trash bin PART TWO

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ??? OPENING PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . _PROGRAM CRASHED _PROGRAM REBOOT? >N >SCAN PROGRAM . . . _PROGRAM CRASHED . . . >EMERGENCY LEVEL . . . >EMERGENCY LEVEL . . . _EMERGENCY LEVEL LOADING LOADING. . . LOADING. . . LOADING TEXTURE-NIGHT-SKY, TEXTURE-FULL-MOON, TEXTURE-DIRT-PATH, TEXTURE-CAMPFIRE LOADING SOUND-CRICKETS, SOUND-GRAVEL, SOUND-WIND, SOUND-FIRE-CRACKLING UPLOADING USER UPLOADING USER UPLOADING USER UPLOAD SUCCESSFUL TRASH BIN It feels more like an electrical zap than dying. Dying might feel a little bit more like falling asleep, but this is harder, more painful. If you've ever been electrocuted, the feeling might seem familiar; the discovery you make when you open your eyes, too, is likely very familiar. It's the night sky. Stars twinkle, a fire cracks warmly. You sit up and observe the surrounding area, and it's like you've woken up in some sort of canyon. The fire burns brightly, the moon shines beautifully, the crickets sing, and it is ... peaceful. Mostly. You know you're dead. This must be, then, the after life? Or something like it, at least. The horizon stretches on forever, the dirt and gravel seemingly endless. The moon is so big and bright, it's like you could reach out and touch her. There's a shed not too far from the fire, only but a stone's throw away, as if someone else might have made it, and then went inside it. Approaching it, you can see the light glowing inside it through the dusty windows that are littered with fingerprints. A computer screen, so large and wide that it's baffling, sits, waiting. Turning knob reveals that the shed is unlocked, and stepping inside... it doesn't feel any different from the outside. A chair sits in the center of the room, a strange contraption strapped to the head of it. It looks like it would lower itself upon the head of whoever dares to sit on it, and wires from it's bottom curl up towards the machines attached to the screen. Several smaller desktop screens sit beneath the giant monitor. They, too, are hooked up to the machines scattered around the room, to the ominous one perched on top of the medical chair, and they blink, as if fighting to stay alive without use. Pressing the giant monitor on, it lights up, and displays, strangely enough... a security camera feed. You push the button. It switches to another room. Again, another room. Again, another room. So on and forth. You peeping tom! But no one can blame you, in the end. You might as well digitally haunt the rest of the ship until the game ends, and AL-2955 can clean out the trash bin. ...Right? rule book taken characters information cards

Comments

[baptizer]

Only since arriving on that godawful ship. [ Who's bitter? She is. Either way, Elizabeth doesn't see much and instead, turns to walk around. She doesn't find anything out of the ordinary since her first arrival, sticking close to Adelina and Shelley out of pure comfort. ]

I've never been here, but others - they've spoke of her. Why would we be brought here...?

[ SOMEONE FIND THE TABLE. ]

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat doesn't bother making idle chatter. It's strictly business and mission-focused as always. }

Over here-- there's something new past the staircase. Hurry up and don't linger.

{ He'll make his way beyond the staircase, probably catching sight of the tablet on the table upon coming closer. What will they all be seeing on the tablet, here? Wait until the next episode of Cradle in the grave Project! }

[mnasthai]

[ Kazuma of course, laughs at Liz's response. He doesn't bother sticking by anyone because he's really familiar with this place, but he notices the new addition nearly as quickly as Arumat]

Usually she calls us here, but it looks like she left a present instead. [ Is it a Furry Passing expansion where he can get eggs? He can only dream.]

[bloodbiter]

[she follows after arumat immediately; she isn't familiar with this area, so she can't tell what's new, but from the way arumat glances at the datapad, she can guess. she approaches as well, looking at it from near him.]

This wasn't here before?

[tacklefordwhimsy]

...isn't this table bigger? The datapad is new, but this place feels different too.

[But a large dining table won't help anyone. The datapad is what matters here]

[al2955]

[ Observing the datapad brings up one thing very clearly: there's a log in screen.

