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| - The deck of this expansive hangar bay, a chamber of complex gridworks and suspended arcs of thick black cable and rigid gray life support conduits, is emblazoned with the painted image of a scaly serpent twined around and around the oval form of a silver egg. A 30-foot-long eggshell white linen banner is stretched along the bulkhead above the hatch that leads into the next segment of the Orphic. The banner is imprinted with block letters that spell out: Penumbra's Roaming Cavalcade of Mysteries. In smaller lettering, beneath the main title, are green block letters that read: Interstellar Oddities and Wide-ranging Amusements to Raise the Spirits and Pique the Curiosity. A bright orange RNS launch is in the landing bay, its airlock already open. Near it stands a figure in an orange PHS biosuit carrying an SBS holocamera. Boomer stands outside, faceplate of his biosuit up, drinking from a silver flask. Raisa makes her way down from the Athena, garbed in her biosuit, grumbling as she goes. "I still don't think this is wise, Minister," she protests as she joins Cruyer. Cruyer strides out from the Athena, wearing his ministerial biosuit, and stares at Boomer for a moment before he swallows and says, "Changed your mind, Mr. Boomer?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "If so, please try to keep the profanity to a minimum and keep quiet." Renkek Kashaan comes down the ramp of the Athena in a biosuit as well. He follows quietly along perhaps thinking of many things at the moment. Boomer throws a thumb up in Cruyer's direction, taking another draft from his flask, before sealing the container. "I joined for her mostly." He jerks the aforementioned thumb toward Raisa, throws his faceplate down, and turns to enter the RNS Launch. "I'd be just as happy if you gagged him, Minister," Raisa breathes out to her employer, passing a dark look in Boomer's direction. "Or I'll do it for you." As he makes a gesture in her direction, she shudders. "Ugh." Cruyer looks over his shoulder at Raisa, one eyebrow raised. His expression is faintly amused but he makes no comment. Instead he says, "Let's go." And with that, he too boards the launch. Renkek Kashaan nods and heads towards and boards the launch as well. "It's the Wolfsbane..." Raisa murmurs to herself, eyes flickering over the familiar ship. "Damn it. Of course she'd be here..." She grumbles and picks up the pace to follow after Cruyer. "This all we have going down?" she inquires. Set atop a high, cleared plateau in the heart of the forested New Berlin Valley, the Waldheim Aerospace Center is a glittering tribute to modern science. A complex of chrome, concrete, and glascrete buildings surrounds a large, scorched landing pad here. Many of the buildings bear the names of famous scientists or past donors to a wide variety of scientific programmes; indeed, the majority of scientific research on Waldheim is conducted at this facility. Within its halls, scientists study everything from evolutionary biology to astrophysics to pure abstract mathematics - if they can find the funding. At present the landing pad also plays host to a prefabricated building which houses the planetary forces of Sivad's Royal Naval Service. Taking up one entire corner of the landing pad, it is surrounded by a line of sandbags and is guarded by specialist Royal Marines, some of whom are equipped with heavy weapons. In front of the building, on a high white flagpoll, the blue Sivadian flag flutters proudly. An RNS launch lands from on high and the airlock opens. Boomer steps out of the RNS Launch, visor turning to study his surrondings, fist clenching at his side. A number of Marines in navy blue biosuits dot the landing pad, as do orange biosuited PHS officers going about their business: loading and unloading medical supplies, checking containment systems outside the PHS's makeshift headquarters, or walking out toward the spaceport. All in all, the landing pad seems quiet -- if there are any transformed Waldheimers about, they are not immediately visible. Raisa steps out after Boomer, frowning slightly. "Happy now, Minister?" she asks, glancing over her shoulder to locate Cruyer. "See, everything is under control. We have no reason to remain. Our course should be for Sivad." Cruyer takes a step out of the launch and just scans the landing pad for a long moment. He places his gloved hands on his hips. Then he shakes his head in Raisa's direction. "No, Ms. Amondella. I want to see one of the internment camps," he says firmly. The SBS videographer squeezes past the people gathered at the airlock to get shots of them. "If you want to see the internment camp, then let's take a look at them already." Boomer saids, shrugging his shoulders. "Ask one of the marines for an escort or something." Marlan doesn't appear particularly pleased to be here, she follows alongside Cruyer none the less, "You know what we're going to find here?" she asks, "A hoopin bunch of slugs that're going to remain that way unless we can reverse this. Thats all." A Waldheimer official, wearing a bright green atmosphere suit, walks toward Cruyer and his team. "Ah, we weren't expecting a visit from the minister. How may we be of assistance?" Raisa presses her lips together, but nods her head, "Very well. I suggest proceeding with caution, Minister. I don't care how well the PHS and RNS have this under control." She just gives Boomer a dark look, and then nods in agreement with Marlan. "I agree, Captain." "Calm yourself, Captain," says Cruyer calmly back to Marlan. "We'll have