Piers and the Wolf (Bougene Station ATU)

[Grav_Moped]

Subway Series (7): [SPOILER! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREVIOUS TWO POSTS -- READ THOSE FIRST! (Thanks!)]

“Good. Stay with me.” I think at her. “Stay with me.” fifty-seven fifty-eight fifty-nine, sixty. Back to breathing. Back to compressions, and counting. And again. And again. And there’s a Vargr voice over a radio, something about electrodes.

“Sir, step away from the patient,” says a Vargr man kneeling next to me.

“No! I’m not letting her die!” I yell back. Fifty-seven fifty-eight fifty-nine – “HEY! What the --” I cry out as I’m dragged off of Veronica.

“Sorry, we’ve got to put the electrodes on,” the man says. “It’s an auto defibrilator.” Then the tinny, radio-sounding voice says, “V-Tach detected. Stand clear of the patient. When everyone is clear, press the shock button.”

Roni yelps into my mind; I imagine hugging her and I think she responds.

The tinny voice speaks up again. “Resume CPR. Capacitors recharging.” It didn’t do it, but it’s going to try again. And back to compressions one two three… She’s still there – weak, but there.

“Stand clear of the patient. When everyone is clear, press the shock button,” says the staticky voice. And Roni yelps again – from her throat though, not her mind. But she’s still here!

“Normal rhythm restored. Resume rescue breathing. Do not remove electrodes. Stand by for further instructions if needed. Wait for professionals to arrive.” I hear sirens, feel Veronica slip back into her body, and I begin to sob – she’s going to make it, she’s really going to make it!

“Of course I am. Can’t leave you alone out here, you’ll just get into trouble,” she remarks silently.

 

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Subway Series (8):

[SPOILER! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREVIOUS THREE POSTS -- READ THOSE IN ORDER FIRST! (Thanks!)]

"Yes, those are my pups – Adventurer Troop 231 from Anosarr West,” said the Vargr to the two humans who’d worked their minivan through the crowd. “Yes, I’m sure they did a very good job securing the two shooters. You say they’re with you?”

He went on: “I don’t know you. I don’t know this Captain Otranto from Feri whose name is on your piece of paper.

“I do know that woman stared down a human and made him flee, until she was shot and nearly killed. That’s force of personality.

“I know that human with her, rendered aid without concern for his own safety, and that’s the kind of heroism Runetha Saetedz represents.

“I think you’d better wait right here until the Paramedics and the Paramilitaries arrive. Is that understood?”

 

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If you jumped to the end here, THE PREVIOUS TWO POSTS ARE A SPOILER! Jump back to Post #79 (Subway Series 5) (click to jump back for the start of this sequence.

Thanks!

And that's mostly a stopping point.
Thanks to everyone for your patience.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Vignette: 31 October (1).
Author's note: probably not going to be canon, and it's a first draft straight to the text input box. Still, wanting to get it done before midnight local means compromises....

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"I've solved that problem you had with the human you got too attached to," stated the red wolf as he carried the still-hot gun in his hands down the corridor from the stateroom to the common area.

"NO!" howled the muticolored one as she tried to run back past him. He blocked her way, she stopped and fell -- though in a trick of the light it seemed that in a way she kept right on going. "Piers!" she called out from the floor, "Come to me! You saw how I do it, get free before your body takes you down!"

The red Vargr looks down at her and laughs. "Sentimental, just like a follower. Don't bother, it's dead."

She looks up in rage. "You murdered my best friend, and You. Will. Pay."

He looks down. "Not murder at all -- it was just a human. You'll get over it and come around. When we get our clan leader's cryo-stored spare body back there, reloaded with his stored backup mind after we reach Boughene Station, you'll see how you fit in.

"I think Bront Thergodogz back there, our leader, will take a special interest in you. He's Akumgeda also. Hey, even I might -- you're kind of cute, and I don't think he'll mind what we get up to while he's frozen."

"You're insane," she responds flatly. "Get away from me."

"Fiesty. I like that. But you don't need to waste your mental tricks on me, Veronica -- I have a psionic shield helmet. You probaby figured that out already though."

She tries to stand, goes for his gun, and is kicked back to the deck for her trouble.

"Yeah, might be a while before you understand your place. Until then, it looks like some coercion is going to be needed." He brings the gun to bear on her, and orders her to stand then take him to the cockpit to get him authorized to fly the ship.

The gun drops to the floor. He stares at his empty paw in shock, then tries to dive to retake the weapon.

He falls, instead. Panicked, he taps his hat -- which announces, "functional" in a weak electronic voice. "This can't be happening," he mutters. "It can't!"

