Chapter 3.4: Breaking down the base

[zuhrovet]

As the meeting ends, the team members move to their assigned tasks.

Dar, Deyna, Seyli and Sulen collect some heavy-duty servitors and begin transferring supplies to the Cantata.

Alaric, Reshad, Shess, and the Cantata's drone prepare to remove the harness from Ankat's moth, The Sedulous Eel.

Back on the Cantata, Sasha goes to her office and starts remotely wiping memory nodes on the base's grid. Jedao is in the Communications/Gunnery room, controlling the weapons. Xiulan acts as his backup. Remi has been instructed to look for patterns or causes of the missing interstellar signals.

Meanwhile, Hana and Eddox look after the mothlings, perhaps joined by Mafyyil, who for some reason has not received clear instructions. Gerae and Ione divide their attention between the mothlings and the nest of pseudo-dragons.

[Welcome to a new move!

I know that things are stressful and uncertain for all of us right now. Please don't fret if you suddenly find yourself with less or more free time than usual--we will adjust! If you would like to give your character a node of peace where they drink tea and admire baby aliens for the next while, this can be arranged. Conversely, if you want a plotty distraction, we will bring you one!

My own focus is unreliable of late, but I'll work on a recap of the previous move as I can.]

Comments

Transfering supplies and breaking shit down

[kese_seyli]

Seyli feels like they should be deferring to Sulen, but they've also never really talked to the alt; and they know what they're doing. "Do we want to divide and conquer or all work together?" They ask. "We should focus on medbay, food, and weapons first. Salvage whatever we can from that and then go after the non-essentials." A heavy duty survivor stands alongside of them, one that is designed to carry things on it's wide, flat back, or shift upright to hold things in mechanical arms. It's not as sleek or interestingly shaped as some of the regular servitors,and Seyli's delighted there is more than one to help.

Re: Transfering supplies and breaking shit down

[venndaai]

"I believe you have more experience with this than me," Sulen says. "I defer to your opinion. Er- are you familiar with- I believe these are called servitors, is that right? What are their capabilities?"

Re: Transfering supplies and breaking shit down

[chomiji]

"Yeah, these're a kind of servitor," says Dar. "I know there are some little ones on the ship, you've seen 'em around on base, too, right? They're mech animals, kind of. They're pretty smart."

She patted the metal hulk, seemingly with affection. "I've never worked with one this big, but yeah, you tell them what to do, and they'll either do it or signal somehow that they can't. This one should be able to load stuff and transport it."

Re: Transfering supplies and breaking shit down

[flowersforgraves]

"I'll help with the heavy lifting," Deyna says. "That's my day job anyways. Where do you want me to start?"

She has an affection for servitors as well, but it surprises her that Dar is so openly appreciative. Where Deyna's from, it's a mark of status to not notice servitors -- she'd never get to that point herself, but she knows well enough how to pretend.

You're the only one who understands me, mothlings

[sageling]

Hana, still immensely (and perhaps irrevocably) embarrassed about how the other night at the party went down, is glad to keep in the background and be assigned to babysitting duty. She's sworn off ever touching alcohol again, especially around other people, especially around - well, she is 100% not thinking about the man whose arm she hung off the other night, and definitely not thinking about who he couldn't possibly be. (It's funny, in retrospect, that this of all thing is a hang up. Alternate realities? Interdimensional rifts? Baby sentient eldritch spaceships? Whatever, she's seen worse. She's a teacher.)

Alcohol, no. Euphorics, on the other hand...

There's a stash two places in her room and a small supply on her person, though she promises herself when she wakes up that she's only using one that day. That's why when she reports for babysitting duty her pupils are only a little wide, her eyes just a normal amount of glassy. She keeps interaction with other adults to a minimum and places herself on the floor, on her stomach, at eye level with the mothlings.

"Hello," she says to the closest one. "I'm Miss Hana. Did I... I'm sorry. I can't tell you apart yet." She's signing as she speaks. "Are you the one who shared my shrimp puff the other night?"

Re: You're the only one who understands me, mothlings

[yhlee]

The mothling wriggles closer and extends a tentacle toward her nose, perhaps thinking it is an appendage one can shake "hands" with. It hums softly.

Re: You're the only one who understands me, mothlings

[sageling]

Hana smiles softly and holds very still, though she's going to wrinkle her nose once contact is made. "Hello, friend," she says quietly before offering her hand, palm flat, fingers out. "What's your name? Or do you even have a name?"

To Break the Bit (Paging Alaric, Cantata, and Shess)

[hoardingpearls]

Reshad examines the drone with overt curiosity, and smiles at both Alaric and Shess. "Before we go frighten the crew and the Sedulous Eel, would you tell me what happened when Cantata was woken? Were you on board, Alaric? And Cantata, what do you recall of it, if you don't mind?"

It'll be good information for Shess, as well. Who it seems she had managed to miss at the party - ah, well. The basics of introduction will have to suffice for now.

Re: To Break the Bit (Paging Alaric, Cantata, and Shess)

[yhlee]

"I was dreaming of songsharing," Cantata replies through the grid, "and then someone started sending me puzzles! First very easy ones, and then more exciting ones. We should do that again sometime."

