[Video, Monday Evening, Week 14] CMO's Log: Entry One

[damn_it_jim]

[It's shortly after Nem's message goes out that a new face appears on the network. Bones had awoken from his pod a couple hours previously, but had spent the time finding his pants and prowling around with a suspicious glower, trying to get his bearings and trying to place just what the hell sort of alien storage facility he's found himself shunted to.]

I don't know where the hell I am, or who the hell you people are, but if you need shelter or you need medical help, then I'm inside some sort of stasis facility and the walls here look good and thick.

The name's McCoy. Dr. Leonard McCoy.

Comments

[prime_logic]

[Inside, Spock wants to jump for joy at the sound of his friend's voice. On the outside, however, he remains as stoic as possible, although someone familiar enough with the Vulcan would hear the smile in his voice.]

Doctor. It is quite agreeable to hear your voice.

[video]

[knightoflight]

[Back from the mountains, Wing has been rummaging for things for the new dwelling. He's not far from the ship, but not right outside as usual. Still, he thinks it's his duty to greet new arrivals.]

If you need help getting to someone, or bringing them to the ship, I can help.

[damn_it_jim]

[It may not be this particular Spock that Bones is familiar with, but it will do well enough.]

Spock? If you're here, then Jim's either not far away, or you've stranded him on an ice ball again. What's all this business about wars and fogs, and how is he mixed up in it?

[Base slander: among friends it means 'I care'.]

[damn_it_jim]

Well.

[Yep, that sure is a talking robot. Bones squints at Wing with scientific curiosity and the background levels of suspicion that mean he's awake and breathing.]

I won't say no to someone capable of making themselves useful, but not to put too fine a point on it... what the hell are you?

[Video]

[weapabilities]

Wow... you're pretty quick on the uptake.

Need anything? I mean, anything within reason? Transport? Supplies?

[Look at him, he tries to help, don't mind him.]

[knightoflight]

[In other words...the usual greeting Wing gets.]

I can fly. Is that useful enough?

[He laughs.] Cybertronian. And you're from Earth. [See? He knows things!]

[prime_logic]

[Spock is unclear on the "ice ball" reference but he lets it go, assuming that his time in the pods has slightly messed with McCoy's memory]

It is... difficult to explain in this sort of conversation. For now, however, it would appear best if we stay where we are. Currently, I am in the town, and once the weather lifts, I shall head to your location.

Jim... the Captain is here, but he has joined a search party of some sort and has not returned yet, to my knowledge. He is, however, quite capable of taking care of himself, and I am sure he is well. I trust you are as well? You have not completely destroyed the medical facilities yet?

[Spock can give as good as he gets.]

[Voice]

[relicrebellion]

You are inside a crashed ship on a human colony world called Verdana. There is a settlement to the south-east, once the fog has lifted enough to allow travel.

[damn_it_jim]

[The snort this question gets is pitch-perfect Bones, so apparently the pods haven't affected his personality, at least.]

I don't destroy sickbays, I improve them.

Yet to find any here, though, just a lot of stasis tubes, and a lot of them with tenants. Are we dealing with kidnappers, here? They're not very intelligent ones if so -- I've got nothing left worth paying as a ransom.

[damn_it_jim]

I see.

[He doesn't.]

And just what do Cybertronians want with Earth, then?

Re: [Video]

[damn_it_jim]

Oh hell, there's more of you.

[Hi, Drift. Don't mind the doctor, he'll get over the feeling of being surrounded by robots eventually.]

Transport to where, and supplies for what? All I know about the situation is what I've said, so some useful information would be appreciated.

[Voice]

[damn_it_jim]

I wasn't aware we had any human colonies named that, but thank you for that information.

[Bones' tone is that of someone who'd really likelike to remain irritable, as a means of coping with an unfamiliar situation, but is grudgingly admitting that he's just gotten something worthy of gratitude.]

Can you tell me anything about this fog? Or this war responsible for it? Has anyone bothered to study it?

[knightoflight]

I could take you flying sometime? Tolansky seems to enjoy it immensely.

