damned_institute | Nightshift 19; Hallway Between F and M Halls

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Nightshift 19; Hallway Between F and M Halls

(Coming from here)

Lyta's original guess that this was some sort of hospital facility was only supported as she moved about the halls. She had noticed a commotion in the hallway outside of her room, a group of people giving off hectic and frantic emotions, but had ignored it. She wasn't about to get herself tangled up in anything before she knew where she was and why. A bit cold, maybe, but Lyta had her priorities.

She found herself in another hallway. Stark walls, doors to either side, strange echoing sounds all around her... what was this place? The technology seemed primitive - manual locks and tumblers, no comms on the wall, an ancient flashlight in the room, no sounds of anything within the walls. Neither her physical ear or her mental ear could pick up any of the background noises she was used to on a ship or on Earth. She'd visited primitive planets with G'kar, and this had the feel of them.

But why was she here? And why was she dressed in strange clothing? Was G'kar around somewhere? If her abilities were working normally, she wouldn't have to wonder. But they weren't, so it looked like for now she was going to have to do things the old fashioned way. Great.

Sighing to herself and rolling her eyes, Lyta began advancing down the corridor.

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So far, Kaylee's first Nightshift at Landel's had consisted mostly of lying in bed with a pillow over her ears, trying to block out the rather disturbing screams that came from just down the hallway, and the creepy voice that spoke over the intercom.

The only time she'd ever been NEAR a hospital was on Ariel, but from that (and the stories that Simon had told her about his experiances in the trauma ward), she was PRETTY sure that most hospitals weren't like this at night. It was way too dark and sinister for her tastes.

After a few minutes, she had decided to venture out and do a little exploring...

...but after what felt like ages of wandering in the dark, she had begun to regret the decision. And that was exactly when her primative little flashlight illuminated an unfamiliar back.

"Hello?" she called, trying to get the woman's attention. "Ni hao?"

Lyta turned, startled. How had someone been able to come up behind her without her sensing their approach? She could sense the other woman now, but it was only because she was actively sending out feelers. And all she got was the tint of fear, confusion and disorientation. Not exactly threatening.

The woman herself didn't look threatening, either. She was dressed in the same ridiculous clothing as Lyta, the grey pajama's with the round smiling face. The thing that jumped out at Lyta was that this woman wasn't a telepath. She was sorely tempted to do a quick surface scan, just to see if she could find out more. She'd need to be closer, though.

"What is this place?" she asked, approaching the younger woman. Lyta's tone was hostile. Now wasn't the time to try and be friendly. It didn't matter if this woman wasn't an automatic threat, that didn't make her a friend. Lyta narrowed her eyes, trying to glean stray thoughts from her mind. "Who are you?"

"I...I'm not too sure," Kaylee faltered, a little put off by the other woman's hostility. "I just woke up here this morning, and I really don't know how we--me and my friend Inara--got here. We just did. I think the nurse called it Landel's...?" She reddened slightly, further unnerved by the redhead's cold stare. "I think it's some sort of weird Alliance prison thing."

Still, the mechanic figured, you catch more bees (or was it just flies in general?) with honey. The woman was probably just as freaked out as she was, and not everyone possessed her rare gift of being able to find the positive in just about any situation.

"Name's Kaylee," she said with her usual smile, extending her right hand for a shake. "What's your's?"

"The Alliance of Worlds?" Lyta blinked. "That's ridiculous. Sheridan wouldn't do something like this... and even if he wanted to, Delenn wouldn't let him." She didn't bother to refer to Sheridan with his title - President of the Alliance. Ha. She remembered when he wasn't even a captain.

She had been certain this was some trick of the Corps. This was something they'd do. For all she knew, all of this was happening in her mind. That would be just like Bester.

"Are we on Earth?" Lyta asked, ignoring Kaylee's introduction and offered hand. She just looked at the extended hand, as though it was something offensive. This woman wasn't a telepath, she had no reason to be friendly.

Kaylee blinked. "I was pretty sure it stood for 'the Union of Allied Planets,' but..." Then the woman went off spouting names that held no meaning to her, and she looked on, moderatly perplexed. If she knew all those people, then maybe...she was from the government or something? But that didn't account for the fact that they were BOTH wearing the uniform, and the redhead seemed just as confused as the mechanic.

It was what she said next, though, that REALLY caught Kaylee off guard. "Shen me? 'Earth?' Like...Earth-that-was?"

"Union of Allied Planets, Interplanetary Alliance... everybody calls it something different." Lyta shook her head and waved her hand in a dismissive manner. It didn't matter what it was called. The point remained that they had nothing to do with this. She knew she'd fallen out of favor with Sheridan and his little friends, but she still had Garibaldi and G'kar in her corner.

"Earth, the only Earth there is!" Lyta wet her lips, the temptation to scan this woman so strong now. "Are you with the Corps? This place, is it part of the Corps?" She had to know. If it was the Corps, well, Lyta could handle the Corps. She just needed to find out how they were blocking her.

"Look, just answer me honestly, and we won't have a problem here."

Zelos was starting to get a little disgruntled.

