Exaltica: Eden Awakening Saga, Sin Denial Options

[Sailerius]

Exaltica: The Eden Awakening Saga
Episode 1: Sin Denial

"Emergency power conservation is in effect. All non-essential systems have been taken offline."

The recording of the woman’s voice is the first sound you’re able to make sense of. A dull ache of annoyance in the back of your head suggests that you’ve heard that recording before. You’re pretty tired, though, so your eyes flutter shut again and you drift back down into the depths of unconsciousness.

"Emergency power conservation is in effect. All non-essential systems have been taken offline."

Just as you’re about to fall asleep again, the recording plays again. It’s starting to get really annoying. You probably won’t be able to get any sleep until it stops. You suppose that means you’ll just have to get up (even if only to stop that blasted recording). It makes a pretty good alarm clock.

Your feet touch the floor uncertainly. You’re not sure if it’s because you’ve been asleep or because the artificial gravity in the ship is acting up, but you have a hard time standing up straight. Wait a minute, why are you on a ship?

As you try to gather your bearings, memories flood back to you in a disorganized heap of imagery. It takes a few minutes to sort everything out and arrange the memories chronologically. There must be something missing, though; no matter how you put together the disjointed pieces of your memory, you just can’t figure out where you are or how you got there. Maybe looking around will provide you with some clues.

The only lights on in the ship are the dim red emergency lights which illuminate only the essential areas. Inside rooms (whose heavy metal doors you must manually slide open because "Emergency power conservation is in effect. All non-essential systems have been taken offline."), it’s almost completely black.

The ship you’re on is fairly large; you’re able to gather that there are six decks and a sizable docking bay. Too big to be personal transport. A supply ship would have a larger cargo bay.

More importantly, where is the crew? And where is everyone else?

You’re all located on deck 3 and wake up in different cabins. Features on this deck: Cabins, storage, lift (deactivated), stairs.

[Ganonfrog]

The trip was, for the most part, long and boring. The seats they were stuck sitting in were uncomfortable and cramped. The paperwork they were loaded with from the moment they sat down was irritating and complicated.

Jun decided he didn't want to deal with any of it. Once they took off, he handed his papers off to his sister, who seemed pretty accepting of his laziness, and curled up into his chair to sleep. To further block out the presence of so many people, he turned his headset to some music, and pretended that everything wasn't so damn crowded and bureaucratic.

Several hours passed, and only a few of them were able to be wasted through sleep. The rest had to be suffered through the hard way.

Once they did finally arrive, he was immediately sent to the examination rooms to have the doctors poke and prod at him in all the ways he didn't want to be poked and prodded. The vaccines were pretty awful, too. He had no idea what a xenofungawhateveraitus was, and had no desire to ever know, but what he did know was that the stuff that kept it out of him hurt like a bitch.

Needless to say, his day wasn't off to a great start.

Then, the meeting happened.

Honestly, he didn't care what they had to say. Most of the content went straight over his head. They wouldn't need him for any of it, so listening to it seemed like nothing but a huge waste of time. What? Morgan is a wreck? Yeah, that was a big shock. He only just noticed that when his house went up in flames four days ago.

The slide of the dead girl, on the other hand, was enough to grab his attention. The sight, even in a simple photo, was enough to make him feel a little ill. He'd seen a lot of bodies on that ship, but there was something flat out sickening about seeing a pre-teen girl within the carnage. One the Oraph big guys didn't seem to give much more than an idle concern about.

Aiko seemed to feel the same way, unsurprisingly.

"Why . . . why use a little girl . . . a child!? She belongs in a school, on a playground---not in a tomb of a ship! Monsters! Murderers!"

Yeah, okay, he agreed, but, Jesus Christ, chill. Did she even have the right to use the word "murderer" like an expletive?

As the new guy started going on about statistics, and the pain of war, or whatever, Jun's patience began to thin. The meeting was bad enough on it's own, but these people were really pushing their luck for arguing dur--

Then Aiko burst from her chair and started beating the guy making the presentation.

"Are you kidding me!?" Jun finally snapped, rising from his chair, and slapping the desk violently in front of him. After getting no response from the crowd, he turned to his sister, who seemed to be staring on at the scene in shock. "Why did we even bring the crazy girl? She didn't even want to be here!" He demanded, only to be completely ignored. They were all too busy staring at what was going on in front of them.

When he finally turned back, he saw why. The new guy, armed with a knife, was standing over the body of one of the doctors, blood dripping from his hands. The injured man was still moving, but, if the blood was any indication, he wasn't in good shape.

"What is wrong with you people!?" He exclaimed as Arel ran over to hold off the wound, making her the only person here that he didn't hate right now. He was going to proceed to berate the room more thoroughly, but Zhi was quick to stop him, and indicate that she'd handle things from here. For the moment, he was almost thankful for it.

Taking the hint, he retreated from the tables, and started making a run for the doors. There was only one obvious thing to do about this incredibly stupid situation: head to the examination rooms, and grab a different doctor.

This day really, really sucked.

This post has been edited by Ganonfrog: May 6 2011, 11:31 PM