Lyra's Quest Ch. 7
The beat shook the bar as the group enjoyed a drink.
Downing the last of her own, Lyra’s magic slammed it on the table. “Dat’s twenteh fiveh, Mollaaari!”
Londo down another shot. “And that’s thirty-two, my dear. Are you sure you want to carry on with this?”
“Shure, whai not?” Lyra grunted. “How long before *hic* thisssswatsnameguy Viirrr comes around and I can get hands?”
“Londo!” A very worried voice shouted.
“There he is,” the ambassador chuckled. “Vir!” he shouted, then frowned. “Vir! Over here!”
“Londo! There you are!” Vir, a much younger Centauri said, coming up to them.
“He’s kinda hard to miss, y’know...” Lyra said. “With the hair... like... like a peacock! Puff!” she chuckled and slammed her face down on the table.
Vir stared, then slowly turned to look at Londo. “Londo, did that llama just talk?”
“Yes, she did, Vir.”
“Oh...” Vir blinked. “But wait! You said there was an emergency! That you needed to get to Dr. Franklin!”
“And there is! And she does.” Londo said, grabbing Vir by the shoulder and sitting him down.
The younger Centauri glanced at Spike, who was sitting next to him. Spike smiled and threw a ruby into his mouth and started munching it into pieces.
Vir leaned closer to Londo. “Londo,” he whispered urgently. “That... reptilian pet of the horned llama is eating that ruby pendant your third wife, Mariel, gave you.”
“Yes he is, Vir,” Londo said as he stood up and waved at Marcus who made his way to them. “Yes he is. Spike here has also eaten the diamond that Daggair gave me as well.” Londo chuckled as he patted Spike’s head appreciatively. “And you know what? It has already made me feel better, like a weight was taken off my chest.”
“Literally!” Spike said. “You had them hanging on those chains.”
“That’s right my scaled friend, and they are no more. The chains that bound them to me are broken, the gems gone, the gold used to buy us drinks. I cannot think of a more appropriate way of ditching old pains.”
“Well, about time, Vir!” Marcus cheerfully patted the ambassador’s aide on the back. “Take good care of Vinyl for us, will you? Ock knows you’re here for her.”
“Vinyl?!” Vir asked, looking around wildly. “Who’s Vinyl?”
“Vinyl’s on stage, Vir,” Spike said.
Vir turned to look at the stage and his eyes went wide as he started stammering. “The Pak'ma'ra strip dancer?! Are you crazy!?”
Marcus repressed both a shudder and the urge to look at the stage. The fact that most patrons were looking down at their glasses and each other rather than the stage was enough to confirm that what Vir had said was true.
Londo slapped Vir on the back of the head. “Not her, the llama with the horn!”
Marcus looked at Spike and mouthed ‘llama with the horn’?
“Don’t ask me,” Spike shrugged. “I don’t even know what a llama looks like. Are they like ponies?”
“No,” Marcus said. “Anyway, Londo, if we are taking Lyra to Dr. Franklin we should do it now.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Londo grunted as he stood up. Chuckling as Marcus proceeded to pick up the unconscious unicorn. “She’s a lightweight, that one.”
“Londo, are you going to Med Bay?” Vir asked, tearing his eyes away from the grotesque show.
“No, Vir, I am retiring for the night.” Londo patted Vir’s shoulder. “But I needed someone trustworthy to take care of miss Scratch.”
Vir smiled. “Well... I... thank you, Londo, for trusting me and-”
“Yes,” Londo said gruffly, apparently not having heard Vir. “Trustworthy, harmless and able to pick up the tab. I will see you tomorrow, Vir, but not too early.”
o.0.o
Lyra groaned.
“... and furthermore, Marcus, how could you let an equine drink so much alcohol?” a voice was saying annoyingly loud, right next to her. “A drinking contest with Mollari?! What if she had had a bad reaction? We don’t know what unicorns are made of!”
