Saskia leads the way, her bare feet padding across the lounge floor, and leans on the call button at Shui's door.

"Anybody home?  You in there, Shui?"

"Ah, going to try to coax embarrassing medical secrets out of Sushi, eh?  Doubt she will fall for it, but sure, be my guest," Yas teases Saskia, knowing that the engineer knows that the chief of security is indeed only teasing.

Shui, nodding at her desk, jerks awake.  The screen before her is dim, the energy saver having powered it down some time ago.  She blinks in bemusement, glancing around the room (now even more sterile than before), then studies the flashing light at the door.

Saskia.

"Yes.  Yes, coming," she manages, pushing herself to her feet.  A crick in her neck seems to be the only casualty of her exhaustion, and the doctor moves to the door, opening it with her smile in place.

"Ms. Blake.  Ms. Crowe.  My apologies for my tardy response.  What might I do for you?"

"Of course.  You never know, Tylen might have a birthmark, shaped like a scout ship, somewhere embarrassing." Saskia replies to Yas, and giggles.

Then Shui opens the door, looking tired, "Us defenceless girls are going to gather together in the lounge, for protection, while all the big, strong menfolk are off the ship.  Care to join us?" the Engineer says, with a smile.

"It's just for coffee or tea, you understand.  We'd never dream of talking about them while they aren't here.  Oh, and Yas can probably get into Jago's cabin and get some of those really good cookies that I'm sure he hides in there."

"Or maybe a tattoo reading 'Mummy' somewhere," Yas chortles and then she waves hello to the doctor, who looks a wee bit tired.

"Y..yes, it is so sc..scary here all a..alone," she stutters and glances around nervously, clinging to the arm of Sassy.

"Uh huh, need to make sure they aren't poisonised or something else bad.  Who would help us then, if our leader falls ill with stomach poisoning?  I mean, with that impressive-sized tummy..."

Reasonably confident that the box is safe, Tylen examines the lock to see if the battrey can be replaced, or if it might be forced. Just on the off chance that the lock does not function without power, he also tries opening the lid manually.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:47, Tue 08 Jan 2008.

Shui's eyebrows climb higher.  She brushes an errant lock from her face, then offers a deliberately over-formal bow. "This one would be most pleased to accompany you, Ms. Blake," she demurely replies.  "For protection, of course, huddled about the fire - and to ensure that no false words are said behind the men's backs."  She glances back in the room - everything looks set.

"I hope to hear only the truth."

Stepping into the hall, she closes the door behind herself.  "Very wise, Ms. Crow - a fine security officer you make, anticipating such threats.  You might also consider it a request from the doctor to remove said cookies from Jago's reach.  We will do him a favour by assisting his compliance with my suggested diet plan."

"Spoken like the wise doctor you are!  I shall set forth on this mission forthwith!  Well, that is, once we are safely at his door, would not want to wander around this big ship alone and end up lost, since our navigator is not aboard to assist us," Yas tells the other two ladies, playing her part quite well.

After a couple of steps she asks, nervously, "Are we there yet?"

While the majority of Profit Margin's crew prepare for an impromptu conference on health and safety, the remainder, aboard the wreck, study the newly discovered box, whose markings indicate that it contains a fortune, if Banster's expert assessment is to be believed.

Tylen checks if the lid can be opened first, but once he discovers that it's definitely locked down, he turns his attention to the lock itself.

Tylen shakes his head.

"It's still locked tight boss. I guess we could put a new battery in, but we'd either need the security code or someone adept at code breaking."

Jago nods, “not a problem, just leave it there and we’ll make sure the others bring back some cutting gear, a thermal lance or diamond bladed angle grinder perhaps, Saskia will know.”

“Right then, I think we’ve marked up everything we want to take, lets get this first lot back to the ships.” Jago checks around his imitate vicinity to ensure that he hasn’t missed anything obvious, then gathers up his part of the load.
.

At the door, Saskia suddenly stops, "Before you open the door, Yas, does anybody want to make a little bet on what shape Jago's thing is?  Just for fun."

