Going Nuts

Who: Keto, Wildflower
Where: Medibay
When: New Year's Day
=====================
The medibay was not in pristine condition.
The rioting mobs that had swept through the place looking for the
medicinal alcohol, before swarming out to try and locate the escapee
patients travelling through the air ducts, had not tidied up after
themselves as they went. The result was a medibay that looked like a
rhino had been set loose in it with an active cattle prod shoved up
its backside. And then had the gravity reversed. Twice.
Medibunks were overturned. Cupboards and cabinets were flung open,
their contents strewn across the floor. Shattered ointment bottles
and spilled ointment mingled on most surfaces (some combinations
leading to smoke, fumes and in one instance the unexpected generation
of a new type of bacteria, which would have gone on to breed and wipe
out all life in the universe had some fortunate rioter not trodden on
it seconds after its creation, killing it).
And it was to the sight of all this that Keto emerged from his office
with a hangover.
The lack of alcohol had not been a major issue for him. One of the
side effects of his ointment-exposed youth was that alcohol itself had
very little effect on his biology, and so he had seen absolutely no
motivation to join any rioters. Unfortunately for him, however, one
of the *other* side effects of his exposure was that peanuts hit him
harder than any alcohol might have done before.
He had gone into his office, allowed himself to partake of one or two
of the salted legumes as a pre-Christmas celebration...and had woken
up five minutes previously on New Year's Day with a splitting hangover.
And his medibay was trashed.
His. Medibay.
And, seeing the multiple footprints of a rioting crew, together with
the signs of a vexed mob spread around the medibay, he instantly
guessed what had happened.
"SHAKESPEARE!" he bellowed, before wincing at the sound of his own
voice. "What have you done to my medibay!?"
There was no response.
"Shakespeare!" he repeated, somewhat quieter, supporting himself
against the doorframe to his office. Then, as a sudden *clang* echoed
from his left, he spun around and lost his balance, falling to the
floor with a thud.
Wildflower, dropping down from an air duct vent in the medibay
ceiling, looked down at him.
"Hi Charlie," she said, "Have they gone?"
"Have WHO gone, irritant?" growled Keto, struggling to lift himself to
his feet again, brushing off Wildflower's hand as she tried to help.
"The mob. You know, from the riots?" Wildflower said slowly.
"What riots? What are you talking about, you insufferable pest?"
snapped Keto, dusting himself off, "What happened to my medibay?"
"Sheesh, Charlie, where have you been? There've been riots because of
the alcohol shortage. They broke in here looking for medicinal
alcohol, but me and the others and the patients all escaped through
the air ducts. I got lost, though, and it took me ages to find my way
back here."
"And a pity you did," said Keto harshly, glancing around the room, "So
what you're telling me is that all this...this CATASTROPHE of a mess
is due to rioters."
"Yes."
"Members of the crew."
"Yes."
"Not Shakespeare."
"No."
"Prove it!" snapped Keto. Wildflower sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Look, Charlie, Shakespeare helped us all get the patients out of here
when the mob broke in. He didn't damage anything. It was the crew."
"Then why-" began Keto, but he was interrupted by the sound of an
announcement over the ship's speakers. Jed's voice rang out.
<<SNIP>>
"Attenshun folks, this is yer Captain speakin'. Now I know yer all
rightly pissed off about the lack of alcohol and the pubs being
closed, but if yer stop ya strike for one mere moment I'd like to tell
yer all about a mighty large problem we have onboard." he paused for
breath. "The Engineers told me about a problem with the air flow.
There's something wrong with the oxygen/nitrogen mix or some such – ah
don't understand the specifics, but I reckon it's mightily bad news if
we leave it untouched.
"Now, I know the situation is bad and all you
folks reckon yer getting' a raw deal, but I ain't backing down to any
demands. You can all strike yerselves into oblivion if ya want, it
suits me. But this ship is too valuable to loose to a bit of harsh
feeling, so If some of ya don't start working again soon, I'm gonna
get angry. And you won't like me when I'm angry!"
<<END SNIP>>
"...so," said Keto as the message faded out, "The crew's on strike?
And we're all going to slowly suffocate to death, or worse, because of
this strike? All of us? Including ME?"
"Sounds like it," agreed Wildflower, white-faced. Keto growled.
"Over my incredibly hungover, oxygen-starved dead body!" he snapped,
straightening up, "Wildflower, we're going to engineering."
"What? Why?"
"To find out what's wrong with the air. Once we know what's WRONG,
then we can get them to FIX it. This is not rocket science."
"No. It's spaceship engineering."
"SHUT UP AND SUPPORT ME AS I WALK, WOMAN!" yelled Keto, staggering
forwards as Wildflower grabbed one arm to prop him up, "I'm recovering
from the mother of all peanut hangovers."
"Heh. You're nuts," giggled Wildflower.
"If I didn't require you in order to be mobile, that pun would have
some dire consequences," said Keto, stony-faced. "Onward!"
"Didn't you quit?" asked Wildflower's voice as they walked forwards.
"Couldn't find the captain," muttered Keto.
"He's in the drive room."
"There's a lot of people going to die soon. Medical staff don't quit
when that's going to happen. We don't strike, we don't quit, and we
don't hide."
"But you were going to quit. And you hid in your office. And got
drunk on peanuts."
"...that's not the point."
"It's the entire p-"
"I'M NOT LEAVING MY MEDIBAY IN YOUR HANDS!" yelled Keto, "At least at
the moment it's only a wreck! Devil knows what would happen to it
with you in charge. Now. Let's go."
"Tetchy," murmured Wildflower, rolling her eyes.
Slowly, the two of them edged out of the medibay and started to make
their way towards engineering.
================
OOC: Tag anybody in engineering or who wants to run into Keto and
Wildflower in a corridor on the way there! :D Sorry about my recent
absence - lots of things going on at this end. I've just quit my job
and got a new one due to start soon, so there's been a bit of hassle!