4c: Mabellyne Centipedes

[Scene: A small ship's wardroom. There is a small table with five chairs. The walls are wooden, with portholes, and on them are a variety of fantastical tools, devices, and weapons. GLADYS and RA FAL are seated at the table calmly and methodically cleaning green slime off of their armor. MABELLYNE is also seated, tinkering with a crossbow and sharpening crossbow bolts. MARY is pacing around, excited and full of energy.]

Mary: That was intense! I was part of a fight, a real fight. You all were amazing, by the way. Did I say that before? I will say it again. You were awesome. When all those wolf-sized centipedes with their big poison jaws came swarming up at you, you just kept calm and started hacking them to pieces like you were just squishing roaches. And when I was freezing up at first not knowing what to do, all I had to do was look at you and I knew that things would be okay.

Ra Fal: You did pretty good yourself, for a rookie. That was good battlefield awareness, the way you flanked and whacked the one that came up behind Gladys.

Mary: It was obvious that I had nothing to be scared of. It was attacking Gladys, not me, and everyone was protecting me. The two of you plus Sofonisba had the front line, and Tsinta and Mabellyne were ready to shoot anything that got past you. I could tell that they would shoot the thing if I missed it.

Ra fal: You barely needed protection. You handled yourself and that scimitar better than some sellswords I've traveled with. I bet you could easily take out one of those things all on your own.

Mary: Really? Wow.

Gladys: I calculate that if Mary saw it coming and had the initiative, she would have a 75 to 80 percent chance of winning a melee fight with one centipede.

Ra Fal [to Mary]: There you go.

Gladys: That means that if she did not have allies, there is a 20 to 25 percent chance that it would bite her, paralyze her, and then slowly eat her alive. Those are unacceptable odds. She needs assistance.

[MARY looks uneasy. RA FAL glares at Gladys. GLADYS does not notice and continues cleaning.]

Ra Fal: Of course none of us are going to go out alone. Nobody with any sense ever explores alone without backup. Even after we have destroyed all the broods, there will be lone centipedes, and even I could get killed by one of those things if it surprises me and I get unlucky.

Mabellyne: And then there are environmental hazards like pits, rockslides, toxic plants, small venomous things, asteroids falling on your head...

Ra Fal: Right. We always travel in groups. [to Mary] But next time we see a single centipede, I think we can let you handle it. If it bites you, we will immediately kill it and then heal you. Are you ready for that?

Mary: Yes.

Ra Fal: That is the spirit. You will be an adventurer in no time. Your family did a good job training you with that scimitar, and we can finish the job with real field experience.

Mary: When can we start? My blood is still up from the fight we just finished.

Ra Fal: The elves need to finish their scouting. Now that we have cleared out the ones close to the ship, we can take the time to plan our extermination campaign after they locate all the broods.

Mabellyne: Extermination? When did we agree to that? I thought we were just stopping for a day of training.

Ra Fal: I think we can exterminate them all in a day. We have come this far, we might as well leave our mark and really clean the place up.

Mabellyne: This island is close enough to the trade routes that if we kill all dangerous creatures, note all hazards, and leave a cache of emergency supplies, we can mark it as a refuge and collect a bonus from Space Command. We can vote on it when the elves return.

Gladys: I need to calculate what that would do to the ecosystem.

Mary: Why?

Gladys: If the centipedes were the only predators, the rats and rabbits would multiply, and then they might eat all the plants and turn this into a dead space rock.

Mabellyne: I do not think that would affect our bonus.

Gladys: They pay more for refuges with edible biomass. And the elves would probably object to any serious ecosystem damage. Plus I have my professional ethics.

[MARY and MABELLYNE look confused.]

Ra fal: Of course. It is obvious that, as a botanist, you cannot allow such a catastrophe. [MABELLYNE looks embarrassed and hurt.] When the elves return, we will ask them about other predators and then figure out how many centipedes we can safely kill.

[There is a brief moment of silence as GLADYS, RA FAL, and MABELLYNE focus on their tasks.]

Mary: So, um, have any of you fought in zero gravity before?

Ra Fal: No, we are all new to it. After we practice our teamwork on the island, we will do some zero-gravity training and then take our broomsticks into the asteroid field to finish the hunt.

Mabellyne: After the hunt, will we have a big feast to celebrate? Sofonisba does a good job with the galley, but I would really enjoy a nice barbeque.

Ra Fal: Those things start going bad the instant you kill them, so you have to either start cooking really fast or take them alive.

Mabellyne: I think we can manage that with preparation. Or we could follow Tsinta's example and eat parts of them raw right after the kill.

[MARY looks queasy.]

Gladys: I would not recommend that unless you know exactly what you are doing. Most of the flesh is unappetizing, and some parts are toxic to most races.

[MARY smiles with relief.]

Gladys: However, if I talk with the elves I might be able to come up with a plan to chop out the good parts and treat them with a basting solution that will preserve them.

Mabellyne: That would be great, assuming you can make it safe.

[MARY looks nervous.]

Gladys: I will need to check my books, and run some experiments first. We will need to take some live ones for testing.

Ra Fal: We can manage that. Once there are only one or two left, it should be easy enough to wrestle them down. Will they stay alive if we chop the legs and fangs off?

Gladys: They would probably last about an hour before the shock killed them.

Ra fal: Is that long enough to run your tests?

Gladys: Yes, I think so.

Ra fal: Good. So when the elves get back, we will debrief them and plan the campaign. Then we get you some live bugs for testing, take down the island broods without you while you experiment, and then do the zero-gravity training and fights together.

Gladys: Sounds good

Mabellyne: I agree.

Mary [forcing cheerfulness] Sure.

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