Rebellion coordination! (psychic bridge II, Beastfolk --> humans, with a special guest)

[leftbehindagain]

Team space station, I have a special guest with me this time. If we want any chance of doing something halfway effective, we need to be as coordinated as possible as soon as we can. [This is not Naoki's first rebellion, after all.]

Acantha? We have about 20 minutes, this time - to get more people on the line I have to cut into the time I can keep these channels open. If you'd like to stay on the network after I have to drop the space station and talk to the rest of us, you're welcome to for the rest of the time I have on that.

(OOC: Up to thirteen Beastfolk-side investigators can join in this time, since Acantha's taking up one of the slots!)

Comments

[helborn]

... Wait, when did you get to space?

Ugh. Anyway. What do you need from us on the ground, space team?

[leftbehindagain]

Oh, neither of us are in space. I'm just trying to get some coordination done.

[helborn]

Oh... I got confused by 'Team Space'... sorry for taking up a spot.

[leftbehindagain]

Don't worry about it. Odds are there's still plenty of room.

Besides, if you want to help wreck this system, it's probably a useful conversation for you to be part of, so you know where to direct the wrecking.

[helborn]

I do. Just tell me where and when to hit. I'll take care of the 'how hard'.

[leftbehindagain]

That's part of what we're here to find out.

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah, I'm here.

[And very tired.]

[insidegalra]

[There isn't much time, so Acantha doesn't waste time with pleasantries. Still, his mental voice is gentle.]

You're on the station, then. Thank you for being willing to help. What's the situation up there?

[razorblade_empress]

They're doing a lot of presentations this week, lots of talk about their process and shit. Basically, trying to sell the audience on the technology and design aspects while conveniently leaving out the downsides. Which, incidentally, I've been doing a lot of reading about up here.

Speaking of which - you know a guy named Colin at all?

[insidegalra]

If they're even tentatively considering a kill-switch event, they need a lot of new... prisoners.

[His voice twists, having trouble coming up with a word that really fits the situation and not liking the lack of accuracy.]

Willing prisoners are easier to lead into their cells.

[Still unsatisfactory, but it'll have to do. A note of sadness creeps into his voice.]

Not well; I was... fast tracked, as it were. So he's disappeared suddenly?

[razorblade_empress]

Briefly. He's back now... partially transformed and helping sell the crowd on the joys of becoming a Mythic. Which I'm highly suspicious of given that last week he was telling me about the downsides and slipped me a memory card with a map of the station on it. I'm guessing he knew his days were numbered when he did that.

[insidegalra]

He's been unwilling for a long time... [there's a pause and a pained note] and faced the consequences. I'm glad he found his way to help others, even if he couldn't help himself. I'll get word to my allies, and see if they can rescue him while the producers are busy dealing with Home. It might not be possible, but there's a small chance.

Everyone's days are numbered, once they get picked for an actor. Some just fight it more, or fight it for longer. It takes bravery to stand up to all that. If you get a chance to do it secretly, tell him to hold onto hope a little longer.

[razorblade_empress]

I'll see what I can do.

One thing I did notice on the map was a set of unlabeled apartments and studios. I haven't poked around there too much because I'm probably being watched too now, but do you know what those are?

[insidegalra]

If it's the map your friend just mentioned... let me look.

[There's no response for a minute, while he gets the map in question from Claudia.]

Those are actors' apartments. The unwilling are housed in what amounts to cells, while some of the willing are given luxurious accommodations to keep them distracted. The studios are for training, both for actors, and for new Mythics. Foundlings know mostly how to walk and move because they're forced to learn it until it becomes muscle memory.

Having the location of those might help us free a few, or provide more evidence of Orwell's treatment of people in general.

[Acantha doesn't sound pleased by that. Grim resignation at best.]

[razorblade_empress]

[Yeah, she notices that tone.]

I'm guessing they're watched all the time.

[insidegalra]

Recorded, and often forced to watch it played back, along with critique. Those are kept away from the main network, but it's nearly impossible to keep things entirely separate in a place like the stations.

[He spits critique out like a curse, although his tone goes a little apologetic the moment after.]

[razorblade_empress]

So they get the trauma of being changed plus the trauma of having to watch their changed selves. To say nothing of the trauma from all the abuse they've gotten, and are still getting.

[She has the beginnings of an idea, if one she finds deeply repellent.]

[insidegalra]

And then it gets denied and erased.

[There's a silence.] In an ideal world, it would be the choice of the victim's whether or not it became known, but this world isn't. If revealing the truth stops further abuse...

[He hates it. But at the same time, it could save lives.]

[razorblade_empress]

Yeah.

[She's quiet for a long moment.]

I can probably hack into the feeds relatively easily.

[Her Spark overlay had very good at that sort of thing.]

[insidegalra]

It can be something we hold in reserve. I'd like not to have to do it, but having it ready just in case we need it is thorough planning.

[He'd like to avoid it so much, and knowing it probably will be necessary doesn't mean he can't try to hope.]

I will find a way to contact you somehow. I don't know if it will be agreed with, but I think a message from Home to the audience might sway them in our favor. If it happens, coinciding, or following it directly by definitive proof of Orwell's crimes might be necessary.

