Andy- 'There and back again'

Who: Andy
Where: Judgement room
When: Minutes after previous post
<Snip>
"Smeg." Rufus stated, "Other pocket." He grasped about again and
fished out a vile of liquid and smashed it on the floor. The small
hamster squeaked in alarm as part of the floor began to dissolve
leaving a hole enough for a man to jump through behind.
"Is that all?" One of the judges said, obviously unimpressed.
Squeakers chose this point to demonstrate his ability and coughed up a
tiny fireball.
"He breathes fire." Rufus said weakly.
"Next!" The judges said. Rufus trudged out of the office, leafing the
way for the next person. He made his way over to Efof.
<End snip>
A dull thump on the back of Andy's neck alerted him to his current
situation. Blinking blearily, he struggled to his feet and had his
elbow grabbed by a MP. His eyes darted around wildly as though just
awoken. They fell upon Efof's back as he slowly walked away with
Rufus. The Australian had an understandably pragmatic feeling that
he'd never see them again. The view didn't last as the SC solider
dragged Andy into the judgement room.
The Janitor stood groggily in the centre of the large, poorly lit
room. 15 minutes piror he had just been awoken from his healing coma.
Andy's body was a train wreck even before being shot in the chest and
the past few weeks' events had not helped. Still things could've been
worse.
Charged for murder would be one.
The first judge flicked through a thin dosser in front of him, an old
scaly hand rose up and flicked idly at the MP to take his leave. From
the way he was sneering at the pages Andy suspected that he wanted it
to be novel-sized. "Andrew Roos, Janitor... supposedly... according to
the ship's logs and the JMC hiring roster... you're a stowaway." The
first's head tipped up and regarded him under raven-like glasses. He
was the arse-hole of the group.
The second took the dosser from the first, a woman. "Yes..." She
hissed in a cautioning tone to the first. "We're here to see how
competent you are in your given field and to see if re-."
The third talked over the second's sentence, a laid back man with a
calm London accent. "Basically we want to know if we can hire you at
all, considering we didn't even do it in the first place."
Andy stared at the three in a tranquil stare of confusion. "I'm...just
a Janitor. I clean things." The Australian's mind was still fresh on
his Skutter's deaths. Anything else was just background noise. He
didn't really even know the time of day or what he was doing and
defiantly not that he was standing judge at what could be the start or
the end of his career with the JMC.
The first judge tore off his glasses and rubbed his eyes in
frustration. "There's been rumours that his man was an idiot as WELL
as a hacker." His crowish look returned to the Cleaner. "They say that
*HE* is Hal?!"
The only female of the group gave a crocked eyebrow. "Well the theory
is a bit hackneyed. The real Hal would have to be at least 70 years
old! He's not even 30 yet, but that's not why we're here."
The third gave a gauff of laughter. "He's a stowaway! We here to
re-hire people, he's not part of the original crew. So I would say
that until his 10 minutes are up; let's see if we can make the day
interesting and try to bring him up on charges that he couldn't
possibly have made."
"Aye." The first make in a birdlike gesture. "But rather than simply
guess work we could just have the real deal come in and tell us. You
there, guard. Bring in employee 4000560, would you kindly?" The guard
gave a grunt and poddled off out of the room. A short bark of the
employee code he returned followed suit by a man that was overtly
familiar with the Hal legend.
"*Former* Major-general G. Chapman..." The Crow rolled the man's name
under his tongue. Andy finally woke up as he turned to stare at the
officer. However old, Chapman was still keeping well. He looked better
than ever physically, his face solid as stone, Chapman stood straight
and proud in the middle of the room. The officer blue navel uniform
was well pressed and starched while his medals shone brightly despite
the low light. Even still, the over-formality of the uniform made it
feel eerily like a burial.
"...Chapman..." Andy uttered in disbelief. How did he get here so
fast? Why was this judge case suddenly a trial? Better yet, how did he
survive the crash?
"Oh good, you're acquainted." The first said while observing his
finger nails vainly. "Now, see *Mr* Chapman- you've done a very silly
thing. Crashed the Oath-keeper. Now a 4 Trillion dollar ship is scrap.
You've been skating on thin ice ever since you went past working age
and now... well... let's just say that there is a very small change
that you'll be reinstated if you do a favour for us."
The second immediately caught on, and predictably didn't approve. "We
can't do a thing like that! It'd be negligent! It'd be-!"
"If you're going to ask me if that man is Hal then I'd have to say
that I'm not going to give you the time of the day." Chapman's voice
cut through the bickering. The former officer gave the Australian a
hard look out the corner of his eye. "I've not told the world who Hal
is and that's a secret I'll take to my grave. So- Fuck off... the lot
of you."
The Judges replied with stunned silence.
The third slid restfully in his chair with a uncaring look on his
face. "Guard, make sure you get these two a shuttle back to Earth.
They're both officially non-JMC personnel and need to be escorted off
site. Have a nice day."
~~
Who: Andy
Where: Sydney's outskirts, condemned apartment block.
When: one day after the Judgement
Aside from a duffel bag full of clothes and random personal items Andy
stood and stared up at his old apartment home. Although that
past-tense was soon to change. The course of time had taken him over
51 years to get back but it'd been an experience for him and one that
he'd never forget.
The Skutters, the Blue Dwarf, Rosette, Efof, Rufus...and even
Seymour...they'd made him into what he was today. Life in space forced
him to look inwards into himself. Now he was going to go inside, sleep
for two hours then go out and get fish and chips.
His adventurous days were over.
Or so he thought; as only two hundred metres away...
Annie stared apprehensively at the Australian man as he retreated back
into his house. Somehow she knew that Potential's plan hardly needed
Andy to come to fruition but knowing him it was either his way or the
highway. "Potential, I'll say it here and now. I don't like this and I
don't trust you. After what you did to the Blue Dwarf-!"
"Don't worry Annie." The half-dressed Texan replied with a smooth
tone. "I'm only trying to help... and believe me. You're going to need
Andy... you're going to need them all. There is a lot of randomness on
their converging roads ahead and they all need is to be kept in check.
The Blue Dwarfers..." Potential gave an ecstatic grin. "Let's just say
that without them then your life is going to be a lot more...UN-joyful."
<To be continued... unless MK10 somehow breaks down Andy's wall>