*ugh* RPG is so sucking of late *big fat irritated sigh*
Anyway, just a heads up, I won't be around tonight - the last final test is tomorrow morning and, worse than that, I think my "baby" has the flu so I'll be doing that nurturing thing only Mom's can do for sick offspring, no matter their age. I should be back tomorrow though, after test and, hopefully, after kiddo recovers ;)
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As Antoine spoke, Abby's relaxed posture changed in response to the cryotech's obvious and growing agitation and nervousness. She sat up easily on the edge of the bed now, the ocelot sleeping beside her ignored almost entirely as she pulled her legs closer, ankles crossed as she leaned over. Almost nonchalantly, her hand slipped into the cargo pants pocket, removing the stylus and making swift notes on the surface pad of all she would double check later.
Terminal log-ins and rationales, a change in the log out timing, time stamps and file review backups... Where had it all gone? Abby flat out refused to believe her predecessor could have possibly done such a shoddy job, to have simply "overlooked" all these possibilities. So why wasn't this in the report Lee left for her? Why wasn't any of this information mentioned anywhere, not even in Lee's briefing to her?
Questions without answers... Abby sighed softly, imperceptibly. She was actually getting rather used to the presence of those annoying buggers by now. Truth be told, she almost expected them really, like old and irritating acquaintances whose presence must be tolerated, but would never be enjoyed.
And when Antoine started talking about hacking into administrative accounts, tricking terminals into "test-modes" and "mock" re-freezes, she truly regretted that Gavin had to leave for his emergency. Few could see straight through a person to their essence like Abby - almost nothing about the infuriating and endearing fickleness of human nature, for good or ill, got by her anymore. But there was something about the nature of the technical and the electronic that simply escaped her completely, and she took these notes down just as much to discuss with Gavin later, as she did for herself.
"No, no Antoine, that wasn't a lecture at all." Abby laughed gently, unconsciously doing what she had done most all her life: reading the subtle cues of body language and tone, and adjusting her reactions accordingly. Antoine wasn't under interrogation - not in the least - but it was obvious her presence and her questions agitated him. The man was shaking for heaven's sake with some unnamed emotion, though whether it be fear of scrutiny or outrage at what happened, or even the misplaced shame of belonging to the very class of people that a murderer/rapist came from, she could not have said.
But whatever that emotion might be though, it wasn't guilt. She sensed intuitively that Antoine had tried to give her as full an explanation as he possibly could, and that was enough. Abby stood to her feet, not offering Antoine a hand to shake, but simply resting one easily on his shoulder, a warm smile for him.
"And I do thank you for 'dumbing it down' for me on the explanation side. Yes, those notes I was taking were as much for Dr. Brock as myself." She chuckled softly, letting her arm fall back to her side as she chewed over the information in her own mind, a dog at her bone. The analogy of a cat rolling in catnip - particularly given the company - tried to worm its way into her thoughts but honestly, it really just didn't work.
Abby moved easily the yard or two necessary to release the door latch, waiting for it to slide effortlessly back with that familiar hydraulic hiss. "As Dr. Brock's already said - so sorry about the nap there, but I'll let you right back to it. And if there's anything else you can think of?" Her smile turned wide and friendly, as at ease as ever. "You know how to find me."
Terminal log-ins and rationales, a change in the log out timing, time stamps and file review backups... Where had it all gone? Abby flat out refused to believe her predecessor could have possibly done such a shoddy job, to have simply "overlooked" all these possibilities. So why wasn't this in the report Lee left for her? Why wasn't any of this information mentioned anywhere, not even in Lee's briefing to her?
Questions without answers... Abby sighed softly, imperceptibly. She was actually getting rather used to the presence of those annoying buggers by now. Truth be told, she almost expected them really, like old and irritating acquaintances whose presence must be tolerated, but would never be enjoyed.
And when Antoine started talking about hacking into administrative accounts, tricking terminals into "test-modes" and "mock" re-freezes, she truly regretted that Gavin had to leave for his emergency. Few could see straight through a person to their essence like Abby - almost nothing about the infuriating and endearing fickleness of human nature, for good or ill, got by her anymore. But there was something about the nature of the technical and the electronic that simply escaped her completely, and she took these notes down just as much to discuss with Gavin later, as she did for herself.
