Play date: September 21, 2013
Game date: June 21, EY218
Location: iLanga system, isiBhakabhaka space station
Previous events: Flint Cardesco had a cap popped in his ass, er, face
Jillian slips a note under Xao's door on the Hummingbird. It's hand-written; the writing itself is not so steady.
I understand that you're angry. I'd be troubled if you weren't. You're a fundamentally decent, kind person. I'm sorry you got caught up in this, I'm sorry you were here when I did what I did, and I'm sorry to have put you in the position of standing aside and letting it happen.
What I did, I did to protect my crew. That doesn't even remotely make it right. But I hope you can eventually accept that I had no other choice. That the wrong thing to do was also the only possible thing to do.
This is not the person I wanted to be. This is very specifically not the person I wanted to be. And yet here I am.
I've told the other two that a friend of mine will give them safe passage to Providence. I'm convinced that they won't give you trouble as long as you keep a careful watch on them during the journey. Put them ashore wherever you think best. Don't let them know who you are, if you can help it.
We'll look for you in Providence after we've finished what we need to do on uBuntu. But if you choose not to be there to be found, I'll understand.
I've spent thirteen years trying to run away from this darkness, but last night I looked inside and it was still right there. So. Probably for the best that things between us didn't go any farther than they did.
Bye.
It's unlikely that he misses the note entering the room, but she hears no noise through the thick door. After waiting for a little while for a response and getting none she leaves.
When Olivia and Volkova come back from patching the Gallatin's electronics and the airlock door they find the Steel Hummingbird feels like a ghost ship. Bishop is sulking in his quarters, Jillian's out of sight doing some sort of art, Malcolm is happy but quiet in the galley sipping tea, and Xao still hasn't come out of his room. Seo and the Grob are still in their quarters but that's expected by now.
Olivia is told about the plan to destroy the Gallatin with the body inside it and then taking Alexandra and Frank to Providence and dump them -- still alive -- there. She thinks it's a decent plan and also thinks that it would be good for Jillian and Xao to be apart for a while.
The best time to move the body and prisoners will be when the isiBhakabhaka's crew is asleep, so everyone spends the rest of the day doing their own thing. Bishop spends several hours Dreaming with Chig and they come up with a dream of somewhat-living things in shells talking to each other without words. It's a strange Dream but feels good and safe. Jillian emerges late in the evening having spent the time working on her latest opus, a collage of photographs cut of magazines. Every photo is of something beautiful and she's burned all their edges, keeping to her typically subtle ways. Volkova gets a big trolley and wraps up Flint Cardesco's corpse in tarps until its shape is hard to make out and then puts it into the sort of bag that large, awkwardly-shaped tools and parts are often carried in.
In the wee hours of the night Malcolm and Volkova sneak the body over to the Gallatin on the trolley. No one's around to see them and it goes smoothly. Volkova shoves the body into the Gallatin's EVA suit locker and seals it up with tape to make it as airtight as possible. She then takes a moment to check out the space drive and finds that, unsurprisingly, it's been modified to use slide points, but not in any way that's qualitatively different from what she's already seen.
The two prisoners are transferred over in separate trips without any trouble and soon Olivia and Xao are ready to head off. Olivia gives everyone farewell hugs (and a rather sloppy kiss in Malcolm's case) but Xao, who has been uncharacteristically glum and silent the whole time, ignores Jillian totally and hardly says anything to the others before closing the hatch.
After sadly watching the Gallatin fly off into the blackness the Hummingbird's crew head's back to their ship where Jillian proceeds to drink her way until morning. Malcolm writes a note to his family about Flint's fate in symbolic language; they'll understand what happened but there's nothing overt in it. He'll post it in the morning but it's unlikely to get to Piccadilly, where they will be, until well into August.
June 22, EY218
Malcom wakes up before everyone else and decides he's had enough of the gloomy atmosphere on the Hummingbird. Knowing that there is a cafeteria on the station he heads off to find it. There are six people there having breakfast, apparently the whole crew of the station plus Mondii. Malcolm's seen Ayanda and talked to Mondii, but the rest are new to him. They're happy to have him join in and when he offers to make tea they hear his Piccadillian accent and decide to take him up on it. Sandile, the cook, is also the law here on the station: he's got a pistol and badge left carelessly on a table in the back of the kitchen that Malcolm spots while brewing up some tea.
