driftfleet | Third Gate [Video]

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Third Gate [Video]

Who: Jennifer Keller and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Near the docking area of the bug ship, the goodship Wonderduck... idk, give a place and she'll be there.
When: June 22nd

[The video message is short; Jennifer sounds like her mind is elsewhere as she speaks.]

Part of being a doctor is learning your limits- and having to acknowledge that sometimes, there's nothing you can do. That no matter what your skill level is, that no matter how hard you try, there are some patients you can't save, and being unable to save them doesn't make you a bad doctor.

Sometimes I need to try really hard to keep that in mind.

[Anybody who finds Jennifer- at the medical station she helped set up, in the Wonderduck, or elsewhere- will find her quiet (or quieter than usual) and contemplative, looking at some data written down on a tablet. It's about the bugs, and the fungus that has infested them, if anyone cares to look.]

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[Wanda approaches Jennifer slowly, the injury to her leg causing her to limp slightly. While Dr. Keller and Dr. Crusher had done a good job of treating her wound, it was still noticeably causing Wanda discomfort.]

Dr. Keller? Is something wrong?

Oh! [She smiled at Wanda and gave a half-shrug.] I'm glad to see you're up and about. Ah- it's about the bugs we've found on this ship. I'm not positive, but it seems like they may have been more complex than the simple drones we've seen in the past.

Thank you. It's a bit difficult, but I can move around. I owe you and Dr. Crusher my life.

[Wanda then limps her way over to sit next to Dr. Keller, gesturing for her to show her what she means on the device she was looking at.]

Edited 2015-06-23 01:07 (UTC)

[Jennifer smiles.] You're welcome. I'm glad Beverly found you- those bugs don't mess around.

[She then nods toward her tablet, shifting it so that Wanda can see, turning serious again.]

Their biology isn't like anything I've ever encountered, but they seem to have been infected with a fungus that interfered with their normal brain functions.

A fungus? But I have not seen anything around this ship or even on their bodies that could be called a fungus.

[She nods.]

It's microscopic... infecting one of their body systems. And to answer what I anticipate will be your next question, it doesn't seem to have infected anyone in the Fleet- considering we've been coming into contact with it all this time, if it was going to spread, it would have.

[Wanda looks at Keller, and then back at the screen. It was true that was going to be her next question, and she was glad Dr. Keller had already thought to check for it.]

So it's some sort of fungal infection specific to these crea- excuse me, aliens. And that is the cause of their aggressive behavior?

It makes sense, yes- because they seem to have complex neural systems, which doesn't add up with their mindless, drone-like behavior. I mean, it's possible that something else was inhibiting their intelligence, but the simplest explanation is often the correct one.

[Wanda shudders a little. The thought of some sort of fungus, some alien life of any kind, creeping into her, controlling her. Reflexively, she reaches up and gingerly touches the spot behind her ear marking the augment. At least it seemed to let her maintain her free will... didn't it? She shakes the thought from her head.]

Is there anything we can do for these crea- aliens?

[Damn, she almost said it again.]

[Jennifer notices the reflextive augment touch; it's a habit she'd had to break herself of, since she knew it wasn't going anywhere, but she can understand being unnerved by it still.]

She sighs, frustration evident in her voice.]

Truthfully, I'm not sure- I'd have to compare notes with the other doctors on board. The problem is time... if we had more time, I'd feel more confident that we could find a cure. But it could take months, and the fleet's not going to stay anchored in one spot and wait around for us. Not everyone may agree with the idea of trying to cure them, either.

You mean, the fleet did not bring us here to try and fix this? What then was the point?

[Unfortunately, Wanda already knows the answer to her question. She thinks back to the battle, the fighting between the fleet members and the bugs that occurred on their initial arrival. They had brought them here to see that. To put that on their TV show hadn't they? A little blood and killing to raise the ratings... This feeling of being used, of being a pawn... Wanda had felt it before, with Ultron. Her face begins to contort in anger as she can feel the disgust boiling up within her.]

They will pay for this...

[She mutters it slightly under breath, but possibly loud enough for Dr. Keller to pick up.]

I could be naive and trusting and say "I don't know", but... [She hesitates at the mutter, knowing there were many others on the fleet who were angry at their lot, who wanted to fight back against Atroma, to demand answers and better living conditions.

Jennifer could understand the sentiment, even if she felt like fighting back against their captors wasn't her place.]

The drama is a possibility. The audience gets to watch us struggle with a moral and ethical dilemma if they like that, and if not, well, they get to watch people kill creepy space bugs. Atroma wins either way.

[As Dr. Keller's words echo the thoughts in Wanda's head, her expression of disgust only seems to grow more intense. She had had her fill of being someone else's tool, their plaything.]

I do not know which is worse. Atroma, for putting us in this situation, or the audience, who are gleefully watching our struggle for their own amusement.

They're about the same level for me- though the audience gets a bit of an edge for drinking all of this up for entertainment. If the show wasn't profitable, there'd be no reason for Atroma to keep abducting people.

[Then Wanda decides to voice something. A thought she's begun to have for a little while now.]

What if there is no show? What if... it is all a lie?

... that's not something that ever occurred to me. [Jennifer sighs.] I'd like to think there is. Because I'm not sure what I'd do if even that was a lie.

[Wanda immediately realizes that she may have put even more worry on Dr. Keller.]

I am sorry. I did not mean to alarm you. I was just thinking out loud.

[Jennifer smiled.]

Ah- don't worry about it. It helps to consider every possibility... it might come in handy later. I try to be an idealist, but sometimes you have to be a realist, too.

[Wanda smiles weakly, but her eyes still seem forlorn as she speaks.]

I do not know which one I prefer.

Both ways of thinking have their advantages. Sometimes being an idealist isn't the best... kinda like now, when we're faced with so many uncertainties and maybes and probably-nots.

And what does your realist thinking make of this current situation?

[Wanda's words may sound callous, but, in truth, she is looking to Dr. Keller for perhaps some kind of guidance or advice. The revelation of the bugs' or, rather, aliens' true nature has left Wanda feeling strangely empty. There is certainly some guilt and sadness, but even stronger than these emotions is a sense of peculiar emptiness. Along with a faint sense that this all feels too depressingly familiar to her.]

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Third Gate [Video]

Action; bug ship entrance

Action~

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