WEEK TWO - Trial

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (2)

saturday TRIAL DAY ONE (38) 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

[brooches]

[ Video games? No, that's a quick shake of her head. NoFun.jpg ]

No - we don't. The funny little Italian man - he's not quite like Dimwit & Duke, but - they're controlling him like some puppet on the screen.

[ It takes her a moment with an awkward shrug. ]

I don't think they're very good - they keep getting a Game Over?

[ In which Liz talks mad shit about people's Mario skills. ]

[refactor]

[ Oh, now that's just precious. Her shittalking isn't even intentional (probably?), so Jack just ends up chuckling with amusement, but it's fairly warm and genuine. ]

Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the idea? Used to make video games for fun myself, actually, so I could tell you a lot about them. But the old school ones like this are pretty simple. The buttons on the controller do direction and a few other little simple things, but you're controlling it alright.

[ He crosses his arms, and nods to her. ]

It's harder than it looks, though. You should give it a try.

[brooches]

No strings or anything... it's just a projection? That's ... that's fascinating! You'll have to tell me how it's done - it can't be smoke and mirrors. Maybe mirrors.. like a telescope..?

[ Please get her on GTA and tell her how to get her money back from prostitutes next. He mentions trying one and ... she actually, for the first time besides food, request for the means to do so. The little robot sets up the station and Elizabeth's so...damn confused already.]

I can handle a challenge, Mr. Jack.

[refactor]

[ Jack is actually surprised, since she actually sounds... Genuinely interested? He doesn't respond right away, and instead just shifts to watch Elizabeth give the game a try. ]

So... Can't actually tell. Gonna just admit it. Are you actually interested in how it works?

[ But as for the game itself, he'll just motion to the screen, then controller. ]

—Oh, right, you don't get even the basics. Simple. Just read the stuff on the screen, then look for the button on the controller that matches the word. You'll get the muscle memory in like ten minutes tops.

[brooches]

Why wouldn't I be? It's amazing. Look how real it looks! [ ... It's graphics from the 90s with a polygon plumber and it's just the loading screen. It's leaps and bounds compared to the kinetoscopes. ] I know this may be silly and primitive but - ugh... my goodness, it even has color.

[ Elizabeth will definitely pick the controller up and look down to it, then to the screen. Oh, she'll press the right button and watch the tiny cutscene before she has control of it. Jack she is playing the game just like this please help her. ]

Okay... uh...

[refactor]

Well— Could look better, but, hey, the retro look is-

[ He cuts off there, since once she picks up the controller, he's laughing again, but not (completely) mockingly. If there was any doubt that she was actually from some weird, old-timey place, this is the thing that dispels them, oddly enough. She's really holding it like it's some kind of foreign device. Maybe because of that, Jack is actually inclined to be slightly more helpful. ]

'Kay, the point here is simple enough, but harder than it looks. Just keep going right. If it moves? Jump on it. Chances are, if it moves, it'll kill ya.

[brooches]

[ She's going to absolutely die around 20 times and then eventually, in some miracle prove him right about the 10 minute thing. She makes the jump andddd doesn't get killed by the goomba or wtfever the enemies were. She stops just in time to exclaim: ]

Did I win?!

[ No because the goomba doubles back and kills the shit out of Mario. Game Over. She's a little unsure of what happened, but there's a glance his way. More thoughtfully before offering the controller to him. ]

So you created these - like.. controllable films? I'm sure there's plenty of science involved in this, so I won't hound you for the details but.. wow.

[refactor]

Ha— I wish, but got a liiiittle more to go than that.

[ Oh, and it looks like the controller is getting passed to him, cool. Jack leans forward a little bit, and he'll take over Mario with a little more finesse. Not that he spent way too much time on retro games back in the day. Noooooope that doesn't sound like John the programmer at all. ]

As a hobby, yeah. Got hired to do way different stuff than this, but making games and stuff, pretty much how I learned. Way, way, way down in the weeds of how this works, it's actually all just counting. Which seems crazy, but totally true. And you're only counting with two numbers. Everything is a one and a zero, and you just work your way up from whether there's electricity or not into making Mario kill the— [ He jumps and squashes a goomba, which gets him to laugh before he continues ]

But the ones and zeros? Admittedly pretty low level. Like- Like, okay, I got into it because I didn't have anything better to do, so I know more about it than your average code monkey idiot, but up a little more and it's still all just math and logic. Ya just use it in clever ways, and you make stuff like this.