ataraxionlogs | here lies the abyss

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here lies the abyss

CHARACTERS: OPEN.
LOCATION: Science labs, Level Two.
WARNINGS: Black, eternal nothingness.
SUMMARY: To congratulate Xenogen on the appearance of their new endless void. And their new nanite research and storage facility. That's probably important too.
NOTES: Consolidated post for abyss and nanite-room gaping, gazing, and experimentation.

There are greater tragedies than their ruined map, it turns out. Missing people. Dead people. So while Remus and Sirius notice the change nearly straight away, checking in on the map out of miserable habit--like poking a bruise to confirm that it still hurts--the appearance of a fully-functional display of the science department isn't enough to take precedence over other things, such as drinking and kicking walls and sorting through what the departed left behind.

But they do, eventually, sit down to study it. The inky walls are mostly where they're meant to be, and the Homonculous Charm is working again, displaying a half-dozen lonely dots labelled as science department members scurrying in and out of view. (It isn't spying if you don't know or care what anyone is doing.) Even this one department is massive, their attention to detail both a blessing and a difficult-to-process curse, so combing over it takes time. And assistance, courtesy of Kate. And also, importantly, alcohol. It's two return visits before one of them says, probably with a mouthful of terrible whisky, "I don't think that was there before."

That: a small room across from the containment chambers, labelled nanite storage and research. And a second that, discovered soon afterwards: a new corridor, leading away from the department and toward the centre of the ship, with an adjacent Lab E.

It isn't a personal slight against anyone in particular (or only very small slight against Xenogen, which still has Severus Snape's fingerprints everywhere) that they go to have a look on their own. It's just that they're Gryffindors. You understand.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There is a new corridor leading out of the central department on Level Two of the science labs, which requires either xenobiology and genetics nanites or security nanites to access. Off this corridor is a single room, identified on its doors as Lab E. The doors at the room itself have a more complex access system - a panel that seems to require a handprint, and a panel that displays a digital keypad. These may be familiar, but having the correct identification for them won't be necessary. The doors were previously damaged, bent outwards as if from some impact from the inside, and have been pried open by nosy wizards. Behind them, however, is nothing. A literal nothing: a vast, empty blackness with no end, something that should be impossible to exist anywhere, let alone the centre of a spaceship.

Experimentation (see: throwing things in) will reveal the following:

It goes on forever.
There is no airflow.
Things tossed into the void may fall down or fall up as if pulled by gravity or may hover where they land as if there is no gravity at all. There is no pattern.
There is no echo.
Anything deposited in the void can be brought back again if you're capable of summoning charms or of tying ropes to things.
Living things placed completely in the darkness will not die, but they will enter a state of apparent inertia. Upon being removed from the dark, they won't remember their time inside it.

[ Note: This was also largely written by the mods. ]

Edited 2015-05-17 06:28 (UTC)

[ There are real, potentially important reasons he's here, probably. Aside from setting a few wizards to grumbling about his workout regimen, that is. Lab E had struck a certain cord, and not having a whole lot better to do just now than lie around bleeding from the ears and feeling like his head is about to crack in half, he's come down in person instead of relying on photographs, to see how familiar it looks up close. And it does look familiar.

It also looks like a problem. Another problem on a long list of problems he's getting real tired of cropping up every time they turn around, only this one doesn't fit into any motive he can trace or puzzle he can solve. It doesn't make any sense to him at all.

Fantastic. He crosses his arms over his chest, settles his weight back on his heels, and suggests, ]

Can't we just blow it up.

( it's generally considered rude to slap people upside the head out of no where. this doesn't stop enfys from doing it, even though in exactly no cultures is that considered an acceptable greeting to someone you haven't met before-- she feels it is appropriate, all the same, as a response to what he's just said. some of the force behind it is probably due to the fact some part of her thinks well, can't we before firmly being quashed.

it is not, however, delivered with the full force of her strength. she is calling him an idiot, not trying to fling him through a wall. )

No.

( confidently and flatly delivered, as if she is final arbiter of that decision. which she is not, and only here because she's sort of curious and got xavier to wave her in; ongoing obligations to the problem child require her occasional presence around the science department, she might as well do something interesting while she's obliged to be here anyway. )

Ow— [ Not unaccustomed to being smacked upside the head when he's being an idiot, the soldier flinches and furrows his brow at her obligingly. Or because who just walks up to somebody and smacks them upside the head, lady, seriously. ] What?

[ As if he had not, in fact, said anything worth a slap. ]

All I'm saying is, C-4 solves a lot of problems.

[ As a demolitions expert, he is fully qualified to offer that opinion, surely. ]

Yeah, it's been known to create a few more, too.

( like 'and then more things exploded than I planned, and they were on fire, and there was all this screaming, and I totally didn't have insurance cover for C4'. for example. meanwhile, who does that? enfys does, and exhibits little to no contrition. wait, no. no contrition whatsoever, that's what we meant.

seriously, none. )

You don't ram an explosive up the arsehole of a blast radius you can't quantify, special ed.

( with exaggerated patience. )

You do the quantifying part first.

