Kaoru felt the calling of Order, the tugging on her body, mind and soul as a gap between worlds came to swallow her up..
Then a sudden, biting pain! It was like being impaled by a spear in the middle of a searing furnace and harrassed by a horde of flesh-eating wasps while immersed in a tank of pirahnas..
Kaoru blacked out.
<->
When she woke up, she was laying face-up on a patch of grass.
A patch of grass on a floating island in the sky, mind. All around her was fog and clouds, and she could only see a few feet in any direction.
Yahiko was nowhere to be seen, but her recently-acquired sword was in her grasp..
Bean groaned as she opened her eyes, then looked around, blinking. "What...Oh great. What now?" she sat up, wincing at the protest of her muscles, still recovering from the agony previously and looked around.
"A floating island in the clouds." She murmured, her eye beginning to twitch. "I don't think we're in Toto anymore, Kansas."
As Kaoru awoke, the fog seemed to clear...
She was indeed on a floating island, and the grassy spot she was in was in fact a mere five-metre by five-metre bit of land in the middle of the sky.
However, nearby, just within jumping distance, were two other islands; one which was lower than the one she was on, and one higher. Looking further, she could see many, many more patches, as if she was on some kind of giant staircase..
"Kami-sama..." She looked down. "No, I'm still Kaoru...So why the hell am I in the middle of a fucking Mario Brothers game?"
She sighed, and set her jaw. "Stop swearing...keep your cool...Argh." She pushed herself to her feet, and straightened her clothing. "Up or down..." she mused, clutching her sword.
"Well, I'll go up until it gets hard to breathe, I guess..." she decided, walking to the edge, gathering her legs under her and leaped up to the next little island. Tucking her sword into her obi, she prepared to repeat the process...
A few jumps, and Kaoru transcended the sky..
Against the stars and blackness of space, she saw, stretched before her.. an amusement park.
A great sign, with 'Space Land' printed on it in big bold letters stood in the distance. But the amusement park seemed dead; no lights were flashing, no rides were moving, nothing was happening.
Kaoru was standing on a high, high summit; the topmost patch of green. But from there, it was a straight stretch of rocky mountain. However, a short once-over confirmed that is was merely an angled surface painted to look like a mountain; she could probably climb down it and not fall down, if she was careful about it.
Bean glared at the sight before her, sighing. "Okay, maybe it's a Douglas Adams' novel. Well, no sense wasting time whining...someone is busily yanking my chain...I guess I should find out who..."
Carefully, she began easing her way down the painted surface, muttering about Alice in Wonderland.
Kaoru made her way down the mountain, eventually ending up in...
..what appeared to be a train station. A futuristic train station. There was some kind of rollercoaster set up on it, but no visible tracks. From what she could see in the station, she was in some kind of amusement park.
Near the station was obviously a queue line, leading up onto a platform which she could easily hop onto. There was a ticket booth near the entrance to the line.
The eerie silence seemed louder than a truck..
Bean stared at the setup, feeling oddly unnerved by the whole situation. "Well...It can't be leading to doom, 'cause if they the power to nab me and bring me here, all this effort to kill me seems unlikely." She said to herself as she walked up to the ticket booth and peered inside.
"Yeah, right. How often does anyone do things the logical way?" She murmured. "What I really need, is someone to come here and tell me I can't go on the train because I have no money." She mused.
The ticket booth was empty of life. It had been collecting dust; there were numerous inconsequential theme-park related posters (Ride the Crashing Sattelite today! Sick bags provided!), and perhaps more importantly, a broken till. There was a dent in it, and it was open. It was mostly empty, but there were a few coins and a note floating around in there. They were all marked with a W with two horizontal strokes through it.
Added all up, there was exactly 2900 units of currency there.
After she checked all this, Kaoru saw, in the night sky, what appeared to be a kind of plane landing somewhere to the north, about a half a kilometre away..
Bean sweatdropped, as she recognized the symbol. "I have such a bad feeling about this..." she mused and sighed, lifting the money from the till.
Sparing a glance up at the plane, she frowned, staring for a moment as she weaved her way up the queue line, trying to make out anything recognizable...
The place was a typical amusement park. It seemed to have a mascot in form of a 'Space Dog' which looked a fair bit like Goofy.
The place contained one giant rollercoaster which encircled the entire area and started from her position, along with very numerous sideshows and stalls.
