Dan's Thread

Janean takes a seat by Anne "Testing the watched clock never ticks theory are we?" She muses inbetween bites of French Toast

The speaker chimes on. "Diiiiing-dong, ding-dongs," AI-1c-e taunts. "Sleeping Beauty's awake. You've got 15 minutes until the execution, so ask your stupid questions.

"Oh! The mean lady!" Anne says. "I'm gonna go say hi."

You hear the sound of a girl laughing as you and Anne get closer to the medbay and look through the door. Most of the others are already here, the last few trickling in behind you. You notice the only two missing are Zack and The Bulgarian. Wildcat is laying on the floor with Zarv sitting on her back, while Jill holds onto a rope wrapped around her wrists. Looks like she tried to escape. And it looks like someone already asked her something, given that she finishes laughing and launches into a tirade.

"Why not? I want to live, dammit. You idiots don't get the situation you're in yet, do you?" Wildcat asks. "None of you have the balls to make a move. You wasted, what, a few days waiting for me to wake up just so you could ask that stupid question? You're all going to die up here, just watching that little timer tick down to boom. At least I don't have to waste my time sitting around, pretending to be all buddy-buddy, and waiting to die with the rest of you."

"You're a meanie!" Anne Jean yells.

"And a murderer..." Francois mutters.

"So you did it because you wanted to escape, OK." Texas stoops down to Wildcat's level. "So, why zer0?"

"Because she was weak," Wildcat spits with a smirk. "It was easy. All I had to do was offer to let her try the 'fun ride.' She was still treating this like a fucking game. Have you all figured it out yet?"

A silence hangs over everyone.

"Disappointing." Janean walks over to stand beside Texas. "From where I'm standing your position doesn't seem better then ours, but please enlighten us what it is you've discovered about our 'situation?' Despite your performance I don't believe all you care about is self-preservation."

"Self-preservation? I don't care about that." Wildcat's smile widens. "My job was just to kick things off. The rest of you? Ha. Have fun..."

"Oh, I like fun!" Anne volunteers. "But, um, murder isn't really fun? People should just be nice and friendly!"

"You can't intimidate us with whatever this is," The Bulgarian says, joining Texas and Janean.

Wildcat leans back. "Yeah? I'll tell you this: I wasn't the only one here with... certain interests."

"What does this mean?" Sammy mutters to himself. He folds his arms and steps to the back of the group.

"It means go fuck yourselves," Wildcat answers.

"Monster..." Francois mutters.

"Well, isn't our captive little electron just the most cheerful," Valerie says. "Does anyone else have any questions while she's being so cooperative?"

"That is all from me," Zarv says, disgust visible on his face.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock!" AI-1c-e's avatar forms itself, sitting on the edge of Wildcat's bed, pocketwatch in hand. "The time until the charges detonates continues to tick-tock away. Was wasting all this time worth it for those final words?"

"Ugh..." Mikoto grimaces. "Disgusting. I kind of wish we'd just tossed her out the airlock..."

"I have to say, I am quite glad we decided to be humane and allow you to wake up and give us your last words, no matter how harsh and violent they are," John says, almost to himself. "I'm sure you will have none of it, but giving some common decency, even to a murderer, is well worth it. We are not animals."

"Well, then! Without further ado, it's time to move on to the main event! I won't accept any more stalling," AI-1c-e announces. "Those wishing to observe, please report to the cafeteria."

Texas sighs. "Yeah... Yeah, I think you 'bout hit the nail on the head there... Saddle up, then."

There's a quiet moment of people discussing between each other before everyone starts to trickle out. Most people head to the cafeteria. Zach, Calum, Francois, and Valerie go to their rooms, instead. No one says anything else to Wildcat as they go.

After only a few moments in the cafeteria, the doors slam shut behind you. There's another sound like a second set of doors sealing behind them. The lights slowly dim, leaving the windows to the outside the only source of light. The speaker immediately crackles on with AI-1c-e's voice. "Uh, this thing on? Test, test... Hey, you bunch of degenerates. I've got great news for you. It just so happens that some folks from one of the other facilities managed to escape! So, I'm just gonna go ahead and... let's see... oh, here we go. Establishing audio connection to Queen of Red Hearts... Connected. Now transmitting audio from escape shuttle QR."

An unfamiliar male voice rings out over the intercom. "So, what now?"

Another voice, female, answers. "We have to help the others escape somehow!"

"And how do we do that?" a third voice asks. "There's nothing we can do for them! We should make a break for it while we still can."

"I locked Caterwaul out of the shuttle, firewall holding at 97%... It doesn't have any control over, and we've got plenty of time to figure something out," the 2nd voice repeats.

"Yeah, there's nothing they can do to stop us at this point, so let's take a minute to see if we can think of something," a fourth voice suggests.

"Connecting primary boosters... set. Control thrusters, responsive. Primary vector set. Connection to AI-1c-e established." Wildcat's voice is now coming over the speakers.

"What was that?" one of the unfamiliar voices asks.

"Caterwaul's broadcasting something?" the one who mentioned the firewall suggests. "What is this?"

"Radar... online. Target identified."

As you all watch, a large shuttle similar to the one you arrived in crests over one of the possibly artificial moon craters. There's a loud sound coming from the facility behind you.

"You're watching, yeah? Here, all you guys who skipped off to your rooms. Let me provide some holograms so you don't miss out, yeah? All emergency bulkheads sealed. Preparing to launch secondary escape vehicle."

The entire facility begins to shake. A roar comes from the central chamber and the temperature noticeably increases by a few degrees. When everyone manages to recover their footing, a long, missile-shaped rocket, much smaller than the shuttle, is curving from your facility towards the shuttle.

"Target locked," Wildcat announces. "Accelerating. Full throttle!"

"What- What is that!?"

"Move move move mo-"

The two collide, the rocket smashing through the shuttle and sending them both spiraling towards the ground before a large, silent explosion marks the impact with the ground. A matching silence spreads across the room until the AI interrupts it.

"Emergency. Wildcat vital signs are reading negative. Terminating connection to Queen of Red Hearts. Beginning emergency rec- Hey, that's two down! Whoever the two winners will be, you're well on your way to escaping - just 12 more to go! A dozen should be no trouble at all! Hahahaha! Anyway, you should all head to bed soon. Normal operations resume in 10 minutes. The temporary ban on murder ends in... NOW!"

The cafeteria lights snap back on, the doors slide open. Sounds of machinery whirring to life in the kitchen confirm the return to normal operating conditions.

John turns pale and quickly turns to the door, quickly making his way out.  Sammy and Mikoto run after him.

The Bulgarian sighs and continues staring out the window for some time before turning and heading to bed.  Zarv clicks his tongue before following a short time later.  Larissa clenches her fist with rage before running down the hall towards her room.

Anne Jean cocks her head and continues staring out the window.  "I don't understand.  Where'd Wildcat go...?"

Jill Aliapoh sits in the corner of the cafeteria, staring off into space.

"Looks like they're serious 'bout this," Texas says quietly.  "That ain't good."

When you return to your room, the lights dim.  This would be a good time to make any notes in your journal you want, before whatever happens next.

After a cursory examination of the expanded facilities Janean goes to look for the book Wildcat was reading yesterday