"Take good care of Betsy while she's in you arms," Blaine said. She looked down at the cat, who was nestled in her arms at her chest. She noticed yet again she had reason to be embarrassed. She closed Seifer's jacket around herself. "Sorry about taking your jacket," she mumbled, looking up at him. She followed Blaine and Echo and the others, thinking that Blaine could not possibly know where he was going.
"I hope you realize I don't have a clue where we are going, but its better to move then not to move," Blaine said, "For now on...until the commander says anything, I will be making up moves as we go along....survival mad libbing." Blaine stared at the ground was it really all right to tell them that. Then he stopped he noticed a funny mark on one of the door. That mark looked like the one back at home on one of the scientist, that gives him his injections, door. It was the sign of the Outlaws. But why was that here? Blaine shook his head he must be hallucinating or something. He continued walking. "Meow," Betsy said. "She's hungry," Blaine said, "She won't shut up when she is hungry."
"Sorry about taking your jacket," she mumbled. "No problem," he said. Bulls**t, it was frezing! Fur would be nice, but he didn't feel like looking like a dog-man right now. "So, what exactly are you expecting to find?" he asked Blaine, using his best quiet voice. He knew how easy it was to piss him off. We don't want to go through that again, he thought. "I'm hoping for a hangar with a ship, so we can get outta here, or maybe the control room so we can take over. At the very least, it'd be nice to find a map."
"So, what exactly are you expecting to find?" "A map room so we can find the escape pods, there is no hell in way we are going to lose another life to those Cyberstone...this ship is massive, which would suggest they are more of them then there are of us...we barely escaped the last wave," Blaine paused, "But we're going to find the map room and find the quickest, safest, path to the escape pods...we'll head back to earth and knock that general's head with Echo's head...also we should find a cafeteria." Blaine had no clue what Cyberstone ate, but then again he really didn't care. He was hungry and he bet everyone else would get hungry sooner or later.
"Sounds like a plan," Seifer said. For once, he wasn't being sarcastic. What an interesting cat, he thought, looking down on Betsy in Sam's arms. There was something unsettling about Blaine and his cat not being together. "A quick question if you don't mind," he said to Blaine. "You said earlier Betsy saved your life... you mind telling me how? A cat saving a man's life is a strange thing. And the Outlaws project is also a very strange thing." The little grey cat looked up at him. "I could be getting ahead of myself here, but... who's to say they haven't experimented on animals too?" The question was aimed at Blaine, but he kept an eye on Echo the whole time. "I hope your cat doesn't do anything strange when she gets hungry. I don't like surprises."
"Trust me the only thing she has ever done is bite the the baker's hand once...and since that was a hologram there was no accidents," Blaine paused, "She brought me food, the flyer for the Outlaw project, and she kept me warm...how is this all possible....well as a kid I grew up on the streets as an orphan, it was hard to find food and usually the gangster took whatever I had, one day this gray cat about 1 years old walks up to me with a bag of food...she then just starts sleeping with me on the streets keeping me warm and what not...and later on when I really needed the money she brings me the add for the Outlaw project." "I could be getting ahead of myself here, but... who's to say they haven't experimented on animals too. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, Blaine, would you?" Blaine pondered this question. He thought it about a little. "Why would they experiment on animals?" Blaine asked, "There is no point in that, you can't f@#k an animals life over, they would just use it to evolve and most abilities need an injection, last time I check cats don't have thumbs to stick a syringe in there arm."
Seifer shrugged. "Sounds like this cat pretty much runs your life. In a way, it's her fault you're here...." That comment was uncalled-for. He tried to find something else to think about, but drew a blank. He was getting suspicious of everyone and everything. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, he thought. "Sorry, man. Just forget I ever brought it up. Like I said before, 'the love between a man and his cat is something worth living for.'"
"Sounds like this cat pretty much runs your life. In a way, it's her fault you're here...." Blaine didn't turn around or snap at him. It actually made him laugh at himself. "That may be true she does run my life, but that fault gave me food, an apartment, money, and a televisions, and coffee...so there is a blessing for every mistake made."
"so there is a blessing for every mistake made." 'So where are my blessings then?' she wondered. Sam scratched the cat's head, and it closed its eyes. She liked Betsy.
"...There is a blessing for every mistake made," Blaine said. And this is coming from the guy who said he wanted to die here, Seifer thought. "True, true," he said. "It'd be nice if you liked the rest of us as much as Betsy. Would you be interested in having a pet dog -- something of the wolf variety? I'll work on getting you some food, coffee, television, and whatever, if that's what it takes." He laughed and stroked Betsy's back. Good kitty.
"Betsy mistake was having me live for the Outlaw project, but the blessing of that mistake was that she got a home," Blaine paused, "And maybe your blessing, Sam, is underneath your nose and you don't know it." Blaine looked down on the ground, the wuzzy feeling was going away. But he only worried about the trouble he may cause later one.