One of the stalls was selling clothing; general things, like jeans and shirts, typically with a 'Space Land' logo on them.
<->
Abruptly, lights started flashing, fireworks blasted off, and everything in the park seemed to turn on at once.
"It's Showtime!" a chillingly voice bellowed out, and Kaoru started to hear gunshots coming from near where the plane landed. Thankfully, they weren't directed at her. The rollercoaster behind her started up, and rides all around followed suit..
Bean had hesitated in front of the clothing stall, debating the merits of changing out of her Kimono. It wasn't uncomfortable at all, but it was a bit limiting, and she really did desperately want a pair of pants.
However, the loud bellow startled her out of her thoughts, and she hesitated another brief second, then snatched a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from the stall racks, wrapping her sword in them quickly, then bolted for the roller coaster.
I could be wrong, but if it's going without me, then I probably want to be on it. If it waits for me. then I should avoid it...
Going as quickly as she could, she attempted to board the ride, and began nervously looking around for a seat belt, remembering a particularly bad experience...
Kaoru rushed towards the rollercoaster as quickly as she could.. but navigating the queue line wasn't exactly easy to do in such a short time, and the 'coaster left without her.
More gunshots could be heard, and what's more, they were getting closer.
Bean growled softly to herself. "Damn. Yeah, I bet I wanted to be on that..."
She whirled, and began scanning her surrounding for shelter, looking for a basement, or really thick walls...
A basement wasn't around in plain sight, but there was a nearby ride, called the 'Hypertron' that looked fairly thick. It was basically an enclosed, spherical room, with a radius of about 5 metres. . The door was open and it wasn't moving.
Bean sweatdropped as she stared at the only likely looking shelter. "I...I've seen this ride." she remembered. Listening carefully to the gunshots to determine how much time she had, she quickly looked around for the controls so she could put them out of commission before hiding in the ride.
The ticket booth, presumably with controls in it, is nearby the ride. There is a control panel in it, with several clearly labelled buttons.
<Off> <1x> <2x> <3x> <4x> <Emergency Brake>
Bean murmured a soft apology to whoever owns the abandoned park, and unwraps her sword...and with one, swift arc, stabs hard at the control panel...
The control panel is broken, with a satisfying *crunch* as the weight of the blade more than the edge smashes into it.
The lights on the Hypertron die out..
The gunshots are getting closer, and now Kaoru can discern that one weapon is some kind of heavy pistol or the like, and the other weapon is a sub-machine gun..
OOC: That's a novel way of dealing with it.
Bean nervously hurries into the ride, staying out of sight, and crouching low beside the door, the jeans and T-shirt discarded behind her for the moment as she listens intently to the gunshots, not daring to look outside any longer...
The rapid-fire gunshots continued on for a few moments, and Kaoru could tell they were right outside.
She could even hear laboured breathing through the wall, along with what sounded like a frantic effort to reload..
Bean did nothing, save for get as still as she could, and readying the sword. She slowed her breathing to the point where she herself could barely hear it, and listened intently, silently urging the gun-toting people to go away...
Kaoru heard the gun outside get reloaded, and start firing again-
and was promptly cut off by the other gunslingers weapon. Kaoru heard the submachine gun clatter to the ground, and a wet splat, along with a feminine cry, followed by shallow breathing.
And a disturbing laugh from further away, like a child in a grown mans body giggling at a joke..
Bean's eyes widened. My god...a woman? she fidgeted for a second longer, then cautiously peeked around the doorframe, careful to keep herself as hidden as she could manage.
It should be okay...the one closest to me is wounded...still...
As Kaoru looks outside, she sees... herself.
Oh, there were differences. The hair was tied in a looser ponytail, she was wearing lots of denim, there was a bullet wound in her arm, and she was facing off what looked like an insane fat man in a top hat.
This fat man was hovering a few feet off the ground, laughing hysterically. In one hand, he held a cane like one would hold a rapier, his other hand behind his back. The cane had a hole in the front, like a gun, and was smoking. He was pointing it at the Kaoru-lookalike and about to execute her, by the look of things..
Bean felt all the blood drain from her face as she watched the faceoff. Oh god...I know him
Quickly glancing around, she looked for something, ANYthing feline. A real cat would be best, but seeing as how her life was now in danger, she would experiment if she had to.