"No, no Antoine, that wasn't a lecture at all." Abby laughed gently, unconsciously doing what she had done most all her life: reading the subtle cues of body language and tone, and adjusting her reactions accordingly. Antoine wasn't under interrogation - not in the least - but it was obvious her presence and her questions agitated him. The man was shaking for heaven's sake with some unnamed emotion, though whether it be fear of scrutiny or outrage at what happened, or even the misplaced shame of belonging to the very class of people that a murderer/rapist came from, she could not have said.
But whatever that emotion might be though, it wasn't guilt. She sensed intuitively that Antoine had tried to give her as full an explanation as he possibly could, and that was enough. Abby stood to her feet, not offering Antoine a hand to shake, but simply resting one easily on his shoulder, a warm smile for him.
"And I do thank you for 'dumbing it down' for me on the explanation side. Yes, those notes I was taking were as much for Dr. Brock as myself." She chuckled softly, letting her arm fall back to her side as she chewed over the information in her own mind, a dog at her bone. The analogy of a cat rolling in catnip - particularly given the company - tried to worm its way into her thoughts but honestly, it really just didn't work.
Abby moved easily the yard or two necessary to release the door latch, waiting for it to slide effortlessly back with that familiar hydraulic hiss. "As Dr. Brock's already said - so sorry about the nap there, but I'll let you right back to it. And if there's anything else you can think of?" Her smile turned wide and friendly, as at ease as ever. "You know how to find me."
But, as Souma had said, first they sailed.
This ship was nothing at all like the Empress of Japan, the famed luxury ocean liner Galina had boarded the last time she'd made a trans-Pacific journey. There was of course, no elegant state room, no magnificent dining area or a slew of chefs to ensure their meal was a sampling of one earthly delight after the next. There was no grand deck to promenade at their leisure, or string quartets to while away the evenings in the ball room with all the glittering personages.
And there was also no Klara with her now, the only mother she had ever known, the gracious woman who had cared for at least two generations of Demidov children. There was no silver-tongued Goemon to keep her amused, engaged, always just one step ahead as he maneuvered an unwary woman just where he would, at his master's behest.
But the ghosts of these two singular people, the shades of two fathers and so many lost loved ones traveled with steam cutter's passengers to America, haunting the two master spies bent on a vengeance to shake the very gates of Hell. Old bonds broken, old worlds shattered - but in their place, new things grew, raised their tender heads to the sun. New relationships and alliances, unexpected and, in a sane world, utterly impossible.
Yet Galina Demidova was below the deck this very moment, dressed in some borrowed men's clothing: a white linen shirt and men's linen pants tucked into high, hard leather boots. Her dark hair pulled back into a no-nonsense bun tied tightly at the nape of her neck, the elegant noblewoman had only just finished mucking out her Cossack horse's stall. She set the shovel into the small wheelbarrow, and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her sleeve with a wry smile and a loving pat of the stallion's thick, muscular neck.
No, Galina was not above caring for her own horse, and never had been. But the stallion Anatoly was being decidedly ill-pleased about this second, longer cross-water trip, and taking out his ill-tempered irritation on anyone and everyone but Galina, who dared come near his stall. None of the crew would come anywhere within biting distance of the horse's stall anymore, and while Galina did feel the occasional twinge of guilt? She quickly discovered that however smelly and supposedly beneath her dignity the work might be, this was also one of the few places she could be alone to think, to wonder at the enormity of the strangeness of how in the world she should find herself mucking a stable in the bowels of a steam cutter with a man who should have been, by all rights, her mortal enemy.
But he wasn't. Not even a little. Galina smiled, even as she pushed a small wheelbarrow of horse manure to the hawse hole. She could not exactly say what Souma was to her now, much less what would happen on the other side of their vengeance - a moment that Galina, not even once - not for a single second - doubted would happen. Sacrilege or not, she was fully convinced that all the circumstances that had led a Russian noblewoman to shovel horse shit out beneath the decks of a Japanese steam cutter, had been the will of God from beginning to end.
Yet what was to become of her at the end of it all, nor the nature of what stood between her and the Japanese spymaster now, she simply could not say.
