Stanley is relieved to discover that the sort of first aid and basic trauma care -- and bedside manner -- that are called for turn out to be pretty universal, at least allowing for some minor details.

The patients he works with are grateful, and only the bear-like Urzas lady that he treats is really alarming.  (And that's only because he ended up needing to decline, if he understands correctly, her proposal of marriage.)


Zheng Ru bows to greet Stanley and Amanda.  When Trav names Stanley's profession, Ru gives a sidelong glance and a slight sad smile to Trav, as if sharing a memory with her.


"Your praise is kind, Doctor.  We do what we can.  There are such miracles in this time that we have chosen to live without.  Sometimes, we do have cause to regret that."


Ru's stance shifts a bit; Trav sees that he's still doing that thing he always used to do, hunching up his shoulders a little, when someone asks him to talk about himself.

"When need makes itself known, it isn't always in the place one would choose, Doctor.  I'm sure you have seen the same.  The whole tale is a long one... it involved an insidious being calling itself the Embodiment of Gris, a thing that supplanted the souls of men.  After the Traveller had banished it from this reality it left behind a number of unfortunates who had lost great parts of their pasts and their selves.  I could not say why they asked me to help them learn again what it means to be a person, but posed with that request, it was my great privilege to answer it."

He gestures around at the entirety of the habitat.  "This home was given to us by a good woman who had suffered at the hands of the Embodiment and in the end helped to drive it way."  Nodding to Trav, he adds, "Lady Sara asked me to pass along her regards, should we ever meet again."

Then he smiles hugely at everyone, and gestures up along the curving ring.  "And how could I resist a world where one may spend a full day and night climbing a mountain, only to arrive again at one's beginning?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:26, Thu 05 Dec 2013.

As everyone is speaking with Zheng Ru, Stanley sees Amanda's ears twitch.  She starts to look around, and before anyone can really comment on it, there's a rumbling and crackling in the air, like thunder, which seems like a pretty strange thing on a constructed world.

Then, roaring in from the sun-side "horizon", the thunder takes form as a battered-looking vessel skims through the sky, far too low for comfort.  "WHOA!" Amanda shouts, ducking away from it involuntarily.  Debris patters down over the temple area as it passes: tiny blackened chunks shaking free in its passing and soot that trails in its wake.  The ship's engines strain as it arcs up to follow the curve of the ring and gain some height above it.  Trav can see the glow of its ion drives sputter: they must be practically running on fumes.

But the ship stabilizes and slows as it makes a full loop.  By the time it makes another pass, everyone can see a ragged gap blasted out of the left-hand side of the ship, and the sputtering is more pronounced.  It dips down until it touches ground out beyond the spot where the TARDIS is parked, and everyone feels the impact through their feet when it does.

In the engine compartment of the Lucky Drifter, the comm buzzes.  "Legate Sereth?  You all okay back there?"  A pause, then, "I'm going to go check on the folks in the hold that we lifted out from Prime.  We'll have to see if we can get any help from the people on Farhaven."

He moved over to the intercom and responded.

"I'm fine. We're going to have problems though; as we need to refuel, and I don't think this plan has the resources for it. I'll head outside and check out the situation."

Trav scowls at that - she had almost lost her own 2nd self to the thing. For much of that crisis, Ru and Lady Sara had adventured with the 1st Traveller, as the monster had ate the portion of her life where she had regenerated on Macross Island, making her a walking hole in time.



"Ru, baby, you bring back all sorts of memories. I wonder how she's doing." She blushes when she things of that dark, wise woman. It was one of the first times she was strongly attracted to a woman.



"He fell in love with this place when we first landed here. Where I thought Larry Niven, he saw it as this huge Buddhist-Taoist metaphor."  She then turns to him and says, "But, lots has changed, baby. I need to fill you in on the war, and what has happened. In particular, I need to know about these 'Fists of the Nine Suns', and-"



Trav holds her Fedora to her head as the ship roars overhead.  "SWEET CRAP!"

She stares as the vessel crashes! "Whoever was flying is a hell of a pilot. Come on! We have to get those people off that ship!" Trav starts to run full tilt towards the crashed vessel.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:06, Thu 05 Dec 2013.

