"don't worry, i have a plan"

*a joint post by sean and Cassy! (aka Trisees and Jenny)*
Who: Jenny, Wilfdflower and Trisees
Where: a desert planet
when: about now
"How did we get into this mess..." Wildflower mused, holding onto the
time machine with all her strength. The newly made robotic arm of
Trisees holding onto her. This arm being the only thing saving her
from certain doom.
"well, if you must know..." began Jenny, holding onto a branch
sticking out of the cliff face with both hands, the remaining human
arm of Trisees around her, holding both him and Wildflower up,
suspended in the air.
--Hours Earlier--
Trisees looked over his shoulder at the rapidly departing Jenny and
then back at Wildflower.
"Did she say something?" he asked, looking at the trainee surgeon.
Trisees frowned as Wildflowers voice opened and closed but no words
came out. He reached up to his electronic headset and tapped it a few
times.
"I think the heat has messed with this infernal contraption."
Jenny stormed into the midget, closing the door behind her. "Damn
electronic doors... can't slam them properly..." she began, all the
feelings inside her messing about, hormones exploding in big balls of
firey death. She made her way into the control room of the ship, and
let herself fall into the comfortable pilots seat, instantly letting
her feet fly up to the controls.
"smegging men" she said to herself quietly. She sat there stewing in
her anger for a moment before erupting in a spectacular show of pain
for anyone that would dare to go near her. "WHAT DOES EVERYONE HAVE
AGAINST ME?!?!?" she yelled at the top of her voice, even though no
one was around to hear her. She slouched back into the chair, a lone
tear fell from her cheek, onto the leather arm rests.
Trisees tapped his head several times and winced as the headset buzzed
his brain in rapid succession.
Trisees sighed deeply. He wasn't worried. He'd died twice - he
could always come back somehow. He shook his head and extended his
arm a little till it reached just over an extra two feet. He leant
forward and placed his fingers around the device. Cluthching it
gently, he secured a grip and retracted his arm, whilst moving
backwards.
As the device came off its pedestal, Jenny and Wildflower
instinctively winced and waited for something to happen. Trisees
appeared next to them, device in hand, staring into the room they'd
just left.
No one said anything for a moment.
"Booby trapped huh?" asked Jenny.
Trisees glared.
"women aren't all bad you know!" Jenny said, she could feel herself
wanting to laugh, but kept it subdued.
"shall we go then?" she asked, getting two nods in response.
"wow, is it me, or does this return trip feel easier.." Wildflower
began, but was cut off by Jenny,
"RUN!!!" she yelled, as the sound of metal on stone found its way to
their ears, followed by a mechanical growl.
"I don't know whether to panic or gloat about being right," muttered
Trisees as he watched the two girls hurrying away from him and onto
the thin bridge again.
He stashed the device in his backpack and ran after them, jumping onto
the thin bridge behind them as the room the device had been in began
crumbling into large piles of rocks.
As they shuffled themselves along the bridge Wildflower stopped, Jenny
and Trisees bumping into her back.
"Why'd you stop?!" asked Trisees angrily.
"Look," shouted Jenny, as the small tunnel began to shake too, the
inside of it crumbling as well.
They stood, open mouthed as the tunnel gave a large loud smashing
noise and the entrance filled with rocks.
"What are we going to do?" asked Wildflower.
"Our choice is already made up," said Trisees pointing
"That's not going to be healthy," he sighed. "Let's get ourselves
after Jenny."
"Can I have the map? I want to be the map reader."
Trisees raised an eyebrow and tossed Wildflower the map, watching her
defly drop it as it landed in her hands.
"Nice catch."
"Thanks"
They walked back towards
the bug and Trisees put his head through the door and called out to
Jenny.
"Jenny, are you coming with us?"
"what for? you're just gonna ignore me again, i feel like staying
here, away from everyone, and everything." she said angrily, staying
in her chair, facing away from the door. She could feel a few more
tears appearing as she thought of the child she was now carrying.
then she spun the chair round, and looked at Trisees and Wildflower.
Thoughts of whether she'd be better off alone or with company drifted
through her mind.