[Kaidan had not enjoyed it, but perhaps those were the circumstances they were under.]

[He blinks, startled. ] N-nothing! I've never been. My kind--the Circle--all we want is peace.

[Video]

[weapabilities]

I see you must have met Wing, then.

[He rubs the side of his helm, wincing.]

Well if you wanted to go to into the old city... I-

Ah. Useful information, right. We're all kind of in the same situation here. Apparently most of us have been asleep on that ship for quite some time.

[prime_logic]

It does seem to be kidnapping, of a sort. However, I do not believe their intentions are hostile. The people who have brought us here appear to be in need of assistance.

[Spock raises an eyebrow as the something "different" about his friend finally clicks.]

Doctor, what is that you are wearing?

[That uniform does not look like the Starfleet standard.]

[damn_it_jim]

Not surprising. If they've been fighting the kind of wars that leave behind chemical or biological or whatever kind of weapon's in that fog, they'll need all the help they can get.

[His tone suggests 'psychological' might be one form of that help, but his expresion shifts at the question, glancing down at, to him, standard Starfleet medical/scientific blue before he squints at Spock through the communicator's small display.]

My uniform. Are those vulcan pyjamas you've got on?

[damn_it_jim]

I don't fly unless I have to. Too many ways to die.

[The shocked response seems to uncoil him a little, eyebrows raising in some honest interest.]

Peace, like common sense, is damned uncommon. Good of you to try for it anyways.

Re: [Video]

[damn_it_jim]

Well now, that's interesting. How long, would you say?

[The question about wing receives a bare nod, before his attention is focused on the content of the briefing, rather than the appearance of the brief-er.]

I've heard of stasis, but it's more use for emergency medical situations, not long-term storage. Well, outside of some loons chasing immortality, anyways.

[prime_logic]

[And that is what he was concerned about. He only hopes that this McCoy is not from that other, more savage universe. Although he seems a bit more sedate than that McCoy had been.]

No. Vulcans do not wear pyjamas. We find them too confining for sleep purposes.

It would appear that we have some things to discuss.

[Now he is concerned that it may not be his Jim, either. And that bothers him more than he cares to admit.]

[Video]

[weapabilities]

We're... not really sure. A long time. Could be months, could be years.

[He shrugs.]

Wing told me we were supposedly weapons in a war that's now long since ended. Kind of a perturbing thought.

[knightoflight]

[A laugh.] I assure you, McCoy, that I am quite safe.

[A glint of mischief.] I've only died once.

[The mischief fades.] We know. It's why our city hides below ground.

[Voice]

[relicrebellion]

It is possible that the colony was once known by a different name - but as it is located outside of the known galaxy, that seems incredibly unlikely.

[There is a brief pause.]

The war in question is a conflict between Verdana and its sister world, Antiqua. Unfortunately, there is only a limited amount of information available on it - the passage of several centuries, and the terrestrial conflict that sprang from the aftermath of that war has served to eradicate much of the historical record, at least locally. As for the fog, I do not believe the locals have studied it beyond learning how to avoid it or control its effects. If anyone who awoke on the ship did so the last time it occurred, they did not think to leave a record of their findings.

[damn_it_jim]

[McCoy's eyebrows very nearly rival Spock's talents in raising them as he takes that in.]

There are some aspects of other species' cultures that I'm quite happy not to know about.

[But that statement is fairly obvious as a reflexive one, designed to give him a little more time to mull over the real problem. The conclusion he's coming to isn't ideal, features alternate universes, and is therefore not something to discuss over a comm system of unknown, and therefore dubious, security.]

But no argument from me on that, and I'll be watching for this fog to lift. Do these people have a hospital?

[damn_it_jim]

Everything's quite safe, right up until it explodes in flaming wreckage. They said the same thing about the Titanic.

[He's not even touching the 'died once' bit.]

But what can you tell me about this place, this war people keep mentioning?

Re: [Video]

[damn_it_jim]

Well, they're out of luck with me. I'm a doctor, not a piece of military hardware.

[Bones' glower is probably meant for the benefit of anyone istening in, rather than for Drift himself.]