chiseler | That Time They All Met in the CQ

Entry tags:

!the cradle project

That Time They All Met in the CQ

[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?

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Well, everyone already knows about the admiral. [ That happened. ] And that the AI doesn't have access in here.

More specifically, when we went in, it was cold and didn't look like any robots had gone in there for cleaning. There was glass all over the floor and Jason ended up stepping on the admiral's wrist. From the looks of it, she was poisoned. Maybe by herself.

The issue with that—she was relatively preserved due to the temperature of the room, but Jason said she must have died 1-3 months ago. So either just before we arrived or sometime after. The AI didn't seem to have any idea about it.

Clover, Grell and I checked out the terminals, 'cause, uh, of course I checked out the terminals?

[ Jack scoffs, but then waves his hand idly as he gets to explaining. He'll actually be fairly helpful and factual here, so you're welcome. ]

So, first thing's first, got a big map of a galaxy I didn't recognize. The ship was displayed in it, so it's on some kinda course, but couldn't tell you what just based on looking at it then. Couple planets were highlighted on it, just with some generic IDs, XCS 111 through 113. All three of 'em were uncharted, but other than one of them definitely being where Butt Stallion is from, only thing of note is that 113 was potentially habitable.

[ Jack shrugs, since if you want more detail on that, you'll have to go look yourself. He doesn't remember the exact details here, since he's not a demon with a photographic memory, alas. ]

But, way more interesting than that? Got a hint why we're all here. Grell touched the map again, and we got a different map. Just a shitton of datapoints for that one, but there was info on-- Okay, well, can't speak for them here, but considering Pandora was one of them, can say with pretty good certainty that we were picked for a reason here. Each of the planets, or Helios, in my case, gets a blurb. Mine mentioned "keeping it in mind" because anyone from our part of the universe is, and I quote here, "one tough S.O.B. to take down." So, yeah. Wanna go see how you were being spied on? Go take a look.

[ Though at this point, Jack's expression gets more serious, and he shrugs. ]

Last part was a ECHOlog on the terminal. Started out with just normal video diary stuff of a guy named Jasper Jones. 99% of it was uninteresting and I don't care, so, skipping ahead to the juicy part? Saw how the guy died. Kinda familiar, considering how the alien that took over Rhys reacted, but guy and his girlfriend get pulled up into a vent, super murdered, blah blah blah. [ He's so sensitive ] But, last part of that video? Something came out of that vent, but it was gone too quick for any of us to get a good look at it. Best I can tell you is that it was black, had scales, and was screaming loud enough to make you want to kill the fuckin' thing even more.

[ He pauses, then shrugs ]

So, yeah. Good time exploring.

Dave, Roxy and I took the elevator up and checked out the hallways right off of it first. Dave decided he wanted to go left…found a door that was pretty much frozen shut. Fog drifting out, too cold to touch, all that stuff. Locked tight. Roxy managed to get inside--you can ask her for the pictures--but it looks like we've got a bunch of pods hanging out in there. Frozen pods. Who knows what that means. [Dead bodies tbh.] Door also had Electric Sheep Room labeled on it. Don't listen to Dave and Roxy, I don't want us to be robots.

Anyway. We found another door at the other end of the hall but this one had Gaea on the door…for those of you just tuning in, Gaea's the earth goddess. This door was also locked and too big for Roxy to phase through…but not locked enough I couldn't break into it. [Shrug. He leans back then to reveal a drawing on the whiteboard of the floating ball of water they saw.] Not sure what this is other than a floating ball of water, but Alice figured out I busted open the door and she slammed it shut after that. Couldn't get back in after that.

So…now taking bets to what that was.

Edited 2016-08-10 19:19 (UTC)

So, Elizabeth, Emily and I checked out the computer in that corner room, guess it was the captain's quarters? We found a video from the ship's captain, Sonya Perkins. It's a message, to us...it's probably best if you watch it. I took a copy on my phone in case the PC here is as janky as most of this place.

TL;DR version is, we're boned. Humanity's basically extinct, so Captain Perkins programmed Alice to steal us, of all people, and they invited the gyro aliens into the vents 'cause they were thirsty, and BTW, the aliens come in packs of four or five. But it's okay, 'cause "we don't take shit like this lying down." ...Except when that shit is getting stepped on because you're too dead to move out the way, I guess.

