Mid-late Week 3

[brokers]

[The broadcast goes out in the latter half of the third week of mass markings. Liara's voice is likely familiar, but where her telepathic communication is usually crisp and clear, this time it has an odd, echoing quality, almost as though she's livestreaming a recording of speech. There isn't much by way of inflection - it sounds, perhaps, as though she's reading from a screen, or repeating something over-rehearsed.]

I am certain that by now, most of you have seen the media room that makes up the third stage of this iteration of Liminal Space. It is a reproduction of a portion of a place we refer to as Moebius, and the location of the first Jaunt the oldest of us remember.

The computer banks within that room do not hold information about the Jaunt itself. They do not hold information about our captors. They only hold records of our own deaths. I would...

[There's a brief skip, as though the connection has faltered, though there's no evidence of disruption.]

I would strongly advise everyone to leave them alone. And whatever you do, do not attempt to Interface with them. The accounts are quite intimate.

Comments

[itsananimalthing]

Seconding this. I did the same thing. Anybody wants a cleaned-up version, instead of the servers direct, I'll be around.

[Reading between the lines of that statement: he'll be hanging around the media room to actively prevent people from interfacing on a whim. If they can take a preview version from him, then maybe. But otherwise, he'd rather not traumatize half of liminal.]

[Action]

[brokers]

[Liara's still in the room, though the spooled tension in her frame and the blue-violet glow of the barrier that had only faltered when she'd actually Interfaced with the system are indication enough that she'd rather be anywhere else. Her scales are dull, and though she's no longer weeping, the flesh beneath her eyes is still dark and slightly swollen.

She snaps the display on her omni-tool off now that her broadcast has been sent - and it had taken more tries than she cares to think about to get through the recording without her voice breaking.]

I am not certain whether to hope you do not have any takers, or to hope the voyeurs at least have the self-preservation to accept your offer.

[itsananimalthing]

Or I could just hit 'em until they give up.

[Riddick can be pretty straight-forward, sometimes. He's watching her, though, rather than the rest of the room. After a beat, he holds out a hand.]

C'mere.

[Private]

[morethanashadow]

It's that bad? [yeah guess who kind of wanted to interface the servers after liara said it.]

[Private]

[itsananimalthing]

It's that bad. You really wanna experience somethin' like fifty deaths, one right after the other? That's what it is. You feel like you die. Over and over.

[fruitknife]

That sounds pretty fucked up.

What's an interface?

[brokers]

A method of direct data transfer with a computer system, or with another person.

[The reply is clipped, clinical, but lacks the echoing quality of the original broadcast.]

[fruitknife]

Oh, from that Grid place? [That makes a lot more sense.

He'd ask why anyone would want to do that with an unknown computer, but... probably the same reason Mitsuru's grandfather thought experimenting on Shadows was a great idea. People can be really, really stupid if they think they'll learn something cool from it.]

[ayiyiyi]

They're keeping records of our deaths?!

[brokers]

Yes. Very...detailed records.

[Understatement of the century, right there.]

[ayiyiyi]

[Understatement that it is, Xena can still see that it's troubling her - and tell that those records can't have been easy to process]

Are you alright?

[mysunnydisposition]

...well that's not encouraging.

When you say our deaths, do you mean... just the deaths that happened during Moebius? Or everyone's deaths, from all the jaunts?

[brokers]

All of them, from the very beginning.

[mysunnydisposition]

Great. Awesome. Not at all creepy.

Are you okay?

[solvethepuzzle]

[How fortunate that others have spared him the trouble of having to do it himself.]

Oh my. That sounds deeply unpleasant. All of our deaths from the beginning, then?

[brokers]

Or perhaps from this round of their game. They certainly predate anything I can remember.

[solvethepuzzle]

How long ago is it that you remember?

[private - protected]

[fearinahandfulof]

Liara? Where are you?

[private - protected]

[brokers]

I am in the media room. Riddick is also here. We could...

We could use some assistance ensuring that no one is foolish enough to ignore our warnings and attempt to Interface directly with the servers.

[And she could use the reassurance that her friend is still here, and still intact.]

[private - protected]

[fearinahandfulof]

[She'd actually been wondering if Liara just plain needed to get out of there, but in retrospect, the chances of Liara leaving the place no matter how much she may need to were, and are, very low.]

I'll be there soon.

[naturaltwohands]

By the gods.


Why would anyone wish to keep such horrific knowledge?

[brokers]

You speak of entities that have kidnapped hundreds so that they may use us as pieces in a game that requires us to be tortured, psychically manipulated, and killed with far too much frequency.

Is it really so surprising that they keep records of the proceedings?

[naturaltwohands]

[You know what? Drizzt is starting to like being an adolescent. All you adults just assume the worst. It's kinda like a wet rag slapping his face.]

Yes, it is.

[neverfeltthatway]

Oh. ...Does that include deaths from before Moebius?

[brokers]

Yes. I...believe it may be all of them, from the very start. Or at least from the start of this round of the game.