Down to Earth

After a news report that says Colin Neidermeyer is no longer dead, but is in fact the incumbent president of a very much alive planet Earth, some folks on Luna decide it's time to investigate the so-called Moebius Effect...

Aboard the Majestic...

A voice comes across the comm speaker: "Earth Orbital Control here."

Thender cuts his engines down to approach Earth more slowly. "Earth Orbital Control, this is the TCV Majestic. This may sound kind of odd, but ... what year is it down there?" Thender says this into his ship's comm.

Landon stops in his tracks suddenly, "Um... aren't we supposed to be playing like we belong and not like we're suspicious?"

After a long pause, the voice comes back across the comm speaker: "It's the year 3002, Majestic. Are you operating a starship while under the influence of hallucinogenic substances?"

Tarkovsky mutters something near-silent into her commlink in mierznykovy, then blinks in surprise at the voice over the comm system. She looks across to Thender and then winces at his reply. She shakes her head slowly and then grins at Earth's response.

Thender presses the comm button. He chuckles and says, "Of course not, Earth Orbital Control. My ship's computer malfunctioned again and gave me the wrong year. Hang on." He pauses a moment for effect. "Damn thing. There. Now then ... can we get an approach vector and landing clearance?"

Landon hmms, "Are there any ships out there?" he asks as he walks around the bridge.

The voice comes across the comm speaker: "Vector Delta-Tango-Tango. Fall into the descent pattern for SancMeSp in San Angeles. Earth Orbital Control out."

Tarkovsky suddenly frowns, a fresh line of thought occurring to her. "Does anyone know where the boundary of the Moebius effect is? I mean they said it's expanding... what happens to us when we pass through it?"

Thender glances back at Landon. 'I had to make sure. We don't know what we're dealing with. And ... good question.' He accelerates onto the right course, and grins at Tarkovsky while he keeps one eye on his sensors. "We'll just have to find out, won't we?"

Landon glances at Tarkovsky, "Well... I'd think that we either turn into our Alternate counter-parts and so dissapear or nothing happens... Let's hope for the latter." he says, "If I knew more about the Moebius device I could tell you for sure but I don't."

Some time later...

Spaceport Landing Pad  - Earth - A spider web-like latticework of glass and steel rises to form a 100-foot-high dome alongside a clean and efficiently maintained spread of tarmac and loading hangars here at the Sanctuary Memorial Spaceport.

From shuttles to heavy freighters, dozens of civilian ships come and go each hour. Cargo handlers can be seen loading and unloading the various vessels, while stern-looking Guardian Fleet customs officers screen containers for weapons, explosives and contraband.

The customs agents are aided by hovering scanbots and scent-catching black mastiffs.

As passengers emerge from starships, they must pass a cordon of black-clad Guardian Fleet soldiers - humanoids are allowed to pass unless they appear suspicious, but aliens are quickly subdued and herded to Guardian Fleet shuttles for transport elsewhere. Sat Sep 07 17:23:16 3002

Contents: Exits: Explorer Thender   Spaceport

The Guardian Fleet soldiers march warily around the landing pad.

Keyan has arrived. Tarkovsky has arrived. Glomarfle has arrived.

The Guardian Fleet soldiers shout: "Alien!" And then batter Glomarfle with stunsticks, haul them aboard a shuttle and send them off.

Thender goes through the landing checklist, leaving the Majestic ready to fly but with shields powered down. He rises and heads for the lift. "This way."

Tarkovsky takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders, then follows Thender to the lift. "Here goes..."

Thender steps off the ramp and onto the spaceport, Glomarfle in tow ... at least until he is stunned unconscious and dragged away. "hey! Where are you taking him?!" He takes a couple steps to follow.

A Guardian Fleet soldier shoves the barrel of a plasma pistol in Thender's face. "Back off, alien lover."

Tarkovsky follows out of the spaceship a moment or two later, her hand flying to her mouth at the brutal treatment of Glomarfile. For a moment she seems about to object as Thender does, but his treatment and the uniform of the soldiers makes her subside into silence before she begins to speak. She takes a step to the side, instead, looking around the spaceport landing pad.