It was bad enough he'd ended up in this situation, had to wear these ridiculous clothes, but he also now felt he was walking in one giant circle. Not to mention something that might have been a little more serious...

He'd felt more sluggish than usual, and while at first he'd passed it off as an effect of a drug used to bring him here, the effect wasn't fading. He felt heavier somehow, and the more he noticed it the more he noticed the small crystal on his chest had grown cold. Colette had once told him the faint warmth coming off of it was the soul of her person inside it, or something equally as flowery, but whatever it was, it was gone now.

He turned another corner, his foul mood vanishing when he picked up on two female voices. Adjusting his flashlight so it illuminated to two women, he couldn't help but grin. Sure, he may have been stuck in the crappy place, but he could still locate beautiful women. Looking at their uniforms, he assumed they must have been captives as well.

The redhead was getting agitated and was starting to snap at the cute brunette. They kept mentioning...Earth? Zelos had no idea where that was, but decided to cut in anyway.

"Now, now, ladies!" He called out, closing the distance between them. He was sporting a huge grin, one entirely inappropriate for their situation. "No need to get worked up, now that The Great Zelos is here!"

Kaylee just stared at the woman. Could she really be FROM Earth-that-was? It was possible, she guessed, despite the fact that the percentage of humanity that had blasted away from their home planet so long ago had completely severed ties with their Earth-bound breatheren.

Well, that's what she remembered, anyway. The mechanic HAD stopped school somewhere in the seventh reader, and hadn't paid much attention to it even when she was there.

When the redhead asked about some sort of Corps, though, Kaylee supposed that she should probably answer. "I've never heard of any sort of Corps," she said, shrugging. "And that's the honest truth."

However, when "The Great Zelos" arrived, the uneasy mood seemed to vanish. Laughing, Kaylee turned around to face him (kind of cute!) and jokingly dropped her best, most Companion-like curtsy. "So what'd Zelos do that was so Great?"

"How can you not have heard of the Corps? The Psi-Corps? You know, that sprawling organization that demands the alliagence and obedience of all Earth telepaths?" Lyta threw up her hand, clearly frustrated and thinking this woman was mad.

"This is insane. This is crazy...."

And then someone else showed up. Lyta turned, not at all feeling the lightening of the mood. She didn't have the time or patience for jokes. Not when she'd been snatched right out of the Na'toth with no memory of it and no trace of drugs in her system.

"And who's this clown?" Lyta folded her arms, her flashlight still gripped in her hand. "I want some answers, and I want them now."

Zelos' grin grew, if possible, even wider as he turned to the brunette. "You haven't heard of me?" he asked in mock shock. "The Great Zelos, who has memorized the name of every girl on two worlds, fought corruption and saved a king, the very same Zelos who can even make this," and his hand made a sweeping gesture across the grey uniform, "look good." He paused after this little speech, looking the girl up and down. "What's your name, cutie?"

The redheaded woman, it seemed, was more than a little high strung. No matter; Zelos was sure to have her warming up to him in no time. "Now, now, as much as I love a feisty woman, anger won't get us anywhere, will it?" Setting the hand not holding the flashlight on his hip, he decided to try and ease the situation. "Seeing as how we're all sporting the same fabulous uniform, I'm going to guess we're all prisoners here, wherever 'here' is. We might as well get along." His grin was still playful, cocky almost, and he was sure it was going to just piss her off more, but the thought just kept him grinning. She was reminding him of Sheena.

Kaylee just shook her head at the woman. "Never heard of it. Then again, I ain't exactly from Earth-that-was, so...yeah, this is pretty crazy."

She then turned to the OTHER redhead.

Serenity's mechanic had decided that liked this Zelos guy TONS better than his female counterpart. For one thing, he had a sense of humor. "Name's Kaylee," she said for the second time in about as many minutes (but to what seemed like a MUCH more receptive audience), extending a hand. "Good to know you. Where do you hail from?"

"Wait, what do you mean, 'Earth-that-was'?" Lyta narrowed her eyes, and now she stepped very close to Kaylee and opened up her mind. Not actively seeking, just trying to glean stray throughts from proximity. "There's only one Earth."

Humans were nowhere near leaving their home planet to join the elder races beyond the rim. There was another Earth out there, waiting. Lyta knew that from the memories that the Vorlons had placed inside of her mind. But humankind needed to evolve for thousands more years... that was why she had destroyed Zha'ha'dum. Humans weren't ready for the next step.

That meant that there were two explanations. Either this Kaylee was from the future, or there was more going on here than Lyta could begin to comprehend.

She turned to Zelos now, eyes still narrowed. She didn't feel any threat from him, either. And he wasn't a telepath.

"Neither of you are telepaths," Lyta said, frowning some. "Are there any other telepaths here? I need to know. I can't... I..." She couldn't tell. She should have been able to pick up the specific mental signatures of every single person in the building. She should have been able to sense everything in finite detail.

"They did something to me! Alright, alright, you're right, this isn't getting us anywhere." Lyta shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "Okay. What's the date?"

Maybe that would get them somewhere.

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Nightshift 19; Hallway Between F and M Halls

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