Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

Tau · Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:05 pm

Despite the feline's change in volume and tone, the A.I.'s response was as flat and monotone as the last. "Error; unrecognized user. Your request for information has been denied." He probably wasn't going change his response regardless of how he was asked, though did add something a moment after his verbal response in the form of a count down timer on several of the bridges displays.

Mie · Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:37 pm

There was a moment back there when Jam had opened her mouth to speak -- presumably in protest -- regarding Rock's analysis of her PA voice, but after a few second's furrow-browed contemplation, her mouth closed as her expression segued into one of yielding acceptance concurrent to a lazy shrug of her shoulders. Perhaps it was surprising that that had been about the only development she'd had any kind of reaction to; indeed, as things devolved from disconcerting to ominous, the strawberry-hued simian remained remarkably stoic about it all. She stood stick straight behind the white primate, her arms folded neatly into the small of her back, and a tangible air of tired cynicism radiating from her countenance.

It wasn't until the evidently excitable new girl began to argue with their tech man that Jam at last felt it worthwhile to step in, if only to keep from adding a temper tantrum to their list of "things we didn't want to deal with today."

"Don' getcher poncho in a bunch, Annie," said the more intact of the monkeys with a casual sniff, laying a hand on the kitty's shoulder. "He's real shy; don't like talkin' to strangers. Idn't that right, Tau?"

psikeout · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:23 pm

Though he didn't show it too well outwardly, Rock did have the slightest hint of amusement at Tau's response to the inquisitive girl. Perhaps out of pity, or some other emotion vaguely resembling compassion, he rendered some sort of answer on his way out of the bridge:

"If they're not missiles, they'll slow down before they reach us, and won't ram into the shields," he said simply. "Otherwise..."

Simple enough. It seemed they had things thought out well enough. Regardless, they too needed to get away from the colony's exterior just in case, so Rock made his way quickly through the interior of the ship, collecting his belongings. (After all, they couldn't necessarily count on the ship still being there after everything settled down.)

Unless something hindered him, it probably wouldn't be long before Rock and the rest of his accompaniment made their way out through the crowds toward safety, too.

NPC · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 5:53 pm

There was roughly 4 more minutes of heart-stopping silence as the crowds hurried into the depths of the ARK. Most of the people were terrified, but it was with the numb, indifferent terror of those who did not expect the terror to stop. They huddled in the recess of the giant steel box which was stencilled 'CARGO L large cargo,' staying away from the gigantic stacked containers that threatened to topple over.

The lights flickered gently, then went black. There was a collective gasp from the crowd; the entire room was pitch-black, lit only by a single, distant computer screen near one of the lifts down to the sunken floor of the large cargo room.

There was silence, except for the distant acoustic thrum that a billion tons of steel might naturally make as it whirled like a top through outer space. A blue strobe-light built over the computer screen blinked, at intervals.

Then there was a distant rushing, and a host of faint clanks and whirs in the distance. The sound of the electronics of the station shutting off had been barely audible, and their reactivation was only noticeable on account of the fact that the silence before had been complete and overwhelming.

The strobe light over the distant computer terminal stopped flashing, the lights turned back on, and order was restored.

That was it.

Kythe-X · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 8:16 pm

Animus was clueless about the general idea of moving inwards for safety. She seemed comfortable where she was, but as the group made their little way out, she had no choice but to follow - if only to stave off boredom for a little longer. Besides, these people seemed to be entertaining at least and the pink monkey was being nice to her. Nicer than most of the others anyway. Once they'd made their way into the depths, the sounds and flickering of lights had her cooing for literally seconds on end before the whole situation ended.

It wasn't five seconds before everything seemed to stabilize that Animus had become extremely bored and fidgety. She stood up from her little resting spot and marched on over to the center of the door that kept them all contained.
"I want out. It's boring here." she mumbled quietly as she made her way away from the group. When she looked at the door, there appeared to be no doorknobs or handles and these doors weren't push doors. She knocked on the door once... then twice... and then thrice to see if the door would be opened from the other side.

With no response a couple of seconds later, Animus glared at the door, hands pressed together. Her next attempt to open the door was to scratch hopelessly away at the reinforced metal and naturally came to no success. By now, it looked like she was getting infuriated. Her final attempt to open the doors was to open them with brute strength and certainly, onlookers were muttering about the lunacy of such a thing given that the tiny kitty was trying so hard to open it. She took a moment to compose herself with some zen-like breathing before wedging her hands cleanly in-between the two heavy doors.