you back to work in no time." He steps toward the Waldheimer official. "I'm sorry, in our haste we must failed to make the proper notifications. I am Geoffrey Cruyer, this is Raisa Amondella, my Chief of Staff, Captain Marlan Ranix, PHS, and... Mr. Boomer. Uhh... undersecretary," he improvises. Boomer shrugs, as if it all doesn't matter. Raisa's look, Marlan's words, or Cruyer's response to the Waldheimer Official, and the title he recieved. "Let's get this the fuck over with, please." "Welcome," the Waldheimer man says with a tight smile. "I am Information Minister Yakob Straub. As I am sure you must understand, our citizens afflicted with this malady are kept in privacy." His gaze shifts toward the SBS videographer. "We do not wish for them to be shown off like freaks in that lunatic's orbital sideshow." Marlan shakes her large helmeted head, moving a small distance from the group, taking in the surroundings while Cruyer handles nicties. Cruyer considers this for a moment, then nods slowly, his expression grave. He turns toward the SBS videographer. "No pictures, please. You may accompany us but I would like you to leave your camera behind," he instructs. "You will have to capture the situation here in words." He turns back toward the information minister. "Minister, I would like to see one of the internment camps," he says. Raisa stands quietly next to Cruyer, shifting back and forth on her feet, looking around the landing pad, lips pressed together. "Of course," Straub replies, bowing slightly. "We will put your team aboard a hoverbus and transport you at once to Camp Spectrum. It is not far from here." He activates the link in his helmet and says, "Transportation Center, please send a bus to the main spaceport terminal to pick up Minister Cruyer's team and me for a trip to Camp Spectrum." Boomer is quiet, waiting for the bus to arrive. "Thank you, Minister," says Cruyer with an appropriately saddened tone to his voice. "I fear we may be only hours away from having to implement similar facilities on the homeworld." "It'll be weeks." Marlan replies without turning to actually look at the others, "Atleast two before they begin transformin." "How many camps are there on Waldheim at the moment?" Raisa asks quietly, her hands held together in front of her body. "And about how many people are in each camp?" "Actually," the information minister replies to Marlan, "the rapidity of transformation varies. Children seem most vulnerable. It can happen in just a matter of days to a child. And although the transformation is generally non-life-threatening, it seems to be fatal in those who suffer from genetically transmitted ailments and disorders." About this time, the hoverbus whirs to a stop in front of the spaceport and the doors hiss open. Straub looks toward Raisa. "We have established more than a dozen camps. Each camp has housed as many as 5,000 people. In this way, we have effectively limited the spread of the contagion to millions of others." Boomer steps past the information minister, heading toward the hoverbus, waddling with a purpose. Marlan turns now, attention focusing on the information minister, "It took two weeks for the first reports of transformations on Walhdeim." she says. Cruyer nods to Straub as he boards the hoverbus. "Part of the reason why I am here is to see how the disease has been contained," he says. The SBS reporter follows after putting his holocamera back on the launch. "I see..." Raisa replies, rubbing at her chin lightly. Seh starts to follow Cruyer towards the bus, "How are those in camps adjusting to it?" she inquires. "Not counting the tabloid report of the slug baby, which hit airwaves within days of the outbreak's confirmation," Straub says. "Patently false, by the way." He waits for the others to board the bus, then follows and says to Cruyer, "Camp Spectrum is a shining example of the camp experience. The denizens would, of course, prefer to be anywhere else. But it is for the best and we think they understand this." "How contained is the virus? Are all infected patients in the camps or have there been uncontained outbreaks?" asks the Sivadian minister on board the hoverbus. The bus whirs away from the curb at the spaceport as Straub smiles through his suit mask at Cruyer. "The virus is effectively contained, certainly beyond the apparent infectious period. We have discovered some isolated situations where infected people holed themselves up in their homes and underwent the transformation." His smile fades. "Some ... chose not to wait for it, sadly." Boomer stares out the window, subdue, only half listening to Straub. Marlan shakes her head but remains silent, gaze fixed outside the window. "We'll have a cure within days...then we'll focus on reversing the process." Raisa rests a hand on the top of her head, as if trying to rub at her hair, but not quite making it. "This is a difficult time, to be sure," she says quietly. "With luck, the next time we return, we will return with a cure." She pauses for a moment before looking at Marlan, "Will the cure you find reverse it? Or must another 'cure' be found for that?" Cruyer is touched, in a way, by the story of the patients who chose not to wait. "I hope so, Captain. The effects of this epidemic are nothing short of horrifying," he replies quietly. "Yes," Straub replies to Cruyer. "Quite." Moments later, the hoverbus is making a left turn onto a side road leading off the main grid outside the city of New Berlin. It approaches the guarded gates of Camp Spectrum, a sprawling enclave of wooden structures and tents contained within a