"Sit," the medic stated as he motioned towards the only chair in the room as if Damian couldn't figure out where to go.
He walked forwards and slowly sunk down into the seat, shutting his eyes firmly as his head spinned. She had really clocked him with that kick, he thought in dismay. His head was on fire and he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. He clenched his fingers. He couldn't believe that he had lost, especially when his defeat was broadcasted throughout the entire ship. It was humiliating.
He listened as the medical officer began rummaging around a few drawers, remembering suddenly that he had wanted to watch the captain's next fight. He opened his eyes and looked around him for a camera and spied one directly in front of the door. He waved his hand to the right towards the camera and a transparent screen suddenly appeared in front of him. The medical officer said nothing as Damian clicked on the live feed for the arena and began to watch.
The captain stood in the center of the mat, confidently looking up towards the huge opponent approaching her, her head tilted back to compensate for his massive height. He was a massive beast, his skin tan and hard like the shell of a cockroach. The pinchers attached to his four mammoth sized arms opened and closed as his steps thundered towards her. He had no neck, his large head sitting squarely against his hefty shoulders, extensive feelers expanding out where the mouth was supposed to be. A pair of beady eyes that were sunk in the center of his face peered down at the captain as he approached, his heavy steps rocking the entire mat.
Damian's mouth dropped open as he saw the opponent the captain would be facing. He didn't recall seeing the Grog before, though he hadn't been particularly searching for the eight foot tall monster of a crew member. The Grog was wearing a purple shirt that defined him as being a maintenance worker, which is the most dangerous job on the ship as they are ones who have to deal with any explosions, leaks or other disasters that might happen on the ship. The Grog completely dwarfed the captain as he finally came to a stop in front of her, his chest at least three times the size of her, his massive four arms the size of small tree trunks.
He felt searing pain as the medical officer placed a sterile wipe against his temple so he jerked away, turning to glare at the man. The officer stared back impassively, holding the bloodied wipe up in front of him. He had short brown hair and he looked like a man who had to deal with a lot of of unruly behavior, his eyes sunken in and his lips taut.
"I've got to clean your wound." He said emotionlessly, moving his hand towards his temple again.
Damian nodded and anxiously turned back to the screen, upset by the interruption as he clenched his jaw. The medical officer began wiping the blood away, making his temple to feel like it was on fire.
On the screen the captain didn't even look perturbed as she stared up at her opponent, confidently assuming her fighting stance.
"The Grog shouldn't be allowed to fight, it's not fair." Damian complained, worrying about the safety of the captain. The captain would be completely demolished; there should be a rule against the giant Grog from participating in the games, or any maintenance personnel for that matter. The Grogs were built to last and could withstand almost anything, its pincers extremely powerful and able to squeeze the life out of anyone.
The medical officer glanced disinterestedly at the screen. "Anyone's allowed to fight," he stated before turning back to wipe at his wound.
Damian flinched from the contact. "The captain's going to get herself killed!"
The man shrugged. "Normally maintenance workers don't participate in the games, but I'm pretty certain they understand the rules because they love watching the fights."
Damian winced from his answer, not heartened in the least. He wondered why the Grog had chosen to fight, when apparently they normally don't participate, and began to worry if the Grog was using the fight as an excuse to seriously injure the captain. He watched in dismay as the fight began.
The Grog's four pincers suddenly flashed forwards, each of them moving in slightly different speeds and locations so that they would be impossible to dodge. The captain moved with lightning speed as she knocked away two of the arms and sidestepped two of the pincers, one of her legs flying up to kick the Grog in the side. Damian was amazed by her speed and dexterity, but quickly focused on the fight as the Grog sent his pincers flying once more. The captain spinned and turned to his side, avoiding three of his arms and knocking the fourth to the side before he could get a grasp on her. The Grog turned as well, his four pincer like arms bearing down on her.
