Slamming another empty bottle onto the bar stool crymini demanded another beer that the bartender reluctantly passed over to her. Normally she might have been hanging out with friends but recent events had put her in no mood for company.
While many sinners lacked even a shred of self awareness, the spotted-hyena like sinner had enough to at least admit she would cause more harm to the relationship between her few friends and herself until she had drank enough to mostly forget the past few days and perhaps destroy some more private property.
Her attempts to isolate herself however were foiled when a tall black furred hellhound dressed in a biker getup with a leather jacket, cap, and chains sat down beside her and ordered a beer.
"So what's shaking sister?"
Letting out an annoyed sigh Crymini tried to shoo away the hound that had essentially taken up the mantle of her mentor. While he was annoying at times, the biker hellhound and his gang had been kind enough to take her under their wing when she was still new to hell.
"Fuck off Luca, I'm not in the damn mood."
"Hello to you too Mini. I'm not one to usually pry but you look like you're going through some tough shit that's got you in a twist."
"What fucking gave it away? That I've drunk 4 beers in a row, that my fists are clenched as tight as a nun's asshole, or that the entrance door was smashed off its hinges?"
"I was gonna say you forgot to put on your favorite skull hairband but I guess there's those things too."
Letting out a snort Crymini tried once again to shoo away the biker hellhound.
"Look Luca, I'm not in the mood for hanging out with the gang or anything right now. I lost my job at that shitty convenience store and I don't have enough cash to make rent by the end of the week."
"Damn, that's the third job you've been through this month."
"Hey! It's not my fault the first one worked their delivery drivers to the fucking bone with their insane quotas or that the last 2 had such stuck up unreasonable fuckwits for customers. I swear I dealt with more Karens at that cheap burger joint than at any craft store!"
"Well considering how your method of dealing with them involves screaming back before beating the shit out of them, it's not surprising you can't keep down a job in retail."
"Oh thanks that really brightens my goddamn day."
"Look Crymini, unless you're willing to seriously up the risk and put that sinner regeneration of yours to work with some heists or muggings, you're gonna have to come up with a solution fast."
"Well I don't hear you coming up with anything to help."
"Well….you know the gang's garage isn't exactly comfy and all, but given that you're a sinner there is one option for housing that could work by the end of the week."
"Why do I feel like I'm not going to like this?"
Her reservations were confirmed after Luca passed her a flier.
"NO, Luca I'm not-"
"Look Mini, I'm obviously not asking you to 'redeem' yourself or any of that crap. But you could easily just play along with doing whatever that crazy princess thinks will get people into heaven until you can get back on your feet or figure something out."
"You know I was there in person watching that interview. Calling her a laughing stock is the understatement of the decade. And what about the radio demon? That freak has started hanging around that hotel and all."
"Hey I'm not saying you have to go there. But it's the best option you probably have right now. Anyways I leave you to it, if you decide otherwise I can always give you a sleeping bag and cot if you wanna stay at the garage."
"Alright see ya later greasehead."
Giving a short wave the hellhound walked out of the bar to head back to his garage leaving Crymini to ponder on whether she should give the hotel a chance.
Weighing her options Crymini wasn't too keen on going anywhere near Alastor like any sane demon. She also was anything but keen on having someone tell her what to do with her life. But at the same time a bed and some basic amenities beat having to sleep in a cold, loud, and dirty motorcycle repair garage or dealing with her greedy perverted landlord who was likely to either boot her out with a shotgun or demand regular sexual favors for failing to pay rent.
Downing her entire bottle of beer in a single go Crymini muttered out a screw it, before paying her tab and leaving the bar to head to her apartment to pack.
Walking back into the lobby Charlie sighed as she ran one of her hands through her hair. With the exception of Husk who was currently playing solitaire at the front desk, the lobby was essentially empty since Cherri had gone to gather some stuff for the party she was throwing for Angel.
Talking with Angel was a little nerve wracking as she was afraid he would just shut her out again to waste away in his room, halting any progress she could hope to make . But the news that his 'employer' no longer had any power over him was enough to have a short heart to heart conversation with him. While Angel would certainly need time to process, maybe now she could set him on the start path to redemption.
Deciding a bit of tea would help sooth her nerves Charlie made her way to the kitchen to fashion up some jasmine tea only to find her girlfriend had beat her to it.
"There you are hun, I was starting to worry ya know."
"I'm okay Vaggie, I just got caught up with something last night." Charlie said after giving Vaggie a quick hug and kiss from behind.
Pouring out two cups for them both, the two started to sip at the hot beverage while continuing to talk.
"So what happened last night?" Vaggie asked
"Well, Angel came back from having been called in by Valentino and….it was bad."
Sighing, Vaggie braced herself for another bout of news about Angel's usual hijinks.
"Did he come back stoned to hell while trying to trash up the place?"
"Vaggie no, he….he was beaten to a pulp."
Widening her eyes Vaggie's usually dismissive tone was replaced with slight concern.
"W-what happened next."
"I wasn't the one who found him, he stumbled into the unfinished clinic while Starfleet was still working on it so they patched him up and sent him to bed before telling me about it."
Intrigued, Vaggie implored her lover to continue.
"What was their reaction?"
"They were a little suspicious of me at first which is fair, but once I explained the contract he and Valentino had they were mostly concerned about Angel eventually being forced to tell Valentino about them so they asked me and Al about how soul contracts work."
"Even though they've done more for the hotel than anyone I suppose I shouldn't be surprised they care about that the most."
"Yeah, but they did show concern for Angel and…well we sorta, may have, might've, blackmailed Valentino into voiding the contract."
"WHAT!" Vaggie yelled out after spitting out her tea and coughing a little.
