Lost in Dreams (Amy)

[ericthered]

Gurman: "I think you'll be more useful building shelter here. You've got the knife, right? Cut down this kind of branch. we'll need enough to spread over this location. And when we're done with that we'll want a lot of very large leaves. We want to stay dry when the storms show up."


Talc: "Climbing. Humans are rated 7.2 at climbing. James is an exception."


Gurman: "Are you any good at climbing? we want to get the solar panels in a good spot."



OOC: to be fair, Talc isn't slimy. Her hide is a sort of a rubbery leather. Amy thinks.

[Anaya]

"I'm not much of a climber. So I suppose I'm on branch and leaf collecting duty."

Amy set about the assigned task. She used her knife to gather materials, and bring them back to camp. It wasn't the escape excuse that she'd wanted. But it had the advantage of being simple and primitive. No fancy future knowledge required. It would let her play the part of a dutiful soldier. That would do for now. 'For now' was the best that she could do. Any hope of a future beyond that seemed increasingly unreal.

[ericthered]

Amy collects a bunch of leaves, and Gurman starts trying to build a shelter out of them. He has as little idea of how to build the structure as she does, he's just trying things to see if they work.

Corp. James comes back with more plants for Talc to analyze. The snail says they're no good either, and then walks (slowly) over to the shelter on six long rough tentacles raising the shell above the ground and asks what she can do for help. Gurman asks if she has any ideas on how to build a shelter, and she responds by retreating into her shell and saying "Sorry".



Gurman assigns her to give Amy a break. "Are you feeling better Mills? Any Idea how to set this shelter up?"



You hear thunder in the distance.

[Anaya]

The trio of sci-fi soldiers turned out to be bad at working with leaves and branches. There presumably wasn't much call for that kind of thing when you worked on a spaceship. Amy the suburbanite was likewise clueless.

"A little better, thanks. And no, I've never done this before either. Maybe we could take shelter in the forest itself? The trees should provide at least a little protection."

There was also the pod, of course. But it probably wasn't designed for three people to live in. And even if it was, Amy would still have to find a refuge of her own.

[ericthered]

They're already in the forest, the pod is about 20 yards away, on the forest floor.

Gurman: "James says the trees will drip and we need a shelter from that. Trees will help, but this area should have heavy rain. I don't know when it will come though."

[Anaya]

Amy had little to offer. She was completely out of her depth. Outdoor survival skills had always seemed like a waste of time. She'd ignored the people who told her to learn some basic tricks 'just in case'. Now she wished that she'd at least browsed a few websites.

"Is there any sign of convenient terrain nearby? Caves, outcroppings, etc. There surely have to be some places that are more sheltered than others."

[ericthered]

Gurman: "You've explored further than I have, and probably farther than James. We're worried about running into other castaways. This island will be a magnet for pods: everything released over the ocean will head for it. Some of them will be two suns, you show that, but I think we've been giving better than we've been taking, and that means They'll be more from the kesselite side down here. And we don't even know all of the outfits that signed up for the Tam-du cause, let alone the Kesselite."


"So I'm not keen to explore too far. With any luck the battle will finish and we'll all get picked up in the aftermath and traded back to Two Suns"

[Anaya]

Some more puzzle pieces fell into place. The two sides of this conflict apparently weren't unified armies. They sounded more like a patchwork alliance of mercenaries. Amy chose to interpret this as good news. This kind of power structure might make her masquerade easier; At least until she was 'rescued' by a ship with accurate records.

With no better ideas, Amy helped to build the makeshift shelter. She didn't have high hopes for it, of course. The coming storm would probably drench her. But attempting to do something felt better than helplessly awaiting the rain.

[ericthered]

Survival roll... 13. Not a good result.



The shelter is "done" as the rain comes, but its an utter failure. Everyone and everything gets soaked. Talc climbs up on a log to stay out of the mud. The idea of standing under a tree is proved to insufficient. Gurman's facial flaps droop.



James returns, also soaked, with a few more kinds of plants for Talc to scan.



James: "Do we have the panels up in the tree yet? I suppose its too late. Mills, we need you up the tree as soon as things are dry."


The rain stops after about an hour.

[Anaya]

Amy stood shivering in the rain. What had she done to deserve this? A foolish question. The universe didn't care about justice. You just had to make the best of whatever hand you were dealt. So far, Amy had done a terrible job of that. With no shelter, she endured a wet and miserable hour.

When the deluge finally stopped, Amy dried herself as best she could. She wondered how frequently such storms occurred. Then she got another opportunity to demonstrate her incompetence: Placing solar panels in a tree. She looked doubtfully upwards.

"I-I can certainly give it a try. But as I said before, I'm no good at climbing. So don't be surprised if I come tumbling down again."

Once everything was dry enough, Amy would attempt to climb the tree. She braced herself for the painful fall that almost certainly awaited her.