After a few seconds, she wiped her eyes, and stood up. "actually,
why not... lets go"
"I'm sorry, I think my ears are malfunctioning again. Did you say
anything? I saw your lips move, but heard nothing." Trisees hit his
head again and frowned as the headband sparked.
"Damned heat," he said aloud. "Ok, I'm going to take it these aren't
working. I need to see lips directly to register any speech."
"If its just heat, maybe staying cool would help" Jenny said, thinking
aloud. Trisees was looking away at the time, so didn't hear anything,
sighing, she tapped him on the shoulder and waited for him to turn to
her before saying it again.
Trisees poked a small piece of wire trailing down from his left
reciever. How had the heat gotten to it? He wondered. His train of
thought was disturbed as he felt Jenny tap his shoulder.
"Yes?" he asked, turning around and looking at her lips.
"so anyway, where to?" Jenny asked, looking out into the arid
landscape that spanned the horizon. "whichever way, i think we can
forget there being a scenic route, or a place to hitch hike" she said,
then turned round, facing into the midget. "why not just take the
midget? it can walk for us"
"The midget?" asked Wildflower. "That is a good idea. Why not Trisees?"
Trisees raised an eyebrow. "I just assumed from reading the map that
the midget might be a bit large for a few of the places we have to go
to. It appears to be a wild ride. I also wasn't sure if the alien
race we need to talk to would feel threatened by three people or a
large blue space ship. But fine, we can take it for some of the distance"
"I'll take one. Trisees?" asked Wildflower.
Trisees, staring out of the window and hitting a few buttons didn't
reply.
"It's going to be like this again," Wildflower sighed, throwing a
crumpled piece of paper at the back of Trisees head. It hit him
square and he turned around, angry.
"What the hell was that for?"
"Do you want a beer?"
"I'd rather have you dead," he replied, turning back to the console.
"I think he might be in one of his swings again."
"Swings?" asked Jenny.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, you don't know much about him. Trisees suffers
from rather bizarre mood swings due to an accident 12 years ago. He
snaps back and forth between viciously angry and very irritated.
Brief moments of insulting are usually his happiest moods. Poor guy."
"ouch... nasty, how long does it last?" Jenny asked, getting up with
a beer in hand and putting it on the panel next to him. "and what
kind of accident? if its ok to ask.."
"I've known him for three years. And this seems to be a bit general.
All you have to do is ignore him, treat him like you would a happy
person. Sure it annoys him further, but he is kinda cute when frowning."
Wildflower gulped and hurriedly changed the subject.
"Self inflicted accident from what I've heard. Was working on a
machine back when he was 19 to unlock the powers of the mind. He
tried it out on himself, and had a previous personality from another
life take over his body for 12 years. When he finally resurfaced
again, he was never the same"
Jenny sighed and glanced at trisees, seeing him in a completely new
light, then turned to the window. "shall we go then?" she asked,
standing the midget up slowly.
"this place looks great for a holiday" she said, looking around.
"all it needs is some water and it would be the perfect beach planet."
The legs of the midget fired into life, and Jenny set it walking in
the direction they'd gone before. After a few minutes, the cabin
started to heat up.
"is it me, or is it getting rather warm in here?" jenny said, undoing
the top couple of buttons on her shirt, she tapped the air
conditioning controls, which whirred to life for a second, before
giving up with a rather nasty sounding clunk. "more beer?" she asked,
holding the chilled can to her face for a second before opening it,
and downing half of it in one go.
"Definitely getting warmer in here," said Wildflower, loosening her
shirt too and using an uncrumpled piece of paper to fan herself.
"Maybe Trisees could fix the AC? Sure, I'd love another beer, one way
to cool myself."
Wildflower took another from Jenny and opened it, swigging back too.
Trisees, still at the front of the console, concentrated on the
navigation of the Blue Midget.
"anyones better at electronics than me..." Jenny said, walking over to
trisees, and tapping him on the shoulder, he turned his head to her
slightly and looked at her out of the corner of his eye, feeling
slightly uncomfortable, but calm in the knowledge that he didn't mean
it, "is there any chance you could take a look at the air-con please?
its broken" she asked, and watched as Trisees suddenly smiled, and
stood up. "yeah, it is a bit warm in here..." he said, walking into
the back to check the fans. while he was gone, Wildflower stepped up
to the navigation panel to make sure they stayed on course.
"That was strange," said Wildflower. "Was it just me or did Trisees
smile?"
"I think he did," said Jenny.
"You must have a good effect on him," said Wildflower, a tad jealous.
Jenny shrugged and sat down next to Wildflower, opening a third beer.
"Sure is thirsty work," said Wildflower, taking another herself. "I
wonder where the treasure is."
"Not sure..." Jenny began, "but by the looks of those rocks, we're
gonna have to leave the midget here... looks like it'll be a long way
round, and i can't see a good place on the other side of it to
land..." she said, getting up, and walking to the back to get Trisees.
"it's ok, don't bother, we've got to leave the midget here anyway,
we've got to walk from here." she said. Trisees turned to her, and
grunted. Jenny stopped the midget as close to the rocks as possible,
and opened the door. A cool breeze found its way in, making the girls
smile before stepping out into the roasting sun.
Trisees looked over to Wildflower and motioned forward.
"You have the map, you lead the way," he said. He picked up the
large backpack and slung it over his shoulders, sinking a little in
the sand.
"Ok, ok," she said, squinting at the map. "We have to take 200 steps
forward and we should reach the entrance to a cave in the face of
these rocks."
"a cave?" Jenny said, with a slight quiver in her voice.
"not claustrophobic are you?" Wildflower asked, keeping her eyes on
the map.
"oh, not really... depends on how small it gets..." she replied, but
carried on anyway. The group reached the top of a small cliff, and
peered over it. "could that be it?" Jenny asked, pointing to a huge
cave opening a short way in front of them.
"Well according to the map it seems to be," said Wildflower, squinting
into the darkness.
"Seems to be?" asked Trisees. "You mean you're not actually sure?"
"Well, there seems to be a lot of caves around here, and map reading
isn't that easy."
Trisees sighed and glared at the ground. "I need to be shot for
handing the map over to you. I don't know why I give you so many
chances. Irritating female nuisance."
"Well, we might as well try," said Wildflower, huffing haughtily and
walking through into the cave.
Jenny and Trisees stood still, watching the trainee surgeon disappear
into the blackness.
"Ladies first," said Trisees.
"then why aren't you going first?" jenny laughed, but stepped in
first anyway, lighting her torch. "not bad... could do with some
decorating..." she joked as they walked deeper inside.
"i'd say its got potential as a holiday home" she added, trying to
take her mind off of being in a cave. "any idea how far in it is?"
she asked.
socialising with. Trisees chuckled when he rememebered that applied
to the whole crew of the blue dwarf.
Wildflower heard Jenny ask how far in it was.
"According to the map, we should come to an opening out into a strange
secluded area. It's where an ancient civilisation live. They're the
ones who have the device."
"Why on earth would they have a time drive if they're an ancient
civilisation?" asked Jenny.
"stupid women..." Trisees mumbled to himself. "stop thinking like
that, just because they're ancient, doesn't mean they haven't been
around millenia longer than us." Trisees said, hoping Wildflower knew
how to read a map of a cave.
"oh smeg" Jenny said as they came upon a slight cave in, the ceiling
of the cave had fallen a few feet, creating a rather small area for
them to crawl through. "smeg smeg smeg" she began, then stopped and
took a deep breath as Trisees and Wildflower started crawling first.
"Everything ok?" Wildflower asked, looking back at Jenny.
"Just a bit tight," said Jenny hurriedly.
Trisees, carrying the torch in his mouth, bumped his head on the roof
of the tunnel and cursed loudly.
"Stupid low ceilings," he muttered. "Are we anywhere near yet?"
with Jenny breathing deeply in the tight spaces, the roof slowly rose
to a walking height. "ok, i think we're nearly there" Wildflower
said, looking over a precipice into a dark depth. "watch your
footing" she said as they made their way across a thin ledge, Jenny
strode across it casually, her training had passed this, by a long
way. "so is it down there?" she asked as they got to the other side,
the ledge spiralled down below them, making the hole look like an
entrance to somewhere.
"it would appear so..." Trisees said, beginning the descent.