"You okay hun?" Charlie asked as she patted Vaggie's back.
"Yeah (cough), I'm okay. How did you guys even manage to do that?"
"Well Atathia presented the idea of hacking into the three V's finances and personal information to blackmail them into letting Angel go while using us to physically retrieve the contract and, well it worked."
Shocked that Starfleet was willing to do such a thing despite it stemming from the fact that they had to keep their existence a secret, Vaggie was at a loss for words for a minute.
"Well it's good that Angel isn't tied to Val anymore, but Charlie you realize this is really gonna draw attention to the hotel and ensures we're now enemies with one of the most powerful group of overlords."
"I know Vaggie, but it's better it happened this way than Valentino eventually learning about our new guests and it fixes the mistake we should have taken care of when first admitting Angel to rehabilitation." Charlie said while putting her head down when saying the last part.
"Look Charlie you can't blame yourself for a decision Angel made himself. It's good that that's fixed now, but it might come with future retaliation from Valentino and hell can not find out about Starfleet helping us."
"Well, I don't think we will have to worry about them suspecting aliens since me and Al played it off as using our connections with people to get someone to dox them. I guess I should also mention Cherri joined us on our way there, but she doesn't know anything about who helped us and I told starfleet to avoid the place for a bit."
"Well we should definitely keep it that way but, is she staying around the hotel now?"
"Uh yeah, she's at least going to be around to throw a party for Angel."
"Great, now we have to deal with two bratty kids and we have to make sure one of them doesn't figure out why half the hotel is off limits."
"Egghhh about that, Cherri found some medical equipment left behind which included a cure for cancer." Charlie stated while nervously scratching the back of her head.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME I-uggghhh. Okay she probably now thinks we're part of the illuminati or something but as long as we keep her from finding anything else out it should be fine."
"Yeah, I did make sure to lock up any vials that were too conspicuous in the drawers. But Vaggie I also wanted to talk about Angel. I know you and him butt heads a lot, and a lot of it stems from him misbehaving. But I need you to ease up on him for a bit. He's in a strange place right now where he doesn't know what to do."
"I…(sigh), look I'll try to be civil around him, but I don't want him taking advantage of you."
"I know we have to prevent that hun, but we have to give people a chance to…"
The conversation between the two lovers was interrupted at the sound of someone knocking on the front door.
Charlie was slightly ecstatic at the prospect of a new guest, but apprehensive like her girlfriend mostly was at the possibility of it being bad news.
Knowing they couldn't turn down the possibility of a new guest, the two went to the front door to see who it was.
Line Break
Arriving at 253 Serpent Street, the first thing Baxter could notice was the Grandeur of the hotel, reminding the scientist of old European architecture. The towering structure of the hotel was daunting, imposing, and for lack of a better word striking.
Paying his insufferable cab driver who made another remark about the fish demon being some desperate hobo. Baxter started lugging his bags to the front door before stopping at the entrance.
Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door. A few seconds passed before the scientist was greeted by the sight of hell's princess opening the door with a mostly human looking sinner woman with gray skin and an eyepatch behind her.
"Welcome to the Happy Hotel! Where all your problems in hell could be solved!"
"Uhhh…yeah. Could I put my bags down inside?"
"Of course please come inside."
Giving a short glance at Baxter's luggage Vaggie posed a question to their contents. "Out of curiosity what's in the bags."
"Uh, just some personal items and lab equipment. I'm a scientist." Baxter quickly remarked with an air of dismissiveness.
Charlie's eyes lit up further as she let out a slight squee.
"Ohhh! I've never met a scientist sinner down here before! What do you study?"
"I…uh, well I'm mostly a chemist and I do make a lot of my own contraptions and lab equipment, but I also dabble in other fields a little your highness."
"That's cool, and you don't have to worry about formalities. Just call me Charlie, misterrrr?"
"Baxter your hig-Charlie."
Putting down his bags one of Baxter's now free hands was eagerly enveloped by Charlie's as the princess gave the scientist a handshake saying it was a pleasure to meet him only for the angler fish demon to quickly wrench his hand away and splatter it with hand sanitizer.
Charlie's excited attitude was replaced with a look of slight shock before it turned to an apologetic one while Vaggie gave the hotel's newest arrival an annoyed glare.
"I would like to assume you are here about redeeming yourself?" Vaggie said with a no-nonsense tone.
"I…uh, well I was actually hoping to aid and monitor your endeavor to attempt to send a wayward soul to heaven."
The news that another person was willing to aid her with her passion project was enough to resume Charlie's gleeful and giddy disposition.
"Really?" Charlie stated with a hopeful tone and pleading look.
"And why exactly do you want to help us? Vaggie interrupted.
"To be frank, I see it as a meaningful endeavor to pursue while obtaining adequate housing. I would like to see if your goal to redeem a sinner in order to send them to heaven is achievable. If it succeeds then it opens up a new field of study. If it fails then it could prove it isn't possible and both will likely eliminate a lot of methods for achieving redemption into heaven." Baxter replied in a precise and logical tone much like Kylkuc did when discussing medicine.
"Hmm, well before we agree to anything me and Charlie need to discuss things alone. You can wander around a bit but please stay in the lobby." Vaggie responded as she guided Charlie to a corner.
Giving a glance back to make sure Baxter wasn't eavesdropping Vaggie turned back toward Charlie.
"Charlie, are you sure it's a good idea to let another sinner in on helping the hotel's mission?"
"Come on Vaggie, he could really be a boon to helping us show that redeeming a sinner is possible."
"I know and to be fair he doesn't seem malicious, although the fact that he's a germaphobe makes him a handful already, but we don't want to invite another radio demon."
