Infection Spreads

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Slipstream Shred Goa
Slipstream has been in quarantine here since she arrived. The drones had chased off Goa and Firestorm to contain any possible infection that she might be carrying. Having been recharged by the drones, now she is in a containment unit awaiting a medic to show up.
Shred enters the Med lab, and approaches the containment unit. "Well well. Hello Slip, so what seems to be the problem? Can you tell me just what happened to you?" Then she looks to the drones, "Give me the results of your scans. Now."
Slipstream looks over as she sees Shred come in. "Good cycle Shred." she pauses a moment, "The problem was I had a sudden power drain for no explainable reason." then she watches the drones scatter for the scans. "I put in a report about the incident where it happened. But I can give you the details if you need them." The lead drone comes over with the scan unit to shot to Shred. You may need to compare those scans to previous scans to learn anything though.
Shred nods, "I got the report, Slip. I wanted to hear it from you in person. If there was anything you might have left out of the report, however insignificant it might have seemed at the time." In the meantime, at a terminal, she is already bringing up slip's medical records, so that she can compare to the baseline for slip's normal operational conditions.
Slipstream replies carefully, "Okay. We were in Iahex City first. We took on the Bots there. Then the ground gave way under us and we fell down a level to an old down ramp that obviously hadn’t been used in awhile. I thought I saw something dark flicker near me. Wasn't long before I had the total energy drain."
Looking at Slipstream's normal scans and comparing the scans the drones had taken before they put her in quarantine containment, it's obvious something is amiss. There is definitely a trace of a sudden power drain that is recorded in her neural net. It doesn't seem to have any central location of where it occurred, in fact it looks like it was a total body occurrence. Also there seems to be raised energy ratings in a couple of systems, like it's running a little 'hotter' than normal.
Shred hmms, "I see.. " she looks at the readings, then taps at the screen a couple of times. "Interesting readings... " she starts to take some readings of the conditions within the containment field, as well as for the general room of the med lab, so that she can check for any differences. "Have you noticed any differences since with your optical systems, slip?"
Goa inquisitively peeks around the door of the med bay, looking more at ease when he sees Shred tending to the seeker. He takes a few long strides up to the medic, hands clasped behind his back, looking around as innocently as can be-- "How bad is it?"
Slipstream finishes with, "Goa and Firestorm had to bring me back, and the drones got them out just in case I had something that would be infectious." she turns her head a bit toward the medic. The newer scan shows a slight variation to the original scans the drones took. There seems to be one more system running 'hot' now. "My optics are operation within nominal." a pause, "Hi Gooey."
Shred frowns, "The drones did WHAT? Slag." hearing Goa enter, she sighs, "Goa, into a Quarantine cubicle please. "
<Radio-MIL-DEC> Shred transmits, "Firestorm, if you are receiving this, please report to the med lab. Immediately. ""
Goa half-shutters his optics. "... quarantine? Whatever you say, Shredder, but I feel fine. I'm the one who dragged Slippy," he taps the seeker's hand, glancing over and waving in response to her greeting, "up here." He steps over where he's ordered with a shrug.
Slipstream turns her head and smiles toward Goa, she's just laying here in the containment unit with little room for movement. "They took scans before they released them, Shred. They thought they were fine." a pause, "I suppose though another scan wouldn't hurt, just in case I gave either of them whatever caused the drain."
Shred nods, "I know Goa, but the thing is, if whatever affected Slip is some sort of communicable infection, you and Firestorm could be affected already too. We just have to be very careful, understand? The Drones aren't as thorough as I am, and they don't compare scans to the baseline. even minor fluctuations can be very important." she is already now bringing up Goa's baseline scans to compare.
Goa continues to grumble a little as he gets set up in quarantine. "Someone has to be on guard out there."
The comparison of Goa's scans show very little change, if any at all. Other than of course the alteration of the amount of crystal radiation output.
Slipstream notes. "Starscream is out there, it's his shift anyway."
Shred hmms, looking at the scans carefully, "Your scans are inconclusive, to my optics, Goa. Unfortunately the crystal radiation in your systems makes it difficult to get a clear reading. I want to keep you in here for three days. Thundercracker and Skywarp can cover your shifts. Medic's orders."
