Daireem - Why do I care?

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Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 5/14/2007 8:52:06 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	Why do I care? After leaving the space port, Valerie boards a bus to take her to Starlight Square. She tosses 10 tape in the bowl by the driver before edging into the back, inspecting the seats very carefully for wads of gum, discarded needles, and any other various nasty things that could be on a public transportation seat. She sits--carefully--on the cleanest spot she can find. A minute later, the bus lurches forward. She withdraws the notepad from her pocket and flips to a particular page. She squints and pockets the notepad, looking out the window. What she has on her mind outweighs the thought of that Daniel Warden guy, who she apparently owes money. Little does she know that, at approximately this time, he is landing his YT-3400 at The Gateway. Five minutes later, the bus arrives in Starlight Square. Valerie steps off, and begins walking. She knows exactly where she's going. To avoid the door fee, she forcibly enters a back door to a club in the area and finds her way out into the main hall, making a bee-line to a DJ. DJ: Valerie Fas'nvak! Hah. Didn't think I'd see you in a place like this. Valerie: Your shift is over. Come here. The DJ throws a fake smile, has another guy take over, and follows Valerie into a back room. Valerie: Frank, I was on a transport from Flistna to Fierra Mesa and found a dead woman. Frank, the DJ: That's wonderful. So? Valerie: Why the heck is your name on this notepad I got off the body? She hands him the notepad. "Frank Palatoni" is scrawled on it, along with a phone number. Frank: I don't know, I probably hooked up with her once or something. You think I got somethin' to do with it? Valerie: It's on one of the last pages, along with another note. She points at a note. Meet at The K Gral Myiro 724 498 700 112 36 Valerie: Gral Myiro was a passenger on that ship. Frank's brow furrows. Valerie: Gral is a bounty hunter. I've heard of him in passing. This woman met you at the same time she met Gral, and then turned up dead on the same ship. Frank: Okay, so what do you want from me? Why do you even care about this chick? Valerie: You're connected somehow, Frank, and I want to know what's going on! Frank: You shouldn't care about me. Your dad wouldn't want you to. Valerie clenches her fists. Valerie: Frank. I know you're hiding something. You're not good at it, and you're trying to make me go away. It's not happening. You're going to level with me or things are going to get uncomfortable. They stare at each other cold and hard. Frank: I'm done, Val. I got nothing to do with this and I got a job to do. He turns and leaves the room.
Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 5/16/2007 12:22:19 AM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	RE: Why do I care? Knowing Frank, she's not getting any more out of him. What's this "The K" though? She pulls out her phone and calls Damon. Damon: Damon. Valerie: Damon it's Valerie. I need you to look something up for me. Damon: Okay. Valerie: I need to know if there's a place called "The K" on Perrenor. Probably some kind of night club. Damon: Alright, hang on... ... I'm not seeing anything. Valerie: Dang it. Thanks Damon. Damon: Yeah. She flips the phone closed against her face and looks around. She chooses a small alley outside the Rave Break! night club to have a sit-down and flip through the notepad again. She discovers that one of the pieces of paper is half torn off and has an address on it. That'll work. She calls Damon again. Damon: I know, more detective work. Valerie: Could you get me directions to 499 Webb Way, somewhere in the Yasiere dome on Perrenor? Damon: Probably... hang on... ... A moment later, he relays the directions. Valerie: Alright, thanks Damison. Damon: ...Did you just call me- Valerie: Yup! She hangs up before he can say anything and sits down to wait for the bus BACK to The Gateway. It arrives a few minutes later and she leaves another ten tape. This is getting expensive fast. After arriving, she goes to the FET hub and, for twenty more tape, gets loaded into the FET to Yasiere. Thoom! She always liked those things. She arrives a few seconds later and exits into the streets of Yasiere. Recalling the directions from memory, she finds her way to the address--this time using her Angelic Roller Blades of Flaying instead of taking a bus. It's a room in a two-floor apartment building. She walks around back and looks up. There's a balcony on the back. She puts on her latex gloves and scales the building, up to the balcony. There's a sliding glass door. She tries it. It's definitely blocked by some kind of rod. She presses her face up against the glass and cups her hands around it to see inside. Somehow she expected the remote unlocking mechanism. An RC car. Underneath a potted plant is the controller. She grabs it and moves the RC car forward. The improvised pulley lifts the rod in the door track and presto. She enters.
Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 5/16/2007 5:53:19 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	RE: Why do I care? She finds the living room and snoops around, discovering a shelf with multiple framed pictures of the dead woman and various other people. Presumably, this was her apartment. She scoops a few of the 3x5s into her Bauer Bag and walks over to the phone, which bears a blinking red light. With her still-gloved finger, she pushes the play button. "Hey Kat, it's Jess. Just making sure we're still bowling Saturday. Call me when you get home." "It's Meiyk. Where the heck are you?" "Katya, there's some guy asking when he's getting his pants back. You were supposed to be working on them. Where are you?" "Are you okay, Kat? The last anybody saw you was three days ago." That's the end of the messages. Valerie pulls out her own notepad and writes "Katya" on it, gathering that's her name. She wanders into a bedroom, inside which is a computer. She reaches for the power button, but stops, reaches around the back, pulls out the network cable, then powers it on. A few moments later it finishes booting and comes to a login screen, on which are two users: Katya and Meiyk. She clicks Katya and it logs in without asking for a password. The hard drive begins clicking wildly. The desktop background is showing, but nothing's happening. The loading cursor is displaying. Great. A regular home user. Five minutes later, the desktop finishes loading and the task bar starts working, albeit slowly. The system tray slowly fills up with junk--including Weatherbug. THIS IS PERRENOR. THERE IS NO WEATHER. She opens an email program and opens the account menu, where she discovers the woman's full name: Katya Yeake. One of the first names in the address book is Meiyk Yeake, presumably the one who left a message on the answering machine. She appends "Yeake" to the first name she wrote in her notepad, and writes down a few of the names in the email address book, a few of which have street addresses and phone numbers, which she also writes down. She then has Damon get her directions to all of the addresses and writes them down. That's probably all she's going to get here, so she shuts the computer down and reconnects the network cable. She consults the notepad. Jessica Pijtes... Why does that last name sound familiar...? She heads back out the way she came, locking the door with the RC car, hiding the controller under the plant again, and climbing back down the outside of the building. She puts her skates on and skates away.
Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 5/19/2007 3:34:03 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	RE: Why do I care? Valerie skates for around ten minutes before finding another apartment building that happens to look exactly like the one she just left. She looks at her notepad. Looks like Jessica lives on the first floor. Good... no parkour for her. She removes her skates and soon finds the apartment she's looking for. The windows are covered by curtains, so she skips that step. She slowly and quietly attempts to turn the door knob; it doesn't move, of course. So... she knocks. A minute later, the door unlocks and opens slightly. A woman is standing there. Valerie: Hi, are you Jessica? Woman: ...Yes... Who are you? Valerie ignores the questions and pulls one of the photos out of her bag. Valerie: Do you know this woman? Jessica: Yes, that's my friend Katya... Why? Valerie: Yeah, uhh... She's dead. Jessica appears to be shocked and speechless. I guess I could've been a little less blunt. Jessica: This is an odd way to tell me... Who are you? Valerie: I'm the one that found her body. The investigators were idiots... so I'm investigating myself. Can I... uh, come in? Jessica: Uh, sorry... If you want to talk, I'd prefer it if we do it somewhere else. Valerie nods. Jessica: There's a coffee shop just down the street, on the corner, called The Killer Bean. I'll be down there in a few minutes. Valerie: Okay. Thanks. The door closes and Valerie heads down toward The Killer Bean. She peers inside through the windows as she walks toward the entrance. The place is deserted. She enters and sits down. A man at the counter glares at her a few minutes before piping up. Man: Lady, if you're not going to buy something, get the frag outta here. Their glares meet. They glare and glare and glare. Valerie: Fine. She gets up and heads over to the counter. Valerie: Give me some black coffee. He grabs a piddly paper cup and fills it. Valerie doesn't even like coffee, and this stuff looks particularly bad. The man angrily sets the cup on the counter. Man: That'll be five tape. You've got to be kidding me. She starts to reach for her wallet, but stops. She looks at the reflection in the stainless steel cash register. She attempts to kick the man sneaking up behind her with a tire iron, but he catches her foot and flips her. Her head smacks the counter on the way down. Ow, that hurt. She rolls to the side just enough to dodge the tire iron as he swings it down at her. She wraps her arm around it, twists her waist, and brings her knee up at his elbow. His elbow hyperextends, but doesn't break, and he drops the tire iron anyway. By this time, the cashier is trying to find a weapon to help the hitman. Odd that he doesn't keep a shotgun behind the counter on Perrenor. Then again, Yasiere may be the nicest dome on the planet. Valerie kicks the man's ankle, knocking his foot out from under him. He stumbles to her right, and she catches his right leg with her foot. He falls, she jumps up, unsheathes Susan, and leaps forward to stab the man through the neck. However, the cashier has found a wooden broom handle and leapt over the counter. He smashes it into her chest. Oh yeah. She had three broken ribs about a week ago. In the pain of having her ribs re-cracked, she drops Susan. The cashier draws back to swing again, and the hitman is picking himself up. Valerie manages to grab the broom handle and punch the cashier square in the jaw, knocking him out cold. The hitman pulls out a switchblade and hits the button. Valerie backpedals, gripping the left side of her chest with her right hand. The hitman approaches. She moves her right hand up a little, whips out her Sig, and shoots him in the face just as he manages to show surprise on it. That woman is going to die for what she did.
