Move 20 (Chapter 1.20)

[yhlee]

[Sorry for the delay!]

EDITED ONE MORE TIME: the escape plan, for easy reference.

Move 20

Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~05:75

Just outside of Medical
The mothling Crowned-with-Eyes is continuing to purr rapturously from within Mikodez's pack, which is in Alaric's possession. Fluffy has finally piped down--maybe napping, who knows what her sleep cycles are? Mikodez is currently under Alaric's watch (so to speak). [The GM strongly suggests that players cooperate to keep Mikodez from escaping yet again as I'd like to get y'all off this station! *g* ]

Sulen gets to check their lokwor, which contains an updated message from Ashari reiterating that everyone should return to the Wasp ASAP. Ashari adds, rather ominously, that they authorize Sulen to "use any necessary force" to round up crew members; they would like Sulen and Virmad to contact the administrator from the Wasp once the two of them are on the moth again.

A thoroughly exasperated-looking male nurse (the one Alaric spoke to earlier) wheels Istradez (NPC) out on a float chair, accompanied by Iawa, whom the nurse has entrusted with further instructions for Istradez's care. Istradez looks like he's seen better days, and Iawa notices that his mind seems to be wandering again--a lingering concussion effect? It's too bad that the nurse seems thoroughly determined to get rid of them all and heads back into Medical at the first opportunity.

Sasha, accompanied by Ankat (NPC), can meet our merry adventurers just outside Medical, if she likes.

"Bumblebee" status
Kaliyan (NPC) is manning the cockpit. Ashari (NPC) has left the office [edit, continuity, sorry about that]. Yehan (NPC) is currently manning comms as well. The Wasp itself is currently quiescent, no doubt chewing away on magic squares (which Sasha gave it to think about in Move 19). Gerae is contained (for the moment) in his makeshift cell; video surveillance will reveal that he is slowly drinking his Space Nescafe, making everything last and looking as if it's the best coffee he's ever had.

After giving orders to crew members on the station, Ashari seeks out Virmad in the galley and tells him that they expect him and Sulen to prepare to call the administrator on the station so they can get the hell out of here as per the plan as soon as Sulen and the rest of the crew is back. Ashari suggests that Virmad draft the communication for Sulen's approval and adds, "Did you find out anything useful from Teo? Don't be shy, darling, every little bit helps."

Comments

Re: back on the Wasp: who gets to debrief Mishka? - paging Iawa, Mikodez, Alaric, GM

[yhlee]

Ashari responds with almost distressing promptness.

Yes. Tech Bayan, please bring the child back to me. I need to give him a spanking.

[EDIT: Ashari intends to deal with Mikodez unless pengwern would really prefer Ankat, and may be annoyed enough to threaten enthrallment if not actually use it, which could be fun. Ashari will dump Mikodez on Sasha once they're back at the Bumblebee/Wasp. Ashari will also note in passing, "That vicious streak of yours ought to serve you well in dealing with him, but don't break him, he's important."]

There are two lockpicks hidden in Fluffy's cage: one in the base and one that serves as a removable cage "bar." Fluffy is emitting some cries of distress, though: from Sasha's knowledge of Vraselian pseudo-dragons, she realizes that Fluffy needs to use a litter box or toilet soon. (They can be trained to use regular human toilets.)

The mothling doesn't show up on scan anymore, radiation-wise.

[Please let me know if I missed anything that needs catching up on--I've been a little scattered and I apologize.]

Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[zuhrovet]

Sasha stands very still and looks Ashari straight in the eyes, which if the vids are accurate is a stupid idea, except that Ashari knows quicker ways to hurt her. "I will speak to Avrayen. But you're the one who's standing in for his parents."

She turns to Ankat, then, who's supporting the still-mostly-asleep Mishka and exuding an aura of "not my problem" that's probably visible from the rift. "Let's dump him in my room, until he wakes up. I don't think there's anything in there he can break."

Once Mishka's settled on top of the blankets on her bed and Ankat has stomped out, Sasha locks the door, stuffs her clothes and a handful of items from her desk drawer back into her duffle, and sets the bag by the exit. She erases nearly all of Mishka's grid privileges, though she leaves him the ability to dictate messages to her, and to Ashari. Then she settles in to sift through the security footage: she wants to know how Mishka ended up with a mothling, and when Imsayed got hurt.

