now all of a sudden some strange things are happening to me

[clairifying]

CHARACTERS: Claire, tenyeargambit and YOU.
LOCATION: Anywhere save for inside the restricted areas
WARNINGS: Your main two are being queasy. Probably not in the throwing-up category but hey, anything can happen. Also, the delicious scent of action tags.
SUMMARY: 'Take the blue lift'? What happens if you take another one like...the green one?

Comments

[zouichi]

The Cargo Bay was quite vast, but it was also largely empty, with only a few actual shuttles to be found. Was this normal operating procedure between refueling stops? Hard to tell. It seemed a number of the shuttles were in disrepair, too, suggesting an extended period of disuse.

Altogether rather disheartening. Whatever had happened to the crew that was supposed to maintain this area, it was evident that they'd been disappeared before they could finish their duties. What was there to prevent the same from happening to any of them?

[clairifying]

If Kanoe's making a round around the Cargo Bay, he may hear the following snatch of conversation from behind one of the shuttles-- especially if he's close enough to that shuttle that's about fifteen paces away.

"...pilot them?"

[zouichi]

At the sound of voices, Zouichi made his way around one of the nearby shuttles, curious. If it wasn't the skeleton crew, it had to be --

Ah. He recognized Clive from before, in the locker room. The woman talking to him, however, was someone he hadn't seen before.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but did you mention something about piloting?"

[tenyeargambit]

And Clive turned at the sound, more suspicious than he'd normally like to show (and afterwards would kick himself over letting down his guard like that). But then he recognized the figure, parsed the question, and his face smoothed over from suspicion to something closer to pleasant neutrality. "Oh, hello again." He turned to his companion. Pleasantries were in order. "Claire, this is...Zouichi. We met each other in the lockers." And then he turned back towards Zouichi again, indicating one of the remaining shuttles as he did so, "We were wondering what it would take to pilot one of these. As someone who has experience I'd imagine you know."

It was somewhat of a lie, but sometimes social situations call for them to keep the wheels of interaction turning.

[clairifying]

"Pleasure to meet you," came the dutiful reply as she nodded, gracious smile on her face. Clive had mentioned meeting someone with- a parrot, or so he'd said, and she did wonder for a moment if he (looked like a he, she did hope that she was right) was the one he'd been speaking of. Well, no matter, manners were important.

[zouichi]

"Planning to make a daring escape?" Zouichi asked dryly. "Nice to meet you. And I do have some flying experience, although it was in a fighter craft and not a shuttle. I expect I could fly it if I had to, and try and cut down on the death-defying stunts. It would be much easier if I had my partner to help me, though."

[tenyeargambit]

He snorted briefly, cynical and amused. "Hardly anything of the sort." Clive turned back towards the shuttle, arms crossed, fingers drumming idly against his arm in thought as his voice turned more speculative. "I thought it would be good to know what we were collectively capable of before a situation occurs in which we need this shuttle. But you have a partner? I assume you don't mean the parrot."

[clairifying]

Parrot man, it seemed.

Claire kept her expression pleasant, but remained quiet nonetheless. An answer was probably better than appending another question and besides- Clive was the reporter of the both of them.

[zouichi]

"Oh? Don't you believe the crew when they tell you there won't be any trouble?" Zouichi sure didn't, anyway. He shook his head. "No, I'm not talking about Alan."

"Back on Earth, I worked with an AI that was created at about the same time I was. She was very useful in dealing with machines, and she followed me to the Transmigration 9. I haven't seen any signs of her since, though." One would assume she was still on their last ship, wondering where he was. He wasn't sure whether that was good or bad. Hher help would have been invaluable. On the other hand, he had no idea how to get back, so perhaps it was better that they weren't both stranded.

[tenyeargambit]

"It's rather hard to believe them given what happened to the previous crew," came the reply as Clive thought over what Zouichi had said. An AI. Mysteriously being pulled from ship to ship. It was...ridiculous, and also brought a whole new meaning to all of those science fiction books he had encountered in his lifetime. Space being populated by a constant stream of abducted strangers. A silly thought.

[clairifying]

"They've given no reason for us to trust them as we have for them."

Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see, as the saying went. Though 'she'- assigning sentience to an AI. It wasn't quite common during their time, though of course, many things on this ship aren't.

"But we could keep an eye out for her," she remarked. The shuttle was only one stop for them after all, with as many doors as there were on each floor. To explore each floor and every door- now that would be a challenge. "It shouldn't be too difficult."

[zouichi]

Wow. It was like someone was talking sense in here. How bizarre. "I would have to agree. Even if they had the best of intentions, it doesn't change the fact that the crew is gone, we're here, and they can't tell us how or why we were brought here. Too much of this doesn't add up."

Zouichi nodded to Claire. "She'll find me if she's active. But if you'd be on the look out for a large black motorcycle with a front-mounted coil gun, I'd appreciate it."