Galina pushed the wheelbarrow back toward Anatoly's stall, lashed it down with the shovel and then pulled her leather work gloves off. "You don't bite anyone, bad horse, and I'll be sure to bring you a carrot tonight... " she said in Russian, her voice tender and loving as she lay her head against the stallion's thickly muscled neck, one hand running down his withers to his wide, warm back.
This ship was nothing at all like the Empress of Japan, the famed luxury ocean liner Galina had boarded the last time she'd made a trans-Pacific journey. There was of course, no elegant state room, no magnificent dining area or a slew of chefs to ensure their meal was a sampling of one earthly delight after the next. There was no grand deck to promenade at their leisure, or string quartets to while away the evenings in the ball room with all the glittering personages.
And there was also no Klara with her now, the only mother she had ever known, the gracious woman who had cared for at least two generations of Demidov children. There was no silver-tongued Goemon to keep her amused, engaged, always just one step ahead as he maneuvered an unwary woman just where he would, at his master's behest.
But the ghosts of these two singular people, the shades of two fathers and so many lost loved ones traveled with steam cutter's passengers to America, haunting the two master spies bent on a vengeance to shake the very gates of Hell. Old bonds broken, old worlds shattered - but in their place, new things grew, raised their tender heads to the sun. New relationships and alliances, unexpected and, in a sane world, utterly impossible.
Yet Galina Demidova was below the deck this very moment, dressed in some borrowed men's clothing: a white linen shirt and men's linen pants tucked into high, hard leather boots. Her dark hair pulled back into a no-nonsense bun tied tightly at the nape of her neck, the elegant noblewoman had only just finished mucking out her Cossack horse's stall. She set the shovel into the small wheelbarrow, and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her sleeve with a wry smile and a loving pat of the stallion's thick, muscular neck.
No, Galina was not above caring for her own horse, and never had been. But the stallion Anatoly was being decidedly ill-pleased about this second, longer cross-water trip, and taking out his ill-tempered irritation on anyone and everyone but Galina, who dared come near his stall. None of the crew would come anywhere within biting distance of the horse's stall anymore, and while Galina did feel the occasional twinge of guilt? She quickly discovered that however smelly and supposedly beneath her dignity the work might be, this was also one of the few places she could be alone to think, to wonder at the enormity of the strangeness of how in the world she should find herself mucking a stable in the bowels of a steam cutter with a man who should have been, by all rights, her mortal enemy.
But he wasn't. Not even a little. Galina smiled, even as she pushed a small wheelbarrow of horse manure to the hawse hole. She could not exactly say what Souma was to her now, much less what would happen on the other side of their vengeance - a moment that Galina, not even once - not for a single second - doubted would happen. Sacrilege or not, she was fully convinced that all the circumstances that had led a Russian noblewoman to shovel horse shit out beneath the decks of a Japanese steam cutter, had been the will of God from beginning to end.
Yet what was to become of her at the end of it all, nor the nature of what stood between her and the Japanese spymaster now, she simply could not say.
Galina pushed the wheelbarrow back toward Anatoly's stall, lashed it down with the shovel and then pulled her leather work gloves off. "You don't bite anyone, bad horse, and I'll be sure to bring you a carrot tonight... " she said in Russian, her voice tender and loving as she lay her head against the stallion's thickly muscled neck, one hand running down his withers to his wide, warm back.
Kuro honestly, what could be better than ours? After all, theirs doesn't have us 
And that was a lovely post Dot - Deli is so adorable when she's all kinds of highly engaged! *grins*
And that was a lovely post Dot - Deli is so adorable when she's all kinds of highly engaged! *grins*
*PSHOOOOSH* Mind blow, that was fun! No spoilers, but they got a whole other thing going on there, no worries Kuro 
And so, Ascension begins with a giant space ark headed to a far destination with its human crew, and starts off the season with a murder... This ought to be good...Oh thank you Kuro! I really appreciate you saying that
"What I'm looking for, Antoine," Abby said with a wide, easy smile, the one that crinkled the corners of her ice blue eyes, "Is exactly that."
Without the least self-consciousness about being alone with a strange man in his room, she settled easily onto the offered bed mattress, leaning back on her hands, one booted foot hiked over the other as she stretched her legs out. Her knees popped audibly, and Abby sighed just a little as she winced. That sparring session of a workout with Sczruba left her aching – a pleasant ache for the most part, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the bruise beginning to spread across one shoulder blade.
