Star Trek: Starbase 777

A room full of cheese-stuffed waste chutes, bubbling brie pools, and spore fog. By this point, you all notice your suits are covered in a fine layer of cheeto dust, trying to get into the suit. Along the walls and jutting from the ground are sharp pieces of scrap machinery. Careful you don't puncture your suit! Or your body.

3

So, Achille was not very good at the whole platforming thing, but he was willing to try, and he was willing to see how far he would be able to go. He knew he needed to be careful here, so he did his best to focus.

Essen did her best to briefly stretch her muscles to warm herself up. one thing she knew she was good at was leaping. She hoped this time her agility and strength from practicing kung fu would come in handy now.

"Ooookay," he said once he looked the room over, "that's... definitely sharp objects and hazards, yep, um.." he verrrry carefully walked a little closer to one of the bubbling brie pools, not close enough to get any splashback from the bubbles, but enough to try and get a good estimate of how wide it was, i.e. how much he'd need to jump over it. "I know we were already sticking together, but. Just a reminder. Don't leave anyone."

It was a pretty big pool, requiring a Large Leap. There were actually two brie pools with a narrow strip of safe ground between them you could walk on, but it would be a bit if a tightrope situation. It might be more worth trying to think of a creative solution to get across all this than have everyone jump across it.

20:51

Clue: there's absolutely nothing stopping any of you from going backwards and using resources from past rooms to help you. The door didn't close behind you. Well, it did, because sliding doors do that, but you can still go back to the AI core and the kitchen.

Achille started to look for any kind of materials that could be used to make a bridge, whether it be a large board of metal, or if he could remember a polymer that could support the weight of at least one person at a time.

There was a big pile of garbage across the brie pit with what looked like some folding chairs in it. Bit risky, innit?

Essen thought for a second, then remembered... "The hover coaster back in the parc de luxe... could we use that to get across? Or at least lay it down to make a bridge? It looked heavy as hell but with enough people to lift and carry it over we could use that as a bridge."

"Oh, God, that... seems like... impossibly heavy, did you see it? Maybe like.. if you used the tennis net as a ladder, maybe? Not sure if it could support all that weight.." ideas, ideas... "Or like.. oh, maybe there's one of those like, industrial sized cutting boards in the kitchen? Like, those reaaally big ones?"

Yeah, in hindsight, the coaster was heavy, wasn't it? Ah well. "Alright, so that's out," Essen thought aloud. "What about the--" Waaaait... "The signs! We can take those down, and use those as platforms to hop across!"

Think a room or two forward, Essen.

1

"Eh, maybe not the signs," Essen thought aloud. "Let's see, we went into the parc deluxe, there were those little roomba lawnmower things... then in the Mouthfeel there were the chandeliers, the table cloths, the menus... Table cloths... we could use those to swing but we can't safely tie them to anything above us... the lawnmower things could be little jump pads. The menus may be too small... the only other thing personally I can think of is just yeeting those robots into the pools and using them as the bridge." (edited)

Ignore the robots. The robots are not the intended solution. And they're also too heavy.

1

21:21

Clue 2: the kitchen and/or Brien can help.

"Can I have a second hand to go with me to backtrack?" Essen asked the group. "Maybe we missed something that can help us move forward. I'll keep my comms line open."

"I can go with you, I want to see if there is something in the replicator that might be able to help." He spoke as he raised his hand.

It's incredible that we have a modern invention that allows us to create anything we need, isn't it?

1

"I'll also go with you guys, if that's alright," he said, not wanting to just leave the two of them. The more the better, right? "Replicator sounds like a great bet. Made an entire red carpet in that once."

"Hey, the more the merrier," Essen remarked to Allan. "I'll still keep my comms line open to the rest of the team here. But the three of us, we can backtrack. Ready, cadet?"

Achille nodded and started to move back to... the kitchen!

She followed the cadet and went with Allan to the kitchen!

"We should all have our comms lines open to everyone, but - yes, let's, and anyone else who wants to come too," he said, in case of that, and then yep, to the kitchen!

They all moved into the AI core, which was before the kitchen.

1

2

They all returned to the room.

