RE: [JMC_Blue_Dwarf] Seymour - \"Babysitting\"

<SNIP>
Seymour's eyes went wide. "Did they say which Cargobay?" he panicked."Eight I think."Seymour shot out of the Medibay yelling "My caviar!". The Nurse shouted after him. "But...your baby!" <END SNIP>
 
Jayne moved aside and pressed herself up against the corridor wall as Seymour barged past. He didn't even give her a passing glance, a few months ago she'd have broken his neck for treating her like that, especially considering she was injured - hence her journey to the Medi-bay, and he just thrust his was past like she was yesterdays rubbish. Thankfully, she had a new life now...though she wasn't sure whether it was her, or Seymour who should be thankful.
 
She shook her head, and entered the medibay, glancing around, the only nurse in sight was clearly busy holding a baby, and was obviously not free to treat Jayne's fairly minor wounds - she'd hit her head on the dashboard of a Space Eagle during a training programme - Jay had felt that given the recent spate of seemingly unprovoked attacks on ships recently, that it would be prudent for the pilots to run training missions much more regularly - and she ha dbeen sent to medi-bay to check for concussion, and clean up the open wound. She'd had worse, but hey, this place seemed to look after it's own. She might as well take advantage of it. 
 
She didn't want to disturb the nurse with the baby so waved her hand and said "I'll come back later, this is nothing!"
"It's not nothing! That's a serious head wound, don't worry, I'm not here alone" she nodded toward the office "Nurse Chrysler's here too, I'll call her out, NESS!!, PATIENT!!"
Vanessa poked her head around the door, and glanced at baby Alota sheepishly, then headed for the newcomer. "Hi sis!!" she said excitedly, "C'mon, sit up on the bed."
"Sis?"
"Yeah, you're kind of like, a big sister"
"Hardly, I may share your brothers DNA, but that's all"
"I share a smuch DNA with you as I do with Jay" Vanessa said "That makes you my sister"
"But..." Jayne winced mid sentence as Vanessa applied an anti-septic to her cut. "Why would you want me as a sister"
"Why not?"
Jayne was touched, she'd never had a real family, and never would have expected to be accepted so easily into the Chrysler fold, but Jay and Vanessa had treated her like she was a long-lost sibling, rather than an altered clone. 
"FORSOOTH!" came a panicked voice from the corridor, the doors burst open, and Doctor Shakespeare stumbled in, turned around and slammed the door shut, bolting it."
"What's up Doc'?" Vanessa asked, then turned to Jayne "Did I really just...."
Jayne nodded slowly.
"Damn..."
"Thine vessel's crew'st have gones't insaneth!" 
"What do you mean?" Jayne asked, curiously.
"Rioteths and mobs'sts! All'st acrosseth the vessel'st! One'st mobeth has't chaseth'ed mineself back to thine medical'st bayeth! " 
"Why would they be rioting?"  Vanessa asked.
The nurse hgolding Alota spoke "Probably something to do with the alcohol""
"But, the AA meeting are held in Psychiatric department, not here...besides, some people just need to take care of themselves, I've not been able to drink for weeks now, and you don't see ME rioting!"
"What can't you drink?" Jayne asked, curiously.."
"Er...no reason..."
"Are you?"
"Don't be ridiculous..."
There was a banging on the door. "They're trying to get in!" the nurse yelled "What do they want?"
"Holly!" Jayne asked "What's going on?"
Holly replied "All the alcohols been lost, some are fighting for it in the cargo bay, others have made a beeline for Parrotts, and the other bars. Some have come here"
"Why here?" Vanessa asked.
"Medicinal Alcohol" Jayne said, noticing a large bottle labelled as such on a nearby shelf.
The door was beaten again, despite the bolt, the door buckled as though about to open.
"They'll be inside any minute, and we can't do anything to stop them!"
"The vent!" Jayne said, drawing her pistol, "Help the patients get in!, Doc! Move!"
Shakespeare nodded, while Jayne stood guard, and dashed over to the vent, removing the cover and assisted the nurses in moving the patients into the vent, before carefully lowering Jenny onto a stretcher and sliding her inside.
"Come'st  on!" Shakespeare yelled, sticking his head out of the vent "Thine mob shalt break'st ineth any secondeth!" 
Jayne drew her pistol and headed for the vent, then quickly changed her mind and grabbed the bottle of medicinal alcohol and a med-kit.
"Hurry'st!" 
Jay's clone heade dback for the vent and quickly sealed the hatch behind her, as she did so, the doors finally broke and the medi-bay was swamped with a large mob of crew members searching for anything that could get them drunk.
"That.." Vanessa said "Was close...."
"Yes.." Jayne replied, "And it won't belong before come after this.." she held up the alcohol
"Why did you go back for that?"
"Patients need it more than they do. And if they want it, they'll have to go through me"
 
 
 

-----Original Message-----From: JMC_Blue_Dwarf@yahoogroups.com [mailto:JMC_Blue_Dwarf@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of OnionSent: 18 December 2007 22:44To: JMC_Blue_Dwarf@yahoogroups.comSubject: [JMC_Blue_Dwarf] Seymour - "Babysitting"

