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[eripui]

Boy, that was a close one! That gas formation was a clever trick.

Hello there.

I know I've already spoken to some of you—I had hoped to do this individually—but it appears we need to move things along more quickly than we'd realized. That ship of yours seems eager to shake us, and we simply can't let that happen.

My name is Lina Barnez. The rest of the team and I have been working on contacting the Tranquility for some time. Unfortunately, our tech isn't perfectly compatible with what you're running on. It hasn't been easy, but we're managing. I don't know how long we'll have.

We're here to help you, but in order to do that, we'll need you to help us. You've been through a lot on this ship: it's a miracle so many of you are still with us. We'd like to make sure you stay that way, but we can only do that if you're completely honest with us.

We know about the events on Strela, the Cyllene and Arima, as well as the Scylla. What happened to those poor people was not your fault, and you have my word that we have no plans to hold you responsible for those events.

But we need to work together to make sure it doesn't happen again. The more you tell us about what's been going on aboard the Tranquility, the more we can do.

[ NOTE: All conversations will be cut off before too long by the engines suddenly powering back up, and the jump alarm sounding to alert characters to proceed to medbay immediately. ]

Comments

[refracti]

[There's a pause. Something in his expression seems distracted, derailed from the anger of before, and he seems to retreat slightly from the camera.]

Strela was a ghost story.

[circumitus]

Our being there would indicate otherwise. What do you know of Strela?

[refracti]

Same as everyone. Word was there was an accident there. Critical failure of life support systems, a few explosions, no longer habitable. [A beat.] But some people would say it was something worse. And they were hiding it.

[circumitus]

Strela was quite habitable when we last saw it -- if you disregarded the hivemind and their inclination to assimilate you into their collective.

Doesn't make sense. Why would this Van Rijn destroy Strela?

[eripui]

He didn't. It had already been destroyed, like all the rest.

[circumitus]

Has this happened anywhere else, or just the locations we have visited?

[eripui]

These particular phenomena seem isolated to areas that come in contact with the Tranquility.

[circumitus]

...And in contact with your lot, it would seem.

[eripui]

No, I'm afraid that is incorrect. We have yet to successfully prevent a disaster involving phenomena associated with the Tranquility while it is happening. This is something we are working on, in order to prevent it from happening again, you see. At this time we simply don't have enough information.

[circumitus]

All things considered, it's likely you know more about what is going on than we do. After all, isn't your prime minister the one who helped build this ship?

[eripui]

[ By now the jump alarms are sounding. ]

The prime minister, building a ship, you are quite too funny! :) He is an intelligent man but to my knowledge he cannot build ships.

[circumitus]

...

Point taken.

[Pause.] But it is supposedly his ship, yes? Shouldn't you all already know what the Tranquility is capable of?