Midnight Visitor

Posted on Wednesday April 10th, 2019 @ 12:14 hours by Mayterial Droz & Alexandria Farron

Mission: Pixie Dust
Location: Captain's Quarters, Deck 1, Fawkes
Timeline: Current
1845 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Alexandria fled her quarters, hugging her pillow for dear life and unaware that the blanket she clutched trailed behind her on the deck. At first, anywhere but her cabin had seemed safe. Anywhere but where Twinkie was. That cat. How had it even gotten aboard? How had it eluded her for so long? Someone must have been feeding it... him. She had to remind herself to use a more proper pronoun. Some people could be very touchy about pets. To her, he or she mattered not. The cat would make her seriously ill if it got too close. She was already starting to feel sick.

Maybe it wasn't Twinkie at all... perhaps there was another cat that looked just like him. She hadn't thought to ask Captain May about pets. She was allergic to many things... plus, she probably wouldn't have been hired if she'd mentioned even half of them.

As Alexandria skulked through the corridors it soon became apparent that she had bigger problems than just one cat. She saw more of them. Black cats. White cats. Grey cats. And... green cats? They lurked in the shadows, perched atop hatchways, and stalked behind her, trying to pounce her trailing blanket. A chorus of soft mews came from the ducts overhead and underfoot.

Oh no. They were everywhere!

Alexandria should've read the cargo manifest. She might not have taken the job if she'd known if they were hauling a shipment of cats. Who would order a crate full of Terran housecats? A very strange individual. She started to run. But she didn't know where to run. The cats were in the ducts. They would find her if she tried to hide there. They were probably in the shuttle too. The crew would laugh at her, and/or get the wrong idea if she showed up at their door in her PJs. Alexandria looked down. Her thinnest pair of PJs. She should've thought to throw on her jumpsuit at least. Racing around in barely-there baselayers... someone would be sure to get that picture of her for the Crewman of the Month plaque.

No. There was only one place she could go...

:: May's Quarters ::

This night had been gruelling. Finally May had been able to get back to her quarters, cleaned up and with about 90 minutes to spare before her shift started. She knew she could sleep in a little, being the captain and all, but that set the wrong premise. How would she be able to give anyone a dressing down if she came to work an hour late on the second day in the black. She was about to close her eyes when she heard the most modest, shortest, ring of her chime she had ever witnessed. For a moment she considered ignoring it, whoever was behind it really wasn't confident and would maybe even just go away if ignored. She sighed heavily, the bane of being a freighter captain, "Enter." She rolled over and sat on the edge of her bed looking at the door, wondering who would appear behind it.

Alexandria peeked inside as the door opened, glancing around just long enough to make sure that there were no cats in May's cabin. Not seeing any, she immediately darted two steps inside, just far enough to get the hatch closing again. She looked behind... good. No cats had managed to get in behind her, though she thought she could still hear them mewing on the other side of the hatch. She cast a furtive glance at the captain as she took another step. Her blanket, snagged in the closed hatchway, slipped from her grip as she did so, leaving her with only her piilow, and her black baselayer onesie, which could barely be considered opaque.

"There's... things... in my room. I can't sleep with them in there. Can I stay here with you?" Alexandria pleaded, not wanting to admit that those 'things' were cats. She sounded not unlike a frightened child who'd just woken from a nightmare. Except she was a mostly-grown woman, which made it seem sad and just a tad creepy.

Mayterial slowly made her way over to the shivering Navigator, "Let's just clear out your room of those things and then get you back to bed." She really didn't want to have someone in her room tonight, or what was left of it, least of all Alexandria. "I'm sure it's nothing, what did you see?" She straightened her t-shirt that doubled as a pyjama and grabbed the jeans that were slung over the chair to put on as they headed for the door.

Alexandria at least had the decency to not stare at the captain as she donned her pants. She wasn't a total creep. "Umm... cats." She said in reply to May's question.

"Cats?" It took a moment for Mayterial to process that statement, "There's no cats on the ship." She frowned and put the back of her hand against the forehead of Alexandria. She didn't feel any fever, it seemed like this thing, whatever it was, was unrelated to head wounds. Alexandria had look as well rested as anyone could given the circumstances. She shuddered a bit and felt an itch in her nose, in the distance she heard a soft and muffled meow.