The tea is good even for Malcolm's high standards and he makes some instant friends. He asks about the trip down to the surface and finds that the space elevator will take 48 hours to make the trip. The cost is 200 Bleahs per person, with luggage free of charge. The fee includes food, water, and oxygen. When they decide to head down the elevator will be "jiggled" to tell the station on the surface to load up anyone and anything that's coming up; an hour later the trip will begin.
When he gets back he finds that Jillian's awoken with another hangover and looks awful. The amount of alcohol she's downed in the last day is prodigious but the fumes from the shiny magazine pages she's been burning in an enclosed area for her art have made it worse. She groggily shows her burnt-edged art to acclaim from Rans and Volkova but especially from Chig. Bishop and Malcolm keep mum and even Seo takes pity on Jillian's wretched state and manages to keep her acid tongue in her mouth.
Bishop has been putting the finishing touches on the disguises for Seo and the Grob and they look convincingly like they're dressed for the badlands. He takes a break from the ship to drop off Ghost with his new best friend Siyambongo Zulu -- or at least that's how Siyambongo sees it -- who will care for the little cat while everyone else is down the gravity well.
After some packing they're about as ready as they'll ever be so everyone gets their gear together and they seal up the ship. Bishop has packed an uBuntan medkit, his very nice suit, Grob crown, and Chig's "egg". Jillian brings along a sextant, sketchbook, a stack of D'vor warning poster, and a knife. Malcolm insists on bringing along his motorcycle but at least he doesn't ride it through the station's corridors. He also brings along his Blingmaster, assault rifle, all the ammo he's got for them, and a knife. Volkova outdoes everyone in the weapons department by bringing her grenade launcher along with an assortment of tools -- including Khnuta, of course -- and all her bottles of booze in case the stuff on uBuntu is unpalatable. All of the weaponry is carefully hidden in shapeless bags. There will be food in the elevator and on the surface and they can also pick up clothing that's more appropriate for the hot, dry conditions planetside as well.
Ayanda's waiting by the space elevator and it does indeed get jiggled, clanked back and forth a few time to inform the station on the surface. After that there's an hour of loading the elevator waiting after they've paid the 200 Bleaghs per person with one exception; Ayanda skips over Malcolm when collecting the fee. The elevator car's an odd structure, looking like a cross between a submarine and a small apartment, complete with a little kitchenette. Then again, it does have to endure conditions in orbit and on the surface, so its look is actually functional.
Over the two-day trip down to the surface the elevator car shows its utility. Heater and air conditioner, blinds, kitchenette, bathroom, oxygen tanks... they all play their part as the conditions around the car change radically over the long trip. Bishop spends some of the time telling his captive audience about uBuntu's culture: its matriarchal nature, the unity, the belief that the aliens of legend will return some day. He also tries to tap into the Dreaming to help Jillian with her depression and apparently killer tendencies but misinterprets things horribly and the two of them have a few shouted rows that no one can escape from in the small quarters.
Seo and the Grob keep to themselves as much as they can but Chig does Dream with Bishop a few times.
June 24, EY218
There's a porthole in the floor and the barren, cracked-looking surface of the planet getting closer is met with some excitement. Being in such close quarters it's a good thing that they're all used to being on ships in space! amaThemba, the city below them, looks tiny, but Bishop explains that although with twenty thousand people hardly makes it a metropolis most of it is at the moment concealed from sight by the overhangs of the canyon.
At long last the elevator reaches the solid ground with a thump and clang. The sounds of someone locking the car in place are soon followed by the door being opened by a female mechanic who sticks her head in; she welcomes them to the city of amaThemba and asks them if they're all right and if they need anything. Volkova replies by handing her a bottle of vodka and makes a friend.