Keyan steps down off of the shuttle, and frowns as the soldiers first act is to confiscate every weapon he's managed to pack on his person. He then moves towards Thender, and says, "Another wonderful start to another wonderful Daker mission."

Thender is busy holding his hands up defensively and stepping out of the way of the pistol held to his face. "Where are you taking him?" he asks again, more calmly, staying where he is even as a multimode pistol is confiscated by another soldier.

"He's going where all good aliens go," the soldier growls. "Work camp. He'll be put to good use."

Tarkovsky takes a few more steps to the side, tilting her head a little as her commlink whispers to her. She keeps an ear and an eye on Thender and the conversation around him, even as she tries to give an impression of being seperate.

Keyan's frown grows even more severe after the comment from the soldier. He looks around the landing pad, obviously confused about what to do.

Thender blinks. After a moment, he says, "I see. He was on my payroll ... I told the damn gecko to stay in the ship, but no ... he wanted to see what was out there." He grumbles something else under his breath, then shifts to a less defensive position. "Any way to get him back?"

Tarkovsky speaks into her commlink.

The soldier lifts his eyebrows, chuckles, then says, "Sure, pal. Leave your name and shipping address with the Corporal, and I'll ask Commandant Eiger to send the remains along."

Tarkovsky turns slightly away from the others, and begins talking rapidly into her commlink headset, her words fast yet near silent. She tosses her head slightly in a practiced movement as she talks, it brings her long braid swinging over her shoulder. She catches it in one hand and begins twisting it slowly between her fingers.

Thender frowns. "He can't work for me unless he's alive, soldier." After a moment, his frown deepens, but he says nothing more.

A soldier notices Tarkovsky's furtive behavior and switches off the safety of his rifle before aiming at her. "Spy!"

The soldier near Thender growls and shakes his head at the proclamation from the other soldier. "Right. You lot are a bunch of Loonie spies, aren't ya?"

Tarkovsky blinks, looking up in surprise. She eyes the soldier and the gun and immediately raises her hands. "I'm not a spy... I'm a reporter. I can show you some ID, if you like... I'm not a lunite either." She hesitates a moment, then adds, "I have Earth citizenship."

The soldier near Tarkovsky shakes his head. "Hand it over, spy."

Other interested Guardian Fleet soldiers begin closing on the Lunite contingent.

Keyan steps forward and raises his hands. "Hey, do /I/ look like a Lunite?" he asks, laughing a bit. "What's the big deal you guys? You act like we're here to start a war or something. I personally just came because I'd heard what a wonderful place Earth was, but had never been there before."

A mastiff jerks at the end of its leash, snarling and snapping at Keyan.

"I work for UIS... Ungstir Information Service, the news network," Tarkovsky tries to explain. She sighs, frowning in bewilderment as her thoughts race. "I'm obviously not Lunite... I just needed a ride. I can show you ID?"

The soldier standing by Thender says, "You came here with an alien. You bring a recording device. You're from Luna. Probably part of that resistance cell. Well, you wanted to meet up with your friend again - you'll get that chance." He jerks his head toward a waiting shuttle. "Work camp. All of you."

The soldier next to Tarkovsky just smiles grimly. "Hand over all your possessions and get aboard the shuttle, ma'am."

Keyan frowns, and shakes his head. "No, I'm not here to work for you. As I told you, I'm a tourist. Didn't even know who else was on the shuttle, just paid my money and waited. How can I be at fault for the fact that my tour picked up stragglers along the way?"

A soldier near Keyan laughs. "Man, if I had a crebar for every spy I cacked who made that claim - well, I wouldn't be rich, but I could take a nice vacation."

Keyan narrows his eyes at the soldier. "If you were smart enough to tell a spy from a tourist, then maybe you would. But since you're obviously not, then maybe you ought to head to the camp," he states.

"The soldier points a plasma pistol barrel at Keyan's head. "Look who the f*** is talking."

