WEEK 1 - Investigation

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (1)

friday (?) survivors Friday careens around the corner soon enough, much like every day preceding it does. This morning, however, is greeted with a surprise — your datapad is making a strange noise. Perhaps it's buried under the duvet you're sleeping under, or at the far corner of the room, maybe you're the forgetful type and left it in the bathroom, or maybe, just maybe, you have it right next to your ear when a song blasts at full volume. Upon inspection, you'll find the accompanying video is playing as well. The song seems to loop, this time being overlain with a voice recanting the history of the band in a steady, robotic tone. Was it the AI? You probably didn't care, and, instead, decided to leave your room. Once you do, the song finally ends. You are free. You may feel rather manipulated right now, or you are just satiated to be away from the music. Either way, it's clear your day has only just begun. ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

[probings]

[good, it's easier to talk to someone who isn't shaking and crying about it. maybe harold's just a little too hardened from being in the middle of a war to feel too deeply about it.

she only spoke to calisto one time, anyway.]

You were one of the ones that found her, right? [she's been paying enough attention.]

[breakshot]

[ war is heck, etc. it's not like it's the first time he's seen corpses, but investigating murders. that's another thing. ]

That's right. Elizabeth, Jessie, and I noticed the daycare in disarray, so we went in to investigate. ... That's when we found Miss Yew.

[ look. he doesn't want to disrespect the dead any more than it already has been. just who would be so low to kill a lady like that?? ]

[probings]

[some gross barbarian on this ship, probably.]

Yeah, Elizabeth told me about that part. [she was just confirming this nerdlord is the one she's supposed to be talking to. she's probably been awake too long.]

I wanna hear more about the body, if you'll talk about it. You know, like how warm it was when you found it. And, y'know, whatever else you can remember? We might be able to piece some of this together even without the evidence in front of us.

[and the body. why are the robots like this, making things harder on them? she's already floating a couple of ideas, but it's not much.]

[breakshot]

Right. I didn't have a chance to look at it for very long, but I'll try to answer whatever questions you have.

[ there's a glance to the side, as he tries to recall the scene in question. ]

The first thing I noticed when I went to check her pulse, aside from the deep stab wounds, was that her body was lukewarm. [ he pauses, frowning. ] I checked for defensive wounds, but the rest of her body was undisturbed as far as I could tell. Nothing indicative of a struggle.

[probings]

I see, I see. If it was still even that warm, it couldn't have been too long since it happened, then.

[definitely not any more than a couple of hours at most, and she suspects it may even be less than that.]

Could you tell what the stab wounds may have been from? [it could be anything, she's sure. harold knows that may not end up being helpful in the end, but it doesn't hurt to get an early start here.]

[breakshot]

She only felt just a little under a normal body temperature. So... [ his expression turns a bit somber ] She may not have been gone for long at all.

[ he falls quiet for a moment. this was not the time to start hollering - this was the time to think and be rational. ]

Whatever it was, it went in clean and exited the same. I'd say almost like a thin sort of blade but I'm no expert. ... What I can tell you is that she'd only been stabbed twice - one in the chest region, and the other in her stomach.

[probings]

It sounds like it. It was probably within the hour if she was still that warm.

[in a temperature-controlled environment like this, it's a little easier to make that call as opposed to outside in the snow, like so many other deaths she's been witness to.

either way, she listens to what machias is saying; she's surprisingly serious about it all, too. for now.]

It's a start. We're going to have to find the weapon, since it's obviously around here somewhere. [she pauses, and then asks one last question:]

You didn't notice anything else, did you? [she's curious to know why the congealing serum had been tampered with, since it doesn't sound like it was on crystal tofu at all.]

[breakshot]

As far as the body's condition, the robots arrived before I could find anything else.

[ which means unfortunately he wouldn't know anything about a congealing serum being used, cause he had no time. but, hm. ]

... It might be just me, but were it not for the stab wounds and blood, I'd say it'd almost looked like she was unconscious. [ or sound asleep, but all the blood would've made him think she'd passed out from blood loss. ] There were hardly signs of a struggle on the body itself - no defensive wounds you'd expect like cuts or bruises.

