032 - Peach Perfection

[deadly_ned]

[Spam]

[With a gasp, as if surfacing from underneath an ocean, the Piemaker wakes up on a very quiet, haunted Barge.

He stumbles out of his room, looking down the hallway and calling out, soft at first but progressively louder;]

Hello?


Hello?


[It's not long before he stumbles on his first body, and has a heart-stopping moment of genuine fear when he thinks that John Crichton has died again when he wasn't looking.

After checking to make sure that John - and now others? - lying sprawled out all over the ground are asleep and not dead, he reaches for his communicator, struggling to figure out...]

[Public, to the Barge]

Uhm.

Is someone - anyone - awake?

Can someone tell me.

What's going on?

Comments

[his_drededfate]

I am, though I doubt one more person amongst so many is of much comfort. Everyone else seems to be unharmed, only sleeping. Have you found any others?

[deadly_ned]

Oh thank god I'm not the only one.

No, just.

No.

People are just...sleeping.

Hi, I'm. I'm Ned.

[his_drededfate]

I'm Mordred.

It may be wise for us to stick together for now. Where are you? I can come to you.

[deadly_ned]

I'm in the cafeteria. Me and about...seven other people, all of them asleep.

Did something attack us?

[his_drededfate]

Stay there, I'll be there shortly.

[And he's off!]

I'm not certain. The Admiral's messages seemed unclear, but that would seem to be the case. Though by whom or what, I have no idea. At the very least it doesn't seem that they wish us harm.

[deadly_ned]

The Barge isn't moving.

Why isn't the Barge moving?

[his_drededfate]

[He pauses.]

... You're right. Someone's stopped it. Do you know how we can find out who?

[Unless the Admiral was the one to do it..]

[deadly_ned]

The Admiral. I think.

We should go up on deck, see if it's stuck on something.

[his_drededfate]

Then I will meet you there instead.

[deadly_ned]

Okay. See you..up top.

[hearrrtofgold]

[Duke isn't precisely awake. He's dozing at a table in the library, the book he was reading laying wide open on the floor where it's fallen. At the sound of Ned's voice on his communicator he stirs, blearily opens his eyes, and mumbles back at it.]

Five more minutes, Ev.

[deadly_ned]

[The Piemaker hears the mumble and immediately turns up the volume of his microphone]

I'm not Ev. I'm Ned.

Please, you have to wake up. Something's not....right. Where are we and why is everyone else asleep?

[hearrrtofgold]

Hhm? [The voice is louder this time and Duke begins blinking the sleep from his eyes, sitting up and picking up the communicator properly.] Sorry. What?

Is the... thing over?

[deadly_ned]

Is what thing over?

[hearrrtofgold]

I'm in an unusual place being woken up by a strange man. Usually when that happens, there was a thing.

[deadly_ned]

A breach? I. Maybe.


....am I really that strange?

[hearrrtofgold]

Do you remember anything from it? [A few vague dreamlike recollections are still floating around in Duke's brain but refusing to set themselves into order.]

Strange in that I don't really know you. Not in the sense that you're wearing orange sequins, luckily, because I never want to go through that again.

[deadly_ned]

Not...really? Nothing much at all.

Oh.

I'm a warden. If that helps.

Was I really wearing orange sequins?

[hearrrtofgold]

So am I. I'm Duke, hi.

No, that wasn't you. I just had a flashback to my tour of duty in New Orleans.

[deadly_ned]

Hi, Duke.

I'd advise not mentioning the orange sequins around here. The Barge has a habit of picking up suggestions.

[hearrrtofgold]

[Duke begins to pick himself up and amble toward the door, his face souring when he comes across a sleeper in the hall.] And whose suggestion was this?

[deadly_ned]

I don't know.

But I'm hoping the rest of us wake up soon. So far it's only you, me, Mordred and Charles.

[hearrrtofgold]

[He kneels beside the sleeping body, feels for a pulse and finds one, but shaking and prodding provoke no response.] Where are you guys? Have you been able to wake anyone else up?

[deadly_ned]

I'm in the cafeteria, heading up to the deck. I want to see if we're stuck on anything.

And no. Just you. But you might have been up before, I'm not positive.

[hearrrtofgold]

Why? Are we not - [His face grow even graver.] We're not moving. We should check the engine room, see if something's broken. Maybe there's a carbon monoxide leak, it could be why we all passed out.

[deadly_ned]

That's...not a bad point. I would have thought we crashed.

You go to the engine room. I'll go up top and...see what I can see.

[hearrrtofgold]

Check in as soon as you find out.

[deadly_ned]

I will.

Also...try not to step on anyone.

[wedonot]

I have no idea. I can't get some of the others to wake up. It feels... Strange.

[Telepathy wise, he means.] Like a coma, but it seems like they're dreaming.

[deadly_ned]

Charles! Hi.

You mean shaking, or?


This.

I didn't know this could happen.

[wedonot]

I mean I can usually convince someone to wake up or go to sleep with hardly any effort. That's certainly not the case right now.

[deadly_ned]

No, it's not.

So it's a..magic sleep? Am I understanding this right?

[wedonot]

I think so.

[deadly_ned]

Yay. Magic.


It must have something to do with why we aren't moving. Maybe if we find the cause..

[routemistress]

I'm up. I'm heading for the engine room. You all right?

[deadly_ned]

Iris! Hi.

I'm fine. I'm just. Surrounded by a lot of dogs and two rabbits. I don't know where the rabbits came from.

I thought Duke was going to the engine room.