The captain fell to her back, successfully avoiding the attack as she slid her legs between the Grog's huge feet and split her legs apart, knocking the Grog's legs out from under him. As he fell the captain rolled back onto her shoulder blades and pushed herself up and over to her feet, quickly lunging forwards as the Grog landed with a solid thud. The Grog's lower two arms began to push himself back up as the other two large pincers swung towards Jane as she flew towards him. She grabbed the two outstretched arms as she completely cleared his body, which was quite a feat with he was at least eight feet tall, and wrenched the arms behind the Grog's solid head. She twisted in her position until she sat directly behind her opponent, her legs sliding down his sides until she wrapped them around his other arms, successfully pinning all four pincers.
The feeler's around the Grog's mouth wiggled wildly as he realized that he was pinned. Damian watched, knowing that the captain had gotten herself into a compromisable position, as she clung to the back of her giant opponent. She still had to pin him beneath her before the timer would start to count down. The Grog seemed to follow the same thought process as Damian as suddenly he pushed up on his feet and dug his back into the captain, successfully pinning her beneath him.
Damian lurched forwards in his seat, much to the discontent of the medical officer as the bandage he was placing to his head was suddenly knocked off. He watched as the captain began to gasp from the heavy weight pressing down on her chest, trapped and unable to move, her face turning deeper shades of red. She was obviously in a lot of pain as the heavy weight pressed into her, and she couldn't breathe as the timer slowly began to count down.
Damian stood, wondering if there was anything he could do, realizing the only escape for her would be when the timer finally ran down and she accepted her defeat. It looked like she could have broken a few ribs from the heavy pressure on her chest.
The captain squirmed beneath the enormous Grog, bringing her hands up over the large head and grasping onto one of the squirming feelers and yanking it to the right. The Grog twisted with her, trying to ease the pain as the captain pulled the feelers forwards. Finally he turned to his side, freeing her from his weight as she kicked with her feet, propelling him forwards. She let go of the long feelers before his massive head crashed into the mat and quickly twisted until once again her legs were wrapped around his lower arms. She grabbed his upper arms and wrenched them behind his back.
The Grog lay almost completely motionless, unable to twist his head from side to side because he had no neck, his arms wiggling and wrenching all around but the captain kept her grip. The timer began to count down as his stiff legs tried to gain leverage to get her off of him, but his back was straight as a rod and it didn't appear that he had any hips to twist himself over, so all his legs could do was kick up and down, doing nothing to help free himself.
Damian was amazed at how the captain was able to keep herself wrapped around the many arms that were squirming beneath her, detaining the rampant force with her extraordinary amount of strength. The seconds began to tick down, the Grog unable to move into a position where he could gain leverage or dislodge the captain. He couldn't believe how quickly the fight had turned, only moments before the captain was getting the life crushed out of her and now she was about to win.
The buzzer sounded as Damian stared at the screen, utterly flabbergasted that the captain had been able to win the seemingly impossible fight. If she had been able to defeat that monstrosity, he began to wonder, then was she going easy on him? He doubted that he would have been able to defeat the Grog so easily, but then again, he had never fought one before.
He reeled to the side as he felt the bandage come into contact with his temple once more as the medical officer tried to treat him. He glanced over to him, remembering what he was doing there.
"Are you going to let me treat you?" The man asked, looking impatient.
"I... sorry-" he stated, distractedly glancing back at the screen as he sank back into his seat, watching as the captain stepped off of her giant opponent and the crowd roared with applause. He realized that he didn't really have to worry about the safety of the captain as she competed against the other contestants. If she was able to win that fight, she would be able to beat all of the rest of her opponents until she became too tired.
He was amazed at the captain's talent. Her ability to defeat all of her opponents in the ring, her score at the shooting range, the many languages she had mastered... he began to realize why the Admiral had sent him to this specific captain. He was certainly in good hands.
The medical officer began placing the bandages on his head again, Damian remaining still for him, deciding that he would take the opportunity to learn more about the strange woman who shared his responsibility of saving the entire universe.
"How long has she been captain?" He asked, motioning towards the screen as the captain stood in the center of the mat, the Grog slowly getting to his feet by her side. She seemed to be about his age, somewhere in her thirties or forties, which was still rather young to be a captain.