Wildflower followed, with Jenny taking the rear. After a while, Jenny
tore a small stone from the wall, and dropped it into the hole,
listening for a sound.
"uh... did anyone hear that?" She asked, Wildflower stopped and
turned to her.
"hear what?" she asked.
"exactly" Jenny said, "i think this is a long way down. she added,
and continued to move.
"This just gets better and better," said Trisees to himself.
"Shakespeare and Coffey better be damned grateful when I bring them
back."
He peered downwards into the black and blinked. "How ridiculous. If
you're going to make a bridge over a bottomless pit, why make it so
that only people with a fat content of zero.6 can happily stand on
it?" He grimaced and kept up behind the two girls as the three of
them gingerly stepped across the thin line, death on both sides of them.
At the other side, an opening in the cave wall, not unlike a door
faced them. "looks promising" Jenny said, and stepped through into an
illuminated cave. a hole in the top of the cave open to sunlight
flooded the room through the use of cleverly placed mirrors.
"well, for an advanced ancient race, you'd think they'd invent proper
lights." Wildflower said as both her and Trisees entered the room. A
pedestal in the centre of the room held a relatively small device
above ground level, all the mirrors pointed their light onto it,
illuminating it nicely.
"well, this looks easy" jenny said, walking up to it.
"Proper lights? You are an imbecile," stated Trisees as Jenny walked
up to the device.
"Stop!" he said loudly, as Jenny's fingers nearly grasped hold of the
device. "Nothing is ever this easy."
Jenny turned around. "Booby trapped?"
Trisees nodded. "Booby trapped."
"So what do we do?" asked Jenny.
Wildflower looked at the map. "No signs of any clues. No riddles.
Nothing."
"Hmmm. This is a conundrum," said Trisees. "Maybe I have a grapple
hook, or stick, or riduclously long comical arm extension in here."
"the arm extension sounds good" Jenny said, pointing out Trisees
mechanical arm. "didn't think of that when you made it i'd guess."
She said, smiling.
"anyway, who's the fastest of us? i say one just grabs it and runs,
while the others get a nice headstart. that way if its a nasty trap,
two will make it out." Jenny said, looking at the lights.
"hold on... you think these lights are wired up to sensors on the
opposite sides of the room?" she asked
"Sensors," Trisees rubbed his chin a moment and twirled on his
goatee. "I've no idea. I like the sound of the fastest runner plan.
Although, that's me." Trisees sighed. "In for a penny," he muttered.
"Ok, how about you girls stand outside the room, I'll use my arm and
legs as speedy as possible and snatch the device? How does that sound?"
"thought you'd never volunteer" Jenny said, walking up to him, she
smiled "good luck" she said, before disappearing into the spiral back
up to the surface. Jenny drew a pistol from a pocket somewhere, and
pulled the slide back. "i'll stay by the door, and follow you out.
you'll need someone to cover your back" she said, watching Wildflower
begin her ascent. When she'd got a suitable distance, Jenny nodded at
Trisees, and scanned the room, watching for movement as Trisees nabbed
the device.
Trisees sighed deeply. He wasn't worried. He'd died twice - he could
always come back somehow. He shook his head and extended his arm a
little till it reached just over an extra two feet. He leant forward
and placed his fingers around the device. Cluthching it gently, he
secured a grip and retracted his arm, whilst moving backwards.
As the device came off its pedestal, Jenny and Wildflower
instinctively winced and waited for something to happen. Trisees
appeared next to them, device in hand, staring into the room they'd
just left.
No one said anything for a moment.
"Booby trapped huh?" asked Jenny.
Trisees glared.
"women aren't all bad you know!" Jenny said, she could feel herself
wanting to laugh, but kept it subdued.
"shall we go then?" she asked, getting two nods in response.
"wow, is it me, or does this return trip feel easier.." Wildflower
began, but was cut off by Jenny,
"RUN!!!" she yelled, as the sound of metal on stone found its way to
their ears, followed by a mechanical growl.
"I don't know whether to panic or gloat about being right," muttered
Trisees as he watched the two girls hurrying away from him and onto
the thin bridge again.
He stashed the device in his backpack and ran after them, jumping onto
the thin bridge behind them as the room the device had been in began
crumbling into large piles of rocks.
