Locations:
Planetoid
People:
Amelia Rose Seraphine - Ash's mom
Sapien Gabriel Seraphine - Ash's dad
Simulation of Sapien Gabriel Seraphine - Downloaded into N.I.K.K.
We last left our group of adventures in the hands of Amelia Seraphine, our pilot's mother. She had, at this point, set N.I.K.K. back to factory settings, turned off Vicky, and was attempting to distract Ash, her daughter, from discovering whatever it is she is hiding.
N.I.K.K., now an obedient, dutiful android took it upon himself as captain to go clean the Invictus from top to bottom. Tybar escorted the android body of Vicky back to the ship once Ash convinced her mom to turn Vicky back on. Tybar, the muscles of the group, is now in a quandary trying to figure out how to "fix" the two highly complex, computer-based lifeforms.
Back at the facility, Dr. Seraphine invites us all for a meal before showing us around. She has her android army serve up the finest delicacies she can offer. Chanterelle notices that the androids do not have the gait that one has come to expect from an android, something is very off with this place.
Zen gets Amelia talking about the work she is doing here. You can tell that Amelia is very dedicated and passionate about her work. Almost to the point of being a zealot of the scientific community. She explains to us her theory of the Maelstrom. How when you sew a Teddy Bear, you first have to turn it inside out before you stuff it. And no matter how careful you are, there is always a mar along the seam, a place where you can see it was sewn shut. Amelia thinks the Maelstrom is that point. And there is a thread dangling that she wants to pull on and see what happens. Joy is worried, because she knows all too well when you pull on a seam, the insides come bursting out of its encasing. She doesn't want to know what the Maelstrom is keeping back from this dimension.
At the ship, N.I.K.K. scratches help on the wall. Tybar decides to search N.I.K.K.'s room to see if there is a backup drive he can download. Apparently, N.I.K.K. is a bit of a hoarder and Tybar gets buried alive underneath piles of newspapers, magazines, and toenail clippings. Vicky saves Tybar, but she can't help him fix N.I.K.K., who at that moment comes into his quarters and starts incinerating his belongings as part of his clean-up protocol.
Chanterelle and Benny go investigate the cemetery. Chantey is concerned that there is no cemetery, that maybe Amelia is lying about the fate of her crew. She convinces Benny to dig up a grave. He takes off his jacket and shirt, revealing that he has seen some hard times. His back is a canvas of burns, scars, and crevasses. Benny is more than he appears. A taxi driver wouldn't have seen the kind of combat it takes to do that to a body.
Amelia takes Ash to her father, leaving the rest of the crew to explore the compound. Ash asks her mother if she could run a scan of her father. She discovers that her father is actually on the verge of death. If she takes him out of the cryo-chamber he will last about 40 minutes, if that. Amelia takes this opportunity to recruit Ash to her mission. She wants to leave on Invictus and fly through the Maelstrom to basically become gods with the power to mold the universe into her way of thinking and save her husband.
Meanwhile, Zen, in her exploring is confronted by a woman in high-tech cloaking gear. This woman, a smaller, more feminine form of Zen, is her mother. She had stowed away on Invictus and was testing out her gear while keeping an eye on Zen. She was very impressed that her cloaking device got past Vicky. She offers Zen the opportunity to ditch the crew and her father and come work for her. With the Bleeding Edge armor, they can become the biggest arms dealer in the universe.
Joy was left behind in the dining quarters with a robot watch guard and several of the androids. She discovered the robot dog could talk, and was there to prevent her snooping too closely. Joy's computer capabilities must have been known to Amelia. Joy did manage to turn off the dog in a sleight of hand when offering to pet it for it being a good boy. Joy also got a closer look at the androids and discovered they were "squishy". At this point, everyone started making their way back to the starting point. Including, Tybar, with N.I.K.K. who had the simulation of Ash's Dad (that was created by Vicky) uploaded into him. As the crew of the Invictus went to find Ash and get out of this wretched place, they found themselves locked inside a chamber, while Ash was taken to the Invictus to go explore the Maelstrom. Ash started to protest, asking her mom that her friends be there. Ash's mother approached her and said, "Hey honey, does this smell like Chloroform?"
Join us next time as we discover how the crew will escape, and what will Ash do about Mommy dearest.
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