Those Magnificent Medicrew in Their Flying Machines
Who: Keto, Trisees, Shakespeare, Wildflower, Coffey, Alexander Where: Plebian Ship Storage Site When: While the crew are gallavanting off elsewhere having 'fun'.------------------
They waited in the bushes for minutes that seemed to extend to days. Finally, Trisees sighed. "Considering the other group contains a fourteenth century bard, they don't seem to be in much of a hurry, do they?" "Distractions take time to prepare!" hissed Wildflower, "They take careful planning, lots of tactical thinki..." "ROBOTETH SCUM! I BITE MY THUMB AT THEE!" There was a pause. "Well, okay," admitted Wildflower as all the robots before them turned to face the trees where the other three were hanging, "Maybe not so much thinking..." "Thou art nowt by an earth vexing giglet!" Shakespeare shouted again, waving his fist. There was a sudden whoop of startlement followed by a thump. Trisees tapped Keto on his shoulder. "What is it?" he asked, his face a picture of concentration. "Shakespeare just fell out of the tree," Trisees said wearily. Several of the robots broke away from the main group around the ship, heading towards where the hapless bard was now lying in a heap of twigs. "That'st could hath gone weller," he moaned, crawling to his feet. As one of the robots drew near, it raised its Plebisising weapon. "Don't panic," muttered Keto, looking over at the useless playwright, "It's unlikely to have any effect on morons." Shakespeare glanced left and right and did the only thing he could. He ducked. The bolt of the plebisising weapon impacted on the tree behind him, the one holding Coffey and Alexander, and there was a whoosh as the tree shrunk to the size and appearance of a bush in a mere 2 seconds. Coffey and Alexander hit the ground hard next to Shakespeare, who was still ducking. Keto, Trisees, and Wildflower watched as the robots began to stumble off towards the three lying on the ground, before looking at each other, nodding in agreement and running into the compound.
Keto and Trisees made a beeline for the ship. After all, that was the plan. They were simply carrying out the tactically-advantangeous thing to do. It had nothing to do with the fact that at any moment a large group of armed robots could see them and come back to shoot at them. Keto was dragging his Plebian leg behind him, which didn't help speedwise. So it was Trisees who reached the ship first and found that the robots had been loading some kind of crates onto it, leaving the hatchway conveniently open. "Come on, hurry up!" he hissed back at Keto, who was still hobbling along, before vanishing inside the ship. "Charlie!" called Wildflower quietly, running up behind the CMO "We can't just leave those three there!" Trisees poked his head out from inside the ship to stare at Wildflower. Keto looked up at Trisees confused. The scientist returned the same look. "Why not?" asked Keto. "What?!" spluttered Wildflower. "What do you mean why not?" "I mean why not? What's the worst that could happen?" asked Keto. "They could become slaves here forever, or get killed!" stated Wildflower. "You're not doing a good job of selling the whole rescue part," offered Trisees. Wildflower frantically looked over at the robots, and the now fleeing trio. "That is your medicrew, Charles and if you DON'T rescue them, then be prepared to put up with me moving into your quarters, medibay office, and EVERY LAST PART OF YOUR LIFE!" "Here's the plan," said Keto hastily. "Trisees, you fly this crate, use the weapons and shoot at badguys, Wildflower and I will try and rescue those three incompetants. Just fly the ship near us and we'll do the rest." Trisees sighed. "You know, I'm really starting to miss being tied to the chair," he muttered, and headed back into the ship. Keto turned to Wildflower. "Right, now the two of us - an incompetant nurse and someone with a leg slower than Shakespeare's brain cell - are going to rescue three perfectly able-bodied people from the clutches of a hoard of rampaging robots, correct?" "That's about it." "Just so we're clear on the plan here. Okay, let's go!" snapped Keto, and started to hobble towards the robots. Wildflower circled round to one side of the group. Shakespeare was still ducking. The robots apparently hadn't worked out that he wasn't planning on standing up any time soon, and so kept on firing just over his head in the definite logical knowledge that sooner or later he'd either stand up or die of old age. Coffey and Alexander, on the other hand, had taken the slightly more sane but probably more dangerous option of ducking behind every piece of cover they could find, as Plebian gunfire hammered into the undergrowth all around them, reducing it to a lower form of life. Keto drew to a halt fifty metres behind the swarm, waited until Wildflower nodded in his direction, and drew a deep breath. "HEY! ROBOTS! WE'VE GOT YOUR SHIP!" The robots all instantly stopped, turned around and looked at Keto. Keto smiled coolly, and clicked his fingers. "Now, Lawrence," he murmured. There was a pause. The expression didn't change, but Keto's eyes grew a little more desperate. He clicked his fingers again. Still nothing happened. Keto cleared his throat. "Trisees," he called, "In case you hadn't noticed, that was the signal. You can shoot them now." The robots began to advance. Slowly, and a little unstable on his treacherous leg, Keto stumbled backwards.
Trisees sat behind the controls of the ship and looked down at them. "Uh-oh," he whispered, the insane gibberish layout of the panel causing his brain to cartwheel and die. From his view window, he watched as Wildflower and Keto hobbled over to the robot and gave the signal. Trisees looked down once more at the hideously confusing layout of the controls. "What to do?!" he said. Keto signalled again. Trisees shrugged and slammed his hands down on the keypads. Keto wiped the sweat off his brow as the robots advanced and turned to look at what Trisees was doing. He let out a scream of surprise and fell to the ground as the ship carrying Trisees flew mere inches above his head. Keto rolled over closed his eyes as a loud crashing noise followed by a few sparks explosions sounded. Wildflower prodded Keto, who's eyes were still closed. "Well, we're going to need another ship," she said. Keto stood up, somewhat gingerly. "Do I want to open my eyes?" he asked. "There's bad news and bad news," said the voice of Trisees. "Choices, choices." "The bad news is that the ship is destroyed," said the voice. Keto sighed. "I'd kind of guessed that one. And the other bad news?" "Thy mighty dragon hath slain the evil mechanicalith menace!" "...never mind." The six of them stood in a circle looking sadly at the wreckage of five robots and a ship that lay smouldering on the forest floor. "Oh well, at least I'm unhurt," said Trisees. "What's that?" asked Wildflower, pointing to his right calf. Trisees looked down at his leg, and as soon as his eyes rested upon the large shard of burnt metal that had forced itself all the way through his limb, the pain hit. "Well, focussing on something more relevant," said Coffey, as Trisees writhed in agony, Alexander now on the floor comforting him. "This is a pretty large compound, there's bound to be another ship somewhere, I suggest we get looking." - 20 Minutes Later - "Doesn't it strike anybody else as strange that we haven't seen any other robots?" asked Wildflower "NO!" snapped back Keto and Trisees simultaneously. Wildflower sighed. "Over here!" called Coffey. They all went running over to find her standing across a courtyard of sorts from a similar-looking huge ship. "No mechanicaleth beasties," observed Shakespeare, "We hath fortune with us today!" "What's that?" asked Wildflower as a large rumbling noise sounded in the background.
- To Be Continued -