EPISODE 2: TOGETHER WE CREATE AUTHORITY (2)
Or turnips.
Scene 3
[[SFX: Glasshouse]]
X: So… I thought of something while I was feeding the mysterious insects that I potentially should not be feeding...
That button of Mom's I pushed? Maybe it somehow signaled or summoned the fleet.
I immediately retrieved it and took it back apart in the hopes that the signal would go dark and the approaching fleet would lose sight of us. Charlotte: Improbable. Ra is very hard to miss.
X: ...Thank you, Charlotte. How long until fleet arrival?
Charlotte: Approximately 25 minutes, 17 seconds.
X: Hmm. Could you run a report of our strategic options?
Charlotte: Aural receptors malfunctioning.
X: What? ...Are they really malfunctioning, or do you just not want to run the report?
Charlotte: Aural receptors malfunctioning.
[[SFX: Hydraulic whirring]]
X: Charlotte?...
[[SFX: Hydraulic whirring continues, getting farther away]]
X: Huh. Awesome. My only companion in the entire universe just left me here to face down 21 ships alone.
[[Thoughtfully]] Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse -- that she's gone from being independently willed to actively hostile, or that she could potentially be genuinely malfunctioning.
This is not the ideal time for either.
Good thing I have a questionably viable vacuum suit and this paring knife from the galley.
[[Headdesk, muffled voice]] Oh my gosh. I am going to die and some freaky dude is going to wear my skin as a suit.
[[SFX: Focus on glasshouse sounds]]
X: You know, it really is pretty in here. I should say that on the record. Just in case this is the last time I see it.
And for posterity or whatever.
It's easy to take it for granted sometimes, but the Cavatica is “of singular design”. Well, that's what Mom used to say. I just say it's beautiful.
The whole pod is built from delicate metal arcs and crystal panes, though over time the silver has turned to a motley of rust red, orange, and gold, and many of the crystal panes are stained green from the inside by a soft crush of lichens, mosses, and microscopic plants. The warm orange light of Ra pulses through it all like a heartbeat, and the roses and lemons and orchids make the air smell like a sweet living breath.
The aqueducts are lined with mossy stones and waterplants, veined over here and there with roots, and it's all quite lovely and soothing despite the creepy little fish gawking up at me from beneath the lily pads.
The aviaries are covered in vines and filled with delicate jewel-toned birds, and the paths to the terrariums lead over roots and under green tunnels of shadow and mystery.
There's even a swing, hanging from the maple tree at the center of it all, cobbled together from a flat bulkhead panel and an excess of electrical cording.
I'm sitting on it now, [[SFX: creaking swing]], looking over at the maple tree, which has a placard nearby that reads: Honorem Lutum Sanguine.
I asked you, when I was really little and asking questions nonstop, what that meant, and you said you'd tell me one day, when I was ready. I like to think you were planning on telling me right before you left, and you just never got the chance.
I know enough Latin to figure out that it has something to do with honor and soil and blood, but I still don't know what it means. What it meant to you.
Maybe that's just one of life's little frustrations -- we can never learn it all, and the more we learn, the more we realize everything we won't have time to learn.
When you left… [[brief pause]] Before you died, I don't know if you got to understand everything you wanted to. Or appreciate everything. I think it was probably more of a shock, and then nothing.
At least I have 20 minutes, a vacuum suit, and a welding torch. At least I can --
[[SFX: Blaring alarm]]
X: ...What now? [[Gets up off of swing]] Charlotte? !
Scene 4
[[SFX: Dash Core]]
[[SFX: Blaring alarm stops]]
Charlotte: They are calling on us.
X: Yeah, thanks -- I can see that. Though I think 21 ships in what appears to be some sort of strategic formation merits stronger and less anachronistic language than “calling on us.”
Charlotte: You misunderstand. They are hailing us via radio.
X: What? How? Our radio doesn't work. It never has.
Charlotte: I fixed it.
X: Oh. Is that why you left earlier?
Charlotte: Yes.
X: Thank you, I guess?
[[SFX: Background noise]]
Charlotte: ...They are hailing us via radio.
X: OH. I need to answer it. [[Pause]] Hey, don't look at me like that. A minute ago, I didn't even know we had a working radio. Let's see…
[[SFX: Clicking buttons, static]]
X: Ooh! I think it's working. [[Speaks into transmitter]] Yes! Hello?
E1 Comms: [[Scratchy-sounding feedback with disruption]]
X: ...Yeah, I have no idea what you're saying.
[[SFX: Intermittent bursts of static, weirdly musical whistles and hums]]
X: [[Whispers]] Charlotte, what do I do?
Charlotte: Please proceed swiftly and calmly to the communications pod and take cover under the main table in Conference Room B. Once there, hug your knees, tuck your chin to your chest, and wait for the appropriate personnel to retrieve you.
X: [[Mutters under Charlotte's instructions]] Oh my gosh.
E1 Comms: [[Scratchy-sounding feedback with disruption, interrupts Charlotte, then clears]] Cavatica, this is Enforcer One. Please ready your docking bay and prepare to be boarded.
X: [[Presses button]] Oh. Um. Enforcer One, this is Cavatica. No… thank you? [[Winces]] I mean, we politely decline?
E1 Comms: [[Slight pause]] Cavatica, this is Enforcer One. That was an order, not a request. Prepare docking bay for immediate boarding.
X: [[Presses button]] Ah. Okay. Well, we seem to be at odds here. Why are you under the impression that you need to board?
E1 Comms: [[Miffed]] ...Who is this? Who is your commanding officer?
X: [[Presses button]] I don't think I have one. Or maybe that means it's me? Why, who's your commanding officer?