perimeter of barbed wire-topped chain link fence. Amid the cluster of Camp Spectrum, a mat had been placed on the floor. On it is a collection of electronic parts like a minature junk pile, all centering around Dement. His backpack, usually holding the display of technology inside the silver zipper, lay to one side. The elder teen seems content with just playing about with his gadgets, ignoring the rest of the world. The panic. He let himself turn inward. At the moment, he has a small piece of solder, attaching a wire to a purple circuit. Marlan turns to look at their 'tour guide, "What kind of medical accomodations are in place here?" Cruyer doesn't say anything -- he merely rises a bit above his seat to get a good look at the camp through the front window. He shakes his head sadly. "Is barbed wire needed in a place like this?" Raisa inquires. "How many escape attempts do you have here usually?" she asks, frown appearing on her lips. Boomer remains sitting, visor still focused out the window. Guards swing open the gates to allow the hoverbus to whir through into the confines of Camp Spectrum. Straub looks toward Marlan and says, "We provide the best medical care possible for the plague victims. However, once they have transformed, it becomes more a matter of nutrition management. They become rather ravenous for all manner of bugs, insects and worms. Really, anything wriggly they can get their grip on. Of course, for some, the transformation is too traumatizing. They see themselves in a mirror ... or the reaction of an uninfected visitor to their fate ... and then they try to take their own lives. At that point, we are often required to restrain and sedate them." Marlan shakes her head and snorts, "We're wasting time here, Minister." rather derisively, turning to take a look at Cruyer. Cruyer continues to stare at the camp, as if watching it carefully might reveal the cure for the virus. He shakes his head very slowly. "No..." he says quietly. "No, we aren't." Renkek Kashaan blinks as he looks out the window through his suit and listens to what is said. He does nothing more hore however. The engineer continues to play with his toys. He pulls out a square battery, putting it on the soft cloth in front of him before scratching a chin. Dement leans back and scratches the indie of his thigh before taking a moment to give an almighty stretch. A yawn. Back to tinkering. Soon enough, the hoverbus has reached the center of the camp. It hisses to a stop and the driver pushes a lever that opens the doors. Straub gestures to the steps leading off the bus. "After you." Amanda nods and turns to Marlan "was there any precendent with the other strains for turning a thuloid creature back to his pre-thul state or are we looking at a real possibility that nothing can be done for these folks. She blinks "we're getting out. Haven't we seen enough misery? Raisa presses her lips together, but rises to her feet as the doors open. "I don't suggest staying here for too long, Minister," she says firmly. "There is only so much you'll be able to do for them." Cruyer nods faintly in Raisa's direction as he disembarks from the bus. Once outside he takes a few steps forward to allow others off, then surveys the interior of the camp. Marlan rises slowly, making her way to the exit, stepping down from the hovercab, "They never actually turned into thull." Marlan replies, "And we should of stayed on board the ship working instead of coming here to play politics." Straub gets off after Cruyer, glancing toward the guards flanking one of the main barracks structures. Through the slit windows of the barracks peer the glittering amber eyes of Thullified humans, their faces now broad domes of grayish-brown flesh, oozing with slime. They look like people made from taffy, stretched, and then wrapped around boulders. "Minister," Straub says, turning toward Cruyer. "Perhaps you would prefer to meet with the untransformed victims?" Cruyer turns around as Marlan makes her snide remark about politics. "Let me ask you something, Captain," he says intensely, yet quietly enough not to let his voice carry too far. "When you're treating a patient, do you want him resigned to his fate or do you want him to have a fighting spirit? Do you want hope or hopelessness? At a time like this, politics isn't just a game." To Straub he says, "I want to speak to these people first." Straub nods. "As you wish, Minister." He waves to the guards, who open the doors to the barracks so that Cruyer and his team may enter. Straub follows behind them. Raisa steps forward, tugging at Cruyer's arm. "Now's the not the place to get into a debate with someone, Minister," she notes. "Come on, let's get this over with as quickly as possible." Dement looks up, amber eyes running across to the newcomers. "More infected.." the words come out of his mouth in dismissal before he looks back down to his work. After a moment, he frowns and looks up again, "Wearing containment suits?" Marlan shifts her gaze to Amanda then back over at Cruyer, "All the hope in the world wont get them cured." she replies, stepping after Straub. Amanda sighs "God help me I don't think I can do this. Apparently a vague sense of dread and slowly worry myself sick over my parents and lttle girl weren't enough for my colleague. I have to have very real images for my nightmares. Instead of comforting her right now. I'm here with no real hope to give them Renkek Kashaan nods in agreement with Marlan "Only when the cure's found and administered will it help them, besides at the moment they likely don't care what's said anyway