The Key Games (IC)

[redtail]

Phelan braces himself against Daryn's armored shell, fishing in a pocket on the shoulder of his vest with his free hand for a small, waterproof brass bottle full of motion-sickness pills.
THey'd been the hawk's trade secret since he started. CHanging direction rapidly and frequently in microgravity tended to produce intense vertigo, particularly in a highly gravitationally-sensitive species such as a bird, or some arboreal mammals.
He claws two pills from the bottle, tucking them into his beak and closing the bottle in a very rehearsed, fluid motion, replacing the bottle in the same pocket it'd come from to begin with.
"I've got gear onboard that ship that negates that as a problem, but on second thought, it's probably not a bright idea to assume this bomb's MSD is gonna leave any of our ships un-digested. The details aren't critical, we've just gotta get the hell out of here."

With his free hand again, the hawk eyes the stainless-steel watch on his wrist.
"About... Two minutes... Input, air-clock. Zero seconds, twenty eight minutes. Go."
His eyepiece displayed an icon something akin to a bottle of oxygen, reading 27:59 and counting down.
"Let's make this count, brother."

[Shade Leshyr]

Shade shook his head at Kira's antics, Well, at least one of us can stay positive in the face of almost certain death... wait... how was I going to stop myself again? He chided himself for skipping a step and used gentle motions to flip so that he would land on his feet. The impact jarred his bones, but oddly, they didn't break despite the seeming force of his landing, though he did do a comical hop step, groaning loudly.

He looked in the direction Rotem had indicated and shrugged, "You've got the map. That way it is." He made to go in that particular direction, only to have a blast door slam down in front of him. Similar doors sealed the other tunnels and above them, the shaft sealed. Shade swore, "We're locked in!!"

He was about to start ranting when the blast door in front of him suddenly beeped and a section slid up, revealing a large keyboard and screen. He pushed off toward it gently, and looked at it. At first, the figures on the screen meant nothing to him, seemingly just gibberish, but then he recognized their origin.

"Naurtin," he called, "I think this is your language..."

[Nelle Kozera]

"Oh yeah...this is an old dialect." She said giving it a read over before typing on the Keyboard which was also in her native tongue. "Hmm, who ever this is must have spent a long time among our tribes, it not often i hear the this little fable anymore as it part of the melding tribes history." Though she did not elaborate on the tribes history or importance to her. "I hope that this opens the door..."

[Brome Teks]

Rotem watches as Naurtin inputs the answer. He takes some images, hoping to gather clues on the mystery man's possible origins and sources. "So he may have Naurtin agents then?"

[Daryn]

Daryn shakes his head as he gets to the computer room behind Nuartin and Rotem. He gives the area a scan over to see if he can spot anything else. "He might... Or he just might be really well studied. If this is the first test, then I'm going to guess that there's going to be a little bit of everything, maybe even trivia."

[Crusadra]

Serene looks at Kira with a sigh, "A bit childish under hard circumstances aren't we?"

Serene looks to her radio, "Pilot?"
Pilot: "Yes mi'lady?"
Serene: "Do me a favor?"
Pilot: "Of course! What is it?"
Serene: "Mind arming some of those magnetic grappling cables? God knows I'm going to need them in a bit... if I survive. Serene out."
Serene then puts her radio away.

Serene pulls in behind the bunch, looks around then looks to the bunch and heading that way, mumbling, "I dun like this situation one bit... well, upside is if that anyone needs something, I'm a merchant and I have supplies." She looks to Shade, "Hey... um, Shade was it? I'm Serene, and I'm a bit clueless on as to whats going on... for the exception of the dezzed station going to explode and a seemingly immortal fella wanting us all dead by mistake. So do you mind cluing me in on this... -Star-Key- bit? I was kinda tricked into this by an old -friend-." She has a nervous tone.

[Shade Leshyr]

The blast door unsealed and slid open as a feminine voice said, "Welcome players. I am a subroutine of an AI created to monitor your progress and provide useful intel for the games. My name is Yaku. You have passed the first trial of the first game and succeeded in entering the chamber of the Narael. I am instructed to educate you further."

As the group raced down the passage, holograms began to appear of the Narael as the AI narrated, "In the early days, the Narael developed in accordance with their habitat, gaining the metallic-infused body necessary to survive the conditions of their home-world. Due to the increased gravity on the Narael home world, most Narael are short by galactic standard height, though many times stronger.