"A few years, eight if I remember correctly," he replied, finishing with the bandages and turning to walk over to the cabinets.
Damian was shocked that she had been a captain for so long, she must have been one of the youngest recruits to be promoted so quickly. Though she was obviously talented enough. Her crew seemed to respect her as well; he wondered how she had gained their respect so quickly. Certainly it couldn't just be because she remembered their names, there was a lot more involved to being a captain than that.
Actually, he had no idea what tasks the captain had or what their ship's mission was. He knew they did something within the Star Fleet as the Admiral had control over her, and the ship is much too large to belong to a private entity. It is also too large to be one of the scouting ships that explored the great unknown, most voyager ships were less than half the size of this one. However, he reasoned, there were similarities. Voyagers were built in a way that the crew members could live for years on the ship and never have to leave, which was great as they usually passed so far into outerspace with far and few places to refuel. This ship seemed to be made the same way, on his first day of exploration he had found the garden where a lot of the food was grown and it seemed as though several of the crew members had been aboard for years already.
He wondered if it could be a transport ship, it was certainly big enough. Yet, that explanation didn't quite fit as most transport ships were enormous monstrosities that cycled through its workers swiftly and only travelled short distances. From what he had seen so far most of the crew had already been living on this ship for years and he hadn't seen any large cargo that would prove it as being a transport ship. Besides, if it were just a ship to transport goods why were there games held to show how effective the crew members were at fighting and handling weapons?
"How long have you been working on this ship with her?" He asked, determined to prove his process of thought.
"Six years." He responded, pulling out a few things from a cabinet before returning to Damian's side.
If they weren't a transport ship and were too large to be a voyager then the other choice might be military. The captain was obviously skilled in combat, and her crew members were disciplined enough to be warriors if need be. If they were a military ship where was all of the brute force? All of the crew members he had seen, excluding the ring of muscular fighters around the ring, seemed to be regular workers whose only purpose is to keep the ship running. If this ship were a military one there should be hundreds of foot soldiers walking around wearing a magenta uniform, but he had seen none with that color.
"What exactly is this ship's purpose?" He asked.
The medical officer placed a bottle of pills in front of him on a small table along with a bottled water. "Take two pills, it will alleviate your pain, and take another dose in four to six hours," he responded, ignoring the question.
Damian picked up the bottle of pills and began unscrewing the lid, keeping his eyes focused on the medic. The medical officer stared back at him, his jaw set, making no notion to regard his question at all.
He wondered why the medic chose not to answer, obviously the ship was founded by the Star Fleet with the Admiral's permission so they couldn't be participating in any illegal activities. Nothing he had learned about the ship made any sense. They weren't transport, or a voyager, or military, so what were they? His thoughts turned back to the captain. It would take someone extremely rare to run such a ship that seemed to have no purpose.
"How much do you know about the captain?" Damian asked, pouring two pills into his hand and then dry swallowing them.
"What do you mean?" The medic responded, his deep set eyes peering at him quizzically.
"What was she doing before she became a captain? Where is she from, does she have any family?" He began to wonder why he hadn't thought of these questions earlier, he could have done research on the captain the night before. Instead he had been too preoccupied with the end of the world rather than focusing on who he was spending the time of the apocalypse with.
The medic's brow furrowed as he thought, giving Damian the impression that the officer had no clue of what the captain had been doing before he came to know her. "That's something you're going to have to ask her," he finally responded.
It wasn't too strange that the medical officer didn't know about the past life of the captain, Damian reasoned, and decided instead to ask questions about the present time. He tried to think of something that he needed to know about her that he hadn't already learned already. She was well respected by her crew, intelligent and kind, a fine marksman and amazing at combat, and apparently completely open to the idea of time travel and the colliding of two universes. The latter was certainly the most remarkable of her traits as the idea was absurd and would be scoffed by any regular humanoid, and yet, she had accepted the facts without complaint. It made him wonder if she had been introduced to other impossible events before.
"Has anything ever happened on this ship that would be classified as impossible or out of the ordinary?" He asked.