“Let me put this to you as succinctly as possible: there is no doubt that Sylus Adams did exactly what he did to that young woman who survived. By extension, it’s no great stretch of the imagination to guess he killed all those people before her too, all the ones who seemed to have simply ‘died in their cryosleep.’”
Abby shrugged one shoulder, her gaze flicking to the sleeping cat beside her. ’Cat!? Guy’s got a damned ocelot on his bed!’ She didn’t mind cats. Not at all really, and she had a special fondness for the little puff balls with the stiff little tails and their funny gait and enormous fuzzy heads that were known as “kittens.” But she was really more of a dog person at heart, and the sheer unnatural size of what she supposed was meant to pass for some mutated house cat or whatever was daunting, to say the least. She still worked up the courage though, to at least pat its enormous, sleeping head, very, very lightly and praying under her breath it wouldn’t wake up and try to eviscerate her.
She’d hate to have to shoot this guy’s cat, right here in his own room.
Fortunately, the only thing that happened was the peeling open of one golden eye, as an irritated and toothy yawn was tossed her way, before the beast curled itself back into its warm, gargantuan ball of spotted fur.
“I know nothing about the systems, but I don’t really need to. What I want to know, is if you have any idea how he did it. You’re the first among equals Antoine, or at least the only one with the cajones to speak up at the briefing this morning. So yes, tell me the safeguards, the checks and the monitoring, but most importantly – tell me if you know how the hell he got to them, repeatedly, without anyone anywhere ever the wiser - until he was finally caught red-handed.”
**********
“We were somewhere between the virtues of gummy bears, musical accompaniment and things that go ‘boom!’” Pauline grinned. “Or at least, it was somewhere about there – an almost perfect triangulation of the utterly random, although… “
The young woman chuckled softly to herself, as close to an evil giggle as she was likely to ever get as she pulled the tablet from her pocket, lighting up the screen with a flick of her finger. She peered up at Mike from the corners of her eyes, a devilish gleam in her gaze. “So a rocket was it, into a Chinese… Tank, yes? You’re not particular about the type of rocket I’m guessing, just something with enough firepower to be… Anti-tank? I know we’ve got a few stored out there in the Hangar… For blasting errant asteroids out of the trajectory lane… “
Her agile fingers flew over the virtual keyboard, crunching in the designators for the modified VT-12 rocket – and then, its target. Her ‘library’ contained the shapes and chemical and physical composition of thousands upon thousands of different asteroids, and it wasn’t too far a stretch for Pauline to combine a few of the rocks just so… And then shave a few angles just so… Just like that! And rife with sulfurous compounds…
She set the tablet flat on Deli’s desk, taking a step back as she waved the Marine and the explosive’s expert a little closer. “And this is what I do,” she said softly as the holographic projection began to take shape. There, floating in the vast emptiness of a star-studded outer space, was a yellow gummy bear of epic proportions.
“Sulfur compounds,” Pauline whispered to Deli, “Couldn’t let it be a green one, you know… “
And from the corner of the projection, the unmistakable shape of the VT-12 rocket hurtled into the single most unique asteroid in all the known universe. There was no fiery explosions of course without any kind of atmosphere, but the brittle, super-cooled piece of once-jiggly candy goodness shattered like broken glass in all directions, a brilliant golden blast bright as fireworks against the endless night.
Pauline nodded her own approval at the little light show on Deli's desk, though her smile remained a touch tentative as she looked up to Mike, surprising even herself when she realized just how much she hoped he'd like her small piece of light mathematical silliness. "Deli's the one with the real pyrotechnics, the expert who makes things explode exactly as they should. I just write the training programs that hopefully give us an idea how that's going to happen, what with different payloads and different asteroid compositions."
"And in my downtime, I blow up candy." She shrugged, her grin just a touch sheepish as she looked from Deli to Mike. "Don't judge. Everyone's got to have a hobby... "
Without the least self-consciousness about being alone with a strange man in his room, she settled easily onto the offered bed mattress, leaning back on her hands, one booted foot hiked over the other as she stretched her legs out. Her knees popped audibly, and Abby sighed just a little as she winced. That sparring session of a workout with Sczruba left her aching – a pleasant ache for the most part, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the bruise beginning to spread across one shoulder blade.