Goa peers at Shred, then slowly crosses his arms with a forced, professional smile. "I'm in here enough I may as well be staff. If you're keeping me, give me some work to do."
Shred hmms, "Alright Goa. You can help me to examine the results of slipstream's scans more thoroughly. I am going to have to dismantle the drones that did the initial tests, to be safe. The backups will have to pick up the slack."
Slipstream peers over at the two the best she can consider her limited range of movement right now. "Dismantle... you think they got it too?" she sighs. "Lovely. I'm a carrier of something..."
Shred looks to Slip, "Maybe I am paranoid, but I am just not taking any chances. Especially not with medical drones. Think about the consequences if I do not, and they ARE infected with something."
"Leave the dismantling to me, Shred. I wouldn't know what I'm looking at." Goa laces his fingers together and stretches the servos outward. "Still think I'm fine. But hey, wouldn't be the first time my systems acted weird. We haven't heard anything else from the Autobots by chance, have we?"
Shred shakes her head, "Not that I have been informed of. I'll have to check with command. "
Slipstream peers over again, "Why would we hear from the Bots?" she asks.
Goa crosses his arms again, still looking in a bit of a huff as he turns his vision to Slipstream... with just a glimmer of sadness in his optics. "Dunno. It depends if this stuff hit any of their command bots." He presses the spike of his beard into his thumb, now just bored with his hands. "Their Optimus Prime was flipping his processor over it. Really... He even tried to give me an order."
Slipstream comments, "I thought one of them was acting a little odd. Prime too was definitely sensing something was amiss."
Shred hmms, "Okay, Drone, enter Goa's containment unit and power down. Goa, you know what to do, and run the components through the Rad-sterilisation unit." She herself heads back to the panel beside Slipstream's unit. "Slip, I'm going to let you out, so that you can move to the larger bay. I'd rather you weren't cramped, ok?"
Slipstream states, "Wouldn't me getting out expose you Shred?" she asks, though she would like a little more room to move. "Wouldn't it make more sense to protect yourself somehow first or at least try to figure out how that drain happened."
Goa gets a bit of a destructive glee back on his faceplate as he starts dismantling the medical drone. "Need me to move her?" he cuts in.
Shred hmms, looking at herself, "Well, unless Goa and Fire managed to get you back here without going past anyone, I should imagine it is safe enough for me to let you move with me here, just so long as I do not touch you." She is being perfectly logical, if you think about it.. Unfortunately it could also mean that there is an epidemic starting in Polyhex....
Goa knocks on the side of the enclosed cubicle with a severed drone arm in hand. "What makes you so sure it's contagious, anyway?"
Slipstream comments, "Just that sort of power drain all over after I saw.. something... seems like I should have something. That and one of the Bots seemed to have issues as well." she stops there, "Though makes me wonder why you’re not infected..."
Shred nods, and she smiles, "Quite simply Goa, I am just being careful. If there is a chance that it is, we should take steps to limit the exposure of others to it. Also, some of your systems seem to be running slightly hotter than normal, slip.. " she doesn't mention what else she saw on the readings though, not right now.
There's cacophonous clattering from Goa's cell as he seems to dump the entire disassembled medical bot into the de-rad unit in one go. "Sure, you'd know more than me. Sure."
Slipstream hmms, "Yes I noticed that. I thought maybe they were somehow affected by the power drain and were trying to compensate."
Shred nods, "Perhaps. " she takes a moment, just before opening the field, to make sure the new containment zone is ready, "Okay, in you go, slip." she drops the field, from next to it, Slip will have to walk pretty close by to get past,, but need not touch her.
Slipstream gets out of the containment unit carefully, trying to watch where the field is as she moves. "So stiff." she mutters as she walks over to the other area that Shred wants her in.
Goa leans the cone of his helmet on the open side of his cell, practically head butting it. "Will there be visitation?" he inquires, staring at Shred with a toothy grin.
Shred nods.. "Okay, take it easy Slip.. " it's next to where Goa's field is too. There is a terminal set up that she can access as well as a reasonable amount of room to move. Shred watches Slip carefully, heading over to activate the magnetic containment field on the new area. "I don't know yet Goa. Depends on what we find out. There a visicom between the units at least."
