Catch Phrase: "I have concerns"
CARD: Catch Phrase
Game: Homeworlds (D6 homebrew forthcoming)
Character: Pandora
Race: G'Dar (androgynous long lived telepaths that have a Rumspringa like phase in their development referred to as the Travelling - usually undertaken in groups of 2 or 3 for safety and sanity)
I have concerns ...
The frequency of fear and desperation still vibrated across gar Crest as Pandora settled onto the meditation mat. The absence of any other emotional states floating about the Neurosphere was pure bliss. Ge had spent so much time among humans that the backdrop of conflicted emotive states had become almost unremarkable. Like a bad smell lingering so long that the olfactory senses burn out and no longer register.
But that was unfair, once accustomed to the unfortunate emotive pollution that always accompanied humans, it was not the painful or unpleasant experience that the Prime Navigator had warned the Travellers about. Less a bad smell and more a constant drone. Like the familiar white noise of a Starship – always there, unique to each vessel and only noted when it changes or is silenced. The analogy brought a sense of loss to gar meditation. The noise of gar ship had been permanently silenced and the tenor of gar crew had been altered by the catastrophe. They had mostly survived, but there was disharmony. Even Mr Smith was rattled.
Perhaps Pandora had become polluted as the Ea’Kagay Constable had warned. But it was also possible that Pandora’s current disharmonic state was a natural result of being the sole G’Dar on a ship of humans for such an extended period. According the Ih’HarDin Mavin this was a feat never before achieved by such a young and unaligned Traveller. Despite their tenant of humility, their hunger to study gar to determine how to harness such a talent was a bad taste in the back of Pandora’s mouth. It was rivalled only by the combination of academic curiosity and suspicion that had likewise radiated rom the True-Mind Trainer that had brought gar the mat.
Pandora took a deep breath and focused – gathering the scattered thoughts, impressions and remnant emotive reactions that had built a chaotic tangle around gar’s Neurocrest these past few days. Pulling them together through meditation, they formed a sphere of neuroenergy that ge studied and interrogated. The answers were not on this ball of darkness, but perhaps the path to illumination was.
The events that led to the destruction of the ship: the stolen memories; the bonding and then scattering of the crew; the loss of T’Lea – and Pandora was certain it was a loss, not a death. These were all points in a journey not yet completed. Pandora was clear that gar place remained with the humans for a time. But the price to continue this path – to regroup and regear and find T’Lea- it would be steep. Ge was already indebted to rival Clusters for the sanctuary currently provided and the information recently and discreetly received. The freedom of remaining Unaligned would not last forever.
The portal visitor alert sounded just as ge stood refreshed and centred from meditation. Mr Smith entered. Pandora had bonded to Mr Smith in a manner unusual for G’Dar/Human relations. Mr Smith was a cool and refreshing presence on a ship full of emotives. Although human, Mr Smith’s Neuro frequency was to emotive states as a Black Hole to light. Pandora theorised that Mr Smith was probably the reason ge had survived isolated with humans and Glipan for so long without experiencing the impact to sanity other G’Dar Navigators reported after travelling alone the emotive races. Not for the first time Pandora questioned the logic of human Medicos referring to Sociopathy as an illness. It seemed a perfectly appropriate coping mechanism to gar.
Mr. Smith entered with typical stoicism but there was a registration of excitement across Pandora’s Crest.
There have been reports of random cattle mutilations on a farming island just 120 clicks from where an unidentified “asteroid” splash down was reported five days ago
Ah – T’Lea – but what physical and emotional state she might be in after surviving a deep space explosion and crash landing (sans escape pod) was unknowable. Her bizarre genetic construct had instinctive responses that could be catastrophic in a populated centre. Thank the Light the closest planet was Helios, a sparsely occupied agri-water world.
Well Mr Smith, I expect you have already arranged our inspection of the local Cattle industry?
Excellent. – I have concerns.
