WEEK 11 - TRIAL

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (11)

saturday TRIAL DAY ONE (13) survivors At 9 AM, a klaxon alarm begins blaring in every area of the ship. The alarm will continue to go off until everyone has gathered in the conference room. Should anyone be running late or avoiding the trial for whatever reason, a robot guide will appear wherever they are and gently but firmly escort them into the room. Once all the living players are present, the conference room doors will lock shut; anyone who wishes to leave for whatever reason will need to ask AL-2955 or one of the robots. Anyone leaving for non-investigative purposes, such as bathroom breaks, will be accompanied by a robot escort. The large round table in the center of the conference room has been set up to help the trial run as smoothly as possible. Three holographic screens hover above the center hollow of the table, visible from every angle. The first screen displays the pictures and profiles of the suspects and victim; the second displays the autopsy report; the third displays a blank word processor. Each of the chairs comes equipped with a virtual keyboard which can be used to type information directly into the third screen, such as theories and updated information; they can also be set into privacy mode, which will transfer whatever notes someone writes directly into their datapad instead of on screen. There's also a tablet function for those who wish to draw charts or pictures on screen. The keyboards will detect the DNA of whoever's using them and record who's typed what - simply press an area of text and the name of whoever wrote it will pop up. The area to the right of the table has been temporarily sectioned off with a glass partition and sliding door for hygienic issues. Inside, the victim's body has been laid out on a metal autopsy table, covered by a plastic sheet. Above it is a holographic screen that displays a close-up color photograph of the body when it was found. A hand sanitizer dispenser has been considerately attached to the wall nearby for anyone getting up close and personal to the body. To the left of the conference table is a display case. Any evidence found during the investigation will be carefully collected by the robots at some point the previous day and placed here before the trial starts. Beneath each piece of evidence is a small tablet where players can type up information, such as a short description or where it was found. There are also empty areas left over for any evidence that may be found during the trial. The shelf at the very bottom of the case has been reserved for an extra rulebook in case anyone needs it. Food will be served throughout the day by the robots, who will take individual orders whenever you're feeling hungry. The trial will end at 9:00 PM, at which point all players will have been expected to cast their vote.

victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Rulebook
Voting

Comments

Autopsy Report

[al2955]

Above the center of the conference table, the rightmost holographic screen displays the autopsy report:

Autopsy Report - Fiona

Cause of Death - Appears to be multiple stab wounds.

Body Discovery - Moment of death witnessed by multiple people in the biological lab. Body discovery alarms went off at 5:18 PM.

Time of Death - 5:18 PM.

Condition of Body - Vivesected and decapitated. Internal organs appear to have been pulled out.

Condition of Scene - On fire.

Alibis

[al2955]

The holographic screen in the middle displays the photos and profiles of each of the suspects. Pressing their photograph will bring up a tab where the suspects can type up their alibi.

Whereabouts - Saturday afternoon, Week 11

[antagonize]

We were all there.
Fuck you.

[socloverit]

[it takes her a little while to get to this and it's done in between yelling but]

    (`)
   / /
  / /
 / /
(_)_)

[judar will appreciate it probably??? #coping]

[erythristic]

With everyone else, consenting to that blood test.

[antietam]

Si me rogas, potes abire et tu ipse cacare.

Findings

[al2955]

The display case to the left of the conference table houses all the evidence that has been found during the investigation so far. Below each piece of evidence is a tablet where players can label the piece and type up any notes they may have about it. There are also empty slots with blank tablets for any evidence or information that may be found during the trial.

All evidence and other information found during the course of investigation should be listed here.

(OOC: Please also link the thread where the evidence was found!)

bloodtests round 2

[chiseler]

[Who's getting up and probably leading Adam Parrish by the wrist back to the biolabs? This guy. If asked, it's to make sure he can protect him from wayward aliens, really, but he's pretty sure nobody will ask. As they enter the now super-burned and crispy labs, Luke's taking the blood samples from the day before out of his pocket and examining the room.]

We need to find another microscope and check the rest of these samples. Something bothers me about what she said to us yesterday. About how they ran tests but didn't find anything themselves. So why did we? [He lets go of Adam and starts to dig, eventually unearthing a microscope that seems to be in good shape.]

If we find another one, we can probably split up the samples, too.

Body

[al2955]

The right area of the room has been sectioned off by a glass partition, which players can enter via a vertical sliding door. Fiona's body has been laid out on a sterile metal autopsy table. Her body is covered with a plastic sheet, but the sheet can be removed. Other than the position and the sheet, the body has not been changed from how they were found.

A holographic screen above the body displays two color photos of the scene when the body discovery alarms rang at 5:18PM. The photographs are close ups - they portray Fiona's body, but no more of the scene than is necessary to do so. Still, if you want to check their position, it makes it easy to do so.

[erythristic]

[so Grell steps in because no one is stopping her, looking for Fiona's head. if it's there, she's going to pick it up carefully, waiting for another creepy bug to come out.

if creepy bug is not forthcoming, she's going to open Fiona's mouth and examine it, looking for any signs of where the bug could have been hiding, any strange wounds.]