Kaoru could see that directly across from the Hypertron was a small stall selling various stuffed animals, cats among them. However, rushing across would make her presence obvious..
Bean shook her head, watching intently. I'm sorry...I wish I could do something. she thought at the woman. But that's suicide. Argh...I wish this sword was a gun...Laser, preferably. She thought inanely as she settled down, hiding.
As Kaoru sat, hiding, the boom of the mans cane echoed into the night sky.. and there was no more breathing.
Bean put her face in her hands, trying to stifle the irrational tears and fear welling up within her. It was one thing to see a death, but quite another when it was your own...Wait...when did I accept this as 'my' face? she wondered deleriously, peeking out around the corner.
Kaoru saw a slumped body against a wall. Her eyes drifted up past the feet, the legs, the chest, all the way to the-
-that wasn't particularly pretty, no sir.
Bean shivered, feeling bile rise in her throat. She looked around, without moving, to try and locate Pierrot before she even dared creep out of her hiding spot.
From Kaoru's position, there was no sound or sight of Pierrot. The only thing her senses picked up was the aroma of gunpowder and blood..
Fortunately, due to an experience when she was younger that she didn't like to discuss, Bean was well accustomed to the smell of blood, and to dead bodies. She crept from her hiding place, closer to the new corpse, and began to shudder and gag.
I THOUGHT I could handle it...
Pushing down on the reflexive revulsion, she crept closer, and began hunting for the gun her look-alike had dropped, then, screwing up her nerve, she began examining the body for things she could use, her consciece beginning to kick her, HARD.
The submachine gun is easy to find.
In searching the corpse, Kaoru gets a some blood on her hands.
She finds;
.45 pistol, not loaded, it's been fired recently. Two spare clips.
A key with 'Cutter' written on it.
A pack of ciggarettes.
A lighter.
Two spare clips for a submachine gun
A wallet; containing:
Pilots Licence
Drivers Licence
Bankcard
6000 woolongs in cash
Firearms Licence, class 1
A picture of a guy in a suit with the face ripped out, making it impossible to tell who it was.
A bit of paper with '45620- Remember, dammit!" written on it.
Bean sighed, the beginnings of a plan for the immediate future forming in her mind. Hurrying back to the ride where she'd hidden, she retrieved the t-shirt and jeans, bringing them back to the corpse.
Wincing in mild disgust at the blood on her hands, she began bundling up the items she'd taken from the corpse, and was about to make a wrap from the t-shirt to carry them in, leaving the submachine gun and her sword to the side, intending to use the jeans to gather them up.
Hesitating briefly, she took out the wallet again and examined the liscenses, going over them carefully for any information that she couldn't duplicate, or fake. If this chick's name was Kaoru, I KNOW somebody hates me...
The licences had what looked like a picture of Kaoru's identicle twin sister in them, though the names were thankfully different, thus preventing another blow to Kaoru's psyche.
"Ryoko Saitoh" was printed on each card, along with, strangely enough, an address, at;
42 Bow Street, Tharsis, Mars.
Bean shivered again at the resemblance, and she finished making a bundle with the dead woman's belongings.
"My name...is Ryoko Hajime." she said aloud, testing the sound. "Well, it's less jarring than Kaoru Kamiya. Man, I hope I haven't screwed the Kenshin-gumi...Order no baka. Look after them..." she muttered, tying the sword and the submachine gun together.
Sighing she glanced around the grounds, hoping to see a pool of some sort, or, if that was impossible, a patch of grass....
Kaoru manages to find a nature strip a short distance away from her current position..
Bean nodded to herself, and began looking around for something to use as a digging implement, or a starage shed, where such things might be kept.
It was only fair to bury her properly if she was going to assume her identity...
Kaoru manages to find a shovel in a nearby maintenance shed.
Suddenly, all the lights and sound effects in the theme park turn off, leaving Kaoru in complete silence, not to mention a bit of darkness.
Bean looked up sharply, freezing as she debated bolting empty handed.
No...Not yet. Don't panic. Yet.
Carrying the shovel with her, she crept back to the body, holding it like a sword. She listened carefully to the darkness, her straining ears trying to pick out any noises headed in her direction, reaching down to grasp the hilt of the sword.
Kaoru can detect nothing that might be a threat anywhere. Only eerie silence remains.
Bean shivered, but unbound her weapons, and began moving the corpse and bundles over to the nature strip.
