Episode 204: Meridian Encounters

Present: Maer, Terri, Jay and Tony.
Air Date: 11 Aug 2009

Sunday, 18 February 2520
Kuiper II Class, Summer’s Gift
Brisbane, Meridian
Blue Sun (Qing Long) system
09:30hrs, local time

It takes us 26 days to reach Meridian, in most part because of our route. We’d plotted a more out-of-the-way course, to avoid encountering the Feds and any nasty entanglements that might ensue once they realized Lem Kurpinski had TSE. As for the child himself, he exhibits periods of lucidity punctuated by forgetfulness and erratic behavior, some of it violent. It is nothing we cannot handle so far and so we deal with him as we can. Our other passenger, Johannes Volker III, exhibits some cyclical behavior starting with periods of lucidity, followed what best can be described as mania, before mellowing out. Arden cannot discuss this with us due to doctor/patient confidentiality. However, if Johannes Volker posed a safety threat, he would at least tell us what to do to minimize any risk. And since Arden hasn’t said anything along those lines, we have to conclude that Johannes, though odd, is pretty much harmless.

Because of the oblique course we’ve plotted, Nika has to spend more hours in the chair than usual, because the in-flight course changes under pulse require her hand on the controls. The turns are too finicking to make on autopilot. When we cross over the border into Blue Sun, we receive an automated message on endless loop: This is a Quarantined system. It’s nothing we don’t already know and we fly on, sending a short ping to Decatur telling her we’re back in-system and are looking to rendezvous.

Our first stop in Blue Sun is at Meridian, to deliver 45 tons of medicine and medical equipment to Brisbane on the southern continent. When we arrive, we find it’s a spread-out town of 30,000 souls who’ve hacked a life out of the temperate mountain forest. A convoluted river runs through Brisbane’s valley and our information on the area tells us that up on the heights, a decent logging industry can be found. We land at Brisbane’s spaceport, little more than a patch of scorched earth and are met with a timid welcome. Ships don’t normally come this far into the country so our arrival is an uncertain situation for the Brisbaners. Do they welcome us? Or do they start storming the ship? Luckily, they decide on the former.

Dr. Fong, for whom our cargo is, does not meet us and we learn from his nursing staff that he’s gone by horse and cart up into the forested mountains. Why? There have been stories coming downriver of trouble upstream and Fong went to see to any sick folk who might need him. How long has he been gone, we ask. A week is the reply. If there’s been any trouble up at the logging camp, that might explain his long absence, but he’s not answering his radio and the nurses are getting worried.

Arden asks if there is any other doctor here? No, Fong is the only one. Can the head nurse sign for the cargo? No. Furthermore, Fong’s the only one with the code to unlock their storage containers to stow our cargo. Until Fong is back, we can’t leave and the medicine is too valuable to just dump without proper storage.

Arden decides to stay behind with the nurses, keeping Lem with him, and help them treat the ill in Brisbane. Johannes stays in Brisbane as well as Jake, the latter to shoot more footage of Rim life, the former….? Who knows? The rest of us go look for Fong. The forest canopy is too dense to use our shuttle for an air search. After purchasing some camping equipment (4 bedrolls, 2 tents, filtration canteen and a cook set) and Rina packs a bag with tools, we take our Gator mule up the narrow mountain road with Rick on foot, taking the lead and tracking the faint traces left behind by the Doctor’s horse and cart.

The mountain road is narrow and rutted and necessitates going at a near-walking pace. We keep getting stuck in the mud and finding ourselves going down false roads, so it takes us the balance of the day to reach a disappointingly low elevation. Along the way, we spy a possible watcher following our progress from the ridge. Christian spots him first, tells the others and Rick promises to keep an eye out. Dark skinned and human is all Christian was able to ascertain before the figure disappeared below the forest canopy and so that’s how he describes what he saw. Later on, we discover a small cabin that had been ransacked by parties unknown. We are unsure what exactly had been taken, but we do know it wasn’t a bear that wrecked the place and it wasn’t Reavers. There is no blood, no corpse as would indicate Reaver attack. There being nothing and no one to help, we get back into our Gator and motor on.

We spend the night on the road. Nika and Rick sleep outdoors in a tent each. Rina sleeps in the Gator to guard it and Christian keeps her company. During the night, Rick catches sight of our shadow watcher and trails him some distance through the woods before losing him to the underbrush. He tells us about it when we wake the next morning over breakfast.

We find another cabin as a burnt out ruin still smoking when we arrive, with an abandoned goat tied to a tree and expired, attracting flies. Again, no sign of bloodletting, and no idea of what was taken. We don’t go far when we encounter another cabin, ransacked and empty of inhabitants or owners, but this time we see drag marks in the dirt, the sort made when someone is either helped along while incapacitated or taken against their will—it’s not clear which. With a sinking feeling, we start putting the pieces together and though we would like to investigate further, we have to stay on mission: finding the doctor. It’s doubly important we do it, now that there is evidence that people are being taken. We drive on.

Rick has taken point and he encounters a trip wire stretched across the narrow road. Unfortunately for him, he notices it only after it’s stretched taut against his shin.

Lovely!

Rina alights from the Gator with her tools and investigates the booby trap. She discovers it’s a homemade shaped charge set to explode on passing vehicles. Rina has no demolitions experience and Rick reasons that he may not have tripped the bomb—had he, he’s be dead already. He motions the Gator back and when everyone else is safe inside the armored mule, Rick takes a giant running leap backward, taking his shin off the trip wire. The IED explodes inward across the road, from both sides simultaneously. Had the Gator been where Rick had stood, the explosion may well have flattened us.

(Note: More to follow. Still typing the transcript. Got less done over vacation than I'd hoped.--Maer)

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