002 / video;

[arcreact]

[ Today’s video feed is brought to you from the absolute chaos that is Moro #016. Honestly, except for being slightly brighter in terms of decor, the place looks just like Nemo #001 had in previous videos: Tony’s shit is everywhere.

As the video turns on, transmitting from Stark’s MID and with his ID, it shows not only the chaos of bits and pieces of technology everywhere but one desk that has been cleared of clutter. On the desk, sit two journals and some blank notebooks. Behind the desk sit two men who look like they haven’t slept in days.

They are currently doing that "you ask", "no, you ask you know what you’re asking about" back and forth that suggests they may not have completely transitioned from private to public speaking mode. Eventually, Adrien gives Tony’s shoulder a shove and points, imperiously, to the camera.

TALK STARK! ]

Some of you probably remember this, a lot of you probably don't: we've got some journals floating around this place that might just be hiding answers to questions we've all been asking since we landed on this rust bucket. We've gotten our hands on two of them, partially because the good doctor here has way too much time on his hands and decided to live in the library for a month, and partially as a result of dumb luck. If there are more, I haven't gotten a whiff of them, but it stands to reason that these two aren't the only ones. So if you see a journal with creepy runes all over it, feel free to share with the class.

Anyway, here's the catch. [ Tony lifts one of the journals in question so that it's visible on the screen - small, leather-bound, and seemingly handwritten. He flips briefly through the pages, but it's just a mess of runes and symbols with no immediately obvious meaning. ] They're not written in any language I've ever seen before, and trying to translate them has been a serious pain in the ass. If I had to guess, they're written in the language of whoever built the Ingress originally, since some of the symbols are familiar from what we do have on the thing.

[ He tosses the journal back onto the desk, with a cranky and definitive plop! Adrien’s hands can be seen scooping it up and laying it down more gently, as if in apology. ]

If you've got a clever head on your shoulders, raise your hand now, 'cause we need your help. I dunno about you guys, but I'm real tired of mysteries, so let's figure this shit out. [ Translation: they need all the nerds and braniacs they can get. ] Oh, and if you're assigned to the Ingress in any official capacity? Meet me in the Ingress room in an hour. Vacation's over.

[ He sits back, satisfied that he's said his piece, and shoots a sidelong glance at Adrien. For a moment there was silence as Adrien appeared to silently beg Tony to just keep going.

No dice. The doctor was going to have to use his words.

Reaching back to rub tiredly at the nape of his neck, he sighed and began to talk. ]

I also came across a museum down on the Mini Colony. It was called the Aeronautical Study Institute or the A.S.I. if that sounds familiar to anyone? I learned some information about something called “Living Energy” or “Living Power”.

In a nutshell, I learned that it’s considered dangerous [ to the surprise of no one, right? ] This ship is the only vessel to have been known to be built where the living energy was harnessed on something mobile. The Ingress machines use Living Energy to run, some other bits indications that people were playing with something they didn’t completely understand and mention of a “Hub.”

Does any of that sound familiar to anyone else?

[ Tony raises his hand, helpfully. ]

—And "I heard about this in a horror sci-fi movie where they crushed up human souls to feed their weird alien technology" is a totally valid but not entirely helpful answer, because I already thought of that, but thanks.

[ Adrien stared at his roommate with a bemused frown on his face. ]

How would you even go about crushing a soul? Bones, flesh, tissue sure but a soul?

[ These two men are in serious need of a nap. Tony doesn’t deign that with a response, just bodily shoves Adrien out of the frame. ]

Point is, if you know something or you've heard something, now's the time to speak up. And the workgroup for these shitty journal translations meets approximately immediately, so if you're interested, chop chop.

[ The video feed cuts off as unceremoniously as it began. ]

(( Here's your plot hook if you're interested in solving some Ingress mysteries! See this OOC post for more info. ))

Comments

video;

[otiosity]

Maybe it's [ D R A M A T I C P A U S E] magic.

video;

[arcreact]

You're fired.

video

[knaval]

Oh, my god! Okay, oh my god. I totally went into the ASI as well! Something amazing happened! Did you know there's a room... with mirrors inside it?

Also, the tour guide asked me on a date. It got awkward.

video

[arcreact]

[ He almost got his hopes up for like, half a second.