Who: Ambassador Seymour NiplesWhere: Function Room #39, The PromenadeWhen: As the alcohol is being pillagedSeymour sank his face into his hands, it felt like he was going round and round in circles. He was sat in a small negotiating room with two diplomats from different planets, negotiating the disputes they have had over the border between their two empires. The Dolphorses and the Mollopods had agreed to meet onboard the Blue Dwarf as it was neutral territory. This was important, as the two species shared so little trust in each other that they would have assumed that any Ambassador travelling to the respective race's homeworld would be instantly imprisoned, shot, or eaten.Due to the Blue Dwarf's previous encounter with the Mollopods, a team of armed guards watched carefully over the proceedings. Seymour knew that the Mollopod probably cared more about sorting this border dispute out than eating him, but even still made sure that they had all eaten before they'd started.The Dolphorse was perhaps one of the strangest creatures that Seymour had ever seen. It seems that several years ago, Genetic scientists had gone incredibly bonkers and started merging every species of animal with an entirely different species of animal. One of the results of this experimentation was the Dolphorse, part Dolphin, part Horse. Of course it was unclear how the species got from the petri-dish to inhabiting their own world, but Seymour just assumed enough of them had been bred to create a family, and they promptly stuck two fingers up at their creators (or hooves), and stole a ship to find a world of their own.Seymour lifted his face up from his hands. "Look, shall we go over this again...."The Mollopod looked as frustrated as Seymour did (but luckily didn't look hungry), and the Dolphorse looked fairly impassive. It was incredibly hard for the part Dolphin, part Horse to express emotion, a it had the head and flippers of a dolphin, and four legs of a horse. It spoke through a translator who was an impossibly small human and mysterious woman named Marge.Marge had black hair which was tied back with incredible tightness, and wore glasses with thick dark frames. It made her look intimidating despite her petite stature. She wore a frowning face that was almost as expressionless as the part-Dolphin she was representing."This deal is no good. It is unfair to the Mollopod race. I think you discriminate against us because we are higher in the food chain than you." Said the Mollopod Ambassador.The Dolphorse clicked and squeaked something illegible, and Marge stood up to translate. "My client believes that this deal is incredibly fair..." She stared deep into the Mollopod's eyes with no fear. "...And incredibly fair considering that you have been sneakily moving your borders into our territory a centimetre each day.""We have not!" said the fat slug in outrage.Seymour moved his hands over his ears. "Haven't we had this argument already?" He said, but it was too late, the Mollopod, the Dolphorse, and the translator had launched into a full argument.Seymour made an excuse and left the room, despite the situation being still unresolved. He walked with the intention of going back to his apartment, but a friendly voice called out to him from the crèche as he passed. "Oh Mister Niples? Aren't you forgetting something?" said a friendly voice that Seymour found patronising. Seymour sunk his head then turned around. "Oh yes of course." he said, and pretended to smile.A happy, gurgling baby was placed in his arms which he held awkwardly. "I think little Alota has missed you." Said the woman, and tugged at baby Alota's cheek, making her giggle and thrash about in Seymour's arms."Alright alright." Said Seymour, waving the woman away. "That's enough excitement for one day."He placed the baby under his arm and carried it all the way to sickbay, where he sidestepped a few nurses to sit by the bedside of the unconscious Jenny Bond. He sat down and placed Alota on the bed next to her mother. Seymour looked at Jenny, her skin was clammy and almost grey in colour, the tubes up her mouth and nostrils controlled her breathing.Baby Alota thrashed around, pulling at the bedsheets, but her mother still didn't awake. As she hadn't in the last four months. Seymour was increasingly loosing hope that she would survive, and that he would be the full time father for the child.This had sort of been what he wanted. Before the accident that had knocked Jenny unconscious he had learned that she wanted Seymour to not see the baby at all. He had been outraged, he desperately wanted to see his child. But now he faced being the permanent parent and he just wanted to give her back. Seymour had come to the conclusion, babies were fun... for about five minutes, then you give them back to their parents. If you can't give them back, then they're not fun. They're rubbish.Babies aren't useful to have intellectual conversations with. They can't hold down caviar, and they don't appreciate a good wine.Plus, Alota cried for no apparent reason at random times during the day, and at night, and Seymour was becoming increasingly tired of it. He had considered giving her to the Dolphorse, who would probably give her a better life, although there's the chance it might give her to the Mollopod as a peace offering, who would waste no time in covering her in ketchup and putting her between two slices of bread.Seymour considered this, as it solved his problem. But his family pride kicked in. No child with his brilliant genes would be wasted as a Mollopod snack.Then, a thought struck him. Normally the medibay had more Doctors and Nurses than there currently was, even on the graveyard shift. And he didn't remember seeing many people on his way here either. "Nurse... where is everybody today?"The Nurse that was checking on Jenny's vitals turned her thumb towards the direction of the door. "Everyone said there was an emergency in the cargo deck. Lots of alcohol was being burned or something, they've all gone to save it. I'm only here cos I'm teetotal."Seymour's eyes went wide. "Did they say which Cargobay?" he panicked."Eight I think."Seymour shot out of the Medibay yelling "My caviar!". The Nurse shouted after him. "But...your baby!" Alota gurgled happily.<To be continued...>