Rosette/Andy - 'Holo in the head'

Who: Rosette
Where: Pink Dwarf Medical bay
When: In orbit around planet Shellite, 1330 hours
In a lot of ways Rosette was terrified. She had every right to be. The
feeling of entrapment, weakness permeated around her; claustrophobia
in the making. She tried to open her mouth to breathe but found she
couldn't. Rosette felt like a lump of poorly constituted Aeroplane
Jelly poured into a plasticine cast. The stowaway grimaced in horror
at the thought of what she had become and what she could be becoming
and what… and what Rufus would think of her.
Nausea was only the beginning of the reason why she didn't have the
will to open her eyes, and see for herself why she was feeling so strange.
Yet despite all that, she felt… safe. It was an odd sensation that she
doubted that she'd ever experienced before. Like curling up in sheets
of blankets after an especially long day, Rosette connected the
sensation to going into a deep sleep then waking up in the morning
refreshed and ready for whatever came her way. Though horrified at the
repulsiveness Rosette slowly began to realise to herself that she had
never felt safer (although drowsier) in her life.
For better or worse Rosette knew that she was still being looked
after. Their voices permeated through the carapace that encompassed
her. Although she couldn't understand them from the walls around her
nor could she speak to them from her… God knows what happened to her
vocal cords… the familiar tones gave her strength to fight off the
sleep. Efof's smooth excitable voice and Rufus's cutely wavering yet
determined intonations had both gone. At the very least one remained.
Andy's usually deadpan yet mirthful but now resigned and aggravated drawl.
Rosette wished that she could tear her way out of this. That she could
scream at the top of her lungs for someone to save her, anyone.
An expression of despair brushed over her face. 'They're doing all
they can' she thought to herself. Andy's voice suddenly spiked in
anger in the background; Rosette gave an inexplicable smile.
For now all she could do was lay here and trapped; a woman trying to
get out of an impossible shell, much like a suppressed gay man trying
to get out of Tom Cruise.
~~
Who: Andy …Rosette?
Where: Pink Dwarf Medical bay
When: In orbit around planet Shellite, 1400 hours
"Now sweetie, hold still and I'll try I've got to clean away those
nasty boo boos!" The Doctor cooed stupidly while he dabbed at his
front chest.
Andy sat upright and shirtless as he rolled his eyes. The only reason
he could do so was because the doctor had injected him with a cocktail
of painkillers, coagulants and muscle strengtheners. Yet for all this
guy's medical knowledge and equipment he would swap him for Keto in a
heart beat. At least that guy wouldn't try to hit on him while he had
a hole in his chest.
"Lovely! Now that's all done, I'll just pop around and do the back
for-." Andy's hands shot out and grabbed the doctor by his neck and
arm. "NO!!… I mean… I think I'll be able to clean that… thanks."
The doctor blinked somewhat like as though Efof just had a bazookiod
shoved in his face; clearly in trouble but not quite realising it yet.
"…O-oh… if you insist." "Yes… yes I do. Now in future, stay in front
of me at all times. Now get me a mirror, some gauze and I think I'll
dress my own wounds." The cleaner replied somewhat manically while the
camp medical man scuttled off.
To his credit the doctor got both items reasonably quickly and the
cleaner was caring for his own injuries within little time.
The cleaner grimaced as he got a close look at the laser wound in his
back. He vaguely remembered Charles telling him that the pirates that
had take Blue Dwarf where all in Space Corps custody. Along with their
leader's remains… who was he again? Bart? Basil?
Andy realised that he would never truly get one-on-one revenge for the
guy that shot him. The cleaner suddenly stopped, giving pause only to
pop down a few more interfectum pain killers.
He never thought of himself as a vengeful guy actually. It felt more
like a bizarre work-place injury than an attempt at murder. Perhaps
that was for the best regardless. There was simply no cognitive way
that he'd be able to find the guy responsible. From the way there
where going at it he doubted that even they'd know who had done it.