"You're being too overprotective hun, sure he may have some ulterior motive but it's not like I'll let him dictate our rehabilitation process or anything. And ultimately we need all the help we can get while giving people the benefit of the doubt."
"You're probably right, I mean it's not like we're ever gonna get another opportunity like this anytime soon again. But we need to make sure he is relegated to the role of making suggestions and maybe letting him monitor things."
While the two discussed the merits and benefits of letting Baxter aid the hotel, the fish demon in question was doing some analysis of his own.
As Baxter walked around the lobby of the Happy Hotel, he found something that didn't exactly fit the atmosphere of a hotel based around the rehabilitation of sinners. He found himself picking up a small gray rectangular device from a table with a screen in the middle and several instruments surrounding the screen. The screen was like that of a smartphone, with its sleek texture it was unmistakable. However, this seemed to be more advanced than anything on hell's current market. It's main purpose seemed to be that of data collection, which was the only logical explanation for the light gray rectangle transponder on top of the device. He looked around the hotel to see Charlie and Vaggie talking amongst themselves, giving him the ample opportunity to spy into the device.
Picking up one of his protonic wavelength distortion devices, which consisted of a large phonelike screen to allow him to see through almost any material, he held it against the device and turned on the x-ray feature. What he saw changed things significantly. The circuitry within the device was unlike anything he had ever seen, especially in a device such as this. Even something from Vox's latest releases couldn't dream to compete with this kind. It seemed to have gone past even Quantum computing, rather a positronic like layout. That alone was hard to believe, with positronic computing currently being considered more fiction than fact. He didn't know much about the Morningstars like most of hell, but them being computer geniuses seemed too far fetched. There had to be another reason for this.
The angler fish demon turned and walked towards the still ecstatic princess who was now heading back towards him, while carrying the tricorder into one of his hands.
"Your highness? May I ask you a question?"
"Of course! What is it?"
"I'm sure your family doesn't do computer science right?"
"Um, we don't. Why do you ask?"
"Because what I found on the front desk makes every computer in hell look like it was made in a garage with spare parts." Baxter said, showing Charlie the tricorder that he found.
Charlie's eyes widened, while Vaggie facepalmed at having to learn that another person had stumbled onto something that would point them in the direction of their newest allies.
"Uhhhh…th-that belongs to a friend of ours, I guess they left it behind last time they came over." Charlie started nervously
"Wait, I thought you said you were mostly a chemist. So what makes you think that thing is so advanced?" Vaggie questioned.
"As I said I dabble in other fields, especially those related to the contraptions I make like this." Baxter said while fishing out the gadget he used to see inside the tricorder.
After turning on the X-ray feature again while holding it up to the tricorder, Vaggie and Charlie's eyes widened as they saw the device reveal the insides of the tricorder.
"Wow, is your device showing us what is inside?" Charlie asked
"Oh this?" Baxter said, looking back to his protonic wavelength distortion devices -PWDD for short- as he took it out of his pocket. "I whipped this up a few months ago. You see, it can look through objects by changing the frequency of light in the screen, allowing us to see through the screen. There's also some algorithms at play, just so that I have a clear picture of what's going on. No pun intended."
"That's incredible! I've only seen tech like that from…uh, my friend I mentioned earlier." Charlie replied.
"If you don't mind me asking, who is this friend of yours? They must be extremely well versed in electronics and computer science to have created this device." Baxter said while handing the tricorder back to Charlie.
"Well…they prefer to remain anonymous and to keep a low profile, but maybe they could agree to meeting you in the future!" Charlie enthusiastically replied.
"Well, I hope that becomes the case. I rarely get a chance to discuss scientific endeavors with other people. (Sigh) No one down here seems to value scientific progress besides the bare minimum for keeping certain industries presentable. Most people either view innovation as too risky a venture or are too ignorant to care. But anyways, what do you think about my proposal to monitor and perhaps aid your project?"
"Well, me and Charlie have decided to accept it but there are some ground rules. You're going to have to abide by the policies every hotel guest is expected to comply with and while you can monitor and help us in our rehabilitation of sinners, you do not get to interfere with how we go about doing so. You can make suggestions, monitor things, and even aid us directly, but there will be no sabotage and Charlie has the final say in things. Oh and don't make any deals with Alastor. It's a guaranteed way to end up as one of his victims or be exploited."
The color quickly drained out of Baxter's face while his illicium drooped down.
"Oh Lucifer, I forgot you partnered up with the Radio Demon."
"Did someone mention lil old me?" Alastor said, appearing right behind Baxter causing the fish demon to let out a high pitched feminine scream as he tripped over himself.
"Al, I thought we agreed it's not nice to sneak up on people like that." Charlie annoyedly stated while Vaggie put her head down and started rubbing her forehead over having to now deal with Alastor's antics.
"My apologies goodsir, and who may you be?" Alastor asked the fish demon in a jovial tone.
"I-uh-uh, my n-name is B-baxter sir." The scientist sputtered out nervously.
"Baxter eh? Hmmm, you know I had a friend who's dog was named Baxter back in the 30's. He was such a lovely fellow until his owner's legally blind mother mistook him for a coyote while she had her shotgun on her." Alastor stated before letting out a laugh.
"H-heh, y-yeah." Baxter awkwardly stated.
"So have you come to redeem yourself in this lovely establishment of ours?"
"Actually he's willing to help us with redeeming sinners as a science project to see if it's possible or not." Charlie butted in.
"Really now? Well I must say it seems as if you and I are alike in regards to our interest in Ms. Morningstar's passion project."
"R-really? You're interested in verifying whether or not it is possible for a soul to be redeemed and sent to heaven?" Baxter asked.
