Seele Quest: 3.0
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
"I'll be up in a few hours. Try not to touch anything. You should get some sleep yourself, or if you want to do something useful, you could, I dunno, check what's going on with the rest of the ship. Or with that meteor. Or I dunno. Whatever." Her eyes shut tightly the second she hit the ground, and she's slurring the words. "Turn off the light before yo- hnggn. Before you leave."
She's asleep in seconds.
You turn around, and sure enough, there's a light switch just behind you. You flip it off, plunging the room into darkness. You wait a minute for your eyes to adjust, then start to leave.
A thought crosses your mind. You're not really tired, but the last time you slept was...
The last time you slept was on Yvette's shoulder, hours ago. While you were killing her.
Your stomach clenches, and you feel bile rising up inside of you. You clamp your mouth shut, trying to force it back down. You breathe in, then out, then in again. You're in control. Calm blue, like Yvette's eyes.
You shudder, then crouch down next to the bed. There's enough light to see by flowing in from the doorway, though what light does make it through is dim. There's plenty of light to see Tesla, even without dipping into your more esoteric senses. She's covered in a thin layer of sweat, and she's breathing erratically. Her lips are partially open, and you can see her eyes darting around underneath her eyelids.
She's dreaming. And from the look of it...
It's not a good one.
Her eyes are darting around underneath her eyelids, and they shift into a sort of... Worry. Her eyebrows are furrowed, and she's biting her lip.
You have no idea what she's seeing. All you can see is the fear on her face. You should go look for the others – really, you shouldn't care about the nightmares of a woman you hardly like – but Tesla's mental wellbeing is important, too. At any rate that's what you tell yourself, when you sit down next to her and put one of your hands on her shoulder.
You expect her to wake up then, but she doesn't. She just keeps on breathing erratically and twitching. She's having a nightmare. You look down at her face, then press your hand against her shoulder a little more firmly.
And she still doesn't wake up.
What should you do?
"You should kiss her," Vel says, mischievously. "Isn't that how you love to wake Bronya?"
You ignore Veliona, and go back to worrying about Tesla. You look at her face, at the closed eyes and twitching eyebrows and pursed lips. The expression she's making is one of fear – no, of terror. She's kept it together well enough in front of you, but her mind is trawling through something horrible.
You reach out to her face with your right hand, gently moving a strand of hair out of her eyes. She doesn't react, so you start stroking her head, slowly. Her hair is soft and smooth as silk, but a little cool to the touch. You keep on petting her head for a minute more, before you realize that she's stopped breathing erratically. Her eyes have changed, too. They're less focused on whatever it is that's scaring her.
"Hey..." You say, but she's fast asleep. You stay there a few minutes longer, making sure she's comfortable. She definitely seems more relaxed.
You sigh, then stand up. You know you won't find Bronya here, but it's time you search the rest of the ship. So far it's been painfully empty; Tesla hinted at an explanation when she talked about 'safe zones', but that doesn't explain why she was alone in engineering. It doesn't explain what happened to the four people in reactor #4.
You shake your head. There'll be time to think about it later. Right now, you just want to find your friends.
With no better ideas, you start wandering the ship.
It's an... experience. You find nothing as outré as the dimensionally distorted giant meteor that Tesla was examining, but there's still plenty to see. In fact, the whole ship feels like it's been squished together with half a dozen places that have *no* business existing in a military vessel, or anywhere describable as 'indoors' for that matter. Some of them are, at least, close. You come across large rooms filled with computer banks, large pieces of equipment you don't recognize, and signs proclaiming it to be part of Cambridge university. One room contains a dozen huge glass tubes, filled with nothing but a thick green fluid.
Others are less sensible. A maintenance closet, when you step inside it, opens on a winter forest. A wing of the ship that contains nothing but row upon row of metal stakes, some splattered with dried blood. A room filled with red, black and silver balloons. A hallway that seems to extend deeper than the laws of physics should allow, that you walk down a full minute, but when you turn around you're barely inside it.
It's... unsettling. Not dangerous, but you think you see what Tesla's been doing – the area of the ship she's in is, by far, the most *real*. That's not something you noticed when you entered it, but it's obvious now that you're wandering.
The main corridors were reasonably undamaged. The smaller accessways are– not so much, though you're not sure if you can call this 'battle damage'.
Maybe.
As to your quest of finding people, you haven't found any yet, but you're starting to build a map of the ship. It's in four parts, basically.
