WEEK 13

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (13)

monday - thursday (10) survivors Sunday's trial was only mere hours ago, but you find yourself faced with a new week on The Pygmalion. When you awaken, you will find that the ship is still in disarray; there is no robot prepared breakfast, nor has any of the damage been repaired. The ship bears power in the rooms you have decided should have power, though the lights are dim. Without Alice, you are all on your own. The ominous pressure of the Queen Mother still looms, though you no longer feel Her presence. taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

[baptizer]

[ Did you want to trigger a vulnerable girl? Cause you totes did, Sunny. She reads over the world description attentively, her jaw dropping when she reads her own. She'll deal with this later.

But she twists her sadness into a smirk, one she wishes the AI could see. ]

Doomed worlds? That's cute. Really cute.

If you know about me, what I've been able to accomplish - there's endless worlds out there. That much is not a shock for me. It's not hard to place us into a universe that something as simple as the change of a pendant or mismatched socks can win a war.

Let me help. I don't care what happens to me, but if my powers are returned, I promise you I can offer more than religious debates.

[al2955]

[Lin bursts into delighted laughter.] Oh, I knew I'd like you, Elizabeth! Really, you should have been on my ship. I would have loved to study that power of yours up close and personal.

And what will you do then? Will you kill the current Elizabeth living happily in that universe so you can take her place? Will you find one where she's dead already and pretend to be a dead girl for the rest of your life? And what of the rest of those on the ship?

At any rate, it doesn't matter. You need to be in a physical body to affect reality at all - and that puts you straight back into option three.

[baptizer]

Good thing I'm use to being studied.

Doctor, who said I needed to return? I said I didn't care what happened to me for a reason. Any other Elizabeth can live as she chooses and in another universe? You take me seriously with my inquiry. Let's pretend it's that one, hm?

There has to be a way around that. We were dead and walked the ship - even temporarily to deliver a message for you. Is it so farfetched? Constants and variables, there's always a way to achieve the outcome you wish.

...If I'm able to be ported to a body, would you be able to siphon my power? Reality... bring in a new fuel source... whichever keeps them alive. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get them back to where they came from - alive.

Like the study said - "gotta love her ambition".

[isodope]

Oh hell no. Get the fuck off the martyrdom train Elizabeth.

[baptizer]

Don't! There's a select few people that can manipulate reality with the flick of their wrist in ways this crew has taken centuries to master. I'm an asset they can use. It's the least we fucking deserve after slaying their monsters.

I'd rather it be me than anyone else.

[isodope]

Fuck that! Who says it has to be anybody at all?! Don't martyr yourself when there are no guarantees, and don't act like you HAVE to do it.

Do you honestly think all your friends on this ship are going to leave you to the hands of this fucked up scientist? Do you think Jason, for as much of a fuck up he is, will leave you to be experimented on? Don't think that's gonna be happening.

[baptizer]

Hancock... are you happy with any three of these choices?

[ It's a hard conversation and it's definitely confrontational. Elizabeth never has fought so hardly against something. ]

Something needs to be done and this... this is a viable option. These AIs only see data - they want results. I'm giving them one that could work. It's... I'll be fine.

[isodope]

Obviously not, but guess what? Sometimes life just deals you a bad fucking hand, and you gotta work with it.

My whole world went through a nuclear apocalypse before I was even born. The only reason I'm alive right now is because my ancestors kept going, even after the Great War decimated the world! And that's what I'll fucking do when I go back. You think I'm going to let those scientists get their way because some bio tells me? Hell no.

Liz, you've been fighting for freedom your whole life. You shouldn't have to sacrifice that for anyone else.

[baptizer]

No, Hancock. You're wrong... I haven't been fighting.

I sat and let it happen to me. I let myself sit idly and prayed. I prayed and prayed to God to allow my freedom. To walk past the same four walls, but it never came how I wanted it to. I sat by and didn't act on my own.

With this? I can do something. I can try and be more than what I ever thought I would be.

[ Alone.