"In a way my goodsir. You see, having spent over 90 years down here in this underworld of depravity, I have simply exhausted the fun out of most activities and pastimes of mine. But, like a group of firefighters to the rescue of my burning down house of wonder, my now esteemed business partner announced her plan on the news which led me to the place where we agreed to become partners on this very risky venture of redeeming sinners. I of course don't hold any faith in the idea that redemption is possible, but to me it matters less what the end result is than the fun you have along the way. And I must say that watching folks desperately work hard to achieve something only to have it all come crashing down around them as they continuously fail never seems to get old! " Alastor explained
"Uh yeah, s-so do I need your permission to join in on aiding the hotel or is permission from her royal high-I mean Charlie and Ms. Vaggie enough?" Baxter questioned
Turning his eyes towards Vaggie Alastor let out an amused hum while she glared at him.
"Well despite Ms. Vaggie's poor attempt to keep me out of the loop, I'd say it would be a delight to have you onboard. If I overhead correctly you seem to have a rather bright mind to have created such a sophisticated device as that one in your hands."
"Uh thanks, if you don't mind I was hoping one of you could show me to a room on the second floor, preferably in a secluded corner." Baxter nervously asked.
"Oh of course, I have just the place!" Charlie jubilantly replied
"And while the lovely madame leads you to your destination I'll lend a hand or two and carry you bags." Alastor stated as a number of shadow-like hands appeared with a snap of his fingers and lifted Baxter's things before floating behind Charlie.
"Ugh. Come on, we might as well discuss your new part at the hotel more after you're settled into a room." Vaggie beckoned Baxter to follow.
Despite looking as if he wanted to protest, Baxter kept his mouth shut as he followed the trio to his room.
After finalizing an agreement Baxter had been set up with a room and had secured permission to monitor and help standardize treatment plans. But despite the fact that Charlie presented the place as a therapy and self-betterment center, Baxter still continued to observe some peculiar discrepancies with the hotel, especially with their inventory of technology. The data collector was only the tip of the iceberg, with this place seemingly always having a trick up its sleeve. It all started a day after arriving when he encountered a locked door near the lobby of the hotel while wandering around at night, only to find a high tech medical facility of sorts rather than an area for storage after picking the lock. Baxter knew he was risking his new accommodations and chance to try and settle one of hell's burning questions, but his curiosity was just too great to ignore.
It took a while before he felt it was safe to investigate as he had to make sure everyone was asleep or at least unlikely to stumble across him investigating. He did briefly attend a small party held for the hotel's only current patient who turned out to still be Angel Dust. Baxter was surprised the porn star had struck around after that fiasco of an interview, but then again Charlie seemed unlikely to turn people away and Angel was likely in it for the free room and board like him to a degree. The party itself was a small affair with Charlie having made a cake for Angle while trying to get him to play a few party games, he hadn't interacted with anyone and was mostly just there to see if anything was up. There was some disagreement on how much booze should be allowed for consumption, but Cherri seemed unusually willing to compromise as she agreed to a strict limit that even Charlie and Vaggie partaken in by having a glass of wine. It wasn't hard to discern why Cherri had been so willing to compromise despite being a party animal as Baxter had spotted her and Angel sneaking out through the back entrance visible through his room's window once everyone went back to their rooms. The two were most likely ready to start the real party given Cherri's and Angel's personalities. He would probably have to tell Charlie as she had asked him to keep an eye on the backdoor, which was part of the reason she choose the room besides his requested specifications.
Back to his discovery at hand, the facility was far more advanced and maintained than the typical clinic in hell; which was more in line with a black market hospital if he was telling the truth.
Using his contraptions and handy electric lock picker he began to investigate. Instead of rusted scalpels and years old expired vials of drugs- it was rather advanced skin regenerators that increased the metabolism in the skin to make it heal faster. Furthermore, the vials that were placed in the medicine cabinets were decades- no, centuries ahead of what the best hell had to bring forth. Reading their chemical properties with his homemade scanner, he could see that they could fight back and cure many of hell's diseases, from late stage syphilis, to meningitis, to even CANCER. With this at the Morningstar's disposal, they could make a pharmaceutical empire larger than ever thought possible, easily surpassing Belphegor's near total monopoly. But then again…why was it here? Baxter thought as he grabbed one of the vials. They couldn't just be hiding it from hell, the rewards would be just too great to pass up. Then again it was more profitable to sell recurring treatments than permanent cures, but then why bother creating them in the first place? Were they just recently created? Could it be another gift from the princess's new friends?
"Who the hell are these guys?!" Baxter said, putting down the vial from where he had taken it. Nothing seemed to make sense, they had devices that were more advanced than hell had ever dreamt of and they had medical technologies that made them look like they were still in the stone age. If he didn't know any better, he would guess that the princess's mysterious benefactors were from the future!
"But could they?" Baxter thought to himself as he walked around the medical facility. It…did make sense, they had technology that was far, far beyond than anyone could think of in hell. Their medical technology alone made Belphegor look like medicine from the dark ages. The computer systems they had were centuries beyond anything earth had been able to develop too. But if they were from the future, why did they come back to this date? Was it to prevent some disaster? Was it an accident? Were they still here? Once again everything just seemed to lead to more questions. He would have to hope Ms. Morningstar would decide to put him in contact with these people or do some more digging of his own to find out more.
Captain's Log: Stardate 7589.244
"After the incident with Valentino, which nearly caused our unmasking to hell, I can say without a doubt now that the situation has been defused; for the time being. With Angel's contract becoming null and void, any further leaks or contaminations to hell through the hotel's guest can be put on the black low for now. However… On the other side I am starting to get reports of another demon that's on our tail. Her name's "Cherri Bomb". I have to say, people in hell have some pretty cool names. Anyway, she seems to be some sort of friend to Angel. She must've heard something about us after the deal with Valentino she unknowingly aided us with."