[razorblade_empress]

I've got copies of some documentation, but a lot of it's been buried or scrubbed. And I could see Orwell claiming it's all faked somehow.

Hopefully a message from Home won't be taken as part of the show.

[insidegalra]

They're likely to try that, but I'm afraid there isn't much we can do about their claims. Others in power may see an opening and back up the claims.

There are ways to make that less likely, especially if a different broadcast is overridden, or the message from Home uses the frequency for stationwide announcements.

[razorblade_empress]

Well, their security is frankly not all that great, so overriding one or more broadcasts shouldn't be that hard.

[Seriously, how had they not accounted for the possibility that someone might actually try the 'Drop Table' trick on their precious survey data?]

[insidegalra]

It's easy to become lax when most of the population only knows the most basics of user-end operation of technology.

[There's... well, it's not a sneer if only because it's too nice to be one, but there's a little bit of judgement in his tone.]

Can you lay some groundwork beforehand in order to be able to do an override short notice?

[razorblade_empress]

I can do that, yeah.

[She... may have done that already, actually.]

[insidegalra]

I'll find a way to contact you again when I have a better idea of a timetable.

If I don't, assume the worst and expose as much of Orwell's abuses as you can.

[razorblade_empress]

Okay.

[Hopefully it won't come to that, but...]

[capital_asset]

What do we know about how Orwell chooses to kill people down here?

[leftbehindagain]

Acantha said last time they have drones that can dose people with neurotoxins. I'd imagine they're contrlled similarly to the cameras.

[capital_asset]

Are they administered via the tower?

[leftbehindagain]

That I don't know, but someone else might. I wouldn't be surprised if they were, though.

[capital_asset]

If that's the case, then I wonder if we could do something with that...

[leftbehindagain]

Maybe we could. The real trick is getting out there without drawing attention and tipping our hand.

[capital_asset]

...I might be able to manage it.

[leftbehindagain]

I'd offer an Assist, but I can't get there unseen and have an overlay I'd rather not see dead to keep in mind. Good luck, though.

[Even an attempt is likely to make all this easier on everyone.]

[capital_asset]

And I don't know how long that would hold if you did it before I left. But thank you.

[He does have Swiftfox's Demesne that works similarly, but he's never tried that on himself to see if it works that way or not. Swiftfox had never needed to use it on himself.]

[insidegalra]

I'm here. Things are progressing with the plans I'm personally involved in. Does anyone else have news?

[claudiometer]

They're dropping a sandstorm on your heads sometime next week - don't know if anyone would've had a chance to pass that tidbit on.

Oh, and we got a map of this space station from some poor sod who's been dragged off to join the actor stables before they made off with him.

[insidegalra]

That's better than a tsunami or hurricane, at least. Thank you for the warning.

[There's sudden interest in Acantha's voice.]

Is there any way you could get a copy down here? Some things are kept out of sight, but if we knew where they were...

[claudiometer]

Absolutely. I'm not here for disaster porn, and even if this is the least bad choice, it's still gonna suck.

I can do you one better. [And then she proceeds to livestream the map, paying particular attention to the cloning lab, the memory alteration area, and the mysterious apartments they haven't had a chance to investigate.] You might be stuck memorising it, but for everyone else on the line it'll be here to dig up whenever - backreading the network's a pretty common thing - so making a copy is as doable as your materials allow.

[insidegalra]

If we succeed, it will at least be the last one that isn't entirely natural.

[There's gratitude in his voice]

I've trained myself to have as close to perfect visual recall as organically possible. Getting the information to my allies will be more difficult, but this is a definite start. Thank you.

[claudiometer]

There is that.

Oh hey good, a thing that might have a lasting impact after we clear out. Nobody on the stations deserves this bullshit either, but Home is the more immediate problem. [Which rarely stops the Travelers from wanting to help in other ways, so.] I don't know how much this map overlaps with the other stations, but it's better than going into any of 'em blind.

No problem, dude.

[insidegalra]

Freeing Home is the first step to freeing the Stations. Even if we could destroy Orwell, Swift, and all those who make profit out of the suffering of the people, they're still trapped if there's nowhere else to go. I believe Home will be happy to accept immigrants when the time comes, especially as there will be room to expand now.

I'm sure there will be some differences in the placement of different things, but the stations were all manufactured off the same specs, so detailed layout of just the walls and corridors is good.

[claudiometer]

That is a pair of very true things. I know we're not gonna be here nearly long enough to do everything that needs doing, but we can make a start, and we've had time to get good at this shit.

[insidegalra]

If things continue to go as smoothly as they have been, it will be more than a start. We folk will owe you Travelers more than our lives.

I don't suppose there could be a way to help you in return?

[claudiometer]

...There are at least as many answers to that question as there are of us. We're also grappling with something much closer to actual gods, which complicates matters even more - we're probably approaching a breakthrough, though. [You know, if some of the group attacking Tower to see if they could didn't ruin it.]

For me personally, knowing you guys will be slightly less fucked is enough.

[insidegalra]

I understand, but if anything should come up that we could help with, even if it's only a place to stay, know that we will do our best to provide.

[claudiometer]

Noted and appreciated, even if I don't know that taking you up on that would be practical.

[insidegalra]

I'll try to keep in contact if I can, through Thorne or someone else.