Chapter Two: A Whole Old World

[Akirapryde]

Alice smiled at Eric and nodded, “it sounds like a plan to me.” She wanted to say more but with the doctor in earshot she chose to keep her thoughts to herself. Alice watched Suki move a few short feet before smashing in to the small metal table again. Suki was trying so hard to be ‘normal’ but it was clear to Alice that this was going to be a hard transition for the teenager. And right now, Suki was in denial that her missing eyesight had just transformed her life.

Alice didn’t want to say anything. But as Jake wondered out the door without saying a word to Suki, her heart went out to the teenager. Alice slid off of her bed and was able to find her footing. She moved up alongside of Suki and gently took Suki’s arm, “come on honey, come with Eric and I.” Alice looked at Eric for some verbal approval to reassure the teenager.

As Eric searched the room, he couldn’t detect any listening or video devices that were ‘covertly’ placed. However, there was a very basic black half-ball with a camera within it. A small mic on device told Eric that the audio was being recorded as well. To Eric the device was common on dropship for internal security and were woven across the ship. This kind of system was normally linked in to a large security networked used to monitor the entire ship. The camera could easily be disabled.

There was a computer terminal on a table near the door. The wires behind the computer indicated that it was tied in to a larger network. A printer alongside the computer could be used to print out news feeds and other bits of information. Eric could easily assume that the computer network was sectioned off in to non-secured and secured areas. Currently the computer was turned off, but in the right hands that computer could help the party.

As Jake left the medical bay, Eric noticed that there were no locks on the thick air tight door. However, there were long handles on the door that could be secured with some kind of strap or rope. This could effectively ensure that the party was left alone during times of conversation. But there was something else that got Eric thinking. As the conversation was ending, Eric watched the doctor and nurse going over some paperwork. The second nurse was never mentioned during the Doctor’s recap of the events of when they were found. Nor was she here when the Captain slipped back in to a coma.

It didn’t take Eric long to deduce that the other nurse was not a nurse. He thought about her questions to Jake and how she had earned his trust. It became clear that she was a covert agent questioning the party. While it was clear that this was some kind of military dropship, it was uncommon for it to have a covert agent aboard. Unless there was something or someone important aboard. Eric knew that he had to warn Jake as the pilot worked his way out the door.

As Jake stepped beyond the thick metal door, he was the corridor of the dropship. Jake had been on a number of dropships during his short time as a pilot. He could tell by the passageway that this was a Spheroid style dropship. True to his words, Eric saw that the doctor was right. There were no more guards within the long curved corridor. However, Eric saw a guard located at the doors to a lift. These men were armed with melee style weapons. No other crew members were armed.

As Jake moved down the corridor, he saw a door held open. The opened up to a connecting corridor with doors on either side of it. Jake could hear the sounds and see the members of the crew moving between doors. This told him that the connecting corridor led to crew quarters. Based on crew members moving from one of the rooms with toiletries Jake could deduce that that room was a large communal bathroom for the crew.

Jake could tell the members of the crew based on their Kuritan uniforms. Japanese was the common language that was spoke among the crew, despite their ethnic background. As Jake continued to explore the level, he saw a room with three people in it. The room had three double bunk-beds within it. The three people all looked at Jake with distrust in their eyes. But what caught Jake’s attention was four important clues that stood out to Jake. The first was that the only woman in the room wore a black hijab or head scarf. The second clue was that the six in use lockers held uniforms that were not Kuritan. The uniforms were of shades of black.

The two men in the room wore military berets with a patch on it, with the letters NEAT across it. The woman’s hijab had similar letters on it. Each of the military BDU top had a flag on the left shoulder. The flag was designed from top to bottom with the colors Black, red yellow. There was a large black eagle in the center of the flag. Each Top had some kind of military unit insignia on its right shoulder that matched the other uniforms in the room. The last clue was that each of these three were armed with side arms and there were three sub machine guns in the room.