"On the topic of getting back home, I think I got something. Apparently, a race of demons called the Ars Goetia have the power to travel from hell to earth. Looking into it, they seem to be reminiscent of old anglo lords during the arthurian era. Heh, that's funny. Who'd expect a place to have Arthurian legend, serial killer cooking shows, and a literal walking TV? There is at least one more race that is permitted to travel to earth as mentioned by Ms Morningstar, they're the succubui and the innucbui. Note to self… make sure to bring Kylkuc along when we meet them. However they are only able to do so with the permission of one of the Ars Goetia or the Seven deadly sins who control the means used, mainly Asmodeus. Yeah, like we have to deal with them now. Where's Billy Batson when you need him? But not to lose focus, I feel like it would be hard to approach them for several reasons. First, I can only assume that they don't like sharing this, especially to a group of aliens and humans from the future, given their authoritarianism, bigotry, and extremely tight hold on travel to this mirror earth. Secondly, if we are to believe Commander Sh'ithiaqos's hypothesis that we're in an alternate universe of sorts, any magic used for transport between this hell and our earth is going to need some modifications so to speak. We're not Dr. Strange after all, we can't just whip up a spell to fix everything. Thirdly, if we are to approach them, it would not only expose us to them, but likely to the entirety of hell. You know, that's what I hate most about this place: you can't trust anyone. Hell, I don't even trust Alastor, and he's supposed to be helping us! There is the option of approaching a succubi or incubi that has obtained a crystal, but this method has many problems with it. For one, if a crystal were to go missing I doubt the succubus or incubus in question will be let off easily for losing such an artifact. We also may not be able to risk bringing one aboard if they are tracked in some way and obtaining one or someone with one could be difficult depending on how heavily they are monitored. At this point I can only hope we somehow find an Ars Goetia sympathetic to our cause, because at this point, I'm starting to lean towards the plan my senior officers put forth."
Captain Edison James Hendrix turned off the logging device in his Captain's quarters. He still couldn't believe what happened while he was under medical leave, where his crew took matters into their own hands to make sure any more leaks about Starfleet would not happen. Although he wished they used more discrete ways to ensure they weren't eventually discovered. He looked out of his window- overlooking the red skies and dark clouds of hell, something that he guessed that he would never have to see. But it was kind of mesmerizing in a twisted sense- something so peaceful above a world so violent, hateful, and horrible. It was a form of catharsis; peace over a world of hate.
Edison stood up as he put his hand through his dark smooth hair; starting to walk towards a Food synthesizer to give himself a welcome distraction from the mess they were in. He punched in the commands to show what he wanted- a hot chocolate with extra sugar. He smiled to himself as he grabbed the mug of the hot beverage while the aroma filled up his quarters. It had always been a staple during Christmas time with his loved ones. As he sipped the hit liquid, he turned back to his calendar. Converting from Stardate to the normal calendar, he could see that it was 23th of April- nine days in literal hell. Literally.
Soon he suddenly realized what day it was- Friday. After thinking for a moment, he placed down his hot chocolate on the table as he made his to a small compartment in his closet. Inside it was a small box that Ben opened the lid of. Inside was a small bottle of wine, a small cup, two candles and holders with matches, and a red Kippah. Edison mostly kept being Jewish to himself, with only his closest friends and family knowing that he practiced it culturally. Mostly because they were the only reason why he still upheld some traditions. He wished he could do it more often, but with the combination of work and the general feeling about religion within Starfleet he decided to himself that he should keep it out of the workplace. But seeing as he was in a place of religious significance- although being in hell- he thought to himself that he had at least duty to do it.
His thoughts were broken as he heard a beeping on his communicator.
Edison sighed as he grabbed the communcaitor from his pocket and flipped it open. "Captain Hendrix here."
"Hello captain! It's uh me…Charlie."
"Charlie!" Edison said, placing the small bottle of wine onto the table. "Anything wrong?"
"Oh no, we're all okay! I just wanted to call you to say we have a new guest at the hotel."
"A new guest?" Edison said, placing the glass onto the table.
"Yeah, normally I wouldn't bother you guys with stuff like this. But I think you're going to be interested in this guest given how scientifically gifted he is."
"What do you mean?" Edison asked. "Did he solve The Riemann Hypothesis by himself or did he just disassemble and reassemble a phone?"
"Uhhh, weellll….he kinda analyzed what was inside one of your tricorders using an invention of his."
"He analyzed what?" Edison said in shock, standing straight up from his chair- nearly toppling everything on his desk
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize it was lying about, but I made sure to lock everything up in their respective rooms after!"
Edison put his hand across his face as he sat back down in half slight frustration and half curiosity. "It's… it's fine Charlie. Believe me. They'll probably just look at the other things besides leaving a tricorder on a desk." Edison said, sitting back down. "But this demon knew what it did? What kind of device was it?"
"Oh, well it was amazing! He called it a protonic wavelength distortion device or something and it was able to allow him to view the insides of your device! He even demonstrated it to me and Vaggie."
"Yeah… that's the right amount of technobabble to sound plausible.
"I wanted to tell you guys because while I can do my best to help you with most matters related to magic or general knowledge of hell, I'm not really that well informed about scientific matters."
"Huh…" Edison said in curiosity as he raised an eyebrow. "What's his name?"
"He said it was Baxter, he's a sinner who kinda looks like an anglerfish, which properly means he died of drowning now that I think about it."
"A sinner? He didn't kill anyone or something like that, right?"