In the darkness, making as little noise as possible, she began to dig a grave for her double...
It's hard work digging a hole deep enough to count for a grave, but after an indeterminable amount of time, Kaoru managed it.
Bean sighed, noting that her kimono was a little worse for wear. She grimaced, and turned to the corpse and bowed. "I'm really sorry that you won't get the funeral you deserve..." She said softly, then dumped the body into the hole, and began covering it over.
When the chore was finally finished, she took out her sword, and carved the name 'Ryoko' in as small letters as she could on the nearest tree...
By the time Kaoru managed to finish, the traces of dawn were on the horizon..
Bean sighed and yawned, exhausted beyond belief. Wearly picking up the bundle, and the freed submachine gun and her sword, she began heading in a random direction, looking for the park's exit...
Kaoru manages to find what appears to be a fire escape with little difficulty. It's just a door in the wall surrounding the park.
Bean sighed heavily, and pushed the fire escape door open carefully, and, peering outside, scanned the area...
The fire escape opened up into a field of grass. On the wall were directional signs pointing towards the parking lot. Towards the horizon was what looked like a small city, quite some distance away. The whole area seemed pretty deserted.
The sun was rising in the same direction as the city was. The walls of Space Land were covered in graffiti.
It was a little windy, and fairly cold, as compared to the room-temperature atmosphere of Space Land..
Clutching the bundle and her weapons tightly, Bean wandered through the door, headed for the parking lot...
Upon reaching the parking lot, Kaoru found that it was divided into two sections.
There was a section marked for cars, and a second section marked for spacecraft. Between both of them, there was only on vehicle.
It looked like a typical sci-fi spacecraft, built in a rectangular fashion. There was a largish central box, with a pair of wings that look more tacked on that actually part of the spacecraft itself. The central box had a large window at the front, with several smaller portholes around it.
The ship was presently poised on landing gear. It was quite accesable from Kaoru's position.
The massive theme parked loomed over her..
Bean eyed the ship, then blinked at the bundle in her hands. "Well, I doubt Pierrot drives a car...or a ship..." So saying, she crept up to the door, and checked to see if the method of entry was obvious...
Kaoru discovered that the door to the ship was accompanied by a small keypad console, complete with monitor. The keys were all digits, along with an 'on' button and an 'Alarm' button.
Bean blinked. "Could it...Yeah, maybe..." So saying she retrieved the wallet from her bundle, looking for the piece of paper with the row of numbers and the cursing on it...
"45620" were the digits on the bit of paper..
"Okay....here goes." Bean murmured, blowing a lock of dissheveled hair from her eyes. Tentatively pressing the 'on' button, she slowly entered the numbers, reverting to her habit of talking as she entered numbers.
"Four, Five, Six, twenty..." She murmured, then checked the lock, wondering if she got the sequence correct. "Maybe I have to enter it, and then press the on button?"
The door to the ship folds open, becoming a ramp. Despite that, the doorway isn't very big, so Kaoru would have to bend to get into it.
Bean blinked, then eased herself into the ship, ducking to get in the door.
The ship was smaller than it looked on the inside.
There were three rooms. First was the main room that looked like a living area. There was a small bed, a cooking area, a cupboard, and a tiny television. To one side, there was a desk with pen and paper.
There was another small cupboard, labelled 'Maintenance'.
The other two rooms were simple; there was a cockpit, and a washroom. The only actual doors within the ship were in the washroom, seperating the toilet and the shower from the main area..
With a sudden fit of paranoia, Bean realized she'd be easy pickings for anyone who spotted the ship. She quickly closed the hatch, depositing her bundle of items she'd taken from...the body on the floor, and she went to the TV to turn it on. If Pierrot was any clue, she was in a Cowboy Bebop universe, and hopefully any local stations would give her a clue what planet she was on...
The TV flickered for a moment, then familiar music blared out of it. Sounded like a banjo or a guitar, accompanied by various sound effects, most notably a cash register...
The words 'Big Shot!' appeared on the screen, promptly followed by a pair of cowboys. Well, a black cowboy and a cowgirl who was wearing a jacket that looked like it might fall open any moment, leaving nothing to the imagination.
"Amigo!" said the black man in a really corny way.
"That SO doesn't help." Bean muttered, looking for a way to change channels. "Unless I'm a bounty hunter. Either way, what planet is this?"