[ Hello, a lady who knows her explosives. The tiniest quirk of his mouth in response is professional appreciation, obviously, not heart-eyes. ]

Trust me, I would, but it's not even playing by the rules of— look.

[ What does he even have in his pockets to throw - a shell casing, sure why not. He chucks it overhand into the abyss with a robotic whrrr. Its momentum takes it sailing along its natural arc until it crosses the threshold, at which point its path twists in precisely the opposite arc of 'descent,' this time toward the ceiling.

And keeps going. Forever. Because of course it does. ]

Probably wouldn't even make a dent.

[ :C ]

I hear that 'probably' and I raise you 'fella didn't even question the special ed bit', ( with a sort of blithe dryness that more or less denotes the kind of friendliness you get from irish women who might kill you.

she's half irish. also, she might kill you. )

'Tisn't hardly the same, is it? Explosion, you don't know. Pull it in. Pull it out. Explode here, blow up something else. Explode in there, fire it right back out here at the labs, and then himself what let me in is going to have words, I reckon.

( charles became 'himself' the instant he full named her before even being introduced. )

[ He doesn't actually even need to ask who in Xenogen she'd refer to as himself. ]

Well, I didn't say we wouldn't get anybody's panties in a twist over it.

[ 'We.' ]

We nothing, you tart.

( she is still standing beside him, contemplating the abyss and not entirely convinced it does not contemplate her in return, mind you. after a few moments, she nudges him with her elbow. )

Anyone try pissing in it yet? From a distance, mind. I don't think sticking your cock in it is a great idea.

[ He says nothing during that little pause, but nobody should be allowed to look that cocky while feeling like their brain's in a meat grinder, really.

On which note, ]

I guarantee you the kids who discovered it tried that already. —The pissing, not the other thing.

Anyway, unless you've got really good aim, we're not finding out.

( enfys tches disapprovingly at his unflattering lack of willing, but having seen the message that announced this thing existing-- yeah, fair enough, one of them has definitely tried pissing into it. you will not soon convince her otherwise.

she remains silent a while longer. there may come a time that bucky looks back on this silence fondly, and wishes he had known to appreciate it. then, )

What brought you down?

The yawning void isn't enough for you?

[ He shakes his head, like Ma'am you drive a hard bargain -- except for how shaking your head is a terrible idea when your brain is splitting in two, actually, and the motion forces him to interrupt his own whatever-this-is for a sharp sniff. Oh good, nosebleeds are back. ]

Thought I'd seen it before. [ Wincing, tilting his head back, still talking. ] The hallways, at least, I guess there's not much to see in there.

( finishing that sentence spares him from inquiries about how many yawning voids he's seen in his day that he had to come and check if this one was the one he was thinking of or not, like, dude.

dude.

but since that isn't happening. and also since nobody is getting off scot-free in this headaches and nosebleeds bullshit, and she'd probably better conserve her reserves of talking shit to strangers if she might at some point have to go and have a little lie down or something equally obscene. )

You seen it before where, then?

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lostsoldier - 2015-05-30 07:11 (UTC) - Expand

The whole ship is huge as crap to begin with, Below forbid she get lost. Because these floors felt like a maze.

And yet Samantha felt captivated enough by the idea of the void since she first heard of it, that it drove her on to a very long hobble through the corridors on a few different levels of the Tranquility. To now find herself stopped by a door unwilling to open to the number on her arm. Almost entirely positive this is where she needs to be, Sam eases her fingers into any panel or keypad nearby— even pressing her arm against the door like it would actually scan it. With anger settling in, a crutch leaves the ground in attempt to beat submission out.

It conveniently helps pass time while she unintentionally waits for a someone with proper access to come strolling along to hear her quiet rage.

"—stupid —fucking —door!"

Samantha isn't the only one who feels the need to be there. Fortunately, the particular laboratory that she is so inclined to check out happens to be the same place Rey has in mind.

Though she's stopped by the young woman who's beating the door with her crutch. If getting into places were that easy, they'd have access to the entire damn ship. As it is...

"That isn't going to work," Rey says, lifting a brow. She doesn't regard Sam's crutches or why she needs them, and instead steps forward, waving her aside with her two-fingered hand. "Move. Will get us inside."

She's dropped the talk-like-a-robot act for now, sounding somewhat more human-like than her usual self.

Not at all startling to Sam that her small tantrum against the door is interrupted by someone who clearly knows how this works. In fact, it's quite the relief. Who knows how long she'd be trying to get through by herself? Except for that little demand the woman tacks on at the end. Rude.

"Well, shit. Yeah. If you've got the way in, go for it."

Shifting her crutches back to let her weight follow after, she swings back a good three feet in a single motion just to give this chick some space. As if magic is about to happen. Might as well make some small talk while it does.

"Are you going to check that empty-space-thing out too?"

Sorry, Sam. Rey is pretty rude. She doesn't even regard that first comment. Just sighs as she approaches the door, which recognizes her SEC credentials and opens for her. She sends the other woman a sidelong glance, prompting for her to go in first so the doors don't close on her before she can get inside.

"Was planning on it, yes. Wanted to check a few things."

