Planet Umbra

~"I can tell you right now that being a police officer is not the best way to meet cute girls." Adrian paused, giving a mischevious grin of his own to California. "Well, most of the time at least. If you really want to know, though, there was this one wild teenage party I busted. It was full of cute girls. None of them were really happy to see me. Can't imagine why."

~When Danielle passed by the tall policeman, she instinctivy pulled her bag of books closer to her chest. He couldn't arrest her for buying that book, but he wouldn't be very happy if he saw what she had bought...

Mark stopped the younger girl as she walked by him. "Hey, do you know where I can find the artists' booths? I'm looking for my boss and somebody said he'd be there...." He smiled sheepishly, running his hand through his hair. "Sorry, I don't know my way around very well...."

~Cali grinned. "No idea. They were probably just mad that you weren't as drunk as them."

~"O-oh, the artist's booths? I think they're that way." Danielle pointed towards what she hoped was the artist's booths. "I'm not too sure, to be honest. I just got here." She gave the man a forced smile and took a few steps back.

~ "I'm more inclined to think hauling them off for underage drinking was what did it." He glanced at the display clock sitting on the table. "Oh shit. Er, sorry Miss California, but I'm late for something. Cop stuff, you know." He stood up and picked up his picture. "It was nice talking to you. I'd like to do it again sometime soon."

"Thanks!" Mark replied, giving his best smile before hurrying off in that direction. As he reached the artists booths, he spotted his new boss coming out of a tent, an asian young woman smiling and chatting with him. The youg woman handed him a portrait, and winked, laughing. "Hey, um, sir?" Mark called out, loping up. "Hi, I'm Mark. The police force sent me to find you..."

Adrian very nearly dropped the picture he was carrying. "Oh hi Mark! I, um, was just about to get you." He smiled sheepishly at California. "I got a little...distracted, sorry. So, what's up?"

Mark grinned, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Well, they wouldn't tell me. I guess its something big though. But they sent me off to get rid of me I think. Something about getting in the way of real cops. Wanted to call in the big guns."
~Cali appraised the newcomer, raising a brow. He definitley handled the military/cop look well. But, alas, he was too young for her, besides, the boss seemed....different.

Adrian sighed. "Okay then." He sounded chill, but he was actually pretty worried. Usually, his bosses never pulled him back into duty when he had a day off. If the brass weren't telling the new guy what was up, then it had to be something pretty serious. "Let me, um, drop this off first, okay? I'll be back in ten minutes, okay?"

MArk nodded slowly. "You might wanna hurry. Its got me a bit worried, to be honest." He smiled lightly, and hurried off, waving as he went.
~Cali just stared after the kid. "What just happened? that kid was like a whirlwind!"

Dropping off the picture at his apartment didn't take very long--Adrian just put it on his couch without a second thought. Normally, he might have been a little annoyed about being put back into duty on his day off, but today was the Founder's Day festival. If anything remotely bad happened, then things could get really iffy, really fast. Of course, Adrian reflected, it probably wasn't anything too important. Maybe there was some kind of trouble at the mines--a cave in, maybe, or some rich kid's son got lost racing Spacebuggies in the Valley. Worst case scenario was that there was a dust storm brewing up, and everyone would have to stew in the storm shelters for a few days. That would be barrels of fun--having to be cooped up with a bunch of angry tourists in the shelters.
It hit him then, while he was getting changed into his uniform, that he probably wouldn't see Cali again. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but somehow it irked him all the same. There weren't enough fun people in this town, less that were good-looking girls like she was. A miner's town really wasn't the best place to get a date. If things went Adrian's way for once, this call wouldn't take too long, Cali would be at her booth when he came back, and he could take out for a drink or something.
((HEY, WHY IS MARK THERE. I KINDA NEED TO KNOW THAT.))

((I figure that if the miners are gonna accidentally release evil aliens, there would have to be a good reason for them to drill/dig into the wrong chamber. If theres a cave in,that would give them a reason to dig, and also an outlet for the story to flow. Good?))
Cali sighed, puttign up her paints. Business was surprisingly slow, despite the festival about to begin, leaving her time to dazedly. Hopefully it would pick up later in the day, but really, Cali was hoping for a repeat customer instead.....

((Okay sounds good))
When he got to the station, Adrian knew immediately something was wrong. There were too many Officers there--most of them should have been at the festival. He started running as soon as he got in the door.
"Hey, what's up?" He asked the robot that functioned as the station's receptionist.
"There's been an incident at the mine." It replied in it's normal, cool voice. "A cave-in, to be more precise. The initial distress signal was sent approximatly thirty minutes ago-"
"That's great. How many people are in there?"
The robot paused, staring blankly at Adrian with its ice-blue optics. "Twenty miners were in the mine when it collapsed. As of now, their status is unknown. They were three hundred feet underground at the time of the collapse. in tunnel 89b. Do you have any other questions, sir?"
Adrian swore under his breath. "No, that's fine."
This, was to put it lightly, not good. He grabbed his phone and shot a quick message to Mark. It read,
"I'm probably not supposed to tell you this, but there's been a cave-in at the mines. Twenty people are trapped in tunnel 89b. DO NOT TELL ANYONE. WE DO NOT NEED A PANIC TODAY. STAY WHERE YOU ARE UNTIL YOU GET FURTHER ORDERS."

Mark stopped dead in his tracks, shocked by the message in his hand. A cave in was extremely dangerous, and could affect the entire town; by making half of them widows or orphans. The message said to stay put....Mark scanned his surroundings and settled on the best place to stay without calling any attention: the local library. He headed inside quickly, sighing in relief as the air conditioning blew into his face. Scoping the small building out, he headed for a table in the back research section where he could see the door and the young librarian, without disrupting any other visitors.

((now what? XD))