Veronica stares contempt at him. "That helmet keeps me out of your mind, true. But, it's not keeping Piers' ghost from... getting on your nerves." The red wolf's arms flail around, as though he's fighting with himself. Each breath is promptly coughed out -- his eyes go wide as he realizes he can't get any air.

She turns to open a locker in the wall: "Emergency Medical Supplies" reads the sign. "You know," she tells the red wolf thrashing and choking on the floor, "there's a certain poetic justice in watching to see if Piers's ghost can actually kill you with your own peripheral nervous system. But I've got things to do right now and can't wait around." She takes an autoinector out of the cabinet. "Vengeance will have to wait. Now hold still, or it'll just hurt worse. On second thought, keep on flailing-- I don't care."

 

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Vignette 31 October (2)

Author's note: same caveats as before.
Using inline spoiler because the hide-spoiler seems broken. Please start this sequene at Post #84 (last post without the spoiler -- click fuzzed-out text to remove inline spoiler) .
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"This is not good. Not good at all," I realize. "Piers," I think to his projection, "stay close to me, and try not to watch what I'm doing. This might only work as long as you believe it does."

"Okay, Roni" he responds. "I'll keep clapping then."

Both packs of clotting powder into the wound, and all six units of universal hemosynth. Not enough, but it'll keep him from bleeding out before the Med Fast Drug can drop him to a minute per hour, subjective. I pull myself into my Blind Center behind all my defenses to do the math. Ok, 168 hours in Jumpspace for an interstellar Jump; divide by ten, seventeen; divide by two, 8 and a half; divide by three, two and a quarter. Two and a quarter hours. Plus the run in from Jump Limit, even with the ship's fast grav drives, another quarter day. Three hours, and he's down a liter of blood and badly wounded. It's not enough. No. I can't let him know -- just have to hope he doesn't figure it out for himself. But they can clone the corpse and maybe we can get his ghost back into the clone.

Maybe. Damn narrow thread to hang Piers' life on, but it's all I have right now.

Piers is pushing at my boundaries. "Roni," he says from within, "If I don't make it, just know I love you."

"I love you too," I answer, then lie, "and we'll get you through this."

He killed Piers; it's just that Piers isn't dead yet. I will have my vengence on him. Him and his Ancients-damned pack leader.

... who is stored in a cryogenic capsule in the cargo bay.

Who is wasting space in the cryogenic capsule in the cargo bay!

I sprint to the cryo-capsule and frantically trigger the revival procedure. Need to get that Vargr out of there, and Piers in before his Med Fast dose kicks in.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Vignette 31 October (3)

Same caveats.
Using inline spoiler because the hide-spoiler seems broken. Please start this sequene at Post #84 (last post without the spoiler -- click fuzzed-out text to remove inline spoiler) .
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"Veronica," Piers thinks slowly at me, "I think I'm losing you. Your mind's too fast." He's in the pod and the cryo-prep seems to be working normally despite the onset of the Medical Fast drug.

"Hang on, just a little longer. We can do this," I reply. But maybe his body will drag his ghost back to it, and it won't work.

"I'm trying, Roni. I'm -- what's this?" And he's gone. I hope the cryo-pod holds his body together long enough...

Wait. That pack leader's going to be waking up soon. Supposed to be an empty shell, but I can't trust that. Put him in handcuffs and Piers's psionic shield helmet because he's Akumgeda and is almost certainly better at psionics than I am.

That could have gone horribly wrong.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Vignette 31 October (4)

Same caveats.
Using inline spoiler because the hide-spoiler seems broken. Please start this sequene at Post #84 (last post without the spoiler -- click fuzzed-out text to remove inline spoiler) .
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Everything's wrong, everything aches.
I can't feel anything outside myself.
Roni's gone.
All I hear is screeching. Vision... vision is a blur of wrong colors.
I smell blood. And gunpowder. And ship's air.
And a pretty girl. Wait, what?

I shake my head to clear my mind -- and my ears flap around.
My arms won't move.

I call out for Roni.
"Awooo!" says my voice.

That's just great -- I'm a werewolf. In handcuffs.




(Ed: Happy Halloween, if just under the wire by minutes in Pacific Time...)

(Ed note: the transfer only worked because both the donor and the target were at the same (slow) subjective metabolic speed at that instant -- Piers slowing down due to MedFast, Bront's empty body speeding up to normal from LowBerth. Also probably wouldn't have worked if the body wasn't vacant. And finally, probably shouldn't have worked cross-species at all, but it does because, you know, werewolf. )

 

[bookwyrm]

That's a great Halloween story. Looking forward to the sequel next year (If there is one).

 

[Grav_Moped]

That's a great Halloween story. Looking forward to the sequel next year (If there is one).

Thank you!

