here lies the abyss

[fullmoon]

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.

Comments

Closed to Sirius

[fullmoon]

Maybe the nanite equipment would have been more exciting to people who understood more about nanites, equipment, etc.—people who hadn't only recently learned what a frame is, those sorts of people—but as things were it was just a load of unidentifiable Things, all mysterious in a uniform low-grade surely the muggles will know what this is sort of way. They poked some things, prodded some other things, nudged a few additional things with their feet. Then they left, headed for the new corridor on Level 2.

Remus' nanites won't open the door, but Sirius' will. If it were cooler than the hovercarts, Remus would be jealous.

"We ought to tell Charles," he says on the way down the hallway, mostly for the sake of having said it. He doesn't expect it to happen. Not yet. Particularly since they've reached a set of doors, labelled Lab E and bent askew, with flat panel and digital number pad beside them. Remus pokes the flat panel with one finger, to no effect, and tries pressing his face against the crack between the doors to see inside. After a second he announces, "Dark."

[doggedly]

"Why," Sirius says, with aristocratic flatness on the last letter of the word. He has the voice for it, and the gift of genetics that renders him able to look handsomely disgusted with just the slightest curl of his upper lip. It's the sort of face that someone else might wear when sending back an inferior wine at dinner, or when catching sight of an unattractive choice of wallpaper in the drawing room--or when dismissing Charles Xavier as a candidate for the inner circle.

Some of Sirius' scorn is residual, a habit of grudge. Some of it is a product of his mood, which is still not that good, if managed slightly--mostly by frequent jogs through the garden as a dog, and softened by the soak of alcohol. He still has the taste of terrible space whisky in his mouth. So that helps, a little. And so does this, a new thing to explore, lengthy corridors and mysterious rooms, and the two of them the first to embark. It's like Hogwarts all over again.

"We'll ring Mrs Cardigan," he suggests, from where he trails a little behind Remus. He rubs his mouth against his shirtsleeve, tugging up the cuff and exposing his tattoo. There's a strange feeling at the back of his head, something like déjà vu. The sight of his numbers reminds him, and he glances back over his shoulder towards the door they've just come through. "She's Xenogen as well, isn't she. Better company. Much nicer to look at. Dark," he repeats, somewhat dully, nearly in the same breath. "Stunning observation, Support. Shove over and let us see."

Wand in hand, he illuminates it with a muttered lumos, and prods at one of Remus' heels with the toe of his boot.

"Over."

[fullmoon]

"Bossy," Remus accuses, but at the same time he's shuffling obediently to the side, back to the panel beside the doors. He doesn't know what the flat part is for, but the keypad is pretty self-explanatory. He starts pressing in his crew number (nothing could possibly go wrong), one-fingered and slow, like somebody's grandfather, while Sirius sees to the door and Remus returns to the very important topic at hand:

"She is nice to look at—"

Priorities.

"—and good about boggarts. We can try her first. But Charles was nice about the map, wasn't he? I think you'd like each other if Severus hadn't gotten to him first."

That is probably not true. And the keypad doesn't like his crew number. He gives up and moves to squint at the crack between the doors from behind Sirius.

[doggedly]

"Doubt it."

That's in answer to the bit about liking Charles--which might be unfair. Sirius considers this, and discards it. His prejudice is too strong to allow for any hypothetical scenarios. It's all tainted, thanks to Snivellus.

"And even if that were true, he's still not half as nice to look at. It's the beard," he confides, dryly, as he peers in between the doors, "such a turn-off."

It's a pretty good effort at a jocular tilt of conversation, one of his better in recent days. It helps that the darkness beyond the doors is interesting enough to fix his thoughts on, a brief respite from miserable angry depression. The light from his wand does nothing. It's like shining it on a thick velvet drape. The light is totally absorbed; the wand stands out, stark, like the darkness is a backdrop. Sirius frowns a little, and squints up one eye.

