Riley Undone

Posted on Wed Aug 12th, 2015 @ 10:58am by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Commander Earl Crane & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Ensign Leela Carter

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Security / Archadia / Sickbay

Brother Spencer was rather pleased with himself. More than half a dozen other Station residents had been removed from their locations and dropped in close proximity to the same location on the planet below. In addition, he and his fellow Brothers had opened and closed a dozen other rifts around the Station, sometimes doing some minor damage to physical items or Station systems, sometimes not. Either way, the confusion would cover, for now, their tracks with the Lieutenant Riley Sukotav.

* Station Security *

"We have a report of another person missing, Commander," Ensign Carter told Oz.

"Another? What is that now, seven?" She sighed, clearly frustrated. "Same thing? Spatial rift in the area?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Six of the seven have that same MO; the only different one is Seyla's report regarding a missing employee, Bella. But Seyla doesn't know where Bella was when she went missing - just that she hasn't reported since before Riley Sukotav went missing."

"Make sure Darwin hears that - he's certain Niro has something to do with Riley's disappearance," Oz ordered. As Carter nodded her acknowledgement, Oz turned to find her dad watching her. "Dad! Hey." She'd have to kill whomever let her dad in here. "Ah, Carter, I'll be back...." She led the man out of Security, asking as they walked, "Where's Mom?"

* Bella *

Groaning, the young woman opened her eyes then closed them and opened them again. Making sure her eyes were closed (again), she reached up and felt her eyelids. They were, indeed, closed. Carefully, she pulled one eye open then the other. "Oh no!", she cried, "I've gone blind! Oh my god! How could that happen!? All the old tales say that if you masturbate too much, you'll go blind! But they don't mention having too much sex!" She paused and felt her palms. At least they weren't hairy.

From nearby came a voice, "Holy Gods, shut it! Ya ain't blind! It's just gaddamned dark in here!"

"Oh, well that's a relief." Bella laughed.

"Shut it!", growled the voice. Bella obeyed.

* Riley *

"Who is he?"

"I dunno." She reached over and poked the prone man. "Buddy, hey, buddy."

Just as the second woman started to get bolder about shaking the man, another woman entered the room. "Hey! Lay off! He's my client. We've been busy and he needed a rest." She shooed the other two away.

Riley moaned softly, began to move, then thought better of it. Pain danced around in his head, though it thundered like a targ charging the walls. He moaned again and pressed his fingers to his temples. His eyes remained closed. He knew someone stood by him but his mind was too clouded to try and read them.

"This'll help your head," the woman said, pressing a hypospray to his neck. She laughed and brushed his hair back. "You really lived it up, sweetie."

“Mmhfigoprb,” Riley mumbled. He was coherent enough to realize that he’d made no sense and tried again. “Where...am...I?”

"Sursey's House on Archadia," she replied. "I'm not surprised you don't recall. You were fairly soused when you arrived."

“Archadia?” Riley waited a few moments and the pain in his head eased back just a little. “I was….in my quarters….last I recall.” He tried to sit up and decided that was a huge mistake. Staying put seemed a wiser idea. “Who brought me?” What she said wasn’t quite computing. He didn’t recall drinking that much. Last he knew, he’d just poured the first and hadn’t even tasted it when things went black.

"Oh, wow, that real alcohol does a number on you, doesn't it?" She tsk'd and shook her head. "You came on your own, honey." She joined him on the bed, running a hand along his bare chest. "Well, I should say that you arrived on your own. I helped with the rest."

Riley opened his eyes and his blurry vision began to clear. “Who’re you? And can you send a message for me?”

She frowned. How could he not remember her? "I'm Pajha. What message do you want sent?"

Riley debated on who to call but based on the condition of his body at the moment, he chose the more prudent one. “Sickbay...900. They can beam me out. Emergency.” He closed his eyes and wished that he could, perhaps, pass out again until someone up there had fixed him.

She moved out of the bed and sent the message. Within a few moments, her forgetful companion was gone. Pajha, though, smiled and counted the latinum strips she'd received for her services.

* Piper Medical *

Earl entered the room Riley had been beamed to and quietly reviewed the biobed scans. He frowned and shook his head. "Damned dirty...," he muttered, letting his thought trail off before he got too insulting. "Lieutenant Sukotav, you've been playing in a nasty playground, it seems. You've got some people very worried about you, too." He was at his disapproving worst. Riley's medical state worried him, mostly because it called into question the man's judgment. He had traces of an illicit narcotic in his system and the transporter had removed the beginnings of an infection.