The next channel is appparently a local channel.
"..meteor showers have mysteriously stopped on Earth, Professor Hinkle," says a newsreader-looking person. It appears to be an interview show. "What's your take on this?"
"Well, Greg, some scientists believe that the debris and rocks created by the Gate incident have finally settled into a controlled orbit," says a terribly geeky looking fellow, looking almost exactly like a classic Einstien. "But I believe something more sinister is at work, here. Something capable of stopping the meteor showers must be quite strong indeed. Much more than simple gravitic force."
"Oh? And what do you believe this might be?" replies the newsreader.
"I'm glad you asked, Greg. We humans don't have the sort of technology to be able to do this and yet remain undetected. The only logical explanation is that aliens have come to the Sol System."
"Aliens? But why would they be here, poking around Earth?"
"Who knows? Perhaps they're interested in the artifacts of our lost civilisations," replies the professor. "No matter what they may be here for, we should be on our toes."
Bean blinked. "I'm on earth?" She thought for a moment. "Well, Maybe. But then, maybe not...he wasn't all that clear." Turning the TV up loud enough that she could hear as she walked, she edged up to the cockpit...
"But, Professor Hinkle, don't you think aliens are a bit, well, far-fetched?" replies the newsreader.
"Not at all. You know that despite the rapid expansion of the human race across the solar system, we havn't actually explored any of deep space yet. There's no reason not to expect aliens, I believe.."
The cockpit was fairly small. The buttons, thankfully, were labelled all over. It was divided into two sections; 'Atmospheric Flight' and 'Space Flight'. A flight computer was also included, along with various dials, gauges, and LCD lights. The cockpit appeared to be turned off, but there was a power button on the flight computer.
"After all, what's to say they havn't been watching us for a long, long time, and only now have they decided to make their move?"
"But there's no proof there were aliens. After all, you just saw Professor Jeeves state his theory on orbital settle-"
"Professor Jeeves is a fool! He has seeked to snub me since our days in grade school, but he knows my words are the truth! Don't you, Jeeves? I know you're watching this!"
"Please, calm down, Professor Hin-"
"Oh, yes. Aliens are the cause! You know this to be true, Jeeves! I won't let you discredit me further!"
"Thank you for your time, Professor Hinklestien. The Earth Science Breakfast show will be back after the break. Next up: A talk with Professor J. Carmichael on mutations within the gene pool of the wolf."
"I'm on earth." Bean mumbled to herself. "And I need to get to mars."
She put her hands on her hips, carefully surveying the cockpit, looking for a manual, or an obvious autopilot, before dealing with the computer. "Well, FUCK."
There's a switch with 'Auto-pilot' labelled above it. It's currently flipped off.
"I must have to lay in a course, then..." She observed, looking around, hopefully for a book titled 'Spacecraft for Dummies'.
No such book was present, unfortunately.
There was a rumbling in Kaoru's stomach..
"Geez...I just ate!" Bean grumbled. "Bad enough I have to be a girl...don't wanna be a fat girl...Well, it was last night, and I did dig that pit..." she sighed, and went back to the cooking area, glancing idly at the TV before Rummaging through the cupboard and surrounding items of similar import, looking for something small to eat...
Kaoru found a few apples and banans, and a great deal of leftover pizza and chinese food within the cooking area. There was a stove, oven, and microwave for easy cooking.
"The wolf is quite a remarkable animal," said a more ordinary looking professor-type. "We know that, before the gate accident, wolves hunted in packs, usually lead by a single alpha male with several females below him. But after the incident, wolves took on a.. well, not quite solitary."
"What do you mean by that, Professor Carmichael?"
"Well, it's quite an ironic bit of evolution. Nowadays, most wolves travel in pairs, a male and female. Even when the females give birth, there are always the same amount of puppies; 3 males, 3 females. Usually, the wolves of the same litter split up into three more pairs of their own.
The wolf is also a much deadlier animal than it once was, as well as living much longer. They're also amphibious, and capable of falling incredible distances with no chance of death."
"What are the theories behind these evolutionary points?"
"Evolution has always been a case of survival of the fittest. As you know, the effects of the gate incident caused many strange and unforseeable mutations to occur within some humans, as well as many animals. I believe that the radiation supercharged the evolutionary matrixes of some animals, thus causing their offspring to be quite different. Many areas of Earth are now quite extreme in their conditions, I am sure that the wolves- along with other species, would have had to adapt to survive. As the wolf shows, they were capable of doing quite impressive things."