"What the hell is this," he says, as he leans back and lifts his wand a bit higher. It makes no difference. There's no dimension to the darkness, no shadow--no nothing. "Come on, let's pry 'em open. Nox," as an afterthought, and the pale wandlight snuffs out. "Did you learn any good prying spells second term of seventh year?"

[fullmoon]

Remus smiles a little behind Sirius' back, and not because he endorses making fun of Charles Xavier or his beard, but the smile is gone—off his face, well out of his voice—before they move on. Drawing attention to tiny signs of recovery might chase them back into their holes for another week.

"Dark," he repeats, tone a little lofty told you so-y, despite knowing that that's a rhetorical question. Stunning observation indeed. He jostles in close long enough to get a better look at the wand and its useless light, then steps back to examine the doors.

They've gone funny. Warped. Like something blew up behind them, maybe, and tried pushing them out of the doorway.

"Not in seventh year," he says, "but Alastor Moody—here."

He recovers his wand from his pocket and snaps the tip at the doors, and they make a good effort at getting out of the way: they're too bent to slide back easily into the walls, and there's a horrible groaning and screeching noise, but they manage to part enough to allow a person to pass through them. A Remus-shaped person, anyhow. Anyone with broader shoulders might have to turn sideways.

"Dianogus," he tells Sirius after the fact, in case he ever needs it.

(1) group text - Fitzsimmons + Kate "Honorary Gryffindor" Bishop, cc' Moony

[doggedly]

[And then, after some exploration, Sirius and Remus seek outside help.]

hullo

yr presence is cordially requested for space tea
time: immediately
place: in the new bit of science labs weve just found

did i mention theres a new bit of science labs
cos theres a new bit of science labs that just began showing on our map sometime after the jump
in fact the science lab is all that the map wants to show us
+ this new bit
loads of weird things in here
and a broken door into dark

:|b

[doggedly]

[Hasty addition to group text:]

bring your own tea though
& something to chuck into the dark

[fullmoon]

& tea for me please.

[alsohawkeye]

Three teas and a coffee it is.

[lifescience]

Far be it from me to undermine the importance of tea, but you really discovered a new section of the labs? How did it happen, tell me everything.

LOCATION: NANITE STORAGE & RESEARCH ROOM

[fullmoon]

The Nanite Storage and Research room is, at first glance, a fairly normal looking research space. A long workbench runs along two walls, with a larger worktable making an island in the centre of the room, and the third wall lined with large cool-storage cabinets. Various pieces of equipment and consoles sit on the benches, most of them attached to thin, shallow containers or small closed tubing systems. Most of these are empty, but some still contain a red-tinged liquid. The consoles and equipment will only be accessible by those with Xenobiology and Genetics nanites, but there will be no records available.

Of the cabinets on the last wall, one (to the far end) is half empty, while the others all contain small metal cannisters. These cannisters all contain a nanite solution. Running several of them through the analysis equipment available will find that they all contain nanites NANOTECH USC-XX9000-091S, but seem to be organised in order of programming completion, with those closest to the far end (and the half empty cabinet) being the most complete. These nanites will have the below programming:

REPLICATION
IMMUNE SYSTEM SUPPORT
HEALTH MAINTENANCE
MANTICORE A#34 ADVANCEMENT
MANTICORE B#39 ADAPTATION
GENETIC STABILIZATION

The nanites in the cannisters in the cabinets at the other end will be programmed with:

REPLICATION
IMMUNE SYSTEM SUPPORT
HEALTH MAINTENANCE
-- ADVANCEMENT
-- ADAPTATION

Though this cabinet will be completely full, one spot in the middle shelf will be very tellingly empty.

[ Note: The mods wrote this. Isn't it beautiful? ]

to me, my x-men.

[forgodssake]

It might pay to avoid touching anything.

[ This, Charles suggests a little belatedly, honestly. As it standard for equipment and rooms recklessly appearing in the science department, he is taking some pictures. His composition could use some work, but he tries to snag details, a sense of dimension, and hooks a gloved finger around the edge of a cabinet -- not a very important cabinet, as it is empty -- to peer inside. ]

Within reason.