“Dr. Crane,” Riley muttered. “Glad…..to see you.” The headache was returning and he reached up to rub his forehead. “What happened? I was in my quarters, then...I don’t remember anything till I woke up a few minutes ago. At least I think it was a few minutes ago.”

"No recall at all?" Earl ordered a hypospray of painkillers and antibiotics then applied that to Riley's neck. He then intensified the scans of Riley's brain. "As to what happened, you would be the only one with that answer. Security and Science have been busy responding to spatial rifts around the Station. People have been falling through them and showing up on Archadia. Looks like you might have been one of the first. 'Course, most of the others were located within a few hours. You... you've been missing a day and a half. That headache looks to be an old-fashioned hangover from dehydration due to alcohol consumption."

A day and a half? Riley frowned and was relieved to see that the pain was once again receding. “Rifts?” That would explain why he didn’t recall leaving the station, but not the rest of it. Something seemed off but he had no idea what. “I see. Will you notify Lt. Rutheridge? And how long will I be in here?”

"Mmm... Let's keep you a day, just to make sure nothing's off. There are some elevated levels of neuro(what's the word?) in your brain. I'd like to see those normalize before sending you home. I'll send word to Rutheridge that you're here. Security has already been notified; someone from their office will be here shortly to ask some questions. If you're not up for that, let me know." Earl checked Riley's statistics again and nodded to himself.

“Maybe in a bit,” he replied. “I would love to know how I ended up drunk in a brothel,” he grumbled. Belatedly, a thought occurred to him. “Darwin. I need to see Darwin.”

"He's probably on his way," Earl said. "Gotta say, I don't think he'll take kindly to waiting. He's been a little... on edge lately."

“Yes, and with good reason,” Riley answered. “Let him in when he comes. Thanks, Doc.” He closed his eyes and sighed, glad to have the hammering in his head finally gone.

* Later *

"No, no, I'm talking to him first. Go," Darwin's voice preceded him into Riley's sickbay room. "Stop! I'll let you see him when I'm done!" He stepped, backwards into the room, pushing green limbs off of him and shutting the door firmly. He turned and smiled. "Lieutenant Sukotav! Nice to see you!"

“Hi Darwin.” Riley was propped up slightly on the biobed and his head finally felt normal. “Sorry to give you all a scare. What the hell happened?”

"I was hoping you could tell me. Doctor Crane said that you were transported up from a brothel, suffering from dehydration. What the hell, Riley? The others who went through rifts reported in within a few hours."

“That I don’t know." Riley shrugged. “I left the science center, went to my quarters. I recall taking off my jacket and then I stopped at the bar and poured a drink. I don’t remember even tasting it and that’s the last I remember. I woke up feeling like the walking dead on Archadia.”

"Who was with you? Maybe ...she? would know what happened," Darwin didn't want to assume anything - maybe Riley wanted different companionship. "Were you avoiding Reva?"

“No. Like I said, I was in my living room and then I was waking up with the hangover from hell and no one seems to know how I got to Archadia.” Riley shrugged. “The place I woke up is called Sursey’s, according to the woman. She said her name was Pahja. No other information and I don’t know how I got there or what happened there. Maybe she would have something but I doubt she’s the type to talk. Unfortunately.”

"Perhaps. But maybe she'll make an exception. Either thanks to my innate charm or the fact that I could arrest her." Darwin smiled slightly. "Reva's here. She's been a bit worried." He knew that was an understatement. "Do you want to see her?"

Riley started to say yes out of habit but something in his mind shifted, bringing with it the certainty that he did not. He shook his head.

“No.”

That surprised Darwin, causing him to loft his brow. "No? Ok. I'll tell you're too wiped."

"That will do for now, thank you.” Riley frowned as he looked up at Darwin. “I’ll take care of it when I’m out. I think that maybe I just finally reached my limit, you know?”

Reminding himself that, if Riley didn't recall the last thirty-six hours, then the last Riley might recall with Reva was seeing Niro at her door, Darwin nodded. "I can understand that. If you recall anything, let me know."

“I will. I want to know just what happened. Something’s weird, Darwin.” He fell silent as Darwin nodded and then left the room. Riley sat in silence, thinking about the past couple of hours.

*************
Brother Spencer
Mastermind

Commander Oralia Zeferino
Ensign Leela Carter
Zeferon Zeferino

Bella

Pajha

Riley
A Mess

Lt. Cmdr. Earl D. Crane
Lt. M. Darwin