ataraxion | [ video ] broadcast from the hangar deck

[ Good morning, Tranquility. If you hadn't been down to the hangar deck yet then over Hotspur's shoulder you're getting a glimpse of what it's like. A cavernous space, designed much in the same style as the rest of the ship, full of thick shadows and plenty of dead air space stretching out towards the elevator platforms. It's largely deserted – Hotspur has a bad habit of working the night hours, regardless of however creepy it is down there – except for the sleek hulks of shuttles in various states of disrepair. Post-jump, Hotspur looks animated, excited; he knows each jump is getting them a little closer to where they need to be – and if it's bringing in new potential crewmembers then all the better. ]

Hey, crew. How are we all doing? I know a whole bunch of you have had friends and family from back home turn up in the latest jump so I just wanted to check in – have we had anyone from Midgard Corps turn up? [ He's hopeful; gods, he's so freaking hopeful, it's written all over his face. ] Anyone from the Asgardreid? Hell, if there are any kind of pilots brought in from the new jump from anywhere it'd be good to have you down in the hangar decks. Flight engineers, too. We got a whole load of busted birds down here and I reckon we'd be doing a world of good if we got 'em all fixed up and flight ready. If anyone's interested then take the purple elevators and come find me – Hotspur. I'm filling in as flight officer until the rest of the old crew returns.

[ Yeah, crew returns. That's exactly what he believes is going to happen here. And then, because he really wasn't paying attention to the creepy door while he was busy being disappointed at the stowaways: ]

Talking of which, did anyone figure out who wrote 'hello' on that door?

[ ooc note : open to action tags if people would like to come and explore! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Still trying to figure the door part out. The options aren't exactly believable or comforting, honestly.

Oh yeah? I didn't even know we had 'options'. What are they so far?

'Theories', then, not options.

It could have been a message left by Ward and Resnik to put us in our place. Let us know they're watching us. Or it could have been left by someone else on the ship, possibly the one responsible for everything that's happened so far.

...Someone's thought that the ship may be sentient.

[ there's a heavy pause as Hotspur quietly processes the theories. The first one unsettles him; Hotspur is the type of man who falls very easily - and very comfortably - in to military structures and the idea that either the captain or the chief engineer would do such a thing sits badly with him. The second is preferable, but Hotspur's not so naive as to favour one idea over another based solely on what he might or might not like.

And the third is just plain intriguing. ]

Sentient? How so, like an AI? Or - or like an organic creature?

I'd say both. Something between the two, maybe? I don't really know.

[She frowns at the communicator. She wishes she could reason it better in her mind.]

Probably more of the former than the latter. I don't see how the ship itself could be entirely organic.

[ Hotspur hadn't been aware that he had been holding his breath but as Re-l finishes speaking he releases a sigh of confusion. On his end of the audio feed he can't help but cast a wondering glance at the raw walls of the hangar bay; he'd always thought of the ships he piloted and inhabited as living creatures. Hell, there'd been times in the middle of particularly fraught dogfights when he'd swear that his ship had responded in a way that only a living creature could. He'd always found the idea comforting. ]

I guess organic would - well. A ship that wants to repopulate it's own crew by pulling them in to replace the old one kind of makes sense on an emotional level. Still, it'd surely have a better way of communicating with us then just writing 'hello' on a door.

That's why I don't really believe it was the ship. I think it was someone around here and I'm not exactly keen on the idea of some unknown wandering around. Ward and Resnik have been silent; bringing it up to them would expose our wanderings.

[Damned if you speak, damned if you're silent.]

And why would the ship insist that everyone who's not organic become such?

The captain and the chief have been silent 'cause they're as in the dark as we are, as far as I can tell. And if we actually discovered something, something definite, I don't reckon they'd be too upset with a little wandering around. [ Hotspur speaks slowly, cautiously; he really doesn't want to distrust Ward and Resnik but he similarly doesn't want to give Re-l any reason to distrust him in being too supportive of them.

But her question leaves him troubled and briefly quiet. In the small silence that he lapses in to he shrugs before heaving another suppressed sigh. ]

I don't know. All I can think is that if the ship is organic, it doesn't have to make any more sense than the rest of us. It can be as emotional and needy as it likes. Maybe it just likes have a crew to keep it safe. Family, y'know?

[ video ] broadcast from the hangar deck

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