The medic raised an eyebrow at him. "I think it would be best if you avoided the arena for the time being and return to your private quarters for a few hours until the pain subsides."
Damian winced, reminded of the flares of pain he was feeling around his temple, not to mention his bruised cheek and back. He was slightly embarrassed by his question, of course the medic wasn't going to answer something like that. If something strange or impossible were to happen on this ship it would remain a secret, something that wouldn't be shared lightly with him, even if he were wearing a captains uniform.
He was doubtful that anything might have happened before on this ship that was inexplicable, perhaps the captain was just open minded about the concept about time travel and took in outrageous facts without blinking. He decided that pressing the subject wouldn't get him anywhere, and decided to give his questions a rest.
He couldn't help but to agree with the medic's advice, he dearly wanted to go and lay down in the quiet of his room. He was certain that the captain would be able to handle herself, though he would probably watch from a transparent screen once in his room just to make sure. He didn't want to return to the arena among all of the noise and chaos while his head was still reeling.
"Fine." He grunted, pushing himself to his feet. He glanced at the screen, noticing that the next contestant had stepped up to face the captain. It was the same man they had met earlier, the engineer with the yellow shirt, Jason or Jacob or something. His lips were pulled into a smile, stretching the long scar on his chin as he flexed his muscles into his fighting stance directly in front of the captain. He figured that if the captain was able to beat the crazy lizard lady, himself, and the Grog, then undoubtedly she would be able to defeat the engineer as well. Still holding the pill bottle in his hand he waved the screen away and turned to look at the medic.
The medical officer stood staring at him, his arms crossed over his black uniform. Damian was several inches taller than him but he felt respect for the small medic. He didn't envy the man his job, constantly dealing with injuries and death. He clenched his jaw, reminding himself that there would soon be a lot of death to deal with as the universes continued to merge.
"Thanks," Damian said, wiggling the pills.
The medic nodded in response and Damian turned to walk away, determined to head back to his room. He passed through the doorway and down the long hallways back to the noise, cheering emanating from the arena. He figured that the captain was doing well; she was obviously a favorite among the crowd. He reentered the main hallway that led to the games, the lift at the far end of the wide passageway. The crew members he passed nodded at him, some of them even began clapping as he walked by. The noise hurt his head but he managed to acknowledge them as he passed with a wave of his fingers. The crew really liked the games and appreciated the participants, he realized. He was embarrassed by their attention on him, especially since he had lost, but he was pleased to learn that they still respected the participants merely for trying in the games.
He returned to the elevator and waved his hand over the sensor. Once it arrived the doors opened and a small crew member stood within it, her face furry with large ears, wearing a pink shirt that assigned her as a technician. He recognized her from passing by her earlier with the captain when they had done their rounds that day. When she saw him in front of the open elevator her eyes grew wide and her pink nose began to twitch. She floundered for a moment before bringing a furry hand to her temple in salute.
"At ease," Damian said, uncomfortable by the salute. The technician swallowed and scooted to the side, allowing him to enter and stand beside her. The doors slid shut behind him as he pushed for the level where the private quarters were located for the crew, noticing that she was going to the level below his where he had met her before. He glanced to his side to look at her.
He remembered that the captain had called her by name but he couldn't recall it. She was standing stiffly, her back straight, not daring to make eye contact with him. He wanted to make her feel more comfortable around him, so he decided to make small talk.
"What's your name?" He asked as sincere as he could.
"Elsa," she replied with a squeak, her large purple eyes flashing over to him before quickly darting away.
"Will you be participating in any of the games today, Elsa?" He asked, seriously doubting that the small woman would be running through the shooting range, and the thought of watching her try to fight in the arena almost made him chuckle out loud.
"Yes." She responded.
Damian raised an eyebrow, her answer throwing him through the loop. He figured that she might be a good shot, though with her small form and frightened demeanor he doubted that she would be the type of person to participate in the shooting range. "Oh?" He asked speculatively, hoping that she would elaborate on which one she would be playing.
"Yes sir, Last Man Standing." She squeaked as the elevator came to the stop and the doors swished open. She glanced at him before stepping out.