There's the cockpit and sensor rooms, all the stuff that's in the front of the ship – you haven't found a safe path there, but you can tell when you wander thataways that things get a little less wonky, although still skewed in some way you can't name. It's a good place to look for some of your friends – Bronya used to spend most of her time on the bridge, acting as gofer, and Kiana's taken that role recently. Theresa would certainly be there.
There's the engineering space, running from the bow to the aft of the ship. It's wrapped around the railgun... well, what used to be the railgun, and which is now Tesla's science experiment. You wonder if it was supposed to be some kind of gun? If it is, it isn't a good one. There's no direct path from there to the bridge section, but in principle you could find your way out through the front and knock on the windscreen. With the ship in the state it is, it's anyone's guess what you'd find there. Engineering is almost entirely intact, so you can treat it as a highway of sorts.
There's the living quarters, training rooms, offices and so on. They're all in the mid-section of the ship, but at least half the ones you've seen are mixed with some fragmentary reality that has no business existing in your home. The main corridors might be okay, but the smaller ones are traps, as dangerous as sticking your hand into a blender. You can cope – really, nothing you've seen could hurt you – but if anyone is still alive in there, they'll certainly need help. You haven't found any corpses yet, and you're not sure if you should be happy about that, or worried.
Then, finally, there's the engine section and hull. The ship has a lot of passageways going right next to the hull, and they're large enough for you to crawl through, but only barely. They're not really meant for people. As for the engines, it's... hard to say, really, what the purpose of going there would be. You can't use engines in the quantum sea, anti-grav or otherwise.
So really, your options are the bridge or the living quarters.
You suppose there's also the outside of the ship. The deck is meant for valkyries to sortie from, or sometimes fight on, and last time you were there there was a helicopter parked, but... that was back when the Hyperion existed in normal space, in a place with an atmosphere. It butts up right against the quantum sea, which might as well be acid – there definitely can't be any survivors. If you go there now, you don't think you'll find the hull of a ship.
Those are your options. Pick one and find your friends.
= = =
You heard her, I guess.
[ ] Bridge section
[ ] Mid-section
[ ] Hull & engine rooms
- Provide reasoning
[ ] Outside
- Ditto
[ ] Write-in
You can of course go searching through one of those – other places – but whatever you find there is less than likely to be anyone you know. If that suits your fancy, you can write in whatever you like – why not visit an infinite library?
She's asleep in seconds.
You turn around, and sure enough, there's a light switch just behind you. You flip it off, plunging the room into darkness. You wait a minute for your eyes to adjust, then start to leave.
A thought crosses your mind. You're not really tired, but the last time you slept was...
The last time you slept was on Yvette's shoulder, hours ago. While you were killing her.
Your stomach clenches, and you feel bile rising up inside of you. You clamp your mouth shut, trying to force it back down. You breathe in, then out, then in again. You're in control. Calm blue, like Yvette's eyes.
You shudder, then crouch down next to the bed. There's enough light to see by flowing in from the doorway, though what light does make it through is dim. There's plenty of light to see Tesla, even without dipping into your more esoteric senses. She's covered in a thin layer of sweat, and she's breathing erratically. Her lips are partially open, and you can see her eyes darting around underneath her eyelids.
She's dreaming. And from the look of it...
It's not a good one.
Her eyes are darting around underneath her eyelids, and they shift into a sort of... Worry. Her eyebrows are furrowed, and she's biting her lip.
You have no idea what she's seeing. All you can see is the fear on her face. You should go look for the others – really, you shouldn't care about the nightmares of a woman you hardly like – but Tesla's mental wellbeing is important, too. At any rate that's what you tell yourself, when you sit down next to her and put one of your hands on her shoulder.
You expect her to wake up then, but she doesn't. She just keeps on breathing erratically and twitching. She's having a nightmare. You look down at her face, then press your hand against her shoulder a little more firmly.
And she still doesn't wake up.
What should you do?
"You should kiss her," Vel says, mischievously. "Isn't that how you love to wake Bronya?"
You ignore Veliona, and go back to worrying about Tesla. You look at her face, at the closed eyes and twitching eyebrows and pursed lips. The expression she's making is one of fear – no, of terror. She's kept it together well enough in front of you, but her mind is trawling through something horrible.