Like if it was anything akin to the black rooms that appeared during the stasis sickness.

Among other stuff.

That was pretty much magic in Sam's book. Well, she knows it's tech, but never seen that stuff up close. And obviously they would have to go on through these doors to find Lab E. She hesitates to swing herself through the door.

"I— uh—"

Clearly adept at her own transportation, it only takes her two more 'steps' to get by Rey and through the frame into the next room. Then trying to take in as much as she can while also holding the conversation, Sam turns to watch where the woman walks next. Because Samantha clearly has no fucking idea where to go.

"I've had dreams about something similar." Does that sound weird out loud? She isn't sure. "Thought seeing it up close could help explain 'em."

Despite having never physically been here before, Rey seems to know where things are placed. She's seen this lab before, although it wasn't her memory, or the memories belonging to any of her old selves. It was a man named Stephen's memory that she saw these details so clearly.

And she never forgets. Not anymore.

"Dreams?" Rey echoes, giving Sam a raised eyebrow. "What part of your dreams seem similar?"

It's not weird, at least to Rey. She's had dreams here, too. Or memories that seemed to belong to someone else.

At this point, what is normal even?

Definitely not dreams she could fully remember. Not that she would want to remember them if what she thought she remembered what she did correctly.

"Just that void thing so far." As Rey moves, Sam moves. "But they were from before I came here."

The thought crossed her mind more than a few comfortable times if she should be openly telling people all of these things. There's really nothing to lose, is there? Everyone here seemed pretty open to weird abilities so far. And every passenger on the ship seems to have bigger threats aboard than each other.

Friends are friends when you can't run from danger, right?

"It's hard to explain what the fuck happens in 'em."

If the visions came during Sam's time home, then it was unlikely that the two were related. But Rey doesn't fault her for her curiosity, neither is that enough reason for her to send Sam away, so she keeps walking.

It doesn't take long before they're standing in front of Lab E, and the black yawning abyss stretching out beyond it. There was no way to determine space or distance within, or a place where any living thing could possibly sustain itself.

Pointing her thumb on her right, two-fingered hand at the void, she looks to Sam. "Can at least tell you what happens in one of these -- a whole lot of nothing."

It registers a moment later that she's staring into a black wall. Nothing. Nada.

"Fuckin' Above—" Some muttering under her breath.

The first time she met Nyx, she felt so small; stars and planets embodied in his shape. If she reached into him, she may have fallen into outer space and floated away to a whole other world. Accompanied with a sort of wonder and warmth that made Sam feel alive.

This... There's nothing there at all. As if something had sucked the existence right out of whatever it had been. It shook her in her soul to imagine nothing.

No time to waste. Sam scoots a little closer to hike up a crutch, reaching the leg forward until the peg-end barely dabs into the dark— Nothing. She pulls it back out, turning it to get a better look— Nothing. Even touches it briefly— Nothing.

"There has to be... something?"

What is shown to Rey is a stark contrast from the White Room, but both are equally unsettling in similar ways. The only difference is that she knows for a fact that she's at least come out of one of those things alive.

This void is an unknown, much like many other things in this damned place.

She keeps an eye on Sam as she approaches the door, not saying anything as she sticks her crutch in but with no results.

"If there is something, no one's been able to come back and tell us." Rey huffs, moving closer to get a scope of the situation herself. Like everything else, she feels nothing, hears nothing. Even as they continue talking, the sound is just dead pitch beyond these doors. "We've had rooms similar to this before show up before, back during the seventh jump. There were also black holes that could suck you in and started to crush you the longer you were stuck."

In her infinite wisdom, Rey decides to lean in and stick the two fingers on her stumped hand through the frame. Only about an inch or two, before she feels something odd that she can't quite place.

Whatever it is, she has to use her other hand to take herself by the wrist, and pull herself back.

...

Okay.

No more touching black rooms for Rey.

A brief glance to Rey's hand as she moves it to the door of Nothing. A thing she didn't quite notice before then. Kindred crippled spirit. Then Sam notices that moment of panic, or some variation of struggle.

"Are you okay?" Fear is breeding with caution in her mind to birth curiosity. If there was actually something existing in there, that means it isn't completely nothing like she feared it would be. That's a great thing, actually. Heart starts racing. Inching closer to the frame of the door to get a closer look, though it's still impossible for her brain to grasp the concept of what she was even looking at.

"What was that?"

Retreating a few steps, Rey holds up her hand to inspect the two fingers. It's strange, like a numbness had overcome a tiny bit of her just then. Any more and there was no telling what would've happened.

Eventually, she nods, though not entirely sure if okay would be the most accurate way of describing it. She's not bleeding (well, other than from her nose and ears on occasion), and on the surface things seem to be perfectly normal again.

And then finally she looks back to Sam and goddammit she's heading towards the door.

"Don't think you should go near that."

Come on, Sam, please back away from the creepy void.

here lies the abyss

LOCATION: ETERNAL DARKNESS/"LAB E"

ota.

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. closed . with rey .

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WOOOOOOW LAAAATEEE.......... orz

late? idk what you're talking about! c:

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