[No worries! Thank you for feeding us delicious plot.

Mikodez was making some attempt to avoid security cameras, but I assume Sasha will at least find a note from the guard who talked to him outside Remi's lab. Let me know if there's anything particularly damning. Otherwise, Sasha will head to Medical in a little while, and hope to catch Imsayed/Istradez awake (and, OOC, find a reason to read his files).

I think we're all curious about what almost-enthrallment looks like, so if Ashari wants to come critique Sasha's work in a while, that could be fun.]

one more question about hacking stuff

[zuhrovet]

[Does the administrator's computer have Sasha's Clowder Purring virus? If there's a way for Ashari to listen in to the Rahal's conversation with her, without trusting to possibly-compromised lokki audio, that would presumably take priority over chastising Mishka.]

Re: one more question about hacking stuff

[yhlee]

[It does in fact have Clowder Purring virus. That virus has legs.]

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[yhlee]

Ashari's smile is less toothy than usual. "Listen," they say to Sasha, their voice almost gentle. "We've got to take care of the kid." (They don't, of course, mention Avrayen's secret future identity.) "I'll put a good scare into him, but that's all."

Ankat has that stoic "I'm too former-Kel to show how weird I find this situation" expression.

Meanwhile, Sasha will indeed find a note from the guard who talked to Mikodez outside Remi's lab, and if she digs (which, this being Sasha, I'm sure she will), another note in the file from Nirai Vana from when she ran into Mikodez at the bubble tea shop--a security officer apparently talked to Vana about the exchange. There's nothing overtly damning, just "this annoying kid keeps popping up in places like the dance studio" (while dealing with Andan Rii's performance stuff, etc.).

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[zuhrovet]

[I don't think Ashari knows Mikodez' secret future identity as a hexarch? His personnel file was more mysterious.]

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[yhlee]

[Yeah, good point. Consider that line struck--it's not dialogue anyway. What I get for not double-checking that...]

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[pengwern]

Sasha can hear a small scuffling sound, then Mikodez at his most neutral. “Tech Bayan! Are we hiding from something?” His eyes are wide open, with gold sheening stripes. (Damn the mod for getting stuck.)

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[zuhrovet]

Sasha enters a few commands (record, convert "Mishka" to "Avrayen", send Ashari a link to the resulting file) and swivels her chair to face the bed. "We're back on the fucking ship, Mishka. If you plan to start apologizing, now would be the time."

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[pengwern]

This can’t be a scenario. The Shuos doesn’t have enough money to replicate the exact feel of eyeballs about to flop out while wrapped in liquefying stingray barbs. He decides against touching them until Sasha stops staring at him. What if she throws something?

Of course, she or anyone on board should have killed or drugged him while he was out. Mikodez does a brief self-check: still supremely disinclined to trust Sasha. Or Sulen. Ashari, the rest of the crew, Remi, Istradez —

“How did I get here?” He cocks his head. Wow, the room is even blurrier from this angle. “Did I go after everything you expected me to find? Was I supposed to believe Imsayed, just because he said so?”

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[zuhrovet]

Prophet's fucking coat, the kid got an amphibian mod and then forgot about hydration. "Ankat carried you. I take it we're skipping the apologies? When's the last time you drank a glass of water?"

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[pengwern]

This is too much. He's not taking water from someone who turned his applications into armadillos. Mikodez straightens abruptly and sways; using Ashari's granola bar in his recipe was a terrible idea.

"I apologize for running away because I suspected your intentions for wanting Fluffy, although those must have been Gerae's own photos. I think he had more than just the obvious problems if that's what he thought was a useful way to spend money. And did you see those sputters? We won't be here to see one of their slime mold races, but where did Iawa go with the one Pavn provided? Have you found any slime molds on the station shell yet, they're meant to be huge and I heard the nurses talk about the magistrate's pets, plural, so --"

(Mikodez also believes in casting doubt on his being a source of useful testimony as soon as possible.)

He rubs at his eyes, and one membrane unsticks. Now he's only running around with one sinister Shuos eye.

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[zuhrovet]

"Mishka. You are being very boring."

