END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[myagic]

[Like okay yeah someone save him if possible but hi Rita's having an existential crisis over this new information-]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THE KID IS THE PROBE?!

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ This is a lot to process and rather disturbing, especially considering that they're just passing through on their way back to the ladder at the back of the hall. Bastion remembers Voyager by description, but didn't have a lot of interactions with him. He's the human form of a space probe??? And Tayrey shot him into space in probe form??? ]

// Well put. [ Rita says what they're all thinking. ]

[neverleave]

Exactly what I said!

[Hi guess who's having a different kind of crisis over Fio's report - ]

It's an Earth thing. They sent it years ago to explore what's beyond the solar system. Even sent a record with music and images in case someone out there finds it. [Which in hindsight seems like a supremely idiotic decision, now that he knows what happens when someone does find it.] I guess in some universe it gained sentience and a human form? I thought what Tayrey found was just a corpse, like with the Moon Freak, but sounds like he's still alive -

[Natsuno slams both fists against the bars in frustration. It was stupid and sentimental to think that even if it was an empty shell, at least some part of Voyager could fulfill his mission.]

And that freak got him.

[myagic]

Natsuno...

[Okay. Okay, well--this is still A Lot And She Doesn't Like It (this means she worked on a corpse all that time!!!), but--

Seeing Natsuno beating himself up over it has a way of changing her priorities.]

Hey--we're not just gonna leave him in that freak's hands now that we know.

[It's not his fault, even if he did recognize the "body". How long had Voyager been gone? He was...effectively dead. Like Jade and Clarke.

...She feels sick, but tries to ignore it, getting close to the bars--wishing she could cross the hall to him.]

[neverleave]

I know.

[He forces himself to relax his arms as he leans against the door, pressing his forehead to the bars. No point in exhausting himself while they're still locked up. Calm down, stay focused.]

I just hate that all we can do now is wait for them to have a breakthrough.

[myagic]

Yeah. I know, it just--being helpless like this? It sucks.

[And she's not given to optimism under conditions like these. But she promised Fio, and she's not about to break that promise--nor is she going to let Natsuno face this disturbing new development with no encouragement.]

...When they get our powers working again, we'll just have to go and smack that freak around--until she lets go of that kid and everyone else. [And then blast her some more for good measure.]