► 00_01/.

[fallbythesword]

Who: Jacqli and YOU!!
Broadcast: Yes - fleetwide
Action: If you want - aboard the Marsiva
When: RIGHT NOW!

[ New kid on the hospitality deck! After establishing that she can't simply disappear from this place and reappear in not actually space the Astral Plane, she really only has one thing she even wants to bother to ask of the network at large.

She turns on the video feed, and looks very, very unimpressed - bored, even. ]

If anyone knows about The Machine as it relates to the Astral Plane, or a very specific shop, respond to this.

[ There's a long pause. ... Okay, okay, fine, she should probably also say something borderline nice. Ugh. ]

... In the absence of such knowledge, I guess someone could tell me what planet that is outside, and why it sounds like a nervous pop star.

Comments

[echovocation]

[Matt sighs, bowing his head and chewing the inside of his cheek. He doesn't know which he preferred: them actually being kidnapped by aliens or him going insane.]

Do you also have knowledge just floating into your head too?

[fallbythesword]

Actually, I do. I was wondering if that was just me, but it's happening to you, too?

[ She does NOT APPROVE of being experimented on!!! ]

[echovocation]

[That's the first time her voice has taken on a tone that wasn't bored or annoyed/bored.]

Unfortunately. [He feels behind his ear for the small lump he'd noticed when he'd woken up. He'd just assumed it was a tracker of some sort, but...] My guess is it's the result of these things.

[fallbythesword]

That's pretty likely.

[ Her hand goes to her own augment, but only for a second. Even just thinking about it there makes her skin crawl and her temper flare. She does her best to keep it out of her tone. ]

Someone has probably already tried to remove theirs by now. I'll check the network.

[ Because if no one has tried that yet, then they're all stupid. ]

[echovocation]

[Network, must've been what she'd been speaking to earlier. A network for the people who've been kidnapped? Seems awfully accommodating of their kidnappers, letting their captives organize like that, but like Matt's going to ignore a potential resource.

He fumbles for the thing that feels like a phone he'd found near him at the beginning, feeling over the different buttons and keys. Maybe there's an audio function.] Considering I'm thinking about it now, I wouldn't doubt it's been tried, [he says dryly, testing buttons for a text-to-speech function.]

[fallbythesword]

[ Well, Jacqli very quickly stumbles upon a particular pair of Winchesters, one of which did indeed try to yank the thing out, and the other of which started screaming about it. ... ... That'll suck for text-to-speech. Oh well. ]

Looks like it ended in disaster. Of course. [ She sighs. ] Not that they seemed like skilled surgeons. Maybe they just didn't do it right.

[echovocation]

[He at least hears the parts she does, wincing. Sounds like someone got in trouble.] Possible. Though if there are any doctors here, they didn't have much better luck. [Since, y'know, they presumably still have those things in them. Maybe Matt just needs to explore more.] Much as I hate to say it, it's probably best to leave them there for now. [And Jesus Christ, does he hate to say it.]

[fallbythesword]

[ She hates to hear it, honestly, but he's... right. Ugh. UGH. She huffs angrily and goes back to idly scrolling through the network for something less... Winchester-shouty. ]

... So. We're stuck in outer space with things in our heads, for entertainment. What next?

[echovocation]

[Yeah, she didn't seem pleased by the whole 'experimentation' prospect, not that Matt was too enamored by it either. Her weird little ticker did kick up a touch at its mention, though.]

Gathering information. [Matt sniffs, rubs at his nose before balancing his hands on the grip of his cane, looking up in the direction of her voice.] If there are more people stuck here, then they're probably more than willing to talk. Getting up to speed will at least eliminate the risk of becoming dead weight.

[fallbythesword]

Then I'll go through all of the network postings. I don't think there's anyone to talk to on this ship that isn't new here.

[ Plus she doesn't want to talk to people. ]

[echovocation]

How many other people are here, if you don't mind me asking? [He strongly suspects that number doesn't match the number of heartbeats he can hear.]

