Difference between revisions of "2022-08-12: Oversight"

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Cutscene
-|cast=Doctor Salamedes
-|location=Dublin, Ireland
-|summary=The Doctor is in.
-}}
-{{PhaseAndTurn
-|phase=1
-|turn=2
-}}
-<poem>
-       An unmarked civilian transport was sitting in a field near Dublin for most of a week. The crew assigned to it were very, very nervous. You see, they were given a job -- a very simple one -- and they had somehow, completely and utterly and irredeemably, fucked it up. What was that job you ask? 'To keep an eye on an eleven year old girl.' Somehow, twelve adult men who could keep track of every single bolt and plasma welder onboard and never mislay their cargo, had lost track of a child.
-       Their employer was coming for them.
-       Some of the crew became increasingly panicked as the days roll by, but things got >really< nuts on August 8th, when they received a call from space. From their boss.
-       "How is Ten doing, hm?"
-       The captain hemmed and hawed a bit, trying to give a vague answer. "Oh, you know how kids are! Haha! Haa..."
-       A pause from the other end. "We cannot say that we do. Please elaborate."
-       More waffling about, searching for someone else on the bridge who could provide an excuse, someone else who would take this burden. They all just stared at him, pale and wide-eyed, like he was already dead. "Ah, well... She was out in a rainstorm a few days ago... Darndest thing, she just wouldn't come inside!"
-       Silence on the other end of the communications link.
-       "B-but we kept an eye on her, and didn't interfere, just like you said!"
-       "I see." the Doctor said calmly, switching how they refer to themselves. That was bad. It is >always< bad when they begin using singular pronouns to refer to themselves. "Where is she now?"
-       "Ah, well, the funny thing about that, I, uhh... Hm. She's probably around here somewhere, right? Right, guys?" the captain asked around as his crew continued to betray him by remaining silent. "J-Jonas, you were watching her last! T-tell the Doctor what you saw!"
-       Jonas looked like he wanted to glare daggers at the captain, but was too busy trying not to hyperventilate. The Captain knew that feeling very well. He was feeling it right then too.
-       There was a tense, chilly silence from the communicator.
-       "H-haha! That Jonas! Such a kidder! He says she's, uh, she's gotta' be around here somewhere! Right?"
-       Continued silence.
-       "Doc? Doctor Salamedes? Sir?"
-       Still nothing.
-       "I-I-I'll go look for her myself! Right now! I won't leave any stone unturned, you can take my word on that--"
-       Click.
-       The silence on the bridge that followed was deafening.
-<hr>
-       The 12th of August.
-       The transport was no longer in Ireland. It was nowhere near there. Having decided that self-preservation was the better part of valor, several crew abandoned ship and deserted, while the captain took himself, his vessel, and anyone else desperate enough to come with him, the hell AWAY from there. They had negotiated passage with the authorities in multiple countries as they just kept flying, zig-zagging and making random stops and double-backs to try to foul up their trail.
-       But eventually, they'd had to stop. Maintenance was needed and so was refueling. They hadn't delivered any cargo recently so their funds were running short, and they didn't want to spend anything anyway so that they couldn't be tracked by their financial interactions.
-       The Captain was a nervous wreck, pacing the halls, mumbling to himself, giving a thousand-yard stare to anyone who tried to speak to him, and unable to sleep in the past 70 hours and absolutely falling apart. The remaining crew were little better, and if the transport was not parked in the middle of some fucking woods in who-the-fuck-knows-where, they'd probably have ran off like the smart ones who had done so back in Ireland.
-       But they did not. To their credit, they were sticking with their Captain and the ship they served aboard. The Captain took that as small comfort. Absolutely exhausted, he decided he had to get someone else to stand watch while he tried to sleep. He was getting to the point where he was hallucinating. He just thought he saw Jonas's flayed skin slapping against the bridge observation windows, leaving a wet streak of blood so dark that it would have looked black even if it wasn't the middle of the night.
-       Turning around, the Captain saw another hallucination. The walls appeared to have gaunt faces all over them, mouthing, 'Get out! Get out!' over and over, but producing no sound. Those silly hallucations! The Captain left the bridge and began heading through the corridor, stopping to look at the patch of hall where that 'Ten' girl had left her shoe prints on the walls and ceilings somehow. It almost seemed comical after the fact! But his laughter was choked out when he turned back to the corridor and saw a cloaked and masked figure standing in the hall with him.
-       Salamedes tilted their head to the side like a predatory bird and asked calmly, "Where is she?"
-       "D-Doctor! What a sur--"
-       "Where. Is. She?"
-       There was a short delay as the Captain did not respond except to open and close his mouth several times, while the cross-shaped visual track in the cybernetic doctor's mask began to glow. A single red camera-eye appeared at the center of the visual track.
-       The Captain gibbered in absolute terror.
-       In his panic, the Captain tried to deflect the blame back onto the Doctor. It was the best his exhausted brain could come up with. It was a mistake. "You told us not to interfere, so we didn't--!"
-       The hallway suddenly appeared to contract to a pinpoint, as though reality itself was being warped by the cold, methodical monster's malice. Salamedes began approaching steadily and slowly. ">I< told you to >observe her<. So, tell me, Captain, when was it that you last >observed< her?"
-       Sensing there was no good outcome to this conversation, the Captain turns on his heel and began running. He screamed as he ran, shrieking like he was already being murdered, begging his remaining crew to help him.
-       "They can't help you now." came the Doctor's voice from back in the corridor, drifting to the Captain's ears like an especially persistent insect, always buzzing nearby. While the mercenary captain reached his quarters, slamming his hand against the control panel next to it to open the door, he made the mistake of looking back to see how close the Doctor was in the corridor.
-       There was no corridor. The ship just >ended< a few feet away, at the edge of an overhead light recessed into the ceiling. The darkness >seethed< as though alive. The overhead light began to flicker as the Captain hurled himself through the doorway, missing the inside panel with his hand as he attempted to slap it to close and lock the door behind him, and deciding it was more important to get to his bed than go back for it.
-       Move, move, move, move, move, run, run, run, run, run.
-       The Captain fell to his knees and began reaching underneath it to get his gun, not being able to believe he didn't already have it on him, knowing that the Doctor might come for him. However, there were suddenly a cloud of black butterflies fluttering all around him. 'Where'd they come from?' He must be even more tired than he thought, he told himself. He could not seem to find his gun with all those butterflies in the way.
-       Then the Captain looked down and realized his arms were completely covered in butterflies. "That's so strange," he said in wonder as he watched more and more of them pour out of where his arms used to be. "I thought I had blood in there." The Captain turned to look over his shoulder, and found he could not. He just toppled over. When did he leave his legs over there?
-       The last thing the Captain saw as he lay dying, were his arms across the room, butterflies splotching on the ground all around him and forming puddles, and the glowing red mono-eye of the Doctor as they continued their steady approach. Something like a tail was protruding from the Doctor's spine, tipped with a sharp tip that was also swarming with black butterflies.
-       "Perhaps your brain will tell me." the Doctor said thoughtfully as they descended towards the man who was once a mercenary ship's captain.
-       Then, everything went dark.
-</poem>

Difference between revisions of "2022-08-12: Oversight"

Latest revision as of 00:44, 15 August 2022

Navigation menu

Search