Leon Mecheeto Ex-Soldier 5/20/2007 8:58:10 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 45	RE: Why do I care? As Gral is walking down the sidewalk, he sees a red-headed woman, grasping her chest, stumbling out of a coffee shop across the street. She appears to be in excruciating pain. He stops and turns away, but continues to watch her through the corner of his eye. Nobody is rushing out to finish her off. There is no noise. This street is eerily silent. Most of the buildings here appear abandoned. She begins walking down the sidewalk in the same direction he was going. Gral inconspicuously crosses the street and passes the coffee shop. He sees a man lying on the floor, a bullet wound in his head, and another man lying nearby who does not appear injured. He looks at the sign on the door. It reads "The Killer Bean." That name sounds awful familiar... He looks back at the woman and notices that she just noticed him.
Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 5/20/2007 9:44:26 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	RE: Why do I care? Valerie watches the man behind her. She's about ready to lay down and pass out so she doesn't have to feel her ribs anymore, and now this guy's probably going to try to kill her... That guy looks kind of familiar. She looks up. The neon has kicked on in the coffee shop's sign. The K Frag! She sees a bench outside a closed store and plops down on it, embracing the pain in her buttocks to take her mind off of her ribs. She looks around so as not to make the man think she's watching him. When he gets closer, she looks at him. Valerie: Wh... what's your name? He grunts and his gaze snaps toward her. Man: ... Why? Valerie: I... think I know you. The man has stopped moving. He squints more. Man: You don't. Valerie: Well, not really know you, but know who you are. Man: Then why don't you tell me who you think I am and stop wasting both our time. They glare. She's been doing a lot of that today. Valerie: Because you could be a hitman and pretend to be who I think you are because you know who I think you are. Man: I could say the same. Valerie keeps looking at him. Man: Fine. My name's Gral. She keeps looking. Man: Myiro. Valerie nods happily. Valerie: Yes, you are who I thought you are. You, uh, know Katya Yeake, right? Gral: No. Valerie: You're lying. Gral: Then why'd you ask? Lord, there's a red haze over yonder! Valerie: I found Katya dead on a transport from Flistna to Fierra Mesa, and I'm looking into it. You're involved. Gral: Really. Valerie: She had a note saying to meet you at that very coffee shop. Gral looks over his shoulder. So that's why it's familiar. Valerie: Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Gral: Yes. Please. Valerie: Why's she dead?
Alex Dean Cargo Hauler Dominion Master 6/2/2007 11:22:56 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 151	RE: Why do I care? Da Cru are wandering aimlessly through Yasiere. Alex, with his Plot Device Hearing, overhears something about which these two trenchcoated people are conversing. Woman: ...Jessica Pijtes. I'm going to kill her for what she's done. Alex holds up a fist in Hollywood hand signs fashion, indicating for the group to stop. He walks over to the two people. Alex: Why, hello there, plot device. The woman looks at them. She recognizes Sam. Sam recognizes her. Sam: ...You're that crazy bounty hunter chick! She raises an eyebrow. Valerie: What are you doing here? Alex: Looking for Jessica. Valerie: Jessica who? Alex: I have no clue, we just hoped there would only be one Jessica on all of Perrenor. Valerie stares at him. Alex: Lady, you're scary. Valerie: Likewise. There's a pause. Sam: She just called you a lady. Valerie: Did not! Sam: Did too! Gral is groaning and about to murder the lot of them. When he looks at Fate. And then Leon. He stays cool and doesn't make a move, making sure he doesn't stare at either of them. Unbeknownst to Gral, Leon has known it's him from the beginning. Neither of them knows the other knows who the other is. Valerie: So, why are you looking for this Jessica? Sam: Some kind of purple liquid we found. It might be a galaxy-rending virus, it might be grape soda. Gral's ears perk up. Sam: We're trying to find out, and some Jessica here on Perrenor is our only lead. Gral would squint if he wasn't already. It might be in his interest to postpone taking down Fate Mecheeto.
Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 6/13/2007 11:27:24 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	RE: Why do I care? Valerie: I went to Jessica's apartment before she tried having me dusted. She's probably not there anymore, but we could break in and see... what we see. It's just... down the street from here. I was supposed to meet her at that coffee shop, but instead a couple of goons jumped me. She heaves to her feet, grimacing and still clutching her chest. The sheath built into her jacket clunks against the bench. Soon, the crew are standing in bowling pin formation in front of Jessica Pijtes's apartment door, Valerie contemplating whether to knock or simply to bust in and pop caps. She charges, and just before making impact, stops. The sudden stopping hurts her ribs enough as it is--ramming into the door won't help. She backs off, looks at Leon, and gestures for him to have a go at it. Leon shrugs, steps forward, and falls into the door shoulder-first. They hear the splitting of the particle board frame and the door jars open. Leon steps back and lets Valerie step in. The explosives malfunction and don't go at the same time, giving Leon enough time to grab Valerie and violently haul her out of the doorway. The windows crack terribly from the concussion and the door swings closed, but everybody is safe. Valerie: Frag! She wrenches away from Leon and heads for the door again. Leon: I wouldn't. She stops. Valerie: Why not? Leon: Could be more. Valerie: Or maybe there's not. She nudges the door open and looks around carefully from outside. The air is filled with dust of varying origin. Where did all this paper come from? In every inside doorway, she can see a blinking red light. How cliche. Valerie: I don't think we're going to find anything, and every doorway inside looks rigged. Leon: Told you. Gral has been pensive for some time. Gral: Do any of you have a ship? Alex: I have a box ship. Why? Gral: I need to go to Lanus. Alex: ... Why? Gral: It pertains to our current situation. Alex: ... Okay. Gral: Good. I'll pay you three hundred tape-- Alex: Done. Alex looks at the rest of the group. Alex: I guess we're going to Lanus. He turns back to Gral. Alex: What's your name? Gral: Gaston. Valerie looks sharply at Gral. Their glares violently meet and Valerie decides not to say anything. The Mecheetos, who are the only observant ones here, see all of this, but it doesn't tell them anything they don't already know. Alex: Alright. I'm Alex. Let's go, shall we? They walk away from the smoking apartment.
Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 7/1/2007 10:31:23 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	RE: Why do I care? They arrive tens of minutes later. Valerie: All my stuff happens to be on a stranger's ship, to which I don't have a passcode or whatever. Alex: That salg blowes. What kind of stuff? Valerie: Clothes. Skates. Sam: Skates? Valerie: Skates. Sam: 'Kay. Valerie: And firearms. Alex: Oh, firearms. Valerie: Firearms. Alex: ... Let's not make a habit of that. Valerie: Gladly. Sam: Take me to the ship. I might be able to... coughcough... help ya out a bit. She raises an eyebrow. Valerie: Okay... The two of them march along in the spaceport terminal. It happens to be quite large. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew goes to Alex Dean's ship. Weaving through the unnecessary halls and such, they finally arrive in the docking bay. In the center lies an MTR-82 Spacehawk, dang near identical to Alex Dean's. Sam would probably bust up if he knew this one was also owned by an Alex. Sam: That's funny. Valerie: Eh? Sam: Nothin'. He thrusts a toothpick into his maw and heads over to the rear of the ship, moving his head exaggeratedly, taking in all of the superficial details. Valerie wonders what's going through his mind. He nods to himself and the toothpick twirls wildly. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a DXM brand screwdriver. He moves over to the keypad and pries at a small lip near the bottom left. With quite some effort, the strip of metal pops up on a hinge. On the underside, a number is engraved: #150336 Sam: Dang girrrrrl! You so luckaaaaaayyy! He puts the flap back down and enters "1507511238" on the keypad. They can hear the series of thunks as the lock pins recede in the ramp and it lowers on its hydraulics. Sam: If the first three digits on that service number are one-fifty or below, you can enter those first three digits and 7511238 for the hard-coded manufacturer unlock--you can't get rid of that code. We peons aren't supposed to know this, but you know how things are. They realized it was a really stupid idea after the 150x series and got rid of it. Valerie ignores him completely and disappears into the ship, on a mission to find her suitcase. Elsewhere, Alex Dean is sitting in his own Spacehawk's cockpit with