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002 / video;
[ 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. ))
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. ))
[video]
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]
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. ]
[video]
[ So Snake doesn't see it as much of a joke, not when they might experience a repeat of that situation at any time. ]
Did anyone ever figure out why that happened? Maybe this whole living energy thing had something to do with it.
[ They've practically been trained not to ask questions because there are never good answers to be had, but screw that. Snake wants to keep picking at this puzzle until it unravels. ]
[video]
[ It comes out fairly clipped, considering how hyper-verbose he usually is the rest of the time. It's only after a long pause that he decides to elaborate. ]
We haven't found any obvious explanation in the engines themselves.
[video]
I don't know much about engineering, so bear with me here...
[ If only Otacon were around. He'd be able to translate Snake's thoughts into scientific wording, and then investigate for him on top of it all. ]
Is there some way to look at a log of what was going on in the ship before the crash? To track energy readings or something?
[video]
[ There's another halting pause, where Tony actually has to make a concerted effort not to cringe a little. ]
We don't exactly have a chief science officer anymore, so that information hasn't been analyzed as promptly as it would've been otherwise.
[ It's... probably up to Tony and the Ingress team to deal with that now. He tries to ignore how unpleasant that feels. ]
[video]
Sounds like something we should get on, then. I know you're not the only scientific mind around here.
[ Snake can tell that Tony's already a workaholic, that he's putting in every waking hour that he can. It shouldn't all be on him, and it doesn't need to be when there's a whole ship full of people who should have the same vested interests. ]
You're in a position to delegate, right?
[video]
I'm in charge on paper. Doesn't mean anybody around here actually follows a coherent chain of command.
[ Which is fine, normally; a team is better than than a bunch of shrinking violets. But it does pose the occasional challenge. ]
I'll see what I can do.
[video]
[ Most people won't be willing to follow orders simply because someone arbitrarily chose "leaders," and Snake can't hold it against him.
It just so happens that the person he supposedly has to answer to here is someone he'd gladly trained under back home, but that wouldn't be the case for everyone. ]
I know this is a revolutionary concept, but have you asked the captain or first mate about this? Or any of the previous captains, I wouldn't be picky at this point.
[ Not when it sounds this ominous. ]
[video]
[ Fuckin' incredible. ]
They don't know any more than we do, but they're not getting in our way, either. I guess you could call that "facilitating us," if you're being generous.
[video]
I wish I could say that surprised me.
[ Maybe a part of him had hoped that the actual captain of the ship would have more insight, but that had obviously been foolish of him. ]