You reach out to her face with your right hand, gently moving a strand of hair out of her eyes. She doesn't react, so you start stroking her head, slowly. Her hair is soft and smooth as silk, but a little cool to the touch. You keep on petting her head for a minute more, before you realize that she's stopped breathing erratically. Her eyes have changed, too. They're less focused on whatever it is that's scaring her.
"Hey..." You say, but she's fast asleep. You stay there a few minutes longer, making sure she's comfortable. She definitely seems more relaxed.
You sigh, then stand up. You know you won't find Bronya here, but it's time you search the rest of the ship. So far it's been painfully empty; Tesla hinted at an explanation when she talked about 'safe zones', but that doesn't explain why she was alone in engineering. It doesn't explain what happened to the four people in reactor #4.
You shake your head. There'll be time to think about it later. Right now, you just want to find your friends.
With no better ideas, you start wandering the ship.
It's an... experience. You find nothing as outré as the dimensionally distorted giant meteor that Tesla was examining, but there's still plenty to see. In fact, the whole ship feels like it's been squished together with half a dozen places that have *no* business existing in a military vessel, or anywhere describable as 'indoors' for that matter. Some of them are, at least, close. You come across large rooms filled with computer banks, large pieces of equipment you don't recognize, and signs proclaiming it to be part of Cambridge university. One room contains a dozen huge glass tubes, filled with nothing but a thick green fluid.
Others are less sensible. A maintenance closet, when you step inside it, opens on a winter forest. A wing of the ship that contains nothing but row upon row of metal stakes, some splattered with dried blood. A room filled with red, black and silver balloons. A hallway that seems to extend deeper than the laws of physics should allow, that you walk down a full minute, but when you turn around you're barely inside it.
It's... unsettling. Not dangerous, but you think you see what Tesla's been doing – the area of the ship she's in is, by far, the most *real*. That's not something you noticed when you entered it, but it's obvious now that you're wandering.
The main corridors were reasonably undamaged. The smaller accessways are– not so much, though you're not sure if you can call this 'battle damage'.
Maybe.
As to your quest of finding people, you haven't found any yet, but you're starting to build a map of the ship. It's in four parts, basically.
There's the cockpit and sensor rooms, all the stuff that's in the front of the ship – you haven't found a safe path there, but you can tell when you wander thataways that things get a little less wonky, although still skewed in some way you can't name. It's a good place to look for some of your friends – Bronya used to spend most of her time on the bridge, acting as gofer, and Kiana's taken that role recently. Theresa would certainly be there.
There's the engineering space, running from the bow to the aft of the ship. It's wrapped around the railgun... well, what used to be the railgun, and which is now Tesla's science experiment. You wonder if it was supposed to be some kind of gun? If it is, it isn't a good one. There's no direct path from there to the bridge section, but in principle you could find your way out through the front and knock on the windscreen. With the ship in the state it is, it's anyone's guess what you'd find there. Engineering is almost entirely intact, so you can treat it as a highway of sorts.
There's the living quarters, training rooms, offices and so on. They're all in the mid-section of the ship, but at least half the ones you've seen are mixed with some fragmentary reality that has no business existing in your home. The main corridors might be okay, but the smaller ones are traps, as dangerous as sticking your hand into a blender. You can cope – really, nothing you've seen could hurt you – but if anyone is still alive in there, they'll certainly need help. You haven't found any corpses yet, and you're not sure if you should be happy about that, or worried.
Then, finally, there's the engine section and hull. The ship has a lot of passageways going right next to the hull, and they're large enough for you to crawl through, but only barely. They're not really meant for people. As for the engines, it's... hard to say, really, what the purpose of going there would be. You can't use engines in the quantum sea, anti-grav or otherwise.
So really, your options are the bridge or the living quarters.
You suppose there's also the outside of the ship. The deck is meant for valkyries to sortie from, or sometimes fight on, and last time you were there there was a helicopter parked, but... that was back when the Hyperion existed in normal space, in a place with an atmosphere. It butts up right against the quantum sea, which might as well be acid – there definitely can't be any survivors. If you go there now, you don't think you'll find the hull of a ship.
Those are your options. Pick one and find your friends.
= = =
You heard her, I guess.
[ ] Bridge section
[ ] Mid-section
[ ] Hull & engine rooms
- Provide reasoning
[ ] Outside
- Ditto
[ ] Write-in
You can of course go searching through one of those – other places – but whatever you find there is less than likely to be anyone you know. If that suits your fancy, you can write in whatever you like – why not visit an infinite library?
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