Empyrea

[Elesariin]

"Didn't you worry that you might infect more people by bringing along so many more infected, Miss Maria?" Dawn asked. Her expression and tone were both completely guileless; she sounded more honestly curious than upset.  

[NativeForeigner]

Maria pouted at the child's question, "We did, we really did, but we didn't have a choice, we didn't. We need to find a cure, even if that means making a few sacrifices. We've sacrificed all that we have, we have, and we still had no cure. We needed to keep looking, and, without an army, the best way to protect ourselves was with the disease itself.

Once we find a cure, we'll fix this all, we will."

"Bologna." Carpenter spat, "Why didn't you just come here yourselves? You're plenty powerful enough to hold your own, you didn't need a damn army. And how do you even know if there's a cure here? You're sacrificing lives that aren't yours for a problem that is. You're gonna suck our land dry just like you did to yours, leave us in ruins, and move on to the next world you find in search for this "cure". How do you know if there even is a cure?"

Maria looked disgruntled, "We don't, but we can't just give up! We can't just let our people suffer."

"Even if that means our people have to suffer as well? For a disease that you brought here?"  

[Elesariin]

Dawn blinked a few more times, then cautiously asked, "Miss Maria... If you really are so powerful, why do you need an army? I know that was asked before, but it didn't really get an answer. Besides, you're really pretty and nice; I bet if you had just asked extra nicely, the Workmen would have helped you. They like helping people. Even people who don't deserve it," she added, shooting an oddly mature, icy cold look in Henry's direction.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Martin raised a hand. "Had we come here alone, speaking of a horrible disease, I have no doubt that you Workmen and your armies would have annihilated us straight away. You were already prepared for hostilities; if you were to see us and hear us speak of death, you would have destroyed us. There is no doubt on that account."

Henry moved the sandwich away from his mouth. "And what, little one, have I done to make you think that I don't deserve their help?" His eyebrow arched ever so slightly as he returned her cold stare.  

[Elesariin]

Dawn giggled in response to Martin's statement. "That's silly," she replied, still laughing, "Don't most countries have armies? Just in case, kind of? That doesn't mean that the country is expecting to use the army; it just means they're prep--"

Then Henry spoke, and Dawn immediately became very serious indeed. "Think about it. Have you done anything recently that included making deals with strange, colorful characters, and then accidentally not mentioned the deal to anyone? ... To be honest, I just think you're mean. Much meaner than Miss Maria seems to be, and she's supposed to be the meanest meanie. No offense, Miss Maria," she added quickly.  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell had a small smile when Dawn spoke - indeed, she'd just been thinking the same about countries having armies. Blessed are the children, for they have the ability to make adults listen and not seemed biased. She was a very smart young girl. And possibly the only one who could make them all listen to reason-- Well, no. Now she was angry at Henry for reasons Ton'yell knew nothing about. Dawn was a strange mixture of childishness and maturity.

"Why did you both assume the worst in each other at the start?" But Ton'yell knew she wouldn't get a real answer - nothing more than 'because he/she was evil from the start and this proves it!' "What's done is done. And you hate each other for it. Why can't you AT LEAST help each other figure out how to combat this disease? By taking the time to fight and argue, you're only hindering your own search for a cure. And by working together for the same goal," she stressed, "wouldn't that double the chances of finding the cure? Neither of you would stab each other in the back during the temporary truce because that would only hinder the overall investigation. Wouldn't it?"

It was probably going to be a lost cause, but she hoped that someone would at least listen to what she was saying. At least THINK about it.  

[NativeForeigner]

Ro was rather surprised at Dawn's accusations towards Henry, "What is she talking about, Henry?" he asked.

"Yeah, Henry." Shepard cut in, glaring at Henry, "What is she talking about? What deal? Explain." Shepard cracked his knuckles and peered deeply into Henry's eyes.

Carpenter, leaving the matter to Shepard, turned to answer Ton'yell. "We didn't have to assume anything." he began, "We knew the worst when they came rushing in with their diseased army and started slaughtering and infecting everyone in sight. Do you really think we didn't have a reason to retaliate? They attacked us, we tried to defend ourselves.

Like I said, I think they've come to terms with the disease, they seem to work well enough with it." he turned to face Maria and Martin, "And they don't seem to be infected, yet they've been around it longer than anyone."  

[SiberDrac]

Chris held Carpenter's gaze until he was called off by another area of argument. The whole time through, she listened closely, her eyes shifting quickly among the embattled participants, with particular interest in Dawn. Wasn't she a little old to be acting this way? And she wasn't concerned. She was like the cat waving her tail at dogs from behind... some... other creature's... "Mastadon?" Jesse offered, filling in for Chris's total lack of poetic poise.