"And maybe your blessing, Sam, is underneath your nose and you don't know it." Did he hear her? Did she say it aloud? Sam bit her lip, the taste of dried blood all too familiar. She looked around at the ship now, an interesting place. Something on the door... she'd seen it before. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to a mark.
It wasn't a hallucination if someone could also see it. "Outlaw's mark...I don't know why its here," Blaine said. Blaine stared at the floor. "Meow," he heard Betsy say again. She was very talkative today wasn't she.
"Outlaw's mark...I don't know why its here," Blaine said. "The Cyberstones are connected to the Outlaws project somehow. I have a feeling our being here is no coincidence," Seifer said. "Meow." "Thanks. I know I'm a genius, but it's always nice to be complimented," he said, sarcastically. "I'll get back to you when I learn to speak cat. And maybe I'll take some lessons in cyberstonese too."
"Outlaw's mark...I don't know why its here," Blaine said. "Outlaw's mark?" she repeated. "But... why?" She turned to Echo, but she knew he would never answer her questinons.
"But why?" Blaine asked, "Or maybe how is the Cyberstone connected to the Outlaws? Why and how?" Blaine slowed down his pace only to be walking right beside Sam. Not because he wanted to walk with her, but because he wanted to pet Betsy. She purred as his familiar hand touched her. "Cat and Cyberstone eh...I don't think the colleges give you options in majoring for that,"
The cat loved her master, and stretched towards his hands. Sam lifted Betsy, passing her to Blaine once again. "And who can answer our questions?" she asked.
Betsy climbed back on Blaine's arm and he began to carry her again. She was purring quiet loudly and was quite content with his warmth. She closed her eyes and went to sleep. Blaine smiled and petted her once more and then let her be on her way. "Maybe Echo can answer our questions," Blaine said. "And who can answer our questions?" Echo snorted at this, trying to conceal his laughter. He was never really good at those kind of things anyway.
Echo corrected his posture. "It was nothing I was choking," Echo said. He smiled calmly. Echo stared at the ground and then stared at them. "Should we go in the room with the funny mark?"
"Should we go in the room with the funny mark?" Echo asked. "Should we jump off a cliff?" Seifer said, impersonating Echo's voice. "Sure, why not? Let's play a little Russian Roulette while we're at it. You only live once, right." He placed a hand on the door and gestured for Echo to go in first. "Right after you, buddy."
Echo just smiled. "What if there is something dangerous in there?" Echo asked. Echo smiled again, he was really enjoying this.
Damien accepted the star back off Corson and was glad that at least someone acknoledged the posistion he was in of not actually intending to be the leader. Blaine appeared to try to assume the leadership role and for now he went along with it, it meant little to him. His eyes flittered uneasily over the outlaws project sign and his suspicion over the goverments role in all of this flared up again. This didn't add up, their presence here couldn't be a coincidence and Echo was acting strangely, he knew more than he was letting on. This situation wasn't phasing him in the slightest. Once again he stood up causing a lot of the group to turn round he approached Echo as he asked if there was something dangerous in the room. He brought his hand up and grabbed Echo by the throat slamming him into the wall his claws lacerating the skin around the mans neck. His movements took everyone off guard for the last few minutes the group has acutally not been fighting and now he, the one who had tried to be the voice of reason was instigating the fight. He looked deep into Echo's eyes and brought his face in close to him. "What the hells going on here, you know more than your letting on." He turned round to the rest of the group. "I told you already this would be a suicide mission but i hope you realise been here changes everything. I don't know what that symbol means but i do know one thing if its here that means these things have a relation to the goverment. That will go beyond classified information and that means our lifes are void at the end of the mission." he turned back to Echo his grip tightening more. "Were you sent to kill us once this is over with?"
She watched him, that monster of a man, grab Echo and slam him against the wall. 'Good,' she thought. 'Glad someone's done it.' "Were you sent to kill us once this is over with?" She hadn't thought of that. How stupid, of course that was it. They weren't send here to fight, they were sent to die. Just die where no one would questions how or why.
"Were you sent to kill us once this is over with?" Damien asked. It made perfect sense. It would explain why Echo seems to be more powerful than the rest of them. It would explain why he laughs when his comrades die; that's just one less person he'll have to kill in the end. But there were too many things it didn't explain. "It's gotta be more complicated than that," Seifer said. "If they only wanted us dead they could've blown up our ship on takeoff and called it 'pilot error.' They sent us here to get something done. I have a feeling we're not expendable yet... but we're getting there." He turned to Echo, who was being thoroughly handled by Damien. "How are you getting home, sir? Is this a one way trip for you too?" "And besides," he said to Damien, "if he really is here to kill us at the end of the mission, do you think it's wise to give him a reason to do it now? Let him go, man. You're only hastening the inevitable."