Slipstream pauses at Goa's question, "Naughty grounder." she remarks, then gets into her new area. "Oh good, I'll have reading material." then a pause, "And someone to annoy me to boot." she smiles a bit, a tease in her tone meant for Goa.
"Slip's had plenty of chances to... er, infect me already. I guess it could be time-dependent, but I don't think that's how the Autobots felt about it." Goa is clearly repressing laughter at Slipstream's barbs as he speaks. "Anything else I can do for you, Shred?"
As Slip enters the new area, a faint dark shimmer might be seen, then a moment later, even as she is activating the containment field, Shred feels a massive drain upon her systems, driving her to her knees.. "Wh.. What the slag...?"
+Roll: Goa rolls against his Awareness Stat and fails by 0! The total roll was 10.
Slipstream chuckles a bit at Goa, "I think he's going to be trouble while trapped in here with me, Shred." she muses then looks over as the medic drops to her knees. "Uh.. oh.. don't tell me."
Goa glances over at the wall toward Slipstream's containment, then back at Shred, running a palm over his face. "Is that it?" he sighs. "Slag this, what's the code to get out of this thing?"
Shred grimaces, the diminutive medic reaching for the control panel.. but not able to reach.. so she flips a panel upon her own forearm, and presses a couple of buttons, opening the field around Goa.. yes, Shred has a habit of putting in 'useful' remotes..
Slipstream frowns a bit and watches on, unable to assist since she just obviously infected Shred. "I'm so sorry."
Goa immediately steps out and drags the miniature seeker up under the shoulders, hoisting her into the air so she can see optic to optic with the mech. "What do I do?" He says, shaking Shred a little.
Shred 's optics are flickering, "Containment bay, hook me up for recharge. Whatever the slag this is, it's really drained me.."
Slipstream points to the device. "Right there Goa, that's what the drones used."
Goa glances at Slipstream, though it's a questioning look and not an accusative one, as he turns about and drapes Shred over the seat in the cell he occupied preciously. The green mech fumbles a bit with the recharge cables, but manages to get them worked out and hooked up to Shred's medical fueling ports. "Was that as bad as it hit you, or worse?" he shouts across to Slipstream's cell, as he drops to one knee to get a better look at Shred's expression. "Now what?" he practically whispers.
Shred takes a little time, but she begins to recharge.. her optics becoming brighter.. "We have to definitely place ourselves in full quarantine.. whatever the slag this is, it could just be the first stage..."
Slipstream calls back, "Looks about the same to me Goa." she frowns. "This is bad. Now that Shred has it, we'll have to depend on Psykeout.. unless you think you can find a cure for whatever it is inside a containment field Shred."
Shred hmms, "Well, while we are the only ones in here, I have the full facilities of the Med lab. But even so, we need to get a lot of information. I’m going to run scans on myself, then I'll know for absolute how it affects me.."
+Roll: Slipstream rolls against her Awareness Stat and succeeds by 5! The total roll was 5.
Goa sits back on his haunches, cradling his chin in one hand and clicking at the controls to seal the cell back up with the other. Hey, so apparently it can just move around invisibly... His optics dim a little, switching to infrared vision as a precaution. Maybe he could see the flickering and corruption he did down in the underground. Though he now frowns a little as he doesn't see anything immediately... "... stage?" Goa lets that idea run through his processor a moment. "Whatever it is, it isn't draining me. Or isn't yet." His optics narrow a little. "I'd /like/ to use that time to the best ability. What would you have me do, Shred?"
Slipstream frowns as something is definitely off inside her. "Feels like something is trying to access my neural net via a sub system." she states. "This if freaking me out."
Shred frowns, "Slip, I did see some very faint additional neural activity on your scans, I just did not desire to jump the gun.. " she sits herself down in a containment chamber, and sighs.. then she starts to run tests on herself.
+Roll: Shred rolls against its Awareness Stat and succeeds by 10! The total roll was 5.
Shred says, "wait.. My power systems..."