This is why fashionably late is so overrated; if you haven't any means to make an entrance, you'll just be overlooked.

[All of your info was so cool. But what can he do.]

Marinette, Adrien and I investigated the statues in the middle of the room. Not entirely enlightening, but they give some good color. May as well recite some poetry while I'm at it.

The first statue, of Pygmalion and his would be bride, I must presume, has the inscription:

"Constructed on February 9th, 2933. Acquired by Harlan on June 10, 2954, for placement aboard The Pygmalion. The statue is an enlarged replica of an already existing but missing statue. In a way, it exists as a postmodern exercise in art. A copy of a statue of a statue. The creation of life from where it did not exist before. Therein lies the pathos of our mission. Never forget this."

There's also a complementary poem:

"Woe is Galatea, skin of iv'ry
The hubris of Pygmalion did bring
her to life. But what God would recognize
Her as more than a mimic, facisimile
Of what Pymgalion did wish to see?
Agalma is she, not woman or doll."

Then we've the other statue. Woman with scales for legs and rather in a state of undress, holding up a portion of the sky.

Inscription reads:

"Gifted to the Pygmalion on September 6, 2954 as a symbol of cooperation and connection. We keep this as a reminder that no matter how hopeless a situation may seem, there is always a way to repair what we have broken and move forward. As well as a reminder that no matter where we go, we are not alone."

And the accompanying prose, which Adrien was so good as to translate from the Chinese:

"In remote antiquity, the four poles of the Universe collapsed, and the world descended into chaos: the firmament was no longer able to cover everything, and the earth was no longer able to support itself; fire burned wild, and waters flooded the land. Then Nüwa smelted the five-colored stone to mend the blue sky..."

So! It's no video telling us we ought to fight the aliens, but it's a bit of insight into how the creators of this place saw themselves, yes? On the one hand, creating life. Not out of nothing, note the plaque. A statue of a statue of a statue. The Pygmalion story is of a statue brought to life, but here we have copies of that initial effort.

Then, on the other hand, we have our dear Nüwa, mending the sky for us. Fits with the post-apocalyptic theme. Rebuilding what was thought broken and making a space habitable.

Of course, I'd welcome input from anyone more schooled in the mythology or the art.

[in his goddamn wedding suit, because who has time to change on this ship more than once?? and because it's funny. Adrien's stuck on the last part of that description, sorry Jack you gotta suffer the furries more:]

That black form... Could that be what the aliens-- the "Souvlaki"-- what they look like without a host, do you think?

There's a lot to unpack there. Are we to take that to mean our dear Admiral has been having Alice minister this game on purpose? To what end, I wonder?

[as the local chinese expert (shame, marinette. shame.) and still in full wedding gear with his pocket cat hanging out on his shoulder, adrien pipes up to add:]

Nüwa was said to have created life in ancient Chinese mythology, so it makes sense for them to have her as a symbol if that's what the Cradle Project is really about. [and now, theory time!!!] We're always going back to creating life or mending it, and with what the Admiral said about how she'd never meant to worsen our lives... We've talked about how Alice-- or, I guess, River? How she could've been reprogrammed, and I think she was... by the Admiral, before she...

[killed herself. yuck.]

The point is, the Admiral wanted us to kill the aliens more than anything, but the only way to truly get them is with those "executions". And I don't know why "River" is the only one who can separate the aliens from their... their hosts, but if this game is the only way to trigger it... Maybe I'm wrong, but the way she spoke, it sounded like something in the project could fix all of this. She didn't seem to have killed herself out of desperation, but to... do something?

[he deflates a bit, shaking his head]

I know that sounds insane. It's basically saying the only way out of this is to let those-- those things kill again and figure them out. There's got to be another way than just wait for them to make their move.

Our motive this week is to bring the dead back to life, even our dead. Every week, we've wondered whether the motives can really be trusted. Alice has never offered proof. But this week, she could hardly make this offer if she didn't have the ability to follow through. If someone succeeded and she didn't bring them back, her bluff would be called.

No man left behind, she said. No man left behind, and when this is done, we'll be well. The playing God referred to - we assumed creating life, but I wonder if it isn't also averting death.

