Another Crashed Car

[Nick Ryder]

"And I would have asked you a thousand times." Nick replied and looked at her. "I'm actually looking forward to exploring those caves, Kinsey was all excited when she was telling me about them, but I felt bad giving her the impression I wasn't interested, I had about twenty things on my mind at the time."

[Alice Ryder]

“I’m sure she knew.” Alice said reassuringly. “She told me this cave has a clean water source, natural alcoves that make for great rooms, and the view was lovely. Though it’s sand we may have to take her word for it.”

[Nick Ryder]

"Well if there's sand, we can make glass and crystals with the heat we generate, which may be useful." Nick replied. "And if we do have to get supplies, I'm sure we can find a way to keep our presence secret and get what we need. We never did do that tour of the Alliance we planned on so few really have seen us outside of FNN and TA News. Contacts, cloaks and makeup and we'll blend in. I can always change my voice too." he cleared his throat. "Maybe I'll talk like David Bowie..."

[Alice Ryder]

“Don’t do that again.” Alice said giving him a look. “And we shouldn’t need to resupply we should have a portable replicator. I don’t know how well it will interface with the Xenexian power systems but that’s why I brought you along.”

[Nick Ryder]

"I should be able to MacGuyver a way to get it to work." Nick replied if it doesn't work right. "But yeah with a portable replicator and enough available bio matter, we should be able to do just fine. Could probably tweak it so it can produce larger items if we need it. I'm used to working with scavenged gear. You gave me such a look when I had all those random parts in the lab and suddenly they disappeared because I used them to prototype other things."

[Merlin]

"You humans are all alike aren't you?" A bald man with a strange beard announced. He held a staff and wore loose robes over a linen shirt and trousers. He glanced around taking in Nick and a second later with a flash of light he was wearing a full tailored suit and a neatly trimmed beard. "Now, Nicholas you have a problem. I have a solution."

[Alice Ryder]

Alice jumped and shot daggers at the intruder.

"I had a solution. One I planed for months." Alice said and then turned those eyes on Nick. "But apparently people find you anywhere. Including, cloaked and untraceable ships in the middle of space!"

[Nick Ryder]

"Hey not MY idea..." Nick glared at Merlin and then looked at Alice. "He's sort of a Q... sorta. We could have skipped off to another reality and he'd find us." he shook his head. "Merlin... dude. Man. Buddy. Alice put a lot of work into this, but... what are you suggesting and it better be good otherwise, I'm going to be in the literal dog house... in a cave."

[Merlin]

The man bowed to Nick, "Q at your service!" He turned to Alice, "Oh, no no no. I'm not Q... or to put it more precisely I am not the Q you are familiar with. It does confuse you humanoids." He shrugged and with a sanp of his fingers a beautiful bouquet appeared in her hand.

[Nick Ryder]

"Please tell me you've got something good in mind otherwise, Q or no... Alice is going to roast you for ruining her hard work." Nick said and glanced at the flowers. "And we were planning on quite a bit of... alone time if you catch my meaning." he whispered.