But no, it's just Riptide. ]

What, you didn't say yes?

text;

[ventifact]

why couldn't it just be some kind of normal energy
i think we deserve that much at least

text;

[arcreact]

yeah, right?
nothing about this thing could just be non-bullshit
but it also explains why a group of some of the multiverse's finest engineering minds couldn't pin down a coherent power source before now

video;

[deconstruct]

[ after a moment to listen carefully, pause, then play it back again, andyr's opening a channel to answer, brows still knit, and a small frown on his lips. ]

'Hub' is where the new captains said we're headed. They still acting like they don't know anything more about this? [ he's not the only one who thinks they're completely full of shit, right? andyr'd been by that museum, on the colony, but had more skimmed than looked properly, just passing through. but this is something that sounds like progress, and as much as he doesn't want to go home, he needs to. ]

I can help research, if you need another pair of eyes. [ and because he's still side-eyeing short tony, and basically everyone in the engineering and medbay decks that aren't adrien, val or alva, he makes a point to name the other specifically - ] Adrien, I got something I need to give you anyway.

video;

[prorenataa]

Right now, any pair of eyes that are not our own is welcome to be honest. I've long passed the point where I'm reading the same line over and over. [ Seriously, sometimes you just got to close to a thing.

In fact, Adrien was rubbing his eyes as he spoke, only lowering his hand for the last bit. ]

Should I be alarmed? [ He's not accusatory, just curious and wary at the same time. With Andyr a gift could be somebody's liver. It was rather like when Courser brought him the gift of rodents heads that one time. ]

video

[wallride]

The Ingress is soylent green? Now colour me surprised.

locked

This is probably-- no, definitely a stupid question, but have either of you managed to talk to the captains at all about any of this? Even if they've brushed you off. I just need to know if any of them might know anything at all.

I'm going somewhere with this, honestly.

video

[arcreact]

[ He'll let Adrien handle the actual meat of this one. ]

I don't have the science to back this up - yet - but I'm just saying, ninety percent probability it's soylent green. You heard it here first.

video

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

Oh my. So you two finally made it official.

video

[arcreact]

Am I gonna regret asking you to clarify?

text //

[diamondhack]

i'm not sure about you, but my vacation wasn't much of a vacation

have you considered human batteries?

[Clearly this nerd is aware of the Matrix.]

text //

[arcreact]

[ There's pretty much not a single person even tangentially related to the engineering department that even knows what a vacation is. ]

do you have any idea how much of my day i spend trying NOT to consider human batteries?

Voice

[crowkiller]

'Living energy'?

Sounds like some sort of blood magic.

Voice

[arcreact]

[ M-word count in this post: two. ]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that's exactly as disturbing as it sounds.

video;

[voicelog]

Well, this is new information. I never knew we were on vacation.

You should have told me. I could have gone to get a tan.

video;

[arcreact]

[ Smartass. ]

But your natural complexion is so lovely, dear.

video;

[accidentalqueen]

Why do you find this remotely surprising?

[ Oh wait it's because Tony lives in a universe for delicate children. ]

video;

[arcreact]

Okay, but that's where you're wrong. I find none of this surprising, just deeply exasperating.

[ Of course the answer to the bullshit hell portal would be something like soylent green. Of course it would be. ]

[ video ]

[nightmarist]

[Finally, something on this fucking network is worthy of Ronan's attention. It sounds like they're talking about a ley line. That would explain why he can dream so easily here. It also explains Noah's ability to manifest.]

I know about living energy.

I can probably translate your books, too. Maybe.

not here;

[pillz]

video;

[sketchycharacter]

I realize it's probably a moot point because of the alien language thing, but you're still a dick for not letting me try to translate it before. Languages are literally my job here.

video;

[prorenataa]

[ Adrien looked genuinely confused. ]

Isn't that what we're asking?

[ He looked at Tony. Communication was not always his long suit, so it was all together possible he'd missed something? ]

video

[saveyourserpent]

If you need anyone else on the translation team, I can certainly offer my services. I know quite a few myself, and while they're not necessarily... 'space tongues', it'd be worth a try anyway. I'm a quick learner.

video

[arcreact]

We need skill more than predisposition anyway, since I'm pretty sure there's nobody on board who's familiar with this mess.

[ Or, if he founds out after that fact that there is, he's gonna pitch them bodily out the airlock and not feel bad about it. ]

If you've got the chops, we need you.

video;

[embiggened]

I wanna help, Mr.... Tony. Iron Man. I'm getting a B+ in Physics. Or I was before... the Avengers. I did make it into my schools science fair.

video;

[arcreact]

[ Tony Stark's carefully cultivated Huge Asshole™ facade dies here, because there is absolutely no way he can tell this kid no. The fuck. ]

It'll probably be boring as hell. You good with that?

[video]

[soldiergenes]

[ Snake had also picked up on some mentions of this "Living Power" while he'd been on the colony, and had been similarly bothered by it. Especially since all the information seems to indicate that the Moira is one of the only ships that functions in that way.