Smoke Alarm checked on the Rezzie — Rivvan — again, checking she was still sound and safe, and readjusting the makeshift pillow. There was nothing more she could do, but see-and-wait. But at least the turbo-lence had stopped, so she would stop being bounced around.

Meanwhile, Sereth talked on the talkiphone, and the Kang had an ear out. 'Outside? Can I be outgoing too?' she asked eagerly. After the horribly bumpy ride of the sky-fly, Smoke Alarm wanted to be off and far away, footing on solid flooring, and never be on a sky-fly ever again.

Sereth frowned; apparently still not a laughing matter? Or maybe he just took everything too seriously.

He nodded however.

"You can come. Just... follow my lead."

So saying, he moved outside the ship; the bearing of a Draconian noble worn heavily around him.

It takes a second for Stanley to fully realize what just happened, but when he does he also starts running towards the crash-site. Whilst he is running he finds himself wondering if the gap in the side of the ship was caused by a technical defect or by the Fists of the Nine Suns.

'Icehot!' Smoke Alarm cheered with an excited jump in the air. She quickly grabbed up her small backpack (left behind as she ventured into the crawlspace), checked that no-one had touched her stuff (with a suspicious glare at the egg-head), and that Puddy had got through the sky-fly ride without being broken or being unbrave (being a scaredy-cat). She also pulled out her arrowgun and strung it, in case outside had dangerous Caretakers, Cleaners, or Dogs.

Then, she ran to catch up to Leg-it Sereth.

As Trav and her friends hurry out toward the downed ship, a number of the monks drop what they're doing and follow.  By the time they reach it, they can see that a set of big cargo doors on the belly of the ship has been opened, and dozens of dazed-looking people of various species are stumbling out.  A white-haired human man in a worn flight suit is helping direct them.

Also standing out from the group are a tall Draconian in a formal uniform, holding himself straight and unruffled, and tagging at his heels, a young human woman wearing a mismatched outfit -- and hairstyle -- all in shades of blue.

Sereth and Smoke Alarm emerge to find that some of those in the hold have been shaken and bruised a bit in the landing.  Noticing them, the white-haired man pulls away from the others and comes to greet them.  "Thanks again," he says.  He gives Smoke Alarm a puzzled look, but shrugs.  "How's Rivvan?  Did she come through that okay?  I did the best I could, but it was going to be a near thing between land and crash."

The pair also see the approaching group from the temple.  Smoke Alarm notes that many of them are wearing similar clothes with a corresponding yellow wrap, even though they don't look much like Kangs to her.

Then away over the curving field, she spots a familiar-looking blue box....

"Well, kiss my ass and call me Sally, a Draconian! I haven't seen one of you guys in centuries."

Trav respectfully bows to the Draconian and his companion who are striding out of the wreckage.

"Hi! Who is injured? We're here to help. Is anyone else on board the vessel?"

"Hello, I'm the Traveller. You've crashed on the Farhaven habitat. This is the leader of the Farhaven settlement, Master Ru Zheng, and these are my companions, Dr Stanley Newton of Earth and Amanda Khebares of Falcon's Rest."

She smiles, grinning out from under her fedora, first politely bowing in the Draconian manner, and then extending her hand. Her body language is slightly silly, because she's heard how touchy Draconian's can be if they feel threatened.

She peers over at Smoke Alarm. "Wow. I love your look! I remember when Boobie dressed kinda like that."  Trav remembers the Doctor fondly -


This message was last edited by the player at 16:43, Thu 05 Dec 2013.

Smoke Alarm emerged blinking into the light, half-blinded and shading her eyes. It was like when she'd finally broken out of the Towers and into the Gardens beyond, seeing the wild parks and ovals and picnic grounds stretching before her beneath a sunshiny sky. It was good to be out of the sky-fly, at least.

