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Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME #2
1. this hotel room got a lot of stuff
[you wake up.
it doesn't matter where you were before. going to bed? dying? opening the door to face a great evil? same result. you wake up in a soft bed with starched sheets in a cool, darkened room, sunlight peeking out from behind thick curtains. maybe you're alone; maybe you aren't. maybe you immediately notice the folded paper on the bedside table near your head. if you don't, you better fix that real quick: you won't be able to even open the door before you read it.
the note itself is written in a neat hand on white card stock; there is a stylized logo of a ship with the words SERENA ETERNA printed underneath. the note reads as follows:
Dear Passenger(s),
As your cruise director, it is my great honor to welcome you aboard the Serena Eterna, your destination for fun and adventure! We know you could have chosen any cruise line for your vacation, and we're very grateful you chose ours! On behalf of the Captain, I would like to assure each and every passenger that will we do whatever it takes to fulfill all your needs and desires during your journey with us.
At your earliest possible convenience, please attend the mandatory lifeboat drill by the end of the day. I'm sure everyone is very eager to get started on all the fun and sun, but safety always comes first! You can find your life jacket in your cabin's closet; carry it to your assigned muster station on deck one, where I will take you through the drill. If you can't find me in the crowd, just look for the gal with the winning smile!
See You Real Soon!
Sincerely,
Gal Friday
you walk to deck one. you have no other choice: every time you try to step in a direction some unseen being considers "not towards deck one," you find your legs no longer move, staying stock still, frozen. whether compelled quickly by curiosity, or delayed by pure stubbornness, the result is the same, and you are left milling around with other similarly curious or stubborn people.
you see someone in uniform near the front of the crowd. she seems to be a gal, but is missing the winning smile, along with most of her other features. she seems to see you, though, rushing to your side and placing a lei around your neck with great formality. a voice, cheery but artificial, sees to come from nowhere and everywhere.]
Welcome aboard! We're so glad to have you!
[you touch the lei. rooster feathers, lotus seeds, and a carved circle of something white and hard, linked onto a silk string.
after the drill is completed, you are seemingly free to go. or, well, your legs work, now. and maybe that's as good as it's gonna get.]
2. and a touch-tone phone
[chatterbox isn't exactly the most popular venue onboard. it probably has something to do with the distinct lack of open liquor bottles. so, nothing personal. except it seems that it's decided to take it that way, suddenly.
anyone enjoying the other amenities of deck five will feel the distinct sensation of being watched while they do so. the kind of feeling a prey animal gets while being stalked on the grasslands. something may slither by their foot, or past their elbow while they rest it on the bar, but nothing appears to be there when they look.
until there is.
a black electrical cord originating from somewhere will, first, wrap around their ankle, tugging in a very clear "follow" instruction. should this instruction be ignored, a second cord will wrap around their other ankle, and, once again, tug. should this clear final warning be ignored... well, now they're being dragged down the promenade, and that's really their own fault, isn't it. don't struggle. struggling means more cords show up. and none of them seem terribly aware that most species need to expand their lungs to live.
their final destination, no matter the journey, is chatterbox's main stage, where the karaoke machine awaits. the cords place a microphone in their hand; the mic's cords bind it tightly to their hand.
they don't have to pick a song. there isn't an actual gun to their head, in any literal sense. it's just, those cords really don't seem that interested in letting go until they do.
and if you were heading to chatterbox anyway? welcome to the weirdest goddamn karaoke night you've ever seen.]
3. and a bucket of ice (cw: cannibalism mention)
[no longer will scoops be bound by the shackles of only having 31 flavors. for this month, and this month only, a sign that very much looks like Friday hand-wrote it announces, they will have 32!
what is that mysterious 32nd flavor? it depends, really: the letters on the display case seem to shift and change with each new pair of eyes that fall upon them, with the contents changing along with it. someone from the capital wasteland might find some Nuka-Cola ™ branded ice cream. twilight town residents will be thrilled to find sea salt on the menu. and a frankly concerning amount of people bring out a flavor that only describes itself as "long pig." it's a weird off-white color. don't think about it too hard.]
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"I'm not human. I'm a cyborg security construct--part machine, part organic. You can call me SecUnit or Rin, I really don't care which. I was created for the protection of a crew and their assets. For my current purposes, everyone brought to this ship against their will is my 'crew', and I will do what I can to ensure your safety."
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Wow is she suddenly really grateful she's already been told that there are people who aren't human around here or she'd look extra dumbfounded. You know, more than she already kind of does because 'like a human' was not what she would've expected for someone not human.
"You've gotta be yanking my—" Nope, that's rude. She catches herself. Give her a moment, accepting this into her worldview. "Right. Okay. Gotcha. You just don't look like any machinery I've ever seen."
Is that much less rude? Arguable.
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"I'm not fucking with you."
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Her eyes widen and she blinks a few times. Well, she'll be damned, that's mechanical looking, alright.
"...bleedin' hell, you sure ain't. I mean, I didn't— it'd be a damned weird thing to lie about, so it wasn't—" She groans and gestures vaguely. "Just didn't expect it, yeah? Where I come from," which is already weird to say, for the record, "that kinda thing's still just a twinkle in some science type's eye."
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This is said quietly, but in a very matter-of-fact tone.
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"Yeah, well, reckon we don't get much say one way or another." It's almost an idle comment, musing. God knows there's been advancements already that she's not sure really deserves to be called 'advancements' at all.
Then there's a little knit in her brow, "—it's that bad? So bad you'd— uh—"
There's not really a delicate way to say 'so bad you think it'd be better if what you are didn't exist', is there.
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"Yes, it's that bad. But I say that as something which was created solely to follow orders and not to have any will of my own, so maybe I'm a little biased."
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"I mean as biases go that's—" She shakes her head, sounding incredibly, well, incredulous. "What kinda people create a thinking being and then tell it not to bleedin' think for itself..."
It's not like she's seen Ochre in action herself or anything, but she's sure gathered enough to know that's not what his creators wanted out of him, though God knows what's happening to him now with all this Postscript business... so...
"...alright, maybe I know exactly the kind of people, actually."
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Alright, fair response, considering, but—
"Only technology we got in my world capable of thinking for itself was sure meant to. 'Least, that's what the people who made him wanted for him, far as I heard. Can't say I'd expect the same off other people who've been getting their grubby mitts all over him, though." A sigh. "I'm just saying I know the type who wouldn't, but I guess they're more of an exception than I'd bleedin' well hope they were..."
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And it's spent a lot of this cruise not thinking about the ones it left. The ones who wanted to take it home and make everything okay for it.
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Crabb holds her hands up. "Not gonna argue with that. Lived experience, yeah."
Really, yeah, the more she thinks about it the less surprised she actually is, all things considered. Like she said, not like she's not familiar with some of the worse types humanity's got to offer.