theairlock | first trial

[When the announcement sounds and the evidence gathered it’s time for a trial. When the remaining champions are all gathered by the repaired docking bay doors they slide slowly slide open.

There are two lines of robots, silent as sentries, creating a border path from the docking bay doors to the circle of metal podiums. The podiums themselves were made of strange metals in red and gold and orange and black, each one etched with the name of one of the Champions. There are flood lights - like spot lights - in front of each podium, but the lights in front of Shirou, Hamilton, and Albel are dark, and hung on the front of their podiums are greyscale portraits, printed from their profiles.

Blaze Dudely stands on a repair deck on top of his ship, which looms over the proceedings ominously. Rather than the glee the Champions may think he would take in this kind of display, he merely stands there with his arms crossed, expression unreadable and his cyborg eye scanning the Champions with a piercing scrutiny, like he's searching for one of them to act out of line.]

Mornin’, Champions. Here’s how this is goin’ to go: take the evidence ya found, piece together what happened and find who took out the Champion Swordsman. If ya find them, they’ll be dealt with. If ya don’t, they’ll be free to go and the rest of ya will face punishment. Take the time ya need but don’t bore me.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Albel's arm was a prosthetic, and it'd been damaged. Do you think perhaps the killer was trying to find a way to disable it?

I-If his neck was snapped, d-does that mean they were tampering with it after he died?

...Most of us probably don't know enough to get use out of them, but those parts would probably still work.

Could it have been made to do something Albel didn't want?

I don't know enough about robotics to say that with confidence.

W-what would they use them for though? M-most of us wouldn't have any use for something like that...

[John's eyes slide towards Rick and Doomfist, although he doesn't say anything.]

I can tell you right away that Akande probably isn't who you're looking for.

[She's had to provide ice to his ass all morning. She should know.]

[not even looking up from the book]

If you want to ask something, ask.

[Her too, friend. Her too.]

Wires are wires. I don't know anything about how to use them, but it wouldn't have to be for a robot arm.

Do you think they wanted to tamper with the electronics here?

[God she hates electronics. There's a reason she says she's allergic to them.]

That's possible. Disable security cameras, or do something with the robots...

S-still... there aren't that many people here who could d-do that, right? They're... c-complex modifications...

It would be fairly difficult. I don't think most of us would have been able to make sense of the wires at all. You'd have to specialize in that kind of thing.

Right... th-that's not something you could learn overnight...

Even if you were studying the robotics books here, you'd have to learn from scratch, not just jump to complex bits like cybernetic prosthetics.

So if this murder has something to do with cybernetics, that narrows the field of suspects significantly.

Unless it's a red herring.

(no subject)

tenimuho - 2017-08-26 17:13 (UTC) - Expand

power_of_dominance - 2017-08-26 17:18 (UTC) - Expand

induality - 2017-08-26 17:15 (UTC) - Expand

Exactly. If they needed that book it was probably because they saw something specific they weren't familiar with. W-we're form different worlds and places... it's not hard to believe they'd still need the book...

What if they simply wanted the arm to move?

If he'd been made to snap his neck with his own arm, wouldn't the arm still be in that position?

Perhaps. Maybe it was used to slam the door then the murderer tampered with it to get it to relax.

That's true. If they could control it in the first place, they might be able to control it even when Albel was already dead.

I don't know much about electronics but machines can be made to relax if you pull out the right part. I think it's worth keeping in mind.

goldrighthand - 2017-08-26 17:20 (UTC) - Expand

What would that accomplish?