[[Brief pause]]
Cpt. Miles Chen: Cavatica. This is Captain Miles Chen of Enforcer One. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply, we will not hesitate to use lethal force.
X: Ahhhh crap. [[Presses button]] Can't blame me for not wanting something called “THE ENFORCER” having anything to do with my ship, right? Hold on a sec. [[Turns]] Charlotte, do you think they're bluffing?
Charlotte: Aural receptors malfunctioning.
X: Seriously? Just... ugh. Just go to the galley and tell me what you see. Okay?
Charlotte: If you insist.
[[SFX: Whirring hydraulics]]
Charlotte: [[Distant]] The second-largest ship has extended a number of its protrusions, all of which are emitting light and rotating toward the Cavatica. The 16 fighters are doing the same.
X: Okay. That must be Enforcer One and the physical manifestations of said lethal force. What else do you see?
Charlotte: [[Distant]] The largest ship is a carrier called the Ares. Enforcer One is a Luhai-Class Destroyer, Registration number 0-alpha-451564-delta-3519…
X: No! Stuff that's, like, actually helpful! Like --
Cpt. Miles Chen: Cavatica, this is your final warning. We are preparing to fire.
X: [[Scuttles back to radio, presses button]] Wait, wait, wait! This is a research vessel, which means that we're unarmed. Isn't threatening to shoot us, like, incredibly unsporting of you? Against your… code of decency, or whatever?
Cpt. Miles Chen: [Miffed] ...Who is this?
X: [[Presses button]] Uhh, the sole survivor of a breakout of a very rare and dangerous disease. I have a genetic immunity, but if any of you come aboard, you'll probably all die immediately. Painfully. Screaming. In pain.
Cpt. Miles Chen: Our scanners have picked up no such anomalies.
X: This guy sucks. [[Presses button]] Fine! Have it your way. But don't come crying to me when your crew gets the… screaming… space madness.
Cpt. Miles Chen: What --
X: [[Presses button; frustrated]] Ugh, look, I'm surrendering, okay? We're unarmed, and we can't move or fight back, so you've got us. Don't shoot.
Also, the docking bay -- and everything else on that side of the ship, for that matter -- is dead. So if it appears that we're not complying, it's because we can't. You'll just have to get creative with your boarding processes.
Oh, and the airlocks don't work, either, so watch out for that.
[[SFX: Static]]
[[Brief pause]]
E1 Comms: Standby for boarding via remote connector.
[[SFX: Static]]
X: [[Presses button]] Oh, wait, just real quick -- what are your intentions? Why do you… Okay. I guess they hung up on me. Hey, Charlotte, could you -- ?
Charlotte: [[Distant]] Aural receptors malfunctioning.
X: Not a good time for that. [[Turns back to mic, blows out exasperated breath.]] Ugh. I feel like that could have gone way better. I'm not good at talking to people. Or lying, apparently. Could I have said something differently, maybe? Something that would have made them turn around and leave?
Charlotte: [[Distant]] Likely not.
X: Hey, I thought your aural receptors were… never mind. Well. If we're going to have visitors, I guess I should go get prettied up.
Scene 5
[[SFX: Inside vacuum suit, sounds grainy & enclosed]]
X: So, turns out a “remote connector” is 100% exactly what it sounds like -- a silicon hallway that snakes out of Enforcer One's hangar bay and seals up against the Cavatica's airlock. It's semi-translucent-ish and lit from within, though I can't see any activity going on inside.
If my voice sounds all mangled, it's because I decided to put on that second vacuum suit, just in case. It's weird -- mostly because I haven't worn shoes in a couple thousand days and I'm not used to having anything on my feet. I feel like I'm going to go sprawling with every step I take. Also, my vision is super limited by the suit's view-panel, and back in the atmo of the ship I sounded like a walking garbage bag.
At least here on the other side, I'm nice and silent.
That's right -- I'm on the “other side”, a.k.a. the majority section of the Cavatica that isn't supported by my jury-rigged life support system. The five pods that didn't make the cut. I haven't been over here since… well. Since everything started to fall apart.
Currently, I'm in the core hallway between the defunct cockpit and communications pods, crouched on top of one of those ceiling-high stacks of Caldwell Enterprises synthetic protein. Luckily, the ceiling here transitions into a big dark grid of pipes and beams about halfway up, so I think I'm pretty well hidden from anyone who might make their way aboard. For now.
I have a pretty decent view from here, too -- I can see the auxiliary airlock where the remote connector thingy has attached, and the docking mandibles are visible through one of the tempered-crystal viewports.
Now, wait a minute, I can hear you thinking. I thought you were going to permanently or semi-permanently seal yourself into the glasshouse pod.
You are not wrong. I just really hate waiting, and the longer I sat there, the more the glasshouse seemed like the obvious place for them to capture me. I felt like the cheese at the center of the rat maze. At least out here I might have some sort of element of surprise.
...Depending on what their scanners are able to detect.
...Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing. T-rexes and velociraptors I could handle, but “Jurassic Park” did not prepare me for a heavily weaponized fleet of ships or its abundantly humorless crew.
(Though if there are any dinosaurs aboard the Enforcer One, I am totally going to flee from them like a pro.)
Oh! Though -- small victory: I'm still breathing, which means that the vacuum suit I'm wearing works. Yay!
[[SFX: Silence & breathing]]
I am trying crouch up here all motionless, but my many, many days as a researcher haven't exactly imbued me with athletic prowess. I'm actually kind of starting to hope they get through the broken airlock door soon, just to get it over with. My legs are on fire (not literally) and I just realized I forgot to refrigerate the remainder of the cheese.