Lt. Cmdr Robin Hopper – Moral Quand-Trees
Robin Hopper
((North Oparis Branch Settlement, Uwe II))
Things were certainly going to hell in a handbag – Yikes. Possibly a poor choice of words given Elarrapal’s current predicament. It was hard not to stare at the woman’s missing forearm, the rough sinewy tear, oozing amber, where it had been separated. The wound seemed less dangerous than it would have been to someone like Robin, but it still looked incredibly painful, and there was no doubt she was losing blood.
Hopper: Do what you can to stabilize her injury. Elarrapal, you’re going to be alright… My name is Rob’Ynne, and these are my associates – we’re with Internal Security, investigating the recent explosion in the Irudaimu Sector… ::Looking over her shoulder at the scene:: What in the breeze happened back there?!
Galanis: Na’ev. Security Analyst.
Saavei: Response?
Elarrapal: Has Internal Security forgotten the old forms, then? Norsel burnt my branches.
Again, Robin felt her eyes pulled to the stump of Elarrapal’s appendage. Even as an amputee herself, Robin was not used to seeing such a violent injury, and it made her stomach turn.
Thankfully, the medical professional on hand (sorry) handled it (sorry!!!) much better, pulling a bundle of sterile gauze from his pack and beginning to wrap it in a simple field dressing.
Wong: Burnt branches feels like an understatement here.
Saavei: Response
While she didn’t know exactly what the woman meant by Norsel “burning her branches” or how literal to take that phrase, she did recognize that at least they seemed to share a common interest in Norsel, as she’d hoped. Doing her best to play the hand they’d been dealt – Gosh, another terrible choice of words. I am so sorry, Elarrapal! – she bluffed as well as she could.
Hopper: At the moment, evidence is pointing us towards Norsel’s involvement in the incident, though he is not our only suspect. Any cooperation from you, or information you could share, that might aid our investigation would be appreciated…
Galanis: We aren’t here to apprehend. Just gather branches.
Elarrapal: We grow short on those.
Elarrapal seemed a bit woozy, and Ikaia guided towards a nearby bench.
Wong: Please sit. You’ve lost a lot of blood.
Saavei: Response
Not wanting to lose the trail completely, Robin kept asking questions.
Hopper: And what about the Uropal tree – how does that factor into this?
Elarrapal: The same as it always has. That they would sacrifice such trees to scrabble a bit more quickly for their minerals. That they would shatter the network of their thoughts.
Robin nodded as if all of that made sense to her. Most of it did – though she wasn’t quite sure about the ‘network of their thoughts’ part… Did the trees possess some sort of telepathic connectivity? Was that even possible? Questions for another time.
Wong: So…. like you described earlier - mining operations threatened the Uropal tree. You make it sound like those mines are extremely close by to the tree.
Saavei: Response
Galanis: That matches some of what I’ve been able to piece together. The official narrative is a simple conflict over resources, but the roots of this problem seem to run much deeper than simple mining rights.
Ikaia looked up, finished wrapping the wound, the gauze already beginning to turn amber with the Uwezo’s blood.
Wong: We really can’t stay here.
Hopper: Agreed. ::Indicating Elarrapal:: She needs proper medical attention – and now that things are escalating out here, I think it’s just a matter of time before this powder keg blows again. I’d rather not be around when that happens.
She chewed her lip. Leaving would risk the trail going cold on Norsel, potentially losing an opportunity to find Vaarig Greeta. But just as Norsel warranted further attention, so did Elarrapal.
Saavei: Response
Galanis: ::quietly:: Her injury and our presence seem to be gathering… attention. We’re going to need to move again soon, somewhere we can speak and treat her properly. The longer we’re in the open, the greater the risk we run into somebody potentially affiliated with this Norsel.
Elarrapal: He will be occupied enough soon. Norsel forgets that the trees have their own defenses, and Imeris is still strong. Already they are drawn to his door.
Almost as if summoned by her words, a cloud of large winged insects flew towards ‘Norsel Corp.’ oO Weird… Oo While there was now a low stone wall obstructing their view of the building and the crowd, Robin could swear she could hear the crowd splitting up, running off in various directions, as the insects moved in on the scene.
Wong: Allow me to reiterate that we absolutely cannot stay here.
Hopper: Agreed. But I’d like to stay as close as possible… Options?
Saavei: Response
Niev, rather sensibly, Robin thought, asked Elarrapal.
Galanis: Is there anywhere nearby you know of? Some kind of shelter, or at least a quiet place behind some trees?
Elarrapal: You have none of your own, then? With your false credentials and a new star hidden in our skies?
The hair on the back of Robin’s neck stood on end. False credentials – how did Elarrapal know about that? Were they had obvious? She’d thought they seemed like pretty credible forgeries. And what was that about a “new star hidden in the sky”? Could she possibly be referencing the Indy? No, it couldn’t be – the Indy wouldn’t be visible from the ground… It had to be some sort of metaphorical star.
oO Yeah, that’s it. Metaphorical. Oo She felt her tummy flip again.
Wong: I didn’t get the chance to book an inn yet. It was kinda on my to-do list.
Hopper: We are visiting from out of town on official Internal Security business – clearly our attention is much-needed, perhaps even a bit late. If we can get to somewhere secure, we can regroup, help Elarrapal with her injury, and maybe figure out our next move before anything else blows up.
She hoped that helping Elarrapal would make the activist more open to helping them. Given the things she’d been saying, and her general mood, it didn’t seem particularly likely, but it was something – and she wasn’t about to go shooting her way through Norsel’s guards.
Saavei: Response
Elarrapal: If you wish to ask details of Norsel then we should follow what my sacrifice has drawn to his door. He’ll call in more guards soon enough.
