ColonyTale
by Nicolle
Disclaimer: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. ColonyTale is my AU. Story copyright to me.
Chapter 5
Derete wiggled her whiskers. "What is this? It looks like a really old data pad, but I've never seen this manufacturer's logo before."
Ahron's feathered claw gently tapped the tablet, turning it on. They stared at the picture of Frisk in her dress uniform. "That's her. I've never seen a uniform like that. Is there a biome that uses it for their police?"
The cat monster shook her head, black ears flattening back. "Everyone uses blue and gold."
Ahron ran a claw gently across the screen, sliding the image away to reveal a roller coaster under a bright blue sky. Two identical children ate ice cream with several friends as a coaster car filled with people swooped by. "No amusement park on the Delta looks like this. What kind of monsters are these?"
Derete tapped her cheek with a finger. "The ship is huge. Only old Gerson's seen all of it."
The chimera frowned around his beak. "I've been to every amusement park on the ship. This one doesn't exist. This monster type doesn't exist."
"Could there be a secret biome somewhere?"
"Maybe." He swiped to the next picture. "Here she is again." Frisk was kneeling in a garden, planting flowers. "I've never seen flowers like that." He slid to the next picture. Two identical girls hugged each other in long black robes. "This looks like a graduation. Is Gerson's apprentice a clone?"
Derete grabbed her friend's hand. "What if she's from the top plate? His Majesty took her into the only elevator that goes to it. No one's allowed up there. There might be an entire group of monster's up there and we'd never know."
"And you really shouldn't be digging through someone else's things." A royal guardsman pulled the tablet from Ahron's claws.
Ahron smiled big and rubbed the back of his furry head. "We were just trying to identify the monster the case belonged too!" He handed over the case.
"It belongs to the human."
Ahron and Derete looked at each other. "The human?!"
Derete frowned, suddenly angry. She dashed forward, grabbing the tablet, and running down the corridor.
Ahron and the royal guardsman went after her.
"Derete! Come back!"
The cat monster disappeared into the crowd. The guardsman put his hand on Ahron's shoulder, stopping him.
"Who is your friend?"
The chimera stared into the crowd. "Derete Card."
"Do you know why she'd steal the tablet?"
He shook his head. "No."
The guardsman frowned. "Come with me."
Ahron nodded, following the guardsman back to the royal guard's headquarters. A few hours of interrogation later and the chimera monster wished he'd stayed at his terminal. He trudged home to his apartment in New Home. Derete waited for him in the dark, trembling.
He grabbed her arms. "The royal guard is looking for you! Is this were you've been hiding?"
She nodded, still trembling.
"You have to give the tablet back."
She shook her head.
He sighed, shoulders dropping. "Listen, I know you love His Majesty, but this the exact opposite way to get his attention. We have to give the tablet back."
Derete grabbed his arm. "You don't understand! The human is dangerous!" She held out the tablet. "Look. In this file." She tapped a folder in the directory. "Each of these videos is a primer on fearing and killing monsters." Derete tapped a file and footage of a human child running away from a pale, thin, hairless ogre with eye balls in the palms of it's hands. She tapped another revealing a werewolf assaulting a human female in a forest.
Ahron pulled the tablet from her hands, tapping another file. A human male in strange armor and a long, black leather coat fought a shape shifting monster. Another file revealed a human woman fighting a strange alien in a dark ship.
"You have to help me get rid of her."
Ahron looked at his friend. "How?"
"She'll want the tablet back. We can use it lure her into an air lock and blow it."
He grabbed her arms, shaking her a little. "Are you insane! That will raise your level of violence!" The chimera shook his head. "The air locks are locked down by the A.I. Only the royal family can override the system."
Derete looked back and forth, whiskers twitching before her eyes lit up. "An infected biome."
"Quarantine lock downs are fast..."
"They don't need to be slow. We'll wait for a quarantine announcement and pick a biome entrance. If you lead her to an infected biome, I'll get the door open to shove her in. After that, all we have to do is wait. The tablet will be our proof that she was too dangerous to live."