Bean began munching on an apple, and her eyes widened as the first juices from the fruit hit her tongue. She hadn't noticed it before, because Japanese food tended to be somewhat bland, save for wasabi, anyhow, but her tastebuds had been seemingly amplified, somehow, and the sweet sour tang of the apple tasted suprisingly intense to the recently turned girl...
After appeasing her stomach, she noticed her eyes were beginning to droop, and she realised with some chagrin that she hadn't slept in two days. Stumbling away, she switched the TV off, looking for the sleeping quarters...
There were no sleeping quarters seperate from the main living area, which did have a bed.
Bean made an ecstatic little moan, and collapsed on the bed she'd found. After a moment, she began removing the clothes she was wearing, trying hard not to look...well, so much for that.
Momentarily distracted from her exhausted condition by the sight of her body, she fondled herself experimentally, and let out a soft, hissing gasp. "Damn....Who says boys have it better than girls?" she marvelled, shivering.
After a moment, weariness overtook her again, and she crawled under the blankets on the bed, and thanking every deity she could think of that it wasn't a futon, passed out...
Later that day (barring more 'experimentation'), Kaoru wakes up. A clock tells her it's 2pm.
From her position on her bed, she can see a button on the comlink in the cockpit flashing..
Groggily, Bean pulled herself up into a sitting position, bleary eyes staring blankly at the flashing light.
"Where'm I now...? Oh. Dead girl's spaceship. Wait, am I sure I'm not on drugs?" she eyed her chest as the blanket slid off of her. "I might be."
Wrapping the blanket tightly around herself, she made her way into the cockpit, and glared at the flashing light. "If this is more complicated than pressing a button, I'm going back to bed." she decided irritably.
The flashing light itself turned out to be a button on the comlink, which was displaying '1 Message Received' on it's little viewscreen.
Bean pondered for a moment, then hesitantly touched the button. "Meh, If I'm going to be her for awhile, I'll need all the free information I can get..."
A kid appeared on-screen. He looked about 13, with long, unkempt hair. He was wearing a white shirt and a loose tie, and had a worried expression on his face.
"Nee-chan, it's me, Hiroshi. You've been gone for a few days now, and havn't sent any word back.. not to mention we're running out of food and money.
Look, uh, I just wanna make sure you're allright. Don't get any ideas or nuffin'.
Uh, yeah. Bye, Ryoko."
The screen switches, displaying, "Would you like to Replay?" and flashing a button on the comlink.
Bean resisted the urge to bang her head into the control panel a few times.
"...Right." she sighed softly. "She would have to have a family. I'd like to send you a big fucking 'I hate you', Pierrot..."
She contemplated the comm unit. "I'll need to come up with a way to kill him...He's bound to assume what everyone else is, and come for me...gotta remember the cats..."
So saying, she hugged the blanket tighter around herself, and began poking around the ship, looking for where 'Ryoko' kept her clothes.
There is a warddrobe, filled with mostly utilitarian stuff. That is to say, mostly jeans and shirts, a few short skirts, and exactly one dress, though it does look like a rather expensive dress..
There are also a few pairs of boots and 'nice' shoes, along with socks 'n panties.
Bean sighed, and began rooting through the underwear to find stuff that wasn't too girly.
After a moment, she pulled out a sports bra and plain panties, thanking the powers that be that 'Ryoko' seemed to have been a tomboy. After some more searching, she retrieved black calf boots, black jeans, a white t-shirt and a short black denim jacket.
"..." She said, eyeing herself and discovering the clothing was extremely clingy. "This had better not mean I need to diet. I'm in...no, Kaoru was in GREAT shape..."
As if on cue, it starts raining outside.
Bean smiled a little as the faint tap-tap-tap of raindrops began. "Always liked it when it rains..."
With that, she headed to the cockpit, intent on taking a closer look at the controls, and hoping to manage to fly to mars and her accidental family without killing herself.
Once there, she begins a careful study of the controls, trying to see either instructions, or intuit the logical manner in which to use them.
As Kaoru fiddles with the controls, she feels a slight twinge in the back of her mind..
The controls seemed fairly simple, after a bit of in-depth looking. Modern planes tend to fly themselves, and this ship looked like it might be able to do that literally.
