Move 6 (Chapter 1.6)

[yhlee]

Time: 361
Place: out-rift near Station Moongray

The Wasp's cockpit/command center
The Naxorian Rosemallow ship continues to hold position. Kaliyan notices it's now scanning the Wasp with some primitive [handwave] scan technology, focusing especially on the mothdrive.

The Wasp's Engineering room
Presuming a short interval of time has passed while Alaric consults as to moths' feelings about the hexarchate, the Wasp's moth repeats its query: the six hexarchate emblems in space ASCII, followed by the "1 / 0" for "???" Then after another short pause, it adds the Liozh emblem, followed by "1 / 0" for "???"

Meanwhile, Sasha's luck and guesswork regarding the Naxarat ship's encryption bear fruit. It appears that the Naxorians are discussing navigational difficulties. They've been trying to get information out of the Nirai station so they can find their way back home, but the Nirai are being closemouthed about what they've discovered about the rifts so far. There's also a brief mention of personnel shortages.

The Wasp's airlock, welcoming party
Andan Bokali still hasn't touched any of the edible fidget spinners, although Pavn is munching away on a third. "If you're ready, we'd like to invite you back to Station Moongray. Rii, you and your assistants"--Bokali's eyes flicker as they try to figure out just which people are "assistants"--"can see the space we have available for artistic displays, and as for the rest of you, surely we can offer you the conveniences of station while you dock with us. Honored inquisitors, I'm sure our station administrator would like to meet you as soon as convenient."

Bokali coughs delicately, then adds, with a glance at Ankat for being the only one in the airlock with a remotely military bearing, "The station will insist that all firearms be left behind."

[The GM would like to note in Ankat's direction that a calendrical sword is sufficiently future-tech that it probably will only show up as "weird device" on Moongray's scanners, not as "lightsabre-alike weapon."]

[Tentatively, I'd like to get y'all onto the station next turn (Move 7) unless something happens to cause y'all to abort. :p ]

Comments

[venndaai]

"We are at the administrator's disposal," Sulen says. "Are they a Nirai themselves, or Liozh? I don't know much about what's usual on research stations."

Memos: Sasha to everyone: the second ship.

[zuhrovet]

[Sasha installed an encrypted memo system sometime during transit. Of course, if the wriggly virus or its ilk is virtually looking over our shoulders, that won't help.]

Memo: Sasha to all hands: Second ship

Analysis from myself, Yehan indicates second ship from alternate timeline where planet Naxarat never incorporated in heptarchate. Proceed with caution.

Memo: Sasha to Ashari, CC Kaliyan, Ankat, Sulen, Virmad, Yehan: Ship details

Markings on second ship indicate Rosemallow House. Group heretical even in Naxorian context in our timeline. Internal communications indicate interest in rift maps, more personnel. Yehan and I at significant risk for involuntary recruitment due to ethnic background.

Memo: Sasha to Ankat: Firearms restrictions

FUCK.

[pengwern]

Mikodez says cheerily, “It's lucky that Andan Rii’s projects require nothing like a gravity tractor, this time. I’m sure there won’t be any irreversible changes to the room. But just in case,” nodding at the still monumental pile of edible fidget spinner snacks, “We can offer them some of these.” The plate gets sealed in a half meter tall presentation box. Unfortunately it was made using the matter printer, and glitter spangled words are still visible against the night blue sides from an angle.

[If anyone cared to make the stanza out, it's not actually in cipher, just an near unreadable font of the high language, and recognizable with space internet as something by a famous poet from about a century before this time. “He visits my town once a year/He fills my mouth with kisses and nectar/I spend all my money on him/Who, girl, your man?”

With apologies to Amir Khusrow. The punchline is, of course, "A Mango." (\o/ links 1, 2!]

hacking: station edition

[zuhrovet]

Sasha's wriggly-virus clone seems to be squirming along nicely, so she turns her attention to the station.

She sends an ordinary lattice request from her own ship about station resources for construction equipment (nobody's building houses, but there will be renovations and miscellaneous fabrication for experiments), textiles, and art supplies. She also looks for boards where people advertise special events.

She sends her false-Naxorian virus after three things: personnel records of Nirai on station, station drills & emergency procedures, and physical safety installations. She got started checking the fire-drill procedures of every place she ever visited back in Junior Mining Engineers. On a station the protections should be more extensive and easier to weaponize: fire doors sealing off areas, clinging foam to suffocate chemical fires . . . [She'll keep an eye out for strangely wide ventilation shafts, too.]

Engineering

[slybrarian]

Alaric starts by defining the word (or rather collection of symbols) for 'moth' using the general physical characteristics of the beasts, and then using the specific characteristics of the ship to define 'Wasp'. He then sends a Euler diagram indicating that, while the general set of 'moths' is mostly contained within a big box along with the hexarchate symbols, the Wasp is outside that box. Instead it is in a box with several humans - long story short, ugly bags of mostly water - representing the crew. After a moment, he then indicates their travel through the rift, including that this means going through time from the hexarchate period to the heptarchate.

That done, and the Wasp's moth hopefully either satisfied or confused, Alaric calls up to the cockpit. Hopefully a Kel will know a thing or two about moths and their behaviors.

"I just thought I should let someone know that the moth is talking to me," he says, "and I think it's asking about what factions we're part of. I implied we're not technically part of any of them."

[I swear I will rejoin all y'all when we dock, assuming the space monster doesn't eat us for being heretics.]