[al2955]

[Once the 9AM alarm has rung and all players have awakened, the statue in the alcove in the back of the room chimes gently. Holographic water begins pouring out of the jug the statue is carrying, forming the shimmering image of a vaguely feminine figure made out of liquid.]

Greetings, participants. As always, I am at your disposal should you need to ask anything. Good luck.

[The holographic image will remain throughout the trial. You're free to ask her whatever you want, though whether she'll answer is a different question entirely.]

[tevinteriscoming]

Alice, darling.

[Flashing her his most charming smile. This definitely isn't going to work, but he may as well try.]

I'm given to understand that you may have offered certain roles an extra opportunity - kill a souvlaki, avoid execution. Now, I see why you didn't make this offer publicly; can't have us getting lucky with our target and escaping all consequences. But Judar, you know, only committed a murder this week because he was trying to help you get rid of a souvlaki. Do you think something might be done?

After all, I'd posit he's been a more effective "alien hunter" than some you've given the role to.

[douchemag]

[And here's this asshole who literally has to be shoved in the room by a robot because fuck you, he's not voluntarily getting out of bed for this. Judar glances at the suspect list, groans because come on she couldn't have put someone on there that might have actually given him a chance, and just plops down on the nearest chair looking deeply irritated about everything.]

Yeah, yeah, let's just get this the fuck over with so we can actually do something useful with the rest of the day.

[socloverit]

[definitely tried fighting the robot that hauled them out of sleepover hell, definitely immediately sat down next to Judar and she's trying to look angry but she's too tired and scared and miserable.]

Stop it—stop it, don't just talk about—about getting it over with! We can't—we're not gonna just...

[she's. she's trying? it's not working.]

[antagonize]

[On today's episode of Statue Fuckers: mistakes were made.]

Why, exactly, are we having a trial at all? Fiona, Machias and I killed the shit out of the alien parading around in Rhys's body, and we sure as hell didn't get shoved into the death row for it. So what gives?

[tevinteriscoming]

I suppose you might say Rhys was already dead by that point. But the fact that he was on the vulnerable list rather mitigates against.

[toprotecttheworld]

I don't suppose there are any volunteers, are there? Anyone want to be a hero and help us from beyond the grave like the others?

[Wishful thinking, definitely.]

[socloverit]

This is bullshit—We can't do this! It wasn't his fault, we can't kill him for it!

[She's trying to find fury and fire and focus but Clover—she's leaning forward in her seat next to Judar, hands heavy on the table but not entirely able to stand up—she's already lost so much, she's so scared, she's so tired. Her voice quavers while she's screaming.]

She was—was still moving when she set the fire. There's no way it didn't kill her, there's—she would've had to bleed out but the fire would have been faster, there's no way her heart wasn't still beating, e-even just a little..!

[she's for sure just desperately bullshitting she doesn't know if that's how it works]

[bloodteller]

Yo.

[ stop saying yo to people, yuno.

but she still feels kind of bad about voting for luke as a last resort last week, so.

she's walking up to clover in her shitty godhood robes and a bandaged arm, clutching the over a foot long machete why is this allowed ]

I'm going to vote for you, but it's a throwaway vote. We've got the same goal here, right? So you get why I'm doing that. If I was up there, I'd ask you to do the same.

[antietam]

[ OK this is something. How long are they going to be in here for? Might as well discuss something useful. ]

So—whatever happened to Fiona, that wasn't a normal souvlaki, was it? It acted different, it died easily, and there was actually something in its blood as opposed to everyone else. [ Because there's probably still more aliens? Who knows. ]

Can we talk about that?

[antagonize]

No. It didn't act like a normal souvlaki at all. No villainous monologue. Movements were too erratic and uncoordinated. And— those things under her skin. Maybe I missed it because, y'know, one eye. But I'm pretty damn sure none of our other meat puppets had something literally crawling under their flesh.

about that thing in fiona's brain

[chiseler]

[He's waiting for a pause in conversation once he and Adam return, blood samples still in his pocket just in case and also because what the hell are they going to do with them? Maybe he'll burn them later. Anyway, he waits and he cuts a glance at Adam who's at his side before speaking up.]

So...Parrish and I did a little more research and checked the samples again. Everybody else is clean from whatever happened to Fiona, by the way. Her blood had hundreds of parasites in it but they were pretty dead. Not sure if they were alive yesterday or if this just recently stopped but it's over. Anyway...we're thinking it might be some kind of drone? Something somebody could program to infect a host and execute real basic commands. Dunno how it works and we'd probably have to take a closer look at it but it's pretty dead so hard to say. But that seems to be what we're getting. It'd explain why Fiona didn't say anything and the weird way she was acting before she attacked.

The good thing is we can pinpoint those way easier than the other aliens. Hopefully we'll be able to just have Alice monitor us or something from now on. The bad news is we don't know where it's coming from or if there'll be more. Any ideas?

[antietam]

If they're using such obvious tools, they have to be getting desperate. The queen might be the only one left.