[ He is thinking more along the lines of forensics and tampering than the concern, he recalls, Security had for their behaviour the last time with regard to superstition. Like maybe the fabric of reality that made this place possible could slam closed on them like a book, taking them with.

Charles doesn't mention that either. ]

This is the Research and Development level. We've had occurrences of things appearing before -- work spaces, equipment, that sort of thing. The void is new, [ he says, as aside. ] And it was more scattered about than this.

[fertilefeet]

[She's paid careful attention to the lesson on dusting for fingerprints, the details flawlessly saved in her memory, and she listens to Charles' suggestion not to touch much. Lúthien has even chosen to wear the vastly uncomfortable crew jumpsuit from her locker (for the first time) so her skirts wouldn't catch on anything and knock anything over.]

There was a department that disappeared as well, was there not? [It had been some time ago but she could remember that much.

She doesn't plan on tampering with much herself, moving along with Charles and watching for anything that might seem to have any good lingering fingerprints.]

[ryuuzaki]

The Genetics lab,

[he provides, to Luthien. He had been lucky not to be attacked by a manticore then; the mutated rat had been bad enough. His shoes were still stained by his own blood.]

When we found it, the computer systems had been overwritten by the virus that almost took down the network a while ago. How it got there, I'm not sure, but it's part of a consistent pattern of attempts at sabotage.

[Moving through, not touching anything, peering at what he can, photographing just as much as Xavier is, L glances at the shelf of canisters, then at the empty place.]

So how did our saboteur access this place, assuming they did? It must have come and gone... were they waiting? Or... did they have a special way in...?

[He still harbors his own suspicions about the identity of the saboteur, but the waters are muddier for him now, now that he knows what he knows, than they were a few months ago.]

[OOC: Picking up here rather than in the other thread because the tenor of this one so far is muuuuuuuch better suited to L's interests and capabilities.]

[fertilefeet]

Genetics, that was it. [She nods slowly. There wasn't enough that she knew about the Genetics lab but that it disappeared and Jumps later, this section appeared had to be connected at least in some small way.]

I- I am sorry, I don't know very much about viruses but it does seem like sabotage. And there doesn't not seem to be very many ways to tell if anything has been too disturbed. [No dust or anything broken or placed strangely. Which could be helpful since the dust wouldn't interfere with fingerprinting.

Something does stand out though. Did they wait? Or come and go already?]

Might they still be here somewhere?

splitting in twaaaaain

[milagros]

( the interest in examining this and the limitations of nanites are why mila is not unaccompanied, as she might frankly prefer to be, when she moves through the new space. she might prefer it, but she's set that aside for the sake of what her job sometimes entails and gives no indication, the only sound of her passage until she speaks the tap of high heels on clean, even floors. )

If you feel the need to handle anything, do so with care. Try not to interfere with anything that hasn't been recorded.

( like charles, she is taking pictures; a second set for comparison purposes, and for the likelihood one or both of them will not get literally every possible angle. )

[brainsqueeze]

( She's not a scientist but she is curious. Any new things - changes in the ship? The ship is a puzzle that's been bugging a lot of people, and she'd like to know whatever she can. If that's possible )

So touch nothing?

( At least if you're not from the department. She wouldn't know what has been recorded. Thankfully she's less of the nosy, touchy sort. Curious but weary. If there is something new there they might not know what it is, and if all of it is good. She's not getting struck by anything unexpected if she can help it )

LOCATION: ETERNAL DARKNESS/"LAB E"

[fullmoon]

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. ]

ota.

[lostsoldier]

[ 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.

[rhyfelgri]

( 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. )

[lostsoldier]

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. ]

[rhyfelgri]

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.

. closed . with rey .

[dreamcrutcher]

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!"

[circumitus]

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.

[dreamcrutcher]

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?"