till there's news of the cure of course." "We'll have a cure before your daughter transforms Ambassador." Marlan replies, voice steady, "Just do me a favor and try to keep your emotions under control, da. For all of our sakes." Cruyer's eyes drift over the transformed ATRV patients. He swallows once, then again, harder. They aren't easy to look at. Then he says, with a voice that is at first a little thin, but with growing strength, "My name is Geoffrey Cruyer. I am His Majesty's Minister for Health. For the past two weeks, I have been in orbit with the Public Health Service. We have been working on a cure. I am here because I know that many of you have given up hope. You must not." He begins to walk slowly among the patients. "When this crisis began, I assured you all that no one will abandon you. We will not allow that to happen. But the homeworld has now been hit by the same virus that afflicts you, and we may soon have to redeploy some of our officers on Waldheim to Sivad to help contain the virus there." He pauses. "Captain Ranix has told me that we may be mere days away from a cure, but there are no guarantees. Here is one guarantee that, on behalf of Sivad, I can make." He pauses again and takes a deep breath, then with one motion rips off the headgear of his biosuit. He breathes deeply for a few moments, then smiles faintly. "We're in this together. For the past two weeks, all sentient beings in the galaxy have been citizens of Waldheim. We are an interstellar family, and when we triumph over this disease -- as inevitably we will -- we will triumph together. And until that day, I will stay here with you. Your courage in the face of this illness has inspired the galaxy, and with the virus now on the homeworld it is to your example that all Sivadians look." "Well said, Minister," Straub says, but the ATRV victims seem less than moved. They regard the untransformed visitors in their safe suits with oozing disdain. One quickly darts a fingentacled hand to snatch a cockroach off the floor of the barracks, shoving it into the slit of a mouth that divides their broad face. Another just stares balefully at Cruyer and says, "Thish only camp you sheen, eh, Ssshivadian?" Marlan growls, "MINISTER!" tone a mix of surprise and anger, "HOOP iT! Raisa remains silent as she watches Cruyer, gaze turning towards Marlan as she has an outbreak. Lips press together as she continues to watch on silently. Dement sits back down, a morbid look darkening his features when the visitors dissapear from view, "Coming here.. was the stupidest thing I've ever done.." he blurts out loud, "Which means a lot.. I live with Tres.." a dry giggle, Dement jerks his head to one side before taking a deep shuddering breath in. Amanda blinks and starts backing up slowly much like a cornered animal eyes darting back toward toward the bus "Can you sedate him?" she asks Marlan "More like knock some hoopin sense into him." Marlan growls, stepping towards him, "What the hoop you do that for Minister?" It takes a few moments for it to actually register, but once it does, Raisa stares at Cruyer. "You're an idiot. If I'd known that this is what you'd planned, I would have tied you to a chair until a cure was found," she all but shouts at her employer. "Completely idiotic!" Cruyer turns to face the rest of his party. He'll have plenty of time to talk to the Waldheimers later. "It doesn't matter, Minister. Even if she did I would have to stay here." He is outwardly calm, although empaths would be able to tell that his heart is pounding. "It was my duty. I told you that in situations like this politics is no game. I've spent long enough watching you work. It was time for me to make my contribution to our efforts -- the only contribution I could make, and the contribution that could be made only by me. Hopefully I will be able to give these people some hope... some faith. And, Captain, the day may be near when Sivadians are forced into internment camps much like this one. If that happens, I want them to enter as an act of patriotism rather than as an act of defeat." He smiles -- but the smile belies his actual fear. "I have every confidence in you, Captain. Get your ship to Sivad and cure this plague." "I'm afraid that won't be possible," Straub says as he steps out to join about a dozen guards armed with rifles. Two of the guards swing the doors shut and start closing a brace into position to seal the visitors inside with the Thullified victims. Marlan turns to face the door, "What the hoop is this about?" she yells, taking a step towards the door and pounding on it for a second, "HE compromised his bio-suit. That has no affect on the rest of us. Hoopin nonsense!" "Ish not about Ssshivadian'sssh ssshuit," the Thullified human who spoke earlier says to Marlan. "Ish about what I shaid. About other campsssh." The creature turns its baleful gaze to stare out at the assembled guards. "The other campsssh are empty now. They killed them all. Oursssh isssh the lasssht. For now." Straub can be seen speaking quietly to one of the guards. "Not much longer, methinksssh." Renkek Kashaan blinks at what is said and sighs briefly as he looks around the room a bit quickly as well. Though in a few seconds he stops and shrugs remaining quiet. Dement looks up again, the doors had shut, with the people inside. "You think... They're working on a cure?" he asks himself. "Maybe. Maybe someone might have made some progress." a look of hope graces Dements features, his pupils haze for a moment and he looks down at the equipment.
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