ELEVENTH WAVE

[astrogate]

CHARACTERS: any and all
LOCATION: Gravity Couches and beyond
WARNINGS: maybe some swearing, or even some violence, and more than likely some implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: Another month, another jump, another round of new faces.
NOTES: Keeping up with the tradition and copy pasted like always from the last one


You wake up in darkness.


There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're deposited on the floor of a stark, sterile medical bay.

You are not alone.


There are others who have come before you, others who are awakening beside you. Some may be familiar to you, perhaps even friends. Others have much less amiable plans. Some are merely alien and inexplicable, but there are always those who might mean you harm.

After you catch your breath and your vision returns, you notice a number on the inside of your forearm. Maybe it's a familiar number. Maybe it means something. Maybe it's just a number. But the number—completely unique to you—is a tattoo, and it does not come off.

If you enter the room adjacent to the medbay, you will find a small locker with your number on it, surrounded by rows upon rows of identical lockers. Inside, you will find a few of your personal items, a communications device, and a ship's uniform in your exact size. The comms device is fully powered and connects directly to the ship's network; it's your only means of communication beyond physical conversation. Upon turning the device on, a neutral, automated voice will say, "Please take the blue lift to the passenger quarters." Any other attempts at communicating with the rest of the network are met only with static.

This is your welcome party.

Comments

[compressibility]

He looks at her face and nods, briefly. Whatever her reason, it must be big. "Is it radioactive?"

The words are only partly a joke. Howard, of all people, knows that kind of danger, and he knows she knows it too. He built the bomb for a reason, and not a good one, not for girls like Tosh. "I don't have any reason to, and last I checked, guys like me didn't go around wearing necklaces."

[ex_sorted385]

That makes her laugh a little, softly, and she shakes her head. "No, it's nothing like that. I'll tell you about if you want, but not here. I don't want anyone overhearing. It's personal."

She shoves the towel into the locker with the book, and pulls out the jumpsuit. It'll be quicker to dress it that than her 'real' clothes, and fashion isn't exactly foremost on her mind at the moment. "Can you wait for me while I change? Or meet me later?"

[compressibility]

He watches her for a moment, intrigued by the idea of something personal. He wants to know more about her, so he gives her a brief nod, in agreement and in acknowledgment. "I'll see you later, sweetheart. I've got to check on some things in the lab."

[ex_sorted385]

"Why don't you message me when you've some free time, then? I don't really plan to be going very far."

The tone is dry but her voice is still a little shaky. This was not the sort of thing she wanted to find in her locker right on the heels of what they all went through recently. Or anywhere ever, really. She should let Howard destroy it, but she can't bring herself to do it. Not yet.