shatterverse | (no subject)

"I don't know, Skip!"

Zinda's frantic, in the cabin.

"We're not where we were!"

Barbara's hands are already blurring across the keyboard in front of her, "Is it possible we've time-jumped? I'm locked out of all my satellite systems here, and I'm not seeing nearly enough radio traffic."

"Oh, not a time-jump."

Dinah peers over Barbara's shoulder, trying to make sense of the nonsense in front of her.

"Why us? Why now?"

"Lookin' more likely by the minute," Zinda groans, buried in her consoles and trying to see out the window at the same time. "There's nothin' out there, skipper."

"That's unfortunate," Barbara sighs. "How're we fixed for fuel, Zinda? Do we need to be looking for somewhere to land?"

"Got a few hours airtime left." Zinda shoves herself out from the cabin, scowling. "Aw, damn, and I had a date tonight!"

"Oh, great," is still Dinah's contribution to the conversation, before backing away and leaning against a convenient console, her hands resting on her knees.

"Now I think I'm going to hurl."

Barbara's mostly teasing when she hands the small trashcan next to her to Dinah without looking. "Any idea where we are?"

"Not the -- wait!"

Zinda dashes into the cabin again, skirt flying.

"I got it! I got somethin'. ... We can't be in Australia!"

"Well," Barbara blinks as she considers this, "Maybe that's a good thing. Australia is big and empty, right (~~with no technology or people or anything, it's a very backwards place~~), so we can always just find somewhere to land if we have to."

"And send me out to take names?"

Dinah places the trashcan to the side, now she has something to do.

"Got to be something, though, right? Satellite signals?"

The glowing screens around Barbara are getting slightly perturbed glares. "Yeah, there are a bunch up. About as many as there should be, really, but... They're not the same satellites. And there's not nearly enough chatter going on. It's too quiet up here for my tastes."

"Huh."

Dinah looks past her hip to an empty screen, a worried expression on her face.

"So what's the plan?"

"I got no active signals," Zinda calls from the cabin. "We oughta be right above Townsville, major population centre, but I got nothin'. What do we do, Skip?"

Barbaara reaches up to slip off her glasses and rub her face as she considers options.

"Okay, first thing's first. We need to conserve what fuel we've got, and seriously look into finding a supply here if we can. Infrastructure suggests that we should have plenty of air fields, see if you can find us somewhere to land."

Dinah is grinning. She's been grinning ever since Zinda spoke.

"Townsville?"

"Some explorer's name." Zinda's grinning a little too. "If their Townsville matches the ones in our maps, we should be right-o. I just hope this world didn't decide to put their airfield on the other side'a town."

Barbara's snickering into her hand, "Okay, Zinda. Get us on the ground."

"Aye aye, sir." Zinda grins, saluting, and about-faces back into the cabin.

Landing is accomplished shortly, perfectly smoothly.

Outside the pressurised Aerie One, the air is hot and dry; the sun is very fierce, and the landscape consists mostly of red rocks (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v166/weaverandom/castle-hill_smaller.jpg) and dry vegetation.

"Welcome to Townsville, Australia, and thanks for flyin' Multiversal Tours," Zinda says brightly over the intercom. "You'll find exits to your left, please don't get killed and enjoy your stay. Local time is ten-forty-seven AM, and thanks for flyin' Crazy Dimension-hoppin' Tours!"

Beat.

"Ah, shucks, I said that thanks bit twice. Skip, I'm stayin' with the boat, you guys head on out."

With a sigh Barbara shakes her head, "I'm probably not going to be an asset out there. Dinah," she looks up at the woman next to her, "Quick recon, focus on people who can tell us what's going on and possible fuel supplies. I'll see if I can get some sort of access to the communication network out here."

She lifts an eyebrow and grins, "Stay in touch."

"Got it," Dinah replies, grinning right back at her BFF.

She ditches her coat, because it's so warm out, and disembarks nimbly in just the body and fishnets.

Once outside she stops, one hand on hip, and surveys the area.

"Tell me you can at least still hear me, Oracle."

"We're still in business, Dinah," Barbara's voice might betray a hint of relief. "The equipment all works, it just seems that no one's using it."

"That's a severe relief," Dinah says, as the plan hatch shuts behind her.

"Have you got visual, though? Can you see..."

Her running commentary trails off as she actually registers the complete devastation around her.

"Oh god, Oracle, can you see this?"

"I haven't cracked any imaging systems, Dinah." Barbara's voice is soft, "What's it like out there?" What could shut down global communications like this?

Dinah swallows, painfully, and walks forward at an almost funereal pace, eyes wide and darting all over.

"It's a wasteland," she says. "The whole city's entirely deserted and half these buildings are demolished. Looks like Godzilla's been on the rampage, and not this morning, either."