Re: To Break the Bit (Paging Alaric, Cantata, and Shess)

[slybrarian]

"That seems fairly accurate," Alaric agrees. "From our perspective, shortly after exiting a rift into the relative past, before the hexarchate's current calendrical system was implemented to permit the use of the mothdrive, we noticed subtle changes in the drive's operation - noises, mostly. I jury-rigged a method for using the diagnostics to send and receive signals from the Cantata-the-moth itself, which I used to do some basic first-contact protocols involving math and eventually developed into the current automated translation system. I would expect we should be able to adapt that easily, although we can't expect instant results since there may be differences in language or dialect just as there can be with humans from different times and places."

Re: To Break the Bit (Paging Alaric, Cantata, and Shess)

[hoardingpearls]

[I'm assuming this is paused while we deal with the disappearance!

The sleuthing is exciting for me. :3]

maps

[zuhrovet]

Sasha checks plans of the base, looking for areas that are not in use, and areas where she can safely freeze the current layout. Once she starts wiping nodes, the grid's capability will degrade quickly.

Re: maps

[yhlee]

[You're welcome to determine this by player fiat. I'm personally ass at maps.]

Re: maps

[zuhrovet]

[I'm not good with them, but I'm sure I can find something for Sasha to obsess about.

Are the three moths parked close to each other, or are they in different sections of the base?]

Re: maps

[zuhrovet]

Sasha shares the station's sensor monitoring capability between the three mothgrids, building in some redundancy, and then resets the grid nodes in the inner ring. The first wipe is fast and dirty; scrubbing will happen on the second pass.

an unexpected development (paging anyone who wants to talk to the Cantata)

[yhlee]

"Excuse me," the Cantata says suddenly through the grid, to everyone who might possibly be listening. "I was wondering if you knew where Remi went? Because the mothlings say they can't find him anywhere, and I can't hear him anywhere either."

On the Cantata (Paging Jedao)

[stormglass]

After the meeting ends, Xiulan stands and says to Jedao, “I’ll grab my stuff and meet you onboard.”

The speed with which she shows up with a bag slung over her shoulder says that said ‘stuff’ must have already been packed and ready to go before the meeting ever started.

[Pausing there just in case there’s any reason she’d have seen Remi between the base personnel rooms and the Cantata’s comms/gunnery room. Will post again shortly.]

Re: On the Cantata (Paging Jedao) (paging Sasha)

[yhlee]

[Sorry for the delay--my mom called from S Korea and wanted to check in on us. XD ]

[zuhrovet, I can't remember--was Jedao ever allowed his gun back, or is he still technically unarmed?]

Xiulan spotted Remi in passing about ten minutes before his disappearance, while passing by: he was taking care of the mothlings in a rather fussy fashion.

Jedao is also already packed up with a utilitarian duffel bag, not that he had much in the way of belongings to begin with. He gives Xiulan an appreciative nod. "Your instructions?" he asks.

Re: On the Cantata (Paging Jedao) (paging Sasha)

[zuhrovet]

[Jedao has not been given a gun or other weapon.]

physical checks - paging Deyna

[zuhrovet]

Sasha pages Deyna:

having some issues w/ base sensors, lost sight of Remi. could you take a servitor & do a walkthrough [map attached]?

[Anyone who wants to join Deyna should do so!]

Re: physical checks - paging Deyna

[chomiji]

[Tarnation, Sasha, there's supplies to fetch!]

Re: physical checks - paging Deyna

[yhlee]

[I mean, anyone who hears the request could question the order, given the time constraints!]

Grid Message re: Remi (Paging everyone chatting about this)

[stormglass]

[Grid message sent to everyone who’s been chatting about Remi’s disappearance, whether to augments or other comms tools they’re using. ]

We’ve got a timeline where there’s been no sign of other sentient beings yet and now Remi’s disappeared abruptly. Could be related?

[Langoliers! *g* Or something.]

bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

[zuhrovet]

"It wouldn't explain the lack of radio," Sasha observes, appearing in the doorway of Communications. "Though I'm not sure whether astronomical radiation sources have been affected. I was meaning to ask Remi, before the Houseless bastard went exploring."

She offers Xiulan a clear container that appears to contain four or five bugs; she has been experimenting with Virmad's boyfriend's model. "Could you take these to Sulen? There is one to flit through the rift and back again, and others to report at intervals, if the oscillation is consistent on the other side. If the flicker keeps repeating every couple of hours, we should have time for several observations."

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

[stormglass]

[Awesome new picture!]

Xiulan turns when the door chimes and so is facing Sasha when the latter steps into the room.

“From something Remi said last night, it sounded like one of of the mothlings detected a pulsar. Assuming that was referring to the here and now—“ For all she knows, the moths could have a non-linear perception of time. It wouldn’t even be surprising. “—there’s one example of a radiation source.”

‘Houseless’ is one of those references that goes onto a mental list to look into later, but for now, she’s more interested in the current topic. “How much is known about what the rifts are? What sort of emissions do they show? And are they known to absorb anything?” A half smile. “You know, aside from people and moths.”

There’s a brief flicker to her gaze as the bug box is extended. Xiulan takes it and eyes the contents. “Kaliyan is on the Typhoon,” she says she does so. “And able to coordinate fire control for the moment, though that may change.”

“I’ll be back shortly - or will let you know if that changes,” she says to Jedao. “Provided I don’t walk into a rift,” comes drifting in as an afterthought in her wake.