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

[doggedly]

waste of perfectly good chicken

[alsohawkeye]

I'm not sure what you want the chicken for, but if it isn't producing eggs or being eaten then I veto.

[fullmoon]

We'll put it in a bag first & bring it back.

[lifescience]

A snake or a chicken, which is it? Either way, I'm coming there.

[fullmoon]

[ Not pictured: a small amount of in-person squabbling over the snake v. chicken question. ]

Neither. We'll provide snakes.
Can try the chicken later.

There's a new corridor off Level 2, between the broken wall of buttony things & the burnt observation room.
If the door won't let you inside let us know when you're here & we'll provide professional SEC escort.

[ The door to the corridor will open for both XG and SEC nanites, so Jemma is fine. Kate and Fitz less so. ]

[lifescience]

[It's okay, she's grabbing Fitz along the way because gestalt.]

[alsohawkeye]

[ wow hivemind jokes are not ok here a little sensitivity plz

Also Kate will just come down close enough to the same time to catch up with them and tag along. She really does have a whole pot of tea in one hand and a big mug of coffee she's sipping in the other. ]

You can accio up some cups for everyone, right? Now what's this about?

[doggedly]

[If only they had a portable version of their ship-wonked map. Then they could see everyone's approach and have doors opened via SEC nanites before you could say Old Agrippa. (As the saying goes.)

But they're all here now, that's what counts. Team Void. Sirius takes the pot of tea from Kate and nods toward the doors to said void, which have been forced open via magic. The sign of their original condition--broken, torn back--is still in evidence.]

That.

{That's what it's about.]

Have we got enough tea to pour tea into it, d'you think?

[fullmoon]

[ Next time they can leave someone there to be Mission Control. ]

No. [ He doesn't jerk the pot from Sirius, but he does take a step back, between him and the darkness, so he can run interference on any tea-pouring attempts. ] Not the tea. Pour the coffee.

i didn't track this and missed everything oops

[technologist]

[ Fitz has an armful of stuff, none of which is edible. Tech, mostly, including a tablet — trifold, much larger than the comm devices — and what looks to be a small, nondescript spheroid robot of some kind. (Grumpy, who Simmons will recognize and Sirius has possibly met).

He ignores the snacks and the debate over sacrificing tea or coffee, stepping over to the void. A little too close, possibly, leaning forward like he'd be tempted to reach through it if his arms weren't full.

No hellos or anything. There's a void to stare at curiously, it takes priority. ]

would fitz really have responded to 1114234 stupid texts tho

[doggedly]

Oh, the coffee--

[--as he rolls his eyes. No one cares about the fate of coffee. Poor coffee. Never did anything to anyone. Still holding the tea, Sirius raises his wrist to his nose and holds pressure against it a moment, with a deep sniff. When he drops his hand, it's clean. No blood. (Yet.)]

All right, pour the coffee in. And don't stick your actual nose in there, Fitz, it'll end up feeling rather weird. In that you won't feel anything at all. Hello, by the way, to all of you. Welcome to the void.

[lifescience]

Has anyone tried shining a light into it?

[There's probably nothing to see in a Void, provided that it's an actual Void. Simmons goes to the very edge of it too, touching the wall when she doesn't dare touch anything else.

Yet.]

I'm not sure coffee or tea is the proper thing to throw into there. Perhaps something more solid? Like a shoe.

[fullmoon]

Sirius shine a light, and I dropped in a bluebell flame, [ Remus says, attention turning from making sure the tea doesn't end up in the void to making sure Fitz and Simmons don't. ] The flame fell up. It looked like it went on forever.

[alsohawkeye]

Don't you dare. [ Kate cradles her mug of coffee to her chest protectively. ] I brought extra tea for throwing, use that. I'm not volunteering a shoe either, there is only so far I will go for science.

Can't you summon up some random junk to toss in?

[technologist]

[ What is with the tea. Also bluebell flame ?? Fitz takes a step back from the void, still not glancing at the others. ]

Or perhaps you should leave it to the professionals.

[ That's him and Jemma, thank you. It's said a bit like an afterthought, inherent arrogance aside. He backs up just enough to kneel down and place Grumpy on the floor, pulling the trifold open and tapping the tablet to life. A second later, Grumpy buzzes upwards in a vertical line before zipping forward into the nothing. ]

[doggedly]

We've summoned up som-- Ooh, look. That's a robot. Very professional, everyone just stand back--

[Sirius does not stand back, but leans forward, neck craned, to watch the fate of the robot. (His pronunciation of the word--once so very foreign to him, row-bot--is excellent now, thanks.)

As the robot zips out into the void, Sirius--still watching expectantly--adds, for everyone's benefit--]

The flame fell up, but sometimes they fall down, and sometimes they don't do anything at all.

[fullmoon]

But it doesn't feel like gravity, [ Remus adds. Also watching the robot. He sort of wants one. ] It feels like nothing.

[lifescience]

Yes, so please keep your distance until we have some more answers.

[Which was a waste of perfectly good oxygen, what with Sirius leaning forward already. What they describe is leaving her with more questions than answers, which is always frustrating.]

Fitz, are you getting anything from him?

[technologist]

Um.

[ Professionals. Fitz's brow furrows as he watches the diagnostics, and after a beat of silence he drags his attention away from the screen to peer out into the void. ]

No. There's nothing.

[ Which doesn't sound horrified so much as gently bemused, maybe a little curious. ]

[doggedly]

Nothing.

[--Sirius echoes, with a look at Remus. Nearly a Look. Isn't that what you had just said, Mr Moony. Nothing. How interesting.

Mildly, he leans forward a little, trying to get a glimpse of the little robot.]

What's he meant to pick up on? [Also--] Can you drive him around in there? I'll bet you can't. There's nothing to drive on. We chucked this dog biscuit in there and it was seriously heavy and the most it did was sink, a little. Like it was on wet sand. If I weigh your little robot down a bit I wonder if it'll fall then.

[Idly, he twirls his wand between his fingers as he observes Grumpy in space.]

[alsohawkeye]

Be nice to the little robot, Sirius. [ Kate is neither wizard nor professional sciencer, so she sort of lingers between the two duos, watching as Fitz's Grumpy (is that the only one he has because that seems appropriate somehow) is launched into the void. ]

Nothing like the sensors aren't working or like there's just nothing for them to sense?

[ If that sounds a bit like a detail-focused sciencey sort of question she follows it up with a string of others that sound much less smart if only because there are so many. ]

I wonder how far it goes? How would we test that? Attach a tracker to an arrow and shoot it in? Would it stop when it reaches the front edge here and float or sink or whatever, or keep going with its momentum? Have you touched it? [ This last to the wizards. ] Or put anything live in? Or fake-live? Like, transfigured?