Putting all her back into it and a great deal of heaving and grunting, the young-minded Manx slowly but surely began to bend the metal towards herself, producing a small but steadily growing gap in the door. The door parted slightly as she tore a sizable enough hole in it for even a larger sized anthro to fit through. Despite the silence of some of the crowd, whom were flummoxed at the in ordinary strength this girl was displaying, Animus continued on for a little longer before realizing she'd accomplished her goal - freedom from the box. Now it was time to wander outside and find more interesting and shiny things to toy with...

Jahkari · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:01 pm

Unfortunately, Animus' impressive feat of strength did not completely clear the way, as a rather flummoxed looking flying squirrel filled the new gap on the other side of the door. "Uhm. I was... just going to, well, press the button, but... Okay." Gingerly squeezing herself and, more difficultly, her huge tail through the gap (as she was concerned as to whether or not the doors would be able to safely open now), she glanced around. "Oh, good, you're all in here, um..." With a cough, she raised her voice from its normal soft tone so people not within five inches of her could hear her clearly for a change. "I've got some interesting results, if you'll listen?" She announced, holding up a mechanical device roughly the size of a textbook.

Continuing on, she fiddled with her device for a moment, then glanced up. "One of the missiles impacted us. It took out our shields- that was that massive power blip, so to say, although I'd say it was more severe than a blip but-" she paused, regaining her train of thought, "But, point is, only one missile hit. The others just... vanished. They didn't change course, or hit us, obviously, as that would've been catastrophic, but the other missiles just... poof. The trails just stop."

Her big revelation made, she glanced behind her, something from before nagging her. Glancing at Animus, she frowned, head tilted slightly in confusion. "... has that girl been with us the entire time? I don't recall her and I don't think I'm that forgetful."

Kazz · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:15 pm

"Well, she was standing on the Tasmanian devil's body after he got knocked out," another voice from behind Astrid remarked dryly. Rodolf, as it seemed, had missed the bus, so to speak, with movement into the large cargo area-- as soon as he had managed to make his face stop bleeding, he had taken it upon himself to assist the squirrel. (Or possibly he was just feeling particularly antisocial and, in a move with shocking levels of disregard for personal safety, didn't want to be crammed into a dark box with the other temporary denizens of the ARK.)

"But no, aside from that, not so much," he concluded, giving the pink cat who had just unceremoniously wrecked the door an inscrutable look.

At the unicorn's remark, the squirrel cringed. "I really don't think we should be defacing the station... it's an antique, in its own way.

Rodolf gave Astrid a sideways look, then turned his attention back to Animus. "She has a point. You really think it's the best course of action to go ripping doors apart?"

He sounded unimpressed.

psikeout · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:35 pm

Rock, who had been lurking about on a cargo container through the debacle, soon dropped from his perch and... at least tried the door's button after the wrecking was done, but got nothing but a buzz and some crunkly cronky noises in reply.

He sighed raggedly, and muttered, "I've laid bricks smarter than that girl," to no one in particular. He paused and blinked once or twice with a squint, though, and glanced back at Jam.

"I... mean that in th'... masonry sense," he clarified nearly mutely, then started to approach the diminutive hole through which they would depart. But, before he got there, the employer chick entered, and he stopped a moment to hear out what she was reporting.

Kythe-X · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 6:34 am

Animus seemed relatively unconcerned with the woes of the others now. Though surprised at the appearance of the random outsider, she simply let her enter through her makeshift entrance before ably shuffling through the gap herself. She seemed eager to get out of the giant metal box but and upon reaching the outside, she immediately set her body on autopilot and let her mind wander about as she vanished off into the distance. She didn't seem to catch the questions thrown at her. Her mind was already off elsewhere. Off she trotted, happily down the hallway and off to somewhere with a little more breathing room and hopefully more sparkly things to interfere with.

Mie · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 4:17 pm

Jam joined the newly forming pow-wow, sidling up next to Rock with a look of muddled disbelief and restrained amusement.

"Please, I'm sure both meanings work," mumbled the monkey in reply, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But m'willin' to bet you've handled mortar or cement far less than you've handled -ahem- clever bricks."

Sparing a moment to cast a wry smirk at, and aim a carefully pulled elbow at the whiter primate, the simian girl didn't seem to possess much of an ear for business, but once again challenged convention, abruptly diving into the (important) conversation with a complete shift in tone and demeanor.