S. PERKINS
PASSWORD?

The password hint is already open. ]

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

00110001 00110010 00101111 00110001 00110000 00101111 00110001 00111000 00110001 00110101

[thanatosincarnate]

This is idiotic.

[ He's a warrior, not some kind of puzzle-solver. Screw that. ]

The code reads 12/10/1815. Make of that what you will.

[tacklefordwhimsy]

This seems familiar...let's see if my high school education was good for something.

[Shelley reads the poem]

I think it was written by some Byron guy, but that date...that date doesn't fit when the poem was made? It may be something else, like...

[Like a birth date. If Shelley remembers right, Byron had a daughter, what was her name...? She types what she remembers]

>ADA LOVELACE

[al2955]

[ The screen flashes for a moment, and a poem strings along, as though it were coding itself. ]

WELCOME, ADMIRAL.

It seems as though you have rather poorly coded a program to activate as soon as your datapad is logged into. This, truly, is idiotic at best. Who knows who will stumble upon all this information? It is a fountain of intelligence.

Or memes.

Looking at the data on this pad, it is mostly memes.

Regardless, I have been placed here to act out the program. I will do so. It is my purpose. I do not know of the group who have logged in, but I will send you somewhere very special. Once you arrive, you will only have ten minutes to complete your objective. The objective is a simple one: unlock the door.

Travelers! When you are prepared, select yes.
To reject the SYNCHRONIZATION offer, select no.

READY? |
Y |
N |

[mnasthai]

[ Clearly there is only one answer to this question. Without even bothering to check with anyone else, Kazuma will hit "Y". Not thinking things through has worked out for him fine in the past, why stop now?]

[bloodbiter]

[button mashing duo is go.

later she will wonder what it means that she had the exact same impulse as the sociopath eight year old but whatever!!]

[al2955]

[There's a sudden lurch, a dizzying sense of motion, and then--

You open your eyes in a dark enclosed space. Wherever and however you may have been standing before, your position has suddenly shifted; it seems like you're being supported upright against something. It might take a while to recollect, as it's been several months, but the position is familiar; it's exactly the same as when you first awoke in your pods when you arrived onboard.

And that's when you realize - you can hear the blood rushing through your ears, the pounding of your heart in your chest, the breath entering and leaving your lungs. Everything suddenly seems far more solid, your body included. You are alive.

...for about ten minutes. It doesn't seem like it's a perfect resurrection either; your body feels clumsy and numb, almost as if you're wearing a heavy and unyielding suit of armor. You'll need to concentrate hard to move around, and fine motor control will be extremely difficult. Is this what a newborn baby feels like?

The pod doors unseal with a hiss. The five of you can now explore the room you're in. At the moment however, it's far too dark to see - it looks like you're going to need to find or make a light source.]

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat's feeling actually a little grateful? But he looks pissed as usual so if they find lights to turn on no one would probably be able to tell.

The man grunts, irritated. First, he'll try to carefully move forward in the dim room they're in, looking for a light switch. If that doesn't work he'll be thinking about summoning a fireball instead. Don't think he won't. }

I'll assume everyone currently here is functioning well enough. Try not to do anything stupid or rash while looking for a light source.

{ He sounds as agitated as usual. }

[mnasthai]

[ You can have fun Arumat being a worthwhile contribution in finding a light switch, because Kazuma's first instinct once he remotely has his bearings is to cast magic. He's missed it a lot, even if his brand of it isn't terribly impressive.]

Ahh this is even worse than before! [ Enjoy your random gust of wind everyone.

...but someone else should find the light so they can all see.]

[bloodbiter]

[she pauses for several seconds as she tries to understand what's happening - she's alive. they're alive.

she knows they don't have much time, though, so she doesn't waste much of it on surprise or relief. clumsily and slowly, she holds her hands out and walks towards where she thinks the location of the door might have been. she's hoping that running her hands over the wall nearby will help her find a light switch of some kind.

hopefully she doesn't trip over a pod on the way.]

[tacklefordwhimsy]

[When Shelley wakes up she feels alive. It's...it's amazing! She missed so much the feeling of being alive! She laughs, gleerful, for the seriousness of the situation is notable soon.