Ahron took a breath, looking at the tablet. He nodded. "Okay." He sighed. "Your gonna have to hide. The guard will come around looking for you."
"I know. There's a few places I can go. When a quarantine is announced, I'll tell you which door to go for."
"Will you leave the tablet with me? I want to see more pictures of the Earth."
Derete looked down nervously at the tablet, fingers trembling. Ahron reached for it and she pulled back, holding it to her chest.
Their data pads buzzed in unison and both looked at them.
"The Long Sun Biome is being quarantined!" Derete jumped to her feet and pressed the tablet into his hands. "I'll wait for you at the entrance from the Martine Corridor." She ran for the door and stopped before opening it. "Please hurry." She disappeared.
Ahron nodded. He looked at the tablet for a moment before hiding it in a bag. He left the apartment, hurrying for the offices of the royal family a few buildings away. "With any luck, she'll be there. If not, maybe I can trick someone into telling me."
Luck was on his side. He could see Frisk through the glass door wearing a jacket with the royal insignia on the sleeve. He pulled the door open and entered. She was staring at a schematic of the Core's coolant system at a terminal while talking quietly to someone unseen from the door. As he stepped up to her, the unseen person turned out to be the ship's A.I.
Frisk took a sip of water, eyes yellow green. "Were you able to deconstruct my old suit?"
"Of course."
She set the water aside and pushed her hair back from her face. "Can the printers handle using the insulation for the new tubing?"
"Yes. I informed Exploration of the progress and the printers are already working on a new set of suits for testing."
She smiled and touched the terminal screen, enlarging the schematic, and frowned. "Delta? Does the secondary coolant system reach up and down the entire Core."
"It does."
"How does the filtration run on it?"
"The filters for the secondary coolant system are activated carbon."
Frisk took a breath, shaking a little, eyes pink yellow. "Does this system draw air from the biomes to cool the Core?"
"Yes."
"That's how the microbe is getting through the ship. The leaks in the secondary coolant system." She stood.
Ahron froze as two members of the royal guard walked past him. One put his hand on Frisk's shoulder.
"Hey there, Osiris! Any chance we can get you to come by Guard HQ later? A couple of the guardsmen want to treat you to dinner."
She smiled. "I have to talk to Asriel first, but sure! What's the occasion?"
The other guardsman snorted. "Uh, you beating the ever living crap out of our Captain! I've only seen His Majesty knock her around like that!"
"Beating up Undyne?" Ahron breathed. He slipped the bag from his shoulder. He pulled out the tablet. "Hey! Looking for this?"
Frisk looked at him, eyes blue green. He waved the tablet at her and took off like a shot through the door.
She gasped. "My tablet!"
One guardsman pulled out his data pad while the other followed Frisk into the crowded streets of New Home. She looked around and spotted the Ahron heading for a corridor entrance. Frisk ducked down an alley, taking her own kind of short cut, while the guardsman ran with her. She rounded to the corridor entrance, sliding under a railing, before rolling forward to her feet and following Ahron into the Martine Corridor.
The corridor was packed with monsters heading in both directions. The guardsman whistled as he entered the corridor, and two New Home police officers joined him as they jumped the railing to the ramp. Monsters started clearing a path on the oncoming side, making room for the guard coming through.
Ahron leaped onto the barrier that separated those going one way from the other and ran down the middle. Frisk jumped after him. He climbed a barrier in front of him only to see Frisk roll onto it from her shoulder when he looked back. She came to her feet in one fluid movement, eyes completely red and dashed forward. He gasped and Ahron jumped down from the barrier.
He lost his footing on the landing, the tablet sliding from his hand to stop on the platform into the Long Sun Biome.
Frisk jumped down, landing easily and knelt to help him up, eyes brown green. "Are you okay?"
He blinked at her.
"Hey! Human!"
Frisk looked up as Derete picked up the tablet and tossed it into the open biome entrance.
"No!" Frisk dove for the tablet and missed, crashing through the entrance as the tablet smashed against the floor, screen shattering with the impact.
Derete sealed the entrance.