Elizabeth wishes she had the courage to say it face to face, but... ]

It's a suggestion and we can't predict what it could yield but it's worth the risk, I think.

[al2955]

So then let's not talk about you. Your companions - you'll be sending them into a universe they'll know isn't their own. Their friends, their family, their loved ones - they might think they're talking to the same person, but deep down, they'll always know it's not the same at all. How is that any different than what the cradles offer?

Seriously, the martyr act is cute and all. But it doesn't change the fact that you're going to need to find us to have enough power to be transferred to a physical body - and a lot more to return your powers.

[baptizer]

We'll cross that bridge when we get there. This is better than any other option, in my opinion. Something to work with and chew on.

...How difficult would it be to lift the power restrictions on someone alive, then? Someone who is already on the ship?

[al2955]

Depends on how much power they have. Depends on how fast you want to drain the ship. It's not as simple as entering a couple lines of code.

[baptizer]

What if someone else can play God?


...If they lose a day... do you think Yuno's power can be restored? Even half of it?

[al2955]

To replicate God? I'm flattered by your faith in our programming. But there's no way you'd have enough power left to face the Queen with that.

[baptizer]

There has to be a way. I understand how childish I sound, but I've created worlds by sneezing - you must understand that for me? For people like Yuno? This is entirely possible - one of the many possibilities.

...Please, I don't know what else to do - those options... They're -

[bloodteller]

[ oh hey this is something she's. totally used to. ]

I don't know what you're planning, but
You can use me however you need, Elizabeth.

[baptizer]

I don't know what I'm planning either... But...

I won't ever use you. I won't - I just... I may need your help.

[socloverit]

[This is a lot to process, even more to decide on, and dealing with Liz on top of it all isn't really a thing Clover wants to do, but she can't watch this conversation happen like this.]

don't speak for the rest of us
I can tell you for sure I don't want anything to do with this

[baptizer]

[ That absolutely isn't who she expects to see... ]

Please, discuss the options with everyone... No one seems happy with what's presented and...

[ Should she even be allowed to talk to this girl...? Elizabeth hesitates. ]

I would like to explore our options. I would never ask for Yuno to put herself into danger, but our powers are similar. I can take all of the burden, I want to, but if being alive is the limitation - if Yuno can bring me back...

...I can find your universes.

..I'm sorry.

[socloverit]

[She's going to be curt—the less she has to say to Liz and the less Liz will say back, the better, and her reasons certainly aren't anyone's business, Liz's least of all.]

you're missing the point
I don't want my universe

[baptizer]

...What do you want..?

[ She knows 0 about your world, girl. ]

...Anywhere you want to go, I can send you there, in theory. It's the least I can do.

[tevinteriscoming]

What about the process takes so much power? You did it before, but the bodies died near instantly. So is it a matter of the power, or a matter of reanimating the bodies for long enough?

[al2955]

Both. They'll need power to jump servers, as well as keep their bodies going that long. More than that, they'll need the Nuwa's programming if they want it to be more than temporary.

The fates of the Pygmalion and Nuwa have always been intertwined, body and soul. Each ship carries half of the secret to resurrection, so that even if one should fall to enemy hands, they wouldn't be able to produce an infinite supply of immortal hosts unless they somehow managed to capture both. The Pygmalion has the technology to create replicant bodies. We have the technology to permanently bind the souls of the dead there.

[tevinteriscoming]

And which ship controls the fact that I only have access to a meagre handful of spells? [He's still so bitter. He's so good at magic you guys don't even know.]

While it's suggestion hour. I admit the ability to bind the souls of the dead to new bodies is an ability beyond my means. But the resurrection of of replicant bodies - that I can do. You may not think much of the discipline, but you've seen what I can do without any resources.

[al2955]

You try replicating an entirely different fabric of space-time and let me know how that goes for you. Honestly, you should be grateful we were able to bring you in with any magic at all.

Knock yourself out. Just know that those are the only spare bodies left. You accidentally get one of their throats slit, that person's not coming back.