Reverie

We should start keeping track of the missing.

[That's two more good friends, in the span of a couple of days, and the loss isn't easy to push through. But it's not time to get sad, or scared. It's time to get angry, get moving, get ahead.

Someone had once suggested they were going home, all of the vanished people. But no matter how hard she hopes, Clara just can't make herself believe it. Things don't work that way. Why would their captors just toss them back, like lucky fish? It doesn't make sense.]

I've got a few working theories, but none of them are very nice, so I'm open to suggestions.

[There's a woman with dark hair and almond eyes waving at the camera in greeting. Somehow even in that awful uniform she manages to look elegant and composed... and maybe just a little mischievous.]

I have a surprise for you. Pay attention even if it seems like old news. The details are still important.

[That's all the warning people are going to get before Elektra plays this footage for everyone. Only once it's done the camera focuses back on her face.] Don't say I never contributed anything to the cause. You'd be surprised how long it takes to find something even remotely interesting around here.

[She waves one last time.] Enjoy your puzzle piece. [The feed ends here.]

hey

raise ur hand if youve been abducted by aliens before

cool

now lower it if youve escaped

now use ur hands to tell me how

and for those of you not flapping ur hands around: dont let this shit get to you. its 101 bullshit. theyre probably studying longerm effects of isolation or systematic community building on a nonorganic environment or whatever bullshit the mad scientist of the week cooked up. social experimentation. the fucking showtunes are making it pretty obvious.

i mean has anybody been experimented on yet?

physically. i mean physically. blondie is probably torture but not what im talking about

ps: who the fuck took my name. do i got fans here? if yes: youre fucked up. i should not have fans. look at bludhaven if u need somebody to feel warm and fuzzy about

( Clary can't sleep. That isn't new, but thanks to the steady application of an Endurance rune she doesn't quite look like the walking dead yet. In fact, her stele turning up has been a godsend. Nourishment to stop her having to eat the weird replicated food, Stealth so that she can wander the halls at all hours, and Soundless so that no one hears her scream if she finally gets a few hours sleep before the nightmares come. But runes can't really help her state of mind, and there's only so much she can do to stop herself going crazy.

Which is what drives her to the network in the middle of the night, thoughts going round in vicious circles. )

if you could wish for one thing in the whole wide world, what would it be?

( Grief isn't new, not to Clary. Each person that gets taken from her is another chip in her heart. But she's used to doing something. With Simon, she'd forced the others to bury him so that he could come back. With Jocelyn, she'd killed the demon who took her. With Jace, there should have been a wish.

If whoever brought her here had waited only two more minutes. She was so close. But now she's here. And he's dead. And in the dark of artificial night she can't put on her cheery smile anymore. )

What if you knew that it was the only one, in the history of all wishes, and that using it would mean it was gone and no matter who might need it down the line it's been used up, would you still take it?

( Jace will be long dead by the time she manages to get home. If she manages. But she spilt blood, Raziel owes her. There's still a chance. )

[The camera is set a few feet away, so both Mike and the Command Deck video screen fit in view. He speaks with an easy authority, a man used to leading meetings.]

As many of you have probably heard, after the door to the Command Deck was breached video logs of the previous crew were discovered. Many of them are corrupted, and a lot of them that aren't don't seem to have any real substance - they're just the day to day operations of the station - but we have found one that's different.

[He leans, reaching out to something just out of view, and suddenly the large video screen comes to life. Mike turns slightly to watch with the camera.

A woman orders one crew member to contact mission command. She then informs mission command that they are about to begin test zero-zero-five and to stand by. The crew clearly knows the protocol for running this test; various crew members call out their tasks, from slowing the rings to a stop (after which gravity ceases on the command desk and presumably everywhere on the station) to initiating drive.

There is a tense moment. A crew member keeps calling percentages: “Drive at five percent. Drive at ten percent.”

Eventually: “Drive steady at 60 percent. Steady -”

Several consoles beep. “Drive failed.”

The woman contacts mission command again: “Be advised. Test zero-zero-five failed after a climb to 60%.”

The video comes to and end and the screen winks to black. Mike looks back at the camera.]