As they shuffled themselves along the bridge Wildflower stopped, Jenny
and Trisees bumping into her back.
"Why'd you stop?!" asked Trisees angrily.
"Look," shouted Jenny, as the small tunnel began to shake too, the
inside of it crumbling as well.
They stood, open mouthed as the tunnel gave a large loud smashing
noise and the entrance filled with rocks.
"What are we going to do?" asked Wildflower.
"Our choice is already made up," said Trisees pointing to the
beginning of the thin bridge as cracks appeared at both ends.
"Well, I'd like to say it was fun. But quite frankly, it wasn't," he
said as the bridge crumbled beneath them. Jenny and Wildflower
started to scream and they all began to fall downwards into the black.
They were all surprised as Trisees grabbed hold of their arms and
threw a piece of wire upwards, latching onto a piece of ju tting out
rock. The wire secured itself to the rock and they stopped their
descent, hanging over the dark hole and swingingback and forth gently.
"Ok, so now what? We hang here for the rest of eternity?" asked Jenny.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking."
"LOOK! An opening!" shouted Wildflower, and pointing over to a wall
where the rocks had crumbled, revealing a small spike of light into
the darkness.
"How to get over there?" Jenny asked.
"Gentle swinging," said Trisees, as the three of them shifted their
weight back and forth, very slowly. They rocked back and forth in the
gloom, nearing the hole a little more each time, till finally,
Wildflower grabbed the edges with her arms, keeping the three of them
close against the hole.
"I can see a ledge out there, its on the egde of a cliff overlooking a
forest. If we can get throuhg there, we can shimmy along the cliff
and make our way back to the Midget."
"I'd never have put you down for an idea thinker," said Trisees, as
Wildflower scrabbled at the hole and enlarged it enough for her and
jenny to squeeze through. Trisees followed them through and soon, the
three of them were standing precariously over a forest canopy fifty
feet below them.
"Careful would be the word," said Jenny.
"Anyway, i'm not sure i trust you to get us back" began Trisees. "you
hold the time drive, and i'll do the map reading" he said. Jenny
stayed behind, her pistol in hand. "i'll watch our back" she said,
looking behind them every so often.
They slowly made their way around the ledge, though no metallic sounds
followed them.
"this is quite heavy you know... mind if we stop for a break?"
Wildflower asked, breathing heavily.
"don't see why not... theres no sign of whatever that was following
us." Jenny said, keeping an eye out anyway. Wildflower leant against
the cliff face behind them, she put the time drive on the ledge next
to her, and held her foot against it to stop it from falling.
Jenny and Trisees stopped for a break too, Trisees leant against the
wall, checking the map for where they were, looking for a way out,
while Jenny sat with her legs dangling over the edge. "nice view" she
said, putting her arms behind her head, and yawning loudly.
"I hope you're watching that machine" Trisees said, Wildflower knew it
was aimed at her.
"yeah, course i am" she said, "its right.....oh smeg...."
Trisees let go of the map, and looked at Wildflower, who pointed over
the edge. Everyone looked down to see the time drive sat on a ledge a
bit lower down, on a blanket of leaves. Trisees sighed loudly and
attempted to extend his arm down far enough, but it was just out of reach.
Wildflower sighed too, she knew what was coming, and offered her hands
to trisees and Jenny, who grabbed them and started to lower her down.
She stood on the ledge, and picked up the time drive, passing it up.
As Trisees leant over the ledge, and tried to take the drive from her,
the ledge cracked and fell away from Wildflowers feet, suspending her
by the time drive, she pulled herself up, and grabbed hold of the
mechanical arm. "help me pull it up" he said.
After a minute or so of struggling, a part of the ledge Trisees foot
was firmly placed on gave way, and trisees fell, pulling Jenny with
him. A rock jutting out of the cliff at a convenient place was all
that Jenny could grab onto as they hung there, trisees arm around
Jenny's waist, and his other arm around Wildflower, who hung onto the
time drive.
"And thats how we got in this mess" Trisees stated, slightly ticked off.
"ahh... yeah..." Wildflower conceded, feeling rather ashamed.
<we shall tag this ourselves at some point, i bet we had more fun
writing it than you did reading it.>