"Sigh, I can't say for certain, but he doesn't seem like the malicious type. More like well…a nerd with a phobia of germs. But he actually came here to kinda help with the hotel! He seems to want to verify if it is possible to redeem a sinner!"
Edison chuckled. "This guy sounds a lot like Starfleet medical. Try to speak to him more, something is telling me that this Baxter could be a part of our ticket or getting out of here."
"Will do, I'll contact you in a few days once I'm sure Cherri is gone, though I suspect she probably already is." Charlie started with the later part being said in a downtrodden voice.
"Thanks. The rest of us are working on finding any leads. Call me if you need anything. Hendrix out." Edison said as closed the communicator, leaving him alone in the room.
After finishing her conversation with Edison. Charlie was left with a conundrum by the name of Angel Dust. Both him and Cherri had been missing since morning. While Angel did tend to sleep in at times up till noon even, it was now 3 o' clock and Cherri was nowhere to be found either. While the princess of hell was certainly on the naive side, she wasn't stupid. The two were most certainly causing chaos and indulging in all sorts of drugs.
Charlie knew it was silly to expect any better when the two were together and even if Angel became serious about going clean he would have likely insisted on one last crazy night out. But, he still needed to make improvements.
She would have to have a talk with him later whenever he showed back up.
Exiting her room and making her way to the lounge she found Vaggie flipping through channels on the TV while grumbling to herself.
Knowing what was likely troubling her she joined her girlfriend on the couch.
"Hey hun, you doing okay."
Vaggie broke her irritated mood to give a smile at Charlie before sighing.
"I'm fine, it's just as per usual Angel has once again broken your trust and is off with that insane cabrona doing god knows what."
"Yeah, I should probably ask Baxter if he saw the two sneaking out the back door. Have you seen him around?"
"Not really, he seems to like keeping to himself which is fine I suppose."
"We should give him a chance Vaggie, he was pretty reasonable when agreeing to our ground rules with him helping the hotel and he might even be able to help us!"
"I know, but I get the feeling this is also just another opportunity for him to get free housing. Especially if he starts giving little in return when helping us."
"Have a little faith Vaggie, if he is just in this for housing then we can do our best to turn him around too. Plus he may even be able to help starfleet!"
"Really?" Vaggie asked her girlfriend with intrigue.
"Yeah, I actually just got done talking with Captain Edison. He said that he might be part of their ticket out!"
"Well if he is able to be of use to them, then I guess something good will have come out of letting him into the hotel. They certainly need all the help they can get with finding a way back to their home."
"Yeah, I'll do my best to help them when they need me to explain things about magic and try to come up with a way to get them back. But I only know so much about science and Baxter might give them enough perspective and insight to come up with a way back or at least just generally aid them since I'm sure they could always use more scientists to help them!"
"I suppose. I just hope they find a way out before the rest of hell finds out about them."
"I know hun." Charlie stated as she hugged Vaggie.
Deciding to spend some time together while they waited for Angel to get back, the two took to watching a Disney movie out of Charlie's collection her dad had gotten for her years ago in her room while taking Niffty with informing them of when Angel got back.
A few hours later, Niffty zoomed into Charlie's room informing her that Angel was back but interrupting her favorite song from Aladdin she had taken to singing along with her girlfriend.
Making their way down to the lobby they found Angel sprawled out on the couch looking like he had been through the mill.
"You." Vaggie stated in a low voice.
Slowly blinking his eyes the spider demon awoke from his impromptu nap.
"Huuhh, oh its (hic) Ms. taco in a twist. Ughhh." Angle stated as he rubbed his head.
Not willing to put up with his antics Vaggie grabbed Angel's hair and yanked him up into a sitting position."
"Ow, ow, ow, ow HEY! Alright I'm UP!"
"And just where have you been for the past day!"
"Oh piss off cyclops! I can go wherever I want in my free time!"
"Angel, where did you and Cherri go last night?" Charlie tried in a gentler but still firm tone.
"Oh who cares? Can't a guy have some fun with his best friend?"
"That fun usually involves property destruction and drugs you puto."
"Vaggie please, Angel I know you like to hang out with her but she's a bad influence on your rehabilitation. And now that your free from-"
"Oh Fuck Off! You don't get to tell me to dump my only friend just because she's in the way of your little 'passion project'." Angel stated the last part in a mocking tone.
"Angle-"
"No! I don't need either of you on my back about this crap. I have enough shit to deal with, with-"
"No. You had shit to deal with before Charlie freed you from Valentino's contract! The least you could fucking do now to repay her is try and work with her it becoming a better person instead of taking more advantage of us!"
Knowing there wasn't really any response he could give save insults he wasn't willing to hurl having been reminded what Charlie and Starfleet did for him Angel just sighed and started making his way to his room.
"Pfft, whatever."
"Angel, I know it's not right to ask you to change right away or to give up your friend. But, I'm asking that you try not to get into trouble with her anymore and to start making an effort at improving yourself over time."
Pausing for a moment and looking back Angel sighed as he went back to his room.
"If that hijo de puta doesn't start making an effort to get better after this Charlie, we need to consider that he really is just taking advantage of you."
"Vaggie, I know he's difficult but we need to be patient with him. And let's face it, he would have done one last night out before trying to go clean."
"Sigh, alright I guess that's the best we can hope for."
Baxter laid down in his bed on the second floor of the happy hotel. For a free establishment- it had incredible amenities, far beyond the likes he had to deal with in his previous tenants and apartments he had to contend with. He had his own bathroom, a comfortable double bed, some decent storage space, even a minifridge and microwave. Plus everything was clean. His mind however was blank- seemingly bored and not knowing what to do other than theorize and review everything that had happened for the past few days.
