ａｕｄｉｏ

[uncurse]

Maybe it's just that I've done a crap job checking in with people since I got back—sorry, still getting my space legs back under me—but I can't shake this feeling like we lose more and more people who were around at the beginning each time the ship jumps. I mean, how many people remember the Cyllene at this point? [ Her voice tightens, like she's trying to sort through a quick tally in her mind. ]

I know some people have been keeping archives and crunching data, but I'm starting to wonder how much information about what's going on here we've already lost. [ Huff. That's a depressing thought. ] Couldn't help noticing how empty the whole place feels while I was patrolling. Or maybe that feeling's because people haven't been migrating downwards with each new jump. Consider this your reminder: SEC only consistently sweeps levels one to ten.

Comments

[uncurse]

Forty floors of rooms, but we tend to hover around the same number of people. People are getting spread out again. It didn't seem so quiet when we were almost all packed into the first ten floors, even as big as they are.

[overdraws]

How many floors are there, though? New ones keep getting added with every jump, but it has to stop at some point, right?

[uncurse]

Not added.

[ Not that she can see, but Emma shakes her head. ]

Decks 250-300 are written off as passenger quarters.

[overdraws]

Oh. [ That's actually a relief. ] So there's plenty of room at least.

[uncurse]

For about another ten jumps, at least.

[ But when they cap out at 50 ... ?? ? ? ]

[overdraws]

But there aren't as many people on the ships as there are rooms. So we should be fine. [ Pause. ] Right...?

[uncurse]

Oh, definitely. Two hundred rooms per floor, fifty floors—that's ten thousand people. It's just that our nanites are pre-programmed to the rooms we're assigned when we show up, so ... what happens to people who show up after jump 50?

[overdraws]

[ That hadn't ocurred to her, and Allison lets out a little gasp when she realizes. ] The jumps-- they might stop.

[uncurse]

Or they could cycle back through to 001.

[overdraws]

[ That's also a possibility Allison will concede to but-- ] Why? What if someone gets the same number as someone else that's already here? If the numbers are coded to the nanites and that's how the nanites keep us apart for security reasons, filing back to 001 would create a lot of problems. Like that Y2K thing.

[uncurse]

If you'll recall, we made it through Y2K. Whatever assigns the numbers could rule out numbers that have already been assigned. Someone has to be in charge of it, right? They updated the department heads' nanites.

[overdraws]

Could be the same person in charge of the jumps? Unless Ward and Resnik have other people they're hiding from us. [ Which wouldn't be hard, given the size of the ship. ]

[uncurse]

Could just as easily be Ward and Resnik themselves. They're in charge, right? Strictly speaking. If anyone's assigning nanite codes and upgrading department heads ... Something worth asking, if they surface again.

[overdraws]

Is there really no way to get ahold of them outside of when we're having a crisis they're not helping us with?

[ It's mostly meant to be rhetorical. ]

[uncurse]

Been a while since someone tried to do an open call and namedropped them. But who knows if they'd actually listen .

[overdraws]

Probably not.

[uncurse]

How'd you get so cynical so fast?

[overdraws]

I've had a lot of people in my life decide that not telling me things was for my own good. I've kind of come to expect it, now.

[uncurse]

Look. I get it. I do. I've been given a million reasons to believe the worst of people.

But lately, I've also been given a couple reasons to expect the best. It's easy to give in and let our bad experiences define us, but if we don't have hope, then things are never gonna change.

[overdraws]

[ A little quieter. ] ...There's always hope. [ It's something she's needed to be reminded of. ] You're right. I need to not be so angry about it. Sorry.

[uncurse]

You don't have anything to apologize for. I spent ten years being angry before someone helped me see another option.

[overdraws]

It's funny, I'm not usually the cynical one.

[uncurse]

Everyone has a breaking point.

[overdraws]

Yeah, but. I'm supposed to be stronger than this. If I let this get to me, then it gets to everyone else.

[uncurse]

Allison. No one's expecting you to be infallible.