[voice] [locked to all player characters]

[ryuuzaki]

[You may know the drill: the low, calm, somewhat English-accented voice of a young man.]

This is Ryuuzaki, speaking for Communications.

From the viewpoint of network traffic, there are still no signs of any new arrivals this jump. The department will let you know if anyone turns up.

Those of you who have been monitoring the length of jumps: do you know how long this one lasted? Is it possible to tell whether or not we've moved at all?

Did anyone find new items in their lockers?

We can't check on the drive itself, but we can determine whether or not there's anything further to discuss.

[Talk of past jump drive malfunctions leads to concern about potential current ones... other than the usual. Or does the lack of new arrivals mean it's now functioning as it's supposed to?]

Comments

[ryuuzaki]

[Now he sounds slightly more troubled.]

Why were you worried? Is there something...?

[Something you know?]

[circumitus]

Nothing solid. It's conjecture, mostly, based on recent things said by Ward and Smiley. About the "clock" perhaps having something to do with the jumps...

[Her tone trails, her answer fading more into silent thought than anything actually helpful to anyone.]

[ryuuzaki]

[His emphasis on the first word is mostly for its significance.]

That clock.

If space and time are related, and the clock has stopped--

[He interrupts himself; his mind is working as much as Rey's seems to be.]

But last month's jump appeared to have been successful...?

If it wasn't, or if it was only partly so and this one wasn't at all, we might have the obvious problem. That's what concerns me right now. It's possible I should be worried about more. If that's what our red friend meant, after all of the ticking comments, how could he have known based on the information he had?

What are your thoughts?

[circumitus]

[While he talks, Rey has been thinking as well. Trying to put together the pieces she's collected so far based on what she knows now.]

Suppose it depends on how you interpret the information given to us by both parties.

When Smiley had said "the clock is stopped", he also seemed to imply to some that we will never see home again. Given what we know about the way the jumps influence dimensional shifts through wormholes, was wondering if perhaps whatever that thing in the White Room learned had something to do with whatever's changed this jump.

Ward had also elaborated that "the clock has stopped" did not mean a literal clock, but that the "path" planned for us is now gone. Though he didn't specify what path it meant exactly, figured that it may have something to do with finding a way around our ability to control it, as well as the jumps.

...

Again, this is mostly just conjecture.

[ryuuzaki]

It could certainly be a synonym for "things aren't going according to plan anymore."

As to the ability to return home... if he was referring to that, why did the subsequent jump seem to operate normally? Either way, I was under the impression that Ward thought it was more or less a good thing that the "clock" had "stopped."

It's not a good thing for us to go back to anywhere we've been. Arima might have had some appeal, once, but... that isn't an option anymore.