As best as we can tell, the woman giving the orders is the same "Ghost" recently recorded and posted to this same network. Clearly, they were running experiments here. For what end? The videos don't say. But given the state of things.... Bets are they didn't end well.

Hello everyone.

Recently I found something in my room. It seems to be some sort of diagnostic tool that can connect to the consoles. Most of them are missing a lot of data, and some are malfunctioning, but I did learn a few useful things.

First, the consoles and life support systems were reactivated the same day we woke up. A significant amount of data is corrupted, so the tool didn't give me a current date, only the number of days since then. It seems like the station was shut down completely before we arrived.

Second, the last time those systems were fully functioning was 2654. It didn't give me a month, and I don't know how long ago that was, but it is a baseline.

[Not a very pleasant one for her, but it's something.]

The good news is, the life support systems seem to be running properly. It hasn't picked up any issues.

[yes, you read that right. guess who doesn't give a shit which device he grabbed this morning. it also probably doesn't help that he has almost hit double figures for the number of times he's ended up falling out of the bed during the night. they really need to move to a family suite soon.]

One door open. A couple of hundred more to go. Till the techs manage to get through all the systems we got access to on the command deck, the rest of us are stuck sitting on our hands.

I got my own ways of staying busy. Kind of wondering how long it'll take before one of you decide to do something stupid to keep yourselves occupied too.

[okay, no. this isn't what he wanted to use the network for. he has a question to ask, whether he likes the answer he gets or not.]

While I've got your attention, anyone here got any experience with computers? Ones that aren't necessarily made of metal and plastic.

[no he's not going to explain why. helpful, right?]

People have been vanishing. Not many, not often, not at a volume where we've noticed quickly, but a small number of the ones who initially arrived here have simply disappeared. They've been vanishing since before the doors into space opened, and at enough of a rate that we'd notice the diminishing number of suits if they were all falling off the station into the black.

Initially I had assumed it must be because this place is dangerous. If that were the case we should be tripping over the corpses by now. We clearly aren't.

[ The camera filming is the one from the console in the wall of the garden, the one that Haru put together. It shows Amos, fingers brushing along the plants hooked together along the wall. He has a smile on his face, and his touch seems incredibly gentle, his lips parted as he looks at the greenery. ]

Have you ever seen something more amazing? These plants are keeping us alive. Literally. Scrubbing up the air we breathe, putting it back out as something we can use. They take so much work, so much patience, so much knowledge. To keep them alive, help them grow. So amazing.

[ He stops, his face closing up all of a sudden. His jaw ticks with a muscle under the beard, and his hands turn into fists. He pulls away from the wall. It seems like a sudden change in mood, something like a switch has been flipped, all of a sudden. His posture tenses, his eyes start stinging. ]

This place is killing us. It's - it's killed my friend, already. He's more than a friend, really. He's my brother.

[ If you've met Amos, had a chat with him, you might realize that this video is pretty... well, unlike him. He doesn't seem to really recognize that fact, though, looking straight at the camera with his eyes slightly teary. ]

Be careful. This station does shit to us. [ Pause. Amos wipes at his eyes. Sniffles. ] Oh and by the way, guys, it's a station, not a ship. Don't make me say it again.

[ He doesn't sound angry, even when he says this, tired of having to repeat himself. There's a suspicious complete lack of anger throughout the whole entry. ]

Seriously, we need to get off this barge. All of us. If you think there's nothing you can do, I promise you, there is. We gotta work together.

[ a broad man with a black hoodie pulled on over his jumpsuit appears on screen as if he’s been prodded out in front of the camera with a stick and the reality isn’t so different. there’s a dark purple ring around one of his eyes and he clears his throat nervously, gaze wide and wild as he holds his communicator steady. the backdrop of his room - identical to every other room on the station - can be seen from where he’s perching on the edge of his bed. ]

Something happened… something everyone should probably - see.

