Beach-y Heat

“Remarkable engineering,” commented White Wolf as he examined the Dimension Slip Drive.
“Thank you,” Ransom replied as he sat his tea cup back into its saucer, “I designed and built it myself.”
“Most impressive. I might take some notes later.”
“By all means. Of course, it did burn out. Mostly useless unless I can salvage it.”
White Wolf and Ransom sat on a couple of comfortable leather chairs, one significantly larger than the other to accommodate the large hamster, around a small desk with the broken drive in the middle. Everyone was busy meeting the other new guy, who was probably far more interesting than anything Ransom had to say.
“So you say the drive only takes you between dimensions,” began White Wolf, “And doesn’t allow you to travel in space?”
“Yeah, it’s only designed to transport you from one spot in a dimension to the exact same spot in another dimension, with small buffeters, of course, in case you land IN something.”
“So how did you end up here? Earth is light-years away.”
“Yes,” Ransom said as he took another sip of his tea, “We moved our Terra, or Earth. By some astonishing coincidence, this resort was on the exact same coordinates.”
“Moved your Earth?”
“Long story,” Ransom said as he waved away the question, “Involved a lot of terribly boring and long winded reasoning.”
“You’ll have to tell me someday,” smiled White Wolf and he stood up with a stretch, “But I’m going to make the most of this sun, even if it is artificial.”
“What other kind is there anymore?” asked Ransom, his mind not really focusing. He glanced up towards the hamster to see his confused face, twisted with questions. “Never mind,” Ransom dismissed and he too stood up, putting the drive in his pocket.
“So, going introduce yourself to the name face?” asked White Wolf, changing the subject.
Ransom followed Wolf’s nod, out the nearby window and towards the barbecue were the new comer and Jay were chatting away. “No,” said Ransom with a slight drop in his smile, “I think I’ll go for a walk, try and clear my head.”
“Fair enough,” said Wolf with a shrug, not noticing Ransom’s small depression, and made for the door, hoping to catch the warm weather before the crew were again subjected to the cold walls of the ship.

“Dr. Black,” called Ransom as he walked along a sun soaked path pathway that cut across sandy gardens. In his hand he clutched at the wooden shaft of a light canvas umbrella, a shield of shade covering him from the warm rays.
“Not-Really-A-Doctor MacIntyre,” said Jade warmly, pulling herself up from her lying position in the warm sand.
“Miss… uhm…” stuttered Ransom as he realised that he had failed to even learn the names of the entire crew.
“It’s Cassandra Jones,” Cass replied, her words edged with annoyance. Her eyes refused to move from the staring contest with the clear blue sky, polarised shades protecting them from damage. “But please don’t call me Miss anything.”
“Right…” muttered Ransom, slightly mystified.
“What’s up?” asked Jade, turning to face Ransom proper.
“I came to ask about my predecessor,” he said, cutting straight to the chase.
“Predecessor?”
“I heard there was a man, a crew member, before I arrived. I just came to ask about him.”
“Plisken?”
“Yes, that was his name.”
“Hell,” said Cass as she whipped off her glasses and broke her focus on the sky, “None of us knew what he was doing; kept changing his bloody story all the smegging time.”
“He got trapped in the wibbly-dimension-whole thingy that you came from,” explained Jade, “It closed before we could do anything. Before that, he was about to shoot Jaxx.”
“Jaxx is the…”
“Shark man, yes.”
“Strange world,” Ransom muttered to himself.
“They’re over there if you want to talk to them,” Cass said, waving her hand in the general direction.
“No, I’d rather not. There’s something about them that I don’t…”
“Understand?” suggested Jade.
“Trust. Understand too, but trust more so.”
“You’re not the first.”
“No, I guess not,” Ransom said, his voicing trailing off. “Anyway,” he said refocusing, “I just wanted to check that. I think I should go back inside now, this heat is far too much for me.”
“See you later,” said Jade with a forced smile, which Ransom found understandable when considering the lack of forearm.
“Yeah, bye,” Cass dismissed, and she turned back to her tanning.

<OOC – Far from my best, and I dislike it all, but at least it gets Ransom involved somewhat. Also, 801 days since I first joined.>