01 | holo | the sanctuary (taxon)

[longaevus]

She was stunned. Helen wasn't quite sure what to refer to the feeling as but that was what it became. She had to resist the urge to audible gasp as the setting in front of her fully worked its way through her mind

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[holo]

[tin_hearts]

If there's one thing Cain felt more than ambivalent about, it's new arrivals. He joined the police force as a young man because he wanted to help people, and that's something he's carried all the way into Taxon. He still wanted to help, he just found himself at a loss as to how. With one glitch following back to back on the other these past few months, you had to roll with the punches.

And that was yet another reason he wasn't sure how he felt about greeting newcomers. It needed doing, but sometimes he doubted he was the man for the job.

Nevertheless, he couldn't sit and idly watch the woman when he knew how distraught he himself had been when he found himself in that very same room almost a whole year ago.

"Ma'am," he said, keeping his tone of voice calm but professional. He didn't like the look of blood on her hands. "Are you hurt? Do you need assistance?"

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen froze, dropping her hands from the wall as she listened. She turned her head in a brief glance, slowly turning herself once her eyes had found something else. The once empty room now containing the image of another - something she had to describe as image due to the lack of a physical body. It reminded her much of how Praxis has originally look when she'd first discovered the map, the projection of it so real and yet... so distance.

She ignored the questions, trying to pull her thoughts together to focus on the bigger questions. Her mind still fell back to Nikola, those all important moments; she had no time to waste and yet she couldn't help but be intrigued, to want to know more. Instead Helen found her question, posing it and hoping that what she received wouldn't be entirely too vague.

"What is this?" For wanting an answer of something more than vague her question was particularly nondescript in itself. "Where am I?" Helen clarified, hoping that would be somewhat better.

[ holo ]

[tin_hearts]

Okay, thought Cain. First things first.

"This is Taxon, an underground city located far away from what you call home. The room you're currently held in is the same room we all go through upon arrival. We don't know why we've been taken, only that there is no way out. We're a small group of people here, from all manner of places. Concepts like time and space seems to have little meaning to our captors, as almost none of us share a common place of origin."

He paused, clearing his throat - maybe he'd said too much too soon, and the last thing he wanted was to overwhelm the woman when she very probably had enough on her plate already.

"My name is Wyatt Cain." He held up his arm to show the bracelet fused into his skin. "Every newcomer gets one of these, and the techno trinket directly below my hologram is called a tablet. It's our means of communications and data gathering. If you pick it up, the door out of there will open. You're in a building located in the central part of Taxon called the Sanctuary."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen remained quiet even after he'd spoken, not overwhelmed but simply attempting to digest what she'd heard - or at least understand it on the basic level. Taxon? She had never heard of it but there had been a time when she hadn't heard of Praxis either. It was entirely possible that this was a similar concept although how she had arrived there? Could there have been something in the chamber

[ holo ]

[tin_hearts]

"No," he said, and shaking his head. "I'm flesh and blood. The holographic broadcast is a feature of the tablet's, one of the more advanced ones. You'll find a three dimensional map in one of the data folders as well."

His jaw moved to the side and back as he mulled over how best to go about this. Might as well be as straightforward as he'd prefer it, himself. She was obviously shocked, and somewhat unresponsive. Couldn't blame her when he hadn't been much better off all those long months ago.

"I've been here since last October. It is now September. There are those who have been here even longer than that. ...if you don't mind me asking, ma'am-- What's your name?"

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen finally stepped forward, taking a look at the aforementioned tablet but not yet picking it up. She was curious but had no measure of how much, if anything, she could trust what he'd said - at helpful as he may be attempting to seem.

"September?" Unless this city operated on a different calendar system, which wasn't entirely out of the question although their usage of keeping the months of the same name would be odd, it was impossible. It had been earlier in the year, if this place even operated the same calendar system to count the years the same.

"Helen Magnus." Her pause was briefer this time, attempting to speed her thinking up to find out information of her choosing instead. "You said that you've been here since October - would that be a continuous stay?"

[ holo ]

[tin_hearts]

"Okay. Helen, it's good to meet you," he said gently, hoping something familiar, seemingly trivial as pleasantries could help calm her down.

"I've been here close to a full year from start to finish."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

She gave a nod, not mentioning anything on it. Perhaps different circumstances may have made this meeting a little more pleasant.

"What year would it be?" Helen was aware that the question would see odd but considering the month difference it was reasonable.

[ holo ]

[tin_hearts]

He dragged a breath of air through his mouth, pausing halfway to shake his head slowly. "I don't know. You get to the end of the year, and it starts over at January 1. We don't have years here, and I don't think the calendar from my world would help.

"A lot of people here come from the late nineteen-hundreds, early twenty-first century, if that's any help."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen gave a nod. It seemed a little odd that there'd be half a calendar system but she knew that somewhere there would be a reason, no doubt hidden by those that had brought them here.

"It may, somewhat. When are you from?"

[ holo ]

[tin_hearts]

At that question, Cain couldn't help but allow himself a small smile. "I'm afraid I don't know that much either."

Being locked away for ten years in solitary confinement could do that to a man. "But the last time I checked, it was the Annum of Her Majesty the Queen, of Rememberance."

He remembers that annual very clearly - not in fragments of memories as such, but a general sense of dragging your feet on the road to something much, much worse.

"Like I said, ma'am, it probably isn't a good point of reference to you."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

"Unfortunately not." But it was a nice try. "It would at least seem that the time periods are close together." If a little spread out - over a century... her entire lifetime, to be exact.

"It's a wonder as to why only those times are represented." If it was that at all.

"You mentioned the Sanctuary." Helen started, drawing him back to another point. "What is it, exactly?"