“Sparkles, candy and rainbows?” Marcus’ voice replied.
“oooh... please... speak more softly...” Lyra whimpered.
“Hey doc!” Spike shouted right next to her ear, giving Lyra a splitting headache. “I think she’s waking up!”
“Finally,” the voice she didn’t recognize said. Another human *weee!* approached her, his face serious but at the same time concerned, dark eyes scanning her face. “Miss Lyra? Can you follow the light?”
He held something up to her face and a light suddenly appeared, making her wince. Regardless she followed it with her eyes as everything came into focus around her.
She was laying on a bed, with a few cables attached to her body and a small tube connecting her forehoof to some clear liquid.
“Thankfully you resemble earth equines enough for me to know what to do, but you would do well not to engage in such an activity anytime soon,” the man said. “Or ever again for that matter.”
“Hey Lyra!” Spike said, grinning as he jumped on the chair next to her. “Feeling better?”
“I feel...” Lyra blinked. “Better than I should after drinking so much...”
Dr. Franklin chuckled. “Don’t expect that to happen often. Now, I heard you were looking for me?”
Lyra’s eyes went wide. “Yes! Yes I was!” Her hoof took hold of the doctor, something that seemed to bother him much more than breach of personal space should have. “I want hands.”
Dr. Franklin blinked. “You what now?”
“Hands, I need hands,” Lyra repeated. “We are here because we all want hands.”
Franklin looked down at Spike, who shrugged. “Not me. I have claws. And I’m pretty sure Twilight is happy with hooves. Dunno about Octy and Vinyl.”
Lyra nodded. “I heard I could obtain some in the market and I was about to go there, but Marcus thought it might be a better idea to ask you and Spike agreed and...”
“Okay, hold on.” Dr. Franklin made placating gestures with his hands. *Squee! Hands!* “While it is true that you could possibly find some ‘hands’ in the market to purchase, they would most likely be generic artificially made hands that would at best simply not work for you, at worst create a really bad reaction when your body rejects them that could eventually kill you. And that is without taking into account the sort of surgery that you would need...”
“So, what does that mean, Doc?” Spike asked.
“It means... that Lyra cannot get hands here... not with our technology.” He sighed. “The Vorlons might have been able to do something, but... we are at war with them and the Shadows and you wouldn’t want to pay the price they would ask if they were in good terms with us.”
Lyra slumped back. “There’s no chance then?”
Franklin shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lyra, but the process we have for attaching hands to people that have lost them would not transfer as well to you... there’s a lot of things to take into account: nervous system, compatibility... and how would you walk with hands? They are soft, they would be torn apart if you started galloping.”
“Oh...” Lyra looked down at her hooves. She had never thought about that.
Franklin sighed. “I’m sure, if what Marcus tells me is true, that you might find a solution to getting the hands in another universe, but you should stop and think about the problems you would have if you got them as well as the advantages.”
Lyra nodded after a moment. “I think that makes sense,” she said, looking up. “This is just the first of all the stops we need to make yet!”
Spike arched an eyebrow. “Do you mean we’re going then?”
Lyra nodded. “We should get the others here...”
“I’ll page the Captain,” Marcus said, walking out of her room.
Lyra turned to look at Dr. Franklin. “Thank you, Doctor... I’m glad I didn’t just go and get a new pair!”
Franklin chuckled and nodded.
“Call’s made, Lyra.” Marcus walked into the room with a small smile. “The others will be here soon.”
o.0.o
The first to arrive had been Twilight Sparkle and Captain Sheridan. The two seeming very at ease with each other. The Captain stopped at the entrance to the room, allowing Twilight to walk up to Spike and catch up on what had been happening.
Octavia and G’kar followed soon after, with the Narn excusing himself and promising to return soon after Vir and Vinyl had arrived. He had exchanged some words with Vir before disappearing.
It wasn’t long after that G’kar pushed a mildly complaining Londo into the room, who gave Vir a glare.
