the same to her too."

Her expression becomes one of, almost, rage as she addresses the trapped animal, "Yeah!  That'll teach you not to mess up my filters, frelling b'atoch!"

“Good work Shui,” Jago gives the medic a warm smile and drains the rest of his coffee, “I’ll come with you and take a look at that other beastie,” he says, getting to his feet.

“I guess that it’s back to normal now, we’ll organise a full decontamination at Arkadia, but I don’t suppose there is any way to prevent this sort of thing in the future.”

Shui leads Jago to her lab and starts running tests on the ailing termite, the detached leg conveniently providing her with a useful test subject without doing any further harm to the creature.
Jago, meanwhile studies the other bug, and at one point finds he has to concentrate really hard to keep himself from talking to it...

Tylen finishes another round of gunnery practice and makes his way through to find Yas.  He feels that he's getting the hang of Profit Margin's slightly non-standard systems now.  He finds his Chief in the lounge talking to Saskia about girly stuff, like grenades, explosive charges, and reactive hull armour...

Conrad is still not about.  Perhaps still in his cabin asleep, or showering...

“Hmm!” Jago says, moving back from the container and rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “give that thing a week and it will be running the ship, do you know what it is?”

As he moves across to look over Shui’s shoulder, Jago pulls a cigar from his pocket and perches it in the corner of his mouth.

"Interesting, is it not?" Shui asks quietly while studying the results from the tests.  "I have yet to give it a name, and I am uncertain if I should.  Perhaps it already has one."

She glances up from the readouts.  "Yes.  It was the solvent that caused this damage to the creature."  The corners of her mouth turn down as she looks at the injured, sick arthropod.  "Poor creature."  Quickly, she carefully sprays it (lightly) with cool water, then transfers it to another, secure container, in which she places both the appropriate food-stuffs and a small source of water.

"That should hold it for a time."  Her face pale, the doctor turns away.  "Poisoned," she whispers, then shudders.  Collecting herself, she stands straighter and looks to the Captain.

"That one, there, is commonly known as a 'luck beetle', Captain Lanza.  Native to Saurus, it is commonly kept as a pet.  To the best of anyone's knowledge, it is completely harmless and uses a psionically-applied defense mechanism."

"I think that the reactive hull armour should be employed more than it is, as the odds are that being hit at the same spot twice is quite slim in combat, and after all, combat is risk already, and the reactive armour helps save more than it harms, if you ask me," Yasmine says and then looks up at Tylen, giving him a mock salute with two fingers.

"Hey there, ace, have you blown everything out of the sky already?" she asks him with a wink.

"Luck Bug eh, do you want to keep it" Jago asks, “I guess it’s OK, but make sure everyone else knows it’s here and what it is please, and what about the termite, what are your intentions for that?”

"Certainly, Captain Lanza.  I will be sure to inform them.*  As for the termite...."  She studies the loathesome creature with a compassionate eye.  "It is a living being, like all others.  Here, it is no harm to anyone.  I will...do my best to see that it survives, and keep it in captivity."  She turns to study Jago for a long moment.  "In this container, it cannot escape.  Cannot threaten the ship.  It meant no harm - it is merely carrying out a biological imperative."

Her eyes drop.  "Only if you agree, Captain Lanza."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:04, Thu 08 June 2006.

Jago smiles and shakes his head, “no problems Shui, it’s your call. Of the two it’s that cute one that disturbs me most, you know where you stand with the one that bites.”

Jago takes a last look and heads out of the room.