That Time They All Met in the CQ

[chiseler]

[Let's be honest, nobody had time to info-share Monday what with motives going live after they came down from the top-level deck and also…you know. The whole awkward thing with the corpse. That happened.

Arrangements are made, the whiteboard's been moved and…there's a wedding.

What the fuck, Cradle.

Either way, assume that Luke found your character in person, sent a message via Furry Passing or contacted them via some other means to inform them about a group meeting up in the Captain's Quarters after the wedding to talk about their findings from the day before.

He's not a leader, and it's probably clear from the way he's leaning against the wall next to the whiteboard and dumping handfuls of space-brand Skittles into his mouth.]

All right…so this happened. [This, of course, being the top deck.] We were all up here yesterday and so we should probably start figuring stuff out. It weirds me out that Alice let us up here now after all this time. [He shrugs.] Who wants to go first?

Comments

[chiseler]

There is the part where some of us found a body in the kitchen. Don't forget that. [NO?]

[chiseler]

[Pretending this isn't belated but Luke's looking at Dorian in interest for a moment.]

It's a thought. Immortality is a very god-like thing to do. Even if it's not really immortality, avoiding death is pretty close to it. But on the other hand, Alice has offered me proof at least once. If you can really call it proof.

[chiseler]

It's entirely possible that they have roles. People among ourselves have roles, don't they? Who says our aliens aren't also intelligent? [Also yes he's judging your suit Adrien, deal with it.]

[chiseler]

Did Alice say anything when you guys asked her about it? Or was it her typical "I cannot help you right now" deal?

[refactor]

Well, yyyyyeah, but I figure the people stew was one of those things, right?

[ Jack laughs, then jerks a thumb at Yuno ]

I mean, unless Yuno here was just real hungry and totally blamed it on them, but, eh, no one's perfect, right?

[bloodteller]

I don't know if this is a disappointment or not, but I was joking! Sorry.

Also I wouldn't eat you, Jack. [ obviously an important point to make...? ??? ]

[refactor]

We'll say about half and half. On one hand, totally good you're not a cannibal, since, like, have you ever met a cannibal? They're-- Okay, well, maybe you don't need to. They're about as bad and crazy as you'd expect. Like, we used to have these cannibals living in the Veins of—

[ Jack waves his hand, realizing he's getting off track here, but what kind of story was he starting to tell ]

Aaaahhh, nevermind. Point is, thank you, kiddo. Glad to not be on the menu.

[muties]

Yikes, that sucks. Maybe we should give her a funeral? To at least make up for Jason desecrating her corpse.

[ ... ]

Actually, we should really give everyone who's dead some kinda funeral, that would have been a good thing to have been doin'. We're all kinda assholes, aren't we.

World Snooping

[chiseler]

[Well, while everybody's chatting amongst themselves Luke's going to slip out and head for the terminal. He doesn't know much about high tech, but he knows his way around computers for basic functions. (Plus, you know, his dad created the internet.) Regardless he remembers what Jack said about Grell touching the map and pulling up worlds.

So here he is. Touching things he shouldn't touch, looking up maps and also balancing his notebook in the cradle of his arm to write down the observations of all of the datapoints that'll come up. What do we have here...? He will be clicking through all of the maps possible that'll come up.]

[al2955]

[There's thousands upon thousands upon thousands of datpoints, and the vast majority of them are locked. With enough time, effort and patience though, Luke might be able to find the few that aren't. (Alternatively, he could just drag people in and make them touch the map to bring the files up automatically.)]

Well this is fine - World Snooping Results

[chiseler]

[And later, Luke will come back with various sheets of paper with the world info written on them. He'll approach the whiteboard and hold the scraps in his hand, and he kind of looks pissed but don't mind him.]

Went back to the terminal to see what I can find. There're thousands of datapoints we don't have access to. Couldn't hack into them, I'm not that good with machines. But I did find information for a lot of other things...check it out.

[Come find your papers and react, question, etc.] They've definitely been watching all of us.

[antietam]

She mentioned something about her memory... I don't know, what would she gain from lying about that?

[antietam]

When Jason told her we found the captain's corpse, there was white noise and then she played some sad music. She asked us if we were sure, and when we were, she said she didn't know how it happened.

She said there might have been a problem with her memory, something about unaccounted for time. [ There's a pause. ] For what it's worth, I thought it was weird how... emotional it sounded. She seemed to hesitate at some points. I just don't know how an AI can do that, you know?

[antietam]

I mean, there's nowhere to bury them. I guess we could do a vigil or something each week if that'd help anyone.

... Would it help anyone?

[antietam]

[ He squints at his world info but Luke probably looks pissed for a reason, so... Oh.

He'll just go near him and clear his throat. ]

[tevinteriscoming]

Truly sorry for disturbing you. I'll try to be more considerate of your rest in the future.

[He wants. To know more. About its magic. But that's a discussion for later.]

No, I'm not sure either. The concept of just. Reviving anyone is too easy. Whatever your friend says, death isn't a matter of flicking a switch. But I think we're dealing with something with Alice's limitations. What she perceives her role here to be.

[chiseler]

[Seeeeethe. He's just. Wordlessly handing Adam his own paper and continuing to glare daggers at it. Fuck Percy Jackson sometimes.]

They messed up.

[tevinteriscoming]

Really? What has she offered you?

She offered the Bull proof as well. If you can really call it proof.

[tevinteriscoming]

I don't think so. It may be a hunch, but I believe I trust our friend the Admiral. At least, I trust her when she says her intentions were not to harm us.

[tevinteriscoming]

Didn't the Admiral say her crew had died to save the civilians on board? If the pods can protect us from those things, what if the civilians are in there?

[antietam]

[ Well, after their most recent talk, this is particularly upsetting. He scowls, but keeps the paper away from Luke because otherwise he knows he'll keep reading it. ]

You don't look anything like Percy. Probably figured you'd be more useful in the end.

[chiseler]

The fact that she's aware something's wrong with her memory is a good sign, I think? That she can recognize that instead of just being programmed to know certain things. Are AIs really not supposed to have that kind of emotion? I wouldn't know.

[chiseler]

It wasn't really proof, but I asked for another picture besides the ones she kept in the conference room during the phone-home motive. Alice provided immediately. Hard to doctor something like that but with a little time it's probably possible.

[chiseler]

[Yeah. This sure is upsetting but at least Adam's the only one who knows. He doesn't bother trying to reach for the paper either. That should say something.]

Oh yeah, real useful to a dead planet. [He rolls his eyes, but he mutters:] That makes my existence here even more confusing.

[antietam]

They can't have emotion. They can be programmed to simulate emotion or, I guess, learn from what we've displayed here.

Though if she was learning from us, you'd think she'd be a whole lot more unstable.