[from the Empress of Moths, amidst system malfunctions and strange portals]

[morbirdinterest]

I have been investigating the new portals using some skills from a previous Jaunt. Two things have revealed themselves to me, which may be of interest.

First, my Control Panel returns a reading of "extra-system access loci" when I use it near a portal. This suggests to me that some entity other than the Trumps is creating, and likely using, these portals.

Second, and quite coincidentally, while activating my Control Panel in a secluded part of the Empress, I discovered that there are dead bodies in the reactor. Eight of them.

Comments

[mysunnydisposition]

Okay, well this just turned into some kind of horror movie. Great!

I'm... guessing there aren't conveniently eight people missing from the Empress' passengers?

[ That wouldn't be better, but it would be... part of an explanation, at least. ]

[morbirdinterest]

Ho ho ho... Even if there were, how would we tell? There is no guarantee that a reliable passenger manifest even exists, considering the circumstances of our departure from Gehenna.

[mysunnydisposition]

Wishful thinking that someone might've been keeping track of these things. I guess it's a little harder now that half of everyone's running around Liminal Space, but still...

[ Sigh. ]

Can you at least tell what species the bodies are?

[morbirdinterest]

I would have to get close to the reactor once again to get such detail, I think. And I am reluctant to do so without good cause. What do you think such information might reveal?

[darkhourdear]

So THAT's what they meant.

When I talked to the ship, they talked like there were multiple things as as a part of them and they mentioned some of them were dead. They can't tell the difference between the ship and the dead people anymore, I think.

[mysunnydisposition]

No, don't get hurt just to check it out, I just wondered if you could tell from where you are. I was just thinking...

The Empress wasn't built by anyone on Gehenna, right? And they don't know who did build it. Figuring out who they were might give us a hint about how long they've been there. Or who put them there. Eight seems a little much to be an accident.

[morbirdinterest]

Fascinating... Of course, it is also possible that the corpses are part of the ship and there is no meaningful separation between the two anyway.

[darkhourdear]

I don't know for sure, but I think they're the old crew? They kind of referred to themselves as 'the ones who wore the ship'. And for why they died, the ship say it was "the disruption of chemical reactions precipitated the accelerated breakdown of natural processes." Thorium and platinum. Braig said the two can be combined but he doesn't remember what they do, and other people say thorium is radioactive.

[darkhourdear]

I don't think it was always that way. I kind of got the impression that they used to be the crew.

[morbirdinterest]

[After also picking up what Phillip tells Steph]

Oh, undoubtedly. Though the cybernetic technology of this world, combined with the fact that the bodies are all in the reactor and in such great number, make me wonder about the exact nature of their relationship to the ship. "Wearing a ship" seems to imply a closer relationship than simply walking the halls, as we do.

[darkhourdear]

[oh. Phillip hadn't think about that.]

I guess so. I thought they were just being cryptic, but if they were in the reactor...

[which brings back his old question: how do you wear a ship?

...It sounds kind of like it needs a punchline, really.] Can you tell anything else about them? I have Control Panel too, maybe if we both tried...? I think all the people with Assist are infiltrating, unfortunately.

[morbirdinterest]

Interesting... From what I recall, that sounds very similar to the results of radiation sickness.

And I agree. It is quite possible that eight people have died inside the ship over the course of the Empress' dormancy. But all eight in the reactor? I am disinclined to think of it as mere coincidence.

[morbirdinterest]

I was not able to glean any information other than their exact number. It is possible that a longer study might yield more information...but I am reluctant to do so, given the danger of overexposure. And I am not yet convinced that we might learn anything that is worth the risk.

[darkhourdear]

Yeah. That makes sense. [Hm. There has to be another way around this... time to ask the ship more questions!]

[morbirdinterest]

If I may ask, how did you speak with the ship in the first place?

[darkhourdear]

Magic. I have a spell where I can talk to objects.

[seventhbullet]

Well, isn't that a thing. Couple of things. At least eight things.

Out of curiosity, do you know what kind of reactor it is? Are the bodies stuffed in it part of the process?

[He's seen weirder.]

[mysunnydisposition]

...you talked to the ship. Okay. Maybe you could have mentioned that before...

Still seems weird that they'd all be in the reactor... but at least that means no one from this group died without us noticing. That'd be a whole other problem.

Did it - they - tell you anything else?

[darkhourdear]

I did. [sort of. he brought up stuff they told him before??? it totally counts. it doesn't count.]

Nothing important, I don't think? They're kind of cryptic. The ship's originally from a place called the Creche, and the language it's name was in was Planetes.

[morbirdinterest]

Indeed.

The reactor is totally unfamiliar to me, and I have no real explanation for how or why the bodies are in the reactor. I have some speculation based on what Phillip has shared...but that is all.

[morbirdinterest]

[Magic! Feh.]

...Intriguing. Well, it has certainly proven useful here.

[mysunnydisposition]

[ It really doesn't, Phillip, but she'll let it go. ]

'Creche' like... for kids? Like a daycare? That's a weird name for a planet. Or a system or... whatever.

[darkhourdear]

Is that actually what it means? I guess that's why Kyan tried to send me to the kids area on the Empress...

Maybe it's not even a planet or a system. I don't know. For all I know it's a company, or something.

[mysunnydisposition]

Yeah, it's like a... day care or something. They used to have one at the hospital where my mom worked...

Anyway.

I guess grilling the dead people about it isn't really going to get you any more answers about where they're from, huh? Though... maybe ask them about the portals, if you can. Maybe they've seen them before. Or if they're part of the ship now, maybe they'll know something we don't.

[accordance]

What species of dead bodies?

I could try divining them, but my Sight is unnaturally clouded.