where have all the cowboys gone

[kaijuice]

Passengers: Silco + Inmates - (& Any interrupting Wardens)
Location: Dorms + Loading Bay + Storage + Vents
Date: During the Warden All-Hands Meeting
Summary: While the cat's away, etc. Starters in comments.
Warnings: Will edit as appropriate.


William's out the door, a reluctant straggler. Silco counts (one sumpwater, two sumpwater —) before clambering out of his bunk. There are certain advantages to a shared room, to a Warden who takes calls there.

So there's a meeting, is there?

"The first man to watch the Command hallway," Is abrupt, directed to the room about him. "Will be rewarded."

Silco pauses at the door, flips the collar of his coat up. An invitation to anyone within:

"I would not count upon this lasting."

He doesn't linger to see whether it's been taken.

Comments

LOADING BAY

[kaijuice]

The Bay doors open and shut. Sixty seconds, quite enough for the quick. The broken corpse of a cleaning robot litters either side of the door; the latest victim of slow and steady.

Further inside:

Silco hauls his arm back, and throws.

The sock full of sand is hardly a fastball. But it arcs high enough to touch the forcefield, startles out a wide white ripple of contact. Then some imperceptible difference as it begins to drift — further —

"I trust the principle is obvious."

His own knuckles are tight about the rail, bad eye cut aside to his companion. (Go on, try it.)

[rank1]

"Sure," he replies, weighing the other sock in his hand.

When he throws, it's an athlete's pitch, a real four-seam fastball. The sound it makes hitting the forcefield has him curling his toes in his sneakers. What if it broke? Would the whole ship crumple in the vacuum of space, sending debris shooting across the stars and their bodies spinning out, sucking the air out of their lungs? Would they make a sound? Like when you step on a cat toy, maybe?

This shit is so cool.

"You think it ever goes down?"

[kaijuice]

"The ship's power can be strained," Silco taps a finger against the rail — "They divert functions under stress. If we cannot engineer an asteroid field, there may be another way."

And so long as the door's broken, any disruptions can be scaled.

"Easier than hauling them over one by one."

Presumably. Whatever bizarre fortune shattered that blade, perhaps it also precludes the necessity of breath.

STORAGE

[kaijuice]

It's a desert of neutral bricks, opaque save for the occasional vat of something stranger, held alive and in stasis. Silco perches atop one: A vast, hook-beaked squid.

"Hurry," A hustled wave up — "Be ready to jump."

The high whine of automation sounds as the freight-pusher veers closer, its empty lift searching for the next palette.

[sanctus_dei]

Theo had trouble with all this physical movement, but he was scrappier than his current state let on. Spending years underfoot on a factory floor is a great way to build some fast reflexes. He decided to join on this part of the investigation since he just spent a few days in this warehouse, watching everything work, getting used to the rhythms and motions of the machinery. Last time he had been in here he had some very close calls, but he felt ready now.

"Yeah, yeah, okay--"

Once the lift swung close enough, he took the leap. It certainly isn't a graceful landing, but he managed to hang on, stepping to the side to leave room for Silco.

"Ya can't stay on these things too long, or they're just gonna try to file you away like a piece of freight."

VENTS

[kaijuice]

Now this is a thankless fucking job. Silco's only just narrow enough, shoulders squeezed at right angle to crawl.

"Can you see the map?"

The sound is muffled — and somehow stretched louder — by the tight space around them.

WILDCARD

[kaijuice]

[ hit me up with whatever, let me know if you need to discuss anything on plurk! ♥️ ]

Alex Mercer | OTA

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex had been reading in his bunk (he missed actual books) when Silco addresses the room at large. Pausing, he tilts his head to look out from his bunk. Before moving to slide out from it.

It doesn't take him long to figure out that something must be occupying the wardens in such a way that the other inmate thinks they'll be unsupervised for a while. How long a while? That was the question, hence the idea of watching the Command Hallway.

Hands going into his pockets, Alex shrugged and headed there. He'd take a 'turn' at least, until he got bored.

[So yeah, Alex'll watch the command Hallway for a little bit, but probably wander off after about 10 minutes if things last that long. He'll probably be in storage, trying to memorize the layout. Otherwise you can find him, boringly enough, in the Observatory. Got an idea? Hit me up. ]

ota!

[saklas]

Volk, not in the dorms, watches people scatter - he's catching them by coincidence, pacing back to get to the inmate restrooms.

"Wait, what's going on?"

[kaijuice]

He pauses a stride or two past Volk, fishing in a pocket for the bent edge of something -

Ah. A glinting little bar of metal, battered into clumsy shape, a tiny rectangle-end. Silco smooths it between a fold of his shirttail, eyes fixed on the vent in the ceiling above.

"They're busy." Volk deserves no less than the rest of them; he's at least been useful. "A meeting."

He slips the bar between his teeth, stretches to jump. The first attempt rattles the edge of the grate, fingers scrabbling for a hold. Not enough.

[saklas]

WHOA knife?? Volk backs up -

Oh. No, it's a ... what is that? It's not for stabbing, possibly?

"Wait, all of them? That's..."

Really, preventatively dumb? Very dumb.

Volk watches the jump.

"Okay, I'm not getting closer to you because you're unhinged, honey, sorry, but," He's not sorry. He measures the tempo of his thoughts by tapping his toe. "Do those vents go to the locked parts of the building?"

"there's one way to find out" aka k2 files the faq question she meant to a week ago at some point

[kaijuice]

"Then this would be a poor time to antagonize me."

Except: There's something in his mouth, so it comes out Thmphhs mmpgh prrm thmm a -

Another leap. This time, it catches. Silco hauls himself up on wiry arms, juggling the makeshift screwdriver into one hand. It's been too long since he's done this sort of thing, and his neck already strains red. It's a moment of working at the bolts before he manages,

"Presumably."

Some must be connected - directly, or by shared hub. There's one way to find out.

A screw pings loose to the floor, then another. Unhinged. The grate falls half-open, sends him down again. Silco rests on bruised elbows. Oh, for the stamina of youth; some things never leave you, but others only slink about for scraps.

"How badly did you want into the Med Bay?"

[saklas]

"Not worse than you, apparently, because I didn't hurt anybody."

Volk has switched over into his condescending, preppy, worst customer this pizza place has ever had voice. Where's your manager, Silco? Where is he.

"Have fun with this!"

He's going to start walking off.

[kaijuice]

As if that's something to be proud of. Silco rolls his eyes. It's very dignified -

It's a pity that Volkhov's left the dorms. It makes it substantially more difficult to plant one of the screws on him. That doesn't mean that he won't try, at breakfast tomorrow. Some things never leave you: Sleight of hand is one.

And until then he's just going to lie here on the floor for a minute, as is also very dignified.