“I told you I wasn’t to be woken up early!”
“Face it Mollari, a beauty sleep will do nothing for you,” G’kar interrupted.
Londo drew himself up as he glared at G’kar. “Yes, well...” he sneered. “Some of us need it more than others, G’kar.”
“So, Lyra, are we ready to go?” Twilight asked.
“I think so... is everypony ready?”
“I have a few data crystals with the music!” Vinyl said excitedly, her horn levitating a small case from her bag. “Ock gave it to me! And Marcus gave me this little device that allows me to listen to them and plug my headphones! Isn’t it awesome?”
G’kar chuckled. “Well, I got something for you, Octavia.”
The cellist blinked, surprised. “G’kar... I...” He placed a small case in front of her and opened it, revealing a few crystals inside. “These crystals contain standard dictionaries from our universe... it includes the Narn language... which brings me to my second gift,” he pulled out a tome from his bag. “A copy of the Book of G’Quan... I hope you find it useful.”
Octavia’s eyes brimmed with tears as she hugged the tall alien, who looked a bit uncomfortable. “Thank you... for the talk and for sharing this with me.”
G’kar smiled. “Dear, after the music you played for me earlier today, this is nothing but a small token in comparison to that one gift. Do take a look at the red crystal when you have the time, you will find it... interesting.”
“I got this for you too, Twilight,” Sheridan said after a moment. “A copy of the encyclopedia and a small reader. I don’t know if you’ll like them but you seemed like the studious type and I-” he stopped when Twilight started jumping up and down around him.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Twilight chanted happily.
Sheridan chuckled.
Lyra sighed. “All I wanted was a pair of hands.”
“Bah, hands are overrated. Just like wives. And lasers,” Mollari said. “I heard that you didn’t have luck this time. That’s a shame,” he patted Lyra’s head. “But I could not leave my drinking buddy go empty han-” he coughed. “Hooved... empty hooved... so, I got you this.”
He pulled out a bottle of some unidentified liquid. “This is Brivari... the most delicate and potent beverage of my people. Drink it wisely.” Londo proceeded to put it inside a sturdy box before allowing Lyra to take it. He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “In the case, there is a small gem; don’t feed it to Spike... it’s... a sentimental thing my people do to wish good luck.”
Lyra nodded, gratefully slipping the case into one of her saddle bags as she pulled out the box she had found originally.
GREETINGS the box said. PLEASE SELECT A DESTINATION:
o.0.o
Three spheres materialized once again. Two of them familiar, one different.
1) Oh, I remember this one! Said Vinyl Scratch, looking at the sphere with the flames. “It still looks like fun!”
“Even if it feels like it’s full of dead ponies?” Spike asked.
“Yes!”
2) “Hmm... this is the one that has magic in it...” Twilight said stepping up to the sphere that shifted colors. “It’s different from what I know but...” she closed her eyes. “I feel somewhat familiar energies there.”
3) Octavia walked up to the new sphere. “This one is strange... I feel... slightly mischeivous... and adventurous... and secretive...” she shook her head. “It’s very strange...”
Okay everypony! First world out! And it was short, yes, but I’m still getting my bearings, the other chapters should involve more decisions and longer visits (unless you decide it’s time to go!)
The Voting Is Closed!
The Winner: 3) Octavia walked up to the new sphere. “This one is strange... I feel... slightly mischeivous... and adventurous... and secretive...” she shook her head. “It’s very strange...”
Another dedication: Richard Biggs (1960–2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyD4L8yNtsA
Richard: maybe it was ironic that you played a doctor in most of your roles, or maybe, it was fate. Maybe you were fated to show us how a flawed and moral doctor could fight for his beliefs, struggle, fall and finally rise above things that would break lesser men. Thank you for bringing to life another much-loved and inspiring character. You have been missed and will continue to be missed. I hope you find this small appearance in a completely random story amusing.