“Let me put this to you as succinctly as possible: there is no doubt that Sylus Adams did exactly what he did to that young woman who survived. By extension, it’s no great stretch of the imagination to guess he killed all those people before her too, all the ones who seemed to have simply ‘died in their cryosleep.’”
Abby shrugged one shoulder, her gaze flicking to the sleeping cat beside her. ’Cat!? Guy’s got a damned ocelot on his bed!’ She didn’t mind cats. Not at all really, and she had a special fondness for the little puff balls with the stiff little tails and their funny gait and enormous fuzzy heads that were known as “kittens.” But she was really more of a dog person at heart, and the sheer unnatural size of what she supposed was meant to pass for some mutated house cat or whatever was daunting, to say the least. She still worked up the courage though, to at least pat its enormous, sleeping head, very, very lightly and praying under her breath it wouldn’t wake up and try to eviscerate her.
She’d hate to have to shoot this guy’s cat, right here in his own room.
Fortunately, the only thing that happened was the peeling open of one golden eye, as an irritated and toothy yawn was tossed her way, before the beast curled itself back into its warm, gargantuan ball of spotted fur.
“I know nothing about the systems, but I don’t really need to. What I want to know, is if you have any idea how he did it. You’re the first among equals Antoine, or at least the only one with the cajones to speak up at the briefing this morning. So yes, tell me the safeguards, the checks and the monitoring, but most importantly – tell me if you know how the hell he got to them, repeatedly, without anyone anywhere ever the wiser - until he was finally caught red-handed.”
“We were somewhere between the virtues of gummy bears, musical accompaniment and things that go ‘boom!’” Pauline grinned. “Or at least, it was somewhere about there – an almost perfect triangulation of the utterly random, although… “
The young woman chuckled softly to herself, as close to an evil giggle as she was likely to ever get as she pulled the tablet from her pocket, lighting up the screen with a flick of her finger. She peered up at Mike from the corners of her eyes, a devilish gleam in her gaze. “So a rocket was it, into a Chinese… Tank, yes? You’re not particular about the type of rocket I’m guessing, just something with enough firepower to be… Anti-tank? I know we’ve got a few stored out there in the Hangar… For blasting errant asteroids out of the trajectory lane… “
Her agile fingers flew over the virtual keyboard, crunching in the designators for the modified VT-12 rocket – and then, its target. Her ‘library’ contained the shapes and chemical and physical composition of thousands upon thousands of different asteroids, and it wasn’t too far a stretch for Pauline to combine a few of the rocks just so… And then shave a few angles just so… Just like that! And rife with sulfurous compounds…
She set the tablet flat on Deli’s desk, taking a step back as she waved the Marine and the explosive’s expert a little closer. “And this is what I do,” she said softly as the holographic projection began to take shape. There, floating in the vast emptiness of a star-studded outer space, was a yellow gummy bear of epic proportions.
“Sulfur compounds,” Pauline whispered to Deli, “Couldn’t let it be a green one, you know… “
And from the corner of the projection, the unmistakable shape of the VT-12 rocket hurtled into the single most unique asteroid in all the known universe. There was no fiery explosions of course without any kind of atmosphere, but the brittle, super-cooled piece of once-jiggly candy goodness shattered like broken glass in all directions, a brilliant golden blast bright as fireworks against the endless night.
Pauline nodded her own approval at the little light show on Deli's desk, though her smile remained a touch tentative as she looked up to Mike, surprising even herself when she realized just how much she hoped he'd like her small piece of light mathematical silliness. "Deli's the one with the real pyrotechnics, the expert who makes things explode exactly as they should. I just write the training programs that hopefully give us an idea how that's going to happen, what with different payloads and different asteroid compositions."
"And in my downtime, I blow up candy." She shrugged, her grin just a touch sheepish as she looked from Deli to Mike. "Don't judge. Everyone's got to have a hobby... "
Oh BOTH those posts were awesome Justric! so much of the evil bastards just floating here and there...
so much of the evil bastards just floating here and there...Well Dot, Deli is a wealth of awesomeness to play off of herself! "Never a dull moment" - she gives that phrase a WHOLE new meaning! And so good to see you around and, if I may add, you are not alone in the love of brilliance ;)
And so good to see you around and, if I may add, you are not alone in the love of brilliance ;)
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