She thinks, briefly, then adds, "Last time I overhauled the turrets, I had a bucket full of bits that were left over when I put them back together.  I'd be prepared to put them up as a stake, since I have no credits."

By the time she finishes, she's struggling not to laugh, "I bet Jago's thing looks like a bunch of grapes."

Yas' right eyebrow arches up along with the left corner of her mouth as she gives Sassy a long look from top to toe.

"Indeed," she says, leaving it perfectly unclear what she is commenting.

"Well, I got some magazines I picked up from some planet we landed on.  Weird language, so I have no clue what the articles says, but there are pretty pictures in them.  Clothes, underwear, and what seems like a centrefold fellow...  Modestly posed and all, of course, so not for a laugh, I can bet those.  I think Jago's thing looks like a fruit bowl, with two apples and a banana..."

The smile that now appears seems all too sweet and innocent, somehow.

"As for those parts, we shall have a talk later...  You must be the one who stole my little good luck charm..."  She winks as the engineer.

Shui tags along with the other two women, noting with some amusement Yasmine's somewhat unconvincing attempts to act fearful.  She sometimes doubts the woman has that capacity.  Except, perhaps, when it comes to official visits to the doctor.

Certainly not when it comes to actual physical threats.

At the door, her eyebrows rise.  Ah, yes, now she remembers, though Saskia's phrasing....  The engineer, awash with hilarity, brings a small smile to quirk her lips.  "A fine question, Ms. Blake.  I think Jago's thing currently resembles a longish tube, tied in a knot," she muses.  "Stakes?  Credits make for boring stakes."  Her brow furrows.  Magazine, bucket of bits...  "I fear I have few personal effects.  I would offer my cabin guests, but I doubt either of you would wish them."  The bugs aren't exactly everyone's idea of 'interesting'.

"Perhaps a massage?  I am no professional, but have had some experience with thereputic massage."

"I don't think there was anything vital in the bucket, but then I have no idea what most of it did anyway."  Saskia is trying hard to keep a straight face, but isn't having much success.  It's nice having so few people aboard.  It allows her to relax much more than is normal for her.

"A massage would be fine with me.  Open the door, Yas, so I can claim my winnings."

"A massage?  Best for you that you lose then, Sushi!  I want my massage," Yas says with a huge grin and nods to Sassy.

"Stand back, I am about to do so Security Chiefing," she tells the other two and gets to work - opening the door.

"Hard work, and not for amateurs, but now it is done!  Now then, onwards," she then whispers secretively and moves inside the office, dead set on tracking those treats as well as checking Jago's thing.

The door to Jago's cabin/office slides open at the deft touch of the Chief of Security, who is obviously in the process of performing her regular duties, otherwise why would she have brought an engineer and a medic with her, if not to deal with some emergency?

The thing is in plain sight on the desk.  Or rather, it is in plain sight, approximately twelve centimetres above the desk... a small crimson sphere, hovering above the metal dish that it normally stands in, and revolving slowly on all three axes.

More importantly (since none of the guesses are even close, so the bet will be hard to judge) there is half a packet of top quality cookies standing on top of the safe.


On the wreck, Banster moves the explosives as far away from everything else as it's possible to get, then indicates the crates which don't contain a fortune in iridium, and switches back to the open channel.  "Those are all marked as 250 kg.  I can manage one of those easily.  The rest of you carry one case between two of you.  They won't be heavy of course, just cumbersome, so take them slowly."  Most of that speech is directed at the prisoners, since Banster is sure that Profit Margin is crewed by professionals.  Then he adds, "Oh, before you take them into the hold, make sure the floor grav is dialed right down."

"Looks like you lost, Sushi.  And you too, Sassy.  Pay up," says the Head of Security as she makes a beeline towards the package of cookies she spied.

"Almost too late.  The package is half full.  Or half empty, depending on your disposition.  Oh well, we shall soon correct that, right, girls?" she exclaims and grabs hold of the package, stealing glances all around as if expecting Jago to come running, having sensed his cookies were in danger.

Highly unlikely

The running part, that is.