Thender nods at Keyan. "I took these two down cuz I was going to check out the cargo scene here, and now my engineer newt's gonna die and I'm getting guns pointed at me." He steps back onto the landing ramp of the Majestic. "That alien was supposed to stay in my damn engineering bay." He blinks. "resistance cell? Wait, don't you guys get news feeds from offplanet?" He stops moving.

Tarkovsky rubs her hand over her face with a long, tired sigh. "I knew I should stopped at Mars instead..." She opens her jacket slowly, reaching into her pocket in as non-threatening a ways as she can and slowly pulls out her PDA. "Look, read the news flashes," she says, offering it to the soldeier. "Something very strange has happened." Her smile for the understatement is more than a little wry.

"We don't pay attention to offworlder propaganda," the soldier with Thender replies. "Now, either you come along nicely, or you come along not-so-nicely. It's really your choice." A dozen mastiffs growl and struggle against their leashes, drooling and gnashing their teeth.

Keyan scoffs. "Oh, and you're that willing to risk whatever they pay you on killing a tourist. Good soldier," he says, not even blinking at the gun.

The Guardian Fleet soldier standing next to Keyan fires the gun at point blank range.

The blast fries Keyan's head pretty nastily and leaves him vegetized, but alive.

The soldier next to Thender smiles faintly. "Anyone else want to try the not-so-nice way?"

The soldier next to Tarkovsky snatches her PDA.

The mastiffs growl and sniff, hungrily eyeing the charred Qua.

Tarkovsky lets go of the PDA as it is snatched, her hand limp and unresisting. All the colour drains from her face at the soldier's abrupt action, she clamps her mouth closed and swallows hard even as her stomach heaves. "Holy s***..." she breathes then, her look back to the soldier in front of her a great deal more fearful now. She silently pulls her headset from her ear and offers that to the soldier as well.

"Cosmo's hungry," one of the soldiers controlling a mastiff remarks, smirking. "Guess cooked moron tastes good to her."

Thender eyes the mastiffs, and the soldiers. "you're making a terrible mistake," Thender says. "Arresting Civilians from offworld and imprisoning them in work camps? What kind of people are you?" His hands are held away from his body, palms out, as he takes a step forward.

The soldier with Tarkovsky takes her commlink and nods to her, gesturing to the shuttle. "Come along, ma'am. Nice and friendly-like."

"We're Earth First and proud," the soldier near Thender states simply. "Move along now. Make yourself useful to the cause."

Thender blinks. "s***," he says at length. "I can't believe this."

Tarkovsky looks towards the shuttle. "There are people who can verify I am who I say I am," she says, slowly. "My mother's family... Sarah Hastings, London... I can you an address." She takes a few steps reluctantly towards the shuttle. "Isn't there someone I can speak to?"

The guard following Tarkovsky says, "That'll be up to the Commandant."

A couple of soldiers haul Keyan's inert form to the shuttle.

Thender steps towards the shuttle. "Well, I wanted first contact," he says drily to himself. "I guess I've got it."

The soldier following Thender nods. "Enjoy your stay."

Tarkovsky nods slowly again, and allows herself to be guided into the shuttle. "I hope he's a reasonable man then, your Commandant."

"Reasonable?" the soldier chuckles at Tarkovsky. "I've heard Gustav Eiger called many things. That wasn't one of them."

Thender snorts. "Oh, I'm sure I will." He glances at Tarkovsky. "You've figured it out by now, haven't you? Things happened differently here." He looks over at the nearest soldier. "What do you know about Centaurans?" he asks.

Tarkovsky looks back at Thender, her own snort sardonic. "You think?" she asks sarcastically, waving a hand generally at the 'intact' Earth. "No kidding." She enters the shuttle and moves further inside. "I just hope the Commandant will speak to my family... and that my family are here."

Thender walks towards the shuttle. "They're meddlesome, floating, creepy little bastards," he says, "And that's the answer. Does this trip come with an in-flight movie?"

"What's a movie?" the soldier inquires, lightly squeezing the trigger. "Shut up. Climb aboard. One more word from you, and you die."

Thender shrugs philosophically and walks onto the shuttle.