May as well start searching around the pods, the light switch could be hidden over here]

[al2955]

[Adelina will be able to find a light switch along the walls. The lighting is dim, but at least they'll all be able to see. It looks like all five of their bodies are in the same condition they had been when they'd first arrived on the ship, with no injuries indicating their cause of death to speak of.

They're in a room lined with pods; unlike the ones in the arrival room, these are shaped more like eggs. From the way their breath fogs in the air as well as the frost lining everything in sight, it's below freezing in here; luckily, their faulty resurrection seems to actually come in handy now, as they won't feel much of the cold.

Fourteen of the pods are sealed tightly shut without any way of being able to see into them or break in. The rest, however, have an open glass panel through which they'll be able to peer in to see the contents. Within each of them is the body of someone they'll immediately recognize as one of the people who've died on the ship, the five of them excluded.

There's only one door out, and it looks like it's firmly locked. A small terminal is embedded in it with a single line of text.]

Input first password.

[baptizer]

[ Guess who's alive and stumbling? This girl. Well, she definitely feels that way. She'll brace herself onto Adelina and offer the same comfort but it's not until she follows the rest of the group that the scene displays in front of her. They're... odd. She's never seen anything that looks so sterile and medical - it's unsettling, to the poor girl from 1912. ]

These are just like - one, two... fourteen.

[ An observation that is cut a bit short when she sees the bodies lining the glass panels. ]

It's - these are all of us. I mean, minus us.. but -

[ The terminal gets her attention next and then: ]

Do we know of any other passwords that Perkins mentioned...?

[ Asks the newbie deadie. ]

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat doesn't bother fixing his hair from the brief blow of wind, and since the girls have each other in more than one sense of the word, he doesn't worry about them stumbling around. }

Good point. In fact, Lavi mentioned something about the Captain telling him as well as Allen to mention a certain woman's name once a door was reached.

{ He inputs:

>River

Into the terminal. }

Let's see if this works.

[al2955]

[The terminal beeps.]

Password accepted.

[A hidden panel slides open in the door, revealing an electronic keyhole. A long passage of text starts scrolling on the terminal.]


Little Mary Winter
And Her Sister, Karen Splinter,
Went Down Into The Forest's Depths

Her Mother Told Her
"Be Careful, In There
Bad Feelings Do Manifest,"

She Said "Never Fear,
Karen Is Here
To Keep Me From Harm's Way."

Karen Sighed,
Cane In Hand,
Holding Up Her Crooked Knee

Her Mother Said
"Now Don't Protest,"
Their Father Would Be Home Soon

They Met A Strange Man
With Axe And Tin Can
They Promptly Ran Away

Then They Met A Kindly Gran
Who Offered Tea And Bran
But Poison They Smelled, Freed

Soon, A Man Of Élan
Said He'd Killed His Nan
To Milan He Was To Go, With His Knife In Tow

Karen Fell To The Ground
A Crick In Her Knee, Said She
"Go On Without Me."

Mary Wept, But Went Did She
Through The Last Of The Forest's Webs
Until An Axe Opened Her Chest

And Blood Did Not Fall,
But Negativi-tea
And A Knife Pricked A Chip On Her Shoulder

After The Show, A Satyr Speaks:
"The Answer Lies
In The First — The Key Is The Knife."

[bloodbiter]

[time to peek in carista mew's pod?? and see if she can open it.]

[al2955]

[It does look like there's something glittering within Calypso Caw's pod.

That said, it's sealed. You're going to have to work together to figure out a way to bust it open. The pod itself does have hinges, as well as a clasp on the side where it's locked.]

[mnasthai]

Arumat you can just smash this right? [ Go for the simple solution, but yeah Kazuma's useless here what a surprise.]

[bloodbiter]

[checking the hinges and the clasp; do they look particularly sturdy, or like they could be broken off?]

[thanatosincarnate]

What? Don't be ridiculous.

...

{ HE'LL JUST SIGH...

He'll look nearby the pod to see if there's something nearby to unlock it.

But, uh. If not, they're running out of time? He doesn't have time to dick around figuring out where A goes into B all the time. So he'll just try to smash through the glass of the pod (if he's able) with his right fist. }