EVENT: CULTURAL STUDIES ▒ THE TRANQUILITY

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: The newly discovered corridor, Prisoners' Quarters and Guards' Bunkhouse.
WARNINGS: A vague sense of creeping unease.
SUMMARY: Discovery and exploration of the Prisoners' Quarters and Guards' Bunkhouse.
NOTES: Open to all! Network map discovery is HERE. Bunkhouse discovery post is HERE. Have fun forward and back-dating, but don't forget to check the timelines!

The corridor you're walking down seems to stretch on forever, but maybe that's just the gloom ever-present in the belly of the ship, only cut through by the skittering beams of the flashlights you're carrying and the dim signal on the map. The map led you here, and the map seemed to indicate there was something at the end of this journey; a new area, perhaps, more answers. Something worth the risk of stepping into the darkness. Best stay alert, strain your senses — though there will be little advantage found in the warning of claws clicking against metal in the distance, a flash of red on the wall to your right...

Comments

[seered]

"Oh. We've never been to Mars."

It put things in context for her, at least, and though she was no stranger to parallel universes and paradox space, where the past and the future seemed to coexist in some kind of giant middle finger to the general concept of things making sense, hearing about alternate earths was rather fascinating, especially because hers was destroyed by meteors.

But that was sort of beside the point.

"This must be at least a little familiar to you, then. In a general sense, not the...prison, specifically. Moreso the being in space."

[chromosomes]

"We wouldn't have been."

She seems interested, and John doesn't have anything better to do in the lack of a crisis, so he takes a seat. Chubbs goes back to sniffing around the room.

"They found a portal in Nevada that led there. Found ruins and stuff, too. They started an archaeological dig and a science facility, plus weapons testing, since it's a dead planet."

He shrugs a little.

"Not the travel, really, but the fact that there's no oxygen outside... yeah, that's familiar."

[seered]

"Seems like a slippery slope."

Not that Rose was really one to judge. Or care, but she could put two and two together about the combination of science facilities and weapons testing and dead planets.

"Then again, I think this ship might have been the slipperiest slope of all."

To say the least.

[chromosomes]

"It was."

Was, because the last thing John did before coming here was hold his sister on the elevator after blowing the portal to Mars to hell. No one was going back. No one needed to go back.

"I'd agree with that, though."

Especially now that they've found this little area.

[seered]

She nods knowingly, the answer satisfactory enough--it explains enough, anyway, and she figures it might be a little rude to pry. Besides, there are more important things to talk about, like this guard station, or whatever it seems to be.

"What do you think? Detention area? Seems a little superfluous, given the brig."

[chromosomes]

"Nah."

One finger slides over part of the bunk, John's eyebrows furrowing in thought.

"Brig would probably be for prisoners, so they could be interrogated. Maybe officers if they did something stupid and needed a time-out. This, this is for long-term, lock them up and throw away the key sort of things."

[seered]

Well, he would know, considering everything he's told her so far. Rose is more than willing to defer to the military presence in the room when it comes to things like this. She's just here for the books and the loot.

"The fact that it was built into the ship in the first place is interesting in itself, don't you think? Perhaps the people who intended to use the Tranquility as a colonizer felt some sort of moral obligation to take their prisoners with them. Either that, or they anticipated use for a place like this."

[chromosomes]

"It could be either."

Without more information on the Tranquility and the people who decided to colonize it, John isn't comfortable saying more on the subject. At least not enough to discredit either of those ideas.

"Or both. After all, it's a big ship, and things happen when a bunch of people are shoved together in an enclosed space."

[seered]

"True."

At the very least, it means they anticipated some sort of trouble. Probably a necessary precaution and nothing more, but interesting regardless. She returns to digging through the pile of books, this time producing a collection of essays. Rose looks at the table of contents and frowns.

"Hopefully you'll find something interesting in your book. So far everything here looks like it can also be found in the media library."

[chromosomes]

"Might be something interesting, anyway. I don't think military strategies will have changed that much."

But he could be wrong. Reaching down, he scratches Chubbs behind the ears.

"Maybe we'll find something else in here. I'm not going to hold my breath, though."

[seered]

"Not even for deep-space combat?"

Because who really knew where they were, after all. The space station is the first sign of outside civilization Rose knew of since the pirates. She shrugs a little.

"I've only found the books so far. There are a few personal effects. Some memos. Not a good deal that's really interesting, unfortunately."

[chromosomes]

"Not really." It's pretty self-explanatory, as far as he's concerned. Then again, maybe this is an entry-level combat tactics book. "Besides, this ship is too large for anything fancy."

It's not Millennium Falcon.

"I'd sigh here, but it's not anything new, really." Ugh. He sighs anyway.

[seered]

"It always did seem strange to me that all we have are the shuttles."

A ship this large, with this many people...it was practically a sitting duck, if not for the jump drive.

"We don't know if the Tranquility has the means to defend itself, do we?"