[Video]

[knightoflight]

[It's a slightly harried looking Wing who appears on the communicator. He doesn't look injured, just...stressed out, his gold optics dim and tarnished-looking.]

H-has anyone else seen Dr. Liara T'Soni?  I mean recently?  I swore I saw her. But...[He looks around, almost on edge, and the camera moves to show that Wing's in a dead-end corridor. He's chased what he thought was her--and was definitely something--down here.] But, well, you can see. 

If she's here, she

[....and then he goes blank for six or seven long seconds, almost like he's been shut off, but then he starts speaking, continuing the sentence as if nothing had happened.]

needs our help.

Comments

[Video]

[professorwolf]

Wing, are you all right?

[Lyall is concerned, but curious. The ship is where Doctor T'soni's scent trail ended....]

Where on the ship are you?

[Video]

[knightoflight]

I'm fine. [He has no idea there was anything odd about the broadcast.]
I'm worried about Dr T'Soni.

Down by engineering, I think.

[Video]

[professorwolf]

Try to backtrack a little to the nearest main junction, so that I can find you. I can come meet you and see if I can pick up her scent. If she was there, I should be able to smell it.

[And he might be able to smell if something is off with the giant robot, as well.]

[Video]

[knightoflight]

I'd appreciate it. [He starts moving back down the corridor.] I know I saw her.

[He doesn't sound like he's entirely convinced.]

[Video] => [Action!]

[professorwolf]

I'm certain you did. I will be there shortly.

[And he disconnects then, with a brief view of him reaching for his hat. He takes a good ten minutes to get there, since the sun being up makes it impossible to shapechange, but he jogs it, anyway. It isn't as if he gets tired from a simple jog.

Then he's following Wing-scent through the ship, looking for the robot-fellow.]

Wing?

[Action!]

[knightoflight]

[The other's ability is uncanny, Wing thinks.]

Professor. I'm here. Do we want to start at the end, or where I first saw her?

[professorwolf]

[Comes from having a very good nose, that's all. Lyall turns the final corridor towards Wing, and lifts a hand in a brief wave.]

Anywhere that you are certain she passed through will do. Is this a place you saw her?

[knightoflight]

[Wing gives a friendly nod in return before he backtracks to the intersection.]

I was here...and I saw her here, moving that way. [He points, and then steps back, out of the way.]

[professorwolf]

[Lyall nods, then looks around, inhaling to test the air. There's nothing... nothing that he remembers of Liara's distinctive scent.]

Moving that way?

[He motions questioningly, then starts towards where Wing indicated, though his expression isn't particularly hopeful.]

[knightoflight]

Yes. That way.

[He watches, puzzled.]

Nothing?

[professorwolf]

Not yet, no.

[Lyall pads quietly down the hall in the direction Wing indicated, but no scents are forthcoming. He sighs, stopping at the next corridor junction, and offers the only explanation he can think of.]

Perhaps she is a ghost of some sort. They do not have much of a scent to them.

[knightoflight]

Ghost. But that would mean she's...dead?

[Has anyone checked her pod? He should find out.]

Do they have some scent, that you could tell if it were a ghost or...well, a glitch in my systems?

[professorwolf]

Ghosts on my world have no real scent, no, though they are tethered to their preserved body within a certain radious, and that is trackable.

[Lyall looks down each corridor, a bit sadly.]

But seeing as Doctor T'soni's body vanished as surely as the rest of her, when she first disappeared, I have little hope of finding that without much more exploration than I really have time for. And possibly not even then.

[knightoflight]

If that second part applied here, how big is that distance? We could maybe try to triangulate something?

[He's fascinated, as much as working on finding Dr T'Soni.]


I, I admit I don't recall her passing. I was too caught up in other matters. [He sounds more than a little embarrassed.]

[professorwolf]

I imagine many people missed it. It was not remarked upon by many, to be honest. She was simply here, and suddenly... was not. She was on the ship, and then her scent trail vanished. Major Alenko found her communicator, or we might not know anything had happened to her, at all.

[He turns his attention more fully to Wing, considering the idea of triangulation.]

The only problem with that theory is the immense size of the ship. Her body is nowhere near where her scent vanished, or I would have been able to find it.

[He had, after all, looked quite thoroughly. The arasi was a good friend.]

[knightoflight]

That is a shame. Every loss should be mourned.

[Every loss. And there have been so many.]

Ah. Well, it was a theory. Grasping at hope, I think. [A bit of a shy laugh. He trusts the other at his word: if anyone could have found her scent, it was Lyall.]

[professorwolf]

[Lyall pads back to Wing's side to pat... well, his hip. Or thigh. Whatever he can easily reach.]

It is still a theory. With more time, I may even see to its efficacy. I owe Mister Stark some time here in a couple days, anyhow, so I may have that time sooner or later.

[knightoflight]

[Wing looks a little flustered, then pleased, at the contact--mostly the consideration behind it. He gives a nod of thanks.]

More data will provide some answers, even if not the ones we might want.

Can I ask what will bring you back to the ship?

[professorwolf]

[And really, Lyall isn't usually the most physically affectionate person, unless certain barriers have already been overcome or unless you're pack. But between the utter alien nature of Wing's appearance, and his rather childlike persona, Lyall is remarkably comfortable with touching him, particularly to comfort.]

Oh, they are excavating the lower parts of the ship, apparently. They want people who can make do without breathing for a spell, to help with the efforts. As I require far less air than a mortal would, I am a good choice for such things.