Sasha locks her screen and digs a water bottle out of her bag. She fills the water bottle at the sink, caps it, and sets it on the desk near Mikodez, along with a ration bar. "What do you imagine is going to happen?"

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[pengwern]

"Our moth will have to leave the station eventually. You know how particular Andan Rii gets about material sourcing, so we'll be off on another long tour." Mikodez learned non-committal from the very best.

Of course, Instructor Humedo had also advised them to escalate, always, and to tack extra gold frogging onto their academy uniforms as a distraction. Mikodez spared a wistful thought for his gift of securing revenue streams. Pity Sasha cared for none of that. "And we won't get to meet anyone from another time or place." He sweeps Sasha a look from beneath his lashes, his eyes bright with the glint of unwise mods.

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[zuhrovet]

The child looks exactly like Mirek used to. All he needs is a fucking train set. Sasha erases the door to the hallway.

She explains carefully, at about a third the speed of normal speech. "In the nearer term. I am counting the number of times your actions were reported to station security. When I am finished, I will speak to Imsayed. Then I will return, and we will discuss what you have been doing for the last fourteen hours. If Ashari is satisfied with your explanation, then we will discuss whether you may leave this room. I will answer one more question."

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[pengwern]

Mikodez sets his augment to record, in case he's supposed to find a code in her pauses or clues from her pronunciation, so that by the time Sasha finally gets to the point he's coached himself to stillness. He takes an additional six seconds to think before he asks, "How would you stop a terrible future from happening?"

This isn't a Shuos scenario, but it might still be a game. Sasha and all the Wasp crew are disorganized enough for a true rebellion - Mikodez knows how easy it is to infiltrate cabals and revolutions, to turn heretic cells on each other, and why the hexarchate has clattered on its precarious way against all odds. Could it be that Sasha actually mean what she says?

He throws another glance at the water-bottle and ration bar. At this point he'd welcome it if a mass of tentacles came boiling out.

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[zuhrovet]

Sasha's careful with her singular pronouns, just like always. "Fuck, Mishka, I thought you were smarter than that. This is my terrible future. I am trying to keep the rest of you alive."

She wakes her terminal up again, switches the display language to Naxorian, and goes back to digging through station surveillance.

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - paging Mikodez

[pengwern]

"Even the people you've barely met? Even perfectly generic relatives?" Mikodez shifts to check he still has his tape recorder receivers on him, and half-heartedly offers, "Do you want to talk about it...?" Wouldn't do to show his actual interest.

He keeps his gaze on Sasha for another breath, then lets his head fall back with a wry smile. “Alright. Pull up a station map, and you can point out the thousand places I missed at your leisure.” Mikodez makes a reasonably candid report of his whereabouts after the tour with Iawa and Pavn, only omitting the detour he took on en route to Medical and his early morning trip to find a gene scanner, instead substituting a quest to find vending machines that sold insta-scallion pancakes rather than packaged live crabs.

"...nothing much in Remi's labspace except an egg. You saw what that hatched into, and I took it with me. Then I went down, and met Imsayed." Here Mikodez breaks off, and his face darkens into the least cheerful that Sasha has seen of him. "Did you know he had a concussion? Anyway, I yelled at him, and the mothling flew away, so that was fun." He goes on in detail about the exchange he had with the guards at Gerae's rooms, getting softer at carefully timed intervals.

By the time he gets to Vana's search for Remi, he's curled into a nonthreatening huddle on the blankets, with his chin supported on his hands. Unless the rest of the ship was currently contaminated with inimical alien substances, there should have been plenty of spaces to lock someone away, rather than Sasha's own bed in her room. Someone (Ashari) probably overrode Sasha to have him dropped here. If Mikodez is asleep, she might just leave again, or get close enough to be in range of his other gadgets.

[Trying to close the time loop from the beginning of the {In the Medbay} thread! also whoops I deleted it.]

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - GM question

[zuhrovet]

[yhlee, can Sasha tell that Mikodez used the gene scanner?]

Re: Ashari's office, Sasha's bedroom - GM question

[yhlee]

[Yes. Mikodez was trying to cover his tracks as far as I can tell, but Sasha's a more experienced, and better, hacker/etc. than he is.]