"Good luck." He said, wondering how well she would do. From what he knew the last game of the night included the skills from the two previous games, and he doubted that the small mouse-like lady would get any far in it.
She turned and bowed at him as the doors closed and he was whisked up to the next level. He thought it was strange that a crew member like her would participate in the games, though he figured that it must not be dangerous. He didn't really know what to expect and thinking made his head hurt.
The lift stopped on his floor and he stepped out, once more completely alone. The entire area seemed to be empty; he doubted that anyone would be in their rooms when they would rather be near the games- unless of course they were at their posts working. It was strange that the captain allowed the games to take place, especially if they were such a large event and so distracting to her crew. What if there were pirates nearby or they were entering dangerous territory? She would need her entire crew to be alert, he thought. However, he reasoned, they were passing far away from civilization almost to the edge of the universe where the Time Gate was, so he doubted that they would experience any problems.
He made his way through the maze of hallways that were all so starkly similar to each other, his head buzzing from the effort of trying to remember where to go until he eventually found his room. He typed in the code 7437 and the door slid open for him. He stepped into his room and took in a deep breath of air as the door slid shut behind him. He set the bottle of pills on the small table to the side and then slumped into his bed.
He rested his head on the wall as he took in a deep breath of air, feeling his chest rise against the stretchy material of his uniform. The pain in his head began to fade into a dull ache as the medicine finally began to kick in. He took the quiet respite as an opportunity to think through what was happening.
The ship should be making towards the Time Gate, he reasoned. The thought made him shudder. He wasn't sure what they were expecting to find once they arrived. He knew that all of the scientists stationed there on the abandoned planet where it was located were all dead. It was also the center between the two merging universes, making him think of the narrow point in the center of an hourglass, allowing the passage of sand through the small opening. As more time progressed in the hourglass, the more sand would fall through.
That is what he based his theory on the two merging universes on. As time progressed more changes would be made as the alternate universe merged with their own, killing more and more people. He wondered if complete planets would also disappear, figuring that it could be possible as planets had been destroyed in the alternate universe.
As the ship continued to press closer to the Time Gate, they would be closer to the influx of the other universe, and he had no idea of how it would affect them. Would they all disappear if they got too close to the gate? Would even more of them become affected as they neared the center point?
He had a feeling that everything was soon going to collapse around him, though the games offered a respite from the danger he felt himself in and they were a nice distraction from what was happening. He knew that the universes would continue to collide until nothing was left, and sooner or later he personally would be affected. Hopefully they would make it to the Time Gate in time to save their universe from complete collapse.
Though the medicine was now fully working, his head still continued to pound from the stress he found himself in. No one on this ship, save the captain, was aware of the impending doom. It was quite the responsibility to be burdened with, to know that soon everything they ever knew was going to cease from existing. Everyone they knew was going to die.
Unless he could stop it.
Damian let out a sigh. He could do nothing until they approached the Gate, which was still a few days of travel away. There might not even be a chance for them to get close enough to it as the other universe continued to stream into theirs from the Gate itself. And if they did actually get there, what was he going to do? He had hoped that they would just be able to blow it up, but he didn't quite understand all of the repercussions that would happen from doing something as drastic as that.
There was no way to have any certainty on what to do to fix their problem. The Time Gate should never have existed in the first place. And yet, it was there, and the changes the scientists had made, what he had made, would soon come to haunt them as everything was destroyed.
He opened his eyes and looked around his small bedroom. The walls were bleached white, the floor a hard surface of polished metal. The sheets on his bed were a dull gray color, a small cream colored pillow lay at the head of the small bed.
If there was nothing for him to do for the moment, he might as well distract himself with the games. While he was at it he would also pull up a little bit of research on the captain as well, and check the records for what the ship's mission and assignments had been recently. He sat forwards on his bed and waved his hand through the air, looking directly into the camera above his door. The transparent screen appeared in front of him. He clicked on the live feed of the arena and was pleased to see that the captain was still in the ring. She was fighting against a brown clad security officer, and was obviously winning. He moved the live feed to the side and brought up the search engine to begin his research.