theairlock | Final Investigation

[A shrinking family. Like twenty-five to nine, only no one was forced to murder. Maybe it still hurt, though, but so much of what Dudely has done makes it hard to feel anything but anger for him.

Soma's afraid that, if he understands the monster Dudely has become, he'll understand too well how Dracula came to be. A slippery slope, indeed.

So he keeps searching through logs, skipping a week here and there but ready to backtrack if need be.]

[Near the end, four back, there's one that's much less business-as-usual.]

We're out of time. Radar's picked up some kind of satellite network. Supreme, Grits, Clyde, the four of us are gonna go in for a raid. Everyone else, stay back out of range and try to pick off or capture any runners. We're not going in to kill anybody, we just wanna make 'em listen. Godspeed, everybody. For Flavortown!

But you became a killer. Why?

[Maybe the answer's in one of the last four. How recent are these "newest" ones?]

[Three are from late 6971 - last year, if you remember the date Price told you. The last one, labeled as an incoming message, is from 6972. Without knowing the exact date now, though, you can't tell how recent it may be.]

[Recent enough. He's going to check out all four logs, in order from oldest to newest.]

[When you play the oldest, it's a woman's voice that speaks. She sounds angry, scared, desperate.]

This is Sunshine Voidfucker...acting captain. InterGal broke th’ fuckin' parlay, jettisoned the captain off somewhere, like he was just a fuckin' piece of space junk! All this fucked-up shit we did, everything they wrung outta us, and they still -

[She gives a shaky sigh.]

Don't know if there's anyone left to hear this, but broadcastin' anyway. We’re gonna try to steal th’ ship and head after. If they shoot us down, they shoot us down. You don't hear from us again, that's what happened.

Don't come lookin'. Don't any of you ever come to this quadrant again. And if...if Solar Flare and Sonsun ever hear this...Flare, Son, I love you. Me and Void both love you so much. That's why you can't come after us.

...we're gonna do our best.

["Have someone rip everything you've built and everyone you care about from you with the press of a button. Then ask yourself how badly you'd want them dead."

If this "InterGal" maimed Dudely and did something to Sun and Void, then it makes sense that Dudely would hate them. But what does that have to do with their group? What makes him so sure the shifter he thinks is responsible is among their number? He was wrong about CT.

Soma takes a deep breath and goes to the next log.]

[It's the same woman again.]

Holy fuck - holy fuck! This is Sunshine Voidfucker, acting captain, we need - we need a doctor, asap! Those fuckers just... The captain's in trouble, but we got him on board. Sol, if you can hear this, it's real bad but... he's alive. Thank god, he's alive...

[Soma gets the feeling this is how Dudely ended up a cyborg. They did it to save his life. But with how the guy looked at the last trial, the fix might not have much of a warranty left.

... next log.]

[Blaze Dudely's voice sounds rougher than they know, definitely rougher than the other voice logs on the terminal. There's a primal rage burning through it, and the log begins not with his voice but the sound of metal slamming against the terminal.]

This is Captain Blaze Dudely of Flavortown broadcasting on an open fucking channel.

[In the background, a young man speaks up:] Captain, you should be resting-

I'll rest when every last one of those network fuckers is dead! You hear me, you lying bastards? I parlayed with you! You told me you wouldn't hurt any more of them, and you went behind my back, boarded my ship, and killed my first mate! Y'dishonorable, lyin', schemin' snakes! You're not worth the scrapin's off the back of my stove!

[Another sound like a metal fist being banged against the terminal, and the sound turns to static, blurs out his next couple of words. Blaze heaves a great, rage-filled sob that shakes out of him and through the recording.]

...My girlie... What did you fuckers do to my girl...

...Come on, Captain, you're still healing. We'll - we'll find her, I promise.

[The recording cuts.]

....

[This network killed Dudely's "girl?" A wife, a girlfriend, sister, daughter... any of the possibilities is deeply unpleasant.

For the first time since this whole mess started, Soma feels sorry for the cyborg.

But it has to sit on the back burner for now. They have too much to do. They need to escape. And if that involves killing Dudely, well... maybe he'll be with his girl in the afterlife.

Last log, even though he dreads what he might hear.]

Edited 2017-09-23 00:28 (UTC)

[Guess who's here listening with you friend?

This... this is about what she guessed from his last outburst but it's still unsettling to hear.

...maybe the last one will shed some more light on the situation.]

[Thank you, best girl. He's glad you're here with him, for a lot of reasons.]

[This one was an incoming text transmission.]

SUBJECT: Airlocked!

A new twist on the familiar formula, plus a special guest on set. I hear it's a hidden callback to Season One.

[All that follows is a series of three long numbers. There's no indication of who sent the message.]

What the hell...?

["Airlocked"? What's that all about? Special guest? Callback to Season One? None of this makes any sense.

With the logs explored, he's going to see if he can locate any open communication channels.]

[It seems that all channels are currently being blocked by another signal.]

[Dammit. So much for sending out a distress call. So is there anything else of interest in here, since Fukawa covered the other terminals?]

[Fukawa has the only other terminal of interest, but there's a datapad sitting out on one of the navigation consoles.]

[Something he can handle, since they probably have similar tech in his time. He'll pick that up and see if he can find anything interesting on it.]

[There's a list of names accompanied by brief notes:]

Narcoleptic - No. Put up the license plates without anyone around. Too selfless.
Huntress - Probably not but not willing to rule her out. Tough girl, polite. Can see why Scrags left his spare with her.
Butterfly - Unlikely.
Price - No. It ain’t dumb enough to put itself in a position of authority.
Farmer - Hope not, took food from her. Made her some, too. Like old times.
Empathy - Not rulin’ it out.
Stalker - Maybe not. Not sure it'd bother doing two pers

[It's unfinished.]

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power_of_dominance - 2017-09-23 01:22 (UTC) - Expand

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airlockedmods - 2017-09-23 01:29 (UTC) - Expand

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power_of_dominance - 2017-09-23 01:35 (UTC) - Expand

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thecounselor - 2017-09-23 02:10 (UTC) - Expand

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[Surprise guess who else is here

and who swears softly at that string of coordinates.]

[Oh uh. Hey there buddy.]

...something you wanna tell us? Do those coordinates mean something to you?

[Share with the party, friend.]

Those are the coordinates where we first... met our "Overseer."

We were set up for this from the beginning.

Is that what those three long numbers tell you?

[Listen. Technology and her. Limited contact.]

Are you familiar with this "Airlocked" thing.

I... No. Not directly.

It's an intellectual property owned by my employer, and I was asked to perform psychological evaluations on some of the potential hosts. But I was never told what it was, exactly.