Their large bags and Malcolm's motorcycle are put into a temporary storage unit so they don't have to lug it all around. amaThemba's pretty much on the equator and the temperature is scorching. Everyone agrees that getting appropriate clothing is a priority and the elevator's mechanic is more than happy to give them directions to stores and the matriarch's house. The station that the elevator links to is up on top of the canyon that most of the city is in, but it's still hot when they get into the relatively shaded main part of the city, which features architecture unlike anywhere else in the system.
A store is easily found thanks to the mechanic's directions and four sets of clothing -- two city and two desert -- are purchased for everyone. So many offworlders together means that they get a lot of curious stares but the locals are friendly and don't pry. After shopping is done it's off to see the matriarch! It's considered courteous to meet with the leader of a community here when visiting and she may be able to help them getting to the northernmost city of uLundi, especially when she meets the Grob. It's a calculated risk to let the world know about the aliens when there's nowhere to run if things turn out badly but they decide to risk it. If Bishop's stories are true revealing the aliens will likely help them.
The matriarch's house is definitely bigger than the average residence they've seen but not outrageously so. A surprisingly friendly guard at the front door lets them in and asks them to wait while he tells the matriarch that she has visitors from elsewhere in the cluster -- this seems to be an uncommon event. The house's interior is much more luxuriously appointed than would seem from outside.
After a short wait they are brought into a largish room strewn with large pillows and meet amaThemba's matriarch, Nobesuthu Mobise. She's in her late sixties and quite attractive for her age if you're not Bishop. Her most obvious feature is her long braids with lots of colourful beads that click against each other when she moves her head. She reclines regally on the largest and most embroidered pillows and welcomes the visitors to the "Capital of the World" as she gestures for them to sit on the smaller, less decorated cushions.
They make some small talk, including new events elsewhere in the cluster, and the aliens that are supposed to return are tangentially brought up to lay the ground for the Grob to reveal themselves. The planned trip to uLundi and the north sea is brought up though not with any real details. When Chig and Rans are given the go-ahead and unravel their coverings the effect is electric: Mobise is immediately taken by the Grob and the mood changes from a pleasant but basically idle conversation with people from out of the system to something far more important and involved. Mobise calls for her daughter and begins planning an event for that evening, where she will reveal the aliens to her entire city. She dismisses any worries that the maglev will leave without the Hummingbird's crew: she's the matriarch and the maglev will leave when she wants it to. Besides, its schedule has it leaving late tomorrow morning.
When Sinenhlanhla Mobise wanders in she certainly looks like a twenty-year younger version of her mother but seems to lack much energy. She, too, is taken by aliens among them but defers constantly to her mother and is mostly a background feature.
The Hummingbird's crew is leery of putting the Grob on public display like this but Jillian's got the measure of the matriarch and can tell that if they don't play along things will not go smoothly for them. She agrees on behalf of the crew and Bishop, realizing what's going on, starts to actively work his charm and wins the matriarch over: she's unlikely to use and then discard them, he thinks, though she'll certainly use them.
Everyone is whisked away to get a new and much nicer set of clothes on the city's tab for the evening's show. Bishop chooses his own outfit and he's even more stunning than usual when he's given an effectively unlimited budget and access to his home planet's fashion. Jillian's too concerned with not letting anyone see her tattoo to let the seamstress do a good job: she looks reasonably nice at the end but no more. Malcolm insists on choosing his own outfit and like Jillian looks good enough. Volkova continues to clean up quite nicely but the biggest surprise by far is Seo, who looks as good -- in her own way -- as Bishop! The Grob insist on just wearing their native outfits. Chig wear's Bishop's hat, which make it look yet more alien. Rans' very interesting face (for humans, at least) makes up for Chig's headgear.
Choosing, fitting, and makeup take up the rest of the day and there's a bit of a rush to get to the amphitheatre in time. "Night" on uBuntu just means that the brighter sun has dropped below the horizon so it's still plenty bright with no need for artificial lighting. The amphitheatre is simple in design but massive and it looks like Mobise has gotten everyone in the city here, jammed in cheek by jowl. The matriarch gives a long speech to prime the crowd and both Bishop and Jillian can tell that she's doing this to increase her stature and that of her city. What importance amaThemba has is based on it being at the base of the space elevator and not due to its culture, resources, or natural beauty. Like many rulers of such minor places the matriarch is invested in showing objectively superior cities that hers is great in its own right. After all, this is where the aliens have decided to first land on the planet!
