Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Another Galaxy, apart from this, or yours. Ah yes." The patch of space zoomed in to a good enough level for Evelyn to confirm "Yes, this here is the Milky way, The galaxy in which we currently reside. I was actually built in the Altresian Galaxy, which is near the Milky, if Galaxies could be considered near one another." Evelyn had the part return to it's original starry state, and took a few moments to take in Yotruyan's world. It seemed a peaceful place, not unlike the records of Terra, if a bit alien in its designs. "I would like to see a core world. If you would like, I could show you one of our urban centers, as it was before the great betrayal."

******

"Well, thank you" Kai said, grabbing up the napkin and wiping his upper lip, still not noticing the bit on his nose. It happened to be at just the exact spot that he was oblivious to it, no matter how far down he looked. "I'm not bragging, just stating the truth." the Lieutennant chuckled, before hearing garrett's next statement "I've heard he was still in the med bay. apparently this time they were also trying to tighten some of his loose screws, if you know what I mean. Messing with a mind is delicate, unlike replacing limbs and organs."

"Great...Betrayal? I do not know what that is, and would...be happy to know?. On another note, here. I hope fifty years into the past would suffice." His half of the world suddenly shifted to a cubicle filled office. A large, black armored figure even larger than Yotruyan moved with speed, firing a machine pistol at a stark white opponent, winging it to the side. The two then collided, smashed through the window pane, and vanished into the depths below. "Again, that was myself, fighting someone else. Do not mind for now the details of the fight. I recommend you take a look outside. Take caution; it's quite a drop. I remember. And it hurt." Outside was the ruined cityscape of nearly impossible scale. The light gray buildings were tall, and reached past the white clouds above. Past that, the roof could be faintly seen, the bases of the next level's buildings protruded like roots. Down below and through the thin fog, fires could be seen on the obscured streets. The black figure from before kicked the other one onto the back, and brutally brought it's boot down on the white one's head. He then fled into the adjacent building. Yotruyan grabbed some sort of office board from the wall, and started to doodle away. He hummed a funny, chirpy little tune as he did so. "Look here at the drawing please. From the surface of the planet, the largest buildings had their uppermost floors connect together, and eventually blocked out the natural surface. Next, another 'level' was built, and another. The original surface remained intact, and was delivered artificial weather, being put to use as recreational space for the inhabitants of the core worlds." Yotruyan shifted uneasily, and ground the floor a little with a talon on his foot. "This world had around twenty-five trillion people. Only a few million survived. The survivors were sent out as colonists as reparations for the suffering they endured. The journey took a little over fifty years. And when we arrived...we soon met the red ones. It has been one year since. Is this enough? If you say yes, I will tell you where we can meet some more proper authority figures." By now, he seemed genuinely stressed. Why, he did not say, but it was apparent he was starting to pant a little.

Garrett stared into his empty cup, thinking over what Kai had just said. It was true that Jack had bumrushed a room full of armed Drathonians. Then again, Gallagher had never been one to hold back. He couldn't recall a time the man chose to fire from cover instead of take the enemy head-on. For a brief moment, he recalled way back when they'd first met: taking on a hall full of armed Drathonians. It had been the first time Garrett lost a body part: he had lost his left knee in that foray. Flexing it now, he couldn't tell the difference.

"Maybe," Garrett muttered. "But I'm telling you, there will be Hell's Wrath to face if Gallagher isn't still his slightly unstable self."