Slipstream frowns more at that news. "Great. So something is going to take over my body?!?"
Shred hmms, "That may be the case, Slip. For both of us. Unfortunately with myself it's a little more serious. If whatever it is does manage to take control of me, the containment fields here won't STOP it."
Slipstream sits down hard on a chair in her area, "Why me." she mutters, "Wait.. why isn't Goa going all power drained too?"
Goa starts to slowly scoot away across the floor after Slipstream's report. "H'nooooo," he complains, balling up in the corner of the cell closest to the door and furthest from Shred. "I'm not so hot on this neural damage thing." His optics flicker a little, but it's very clear it's bewilderment, not exhaustion. "How about I weld you guys in here and skip my merry, /non/-drained gold heels away to find Psykeout?"
MAIL: Mailbox purged.
Shred hmms, "Wait a nanocycle.. Goa, you have not suffered any kind of drain at all? " Shred looks thoughtful now, though already again looking quite tired..
Slipstream snaps, "Why don't you stay where you are needed."
Goa stands up, hands clasped in front of himself quite sheepishly -- he off lines his optics and takes a long blast with his ventilation fans before blinking them back on. "No. No I have not, Shred. When I said I dragged Slipstream up here, I meant I /dragged/ her up here." He angles his head back, helmet crooked between the two walls, and mumbles, adding "If anything, I was giggling like an overcharged idiot over the whole thing..." His fingers steeple in front of his waist. "... Sorry, Slippy. Sorry. Deja vu."
Shred hmms, activating a terminal.. "Interesting.. And Fire's the same?" she is bringing up Fire and Goa's files, to check for comparisons.
Slipstream snorts, "You are such a *******."
Slipstream covers her mouth, "That.. wasn't me..."
Goa puts a thumb and finger to his optics, jostling the lenses a little. "Oh, come on. Really?" He bursts another sigh from his fans and takes a cautious step forward to see what Shred's doing. "... she didn't seem to." The mech seems reluctant, then adds, "And I don't feel anything weird about her."
Slipstream looks over to what you are looking at, "Where is Firestorm anyway? You radioed her some time ago."
Shred nods, "Goa, the only thing you and Fire also have in common, besides that, and being Decepticons, physically is the presence of these energon crystals in your system. "
"Okay? What are you getting at, Shred?" Goa stabilizes one arm against the wall of the cell and gestures impatiently with his free hand.
Slipstream rubs at her helmet.
Shred hmms, "I'm just not sure, Goa, but the radiation from those crystals may have protected you, Goa. "
+Roll: Goa rolls against his Intelligence Stat and fails by 7! The total roll was 18.
Slipstream looks up, "What?"
Goa crosses his arms over his chest and stands back a step. "Or it's leeching that energon and'll hit my systems proper like a train once it's done with them." He stabilizes the crest of his helmet against two fingers. "Slagging... So what, then? You want me to go find her?"
Shred nods.. "I.. think that might be.. " suddenly the smaller Decepticon slumps.
Slipstream frowns. "Shred?" she looks toward Goa, "Hook her back up to that recharge unit."
Goa crouches back down and props Shred up against the wall, shaking her helmet around to try to get some kind of activity out of her. "She IS hooked up to the recharge unit." He fumbles with the cables trying to increase the current flow. "That's great. That's just... fantastic."
Shred 's optics flicker.. "Just.. let me rest a bit... ok?"
Slipstream looks relieved. "Well this is a mess.. two of us infected... what next."
Shred has disconnected.
"Oh slag /no/ you do not want to offline." Goa keeps trying to jostle the femme awake, but it seems to be of no avail. He fumes awkwardly as he adjusts the minicon to lay her down properly. If you're gonna get bitten by an incorporeal energon worm, may as well not wake up with a sore back strut... He wastes no time letting himself out of the cubicle and closing the field behind him, leaning with a shoulder against the wall of Slipstream's. "I dunno!" Goa throws his arms in the air and smiles, squinting, forcefully, undiminishing, then flattens back to a glowering frown when his arms clatter back down to his sides. "This is supposed to be the part where I run a hundred clicks from here and never look back, but thanks to my newfound piety," he motions at the general area -- or city -- around him, "I'd like to think I'm a better mech than that."