"Alllright, so we've got three planks annnd.. first aid stuff and, what was it..? Glue?" He asked, turning to the cadet for confirmation as he carried one of the planks near one of the brie pools.

"So... ummm... yes. We have planks, first aid stuff, and glue to stabilize the planks and connect everything together," Achille responded quickly as he held onto the glue in question.

"Perfect, then, let's.. set 'em up?" He tried arranging one over the brie pool like a bridge!

Achille nodded and went to help, planning on using the glue to secure the ends of the plank where he could!

You set up the platforms across the bubbling brie and jutting scrap so that you may all walk across it with ease.

"Want me to go first? Check if it's stable?" Achille asked the group.

"If you want, go for it," he smiled, and stepped over the edge of the pool next to him, "makes it easier for me to catch you from here anyways, if anything goes wrong. I trust it, though, you did all the eng- science-ing behind this. It's just also engineering, like, it's like - both, which is pretty damn cool for a cadet to have knowledge of, honestly, but.. ah, I'm getting - yeah, go for it." The rambling rambler as always.

He smiled at the compliment, quite proud of himself for being able to figure out what would work. "Thank you, I... do my best to keep up with everything," He answered before he went to cross the great brie pool.

1

Vara'l continued to tag along with the group. While he'd initially watched out for any further robot related unpleasantness, Vara'l shifted his focus after a bit and just watched the Cadet. Hopefully all this worked and well.. he was fairly impressed at the Cadets knowledge also. He just remained silent about it at present.

Once across the planks, the way ahead was clear: one room to the left, a smaller door that was round and led to something called a 'panic pod', and a larger door ahead of them buried in glue. The pod was locked for half a second before it suddenly unlocked, as if beckoning them to enter.

"You do, and you're doing fucking great at it," was what he said as they went across, making sure everyone was keeping up with everyone else as they went. Whoa, no encounters with the sharp objects? No need for the first aid? Well... yet. "Hey, that wasn't too har... hey, does that shit say 'panic pod' or do I need glasses?"

"No, that does say Panic Pod..." He spoke as he looked at the door in front of him, the door that appeared to be beckoning them.

You can go through the door any time, guys.

"Should we go into the panic pod...? I'm a little worried about what might he in there," He spoke, trying to rationalize his fears.

"Yeah, I... for some reason, seems like..." a trap? A death trap, even? A free heart attack machine to make you pay for a resuscitation? He didn't know how Ferengi entertainment ships worked. "Are the long-range scans still not working? Like, if we could uh, see if anything's in there.."

"I can always try another scan... it's good to be cautious..." He got out the tricorder to do another attempted scan.

With a short-range scan, Achille could detect a whole bunch of lifeforms in there. They were crammed in like sardines.

4

"So... bad news? There's a whole bunch of life forms in there... I don't know what type of life forms are in there, but it can't be good..." He reported back.

"Um.. any sort of... size estimates there..? Any uh.. tennntacles, perhaps?" He asked, leaning over a little bit to look at the scan as well.

Big rat to small dog sized. Non-humanoid.

2

"I think the tentacle monsters are in here... at least... that is what I'm extrapolating from the data given..." He was more than a little worried by this point.

"Oookay, prooobably, yeah, um.. damn, it's a little too late to ask Brien whether these things kill people, but like, he... would've told us that, right? Like, he warned us about the spikes and shit in this room, so he would've told us about the man-eating tentacle rats if that's what they did, so.." he took a deeeep breath. "Maaaybe? I - I mean, fuck, do we really have no other choice?" (edited)

"I could go first. I have no flesh to eat," Rehszan offered unhelpfully.

2

Achille was trying to seem brave about this whole situation, and he might have been failing, but hey, he was trying his best. "I hope these things don't attack us... whatever they are..."

The engineer couldn't help but laugh just a little at Rehszan's offer, but he found it quite helpful, actually. "Actually, that.. might be good, if you're serious about the offer," he said to the android, "we'll follow right behind you?"

Rehszan nodded, flashing a wide, toothy grin. "I am always happy to assist." His size and his materials made him useful in many situations, and this was one of them. With no further objections, he proceeded through the door.