[ he makes a sort of thoughtful sound, hand on chin. ]

The look I'd seen on her face didn't look like one belonging to one trying to fend off an attacker, either. That's why I checked her pulse first.

[probings]

Hm... hmmm....

[there's some careful consideration to all of this.]

It's a little weird though, isn't it? It sounds like you might be right, but this room's a pretty big mess for there to not be any struggle. [the merry-go-round, the ballpit—they show signs of there being a struggle.]

I wonder if maybe we have this the wrong way? [stay with her here, machias. she has a legitimate theory formulating.]

[breakshot]

How so?

[ for now, he's trying. he's really trying but nothing else comes to mind except elizabeth's discovery of blood on the toy balls. except wait a moment, it seems like she's onto something. he'll look back up at harold, with a questioning look. ]

[probings]

Well, look at it going the other way around. You said she didn't look like she was struggling, but this room's a mess, right? Someone was struggling, because even the idiots that come in here to play like children don't leave it a bloody mess.

[so, with that being said:]

So what if she's the aggressor? I don't know much about her to say she wouldn't, but if someone was trying to defend themselves and stabbed her... the room could end up like this, couldn't it? [there's a short pause, she's not really letting him get a word in edgewise here.] Besides, there's something else about it that seems kinda fishy to me.

[breakshot]

W-Wait, hold on a moment! How can you say that for sure? Even if you were on the right track and we're right to assume Miss Yew being the aggressor in all this, wouldn't that make it self defense?!

[ WHAT NO AS IF CHRISTMAS YEW COULD HAVE DONE IT citrus yew was just an innocent victim! and a woman! ... then again, so were one of the Liberation Front terrorists ha ha ha... ]

I mean... if she hadn't been gone that long, then what about her supposed intended target? They stabbed her twice, after all. Surely it must have left some blood on their hands, their clothing - or at least some signs of defensive wounds on them!

[ there's blood on his uniform from body poking even!! ]

[probings]

Annnnd that's the part that's pretty fishy to me. If you'd hold your horses instead of yelling about it, I'd explain the rest!

[slow your fuckin roll, machias! she's getting to it.]

The first place I went this morning was the Medical Bay, and some medical ointment was tampered with. It wasn't me even though I was in there last night. Fumi and Frankenstein wouldn't go opening any of the medical ointments without a reason either. [and they're the two people she sees the most, and she's got no evidence right now that they hurt themselves.] One of those bots took it for evidence after we noticed it, though.

[can you put two and two together here, kid? she's giving him a pretty pointed look that says "do i have to spell this out all the way for you?"]

[breakshot]

[ what no he's not done hollering - ugh, fine. he'll listen carefully, and upon harold mentioning the medical bay, his eyes widen a bit. now he's putting two and two together!! ]

So, if we're to assume they got hurt in the struggle, then after leaving the scene of the crime...

[ he glances back to the ball pit. it's awfully strange there'd only be blood specks on there comparing the serious pool of blood from the carousel. ]

They left for the Medical Bay to treat their wounds with some ointment. That'd definitely explain why we couldn't see any defensive wounds on anyone here right from the get go. But if we're going to look at it from that angle, isn't there other questions we ought to be asking?

[probings]

There are, but we could be here all day coming up with them. Kind of a waste of time when there's so much else to do, right?

[she's got a lot on her mind, and there really aren't a lot of answers. even what looks obvious might not be.]

Anyway, it's just something to consider. We're not going to know much until we find out more. There's a lot of people and probably just as many incentives. For all we know, someone just tried to make it look like that. [harold shrugs, she's pretty hot-and-cold about it becauset hey don't know much.]

It's just an idea to keep in mind, but we need to talk to everyone and see what's up anyway, don't we? I'm not going to settle on anything yet, you probably shouldn't here. [she'll turn on her heels though.] I need to make sure nothing else is out of place in the Medical Bay. Don't stick around too long or you'll make yourself crazy in the meanwhile!

[almost considerate. almost. she's said what she has to say though, so she's about ready to saunter off, humming a tune under her breath as she goes.]