twenty-seventh jump;

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Any and all.
LOCATION: Gravity Couches and beyond.
WARNINGS: Maybe some swearing, or even some violence, and more than likely some implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: Another month, another jump, another round of new faces.
NOTES: It's too hot. The stasis fluid feels smothering, uncomfortably warm; when the couches open, the cool air of the medbay is a startling wake-up call. It could just be the expected sensation of air on wet skin, but if you bother to check, you might notice the steam rising from your body, barely there and gone within a minute. By the time you get to the showers, it will be clear that it's not just taking you time to adjust. The room is cold — colder than usual, if this isn't your first jump. While it's nothing dangerous, it's certainly motivation to hurry through the usual routine and get dressed quickly.



It's getting closer.




YOUR EYES ARE OPEN.

KEEP LOOKING.

You wake up in darkness.

There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're deposited on the floor of a stark, sterile medical bay.

You are not alone.
There are others who have come before you, others who are awakening beside you. Some may be familiar to you, perhaps even friends. Others have much less amiable plans. Some are merely alien and inexplicable, but there are always those who might mean you harm.

After you catch your breath and your vision returns, you notice a number on the inside of your forearm. Maybe it's a familiar number. Maybe it means something. Maybe it's just a number. But the number—completely unique to you—is a tattoo, and it does not come off.

If you enter the room adjacent to the medbay, you will find a small locker with your number on it, surrounded by rows upon rows of identical lockers. Inside, you will find a few of your personal items, a communications device, and a ship's uniform in your exact size. The comms device is fully powered and connects directly to the ship's network; it's your only means of communication beyond physical conversation. Upon turning the device on, a neutral, automated voice will say, "Please take the blue lift to the passenger quarters." Any other attempts at communicating with the rest of the network are met only with static.

This is your welcome party.

Comments

[foundafamily]

"Exactly what I said. It got really, really hot for no reason at all." Well, he's not so sure about 'no reason'. There has to be a reason for it, and he's pretty sure it has something to do with torturing or punishing them. He has no idea who or what's behind this, but he hardly believes they mean their prisoners well.

Just the thought of that makes him antsy. He rubs the back of his neck.

He shrugs and adds, half mumbling, "Maybe they wanted to remind us that we're in hell. Not that I believe in that stuff." The last sentence is added hastily. Firo doesn't want anyone--not even a stranger--thinking he's superstitious. To him, that's the realm of children and the gullible.

[ryuuzaki]

He half-shrugs, just one shoulder, but Firo still has his full attention.

"It was hot in the dreams, but it seems to have been genuine heat. They were like what happened last--" (he catches himself) "--a month or two ago, when some of us relived other people's experiences. This time, it was a woman. I think she was young, but I can't be sure. She was trapped in the halls--like some of us were when we found the genetics lab--and she felt an endless oppressive heat, with no source that was obvious to me. It wasn't the only thing that happened, but it was the greater part of it all."

After a pause, he adds, "What reason do you think someone would have for wanting us to think we're in hell?"

It does seem to him that much of this is being controlled--but how and why, he doesn't yet completely understand.

[foundafamily]

It all sounds far too familiar and Firo can feel his spine shiver. The dream itself doesn't sound too horrifying, but he's not reassured by the fact that this could have happened before. As if he wants to think about what could have happened to the people before them. "Damn..."

He shrugs at the question. "Because they're a sick and twisted bastard?" The statement's followed by a self-deprecating laugh. "There's gotta be a reason for all this, but hell if I know. You have any ideas?"

[ryuuzaki]

This pause is longer, and L is very still for a few seconds, before beginning his answer with a definite nod. It's clear that he's decided to take the question seriously, rather than as a throwaway.

"Yes. It depends on whether or not what I saw is accurate, but... do you remember the story about the high-level prisoner, a woman who was attractive, but 'creepy'? It was Resnik. She was Gallagher's former wife."

His manner becomes a little more dismissive; he deflates, deep in thought. "That, or that's what someone wanted me to think--or I have an active imagination. But what happened before, the events that we could confirm because we saw things from each other's histories... it gave everything that happened afterward some credibility that it might not have had otherwise."

[foundafamily]

Firo just watches him quietly, looking curious. Not being the brightest thinker, he realizes that being able to pick someone else's brain on all these weird happenings is probably a good opportunity for him. Maybe things'll start making just a bit more sense.

When Ryuuzaki finally speaks, Firo blinks. "Resnik? You sure about that?" He does remember the story and he was sure it was important somehow, especially with the passenger making people nervous.

The wheels in his head start turning, slowly and rustily. If Ryuuzaki's right, that has to mean something. The problem is, Firo has no idea what. For about the thousandth time, he wishes Luck or Maiza were here to help him make sense of things.

[ryuuzaki]

He reaches up and rubs his head with the towel. It's only a little bit helpful.

"I'm sure that I remember it, but I'm not sure it's correct... that it ever really happened.

"There was also the woman who was trapped in the halls, in the heat... she thought there was a manticore in the walls that was following her. It could appear at will. In some ways, that part of it seemed more like I was seeing her nightmares."

Smiley said they're still here, he thinks. What if it was her nightmares, as they were happening? I've speculated about the possibility of other gravity couches somewhere in the ship, and we've certainly found them in the past... what if Lotte is out there now? He doesn't voice these ideas to Firo yet.

"Was there any communication from Smiley in the past month?"

[foundafamily]

He nods. A manticore appearing at will? He hopes that was just a nightmare.

"Smiley?" He looks up at the ceiling as he tries to think. "Not that I saw. I wasn't that great at watchin' the network, though." He admits it a little sheepishly.

"You think he was behind this?" Is it even a "he"? As he brushes more and more often with the abnormal, he's grown more open to the idea that something not human could be behind this. Not that he's comfortable with the thought.