[for some reason, it's this asshole who pipes up from Adrien's shoulder:]

It's not completely outside the realm of possibility. Bringing people back from the dead isn't an easy affair, but with enough power at your disposal... Well, this ship has plenty of that.

Hey, it's not my fault electric sheep is a ref to androids? But frozen pods mean bodies or robots, p sure. Either seems like a fair guess.

[that is probably the most useful Adrien has ever seen Plagg be in his whole entire life, if the befuddled look on his face is anything to go by. s...till:]

Um. Alright. Why, though? If Alice-- River-- if she had the power to get rid of the aliens from the start, why make us go through this insane game in the first place? That's what I don't understand.

Probably... I wonder why they want or need hosts for, anyway? They seem more than powerful enough to hold their own against us without the body swaps.

[Looking at Plagg with interest. Sorry, Adrien, but you aren't as interesting to him as your magic cat that is obviously a demon bound to you in cat form.]

I take it you've experience, then. Typically, it is out of the realm of possibility for we mortals, or at least, advisable possibility. But if the Admiral believed it to be possible - do recall that the Furry Passing message we received included a man doing testing with his own dead wife, and the Admiral herself expressed hope she wouldn't be cross with him.

As for River, it seems they evade her notice somehow. She can kill them, but somehow only within the confines of this program. Maybe the program itself was set up to show River how to find them? Otherwise, as we've seen, they can survive even the death of the body they inhabit.

Yeah, I don't get that, either. The two we've seen so far seemed like they could've taken most of us out without any pretence, but even with the previous crew they played the long game. There's got to be a reason other than "being sadistic".

[his eyes narrow at that and he harrumphs, burying himself deeper in Adrien's collar.]

Maybe for your mortals. Your magic does seem to be on the weak side. Adrien, I'm hungry, when is this meeting over?

[he is a shitty cat through and through]

We just got here, stop picking fights. [he can't glare at his own neck but he can give a helpless shrug at Dorian] We did stop someone back home trying to resuscitate someone else, but that required a sacrifice, so... I don't know what he's talking about exactly. But with advanced enough technology, maybe it doesn't even require magic.

[anyway]

Can they survive? It took a lot to get him, I've heard, but the way people described that fight... whatever was possessing Rhys wasn't doing so well in his corpse.

[Raises an eyebrow for about one second at the blatant rudeness, before laughing. The fact that it insulted his magic just makes it more interesting.]

Does it seem that way to you? To me it seems that you can only use yours once per day.

[He should probably not be picking fights with the demon cat back, and yet he is.]

Typically sacrifice is how it would be done. Blood magic. But that's what we've been practicing here, after all. [Adding a slightly sheepish afterthought.] Well. Speaking only for myself, among present company.

I do think they believe us able to kill them. Bull was told to kill one to achieve a pardon, so presumably it can be done. But maybe this is the only way to extract them without the death of the host.

And that's once enough. This is the longest break I've gotten in ages, and if it wasn't for all you other folks and your attachment to murder, it'd be perfect.

Edited (PLEASE ASSUME 1/2 FOREVER I GIVE) 2016-08-11 03:00 (UTC)

Yeah... And if a whole shipful of them came, then why did they only act five at a time? I didn't think people did invasions in shifts...

She seemed to think it was pretty important, whatever it was, but who knows, she might've just gone nuts from being on a murdership and wanted to punish more people.

[adrien's life is suffering, and he's giving the stink eye to both Dorian and his cat, now]

All that aside, if reviving people is so easy, then why does it need to be specifically catching them post-murder? There's something that doesn't add up, but I don't think we know enough about the aliens or however this project work to guess.

They could be fridges for like food, too, but doubt it.

Me neither. Maybe it's something to do with what they're doing here, exactly? The wording was they "hunt" in groups, so... what if we think of it like an animal pack?

...Why are you in a suit.

[ adrien did you dress up for a meeting. actually yuno's wearing a black mini dress and thigh high boots so who is she to judge anyway?? but why. still. why ]

This is only a thought that I had, but I don't think it's impossible that it's them. I'm a little worried about the size, though... I thought maybe, it'd be human sized, but if it fits in the vent, what if it's really small?

[ like. what if it literally has to go inside you to possess you. that's terrifying. ]

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That Time They All Met in the CQ

corner room #1

terminals

team hallway update

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statue update

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