oo2. text + audio attachment.

[xerampelinae]

sometimes a prayer is only a voice in all the noise
maybe this one was meant for you

[ A file is attached; ]

! TRANSMISSION ERROR.
! TRANSMISSION RETRIEVED.
! CONTENTS FOLLOW.

[ MUFFLED, STATIC SCRATCHING. IT CONTINUES, FADING ENOUGH THAT OTHER SOUNDS BEGIN TO COME THROUGH: LOUD AND SHAKY, WET GASPS OF BREATH, AND THEN A MORE DISTANT, LOWER RHYTHM. THERE'S A BURST OF DULL CLICKING NOISES, AND THE SOUND BECOMES DISCERNABLE AS A MALE VOICE. ]

—red of clearing up your m—s. If you'd ke— on top of th— we wouldn't be in this —uation. They'd be —already.

[ A LOUD BURST OF DISTORTED NOICE, ELECTRONIC SHRIEKING AND DISCORDANT TONES THAT ENDS AS ABRUPTLY AS IT STARTED. ]

No, see, ca— in point. This shouldn't be dam— control. She should— happened at all. You were [ . . . ] —ing with your toys, distr—ted, and you coul— manage to fix— when it started. Now we— an accelerating —sue and I've had to get involved.

[ FUMBLED SOUNDS, FABRIC SCRATCHING STATIC AGAINST THE MIC AGAIN. FOOTSTEPS THAT GROW LOUDER BUT THEN TURN, GROW QUIETER, AND STOP. ]

You're done. Han— her, clear out your pets and— time for me to take ov— [ A SCREAM OF DISTORTION INTERRUPTING, HEAVY, CRACKLING STATIC. WHEN SOUND RETURNS, HIS VOICE HAS PITCHED INTO CONFUSION AND ALARM. ] What? Y— can't, you don't have th—

[ A LOW THUMP AND THEN ANOTHER SHRILL, PIERCING SOUND, RISING HIGHER AND LOUDER UNTIL IT DISTORTS INTO BEATS OF STATIC. BARELY DISCERNABLE THROUGH IT IS THE SOUND OF SCRABBLING, BOOTS ON METAL, UNINTELLIGIBLE SHOUTS THAT BEGIN TO TURN TO SCREAMS. THERE'S A MUDDLED FUMBLE OF STATIC AND THEN THE DISTORTION BEGINS TO FADE, THE SOUNDS OF HARSH BREATHING AND RUNNING FOOTSTEPS FILTERING THROUGH. A FEMALE VOICE, MURMURING DESPERATELY: ]

Oh God, oh— please, I don't— [ A SCUFFLE AND THEN A LOUD, CRACKLING THUMP. ]

there's a saying from my world that explains the way of the universe
it begins with 'all of this has happened before'

i can't find the source
and the interference you hear is audio corruption
but human suffering has a distinct resonance

is it too late?

Comments

[borndying]

Cheers, thanks, this'll definitely not make anybody panic before we've nailed down the coordinates.

( probably not the ideal representative of comms to respond first. probably the tenor of this response can be put down to a tendency to drink at work. possibly he is about to get a clip round the ear at work. )

[xerampelinae]

you're welcome
who is we

[borndying]

Cool.

'We' are Communications. You may know us as Captain Jawline's back up dancers.

[xerampelinae]

well i haven't seen your routine in full
how far are you?

[borndying]

Yeah, creepy downers don't get private dances at this club.

Not as far as we'd be if we weren't about to field a panic. Just guessing.

[borndying]

But hey, fuck it, who doesn't thrive under additional pressure.

[xerampelinae]

i don't think the intention of the message is to raise anyone's spirits

at least it's something real
panic
the cycle is about to end. how far are you?

[xerampelinae]

good question

[borndying]

We're close.

[xerampelinae]

i'm glad
what's your name?

[borndying]

Why?

[xerampelinae]

why not?

[borndying]

Harry Osborn.

[xerampelinae]

natasi

[cliver]

No, but it's entirely too early — and a tad callous, honestly — to speculate when people are in trouble.

[ take any negativity and airlock it xoxo. ]

[xerampelinae]

would 'too late' help them any more?

and besides
this isn't early.

[cliver]

Too late would do the opposite, and I don't think we should foster that kind of negative attitude.

[ryuuzaki]

[The voice is smooth and low and calm, and belongs to a young man in his mid-twenties.]

What's the rest of the saying?

[The click of keys is audible in the background; he's another one of those. Some areas of the ship are easier to triangulate in than others; Charlotte's post was a brief blip, a needle in a haystack, but they're digging it out. And Charlotte herself seems to need assistance.]

[xerampelinae]

it was only a question
you said no
i'm glad

[xerampelinae]

[ She sticks to text. She always sticks to text. ]

and will happen again

[cliver]

[ welcome to the after school outer space special. ]

Words have as much power as anything else here; that's all.

But I'm glad you're glad. It's important to keep hold of hope.

[xerampelinae]

spoken like someone in communications
do you know very much about the people in the transmission?

[ryuuzaki]

Eternal recurrence. The Wheel of Life?

[On a macro scale, he supposes this is true, and maybe even in specific relation to the ship, but on a more intimate scale, his interest is usually in putting a stop to things.

The keys continue to click at a rapid pace.]

[xerampelinae]

yes
and this place has its own clockwork
i hear ticking

or maybe that's just you

[ Mr. Takataka over there. ]

[ryuuzaki]

Ah, yes. I suppose that depends on when you've been hearing it.

[He sounds mild and resigned. The clicking continues apace. Would that he were a cartographer... but no, this small search would still have been exactly as much of a pain as it has been already. He'll return to the topic of the Wheel of Life momentarily, if the opportunity presents itself.]

Do you have the impression that there's any more human suffering in this specific scenario than what's come out in your results? They match mine, and mine match Clara's... and so on. We can all agree that this is the complete message, assuming that we make allowance for identical audio corruption...?