Whatever the Hummingbird's crew feels for Mobise she knows how to pump up a crowd and the city goes wild when the Grob are revealed to them. The Grob themselves are obviously intimidated by the crowd but Seo calms them down and translates Chig's awkward speech into a differently awkward speech. She changes phrases like "stupid death" and makes the Grob seem like good-hearted beings who aren't promising anything. She's almost as intimidated by the crowd as the aliens are but stumbles through well enough.
When the speeches are over the crowd moves forward to get a closer look at the aliens and Seo and the Hummingbird's crew form a wall around the Grob to protect them. The masses are respectful, though, and by the time that things finally wind up there's no harm done.
Mobise likes how the crew acted to protect the Grob and also seems to like how none of the humans upstaged her. Everyone returns to her residence and they have a large stew-based dinner during which the matriarch says that she'll support their trip to the north sea and make sure that they get a train car to themselves the next morning. The crew retire to the guest quarters pleased with how things are going so far.
June 25, EY218
Breakfast is good and plentiful, Mobise going on about how wonderful last night was, and then it's time to head to the maglev station. Everything that the Hummingbird's crew took with them to the surface is brought along, including Malcolm's motorcycle. Chig and Rans wear their concealing outfits, not wanting a repeat of last night's crowds.
The matriarch comes along with them to see them off and it's only when they get to the station that they find that she and her daughter are actually going to be accompanying them all the way to the north sea! While the crew do indeed get one of the eight maglev cars to themselves Mobise and her daughter will take the car ahead of them where three servants have already lugged a small mountain of steamer trunks. There is also a good-sized crowd of citizens at the station to see the aliens off but this time they're kept back by barriers, much to the Grobs' relief.
Everyone -- or at least all the humans -- wave to the crowd as the maglev heads out. The constantly fluctuating EM field on uBuntu lets the maglev travel without requiring any sort of fuel but as much as the equipment on the train is designed to minimize lurching from the fluctuations it's a jerky ride nonetheless. Malcolm's not used to travel when he's not the one behind the wheel and suffers from motion sickness, as does Chig.
Air conditioners on the roof work flat-out to keep the car at a decent temperature at the maglev plods northward in the broiling sun at an average of 50kph. The terrain outside is flat and stark; pretty much all the life on uBuntu is in the valleys where what water there is runs. Up here on top of everything there's not much to see and even without stops the trip to the north sea would take almost eight days.
Jillian takes advantage of the time to ask Bishop about his family. He's reluctant to talk about them and claims that they're not on the way to uLundi at all but his captain can tell when he's lying. She works on him for a while and he reluctantly agrees that it would be a good idea to see them after all this time. Hoping she's on a roll Jillian also tries to convince him that she's not a cold-blooded killer but is less successful at this.
June 27, EY218
The first stop is at the city of mkhaMbathini, two days north of amaThemba. There's nothing much to recommend this city of five thousand other than the confluence of several rivers and the tasty crustaceans that live in the shallow waters from which it gets its nickname, the "Crab Capital of the World!". Mobise talks to the local matriarch when the maglev pulls in and that evening there is another rally. It goes much the same as in amaThemba, though with a much smaller crowd, and it's obvious to Bishop and Jillian not just that Mobise is using these to increase her reputation and that of her city but also that despite being groomed for power her daughter has no interest in it.
June 28, EY218
After much cajoling by Jillian Bishop grudgingly asks amaThemba's matriarch if they could stop to visit his family in kwaMbonambi. She doesn't see such a small place that's also hours off the maglev line as being worth it but gives in for him. Bishop's not sure how he feels about her agreeing but the die's been cast.