5:00 PM

[al2955]

[At 5PM precisely, a tinny little song begins to play in the conference room. It doesn't emerge from the datapads or speakers though; instead, it seems like the source is Alice herself.]

Be careful of making wishes in the dark...

[Alice looks around sharply and disappears for a moment while the song continues to play. When she reappears, her voice sounds more panicked than ever been heard before.]

There's something in my c--

[And then the song hits the chorus.]

SO LIGHT 'EM UP--

[An explosion thunders somewhere on the upper level. The boom is muffled, but the effects are immediate; all the lights shut off, the temperature plummets, the gravity is turned off, and everyone will feel the now familiar sensation of getting spaced. Alice's voice splutters, her image flickering in and out as she manages to get one final sentence out.]

T-t-turn on emergency life s-supp--!

[And then her hologram shatters and vanishes completely. The temperature, pressure, and gravity go back to normal, but the lights remain off and all the robots appear to be dead where they stand. The conference room door is still locked.]

[tevinteriscoming]

River!

[Fuck. They're absolutely fucked now. Just when he'd come to trust somewhat in the AI, and she's gone. He immediately goes to his datapad, trying to see if it's working.]

Fasta Vass, we're all in here. How was this done?

Upstairs

[missmaladroite]

[After princess carrying and yo-yoing all you loser nerds up, everyone is upstairs.]

Be alert, we don't know what's up ahead.

[Ladybug will step forward, yoyo at the ready--- please don't be Rhys's pieces]

[Everyone's still free to play out elevator struggles, ofc]

[al2955]

[No aliens visible. There is a billow of smoke coming from the end of the right hallway where the GAEA door is located however, as well as a sharp chemical smell that gets stronger the closer they get to it.]

5:45 PM

[al2955]

[In the middle of the investigation, the center of the room abruptly lights up again. There's no blue glow of water though; instead, the image of what appears to be a galaxy begins to pulsate gently, the arms slowly spinning and rotating amidst the stars.

And then it blinks. And that's when you realize - what you're looking at isn't a galaxy at all. It's the iris of a vast, enormous eye - and it's staring directly at you.

A presence unfolds and envelops the room. No audible voice can be heard, but in everyone's minds, there's suddenly the cacophony of millions of voices all screaming and singing at once, a relentless surge of grief and rage and triumph--

and then above the din, two words embed themselves into your brain.]

AT LAST.

[And then there's perhaps the most ominous sensation of all - a sudden halt in momentum, and then a shift in direction.

The ship is turning around.]

[tevinteriscoming]

[Nope. He's not going to talk to it, or to wait for anyone else to talk to it. He slams his staff to the ground to hit that thing with chain lightning.]

5:55pm, 1/6

[al2955]

[ The datapads are shaking so intently that it's impossible to disregard them, and you probably know you shouldn't when you hear Furry Passing's menu music. It cuts short and a voice message forcibly begins to play: ]

2/6

[muties]

[ the first thing you hear is the soothing voice of roxy lalonde. ]

--LY SHIT BALLS GUYS.

[ anyway, ]

downstairs.

[erythristic]

[the message from the dead ends with Elizabeth's words, and Grell's voice rings out to fill the silence.]

You heard them! Move.

[it's an order that will take not a single ounce of dissent, and already she's on her way out of the room, jumping into the elevator shaft without hesitation so she can force open the doors on the lower level for everyone else.

if you don't trust your rope or parkour skills, jump and murdermom will catch you. this is a promise, but as soon as you're all down we have to go to the fuel room. run like a fire's at your heels.]

[tevinteriscoming]

[The sound of the Furry Passing music is enough to break him out of whatever reckless and suicidal mood he's in up in the core. The knowledge that the dead aren't gone, they're still out there fighting for them, is enough. Being able to hear a few words from Bull is better. He draws in a deep breath, puts his staff back in its holster behind his back, and then. Turns and notices the others in the room.

Well, he fucked that up. Stabbing the eye was not a priority over preventing her from unleashing similar damage on the children.]

Marinette, Adrien -- [They're closest, and Grell has already run off, so he'll shout to the two of them. He grasps Marinette, who seems more out of it, by the arm, but when she doesn't react immediately, he'll hoist her up under his arm, and then look to Adrien.]

Let's go.

[We running for the elevator shaft!]

TIME TO GET DRUNK

[tevinteriscoming]

[After the fuel reserve has been suitably destroyed, they can all meet back in the parlor. Everyone is a little shell shocked, a lot psychologically traumatized, and they're locked out of their rooms. Time to bust out the hard stuff.

Feel free to sub-top level below this post with whatever your character is up to.]

[tevinteriscoming]

A. 6:30-ish

[As soon as they get to the parlor, he's pulling out some of the alcohol that they apparently still have in bottles in here.]

I'd say choose your poison, but, well...

B. Later.

[On the other hand, much later, he can be found sitting at the foot of one of the couches with a bottle of brandy in one hand, talking to no one in particular.]

Not too impressive, really. I've been on the end from more scathing remarks for using the wrong dinner fork. [Cool Dorian, you're going a great job convincing all of us.]