his feet propped up on the control panel, picking at his fingernails. Gral opens the door. Alex stares at him--and he stares right back. Gral: Do you have a subspace booster? Alex: Uh, yeah. You need to call someone? Gral: Yeah. Alex: I'm gonna have to plug your phone in. Let me... find the cable... Gral: Fine. Alex digs around an overstuffed red box under the control panel. There's about ten cables--all tied around each other--but he finds the right one pretty quickly and hands one end to Gral. Alex: Here, try that. He plugs the other end into one of the many outlets on the control panel and begins doing something on the computer. Valerie steps out of Alex Williams's ship. Valerie: Close it up. Sam: Now, you didn't just steal his slag did you? Valerie: Yes. Through subtle trickery, I actually suggested in the first place that you break me into this ship so I could steal his suitcase-- She sets it on the ground and opens it. Valerie: --full of women's clothing. Hey, I guess he's a crossdresser! Sam: Maybe you're lying to me about the owner's gender to-- Valerie: COME ON! Sam: Yeah, whatever. He hits the button to close the ramp and they head back to docking bay 94. Gral: I need to talk to Pu. ... Yeah. ... Myiro. ... ... Pu. I need to see Meiyk Yeake. ... I'm hitching a ride from Perrenor, so you tell me. ... Good. He hangs up and disconnects his phone. Gral: Thanks. Alex: Yep. Gral heads back toward the cargo bay. A minute later, Sam and Valerie get back. Valerie's suitcase is freaking huge. She tosses it in the one free corner of the cargo bay. This ship is quite different from Williams's on the inside. There are some packages and crates scattered and piled about, but for the most part the cargo bay is set up as a living space. There's an old couch a few feet away from a small CRT TV--both objects appear to have been taken out of a dumpster. A fairly new mini-fridge is next to the couch. Carl and Leon are sitting on the couch. Fate is sitting on a cardboard box, reading The Lost World. Dave is sitting at a card table along the wall behind the couch. Dave: Hey! Sword lady! Valerie: Hey! Dirt ball! Dave: Were you struck by a smooth criminal? Valerie: No, I can tell you that I'm okay. Sam: Dave, shut up. Stop enjoying yourself. Dave: Okay. Let's play Blackjack then. Sam: Alright. I'm just having too much fun right now. Sam sits down at the card table opposite Dave. Valerie already needs to get out of here. She steps through the door into the crew quarters. Gral is hunched uncomfortably on one of the top bunks, arms crossed in an unpleasant manner. Valerie avoids looking at him and proceeds into the overly small, one-person cockpit. Alex is, of course, sitting in the pilot seat. He's doing a bunch of junk to prep for takeoff. Valerie: I have to get away from all those people. Alex doesn't look at her. Alex: There ain't room in here. Valerie: Fine. She turns around, back toward the crew quarters. Alex: I'm kidding. I doubt you're going to yell into my ear for the next nine hours or something annoying, so do what you want. Valerie: ... Fine. She notices in the corner to Alex's left is a large, purple bean bag. It looks comfy, except there's a really big gun sitting on it. Alex glances at the bean bag. Alex: Oh, you can move the rail gun. She does and sits down. By this time, the ship has risen quite far into the atmosphere. Minutes later, it booms into hyperspace. Alex stretches and yawns, making a pained look with his face. Valerie can hear the gritting of his teeth. His arms suddenly swing back down and he burps. Alex: Uhghnm. Yeah. Tastes like root beer. Valerie stares at him disapprovingly. He leaves the cockpit. She sees Windows Media Player sitting idle on one of the monitors and reaches for the mouse, lazily leaving her butt firmly planted in the bean bag. She finds some Tom Petty and happily plays it. Alex looks up at Gral on the top bunk in the crew quarters. Alex: We're headed for Lanus now. Gral: Yeah. Alex: Really, what do you need to do there? Gral: See a guy that knows something about all this. Meiyk Yeake. I doubt you know him. Alex: Nope, probably not. Why couldn't you just call him or something though? Gral: Because he's in prison. Alex blinks. Alex: ... Oh. Well, alright. It'll be about nine hours, give or take fifteen minutes. Gral: Great. Alex turns and walks into the cargo bay. Fate, still looking at her book, is saying something to Leon about an Ian Malcolm and morphine. Leon laughs. Alex almost screams in fear. He takes a breath and grabs a long-neck bottle out of the minifridge. Embossed in the bottle are the letters "IBC." He pops the top and takes a swig, followed by an exaggerated "aaaahhhhhh." Leon slowly turns around and glares at him as if it's murder time. Hours later, Valerie, Susan, and Diana have become good friends. Another few hours later, they're finally in the Charlu system.
