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[lastout]

[leans in close and taps his sphere which, to integrate better with it's new owner's worldview, has equipped itself with a number of useless seams, rivets, and panels through which slowly turning gears can be seen]

Okay... If this belongs to you, speak up! Otherwise I might just take it apart.

Comments

[katsuragi_yako]

You can find communication spheres for sale in one of the stores on the Fifteenth Level, I think.

[ Yako also offers the sphere a polite bow. ]

I'm Yako Katsuragi. Welcome to the spaceship Crucible, even if welcome's not quite the right word.

[lastout]

Oh, a veteran. [Nodding back, only slightly ironically.] I've decided to keep this thing for now, but good to meet you.

[katsuragi_yako]

[ She rubs the back of her head. ]

I guess that's one way of seeing things, sir.

[lastout]

[Her attitude's completely different, but that one word's enough to remind him of another girl... but nevermind. Smiles lightly.] Not sir. Ryuu Kazuhiko.

[katsuragi_yako]

[ She nods. ] Ryuu Kazuhiko, then.

[lastout]

Thanks, Yako Katsuragi.

[katsuragi_yako]

[ She smiles; though she doesn't bow, like perhaps she should have. ]

You're welcome.

[lastout]

[He's not a very formal guy, as evidenced by the way he's scrutinizing everything he can see through the sphere.]

So what can you tell me about The Crucible, veteran?

[katsuragi_yako]

[ All the better. Yako tends to forget certain formalities when she gets familiar with people. ]

We don't know who the Captain is, for one. I mean, [ she clarifies ] we see someone called Captain Ganymede on the network every week or so, but when we finally got to the bridge last month... the only person there was a man in the Captain's chair, and he'd been dead for a while.

The ship has all Twenty-Two levels, but our access is restricted, even if usually that wouldn't be a problem. Some of the other passengers have run into tampering of their, er, natural abilities. I'm not sure, but it probably has something to do with why the ship looks so new right now, and not like... it had been through a warzone, like it did a few weeks back.

[lastout]

[Nodding along. This is the first really useful information he's gotten, and he's trying to absorb it all and form some theories of his own.]

So, a puppet control bridge. And somebody or something else running and repairing the ship from the shadows. [Then, remembering his conversation with the Doctor] But it keeps breaking up?

[katsuragi_yako]

[ Yako nods. ]

The ship was falling apart in bits and pieces - explosions, engine whining, life support failures - almost along with the image of the Captain.

[lastout]

Good thing they fixed it.

[Understated, but if she has any fears about what happened, he certainly doesn't want to trigger them.]

[katsuragi_yako]

I guess so. I wasn't around when everything was working last time. It's kind of interesting, if far from grounded.

[ She's also not sure things were fixed, at least in the traditional sense. ]

[lastout]

Grounded. Good joke.

[katsuragi_yako]

I was fond of it myself. [ She grins. ]

[lastout]

Of course, it would be better if we knew how to take care of it ourselves.