The stranger startles, then dives away from the machine and sticks low
to the ground. "How do we get outta here?".
To Duplar, accidents like this are not unusual in the Kazathran
workshops, so he doesn't panic. If this were a guild workshop there
would be fire extinguishers about the place, since things go wrong
with enough frequency that they are needed. Hoping that the basic
shape for fire extinguishing technology has not changed, Duplar makes
a quick scan of the area, but fails to see anything resembling the
green water or foam squirting devices he's familiar with. However,
there doesn't seem to be a lot in the way of flames, and the smoke is
rising to the top of the chamber.
He looks for further blue "off" buttons on the control panels. Before
he can find anything, a second stranger appears suddenly, awkwardly,
as if he took an unexpected step down. He catches himself, landing in
a crouch. Muttering what must be an oath of surprise, he stands.
A large metal frame is strapped to his back, bearing what looks like a
very full traveling pack other gear. In his right hand, he has a metal
staff. His hair's short, mostly covered by an inscribed cap with a
short, front-facing brim. He's wearing a foreign style of spectacles,
and a day's facial hair.
His jacket is of multicolored fabric, parts of which catch the light.
Beneath that, a heavy pull-over style shirt with writing on it.
There's an unfamiliar object around his neck- like a thin metal torc
with what may be fur of some kind at the open side, and wires hanging
off, into the jacket. He's wearing calf-high boots, and black pants
made of a tightly-woven material (with seams and rivets). He may be in
his twenties, but it's hard to tell.
Rising, and seeing where he is, he takes an involuntary step backwards
and thumps into something solid- causing him to drop his staff. He
looks behind him, then sees he isn't alone. Gathering himself, he
stands calmly. Elbows at his side, he raises his hands even with his
chest, palms facing the new strangers. Judging by his expression,
this may be meant as a placating gesture.
The second stranger sees a lot of people and smoke, the smoke rising
to the top of what might be a large room. The smoke and lack of light
makes it hard to see quite how large the chamber might be. He looks
around, trying to sort out what happened, and tries to take in the
details of the room, to see if anything there can explain what's going
on.
If no-one seems overtly hostile, he's carefully reaching for his
staff, one hand still outstretched as before. Getting it back, he
clears his throat, but seems thunderstruck, at a loss for words.
Duplar is getting a tad stressed!
"What!! Another one?? What is this place?? A travel agency??"
"You! Get over there by the wall with the other stranger. Unless you
happen know what this equipment does, there's just me trying to stop
the whole lot going up in smoke! We'll sort out who is who and where
people think they are once I've got this safely shut down".
The new arrival's expression changes rapidly, over the course of a few
seconds. First, his astonishment at seeing what's clearly an alien,
speaking English, no less. Then, his eyes narrow in annoyance when he
gets what's being said. He takes a quick, studied look at the
equipment, concludes that it's outside his field, and walks resignedly
over to the wall.
Walking up to the other stranger he stops, taking a vantage point to
see both him and the rest of the scene. After a second, he says
"Hello. Do you have any idea what all this is?"
"Not really", the other guy says,-"I think they might be aliens. They
seem okay...I'm Roy, by the way"
The new guy extends his hand. "Hank Jenkins.".
Ryzar is currently in what they might recognize as a "two-handed
combat stance" -- and he's pointing what looks disturbingly like a
large, bronze-colored automatic pistol at the pair.
Hank keeps his hands visible, but doesn't return to the gesture he was
making. Instead, he seems to be taking careful stock of the situation,
especially keeping an eye on the gunman near him and the tall alien by
the console.
"Just do what Duplar told you to do and you'll be fine, Kolderspawn",
the young-appearing Ryzar says with a cold professionalism.
Briefly looking over at his neighbor, Hank silently mouths the word
_Kolderspawn_?"
Roy shrugs and points his head at the corpses lying around the room.
"I'm not arguing".
"Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it," mutters Dharak,
the dreadlocked figure in well-worn leather armor and a mud-spattered
cloak. "Thus were our mothers and fathers dragged into bondage".
He blinks his dark eyes, his expression snapping from wonder to
alertness. He gestures at the newcomers with a rather nasty-looking,
pistol-like weapon. "Step away from there, brothers. If Duplar can't
figure out how to turn off the machine that brought you here before it
explodes, then we might have to get out of this place in a big hurry."
Keeping half an eye on his prisoner, he turns to Jal. "We need to
gather up our prisoners, our wounded, whatever alien weapon and such
that we can, and haul ass," he half-whispers. "Or have you forgotten
what our vordral guide told us about a whole gaggle of his people who
are right nearby -- and are likely friends of this lot we just
slaughtered".
"Yes, we need to get out of here", says Jal, a grizzled-looking fellow
nursing a nasty-looking wound on his arm says, "But what shall we do
with our prisoners? And these two? Can we send them back?".
Duplar studies the control panel, and intuitively finds a control that
he feels certain is the master shutdown button. He presses it, and
the vortex collapses with an enormous signing sound. The lights on
the control panel go dim, and the chamber falls eerily silent. The
smoke rises to the ceiling of the twenty-foot high chamber.
"Someone's coming!", says Jal, "I can hear footsteps!". He draws his
sword.
--
Tim Hall, http://www.kalyr.com
Read my blog! http://www.kalyr.com/weblog
