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: 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.]