"So what're you suggesting, here, boss?" she asked of the squirrel. With her hip jutting out, and arms folded over her stomach, Jam leveled a scrutinizing, furrow-browed stare at the scientist. "One missile hit, and the others -- what, got sucked into the Midnight Zone, or something?"

Tau · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 6:18 pm

Tau hadn’t been as concerned with the others in seeking shelter within the large cargo storage area, though he had remained in one of the nearby adjacent areas for the duration of the incident.

While the forced departure of the pink feline first drew Tau's attention, the approach of the squirrel to same area was what ultimately drew the A.I. towards the now-damaged door. He arrived in time to hear the the squirrel comment on defacing the station.

He wasn't as concerned about the fact the feline had damaged what probably also functioned an environmental door as much as he was about the fact openly damaging the station may provoke the wrath of certain security system daemons, though he likely had other reasons for being concerned about the damage as well.

“I am in agreement with the scientist... It is... ill advised to cause damage to the colony,“ he commented, not really towards any one specific individual. His attention briefly shifted towards the white simian as he made his departure from the top of the container, before looking back towards the pink felines direction as she wandered off.

Jahkari · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:02 pm

Smiling quickly at Tau for his agreement (sometimes she felt like she was facing a firing squad when talking to the team, so a sympathetic or supportive voice, no matter how robotic, was always welcome), she turned back to Jam. "I don't think anything of that sort happened. It wouldn't make sense- not that any of this really makes sense, mind you, but from what I can figure being, well, teleported like the ARK has been takes a great deal of energy and wouldn't be possible multiple times in row like the bombs... I think."

She adjusted something on her device's screen quickly, then looked back up. "No, I think the missiles did detonate... but of their own accord. Almost as if as soon as the first missile hit the shield, the others... I don't know, self-destructed. It doesn't entirely make sense, but for it to start making sense we need to figure out where those missiles came from... and, of course, where and, possibly, when we actually are." She tried a smile despite the magnitude of what she was saying. "Um, I believe a start would be to explore that graveyard of ships we saw out there, once we're certain the coast is clear, as to figuring out the latter part..."

Pausing once again, she sighed, before meeting each of their gaze's as steadily as a slightly twitchy squirrel could. "I truly do apologize. This was never meant to happen. I've been a terrible boss and guide for you all, and I resolve to do everything in my power to remedy this situation, but I simply cannot do it alone. And I know you all can help me." She laughed meekly. "I mean, that is the reason you're all here in the first place."

psikeout · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:49 pm

With all banter aside, amusement gone, and back to business, one had to wonder—as Rock stood there, staring the squirrel down with those tired, hazy-burning mismatched eyes, his arm in a sling, bandages covering his head and one of his brows, his white fur singed black at its ends, and once-red,-now-brown-stained patches of bloody gauze scattered—how much help could he really be in his present condition?

"Pills," he replied, serious as the grave, as if that one word held immense and self-apparent meaning.

...

"I can keep workin'," he proceeded to explain a few seconds later, shifting his feet uncomfortably and adjusting the heavy duffel hanging from his shoulder. "I just need somethin' to take th'edge off. Head feels like it's on fire."

Insert a very brief pause.

"Like, still. 'Cause it was actually on fire a lil' while ago."

Mie · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:56 pm

"Y'know," interrupted Jam crassly, her arms crossed so tightly over her chest, they looked unmovable. "Pain is the body's natural way of saying, 'Stop the hell what you're doin', an let me f***in' recuperate.'"

Her eyes narrowed acidly.

"Good thing you've learned how t'shut it up."

Seafarinhare · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:11 pm

Hoji lurked not far from where the scientist and the others were discussing the situation. He made his way over, since he was kind of interested. Granted, he wasn't in Astrid's employ, but hey. The situation was affecting a large number of people outside of their group.

Then Rock asked for pain killers, which resulted in the punch-red monkey giving him a rather acidly sarcastic remark. He kind of agreed with Jam, but Rock appeared to have some macho image he wanted to keep up, where getting hit by rockets wouldn't slow him down.

Either way, Hoji saw no point in putting in his two cents. Instead, it would just be important to keep an eye on the guy. He looked at Astrid.

"As I told them, I am more than willing to do what I can to get this resolved, even though I'm not technically one of your hired help," He paused a moment before adding, "After all... I'm sure getting home is equally important to all of us."

Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

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