1

As soon as they opened the door, they heard a chorus of squeaks and were greeted with the sight of these things, huddled up together:

3

Not wanting to make any noise to risk those things getting angry or agitated, all Essen could do was gawk at those things... She'd never seen anything like them before, and definitely wanted to stay on their good side.

They gawked back, most moving toward the back of the pod. Only one slithered forward, tentacles wiggling upward. It looked like it couldn't reach something above it... Or maybe it was asking for uppies?

Allan blinked at it, and... well, he looked up to see what it was maybe trying to reach for, if anything was up above it.

The only thing its wriggling tentacles were pointing at was all of you.

3

"Um... hi?" He asked, as if they could communicate. So he also smiled and waved.

Newly minted with its own tupper, this particular creature slithered forward again, attempting to touch Allan's legs.

3

Rehszan scanned the little critter, just to be safe. "Watch your step," he warned. "Don't let it touch your PPE, just in case.."

"Heh... you don't have to warn us twice," Essen agreed quietly with Rehszan. "I'm already not gonna let it touch me."

Too late. It was already touching Allan's PPE.

2

The creature was inhaling and exhaling the atmosphere of the ship. It was also emitting a weak kind of energy focused on the ends of its tentacles.

2

1

In an attempt to hopefully assuage the creature that the team meant it no harm, Essen held up her hand in the Vulcan salute. For a long moment, she kept it up like that. "If you can understand me," Essen said quietly, almost whisper-level. "We mean you no harm." It was worth a shot.

"Mmhm, yeah, I'll step-" he stepped back, but the thing was... well, the tentacles were long and touching him and so... he tried stepping back again to see if it would let go of him. "I mean, yeah, that too."

The creature clung to Allan as best it could, but its tentacles were weak and Allan slipped out of its grasp. It made a sort of deflated squeak, but then looked at Essen's hand sign and copied it as best it could with its tentacle. It then stretched its tentacles up toward her. Uppies again.

2

Achille, however, was focusing on the weak energy on the ends of the tentacles, and wanted to scan that to see if it was anything of interest. A scan should say if its electrical... right...?

Essen smiled once she noticed the creature reciprocating the gesture! "Yes!" Essen said to it. "Yes, we're not here to hurt you. I wish I could understand you." Essen made sure to keep her distance, but leaned a little closer. "I'm Essen. Are you able to understand me? Ess-en." She figured the creature may ot have been able to respond, she just wanted to make sure it didn't feel threatened. Besides, the calmer the creature was, she thought, the easier this whole thing would be.

The scanner detected possible psionic energy.

The truckle did a little hop, streeetching its tentacles up as high as it could toward Essen's head.

1

"These creatures might be psionic! At least... that is what the readings are telling me... it might explain how a hologram gained sentience..." He reported, "Maybe if it touches you, something will happen... but I don't want to find out..."

2

"Oh.. like, that's the stuff associated with telepathy, right..? We've still got the spores in the air, though, so.. hm." He looked down at the one that had been touching him earlier, and also made a little ta'al at it to see if it'd also copy back to him, too.

"I was going to ask if the universal translator had this little guy's language in its memory banks," Essen said in response to Achille. "But since it's psionic. I can try and communicate with it, but only if it's safe to do so. If it's not safe then maybe we just communicate with it like I have been doing." She looked back to the creature. "We..." Essen gestured to the team. "Are friends. We, help, you." She talked slowly to try and bridge the communication gap.

It was the same Truckle every time, it just moved onto a new target. It copied Allan's hand gesture again and then tried to climb its way up Essen's leg.

1

She didn't want to risk getting the creature upset or angry. While it would be a normal reaction for Essen to try and kick it off, she didn't... she stayed still, letting the creature do what it did. This was the test to see if the creature was malicious or not. Essen didn't react with hostility... she stood there, observing. By staying still she wanted to appear friendly and approachable.

It continued climbing up, like a snail climbing a tree. When it got to Essen's shoulder, it prodded her temple, then attempted to tug her helmet off.

2

This was when it got really urgent for Essen to respond, but she didn't react with sudden movements. She simply held up her other hand. "Nooooo," Essen said. "I need this... to breathe." Gesturing to the helmet. "You... are curious. I know. But I... need helmet, to live. Okay?"