Slipstream watches Shred go offline and shakes her head at you trying to wake her. "Let her rest Goa. Maybe the recharge will have her figure out what to do to fix this situation." she says softly, trying to sound brave. "You can't leave anyway, the drones would keep you here."
Goa covers both his optics up, digging his fingers into the ridges above them. "... yeah, about that recharge. I just ripped a drone into tiny pieces, Slipstream." He uncovers one to peek at the seeker. "What was that about the name-calling, anyway?"
Slipstream glances over at the de-rad unit. "There's a back up, Shred said so." then a pause, "A neural glitch, whatever this thing is tried to get into my neural net and.." she shrugs, "Sorry... "
"Don't apologize. Wasn't you. Been called worse by crazier mechs." Goa's clinging onto a grin now, and moving his hands to his hip plates. "Is it still trying?"
Slipstream nods her head, "Yes. Doesn't give up easy." she says, "It's taking a lot out of me just to keep it out of there."
Goa winces and hisses quietly, laying the barely-visible stubs of his antennae back. "Yeah. I was afraid of that," the mech wavers, now sitting down next to the magnetic field. "... maybe the support pod would work."
Firestorm has connected.
Slipstream rubs at her helmet again, "Get out of there." she mutters, "OUT!"
+Repair: Decepticon Medical Drone repairs Firestorm.
+Repair: Decepticon Medical Drone attempts to repair the Armor Plating of Firestorm but FAILS!
+Repair: Decepticon Medical Drone repairs the Armor Plating on Firestorm.
Goa shies away, looking wide-eyed. He, too, is fighting every bit and scrap of programming telling him to /run away/ from an angry and out-of-sorts Decepticon. "... Slip?"
Slipstream looks up, "Yes Goa?" she sighs, clutching at her head. "Maybe if you annoy me it'll back off..."
Goa knocks on the field like he would the glass of a tank. "Careful what you wish for. 99 cubes of energon in the hold, 99 cubes of energon..."
Slipstream eyes you and laughs a little, "Oh sure... like that's annoying. Barely trying."
"Not my fault you've become a slagging adept in putting up with me." Goa climbs back to his feet and paces outside Slipstream's cell. He then continues his song routine with a close eye on Slipstream, judging how long it takes before she just turns off her audial sensors.
Slipstream snorts softly, "Excuse me for having patience." sounding a little peeved. "I don't want this thing taking over my body Goa. I barely got to use it myself as it is..."
Goa stops, clasping his hands together. "Nah, you're right. I know what'll peeve you. There's this other femme down in Cubicron..." He trails off, peering curiously at the seeker's lavender face. "Barely got to use it yourself...? What's that mean?"
Slipstream peers up at you, "What do you mean another femme in Cubicron?" then a frown, "I'm saying I'm too young to get possessed by some pit spawned creature."
Goa frowns, first at Slip's defeatism, then the barrier separating himself from her. He has no interest in getting jumped by a possessed Slipstream, but for the pit's sake, she could use a pat on the back or something... Okay, maybe not the back, but the grounder's mental images aren't privy to remarkable forethought. Even still, what if she... His optics blink as he blocks away the thought. "You won't, Slip. I dunno about you being too young, but I'm not done with you either. Whatever's fritzing your systems has to answer to me." He glares a tick, then brightens right back up. "Oh, yes. She's a good one. Installed these." Goa motions to the golden glint of his heel rockets in mid-pace.
Slipstream straightens up a bit, hands lowering from her helmet. "It's backed off for now..." she trails off. "And I am young.. compared to you and Firestorm anyway." she sighs a bit, wings flexing behind her. "I don't think you have much choice in having it answer to you if it does fully take over. It won't be me you'll be talking to... I guess." she frowns a bit, then nods. "Oh... she pretty?" she asks.
Goa smirks to himself. He'd been expecting something like that from her. "Figure of speech. Though I suppose there wouldn't be much anyone else around for it to talk to, eh?" Idly, he picks a jag of debris out of one of his shoulder tires. "Sure is," he beams. Even if it's backed off for now, it can /never/ hurt to give Slipstream a hard time, right? Just in case. "I'm spending some off shifts down there to pay up for another mod. No questions, special surprise for you, Slippy." The mech makes a sort of exploding motion with his hands at the femme in the cell.