'Is Rivvan the oldster lady in the engine room?' Smoke asked the white-haired oldster man, whom she guessed to be the one on the talkiphone. 'She bumped her head and fell down and went night-night. I put a band-aid on it. I think she will be safe and sound.' she tried to reassure him. 'I pushed the levers and made the valves throw—'

She trailed off as people approached — a lot of funny-looking people, humans and aliens, oldsters and inbetween, people in blankets. One started talking a lot, but it all went over Smoke Alarm's blue-dyed head. She looked beyond them to something else blue, far in the distance. Suddenly she went back through the years and worlds, to a blue box standing brave and bold amidst the rubbish of Fountain of Happiness Square. 'Doctor!' she yelled, unaware of who this "Boobie" was.

Then she ran, slipping nimbly through the crowd and sprinting over the fields at the Doctor's talkiphone box. The Kang was quick. 'Doctor!'


OOC: Run and dodge?
08:03, Today: Smoke Alarm rolled 12 using 2d6+9. coord + athletics.
Why do I have to flunk every damn roll?

Smoke's speed is 5, or 6 if someone starts chasing her.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:11, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

"I am Legate Sereth of the .... he then trailed off. "Wait! You can't just go..."

A shake of his head, as he bowed to the Traveller. "I'm so sorry. She's somewhat exciteable." He sighed. "Yes. There's the pilot and his partner; as well as a number of refugees."

Stanley sees the blue-wearing woman dart off, which wasn't a reaction he was expecting. Obviously she hadn't suffered neck- or back-injuries but some of the other passengers might have and he didn't like that they were not keeping still but were stumbling out of the ship.

He walks over to the group of people. "Everyone, I am Doctor Stanley Newton, if you could please try to stay still, try to move as little as possible. Some of you might have hurt your neck or alien equivalent, so please don't move until a medical professional has had a look.
I will begin examining you shortly. Thank you." he says, speaking loudly and clearly.

Stanley addresses the white-haired man, who had been directing the refugees out of the ship earlier. "I assume you are the captain of the ship? In a moment I am going to take a closer look at your passengers, but first I'd like to know where I can find your ship's medical officer? So we can coordinate things. If you have one, that is."

"No, no medic unless you count me.  You think we're running some posh cruise liner here?"  The man is getting a harried, wild look.  "I think these folks can wait -- but my partner is back in the engine room, and, uh, the girl running thataway--" he indicates the blue figure pelting off in the distance "--said she was unconscious.  Head injury.  C'mon; if you follow me, I can show you the way."

Amanda, who's been hovering next to Stanley most of the way, says, "I can give the others a once-over and see if there's anyone that you'll need to give a second look, if you want.  That sounds like it could be serious."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:28, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

OOC: Trav was thinking to herself (internal monologue to the audience) about the Doctor. Trav will be chasing but I have no problem in assuming you reach the TARDIS first, due to being physically superior to Trav at running and due to your head start.


Trav snaps her head around when she hears Smoke Alarm call out 'Doctor'. She dashes after the girl, but she is easily outraced. "Oh no," she cries out. "Wait!"

The blue box is a little more scuffed than she might remember. At the base of the box are scratched in strange symbols, now faded and inert. And on the right door is an American flag, with a sign that reads, "YOU ARE NOW ENTERING SOVEREIGN US TERRITORY", in addition to the traditional "Police Public Telephone Box" signage on the left hand sign. The door is tightly locked.

Trav is breathing heavily, made to sprint, as she trots up. "Sweety," she says, trying to catch her "That's not the Doctor's TARDIS. It's mine." In all of time and space, to find one of the Doctor's old companions, here.

"Baby," she says, starting to recover, "The Doctor - he's gone. He gave his life for everyone and everything. He died, saving the universe." She extends her hand, smiling, still catching her breath. "I'm called The Traveller. Hi!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:09, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

'Doctor! Melanie!' the Kang bellowed repeatedly. Smoke ran right up to the Doctor's talkiphone box. It had to be the same one, she'd not seen another one anywhere. And it had to be the Doctor's, because he was the only one who could show her the corners and carrydoors, the floorplans and maps to home. Else she would be lost until time end and never get back to Paradise Towers.

She slammed into the door, grabbed the handles, and frantically shook them back and forth, back and forth, desperately trying to open them. Locked! 'Doctor!' Then she made a fist and banged repeatedly on the door. 'Melanie! Doctor!' Weren't they in? Mayhaps they were outgoing? She tried peering in the wobbly windows, but couldn't see a thing. Finally, she backed off a pace and circled the talkiphone box, twice, as if she might find the Doctor and Mel behind it in a hide-in. They weren't here.

When she came around the box, she noticed the Inbetween lady in the hat. And ignored her. Smoke was far too desperate to stop and listen, far too determined to find the Doctor, and didn't want to believe her. She had an almost animal-like focus, wild-eyed and hunted. As the lady talked, her words like sprinkle gas and full of lies, Smoke circled the talkiphone box again, examining it closer. The Kang moved too quickly and too nimbly to catch.

The scuff marks and damage she could accept; she came from the ramshackle, recycle-bin world of Paradise Towers. The scratched symbols down the bottom too; somebody else's wallscrawl. Though it had been a very long time ago, she still remembered the fabled words on the sign. Free for use of public. Advice & assistance obtainable immediately. The Doctor's sign, the Doctor's rule. But now there was another sign, something about "sovereign us territory". Who are us?

She had to be sure. Avoiding the hat-lady, Smoke Alarm walked away a few feet, then turned and ran at the talkiphone box. She jumped, grabbed the top edge, then pulled herself up, running shoes scrambling for grip on the side and scuffing up the paint. Hauling herself onto the roof, Smoke Alarm perched on top and began anxiously inspecting the roof in minute detail. 'Where is it? Where is it?' she muttered to herself.


OOC:
13:18, Today: Smoke Alarm rolled 22 using 2d6+11. coord + athletics + jumping.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:44, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

The human Zheng Ru turns to Sereth with a rueful expression as the Traveller races off.  "Your pardon, sir," he says.  Apparently he knows something of civilized protocol, for he then executes a fair essay of the Fifth Cardinal Obeisance, an appropriate show of respect from the priestly caste to noblemen of the Court.  "Please forgive my friend's impertinence.  I believe she and your own, ah, associate are about to discover they have something very important in common, and it will do the both of them good."

Ru gestures at the refugees.  "We should see the hurts and needs of these people met, first, but I would like, then, to ask if you would speak with us about what brought you here.  Do I guess correctly, that that--"  He indicates the damage to the Lucky Drifter.  "--is the work of the Fists?  These would not be the first group of their victims to arrive on our doorstep; in fact, I invited the Traveller here to discuss what aid she could bring to address their actions."  He smiles.  "Don't be misled by her manner, or her gender for that matter.  Kings and tyrants have made that mistake, to their great sorrow."

OOC: I'm not going to bother rolling an Athletics check for Trav, because we're not in a high pressure situation, and while not as nimble as Smoke Alarm, she's not out of shape.


"Sweetheart," Trav says, "Mel is safe, but the Doctor is gone." She starts to clamber up to the top of her TARDIS - no where near as dexterously as Smoke Alarm. She sits across from Smoke Alarm, cross legged. "I'm one of the Doctor's people. I'm a Time Lord, like him." Trav is gasping, not having had such a work out in quite a while. She places her chin on her fists, as Smoke Alarm scrambles and searches. "This is my box, it's different than his. It's my home." She pauses. "What are you looking for?"

If this girl knew Mel Bush, then this would place her knowing the Doctor in his 6th or 7th incarnations. She was the Marshall then, busily terrorizing the galaxy with things like the Mimetic Army and the Poem Plague. It wasn't until he had gotten his 8th face that he and the Castellan finally busted her. Despite the horrible things she had done, she found herself waxing nostalgic about her clashes with the Doctor and the Castellan. She remembers being clobbered by Ace from behind with a fire extinguisher, and the control room of her Timestar being blown up by the girl's improvised explosives. Good times!

"The Doctor - blond frizzy hair, wore loud colors, or shorter guy, had an umbrella with this red hook? Mel - this girl with red hair and tall?" She smiles as Smoke Alarm searches.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:56, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

Smoke Alarm gave the other woman a suspicious look as she climbed up too — it was getting awfully cramped up here, and there wasn't a lot of flat space for sitting. But Smoke Alarm had good balance and wasn't going to fall off.