"Ah - Lieutenant, careful, you.." he really wasn't sure what to make of this gentle approach to the thing, but he definitely Did Not Like that it was trying to tug her helmet off. Still, if it sensed hostility, it might alert the who knew how many others of it, like the robots.. "It might be trying to ... telepathically communicate... something." But the spores in the air... "Is there any way it would be safe to breathe the stuff in for just a second? I don't thiiink so, but.." Either way, he moved so that he was on the other side of Essen - behind the Truckle, to be able to grab it if it actually started to pull her helmet off.

"Yeah, you're right, I think it's trying to communicate, that's why it wants my helmet off," Essen said. "It makes sense. If we can get the air in here safe to breathe for just a minute, then I'd let it communicate with me. That's what it wants, I think." (edited)

The truckle beeped enthusiastically after allan said 'safe', then after Essen said 'breathe', then tugged at the helmet again.

3

"hmm... we'd need something to neutralise the spores. I understand some species have breathers that inject whatever gases they need to breathe. I am unsure if such tech would work with spores or neutralising the spores," Xuan hypothesised, thinking about all the tools available to them. They saw the little creature beep and tilted their head. "Unless that creature can.. neutralise the spores?"

Essen looked to Xuan. "Well... it seems like the little guy says it's safe to breathe, or at least, I can recover from this. From what it just beeped at, anyway..." She turned to Allan. "Sir? Permission to proceed?"

The truckle pointed at the little holes on its body. Looking at it now, you could see that it was inhaling and exhaling the orange cheeto atmosphere. Then, it took a large inhale, so large it made a whistling sound like a flute, and then stopped, like it was holding its breath.

3

"We need to do a scan of the air again, I'm not.. no offense," he said, that last part presumably to the Truckle. "Just to make sure it got enough out... I guess?"

Scanning time again? because Achille can scan the air again!

3

2

The air was mostly the same. One truckle's breath wasn't enough to remove all the cheeto dust from the room.

3

"It is weird to suggest we just... get a ton of them and inhale. Oh air and fire, that sounds ridiculous," Xuan shivered at the thought of breathing in creature breath. Well, it wasn't like their ocd wasn't paralysing enough. It wouldn't be them inhaling it at least.

1

The truckle sighed, releasing their breath again. Then it tapped Essen where it assumed the throat was and then held its breath again.

2

There were more than one truckle there, wasn't there? And right when Achille was about to say something, someone else did, so he just nodded along with what Xuan said, like he was agreeing.

Essen looked and watched as the truckle tapped her throat. "Hmm... why would it tap there...?" She asked. "Maybe it's trying to find my voice box? It does seem like it's trying to communicate after all. Maybe it's trying to use me as a messenger." As she looked at the lil guy she smiled. "We're going to figure this out. Don't worry. If we figure it being safe I'll let you connect with me. I promise."

Xuan shivered again as they looked at the creature. It was clearly safe but everything about this place was... discomforting. Xuan was going to have so many showers afterwards. "like have it latch onto your throat? Like a.. slug. But one that helps you breathe."

1

It sighed again, exasperated, pointed at Essen with its tentacle, and then held its breath again. A few of the others laughed at it.

"Cadet, does it say how much it removed from the air? If we can calculate that, and then figure out how many of the others are in here... and if that's enough, you know what I mean?" He grimaced when Xuan said the thing about it latching onto her throat, trying awfully hard not to think about that.

"Oh... you want me to hold my breath!" Essen said to the creature. "Is that what you want me to do?" She obviously wouldn't if it wasn't safe. But she at least wanted to figure out what the creature meant.

It squeaked happily and wiggled its tentacles in the air!

3

"That won't- the stuff can still get in your ears and your hair and shit if your helmet's off, right?" He looked at the scientists and the medical officers for some confirmation there. Because he could be wrong!