Frisk knelt in front of the tablet, hands covering her face while she wept.
The guardsman pulled Ahron to his feet while the two policemen grabbed Derete. Undyne strode up the ramp with a security team. "Take those two into custody. I'll be wanting to know why a quarantine was breached-" She caught site of Frisk inside the sealed glass doors. "Frisk!" Undyne rushed up to the doors. "Frisk!"
Frisk looked up and sat back, leaning against the wall behind her.
Undyne crouched down. "You're stuck in a quarantined biome."
Frisk nodded. Tears still leaking down her face, she closed her eyes.
"There's a chance you'll be fine. We just have to wait."
She nodded again, eyes still shut.
Undyne stood and rounded on Derete and Ahron. "What the hell did you-" She froze when she saw her sovereign coming up to the entrance.
"Would someone mind explaining to me why quarantine was breached?" Asriel barked as he stopped in front of the two technicians.
Undyne sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. "Az?"
The goat prince looked to his Captain and she moved aside, revealing Frisk. His expression turned black, eyes glowing an awful violet. He reached for Ahron and Derete.
"Asriel! No! Don't!" Frisk pounded against the clear barrier. "Don't hurt them! Please!"
He paused, letting his arms drop. "Get them out of my sight." Asriel strode up to the control panel to unlock the door.
"No! Don't!"
Asriel stopped, slamming his fist against the wall. Taking a breath, he sat down across from Frisk. He placed his hand on the glass, laying his fingers to match hers.
Alphys and Sans ran up to the entrance as the guard marched Ahron and Derete away. They skidded to a halt, watching Asriel lean his forehead against the glass, eyes closed.
Frisk, put her forehead to his, eyes closed. "I figured out how the microbe is traveling through the ship. It's all the leaks in the secondary coolant system. It's sucking in contaminated air from the biomes. The leaks are spreading it."
Asriel sighed, eyes opening to look at her. "Of all the things to think about right now."
Sans elbowed the lizard woman. "*check her. just don't blurt out the results."
Alphys nodded. Careful not to disturb her sovereign, she quickly scanned Frisk through the glass and shuffled back.
Undyne quickly huddled next to them, waiting for the results.
The scanner beeped and Alphys covered her mouth to muffle her gasp. Infected.
Sans shoulders drooped. "*oh kid. now what?"
"We wait." Alphys sat on the floor. Sans and Undyne followed suit.
The entire corridor had gone silent, traffic at a complete standstill, waiting. The minutes ticked by.
"It's almost been an hour," Undyne breathed.
"She's not exhibiting symptoms," Alphys whispered. "She's flushed, but not vomiting or coughing blood."
Sans looked at Alphys. "*the monster who've survived have done so by shear chance. what if she has a natural resistance?"
Alphys looked at him. "Frisk is supposed to save all monsters, right?"
Sans nodded.
Alphys stood, pulling out her data pad. "Hey Basil! I need a containment unit that will fit Frisk and a team to pull her from an infected biome. Prep the Q-Lab for blood work and let everyone in the lab know that we'll be working with the microbe live. Anyone who wants to leave is welcome to do that."
"On it, Doc!"
It wasn't long before a team in glaring orange hazmat suits were making their way through the corridor with a containment unit. Sans and Undyne knelt on either side of Asriel.
"*hey boss man. alphys is going to have Frisk extracted."
Frisk and Asriel both looked at the skeleton.
"But the microbe...?" Frisk trailed off.
"You're infected, but you aren't showing any symptoms," Undyne said. She took Asriel's arm lifting him to his feet. "Come on. Let's give the team some space."
Asriel nodded, watching while the team set up the containment unit against the door.
When the unit was sealed against the entrance, Alphys opened the doors. "Just step into the unit."
Frisk nodded, picking up the remains of her tablet and holding it against her chest. She stepped into the unit and it closed behind her. The door to the biome shut.
"Turn around and lean back against the padded bedding. We'll be laying you on your back for transport to the Quarantine Lab."
Frisk turned and leaned back. The unit tipped backward and the haz-mat team took it away, Alphys following behind.