Since he had arrived, the Princess had begun to make an effort to get to know him. Asking about his life and inventions. He of course wasn't too keen on discussing his life before hell or…well anything outside of science, but he did let it slip that he died in 1912 while traveling from London to New York hoping to visit the american city to discuss scientific matters and funding with the Royal Society's academy of science he had even become a member of. He was of course more open to discussing scientific matters with her. The Princess didn't have enough of a scientific background to go in depth with the proper terminology, but it was still somewhat enjoyable to discuss things with her. She had also asked if he had spotted Angel and Cherri leaving the hotel at night through the back entrance which he confirmed causing the Princess to look down for a bit before returning to her cheerful self.
While Princess Charlotte was clearly a social butterfly, Baxter couldn't help but theorize she was casing him for these mysterious friends of hers. Sure her interest in his background was more than warranted given the hotel's goal and that he was now helping her. The interest in his scientific background could of course just be curiosity, but she seemed to be focused on his inventions and qualifications above all. Sure that could be explained away as wanting to make sure he was not some fraud and was qualified to help her at the hotel, but she didn't seem to be one to turn away help from anyone and she didn't have the background to know how to set up a proper psychological experiment anyways.
Perhaps…she was even recruiting qualified individuals into the group responsible for creating the technology he had seen. But, that didn't line up with her goal with the hotel unless the entire project was just a cover for something else. She could of course be doing her father's work if he was behind some secret group of scientists with the only discernible goal being to produce hyper advanced technology. But the tech was clearly not being put to use and some of it would never have been pursued in hell ever in a million years.
Curing disease was less profitable than offering recurring treatments for them or for ailments like depression that were extremely common and usually never improved down here. That and outside of exploiting the hellborn, the sinners and nobility had little use for medicine given their regeneration abilities. Unless Lucifer was perhaps ensuring the tech was only for him to keep ahead of those thinking about taking the throne for themselves. But, the Morningstars were never that interested in science and outside of a few overlords like Vox and Pentious the nobility certainly wasn't. Plus what he had seen was too far advanced for Lucifer or anyone in hell he knew of to have produced. Baxter didn't want to believe it, but his future hypothesis was starting to sound just as likely as anything else he could come up with.
As he got up from his bed, he decided what he would do next: find more about this strange group of "benefactors" that were helping the princess. All this machinery, technology, and contraptions all have one thing in common: they seemed to be powered by a fuel source that wasn't from hell from what he could assume. Most electronics would be set up for a wire charger in hell rather than the amount of voltage from the advanced ion batteries of the devices he found. Getting up from bed, he opened up his briefcase with his inventions in it. After looking through it, he was able to take out a particular invention of his- an energy location transmitter. E.L.T for short. The device had the appearance of a smartphone, but with a larger screen. However there were some key features that set it apart from other devices. For starters- the ELT had knobs on the side, allowing the user to change the energy level that they were trying to look for and would display energy readings muck like blips on a heart monitor but only going upwards. In this case, it would be around a higher level than of the most common fuel source, gasoline which was 33.7 kWh. As Baxter fine tuned the knobs to this measurement- he was able to get an albeit small signal. It was as if it was being masked by something to not catch the attention of anyone given that the amount of energy being generated seemed to be coming from a very intense source with its extremely narrow peaks, but was only being released in short spaced out intervals. He must've been able to get a hold of it due to his proximity.
Looking at the screen of the ELT after moving it around, Baxter could very well see that the energy source came from the bottom of the hotel, far away from the prying masses of the demons that surrounded the establishment. It would seem that he would have to make a trip down to the basement of the hotel- something that he dreaded due to the radio demon seeming to frequent the place when he was not in his office on the top floor. But if he wanted to figure out this mystery, he would have to go down to the depths of the hotel- down there holding the key and the answer of the princess's strange "benefactors." He exited out of his room, clutching the device in his slim frail hands- watching the signal become stronger as he got into the ornate elevator. He pressed down on the button leading to the basement- the deepest that the elevator could take him. Sure enough, the signal became stronger as he descended through the floors.
The doors opened to a short hallway that led to the basement itself. The walls- unlike the ornate halls of the happy hotel, had no wallpaper but rather gray concrete walls. Baxter thought to himself that the place looked a bit barren for a place that housed an energy supply that made everything in hell look like double A batteries as he was expecting some level of wiring or transformers on the walls. As he walked forwards towards the door that would lead to the basement, he could see that the ELT would start to become stronger and stronger with each step the eel took. Finally, he arrived at the base of the door, with the device blaring like a fire alarm. The only thing that held Baxter back from the final truth behind the princess's benefactors was a flimsy brown door with some form of a bulkhead at the top. And as Baxter reached out his hand to turn the knob of the door- a small camera from the top of the door suddenly popped out of the wall- scanning Baxter with a blue ray from top to low, causing the fish demon to freeze up. After scanning for some time- the blue ray turned into a dark red.
"UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED. INACTING SAFETY PROTCOOL SIERRA TANGO 9-8-6-6." An unknown voice- most likely from the camera- said in a robotic voice as the camera went back into the wall. Immediately following that was a loud metalic slam. Overcoming his surprise Baxter opened the door only to find a thick metallic wall. Despite Baxter's best efforts, the bulkhead door wouldn't budge no matter what. There wasn't even any apparent mechanism to trigger it opening other than the camera he saw.
"You've got to be kidding me! Damn you benefactors! Can't you let me take a look dammit?!" Baxter said as he slammed his fist against the door that dashed his dreams of discovering anything about just what the hell was going on around the hotel.