"Ohhhhhhhh!" Essen said, looking to the creature. "Okay! Well, listen, I just need to confirm something with our friends here, okay? Then I'll take off my helmet so you can talk with me. Thank you for being so patient, lil guy!" As she turned to Xuan and Allan for the final call. (edited)

"put all the creatures on your face like you're some ancient Romulan soldier using rheiin slugs to cure diseases.." Xuan threw out a stupid idea, honestly just bullshitting but they smiled ever so slightly when they said it. Breaking their typical stoic Vulcan-like expression.

"Xuan, with all due respect, that sounds... very terrifying," he looked at them, quite surprised by the idea, "but, um.. would that.. work at all? I mean, probably not, I was more, um- like, taking your helmet off would be pretty unsafe depending on how unsafe these spores are, right? How... do we know how they spread, how much of a concentration is dangerous? Because if some of them just getting left in her ears or her hair is fine, then, that's fine, but.." (edited)

"Hmmm that is a good question. Let me scan and check the spore density. I was operating under the assumption that any amount is dangerous," Xuan said as they did a lil scanny scan of the air to see if it would be safe and also trying to find the size of the spores. If they were large enough, they wouldn't be able to penetrate too far into the body.

The spores were such that inhaling them was dangerous, but just having them on your skin wasn't dangerous unless you had an open wound and went to decom afterwards, which they all would be doing after this anyway.

2

"Well, sirs," Essen remarked. "The lil guy seems to like me. I'm willing to have it communicate with me, but I'll leave the final call up to you. It seems this lil guy has a lot to say."

"How long can you hold your breath, Lieutenant? Because this might take a while..." Achille commented, more out of worry than anything.

"I've learned inner peace before," Essen said to Achille. "My record is like three to four minutes. I can keep myself calm and let it do all the talking, then I'll report what it tells me afterwards."

Achille then looked at the others, thinking that it sounded reasonable, but not wanting to make the final call.

"Yeah, we're just - Xuan," he said, turning to them when he saw they were the one taking the scans, and tried to peer over at it as if he'd understand what it meant, "I think it's your call, as the medical officer, as to whether this is safe for her or not, yeah?"

"Well.. just having the spores on your skin is fine so I would think if you held your breath and then inhaled," Xuan paused and gestured towards the mysterious creature. They were trying not to look so grossed out but they really.. were not ok with the slimey and whatever else was going on in this... ship. "with the creature on you, I think that should be fine. It would be best either eye and ear protection but hopefully you won't need to... what is the word, raw dog? It too long?"

2

"I can have ear and eye protection if necessary," Essen confirmed. "I think it just needs access to my mind is all. I can put on goggles and earplugs after I take my helmet off or something."

"It would be most effective if they were put on before taking the helmet off but.. ahh, I sense the creature is confident that you'll be alright. I am here on standby so if anything happens, I can assist," Xuan told her, thinking that if anything arises, they can swoop in and put her helmet back on or at the very least treat any symptoms she may have in regards to spores getting in her other face holes. Xuan had pain killers and anti-inflammatory medications ready!

With a nod to Xuan, Essen looked to Allan. "Alright, sir," Essen said. "Permission to proceed?"

He nodded at what Xuan said, and then took a deep breath (wow, he was taking a lot of those today) before he nodded to Essen as well. "Yeah, you've... got it. Go for it, Lieutenant."

With an anticpiatory breath, Essen looked to the creature. "Alright, lil guy. We trust you," Essen said. "I'll take my helmet off so you can talk with me. But please know I can't hold my breath forever. I'll need to put my helmet back on after. I trust you. Okay?" As she then looked to the other officers. "Commencing in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1." And with that, Essen looked inside herself for that inner peace... relaxing her body, her muscles, and shutting her eyes... before she gently inhaled, held her breath, pulled off her helmet. (edited)

1

As soon as the helmet was off, the truckle put the tips of its tentacles on her temples, and Essen received three visions within the span of a half-second: Truckles in a cage, stuffed like sardines. Truckles escaped, raiding the Mouthfeel for food and biomaterial. Truckles taking over the ship, changing its atmosphere and technology to suit them, and steering it toward their home!

2

4

3

A FLASH inside Essen's head, one which made her face scrunch in pain, not physical, but emotional pain... so those were the 'important cargo...' Essen kept her mind open to the truckle, ready to receive more from it. This wasn't good... BRIEN wasn't good...