Eventually, she heard the concept of weaponization arise. Usually, that meant it had been aerosolized, whatever form it was in - bacterial, viral - oh, it could be proteinaceous... wouldn't that be fun? Prions that had maybe been hiding out in the various human organ systems suddenly activated by a mutant strain had the potential to be inhibitors for pan-genomic activation and if they were suddenly morphed away from the inhibitory conformation, they could be ushering in a new stage of human development... so little was known about the human genome, anyway...

"Fun?"

Well... well not fun, maybe, but it would at least be very, very interesting. "What's the vector?" Chris asked suddenly, into the middle of the argument. "No one here is infected, right? How did that happen, if it's spreading so quickly?"  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Henry had been lying since he was a child. This was nothing to him. "What? Guys." He broke Shepard's gaze to look at Dawn. "You're kidding, right? She's a kid; she's making something up. I'm not even sure what. I haven't made any deals with anyone - I've been with another person every moment of every day. Remember?"

And, indeed, he had been. When this was confirmed, Shepard withdrew slightly, still watching him.

Martin said nothing in his conversation.  

[Elesariin]

Dawn gaped for a moment, shocked. "I do NOT make things up!" she said finally, sounding a tad petulant and more than a tad upset. "Shepard, you know I don't! He secretly made a deal with somebody strange and...colorful, and... I couldn't get the rest of it, but it did happen! Really!"  

[SirBayer]

Arthur examined his own hands quietly, almost ignoring all that was said. He allowed little pieces to filter through. Finally, he had come down to a conclusion.

"Listen. Andreas has a point. Where I come from, something like a disease... that's criminal to use. And it's not because it's potent, it's because it's just wrong. Using infected people in your army... morally improper. If anyone will deny this, I will decry them as inhuman, not because they are above but because they are far below. May that person be damned to the deepest abyss. Whether or not you have done wrong in coming here, you have committed grievous crimes against all life on any level. I would not stand beside you, not for my own life, not for the lives of all else."

Arthur's weariness was now beginning to show. He had spent too long on the energy the elves had given him.  

[NativeForeigner]

Carpenter turned to addressing Chris, "Well, I, for one, am technically dead, and have been for quite some time, so the disease has no interest with me (though the newly dead aren't so luck), as for the rest of us, we've been lucky enough to avoid contracting the disease ourselves. Mason had a close encounter and almost became infected, but he managed to avoid it.

So far, the disease has only been shown to be transferred through direct contact, transfer of bodily fluids and such.

In a nutshell, kid, we're good enough to avoid getting bitten or something when we fight the virus."

Carpenter, the moment he stopped speaking, nudged Shepard, "You know as well as I do that Dawn doesn't make s**t up, get to the bottom of this, who do we know that's colorful?"  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Shepard, already deep in though, didn't need Carpenter's prompting. "I...can't think of anyone, off the top of my head," he said slowly. "Nothing rings an immediate bell. I'll keep thinking on it."

He looked at his zombie comrade. "Listen, I know you trust Dawn and all, but seriously...the guy hasn't been alone since they arrived here. We both know it. And I think we have a bigger problem anyway." He nodded at the MADmen.

Henry, for his part, began to dislike Dawn greatly. He didn't trust her power and he didn't like her appalling lack of tact.  

[Elesariin]

Dawn, for her part, shot Henry a look of absolute, all-encompassing dislike. She was NOT the liar here! "Oh, who cares, anyway," she muttered, looking down to study the ground so that her hair obscured most of her face. Something about her voice , however, suggested that she was trying very hard not to cry. It wasn't that she was sad; she was just FRUSTRATED.  

[NativeForeigner]

Carpenter sighed and shook his head, "There has to be something, I mean, there was that time we were both fighting Munkwon."

He grunted and shrugged, "I think we'll find out soon enough, let's focus on this. Does anyone else have any more questions or can we just move on, now? We need to get going."

Carpenter turned his attention towards the door everyone had come through, having heard something, "I think someone's coming." he said casually.

As Carpenter finished speaking, a large figure strode through the door. He wore a dark green cloak and a gray button-down shirt. His feet were in large steel-toed boots that seem to be partially covering steel greaves. His right arm was armored, and his left arm was enormously over-sized; it seems to be made of interlocking pieces of living stone with designs etched into it, generally emphasizing triangles and circles in their patterns. He had a steel mallet and a chisel hanging from his belt and his skin was pale and his eyes were gray.

He stood fully six and a half feet tall and was very muscular.

"Well speak of the devil." Carpenter said in an slightly upbeat tone.