Wong: You could say I have a lot of Norsel questions I’d like to ask when we get the chance.
Robin huffed.
Hopper: You and me both. But something tells me showing up on his doorstep with an angry mob and a bunch of ticked off wasps isn’t going to make him want to chat. ::Sigh:: It may be in our best interest to circle back later.
Saavei/Galanis: Response
Turning to Elarrapal, she shot as straight as she could with the anti-warp-er.
Hopper: Whatever else you believe, understand that we just want to understand what’s going on here – and to help you.
Elarrapal: Whoever you are, none of you have harmed my tree, or bear the black mold of Urso’s dreaming, which cuts the soul and self asunder.
Robin did her best to make it seem, on her face, like those words resonated with her – even though most felt like it went a ways over her head.
Wong: I can assure you we’re far from moldy.
Well, that was true enough.
Ikaia pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around Elarrapal.
Saavei/Galanis: Response
Elarrapal: Then let us move, before we all find ourselves short on limbs to spend. You are not prophets; Imeris will not grant you the same succor.
Hidden within her Uwezo garments, Robin’s high-tech prosthetic was proof enough that they didn’t need a magical tree to grant them new limbs. Not that she was interested in tempting fate.
From what little she knew of Uwezo physiology, their bodies were segmented internally in ways that Humans and Centaurans were not. The loss, even left untreated, might not kill Elarrapal, but death was not the only risk factor.
Hopper: No offense, Elarrapal, but I’m not so sure your status as a Prophet of Imeris is going to cut it for you either right now. Missing arm aside, you’re at risk of infection with that open wound. It should at least be healed properly.
Saavei/Galanis: Response
Wong: Look. A simple inn isn’t going to cut it. I’m going to need something better than that.
On that point, Robin was inclined to agree. There wasn’t much that a hotel would have to offer them that this public park bench didn’t when it came to healing a severed arm.
Wong: Well, there IS one solution to this issue if you don’t mind falsifying a few more credentials.
oO Argh! Don’t admit that we’ve falsified credentials! Oo First she’d stuck her foot in her mouth – now Wong was doing it. It really was hard to abide by the Prime Directive when you were interacting with the locals, wasn’t it? Robin had always dreamed of taking part in a mission like this. Now the scales had fallen from her eyes and she realized it wasn’t nearly as much fun as she’d hoped it would be.
Hopper: ::Gritting her teeth:: We can see what access restrictions can be bent with our clearances, but we should still try to lay low, Doctor…
Galanis/Saavei/Elarrapal: Response.
Wong: There’s a hospital up the way. If I can get access to an operating room and some blood, I can fix this.
Ikaia helped Elarrapal to her feet, and began leading the group slowly in a direction. Looking back over her shoulder, Robin could see a growing swarm of bugs at Norsel Corp.’s entrance, seemingly drawn in by whatever the “un-armed” woman had done there, as well as a growing cluster of birdlike reptiles circling over head – they reminded her a bit of the transplanted crows on Theta VII that would circle ominously any time you had a picnic in the fields.
Wong: We can sneak her in as a patient while the rest of us grab scrubs and pose as doctors. It’s the one place I know where we can blend in.
Hopper: ::Brow furrowing:: Maybe you’ll blend in, but none of the rest of us are well-versed enough in medicine– ::least of all, Uwezo medicine:: –to pull that off.
Galanis/Saavei/Elarrapal: Response
Robin put her hands on her hips. She felt pulled in two directions – one towards helping Elarrapal and maintaining that link to the situation – and the other towards investigating Norsel while they knew where he was. Barging in wasn’t an option, but neither was waiting too long.
Hopper: Besides, I’m not sure we have time to sit around playing doctor when the pace at which this situation is getting out of hand seems to be accelerating. We need to investigate the tree, and Greeta’s kidnapping, and whether or not Norsel is behind all this chaos. We have to prioritize.
Wong: Please. Let me do this. She needs this.
oO There has to be some way to strike a balance… Oo she thought, wracking her brain for some sort of solution that could work on as many of the variables at once as possible. None came to her. But there was only one course of action she could justify as ethical.
Hopper: Alright. Hospital it is. Let’s go – quickly. We can leverage our credentials to prioritize Elarrapal’s treatment. In and out, minimal contact.
Galanis/Saavei/Elarrapal/Wong: Response.
((Time Skip – Shortly Thereafter, Oparis Regional Hospital))
Fortunately, Ikaia hadn’t been exaggerating when he said the Hospital was close. It was only a flew ‘blocks’ away (so to speak, given that the streets of Uwe seemed to be much more organic in shape than many on Earth, moving betwixt the trees rather than clearcutting them out of the way to make efficient straight paths.)
The forged government credentials might not have fooled Elarrapal, but they did perform sufficiently to gain them access to the Hospital – Wong posing as a Doctor supporting Internal Security’s operations in the area.
More fortuitously, the section of the building they’d managed to sequester for their ‘emergency medical situation of grave internal security importance’ actually overlooked the Uropal grove – the ground around the large central tree pockmarked by mining tunnels in and around the gnarled roots… it was a disturbing sight, even to one not from Uwe. Robin couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe there was something to the activists’ misgivings about the warp project and how fast it was moving… and at what cost.
Hopper: Well, Doctor? What’s our prognosis?
Wong/Elarrapal: Response
Hopper: We’re here to assist you however you need… ::Eying the wound again, trying not to gag:: Right over here…
She moved quickly a few meters away to look out the window at the tree again, standing beside Niev and Saavei.
Hopper: Anything relevant you’ve been able to scan from here?
Galanis/Saavei: Response
TBC
==
Lt. Cmdr Robin Hopper (she/they)
First Officer, Amity Outpost
V239806K11