The truckle let go so she could put her helmet back on. It wasn't going to push it for too long.

Once she ensured the truckle's tentacles were away, Essen put her helmet back on, and GASPED for air, as she collapsed to the ground... after a moment... tears filled her eyes... she looked to the truckle, as the tears now ran down her face... "You poor, poor things..." Essen reached her hand out to the truckle... As she looked up to Allan. Her face looked as if she'd been betrayed, stabbed in the back, but not by Allan... "I saw a bunch of these little guys. Locked in a cage... They escaped from the cage and searched for food and biomaterial in the Mouthfeel. They took over the ship... because they--" As she broke down into even more tears, she had to look away from the group, and then she looked back to Allan. "They want to get back home... they changed this ship, and its technology... so they could live here..." (edited)

Xuan was waiting like a custom character on a video game character selection screen, armed with the appropriate hypos if something were to go wrong. And then the truckle relesed itself from Essen and the Vulcan put her helmet back on. Her tears and distress alerted Xuan that this telepathic? vision was something very very wrong. "Ah........ I understand," Xuan heard her out and nodded their head in acknowledgement. "Live here? I am unsure if this is really a good long term solution for them.."

2

When Essen collapsed to the ground, the truckle hit the ground with a rubber ducky squeak. The other truckles responded with a sympathetic honk, like that one penguin video.

3

"Lieu- Essen, hey-" when the tactical officer collapsed to the ground, he crouched down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you're - did it hurt, are you okay..?" He understood it wasn't trying to hurt her, but by her reaction, he wasn't sure if it was purely emotional or what. "Okay, so - locked in a cage, they needed the food in the restaurant.. they were on the shipment, I guess. And they're... experimenting, I guess, with the ship.. okay, okay, um.. yeah, I mean, we've got to get them home, then, right...? But where is.. we can ask Brien where they were shipped in from?"

"I.... I-I don't know..." Essen replied to Allan. "It's... it's like I felt its entire life..." She reached over and began to pet the truckle instinctively, feeling its betrayal, feeling its hurt... "I felt what it felt. I felt its pain... its... its anguish... its fear..." Essen said, her voice choked up. "Hey, little guy," she said to the truckle. "We're gonna get you home. Somehow we're gonna get you home."

"Essen," Xuan was not quick enough to catch her but knealt down by her side, listening to her recollection of the vision.

It gently pushed Essen's hand away, but then pet HER instead.

3

"Oh---ohhh..." Essen broke down into even more tears as she embraced the truckle. The connection she felt to it... she wanted so badly to make sure it got back home. "You're so kind to me... thank you." She felt so protective over the lil guy! "Do you... have a name? If not, I... I want to name you. Even if you go back to your planet." As she thought of one. "Do you like... Stewart?"

"Oh, we can do better than Stewart. How about Zola? Like gorgonzola. The cheese." He suggested with a laugh. "Either way, we should go back and ask Brien about getting them back to where they need to go - unless they want to tell us themselves..?"

2

"Funny you say that, my next one was gonna be Stilton," Essen said to Allan, still embracing the truckle like it was Mako.

It gently pushed her away. It did not like being petted or embraced, though it seemed to have no problem petting Essen. It pointed to itself and made a chittering sound, but the noise was untranslatable.

1

"We are... alright," Xuan did not know how the conversation went to naming the creature, but they found it amusing. "Essen, are you alright from the fall?" Xuan said, needing to do their doctor duty and ensure that there were no serious injuries. The glanced at the creature who seemed to like petting, but did not like being petted. Interesting.

"Oh! So you do have a name," Essen said. "I... still don't understand you, unfortunately." As she looked to it. "But hey, Allan is right. We gotta talk to Brien about this. We're gonna get you all home. Okay? I promise." As she looked to Xuan, she examined her own body... "Yeah, I feel fine! Absolutely devastated and emotionally wrecked but physically great!"

"Not bad. Provolina's got a nice ring to it, too." He looked down at the Truckle and frowned. "Hmmm. You think we could try and get it to spell if... hey, can you spell your name here-" he held out his PADD to see if it could draw with its tentacles.