[ the picture turns to focus on a young girl sitting beside him like she grabbed his wrist and turned it forcefully. (frank doesn't react to this treatment.) the girl might be recognizable to some as that tiny teenaged girl who keeps inviting everyone to sit with her at every meal. she tends to make an impression even without the big personality, dark hair, eyes, skin, and long nose. (the rambling helps too.) she brushes her dark waves out of her face, determination written all over it. ]

They definitely have to see it, Frank! [ she insists for what sounds like the hundredth time, taking a deep breath to start her explanation. ] Okay so backstory before we show this. I live next door and heard Max barking so I rushed over to see what was up like a responsible neighbor and caught… that. To be honest I wasn’t sure it was real until I started recording. Whatever it- or whoever it was I guess is more accurate. All I know is that it was real enough that Max was spooked by it and obviously us. You’ll have to help us figure out exactly what we saw so… yeah. Let’s roll the tape and see what you guys make of her.

Her. Yeah. [ christ. frank turns so that he can film her communicator and the picture focuses on a video that starts broadcasting in a hologram. at first it’s just shakycam and a dog barking, but then the woman can be seen on screen. she’s wearing a deep blue jumpsuit, the same as theirs with the reverie terminal insignia on it. she’s maybe 50 years old at the most and stands ramrod straight, hands clasped behind her back. frank had immediately clocked her as military, or whatever the space equivalent is. she seems to lock eyes with the screen before proclaiming: ] Be ready to initiate lockdown. [ it’s audible as Max’s barks slowly peter out and kamala speaks up in the background of the video. ] I see her. So does the device.

[ a knife comes hurtling from offscreen and sails through the image of the lady ineffectually, hitting the far wall and dropping to the floor in the same instant she blinks out of existence. the video closes and frank and kamala both squeeze into the frame of the present video now. ]

Seems like some sort of recording, to us anyway... [ he shrugs. ] We figured you guys know more about space shit than we do, though. [ thus the sharing. ]

So if you're watching this, make sure to share it with everyone you've met or know since some of you have your friends here. Together we can totally figure this out.... but, mostly share it with the space people since this is probably a space thing. Bye! [ ...end scene ]

[ The video opens to Amos munching on what looks like one of the protein bars the fabricator seem to produce by the dozen. He's looking straight at the camera - this is no mistake broadcast, he learned from the best how to do this - and half of him is in the frame. ]

People keep on asking me about this stuff once they realize I've lived in space a while, so I'm just going to share my wisdom with you all so I don't have to say it a million times again.

[ He stands, the angle of the video changing as he grabs the communicator he borrowed from Alex to broadcast this. As it moves, it pans over what looks like a very large shortgun type of weapon. It ends up points towards Amos's lower body, more specifically, his boots. ]

Okay, first off, keep your mag boots on. Sleep with them if you can. To engage them, lean back on your heels, and walk like you're wearing pumps. Heel first, then toe.

[ He demonstrates on camera. How does he know how to walk in pumps? Who knows?

He turns the communicator back up towards his face, after a few steps. ]

Second, if you feel nauseous when you're walking around the station, try to see if you're walking spinward or counter-spinward. As in, if you walking with the spin of the gravitation rings or not. Walking against it is going to make you feel worse.

Third, don't eat too much, but don't forget to eat, either. Sounds basic, but you'd be surprised.

[ He almost adds that coffee is not a form of food. ]

Fourth, make use of the fitness area on deck 4. We're not at full gravity here, and in space, you lose muscle mass very fast. If you don't want to turn into a noodle, weightlifting and cardio.

Fifth, stow your gear. There are all of these compartments in the crew quarters, don't leave shit hanging around. Anything can turn into a weapon if we suddenly lose gravity, or if it turns out that this barge can do maneuvers. You don't want a mug coming at your face at 4-g.

[ Seriously, stow your gear, people. It's not that hard. ]

Sixth, don't use the sealant guns without gloves. This shit will glue your hands together. Be smarter than that.

[ He resumes eating his protein bar. ]

That's the most important points I wanted to make. Now, if you've got specific questions, shoot.

[ he hesitated over even making himself known on the network, but really everything is going to shit so why not add fuel to the fire? not that he thinks his contribution will be all that controversial, really. underneath all the gruffness, frank just wants people safe at his core. so here is what he has to say on the roster matter: ]

I volunteer to be Waste Disposal Chief. That is if no one else wants it.

Other than that I think Mako is right. Not like anyone asked for my opinion.

[ and yep that's it that's the post. he has officially made himself Known on the network. all for the opportunity to be trash man. #thepunisher everyone. ]