driftfleet | bye bye love - bye bye sweet caress

[It’s been nice and peaceful for a few days, hasn’t it? Everyone in their little cages with their creature comforts, learning all about each other through the strange rooms that have opened up at night… It’s been a wonderful experience, wouldn’t you agree? For some, that blood-curdling scream from the first day has not been forgotten.

A few days into calibrations, the main screen that has been conspicuously silent (aside from passenger use) flickers to life. Anything already playing on the screen is overwritten by a video feed of plain metallic walls not unlike those housing the Passengers. It’s difficult to tell what is going on offscreen. Shadows are uncertain, dancing everywhere; nothing can be gleaned from the shapes no matter how much they are analyzed.

The audio, however, is loud and clear.]

—can’t do this to us, [a woman pleads, her usual saccharine tone absolutely dripping with fear. Some may recognize the voice as belonging to Diamond.] You can’t! We followed orders exactly. It was in the terms! I don’t underst… oh no. No, no, please no don’t do this no no NO NO NO!

[Her voice increases in pitch and tremor until it’s drowned out in a garbled shriek of pain. The shadows dancing on the wall grow frantic and violent. The show is accompanied by sounds of heavy things slamming and the unmistakable whirring of a drill.]

I DON’T WANT TO DIE!! NO NO NO NO NO N—

[The woman’s shrieking cuts off immediately. In the newfound silence, something else drags itself weakly across the floor, getting closer and closer to the camera. SLAM. Until that stops, too.

A man’s voice comes through this time, thready and weak like a dying heartbeat. It's Beau, though he hasn't been heard by Passengers for quite some time.]

A-and now… you come for me. [The speaker makes a choked sound like a laugh or a sob.] All we ever did... was try to... make you happy.

[The whir of the drill begins again, but the feed ends.]

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[Daryl watched the screen, heard the words. He didn't know who the voices were or how they were significant past being people he didn't know but who were somehow a part of what was going on - and now dead for it. So when he stood there, his reaction was less upset than many around him.

Mostly confusion.]

The fuck was that about?

[Kitty had been watching the screen from not far away, looking stoic all the while. She would have killed them herself if she'd run into them, but torture? There's no need for that. If that is what happened. This was obviously for their benefit, so was it staged or was it real? And what reaction do they want out of their reality stars from it?] They were the hosts. Diamond and Beau.

[Hosts? Like host hosts or... wait, this was supposed to be a game show or some bullshit, right?]

They were the one's handing out the prizes?

Or delivering messages from the Atroma to us anyway. Or they are the Atroma or part of it? They've been mostly silent while I've been here. [Just one message, was it? Enough for her to figure out who they were.]

Huh. Guess they just got their pink slips.

That's definitely what it sounds like. Why broadcast it to us?

Tryin' ta scare us, probably. Sayin' that if they'd do that to their own folks, they'd do it to us, too.

Fair. But why would they need us scared? Does it mean something we were doing actually had a chance of succeeding against them? [Was she supposed to feel hopeful?]

'Cause they're assholes, that's why. It don't have to mean anything 'cept they want to see us scared. Most of us, we ain't. We don't like what they're doin, and we wanna fight it, but we ain't scared of 'em. Controlling assholes like that, they just wanna see the fear in someone's eyes.

Maybe. I've been here a year and a half though and there haven't been many things I could point to as an attempt to scare us. [And nothing that was so clearly them.] This is a change.

Like I said, being assholes.

[He hadn't been around that long. Couldn't really weigh in on it more than he had.]

You know what part of the ship that happened in?

[He moved in to tap his knuckle against the screen.]

Think I could trace it?

I think...you could if they want you to. Seems like something they'd be able to stage or do on another ship that just looks like this one. [She shrugs.] Worth a shot, but I'm not sure. It was hard to place.

[Daryl moved over to one of the consoles and tried to work his way into the signals and feeds. See if he could track where it was coming from. He hadn't really had any luck with getting access to any of the security feeds around the Marvisa yet, so he wasn't expecting he'd be successful. But hell, the augment gave him all the information on how he should be able to, it felt like giving up if the didn't at least try.]

If they want us to see this, they might want us to find it, too. You know, as proof it were real and not staged.

Good point. [She watches him work without crowding. She's always been good with tech, but something about the augments really levels the playing field when it comes to Atroma tech especially if your augment is for piloting like hers is.]

She mentioned following orders exactly. I wonder if that was in general or something specific and recent.

Gonna guess recent. Sure didn't sound like it was over anything they did before. Not if what we caught first day here meant anything.

[She's always so skeptical at accepting anything they present at face value, but all that skepticism doesn't leave a person with much of a direction to go. Sometimes you just have to follow the trail and hope you aren't doing exactly what they want.]

I guess we should assume it does mean something. Any luck with the trace?

[Daryl let out a huff as he shook his head.]

Nah, the signal just... disappears at a point. It shouldn't do that but it-

[He cut himself off and squinted, then checked something. The straightened up and looked around as if squinting at the walls would tell him something.]

[She sighs.] If nothing else our captors are good at doing things they shouldn't be able to do.

[She watches him. It almost reminds her of Logan at work but with less sniffing, but that's Logan.] On to something?

bye bye love - bye bye sweet caress - hello emptiness...

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