It's difficult not to immediately jump to the worst possible conclusion, but Snake's also in the business of keeping a level head about these things. Since Adrien and Tony are set on puzzling through this, he figures he may as well throw in his two cents. ]

Living energy. If they're grinding people up, they wouldn't really be living anymore. Maybe it's all of us being here and working on the ship that's actually powering it, and that's why the Ingress has been so set on bringing people in.

[ It sounds crazy even to his own ears, but the kind of crazy that just might make sense. ]

[video]

[arcreact]

[ They're talking about an insane inter-dimensional portal that defies all known scientific principles. There aren't many things that are too crazy to rule out. ]

I mean. If we're being highly technical about it, I guess that's true.

Though it does raise other concerning questions, like "if we all go for shore leave at once, is it gonna have a hissy fit and fall right out of the sky?"

[ He's joking. Probably. ]

Audio

[vengeance_driven]

Someone tell you about the Midway Hub yet? [First thing is first. His offer to Adrien will come later.]

Audio

[arcreact]

Not in any detail. I know our benevolent overlords said it's our current destination and supposedly the origin of this ship, but that's all I've got.

[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

I have a third journal... and images of another one. Do we know of there being more than three?

Also, does this look familiar from either of the two you have?

[Attached to this is several images: snapshot-scans of the first few pages of the journal that initially belonged to Al Elric.]

[voice]

[arcreact]

Now this is the kind of thing I like to hear. [ It's almost like good news, for once. Novel. ] I have no idea how many there are, but three is a start. Once we have some kind of key for what's written in them, translating any more that we manage to hunt down shouldn't be a problem.

[ There's a brief pause as he flips through the attached images on his MID. ]

This looks like the same kind of thing we've got. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they all share an author.

video;

[friendquest]

Journals of mystery? An unknown alien language that needs to be decoded to help lead us home? Machines that run on life eating power? Intrigue, danger and a possible conspiriacy theory to reveal? That sure sounds like a quest! Love a good quest, count me in on the questing!

video;

[arcreact]

[ THIS GUY. ]

Can you also double as our hype man? Something tells me you'd be really, really good at it.

[VIDEO]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Journals? What kind of journals exactly? Do we know who wrote them??

[VIDEO]

[arcreact]

Not a clue, Pyro. If I had to guess, they were probably written by someone from the original crew who actually knew something about the damn machine. The symbols match some of the Ingress' data output.

[ He holds up one of the rune-laced pages, to illustrate. If Darin's spent any time squinting at the wall of monitors in the Ingress room, some of the symbols will indeed look familiar. ]

Video

[harderfasterwrecker]

[Whirl makes a very long, irritated, robotic groan that doesn't sound like it is too good for his vocalizer.]

This sounds like a lot of slag that makes me miss Brainstorm more than I already do.

Let me know if you need something blown up. Otherwise.....Ugh.

Video

[arcreact]

[ Buddy. ]

Got a really specific skillset, huh?

Video

[pidge_out]

[Cue a Pidge looking very thoughtful, seemingly talking aloud more than to anyone else.]

Living energy... Kind of sounds like quintessence. I'd have to ask Allura to be sure, though.

[And then Pidge is focused and facing the camera properly.] If you're out to figure out the Ingress, then I'm in. What do you have so far?

Video

[arcreact]

[ This kid is like. Twelve.

... Eh, seems legit. Without batting an eye: ]

You want the long answer or the short answer?

[SOUND ONLY]

[braceforimpact]

Living Energy?

I might know something about that.

[What's this, Kaworu using the MID? This makes only the second time he's ever done so. Congrats, though; you have his full attention.]

If not... I'd be interested to know.

[SOUND ONLY]

[arcreact]

Well, don't leave us in suspense, mysterious disembodied voice. What about it sounds familiar?

Private; Data Drop

[beautifulspaceraptor]

[ Yeah, Nihlus is still dodging most public appearances at the moment so he's just dumping a whole bunch of readings he'd taken of the Ingress over the course of 7 months without a word.

They're not terribly useful for actually finding out what the Ingress is and what it's made of, but it's a potentially useful point of reference. ]

Private; text

[arcreact]

[ Okay, but. This is probably his favorite kind of message to receive: giant dumps of raw data with no commentary attached. Beautiful, fantastic.

After a delay, Nihlus will receive a text response. ]

damn
i should say "don't sext me while i'm working"
but i'm not complaining

video;

[newnova]

[ Sam is taking a chance appearing on screen as Nova, when typically he avoids anything that might link his personal identity to the superhero one. But he might be able to help here. ]

My helmet can translate stuff. I don't know if it works on stuff that's been written down, but it's worth a shot, right?

video;

[arcreact]

[ Tony squints at the screen, tilting his head. Superhelmet? Color him curious. ]

You've done it before?