She ran her fingers all around the roof, feeling for depressions. So long ago, she couldn't remember exactly where. But there was nothing. It wasn't here. She finally registered the other woman's words, looking at her with haunted, hunted dark eyes. 'Wallscrawl. "Smoke Alarm Was Here." Long time back, we wallscrawled the Doctor's talkiphone box. He made us wash it off, but I was a clever-clogs: I carved it in the roof.' There was a flash of a cheeky, mischievous grin, but it faded as the woman's words crept in. 'Your talkiphone box.' she mumbled. She took her hand off the paintwork; she wouldn't find her wallscrawl there. But it would be on the Doctor's talkiphone box, all through time and space and everywhere else, forever and ever: Smoke Alarm was here.



There was no recognition of the first description, but the second, and Mel, got Smoke's attention. 'Yes! The Doctor. He is an icehot unold oldster in high fabshion, with coat of old white and red question umbrella, an honorary Kang of all colours. And Mel, red of hair and blue of dress, the Un-Kang.' she described in awe, but was a little puzzled. 'But Mel is short.'
This message was last edited by the player at 07:26, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

"Talkiphone box, huh. I like it. My Talkiphone box copied the outside his. I have no idea who Kangs are, babe, but if the Doctor was down with you, then you're groovy by me. Sweety? *I'm* short. Everyone is tall when you're 5 foot 5! Icehot unold oldster in high fashion? More like unyoung youngster is hipster fashion!" She was finding that she enjoyed Kang talk. "My bestest grandpa-uncle, made me wise and strong, stopped me when I was bad, showed me how to *run*." She sighed, remembering him in his 7th face. He was a sly bastard in those days.  Oh, how she wanted him to join her, to bring *order* and *discipline* to the universe. It was a rather weird kind of flirting.

She takes out her sonic. "Look at this, scanathing. I run around in time, I want to see if you do, too. May I?" Assuming Smoke Alarm assents, she takes a scan. Maybe she can get an idea of what time zone this girl is from. She checks her for artron energy and temporal displacement.

02:31, Today: The Traveller rolled 19 using 2d6+16. Trav scans Smoke Alarm for Artron Energy.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:32, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

Smoke Alarm didn't get all that this Traveller was saying, but the rhythms and tone seemed so closed to Kang talk. Was she a Kang from some other tower, like This Way Up the Pink Kang from the South Tower? She looked in surprise and awe at her. 'You copy-pasted the Doctor's talkiphone box? You know the Doctor too? I gave the Doctor a Blue Fizzade!' she boasted, her one and only proper meeting with him. She'd told that tale to every other Kang and Rezzie. 'You? You're biggerer than me!' she laughed. Smoke Alarm found herself liking the Traveller. In this strange world, she seemed to be the only link she had back to the Doctor, back to Paradise Towers and home.

But she cringed away from the buzzing scanathing, not knowing what it might do. But she sensed she could trust the Traveller, so at last she relented and let her wave it around her, only occasionally trying to grab it and take a closer look.


OOC: Smoke Alarm apparently rode an osmic projector from the late 25th century to about two months ago. It's probably a miracle she's alive.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:33, Fri 06 Dec 2013.

"I didn't know what to expect, so I was just checking." Stanley answers. "If you could do that Amanda, that would be great."

Stanley follows the white-haired man into the ship.

"Name's Henzler," the man tells Stanley as he leads him up into the open hold and from there toward the engine room.  There are a few active lights on the consoles, but most seem to be shut down.  There Stanley finds a woman of a similar age, carefully secured between a couple of the consoles and with her head immobilized.  She gives a faint groan as the two of them enter, which is likely a good sign on the whole.

Ingenuity + Medicine is called for.  Difficulty is Normal.  If you succeed, just narrate as seems reasonable -- at first glance it looks like she may have a minor concussion, but a bad roll might translate to it being worse than it looks, rather than Stanley making a mistake.

"Osmic projector, huh. Well, young lady, you're a far way from home. Tell ya what - people need help. You help me help them, and I give you a lift back home. Fair, Miss Blue?" Trav hops off the top of her TARDIS.  "The Traveller is The Doctor's successor, but not a copypasta! Helped and helping, I continue! Now, follow, bluegirl, and keep with with The Traveller can you, or are you too slow?" She winks as she trots off to join Stanley and Henzler in going back into the ship.