Lunar Conspiracy

Choices, choices

Alex woke each up in turn, until all of Tava's crew was standing in the corridor unharmed and none the worse for wear.  They were not unanimously happy, however.  Yggdrasil was best off, scraping blue goop off himself best he could as he regarded the tubes, enthusing over the advanced technology and theorizing about how they could be used for health and medicinal purposes.

Kit might have been funny if he wasn't so mad.  The goop flattened his fur, reducing his size by almost half and making him resemble a large drowned rat.  He angrily attempted to clean as much of the gunk off while cursing harshly at Alex in several different languages.

Kartk stewed quietly, spitting a big glob of blue out of his mouth before growling about wanting his weapons back.  Alex gave him a long considering look, perhaps wondering about the wisdom of arming the irritated man, but eventually pointed to a small locker to one side of the tube.  Kartk jerked the locker open and yanked his rifle and sword out, refusing to look at anyone.

Jornea appeared to be the worst off.  She trembled, more quiet and withdrawn than Tava had ever seen her.  It looked like she was still shaking off the effects of her panic attack in the tube, despite having been put into a comatose state between then and being released.

Once everyone was out, Alex led them down corridors, up several floors in a lift, through more halls, and finally into a large locker room of sorts with showerheads along one wall.  The four happily cleaned off the blue goop and began asking questions once they had begun to feel more themselves.

Yggdrasil vigorously scrubbed his tangled black hair while shooting Alex a curious look.  "Might I ask for what purpose we were relocated onto your vessel?"

Alex quietly explained again, about collecting up mating pairs of as many species as possible for repopulation.

"Having the species to begin again is all well and good, but how did you expect to provide planets for these growing populations?"

"A detailed summary of the species native planet is logged along with the specimens.  I can even manipulate certain strands of genetic materials to recreate many of the plants and animals native to that planet.  I simply have to find a planet with a matching or similar topographical make-up."

Kartk growled, tugging his shirt over his head to wring some more goop out.  "It didn't occur to you to ask us if we even wanted to be a part of your little project?"

Alex merely shook their head, elongated skull slowly waving back and forth.  "It seemed like an unneeded step."

"Unneeded step?!  We've got lives to live you overgrown pile of bones!"  Kit snarled, lips pulled back over his teeth as he tried to get his fur rinsed clean.  "We're not some toys to be played with while you play almighty spirit!  How dare you steal our free will from us!"

"Your free will means very little in the grand scheme.  If the entire universe is dead, how many choices do you suppose you have?"

"Doesn't matter!  I'll make the one I want and live the way I like!  Go find someone else to study in your petri dish!"

Yggdrasil stepped out from under the spray of water and moved over to a warm air vent to dry off.  "The universe is vast.  How do you expect to obtain one of every species?  At all, much less by war's end."

"I have been working on this project for some time already.  I could see the war coming at its very earliest conception, and planned accordingly.  There are, of course, some species that I will be unable to obtain.  But hopefully those creatures that are hidden well enough away from me will also manage to escape notice in the war.  Others would do well to make use of my abilities, or else face extinction."

Alex turned dark sockets on Jornea, prompting everyone else to glance her way as well.  Most turned away again just as quickly.  She had stripped bare to wash but had gotten distracted part way through.  Her palms pressed against the wall and her head was bowed under the spray of water, still shivering and trying to cope.  Quorra slithered over and turned his back, lifting a wing to hide most of her body.

Tava bit her lip, worried.  Jornea hadn't had a reaction this bad when they had been locked in a cell.  Perhaps it was being alone and the sensation of possible drowning that had made it worse.  She hesitantly called to her pilot.  "Jornea?  You alright?"

Jornea took in a shuddering breath and lifted her head, turning a weary look over one shoulder.  Finally, with a slow nod, she bent to pick up her clothes and redress.

"Jornea, Alex has a request."

She turned her dark eyes on the skeletal being.  Alex quietly spoke in a soothing tone.

"Your species is a rarity.  Like mine.  I believe your species can be saved, but it is imperative that you stay with me.  With your help, I can save your entire race from disappearing from the universe."

Kit bounded out of the spray, shaking water out of his fur as he snarled.  "So she can be your personal lab rat?!  No way!"

Alex ignored the Kitsune, empty sockets still fixed on Jornea.  She blinked back, looking out of it enough that Tava wondered if anything was actually getting in and sticking in her brain.  Jornea's gaze slowly dropped down to her shirt, wringing water out of it.  "You know what I am?"

Alex nodded.

"If I stay with you, there will be more like me?"  She glanced at Alex over Quorra's wing, eyeing the affirmative nod before tugging her shirt back over her head.  "If I go, there may never be another like me for the rest of eternity."

It hadn't been phrased as a question, but Alex nodded again anyways.  Tava bit her lip, waiting for Jornea to decide.  She had gone still again, staring into space in something that was more lost than contemplating.  After a long moment, she slipped around Quorra, her pants held loosely in her hand and dragging across the floor as she stepped towards the dryer.

"You can have samples of my DNA, but I belong on Athena."

~ ~ ~

Tava leaned against the wall, waiting outside the lab as Alex took samples from Jornea.  Kit had gone in 'for protection', he'd said, and Yggdrasil had followed to lend medical assistance.  Quorra and Kartk had elected to wait outside and out of the way with Tava.

"It must have been a hard decision.  I don't know that I would have been able to make a choice like that."

Tava glanced up at Quorra, managing a half smile.  "She's a stronger woman than she lets on.  I certainly don't envy her or her position."

"She can just come back later, after the war.  The bone person can work their science then, right?"

Tava turned to Kartk, her smile fading again.  She shrugged, not wanting to speak the pessimistic problems with that idea.  Quorra, evidently, didn't have that problem.

"This is assuming we could even find this ship again.  That she makes it through the war in a condition that would allow her to procreate.  Not to mention, she may run into the same problem Alex is having.  Many species are unable to interbreed and produce viable offspring."  Quorra's wings rustled when Kartk started looking lost.  "Tava and I would be unable to have children.  Same with Yggdrasil.  But it might be possible for you and Jornea to have children."

Kartk's ears turned a little pink and he started to protest.  Tava quieted him when she chuckled.  "It's just an example, Kartk."  She sighed, shaking her head.  "As long as Jornea is happy with her decision, I am too.  And I'm very glad I don't have to hire on another pilot."