I've hd the idea for a while, and the Halloween-themed bit in the PbB I co-opted from Spinward Scout a few years back (ghost/possession/psionic echoes episode) was well-receuved.

Also, this episode addressed the "fantasy racism" scenario suggestion too, so it's another thing from my writing objectives list.

I'm not one for horror or spooky stuff in general, so it's an exercise in itself.

Now, gotta work up something with a Frankenstein Monster and a Mummy... or, you know, not.

 

[Grav_Moped]

And I did in fact threaten to run my PbP through a Hallmark Christnas Special scenario.

@Spinward Flow would have rage-quit though, and been perfectly justified in doing so.

 

[kilemall]

And I did in fact threaten to run my PbP through a Hallmark Christnas Special scenario.

@Spinward Flow would have rage-quit though, and been perfectly justified in doing so.

Team Killer ref!!!

 

[Grav_Moped]

Team Killer ref!!!

TPC: Total Party Kill Cute*

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*meet cute, that is.

Meet cute - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[bookwyrm]

TPC: Total Party Kill Cute*

‐--------
*meet cute, that is.

Meet cute - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I never knew there was a term for this situation. I am now properly informed and wondering when 'Meet Cute' will stop being an ear worm. Not only that, I have a feeling that Meet Cute will be popping up in my mind while reading & watching shows.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I never knew there was a term for this situation. I am now properly informed and wondering when 'Meet Cute' will stop being an ear worm. Not only that, I have a feeling that Meet Cute will be popping up in my mind while reading & watching shows.

It's a trope. Not all tropes are bad! Just be aware of them so that when you do use them it's to create an intentional effect. Or, as you're saying, so you can pick out the building blocks from which stories are crafted.

 

[Grav_Moped]

THIS VIGNETTE IS A SPOILER for the Halloween Sequence (starts back here at post #84)

Vignette: Validation (1) (Halloween sequence continuation)
Just a total mess here; the usual crisis aftermath.

Piers is in the low passage berth. He's going to make it to Boughene. He has to -- never mind the math, he'll make it.

That d@mned red-pelt killer is on the floor over there, drugged and immobile. My claws curl, I imagine my teeth at his throat and lick my flews -- but vengeance will have to wait, at least for now.

And his pack-leader's vacant body -- assuming it really is empty -- is lying on the deck, handcuffed and psi-shielded. First thing is to get him slowed down too. So, over to the med cabinet, Medical Fast (the slowing one) is right there, but we're running low. I make a note on the resupply list, and set to dosing him up.

He is, as advertised, Akumgeda with black tricolor markings. I'd say he's reasonably good-looking aside from the part where his murderous, exploitative minion almost -- please only almost -- killed Piers and was planning to use me. That's not something one overlooks. A couple of cargo blankets on the deck, slide the body over onto them to prevent sores from lying there for the next week, and...

"Awooo," goes the body. Startled, I jump back.

"Who are you?" I demand. Could have been reflex or instinct -- maybe I won't get an answer. That'd simplify things.

But no.

"Rahhnnyyy... am Peeersh. Mah foiise ihzhhnt wurhking." He's looking inconsistent -- tail's down, but ears are forward.

Ancients -- he's alive, in there! Except he can't be. Even cross-gender personality transfers with the best tech, fail excruciatingly. Cross-species, without equipment!? It's a trick, has to be. I curse. There must be a way to figure this out.

"Ok, Piers -- who's the girl you told me about on the way to the tramway?" There was a window of a couple of minutes between when I shut down the cryo-capsule and when I got that ESP-shield hat of Piers onto the thawing body. Pretty sure I didn't think about her in that timespan so it's a valid check... I hope.

His reply is almost a yawn: "Mayyyhhhzeeee" Masie. Yep, that checks out. But still...

"Up you go," I declare, dragging him to his feet as he yelps -- he's having trouble standing up straight, keeps falling back to his hocks. Right. Humans' hocks are part of their feet, not of their legs. A good sign? "Tiptoes," I suggest. "Walk like a ballerina, right over here."

"Oooh. Petter. Hanks." he says, his steps less unsure now. And we've been speaking Galanglic, for what that's worth. More of these favorable indicators. Can I hope yet?

"One more," I say, throwing one of the cargo blankets over a low crate, then bending him over it. I proceed to do the stereotypical male dominance routine, looking for a reaction -- and I get one. Not outrage, nor resentment, nor even resignation. Just laughter. He thinks it's hilarous, with no body-language to the contrary. There's definitely no Vargr in there!

"Thanks, hon," Piers thinks to me -- still laughing -- as I take the ESP-shield hat off his head. "Could use some help with the handcuffs, too. And… maybe speech therapy?"


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ETA: I think that's it for the edits.