Baxter groaned in frustration as he looked back at his ELT. Although he wished he actually got to be inside the damn room- it would seem that he would have to get his chance sometime later. For now, he would just have to contend with having to scan from the hallway. As Baxter opened up his ELT to the energy wavelength feature, he couldn't help but wonder to himself why these people would take so much care to hide themselves. He would think that a group with this level of power and knowledge would show themselves. Maybe what they were doing with the hotel was a testbed of sorts before they ventured into the public space? Switching the device to try and detect energy wavelengths the screen of the ELT somewhat deciphered the wavelengths that exuded from the blocked off room after a few minutes of analyzing. From what he could tell- the wavelengths were that of a fusion reaction of sorts. But it couldn't be radioactive, or else everyone in a ten kilometer radius would have grown another arm. They must have been able to draw power from nuclear fusion at the subatomic level! That was a feat that hadn't been dreamed of- ever! As he walked back to the elevator and returned back to his room however, Baxter had something on his mind. The alarm he triggered most likely alerted the princess's benefactors. It wasn't a matter of if they would come- it was a matter of when.
Xehrarv Daar was once again sitting on his lounge chair in the heart of his quarters- in front of the light of his monitor. He'd been working for many hours now- so many that he had lost track of them. It didn't really bother the Tellarite that much; the combat training fields of the old city at Tellar Prime had hardened the blood of the warrior. Not to mention all the sleepless nights at Starfleet Academy had trained him to be a machine of integrity in the face of challenges. But unlike the slopes of the old city- he would have to contend with a very different but nevertheless more important job than ever before.
He had heard a lot of stories about Humanity's insidious past- it was like a hall of fame for the worst things that any being could do. War Crimes, genocide, induced famine, biological warfare, rape, wanton murder and others made his head spin when he first learnt about them. Now, he had to face those sins first hand- literally. If the demons here had one inkling about starfleet's presence, it wouldn't be a matter of if, but how fast they would run to grab their weapons and try to get ahold of any valuable piece the starship had to offer. And that was Xehrarv's job: to make sure no one outside of the hotel knew about the hotel. Whether that be shields were up, outside communications were at a low, concealing energy production, and making sure that none of their friends' guests were snooping around anything they had built below the daunting starship.
As Xehrarv groaned in slight frustration- he heard a chime at his door. He guessed he needed some company after all, his day was nothing more than calling his superiors and giving out orders. Maybe some communications were the thing the doctor order. "Come in! I don't have all day!"
As the door opened, Xehrarv was met with the feline appaernce of one Lieutenant She'rl- the helmsman of the starship. He had not seen her in some time, mostly because of him not mainly working from his quarters. That and she had to be the one transporting the cargo from the Excalibur down to the hotel. It was a busy life for the officers, and any time of social engagement had to be short and sweet. Maybe this one could go one for a little bit longer.
Xehrarv laid back in his chair as he rolled his eyes. "Hello, Lieutenant. Aren't you supposed to be on the bridge?"
She'rl laughed as she grabbed a chair and grabbed it to the table Xehrarv was sitting in front of. "Man, you really have no more sense of time Commander." She said with a chuckle. "It's seventeen hundred hours- and besides I'm on my break." She further said. "So you really have been working all day?" The caitian officer commented as she sat down on her chair.
"It's what?" Xehrarv said as he turned to his clock. It said 17:15. "Oh… I'm sorry Lieutenant. I must've lost track of time."
"Hey- no sweat. We've all been working our asses off. It isn't any day when you're sent into a dimension based around the suffering of others."
"Reminds me of Theoretical Math 401 with Professor V'Lydick." Daar said with a rare chuckle.
"Wait, you had him too?" She'rl said, raising from her seat.
"Another veteran I see! I still remember having to do his assignments on warp time dilations during break. I swear that Vulcan feeds off suffering."
"Hey it's not like I had a choice! There's a lot of math in piloting a starship, had to take it if I wanted to not be piloting shuttlecraft for my entire career."
"Can't be that hard- you just push some buttons and you're-" Daar said to She'rl before an alert beeped on his monitor, prompting him to immediately turn towards his monitor. "Shit!"
"What the hell is it?!" She'rl said, jumping from her seat to see what Xehrarv was looking at.
"We have someone at the fusion reactor entrance at the basement down at the hotel. Someone without the proper authorization was trying to get in- luckily the bulkheads were activated before they were able to take a peak." Xehrarv said as he got the cameras online in order to take a look for who was outside the door.
"It has to be one of the demons right?" She'rl said.
"You bet. Take a look." He responded, pointing at his monitor to show an angler fish like demon bash his webbed hands against the door.
"Huh. Isn't that scientist demon the Captain told us about?"
"It has to be, why else would he be down there?"
Watching from the monitor, the two starfleet officers saw that the intruder had ceased trying to open the bulkhead and had started pointing a device at the door.
"What's he doing? We didn't give him a tricorder right?" She'rl questioned.
"Not that I'm aware of." Xehrarv said, looking at the monitor that laid before him.
Deciding to enhance the image Xehrarv zoomed in on the device allowing the two to be able to make out what looked like an electromagnetic wavelength chart. This caused Xehrarv's interest to peak. This demon was evidently smart- all the signs pointed towards it. Why else would he be at the fusion reactor and studying it with a presumably self made device to scan electromagnetic waves. If this was the sinner Edison had mentioned, then it seemed he was more than just a one trick pony given how Ms. Charlotte had described him having shown her a device of his own invention that was able to discern the insides of a tri-recorder, something that both intrigued and irritated the Tellarite to no end. Perhaps this guy could be onto something.
"Lieutenant. Get the captain. I think we're onto something with this one."
Hey everyone! I am so sorry that this took so long to get out. I had a lot of stuff to do, but it's finally here! I will always be grateful for your patience. Don't worry, the next chapter will be out sooner than you think!