June 29, EY218
As they approach the next stop Bishop asks his friends not to make fun of him in front of his family; he's obviously nervous about seeing them again. The maglev eventually pulls into a tiny flyspeck of a station. There's a cargo truck waiting here with a cargo of grapefruit that's being kept in its air-conditioned compartment. After the cargo's been transferred to the maglev Mobise imperiously demands a ride to kwaMbonambi. The driver initially recoils at her haughty demand but readily agrees after recognizing Bishop. Mobise rides in the front with the driver while everyone else sits in the cargo compartment with two of the matriarch's steamer trunks. At least it's air conditioned! Too much, actually, and the hard smooth floor doesn't help make things any more comfortable. The trip takes four hours and runs into early in uBuntu's bright evening. The road isn't paved and it's a bumpy ride that leaves Malcolm and both of the Grob ill. It hasn't been the easiest planetside trip for them!
At long last the truck pulls off of the elevated surface and into the shaded canyon where kwaMbonambi lies, passing by a faded sign that states its name, population (324), and source of renown ("Grapefruit Capital of the World!"). The driver grinds the truck to a lurching halt in front of the local matriarch's home and runs in to get her while everyone else stretches after the ride. The matriarch, as it turns out, is Bishop's mother, kheThiwe! News that Bishop has returned has brought his whole family: in addition to his mother his father and two sisters come out to greet him.
Mobise steps up to Bishop's mother, cutting off the family reunion for the moment to announce her arrival and make it obvious that she's stooping to visit this negligible place and expects to be treated like the ruler of the planet. She *is* the matriarch of amaThemba, after all, and comes bearing Grob. There's amazement as the Grob are revealed and the obvious questions get asked but Mobise is soon drawing attention back to herself. kheThiwe is surprisingly good at placating Mobise and gets the truck's driver to show her and her party to the guest quarters, treating her just well enough to get her out of kheThiwe's hair.
Once that's done Bishop's embraced by his mother for the first time in almost two years. Jillian watches the reunion and quickly works out his relatives' reactions. Bishop's mother is excited and relieved to see him and his father lanGalibalele manages to barely acknowledge his son. Bishop's younger sister (14 years old), Nqobile, seems almost bitter at his presence while his youngest sister (12 years old), Ntombizanele, has something akin to worship in her eyes.
Everyone from off-world is superficially introduced and Seo manages to curb her natural sarcasm and point out that Bishop is a hero who saved her life. The more hostile members of Bishop's family being involved in the conversation makes things awkward and Jillian suggests that kheThiwe shows them the grapefruits that have made kwaMbonambi the "Grapefruit Capital of the World" as a way to allow everyone to split up as they desire.
Seo begs off on behalf of the Grob and herself; the trip in the back of the truck was hard on them and they'd like to rest for now. kheThiwe agrees and tells them they can certainly relax instead of seeing the greenhouses; Malcolm is also still feeling the effects of four hours of bumping and decides to follow suit, and so kheThiwe takes them to her "mansion" to show them where they can rest.
Bishop's old home is certainly homier than the matriarch's mansion in amaThemba. During the brief tour Jillian describes Bishop as the ship's doctor and business manager, which impresses his mother and especially his youngest sister, who hangs on every word of his abilities and exploits. The lines on a doorframe marking his height from when he was a child are noted, as is his old room. It hasn't been kept as a museum to his absence and is now a guest quarters offered to Seo and the Grob. Bishop's mom also briefly shows Ntombizanele's messy room with lots of spacecraft models hanging from the ceiling. Bishop used to have these models hanging from his own ceiling, apparently lying on his bed staring at them and muttering "I'm going to fly off on one of these!" when he was annoyed. Now that he's gone his sister has taken them to her room and does much the same. Malcolm's content to sit in the living room until he feels better and accepts the inevitable crapbark tea with thanks through gritted teeth.
In the end it's Bishop, Jillian, and Volkova who are accompanied by kheThiwe and Ntombizanele around a bend in the canyon, following the modest river. It's not long until they are at the numerous low tinted greenhouses and, entering them, feel immediately refreshed by the humidity and citrus smell.
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 17)
Jillian's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (and unlikely to change)
Malcolm's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 4)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 3)