In truth, once some of the more unnecessary buttons were out the way, it was kinda like a machine in an arcade. There was a lever for the throttle, a standard joystick-type thing with several buttons on it, mostly appearing to be used for weapons. There was also a big bright button labelled 'Experiment-Y' with a small guage above it, simply marked 'Power'. Several buttons here and there appeared to relate to minor things, like 'fuel dump' and 'ejection chair'.
In summary, Kaoru figured she could probably pilot the ship once it's in the atmosphere or in space.
The hard bit would be taking off, leaving and entering the atmosphere, and landing. There were some buttons relating to them, too, though they had things like 'Manual Thrust Operation' and 'Manual Atmosphere Enter/Exit' written on them.
OOC: Another subject I am not well versed on is aerodynamics and orbital flight, so I'll just have to wing it. I'll give you free reign to essentially fly the ship, as long as you don't do anything fancy. >_>
Bean grinned. "I can do this!" she murmured happily, and began looking out the viewports, checking for particularly tall things she might crash into if she were clumsy in flight....
The tallest thing was, naturally, the amusement park that Kaoru was parked outside. Giant rollercoasters abounded, making flying through the park a nightmare for someone of her lack of expertise.
Thankfully, no other obsticles were nearby..
Bean pondered a moment, then began igniting the thrusters, her hand poised over the switch to retract the landing gear as soon as her ship rose into the air...
Lights flashed! Gauges moved! The entire ship seemed to rumble.. and then, miraculously, started to move, picking up speed... and to Kaoru, it was quite nerve-wracking, as it was getting faster, faster, lots faster, ohmyfreakinggodI'mgonnacrash faster..
*Woosh!*
The ship soared into the sky, albeit wobbling here and there and looking like it's about to stall any minute..
A short time later, Kaoru managed to navigate the ship through the debris surrounding the Earth and find her way into the nearby Gate. Her flight computer told her than 2000 woolongs had been deleated from her account, reducing her to a meagre 11000. Some inner instinct told her than that was about 110 dollars..
The flight computer told her that it'd take about about three hours to get from Earth to Mars...
Bean sighed as her ship entered the gate. "Lucky I got that back from robbing the cash register at the amusement park..." she sighed. "Still...'Hiroshi' said we...how many kids am I supporting?" she wondered, and flicked the autopilot switch, hesitating and watching to make sure she stayed on course before moving away to rifle through the place for information...
After a few minutes of rooting around, Kaoru found a Photograph.
It was a picture of her and five kids; one was Hiroshi, but the other four were unfamiliar. There were two boys and two girls. One of the guys looked about sixteen, but the rest looked somewhere between seven and twelve. Hiroshi himself looked about thirteen. They were all standing out the front of a house, which looked to be a fairly nice place, two stories, nice garden..
Her musings were interrupted by a sudden warning beep from the flight computer. However, she didn't have a chance to go and see what was happening before a massive *CLANK!* rocked the ship, and Kaoru tripped over.
In the background, she could hear various mechanical noises, sounded like hydraulics operating..
Bean picked herself up off the floor as every profane thing she could remember, and a few she made up on the spot spilled out of her mouth. She hurried to the front of the ship to find out what happened...
The flight computer informed Kaoru that, somehow, another ship had docked to her.
It also informed her that it was being hacked into, and her main hatch was in danger of opening thanks to an outside influence.
At that moment, her ship comlink started to bleep.
Bean growled, and went to retrieve the submachine gun and her sword before answering the comm. She activated the comm when she returned to the cockpit, busily removing the safety from the gun...
Kaoru managed to grab her junk, but as she returned to the cockpit, her main hatch popped open, and she heard a metallic object, as if something was being thrown inside..
Oh hell...if that's a stun grenade or something... Bean closed the door of the cockpit, opening it just a crack to watch the unwelcome intruder for an explosion, or some other clue to it's purpose...
There was a pop, and a hissing sound. The cabin started to fill with a kind of greenish smoke..
Oh Shit... Bean slammed the cockpit door shut, then frantically began searching for a re-breather, or a oxygen mask. I dunno if this ship has a gas mask, but they should have some sort of emergency breathing equipment...even planes have them...
Kaoru did manage to turn up sort of SCUBA-gear type stuff; an oxygen-filled tank with a breather extending from it. She notes that it looks like it belongs to a spacesuit..