Efof's message

<snip>
"The code on the piece of paper, you blue imbecile! It says: 'I know where the
Hymie base is. Meet in Parrotts at nine'"
Cassandra glanced sideways at Efof
"I suggest you do..."
"Ok" he smiled "Sounds like a good idea. Do you want to come too?"
Cassandra scowled "No. Whoever it is that you're meant to meet might get spooked
if someone else turns up" she whispered "Rest assured though, I will be
watching..."
"Sshh" someone hissed nearby "We should be quiet. Pay attention to weirdo in the
frock waving the incense around"
"...Any chance of an orgy then?" Efof asked hopefully Cassandra just shook her
head
<end snip>
Who: Efof
Where: Parrotts
When: A few hours after the snip, but before Jay takes off in the Phoenix
Efof had sulked all the way to Parrotts and sat down at a booth at the back,
where he started contemplating how he *should* have asked for the orgy.
Parrotts had undergone some refurbishment lately, but the booth he was sat at
was in the old style. The leather cushioned back to the seat was starting to rip
and fray. But Efof thought that was the best place to sit for a secret
rendezvous. He looked at his watch and Mickey Mouse told him it was 9:00.
A waitress came over to him. "Want any more drinks lovie?" She asked.
"Sure. And can I get another one please, I'm having a secret meeting with
someone." He said.
"Oh. Good for you lovie!" She said. "Let me just take your empties."
As she leaned over the seat to collect Efof's drinks she slipped and tore the
leather seat some more, exposing the foam cushion inner.
"Oops, clumsy me!" She said. "Oh well, these old seats are going to be changed
soon anyway. They're as old as the Blue Dwarf, this was the original colour!"
Efof looked at the torn cushion. He'd never seen inside and was curious. He
pulled out a piece of foam and pushed it against his face. "Oooh soft!" He said,
then noticed something else. There was something written on the wooden inner to
the seat, he pulled out some more foam so he could read it.
"Efof, meet me in the ladies toilet." he read out aloud. Then he called back the
waitress. "Did you put that there?" He said.
"No of course not lovie, I was just collecting the drinks. That must be a really
old message, someone must have put it there when they last refurbished."
Efof wrinkled his face in thought (thinking was difficult for him). "But... you
said that this is the original decoration, but I wasn't on Blue Dwarf then... so
how can anyone know my name?"
He brought her back to the table to show her. Then pulled some more foam out.
"And that's the current date!" he said, pointing to a date written onto the
wood. Even the lettering looked many years old.
"I can't explain it lovie." Said the waitress. "Nobody's tampered with it while
I've worked here. They must have written it ages ago."
She went to fetch Efof a drink, and Efof told her he was going to the toilet.
"The gents is over there." She said, watching him walk towards the ladies.
"I know." Said Efof, thinking about the message, then walking into the ladies
toilet.
A woman walking out gave him a very odd look, which was to be expected. He
checked all three cubicles but there was no-one in there.
"Now what?" He asked himself, and then checked the cubicles again. This time he
came face to face with a young woman walking out. She had blonde hair that went
past her shoulders and wore a full length smart white dress with a thick belt in
the middle, and held a black marker pen in her hand.
"Ah, Efof!" She said.
Efof pursed his lips. "Do I know you?"
"A bit. But not yet." She said. "I'm Annie. I'm a time traveller." She shook his
hand. "I work for the Time Agency. We're a self funded organisa-"
"Did you write that message for me?"
"Yes." She held up the pen. "Just now. Or 11 years ago, depends which way you
look at it."
Efof raised a blue eyebrow. "Awesome!"
"I've got something to tell you and there's not much time.... ironically. Well
I've got loads of time, but you haven't." She said. "Your Captain is heading
into a trap. He thinks he knows where the Hymenoptera base is, but actually it's
a trap and if he goes where he thinks he should go... he'll be in some
serious..."
"Smeg?"
"Yes. Some serious smeg." She said. "So what I want you to do is tell him their
real base is actually 2 miles north northeast of where he thinks it is. There's
a tunnel leading underground."
"North.. north what?"
"Err... I'll write it down for you. Here!" She said scribbling on a piece of
paper then handing it to him.
She looked at her watch. "You'd better hurry. He sets off in the Phoenix 1 in
about 4 minutes."
"4 minutes! I'll never get to the flight deck before then!" Efof said.
"Well you'd better run then!" She urged him, and shooed him out of the toilet.
Before he ran off, Efof turned back. "What did you mean the Phoenix 1. There's
only one Phoenix?"
"Oh. Sorry. Slip of the tongue. Sometimes I forget which time period I'm in."
Said Annie. "Now hurry!"
Efof ran to the flight deck, just in time to see Jay setting off in the Phoenix.
"Damn!" He said, holding his hat on as the jets from the engines almost blew it
off.
He looked around and found a SpaceEagle he knew had a good engine, and strapped
himself in.
He launched and almost immediately came under attack by the Hymenoptera. Ahead
he saw the Phoenix explode into flames, but was relieved to see an escape pod
float out of the wreckage and turn towards the Hymenoptera homeworld.
Two Hymenoptera ships moved to attack the escape pod, but Efof turned on the
guns and sliced straight through the closest, and noticed the second one was
destroyed by one of the Blue Dwarf's turrets.
He engaged the afterburners, catching up with the escape pod as it entered the
atmosphere and followed it down the the surface.
One the eerie surface of the planet, Jay, Jayne and Amber crawled out of the
escape pod (OOC – were there any others?). Efof landed close by and ran up to
Jay as quickly as he could.
"Jay! Jay... uh, I mean Captain!" He called. "We're right in the middle of a
trap... we should go this way." He said pointing.
"I don't think that's possible." Said Jay.
"Why?"
"We're surrounded." Efof turned, every direction he could see Hymenoptera.
Large, small, ones that looked like ants, ones that looked like spiders, and
ones that looked like massive dung beetles towering above the others.
"Smeg."
<Tag - how do we get out of this one?>