[fallbythesword]

On this ship? Four, plus the two of us. [ A short pause, and some generic electronic noises as she opens and closes things, investigating. ] According to the contact list, the whole fleet has 118 crew members. Contestants. Whatever.

[echovocation]

[A hundred and eighteen people snatched. This isn't just some little one-off job, this is big.] Does the list have any other information? Arrival dates, origins, any specifying markers? [Without quite meaning to he's already slipping into the same habits he keeps with Foggy; relying on him to narrate what he sees, trying for different angles, looking for patterns. It's just like working a case.]

[fallbythesword]

[ Man, you don't waste any time... ]

Not here, only names and assigned ships. If a list with more information exists, it isn't on the network. [ That, or she can't find it - but she refuses to believe she'd be unable to find something on a device like this. Unless it's hidden and she's denied access? Hmm... something to try later. ] And don't get your hopes up about any dates. Looks like things are time-stamped in relatives.

[echovocation]

[Matt clicks his tongue.] Damn. Worth a shot, anyway. [Maybe they can do some backwards math with timestamps on network communications later. He's done more annoying research than that.] What about a database, intranet drives, anything like that? If there are that many people here, it's hard to believe nobody's done any documenting.

[fallbythesword]

[ Calculating dates from relative time-stamps... meh. Effort. ]

I'll look for a shared drive. [ Aaand while she's doing that... ] Are you some kind of detective? You remind me of another human I know.

[echovocation]

Lawyer. Which has its fair share of sleuthing. [But enough about him.] Who's this human I remind you of? The New York guy?

[fallbythesword]

[ Hey, no flinching on the "human" part! She smirks a bit, but otherwise keeps right on with the conversation~ ]

No, he isn't smart enough to be a detective. [ Probably in any universe. ] I was thinking of Detective Menzies, a woman from somewhere that wasn't states. Manchester? I don't know Earth geography.

[ But enough about her friends, back to you. (Neener.) ] What kind of lawyer?

[echovocation]

[Yeah he hasn't met any non-humans though he knows they exist (like everybody else in New York), and honestly if he really is in a spaceship (as all evidence implies) then...like, aliens. Right? ........yeah. Let's go with aliens.]

Defense attorney, most often. Why, interested in taking the bar?

[fallbythesword]

[ Aliens. ... Close enough. ]

I probably shouldn't, even if I wanted to. [ Joking at her own expense. Har. ] I was just curious. It takes certain types of people to immediately start bombarding strangers with investigative questions.

[ Not that she minds. She very clearly does not, in fact. And oh look, she found a shared folder. ]

By the way, I found a collection of files. There's a guide for new people, very aptly named "What the Hell is Going On".

[echovocation]

[That's good bc Matt totes will not apologize.

He wants that guide tho, and he doesn't want to have to rely on this woman, accommodating as she's been, to keep reading things aloud to him, beautiful voice or no.

So he holds out his comm for her to see the screen.] Could you tell me if I found the text-to-voice function? [He thinks so, from the audio prompts, but he's not sure.]

[fallbythesword]

[ Oh cool, he asked before she had to find a way to offer without sounding like she was offering. Thanks, man. She looks at the screen, hums an affirmative note, and actually goes ahead and taps the button to confirm. ]

Looks like you're set. Tell me your name so I can send you the file directly.

[echovocation]

I'm sure there are better ways to get a guy's number, [Matt says lightly, taking his comm back and relieved that the damn thing is finally reading out prompts to him instead of him having to fumble around.] Matthew Murdock.

[fallbythesword]

[ Har, har. ... though she does give an amused-sounding "psh~".

And she sends the file over! ... Anonymously. No contact info attached. No name, nothin'. ]

There. It's a starting point, at least.

[echovocation]

Awfully kind of you, [Matt says, tone clearly amused. Yeah he noticed that lack of name reciprocation. He'll find your name somewhere else, he likes a challenge.]