She turns to study Jago's thing, hugging the cookies protectively.  After a moments contemplation of the hovering thing she muses, "Interesting.  Reminds me of a date I had once."

Shui studies the globe for a long moment.  "I would guess," she begins slowly, "that since none of us are correct, all three will have to pay up, or not at all."  What she will do with half a bucket of random bits and half a magazine, Shui isn't certain.

She moves to the desk and crouches, studying the sphere.  "Curious.  Levitation, even.  This may seem like nothing more than a toy, but has anyone ever attempted to quantify the energy it must use?  Or identify it?"  Who knows what secrets could be locked within a seemingly innoccuous appearing item?

"In any case, we have the cookies," she points out.  "Perhaps it would be better to discuss terms of forfeit elsewhere."

"What a good idea!  We all pay up!  Sure is worth a few magazines to get a nice massage," Yas quickly agrees with a grin, glancing over at the doctor briefly before resuming to study the thing.

"I suspect it is better not to tamper with it.  Heck, for all we know it can be a part of some multi dimensional Elderly God only just protruding through into our universe, just waiting for someone to start poking at it," she suggests, somehow doing it with a completely straight face, and falls silent for a moment, staring at the artefact.


A hand slowly lifts up and moves towards the levitation mystery when suddenly...


"Oh, yes, cookies!  Must make haste to secure the health of our fearless leader," she exclaims loudly and abruptly, and more or less forces her way past the others and out into the hallway outside.

Certainly she is not planning anything sinister, such as setting an extra cookie aside for herself?

No, it cannot be.

Can it?

Looking at the object - Jago's thing, so to speak - Saskia shakes her head, "I have no idea what it is, or what it's for.  It doesn't seem to do anything, as far as I can tell.  Well, nothing that seems useful anyway."

She leans closer, "And it doesn't really break the Laws of Physics.  It's more like it just politely nudges them to one side, then ignores them."

With a shrug, she turns to follow Yas.  Though not without a look back at the mysterious device.

The discussion of forfeit will probably need to wait until they have a moment to chat.  Shui regards Jago's odd toy for a long moment, digesting the words of both women.  They do little to assuage her curiousity.  Her fingertips drum on the desktop.

Then she shrugs, unable to find a reason to tarry further.  "And yet, I wonder how," she murmurs, following the other two women from the office to the crew lounge.

Once there, of course, Shui immediately busies herself with the preparation of the proper beverages.  A mixed group - cocoa, tea, and coffee.

Tylen examines takes hold of one end of one of the crates,

"You and me then Boss?"

He calls to Jago, his teeth flashing in a smile behind the faceplate of his suit.

Banster picks up a case of explosives, without any obvious effort.  "I'll take these first, get them out of the way so there's less chance of an accident here."

He starts towards the exit.  "Pity that our buggy is out of order.  A vehicle would have made this so much quicker."


Back on Profit Margin all seems to be quiet for the moment.  The passengers are discussing the peculiar forms of life that they've either seen, or heard of, at various times.

Meanwhile, the three crew who are still aboard are congratulating themselves on the successful liberation of the cookies which had formerly been imprisoned in Jago's office, and performing an extensive debriefing of said baked goods.

Her beverages finished, Shui moves to the table with a small tray sporting her tea and the other women's cups.  There is enough coffee and cocoa prepared for further helpings...and visitors, should the unlikely come about.  Seating herself, she carefully passes out the cup, taking in the melding of the aroma - the sharp, chocolate-ish scent, the bitter strength of the beans, and one of her family's brands of tea.  It makes for a curious mixture, and not at all unpleasant.

Leaning over, she gingerly retrieves the outer packaging of the cookies - the inner tray already resting on the table - and runs over it with her eyes.  "Ah."  A small expression of rueful dismay.  "I fear I must leave the cookies to the two of you."  Shui shrugs.  "I doubt this will come as a terrible revelation, and in any case, I far prefer company over consumables."

Sipping her tea, she regards the other two over the rim of the cup.  "And so, of what shall we speak?  The men?  Are they so important?"  A small smile, at that.