Slipstream peers hard at you, "A surprise for me?"
"Well. I doubt you'll mind it." Goa stops pacing and relaxes with an arm against the wall again, nodding affably at Slipstream. "You know, it's going to look pretty slagging suspicious to Psykeout that Firestorm and I aren't getting any of this, I reckon."
Slipstream takes a moment, "Wait.. your spending your off shift time with this femme in trade for another mod?" slow on the pick up today it seems. She frowns a little, "Didn't answer me you know.. is she pretty?"
Goa slowly crosses his arms in front of his chest. Well, that backfired. "I said 'sure is'. Another ground pounder, about ... my size, actually." He looks down his nose at Slipstream, "She's also completely fried-crazy Cubicron stock." Goa shudders.
Slipstream mutters lowly, "Like I'm not crazy seeker stock..." then sighs again, "So why hang out there?"
Goa dims his optics to a dusty red, blankly smiling at Slipstream. His response is simple: "Nostalgia." He does feel the need to complicate it, of course. "Not crazy. Quite the opposite. ... generally."
Slipstream nods a little and moves to the console in her little space to distract herself a little. "So.. what's her name."
Goa sighs. He's really hating that field right about now. "Torque, I think." He steps away a minute to slide a stool over, perching himself and his heels upon it.
Slipstream taps on the console for a very quiet 30 nanoseconds. "There any other reason than nostalgia you are using your free time with her."
"No, Slipstream." The mech gets in a chuckle at Slipstream's paranoia. And he thought he was bad... "Whatcha looking up?" Goa angles his point of view up, then down.
Slipstream replies, "Researching any historical references to sudden energy drain."
+Roll: Goa rolls against his Intelligence Stat and succeeds by 6! The total roll was 5.
Goa pokes the barrier with a finger again. "... slagging thing." He lets his legs hang to the floor and becomes oddly quiet in thought.
Slipstream comments, "Wonder why she put us in separate rooms." she pause and shakes her head, like she dismissed a thought.
"Precaution." Goa's optics stay dim and distant, but he shifts in his seat. "Do you know what the infection was trying to get you to do?"
Slipstream frowns, "No." she replies, "I suspect I won't know until it’s too late to stop it. The more we learn about this thing as quickly as possible the better."
Goa flicks the sides of his seat. "Sorry for being..." the rhythmic thudding pauses, "flighty." Click, click. "Reminded me of the neural corruption the other mechs got before."
Slipstream stops what she is doing, then quietly. "You realize that it may happen to me.. corruption from inside by something we don't fully understand."
Goa's nervous motions intensify in amplitude. "Yes. It's disconcerting, Slips." His optics are glowing lines. "Do /you/ think it's safe for me to enter?"
Slipstream shrugs, "Just us here until someone notifies Psykeout or someone else blunders their way in here." she glances at the recharging Shred, she frowns a little, "I don't think I could live with myself is something happened to her... let alone to you or Firestorm..." she sighs, "Maybe it is better I am alone."
Goa sits further upright. "Yeah." He's quiet a nanosecond, then chuckles. "Bet I could fight you off if you got all possessed-stupid." Still smug as ever...
Slipstream just frowns, not going for the bait. "You don't know what I... it... would be like.."
"Hasn't stopped me before. Though, to be fair, we had a bit of a..." Goa's optics wander as he considers some oddly unindexed portions of his databanks. "...deus ex Megatron situation last time, huh?" He rocks the stool a bit closer. "I'm just kidding, Slippy." He isn't. But it sounds convincing enough.
Slipstream nods a little to that Goa logic. "I doubt this thing will be easily annoyed by you anyway Gooey." she relates, "As for last time, I told you I don't want to revisit that ever again."
"I don't want to revisit everybody I know being zapped by processor glitches either." Goa frowns. "Found anything?"
Slipstream looks back to her search, "Nothing yet. May take awhile. Sadly all I have access to is our our history banks in regards to medical bay."
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