"The Narael, while warriors by nature, are among the most diplomatic of the feline races. While by most standards they are primitive, the Narael express keen minds and a profound ability to comprehend galactic matters. My instructions are complete for this chamber, details may be obtained by the member of your group that answered the initial riddle."

Shade looked over at Serene, "Gladly, though I am a bit surprised that you haven't heard of it. Rumors are flying around like our dear avian friends over there. The Star Key is supposedly an object that controls some sort of vast super weapon, capable of bringing these wars between our species to an absolute end."

[redtail]

Phelan watches crookedly from an uneven position, floating half-attached to Daryn on the other side of the chamber as the feline responds in kind to the first 'riddle' and the machine begins to speak. The hawk is visibly agitated.

"So we're risking life and limb for a get-to-know-you game. Absolutely fantastic. Are you serious?"

He closes his eyes, pressing his narrow skull against the gyrfalcon's armor; with a soft groan and a shiver, he begins to breathe hard for a moment. Before long, he's finished.
"S-sorry, brother... Pills haven't kicked in yet and I'm sensitive to changes in inertia right now. I think we need to get moving again. I'm sure you can understand that it'd be a shame to get blown-up because we weren't good enough at Trivial Pursuit: Mysterious Sociopath Edition."
He coughs softly, letting himself hang loosely

[Daryn]

Daryn watches Phelan deal with the g-sickness. He knows what the other bird is going through, for a long time he had suffered from the same thing. The suit he is wearing while not able to create a micro-g field around it, can create one inside it. So he's spared the effects of the sickness in that regard. He nods to Phelan and boosts across the chamber. He makes sure to record all the information the AI had given the group as he and Phelan make their way past the first door. As he moves past Naurtin he nods to her, "Nice job. Let's hope the rest of these puzzles are that straightforward."

[Shade Leshyr]

Soon the group came to a corner and saw another sealed door as they turned. Like the first, another screen and keyboard appeared, though this one had words in galactic standard on it:

Fear is the basis of destruction and agony
Fear will lead to anger, anger will lead to hate
Hate will lead to war, war will lead to death
Death is the son of destruction, and leads to pain

In this world there are many fears, but none so much as the fear of death
Beyond this chamber is a fear you all share and not just you, but every living being.
It is said to come by god, or by disaster, but it does come.
What is the galaxy's greatest fear?

Shade puzzled over the strange riddle, "Well, it seems forward enough. It pretty much gives you the answer." Floating over, he typed "death" into the console and was met with an error code. It wasn't the right one. He furrowed his brow and typed it again, thinking he'd made a typo, but again the error message appeared. He turned to the rest of the group with a worried look, "I think it's broken."

[redtail]

The gryphon's expression finally sours.
"Is it... Broken, or is it doing what it's supposed to do? It's... The statement is very general and 'death' was a premature conclusion. With all due respect."

His grip loosens from Daryn's armored shell, and he gently pushes off to drift toward the console. "In my business, we have a saying. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. We can't afford to rush, because mistakes will cost us more time than we'll save by trying to cut corners. Let me see that, if you don't mind."

He maneuvers into a position near the terminal and stares at it for a moment.

"It makes no mistake in saying that every living being fears it. Some species need to die to procreate. Are you sure it's not asking for 'failure'?"

He remains silent for a moment.
"Think about it... Part of the way we define life is the ability of one species to successfully compete in the environment... Whatever that happens to be. Failure wouldn't necessarily have any bearing on the inevitable death of an individual... But on a collective level, failure would mean the death of an entire species... Or worse. Relegation to some subservient and inappropriate role... Humiliation... Starvation... Death by particularly unfriendly means... And furthermore, if we fail what we're doing right now, there may be more at stake than any one of us can quite wrap our heads around. I've got my own theories of what this key does. THey may be wrong, but... If they're right, that's all the more reason to keep moving. Sir, would you mind inputting that?"

[Daryn]

Daryn let's the hawk float off towards the console. After a moment he floats up and comes to a stop a little bit behind the two at the console. Looking over the message on the console he nods. "'Failure' would be my first choice. That or 'irrelevance'. Given the context though, I think 'failure' is more likely."

[Daryn]

OOC: Has this one fallen by the wayside?