Andy simply sighed and finished re-dressing the wound. Guess he'd just
have to repress the rage and channel it into removing tough stains as
usual.
Andy pulled himself off the table and mentally readied himself.
"Doctor… hey doctor!" The Janitor called over to the medical officer,
who immediately perked up. "I'm going to the loo. Don't wait up." Andy
drawled and he moved over to the corridor with slow motions.
"No, no, no!" The doctor cried in horror, folding his arms out in
front of the door frame. "You should remain in bed… I can get you a
bed pan if you-" "NO!! Now get out of my way. I have a porcelain god
to defile."
Hesitantly, the doctor got out of the way before Andy shoved him aside.
Aesthetically, the Blue Dwarf and the Pink Dwarf had a lot of
differences. One was pink, the other blue for example but inside… it
was like he was on a different vessel all together.
For one thing, Andy could actually see what the floor was made out of
without taking a chemical sample.
Decks where lined with brightly coloured décor; remarkably almost all
of it seemed to have a function. The yellow sunflowers were intercoms,
the flickering neon lights where actually emergency lighting that ran
on excess power from the ram-scoops while tinsel… god knows what they
were for actually.
Andy's head turned to the side he noticed a large, brightly coloured
(which was something of an oxymoron on this ship) terminal. With the
short leash he was on he didn't have time to make a mess. The
janitor's hand pulled up around his neck and fiddled with the
Masterkey. Twice in one day… well if you're going to break it; you
might as well go all the way.
Tapping the edge on the terminal Andy went about doing the best he
could to cause chaos.
Seconds after the holo-keyboard appeared Holly's magnificent head
materialised on screen; which was currently staring right at him.
Only Holly wasn't a he. It was a she.
"Hello, you'd be from the Blue Dwarf right?" She asked in an informal
manner. There was no doubting it. This was Holly or some freakish
variation of. The facial structure was nearly identical, the only real
difference being that she had lipstick and a thick mop of hair.
Andy stood there like a lemon with his mouth hanging open slightly.
Struck deaf, dumb and mute in a single image.
"Not the talkative type, are you?" 'Holly' added with a coy flick of hair.
"H-Holly?" Andy ventured in abject horror. "Holly? Oh no, I'm an
upgraded model. I have an IQ of 6050; made just in time for Pink
Dwarf's send off. My registration name is Hilly."
The janitor shook his head in bewilderment. "Did they possibly think
about the likely mental scarring of exchanging crew members?" Hilly
blinked in confusion at the man's questions. "No… I don't think our
policy precisely covers that. What would you be doing to that terminal
then?"
Andy immediately bit his tongue, literally, as he was about to spit
out the words 'hacking'. "I'm ahhh… making… making… sure that I…" The
cleaner lifted up the shoebox container of quick wits that he had and
began to shake vigoursly. Hilly's head lent forward, as if in a
subconscious effort to help him remember. The Australian's eyes
dragged over the keymaster's holo-board.
"H-hologram!" Andy blurted out.
"Hologram… *A* hologram?" Hilly suggested; IQ had nothing to do with
it. She felt like she was playing celebrity heads. The irony.
"Yes, I want to- no, Hologram… I want to get a Hologram!" Andy said
with a somewhat wild tone in his voice.
"You want a hologram!" Hilly echoed with relief. "…What for?"
"Uhhhh…" With that the cleaner was completely stumped.
"Wait, you're pretty badly wounded right?" Hilly offered, Andy slowly
nodded. "You've lost a lot of blood I guess… right? Could it be that
you want to copy your psyche over to a back-up chip?"
"I… YES! That's it!!" Andy suddenly shouted. Hilly smiled
benevolently. "Don't worry then. Just follow the green flashing lights
on the ceiling and I'll head you off to a holo-booth for Psycho-analysis."
With that, the cleaner turned towards the flashing lights and stalked
down the corridor. Jed better damn well pay him in spades for this.