Valerie Fas'nvak Ex-tournament fighter/ ninja accountant Dominion Master 7/5/2007 8:13:30 PM Level: 1 Experience: 0 Total Posts: 126	RE: Why do I care? Gral looks out the cockpit window at Lanus, a ball of gray and orange tones. It has become its own gas giant thanks to massive industrial plants covering its surface. Gral: Never thought I'd see this butthole again. The radio hums. Control: Hold up, unnamed MTR-82. You need to be cleared for atmospheric entry. Standby. Alex: Great. He leans against the control panel, resting his head on his fist. Alex: You can go sit down. This'll-- A huge, green, circular glyph flashes in the atmosphere. Control: Please proceed and stay within the clearing. We are uploading a list of vacant docking bays to your ship if you would like to dock with us. Have a nice day. Alex: Uh, you too. He takes the ship down. It turns out the glyph is a faint, green, cylindrical energy field that opens up about two thousand feet above ground level. Apparently it's so hard to see through the smog, they had to figure out a way to guarantee there would be no midair collisions during atmospheric entry. Alex hesitates above the spaceport, trying to figure out where he could land without paying. Gral holds his hand out, in which is fifty tape. Gral: I don't feel like getting eight malignant tumors today. Alex: ... Oh. He takes the money, checks the list the starport sent him, and lands in an empty bay. Alex shuts the ship down and heads into the back. Gral follows him. Alex: Alright, we're here. SNNRRRRRRRRK. Alex: Wakey time! Come on! Gral: Oh my dirt. "Wakey time?" A slew of vulgarity explodes from Gral's mouth with triple digits of decibels. The whole thing is quite reminiscent of a drill instructor, and Alex can imagine the oranges and tennis balls flying at him. Everybody wakes up. Alex: We're on Lanus. Time to go. They all pack out of the ship--save for Carl, who is pretty much useless, and opted to stay behind--and Alex is the first one to the door. The door is serious. There's a 19-inch Acer flat panel monitor hanging on the wall next to the door. Generic female voice: Hello! Welcome to Lanus! Please take a ticket. Printer: Thdoot thdoot thdoot. Alex rips the ticket off. Alex: ... Okay. Generic female voice: Thank you! Please choose a server. The screen displays Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta servers. Alex slowly looks over his shoulder. Gral: Charlie. Alex shrugs and hits Charlie. The door opens. The air is shimmering strangely in the doorway. Generic female voice: Thank you for choosing Charlie server! This service is brought to you by-- Alex steps through the doorway. The spaceport is... gone. Except the shimmering doorway. He turns around. Through the disembodied doorway, he can see the drab docking bay. He turns back around. He is standing in the middle of a small town street. The sky is blue, with white clouds whisping peacefully across it. Everybody else comes through the door. Dave notices a few of the others are confused. Dave: In reality, Lanus is polluted and dang near uninhabitable. So they use servers. Pocket universes, so people can live on the planet. Alex: ... Sweet. Gral: Come on. He walks over to a minivan sitting on the side of the road and gets in, starting the engine with a simple push of a button. Alex: Umm... Gral: It doesn't belong to anyone. Get in if you're coming. Alex reluctantly climbs into the passenger seat. The others pile in shortly after and Gral hits the gas. Fate and Leon occupy the very rear of the vehicle. Alex conveniently turns on the radio to drown out Fate and Leon's discussion of Gral's disposal. They both look incredibly nonchalant, still having never hinted at their knowledge of Gral's identity. Fate: What do you say we ditch Myiro after this meeting? Leon: We could just kill him. Fate: He likely disposes of enough ne'er-do-wells to excuse himself. Leon: Whatever. It's your continuing to exist at stake here. Do what you want.