Alexandria tried to duck back out of the way when May reached to touch her, but she wasn't quite quick enough. She cringed, scrubbing at her forehead with her sleeve after May removed her hand. She tried not to think about the last time it had been washed. "I'm not crazy, which is more than can be said for some of your crew, by the way, and I'm not sick either." Alexandria said in a grumpy tone. "But I will be sick if someone doesn't round up those cats. I can't be around them without meds... which take four hours to take effect. And the meds give me pimples and gas, so I'd rather just not be around the cats in the first place." Alexandria picked up the end of her blanket, ready to snatch it back once the captain opened the door. "Why are we hauling cats, anyway? Who does that? You told me you were legit."

"First of all, hauling livestock is a rather profitable endeavour. Though cats not so much I suppose." Mayterial responded, she heard the meow again. That was impossible, there were none aboard. She had considered getting some years back to take care of the Vole problem but never did. There were more efficient ways to get rid of the pests, "secondly, and more importantly, we're not hauling cats." She felt squeamish at the thought, her skin began to crawl. One look around the room also send her mind into chaos. Why was it always such a mess here. She really should clean up more. Perhaps hire a couple more deck hands to make sure the entire ship was well cleaned out. Something to talk about with the Bosun. She shook her head. She needed to focus. "Look, I don't know what's going on here but everyone is starting to lose it out here." Another meow from behind the bulkhead, she knew it was impossible, she was absolutely 100% sure of it, after an incident with a stowaway she always scanned the entire vessel for life signs and there were none other than the ones on the manifest. She tried to remind herself of this thoroughly. Her head starting to pound.

"I think some of your crew lost it long before you hired them." Alexandria said with a sigh. "Do we really have to do this, Captain? Can I just stay here? If you're intent on catching them, I won't be much help. If even one gets close enough to brush my leg..." She shuddered and clutched her pillow close. She would much rather deal with the mess than all those loathsome creatures lurking outside.

Mayterial pinched the bridge of her nose, "You stay here, I'll go take a look." she was tired and right inside that wonderful moment of being tipsy and hungover all at the same time. She heard the meow again coming from the corridor. She opened the door, pulled the blanket inside and stepped out, doors closing behind her. "Well kitty, where are you?" She saw movement from the corner of her eye and looked over, there wasn't anything there. Then suddenly there was something on the other side, when she focused it was gone. It was almost as if it didn't matter where she looked she could never quite get a lock on the animal. She squeezed her eyes closed, this was giving her a headache.

Alexandria didn't have to argue with the order. She snatched up her blanket as soon as it was free and almost had herself fully wrapped up in it by the time May left the cabin. Then the thought hit her... had any cats come into contact with the part that had gotten caught out in the corridor? She flung the blanket away from her quickly, as if it were a venomous snake. At least her pillow hadn't been contaminated. She hugged it tighter.

Looking around, Alexandria noticed the messy state of May's quarters for the first time. How could the captain live like this? The mess did look like it could've been due to the close-call they'd had earlier. She hoped that was the case. IF Captain May was content with her own cabin looking like this, then it might not be long before the rest of the ship followed suit. At least there were no cats though, that was something. Captain May was so nice to go round them up for her.

Ironically, Alexandria wasted no time in making herself as much of a fitting unwanted guest as the cats outside. She yawned and eased some of the tension out of her body with a feline stretch, accentuated by her catsuit pyjamas. The large, comfy bed and the allure of slumber were too difficult to ignore. She set down her pillow next to the captain's and was asleep within moments after crawling under the sheets.

With a hand on her forehead Mayterial looked around the corridor and the meowing seemed to ebb away. She was absolutely positive that no feline creatures, except for M'erah, had made it onto the vessel. Alexandria seemed to be just one in a long line of misguided crewmembers and May had no clue as to where this was all coming from. She needed to check in with Engineering and the Medical bay. She started to step forward and immediately felt the pounding echo through to her head. Something was really exhausting her, something was tapping into her telepathic abilities and draining her energy. She needed to get a suppressant from the medical bay.

[OFF]

Mayterial Droz
Captain

&

Alexandria Farron
Navigator

S.S. Fawkes

"I still get nightmares. In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I'm not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares."