forum The LAIKA's Journey (closed rp)

Started October 21, 2019 by @Young-Dusty-the-Monarch-of-Dusteria group

tune

"Look, if they ain't stupid, no reason to disobey," she pointed out. "But I also know better than to deviate from a crew in times of emergency. You have to have some order, or else we'll all die."

Treb nodded slowly. "I mean, ideally, I'd only hire people who seemed very likely to become unquestioningly loyal….but I guess I'll have to settle for what I get at this point." He clapped Ba'al on the shoulder. "You're hired. I hope you weren't looking for a stable, low-risk, high-paying kind of job, because this isn't it, but hey! At least you're getting off this icepick of a planet."

"And at this point, I'll take what I can get," she said cheerfully, setting down her glass and stretching. "Thank-you sir!"

Treb paid the bartender and got up, heading for the door. "C'mon. I never take two new employees from the same bar. I know another place a few blocks down we can check for desperate people before we head back to my ship. Sound good?"

"Whatever you say," she agreed, following after, she shuddered as she stepped back out into the col, almost unintentionaly shifting back into her big form. She slit her many eyes against the wind, grumbling darkly to herself about the weather.

Treb gave her a sidelong stare as she changed form, but said nothing, just took down his notice from the wall and stepped into the street. "Watch your step. So, what was the climate like on your home planet?"

"Rock. Storms. Fog. Nothing fun," she growled, kicking through the snow. "Glad to be off it, glad to never go back. What about you?"

"Eh, mostly desert until the colonies came along and cultivated it. At least it was warm and the weather was usually tolerable. Deadly boring, tho–" He was interrupted when his boot kicked a surprisingly solid snowdrift and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, right on his face. "Ow! What the–wh-pfff-pheh!" He staggered to his feet, spitting out dirty snow. "What the heck did I just trip over!?"

Beneath a light covering of snow they discovered what looked like a dead purplish dog. It moaned.

"Oh, uh… ew." Ba'al said, wrinkling her nose. Not that she had one, or that anyone could see the motion anyways. But the thought was certainly there. "What is it?"

Treb roughly brushed snow out of his hair and crouched down to examine the creature. "Dunno….never met something like this before. I'm guessing it's not built for this climate, though." He nudged the alien's shoulder with the back of his hand cautiously. "Uh….hello? You still alive, pal?"

He found his hand suddenly held in a grip of steel…clawed steel. "Get me indoors. Now!" said a voice that only slightly quavered, unwillingly betraying some slight weakness.

"Okay, yeah, ace plan," Ba'al said, leaning away. "You can do the carrying, Cap."

"Hey, woah." Treb tried to pull his hand out of the stranger's grip. "Easy there." He glanced around. "Don't you have like a home or a hotel or a trash bin to spend the night in?" He seemed quite hopeful that this would turn out to be true.

The stranger's grasp went limp and they realized that it had fainted.

"Aw, well, shoot, I guess we have to take it with us now," Ba'al complained. "You can still do the carrying. Look, maybe we can drop it off at some other warm planet or something. It's small, won't take up too much space, eh?"

Treb's shoulders slumped. "Ugh….why does this always happen? Aliens take one look at me and assume I'm an EMT or something. Must be those stupid Doctors-Without-Borders people giving us a weird rep." Bracing himself, he wormed his arms underneath the unconscious creature and heaved it out of the snowdrift, then straightened back up with great difficulty. "Hey, why am I carrying it?" He asked Ba'al grumpily. "You're the big strong one here, and I outrank you."

"Exactly!" she said rightly, starting off again. "Which way to the ship, captain-o?"

Treb glared at her. "That's not at all what I wanted to hear," he muttered, starting to trudge down the street. "It's not far. Just a couple blocks and then a couple dozen stories straight up into the parking zone. Was that high winds I heard you complaining about a minute ago?"

She muttered a curse in her own language glowering at Teb. "Why'd ya park there, dude? That's a real turn ff for potential employees, you know."

"Wow! I'm so sorry about that. Lucky for your fragile sensibilities, there's an elevator kind of thing." Treb hitched his burden a little higher in his arms. "Anyway, can't you fly or something? I thought heights and wind wouldn't be a problem for you."

"Aww, that's great," she snapped. "And yes, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. FLying isn't my favorite occupation, brother."

The lump in Treb's arms began to shiver, moan and to burrow against his chest into the depths of his jacket.