Nothing. That is it. Nothing. For as far as he could see, Steven could see nothing. No walls, no ceiling, not even a floor. In all directions there was just an endless abyss of churning darkness, and a light haze that clouded Steven's vision. Needless to say, he had no clue where he was. The last thing he could remember was that he sudden felt tired and that Arcadia began escorting him somewhere. Then his memories became muddled, and felt as if he were looking at the world through a drinking straw. He did not know what he was looking at, where he was, or even who he was with anymore.
Then everything went black, and Steven ended up where he is now. His first thought was that the blackness was space, but he could feel something solid beneath his feet when he pushed down. So he was not in space. His next thought was that he had gone blind, but quickly discarded that idea as well as he could clearly see his own body.
When he tried to think more about it, he found it difficult to keep his mind clear enough to think logically. It felt to him almost as if he were heavily sedated, so maybe that could be what was making his mind so muddled and delusional. But he did not feel tired, nor his body sluggish, so it couldn't be sedatives.
Walk. The thought suddenly flashed into his mind and got stuck there. Steven glanced down at his legs and they had begun moving in a direction he couldn't begin to identify. He tried to stop, but when ever he did the same thought got stuck in his mind. Walk. So he was simply along for the ride. He stopped fighting it.
Walk. The silent voice said again.
“I am!” Steven shouted into the darkness.
Stop. The voice said, no longer in silence. It sounded like a hiss.
Steven stopped without question. Behind him he could feel somebody breathing down his neck. Steven tried to look around, but found that he could no longer move. The breath felt warm and clammy.
Anxiety. That is what Steven began to feel. Unable to keep hold of his thoughts, his mind ran wild, making Steven feel scared.
The breathing stopped. Steven was once again alone, and he could once again move on his own. Still scared, the first thought that came to his clouded mind was simple: run. As he turned to leave he came face to face with the voice that was pulling his stings. The face Steven saw was his own.
Frozen on the spot, Steven stared into the empty eyes of his alter. Darkness. The same emptiness that could be seen all around him concentrated into the eyes of the other him.
Die. The hiss said. In the next instant the blank face of Steven's other was no longer recognizable. The skin grew pale and cold, the hands looked like claws, and as the other's hair feel out and all human features erased, it looked more like a lizard than a man. Steven did not know how long he stared into the lifeless eyes, but no sooner had the thing changed it reached out with a grotesque hand and wrapped it around Steven's neck. Effortlessly lifting him off the ground. Steven couldn't breath and struggled to break the hold, but the grip was like iron.
Before he felt he would surely pass out and die he looked once more at his other, but all humanity had since left it. It looked like a husk. It looked like death. Steven's death. As his eyes met the other's, it opened it mouth wide, wider than seemed physically possible, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth and lunged at Steven's face.
Pain. Darkness. Death.
Steven stopped struggling.

To the observers, Steven appeared to be resting peacefully. Gradually he appearance began to change. He started to get a cold sweat on his forehead and his hands became cold and clammy to the touch. His behavior changed as well, going from resting to slight squirms ever now and then, and finally appears to start thrashing about violently until he suddenly stops moving all together.

Evelyn stopped moving altogether, and took a few moments to ponder Yotruyan's simple question. She paused. actually took the time to stand there, and think about it, with as much of her excess processing capability as she could. Was she pretty? She did not know. Certainly she had features which were menat to be attractive, as her body had mostly been designed by a group of men, but.. was she pretty? Was prettiness merely physical? how could it be measured if it was not? The questions were unending, and she pondered them all.

Slowly, she answered the first couple of questions he had asked. "You may have a barrack, here on the station, for now. And of course we shall give you food, as long as you are not allergic." her mind continued to ponder, and she thought of her own question for the Ottyo soldier before her.

"Do you know what it's like to be alone, in a sea of people?"

******

Soon after they started working on Steven, a few more nurses arrived, holding unassembled medical bands and looking concerned. they confronted the group of pilots, and looked at them with melancholy eyes. "We're sorry, but this is the 100'th case of what we're calling 'Lizard flu' for lack of a proper term. It is contagious, so we're going to have to quarantine you guys, and make sure you aren't infected." the nurses started attaching bands and inputting the names and the reason, and then lead the pilots into another room, wheeling Steven along behind them. One of the nurses quipped "At least you get to stay with him." hoping it would help.

******


"Hey, we're fine, why would we need- oh." Emma started, before the nurse explained the disease was contaigous. She looked around nervously, not for herself, but for the large room full of already ill people who had just possibly been exposed to this 'lizard flu' or whatever it was. "Umm, Arcadia, is Steven gonna be allright?"

******

"I'm sure there's more to a person than chemicals. I doubt anything short of giving Jack a new brain will change him that drastically." Kai said, taking a sip of his Cocoa. "Besides, maybe he'll be stable enough to actually live a while without needing full body reconstructive surgery, I'm sure the UTR is tired of paying for that, heh." the blond chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"I hope we can both fit in, soon." Evelyn stated simply, before disappearing in a stram of data, along with the images in the room. It all turned back to white, then a stream of data informed the Ottyo that the data packet would close and he would be subjected to the entire system soon. It suggested he disconnect, or suffer the consequences of a direct nueral link being utterly flooded.

“Well, it could be worse. I mean, at least we aren't at the stage where we konk out like the Captain,” Fred said casually as he grabbed a seat as well, then leaned over and put his hand on Steven's shoulder. ”Stevie boy, I know we have been friends for a long time now, but that doesn't mean that you have to share everything with me.” He then relaxed back in his seat with some light laughter, and settled in for a long wait. ”And sure, I would be more than happy to buddy up with the young lass while you go ahead and get chummy with the Captain.” Fred said with his own bit of sarcasm, ”How is your relationship with the Capt'n anyway? You two seem to have hit it off well.”

Fred chuckled at the response. "Now, now. No need to get defensive, I am trying to pass some time by making conversation." Fred said as he put his hand behind his head, "And now that we have covered that you two are just friends, that means you are fair game for me. That, or as you suggested I can get friendly with Emma." He gave another round of laughter.