[catchall] Shoma

[rav3n]

This is the vibe from your profile

Comments

[solesuccess]

...wow. I haven't heard this song in ages. [ SORRY HE IS NOW DISTRACTED. ]

[rav3n]

[LFSDKJHG HELP

HE SIGHS]

Library computers...

[solesuccess]

[ lifting an eyebrow. ]

Tried hacking into them?

[rav3n]

Didn't you?

[SURELY SOMEONE DID]

[solesuccess]

I always meant to and never got around to it. I had my own projects I was working on. [ so honestly no. ]

[rav3n]

Mm, fair enough. Well, you can try if you want, but it's probably not a stretch to assume it's a dead end.

[C'est la vie...]

Anything I can help with?

[solesuccess]

Maybe that's a tomorrow project. I've finished up a bunch of the stuff I've been working on recently. [ but...hum. ]

Were you guys able to see us in the ballroom on Thursday?

[rav3n]

Sounds good. I'm sure you have a lot of people you want to talk to tonight anyway.

[He's very happy to see Shoma and chat with him, but he knows they barely knew each other and Luke did not send messages for... reasons... don't worry about it.

He nods!!]

Yeah, we were.

[solesuccess]

Those people can wait. I've got plenty of time and I'm talking to you anyway. [ which is to say that yeah, they barely know each other, but at the same time he doesn't seem to particularly mind. a good handful of people he knows better have spoken highly of luke anyway. ]

Then you heard what Aiba said about what this ship's going to do next.

[rav3n]

[HELP he laughs at that, scratching his cheek.]

I can't argue with that.

[But, ah... well. Thursday was... complicated... but Luke is always paying attention to the important stuff, so unsurprisingly, he nods, his expression turning grim and serious.]

Something's taken control of the ship, and it plans on heading to our worlds after the next stop, right?

[solesuccess]

[ i'm scared what that means for you guys but that's okay. he seems to be settling into this line of conversation easily, just as seriously. ]

Right, exactly. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't say that sounds like a good thing.

[rav3n]

[Plot talk now? Plot talk now. The workaholic geniuses truly never stop.]

I was able to get us an interferometer over there and take a closer look at the CEM waves. Is any of this new to you?

[tl;dr he will explain what he did and say that he learned:

- CEM waves are some kind of element that can be measured by wavelength and frequency
- different wavelengths do different things, basically the potential to change shit is possibly limitless
- upon added research and knowledge, they can see the living component in the waves
- the living component is eldritch af so the biology is incomprehensible
- it is capable of masking itself to be unseen]

Sidon mentioned he thought the CEM waves might be coming from the creature itself. And given that there's a heart and a brain down there, I'm willing to bet this is all pieces of the same puzzle.

[solesuccess]

Yeah, Eunhyuk said you built a lot of stuff over on that side which I kinda wish you were able to bring it over just to see the work. [ but he listens...and he frowns softly. ]

I've been working off of the assumption that there's some kind of parasite that's attached itself to this ship. And we were able to decode your guys' message about the lotus planet. So, yeah, it's likely that this thing was picked up from that planet and has been hanging on and consuming things from other planets as the Eudora's been in flight, and it's been getting stronger. There were some items available to us that allowed us to see flesh on the walls and bones around the ship, and the pink haze is all around us to hide everything. It wouldn't surprise me if Sidon was right and the CEM waves were coming from the creature itself. The storm we cleared out on Thursday came from a source that was pretty monsteresque, so...it is a possibility.

So then the question becomes "how do we kill it."

[rav3n]

[Luke smiles, lifting a hand to scratch at the back of his neck.]

It wouldn't have been that helpful. It was mostly stuff we could use over there, like the computer. [And they have plenty of computers on this side...] But you're right--killing it without damaging the ship and putting all of our lives in danger is a tall order. And I don't know if we can summon the ghosts back here for more help, unless Shouxue...

[Hmmm. He's quiet for a little while, contemplating.]

I couldn't get very far in the engineering room myself before I started feeling sick--has it always been that way?

[solesuccess]

...with people's powers back on, she might be able to. Or at least maybe try to talk to any of the ghosts lingering around here. I get the feeling there're some in certain places.

[ but there's a nod. ]

Engineering and the bridge both have made it very difficult to look around because you eventually get driven out by nausea or a headache. Like the Eudora's specifically blocking us from looking too closely.

[rav3n]

[He brings a hand to his chin, thinking.]

Have you tried sending Roboji in there?

[solesuccess]

[ huh. ]

...you know, I actually haven't. His programming's not as intricate as Aiba's but he's still independent. It might not be a bad idea just to look around. Attach a camera to him or something.

[rav3n]

[Luke nods.]

It's not that different from sending in a drone, right? And if it kicks off any malfunctions, that'll tell us something too.

[solesuccess]

Yeah. And if something happens to Roboji I can fix him pretty much immediately. So it's not that much of a risk.

[rav3n]

Right. [He sighs a little.] There aren't many places to build things on this side, huh? I never thought I'd be grateful for where we were, but it was a lot easier to get stuff just by wanting it really badly.

[solesuccess]

Nope. [ which has been. a time. ] I've picked up tools and some parts from different places but nothing like what I'm used to having. And after a while I didn't want to ask the senior crew to get it for me just to give me something to do. [ ...wait. ] Are you saying you could just get stuff in the trash by wishing for it?

[rav3n]

[Luke nods along, understanding; he probably would've been willing to annoy the senior crew every week for the both of them, but he understands where Shoma's coming from.]

No, not the trash. It was more... the areas we had access to? From what I understand, they manifested from what we wanted. Like the observatory, or the tech lab, probably. They definitely weren't perfect, though. Usually there was something wrong with them. [He pauses, then adds--] I assume the rat society was already there.

[solesuccess]

[ he really should have died, maybe. ]

That's...really weird. Kind of cool? But mostly weird. I would assume the rat society was already there, too, but I don't know how some of you think. Maybe it was a lifelong dream to see the fruition of a rat colony? [ lmao. ] I am glad you guys weren't completely cut off down there though.

[rav3n]

[HELP well that gets him to grin, though it fades right after.]

Yeah. I wish we could've done more for you guys, though. All we could do was reassure you guys that we'd take care of anyone who wound up down there, but I'm sure that felt cheap when people were still dying.

[Which was one of Luke's greater sources of frustration: Far beyond figuring out a way to return to life, he'd wanted to minimize the number of deaths.]

[solesuccess]

Don't discount that. Most of us come from places where you don't ever get to talk to the dead again. When a person's gone...that's it. No matter when you saw them or what you last said to them, those are the pieces you have after they die. So...knowing you were all taking care of each other and that we could still reach you even with the delay actually helped a ton while we were working on trying to solve things here.