2

"Good thinking, sir!" Essen remarked. That was a good way to be able to meet this lil guy formally now!

It drew some squiggles, but they also weren't translatable. It did confirm that they had a written language, though.

2

1

"Hmm.. so there is a written language. I.. am not very good at languages aside from my native Rihannsu or Trill," Xuan said as they glanced at the squiggles, not sure where to even begin to decipher it. "Perhaps if we have a linguist or someone good with languages?"

Essen felt a little disappointed in the universal translator. Maybe this was something to find out once the mission was over. "Well, hey, we can learn more after we get you back home, what do you say?" Essen said to the truckle. "You also want to come along for the ride?" As she patted her shoulder, offering it for the truckle to hop onto. "Yeah, anyone a linguist here?" Essen heard Xuan's suggestion. (edited)

It held up its tentacles. It wanted uppies.

"Hehe, okay!" Essen knelt down to the truckle, and held out her arm to the floor so the truckle could climb up! "Come on up!" (edited)

"Yeah, that'd be pretty cool, actually - wait, does this count as... oh, shit, this counts as first contact, doesn't it? I guess, other than the Ferengi who were here before, probably, but... oh, man, yeah - getting their language would be sick." He grinned as he put his PADD away, making note to do that later. "Back to Brien, then?"

It climbed onto her shoulder like a parrot, feeling very tall.

3

2

3

"You comfy up here with me?" Essen asked it. "I'll go slowly so you can hold on. You let me know if there's something we should be looking out for, okay? I'll keep you safe... I promise." And by her tone, she meant it.

It pointed forward. Go, noble steed!

1

"Hehehe, alright! Onwards!" Essen giggled, moving to Allan. "Looks like I'm the noble steed today, sir! Shall we?" As she continued forward.

"I think this does count as a first contact situation," Despite being a lil gross, the creature was endearing. Watching it interaact with Essen made Xuan feel a little less uncomfortable. This is why they had a mechanical pet, none of this. "Noble steed? I suppose you are."

1

He laughed when he noticed the point from the Truckle, nodding as he followed along. "We shall," he said, a quick turn back to the rest of the group to make sure they were all together still as they went back to the other room. Out of the... panic pod. "Wonder why it was named the panic pod?"

As they exited the pod, leaving the other truckles who were still too panicked to leave the pod, the truckle made the world's worst hacking noise and then spat a glob of sizzling acid from one of its tentacles onto the ground, where it burned through some miscellaneous piece of garbage. (edited)

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"Oh, shit," he glanced down at the acid puddle on the floor, and back up at the truckle, "um.. maybe we can put it down, actually? I wouldn't want, like - the acid looks pretty strong, I wouldn't want it to get on you by accident," he said to Essen.

The truckle stuck a very small tongue(?) out of its tentacle at Allan.

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"Heyy, listen, if we get burned by acid by accident, you guys have an awfully low chance of getting home, soooo.." he shrugged, but couldn't hold back a bit of a giggle at the tongue thing.

It waved its tentacle dismissively at Allan. A bitch wasn't allowed to sneeze?

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Xuan flinched and backed up, very concerned. They did not giggle, but Allan's comment was amusing. "We should be mindful where we.. sneeze? It is always best to ensure another individual is not in our.. line of fire," Xuan said, repeating a line they often told their patients.

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Essen also looked back... not even realizing at first that it was the truckle who did that, then when she made the connection... "I think it just sneezed, sir," Essen said to Allan. "But if you want me to put it down, I will. It doesn't seem to want to leave me though."

It pointed at the ground, where the melted puddle of garbage was and Essen had not been. Then it made a harrumph sound.

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God forbid a man not want to get burned by acid! "I mean, I guess.. as long as it can just - alright, yeah, what Xuan said." He was panicking just a little too much, maybe. Must've been the panic from the panic pod. Anyways, into the #ai-core they went..

Essen looked to the truckle. "Hey, don't take it too much to heart, okay?" She told it. "Just be mindful is all. You're doing okay. Let's go!" As she also went to the #ai-core.

And Xuan followed to #ai-core !

*Achille was there too!! Going to #ai-core *

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