Dead, Comatose, and Crazy

Jade and Artemis barely got through the examination, they were so tired they could barely stand up straight. From what they could tell, Jaxx had suffered catastrophic damage to his brain, and that something had been altered. Other than that, they couldn't tell. An in-depth examination would have to be done, but when Phi was available and everyone had gotten some rest.

Artemis pulled off his latex gloves and dropped them in a biohazard container. Jade did the same, and plopped down in a nearby chair. "What a long day" Said Jade. "I'd be lying if I said it went well...." Artemis added. Artemis looked down at the weary doctor. "How are you holding up?" he said. "Between all the commotion in the AR suite, Jaxx and Evelina getting hurt, plus Plisken's disappearence...I don't know..." said Jade. The two were motionless. It was all quiet except for the soft cries of Evelina as she sat by the comatose Jaxx. The medical communicator rang. Artemis pounded the accept button. "Yes?"

"Artemis, Jade....you have to come down here....it's Plisken" Alex's voice emanated from the grill. Artemis didn't like the tone in Alex's voice. Deep down inside he knew what was happening, but he tried to convince himself that he was wrong....he had to be wrong. Artemis helped Jade up and the pair started down to stasis, leaving Evelina sitting over Jaxx....

The bewildered Dwarfers stood around the stasis pod looking at their fallen comrade. "I can't believe he's gone...." said Jay. "Of all the people I've met on this journey, he was the most....Human" Artemis said mournfully.

"What do we do now? I mean...what can we do? Jaxx is in a coma, Plisken is dead, the ship is still reeling from the virus, and we have no idea how to get Cass back!" Jamie said angrily. "Mr. Eastlick...." Artemis started. "....we'll find a way...." for the first time since Artemis arrived on the crew, it seemed as if we was really there, showing true emotion for the first time. Artemis wiped the tears from his eyes and put a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "We'll find a way....I promise" There was a long silence. "Let's call it a day everyone....we'll....we'll work everything out tomorrow" said the weary captain. Everyone went their separate way, leaving wise old Plisken behind....

Later

<snip>
He grabbed to the side of Mrs. Lady and pulled out the portable signal tracker. He climbed to the top of the ship to get a better signal.

"Hmm. It's closer. It's big! What is it. GERK! WHAT IF IT'S THE CFTCOAH INC. CORPORATION?!"

He started spinning around on top of Mrs. Lady, trying to follow the signal.

"Where are you? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!"

As he had his backed turned to the starboard side, the ship came right next to Mrs. Lady, it wasn't a CFTCOAH inc. Corporation ship, it was Blue Dwarf. Boyd kept circling the top of Mrs. Lady, looking for the signal.

"Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU?!"
<snip/>

Suddenly, Boyd noticed the ship getting closer. "My god! IT'S HAPPENING!" Boyd shouted as The Lady was sucked into the ramscoop

It was all quiet in the Pritchard home. Artemis and the Missus had turned in some time ago, and the various systems within the apartment were still rebooting from the virus fiasco, taking away the ambient hum of vents, computers, and Artemis' robotic bug traps. Strike that, it was eerily quiet. Suddenly there was a large thud, grinding sounds echoed throughout the ship. "Emergency....emergency....there's an emergency....and it's still happening" Holly ranted.
"What is it you git?" Artemis said angrily, stumbling out of his bedroom.

"It appears that we've sucked some poor fellow in through the ramscoop. He got stuck at junction six, not a nice place to be I reckon" Holly replied. Artemis sighed. "Is anyone else awake?" Artemis asked. "Yeah, a few, it's hard to sleep when the equivalent of a cat getting sucked into a vacuum echoes throughout the ship" Artemis gave Holly a weary look. "Not one for jokes right now eh?" "Just seal off the area, I'll be down there in a bit. Keep any survivors locked inside the junction" Artemis and The Missus shuffled out of their quarters, off to meet whomever had the misfortune of being "eaten" by Big Blue

TAG

Okay Tiberius, got you in the ship in the funniest way possible. Might want to get ol' Boyd introduced to the other Dwarfers.