The previous day, Sheriff Gallagher put out a notice that Desmond Serenity had been reported missing.
I was being scolded by Araya about why I shouldn't just press any old button, just because it is red and big and protruding and ... She's out of her mind, who has that kind of impulse control. She expects me to just ignore a big red butten. Mechanics, meh. Pilots know that anything important is in plain sight and easy to access. If they don't want you to press it, they hide it, or put it under a panel or under glass.
I digress. Sorry about breaking your engine, Araya. PAINT THE BUTTON BLACK! She's new to Hale, dropped off by her disgruntled crewmates due to some incident resulting from an over-the-counter pleasure med dosed in her Captain's soup and a previously unknown allergy. So, she's new to the impulse control issues of the locals. She was not yet acquainted with LilyBell at this point.
Anyway, Araya was scolding me, so I didn't hear the hows and wherefors and whatevers about how we got a lead about Desmond near some space debris. We loaded up in the Shuttle and headed off. Sheriff Gallagher flies his shuttle a lot better than he drives his deathmobile, uh van.
Gallagher tried to keep order, but it was like trying to herd cats, or worse a herd of not-cats. We scampered about like elves on crack until someone found a huge blood stain.
Gallagher took samples.
At this point, it looked more like the leftovers from a reaver picnic.
A clue ... a can of beer ... Dharma Beer. I was happy to find something besides blood.
This is why no-slip boots are always in fashion in Hale's Moon
Emma jumped and slid down this like a crazy kook and called the rest of us wimps. I don't have to wonder why she is always bruised and cut up.
"I have 7% to spare, plenty of room for error. WIMPS!"
Emma falls down enough that she can calculate her breaking points that accurately?
I used my EVA tether. WIMP AND PROUD OF IT!
At this point, Araya proposed her cow theory. That this was way more blood than Desmond could possibly hold in his body on a good day, that maybe it is a cow. Gallagher continued on.
A shuttle ticket to MacLaren's Drift, Not London. A bona fide clue.
We discussed the significance of shuttle tickets, Dharma Brand beer and the relative merits of Araya's Cow Theory. We decided to take a transport to MacLaren's Drift and hope to pick up the trail there. Emma fell down and got knocked out on the way back to the shuttle. Apparently 7% is not a sufficiently wide margin. What did we learn, Emma?
One dirtside on MacLaren's Drift, we spread out like a herd of cat, that is, not like a herd at all. I heard a shout, someone found Desmond.
Gallagher carried Desmond all the way up the windy path to the clinic.
Gallagher revived Desmond at the clinic and between chocolate, beer and a lot of profanity, told us how he had been attacked by two raiders and that the raiders had been attacked in turn by reavers. One of the raiders was "a fat cow". Araya's Cow Theory is vindicated.
Desmond had been coming to warn that the Alliance was going to give Gabe the shakedown treatment. Unfortunately because he was attacked, he never got the chance to deliver the warning.
Read the details of Gabe's Shakedown by the Alliance here:
http://gabeyazimoto.blogspot.com/2009/08/thats-what-you-get.html
Gabe was still shaken up by it. She didn't even want to hear it from Desmond, just went off and consoled herself with a bowl of noodles.
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