Alice, Whats the Matter: Invitation to the Red Queen
16 Feb 2023Willow Thorn
Bio-Scans collected 120Distance from Guardian site 4,050 ly
Power Plant Integrity 94%
So I've started the real exploring thing I guess. Like, by that I mean my jumps you know? I've trimmed it down from maximum range, so Wisp is making jumps as small as 3 ly. On top of that I've pointed my ass at the bubble so I'm headed south to the rim out there. Like, there is no reason to pick the south, but I had to pick a direction so what ever right? I mean, I could have picked south by south-east or something, but a cardinal direction is tidy, and I need some tidy after the mess I've made. . Or have I cleaned up a mess I blundered in to?
Like I've had my fill of gathering Bio-samples for now; its like, totally random you know? Yeah you get a heat map for all the plant-life your probes have detected, but once you get down there, your just poking around in the dust hoping you happen to bump into what your looking for. I mean, I did this for HOURS looking for a bacterium on a Neon-atmo, burgundy coloured snowball with a cracked veiny surface. The samples where almost perfectly camouflaged with the ice, like, they have to hide for predators. They were patches of cracked burgundy coloured ice, with a slightly more veiny surface. The only way I found the three samples I needed, was because my scan indicator flashed white when I happened to past the array over a patch. So fuck that you know, I've had enough of that shit. What ever, I did find those nice mini pink slime-fruit tree before I decided to take a brake from bio-sampling, so thats something nice right?
So that means I have been doing a lot of jumping. I may not be doing long jumps any more, but I'm covering good distance because I'm not wasting time like, sniffing for flowers. So I made it into the the Sanguineous Rim a few jumps back, and like, that's pretty fitting when I think about what I did before I left the bubble. Yeah, that was a lot, but now its done and I've had time to think about it; I feel like its cool you know? Like, this new chill, and dumping the flower foraging gives me plenty of time to spend in the cargo bay to craft, carve, and think. So, I do most of my talking down there, like I don't get an answer most the time, but it really helps to sound it out. It's like I hear my self taking and I can say "Hay, that's pretty dumb you know" or "Yeah, what your saying makes sense" So now I feel like I'm in a better place, and I wish I'd reached out to Descartes before I left, especially when I come across another Earth-Like. I think I'll call this one Descartes, because for better of worse, scooping up her pod has had a big impact on my life and its as blue as her eyes you know?
Yeah, like I said, I've been making a lot of stuff at my workstation in the cargo bay. I've made my self some jewellery out of that ore I found a week or so ago; I worked out that its Sphalerite, that's an impure zinc ore, and zinc is real easy to work with. so I've made a few pieces including a new omega pendant. Unfortunately, melting it down has made it lose some of that like, real gold look and made it like, pale gold, but its still good. Thing is, I've seen that silver shine so much in the FSS, I was enjoying the gold.
But I should stop complaining right? I mean I have found two Earth Likes recently, and a bunch of Water Worlds too; and they both shine a beautiful blue, like a giant eye of the universe winking at me. So, I'm still venting I guess, but I really am dealing with everything now I'm on my way to a sort of conclusion that I really think will close the door on the shitty stuff that wont stop creeping over my subconscious and ruining my sleep. I mean like, about a month ago, I was running on coffee and stims just to get through the day, and doping my self senseless just so I could get a few hours straight.
Earlier this month.
Mambos' bar, la Cosa Terminal. Yamatji
Willow Thorn left Angel Station in Calhuacan flying the Dimondback, Wisp, and thanks to the hacker, and the reprogramed parts Willow had purchased from shady dealers that she fitted between jumps, Alice Liddell landed the Dimondback, Dinah on the pad in la Cosa Terminal. A name change was far more complicated than Willow imagined it was going to be, but to do it so an official inquiry wouldn't come back with a warning was very involved. She just hoped she had enough credits left to hire a killer after paying off the hacker and black marketeers.
The message board Willow used to contact the hacker group had squeezed even more creds out of her for tracking down The Outfit, and the movements of one of their enforcers Emmeline. She was on the team that was waiting on board Descartes' Corvette to ambush its owner. Unfortunately, Willow was the one that had triggered the trap, and Emmeline had been ready to execute Willow after she had smashed in her face.
Now, the hackers had tracked The Outfit and its enforcer, Emmeline to a system near by. Proper introductions had been made, and thanks to a nameless man with the right credentials to contact The Outfit and order a capture and termination, Willow waited for the call telling her that someone had been sent to teach Alice Liddell a lesson. Willow had reasoned that she had no chance of getting her vengeful hand on Emmeline in a combat situation, but she had learned that frau Emmeline was the person The Outfit sent when they wanted someone to make a target suffer. Thinking about suffering and her hand made Alice lean over table as she felt the alien growth inside. She was telling her self it was just normal bone reconstructed with help from nano-surgeons, but she was sure she could feel hydraulics and servos moving.
Her new tablet sounded an incoming call braking Alice's concentration, taking her mind off her possible cybernetic implant. The unidentified caller hung up before Alice could answer, meaning she had to check the agreed message board for progress on her self-ordered hit. After very little scrolling, Alice found the message she was looking for.
"Hey Al, your old friends are eager to see you. Their aunty is close by at a loose end, so we guess she'll be coming to pick you up. Get packed because she could arrive real soon. Good luck, see you"
While she was reading the post, her tablet tweeted again indicating she had just made a large payment. After checking her account, Alice found almost all the credits Descartes had given her were gone, but Emmeline should be on the way to ply her evil trade on Alice Liddell.
Back on her ship, Alice checked the trap Willow and her dad had made. It was still good to go, and capable of draining shields on up to five combat suits, and shocking the people inside to death if Alice let too many amps through. Next, she turned on all the extra cameras and got used to checking the feeds in her hud. It was going to be uncomfortable staying in her suit, but she wanted to be ready when Emmeline showed up. After turning everything on and sending a tester drone through the trap, Alice felt she had the power to change her fate flowing through her new hand that was still lingering on the button.
A system like Yamatji that had its own very slack laws, and an almost non-existent connection with the Pilots Federation was a perfect place for mercenaries like The Outfit to carry out a little wet-work after paying off the right people with Willows Credits. A new feeling ran trough Alice's new hand and surged all over her body. It felt like power, it felt as if she could reach out and change her destiny if this little plan worked. With live feeds playing on her hud, Alice went to her work station to finish engraving a leaf pattern on to a hardened glass blade.