riverviewlogs | The Sound of Silence

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The Sound of Silence

who: Closed to Breq's exploration team (Steve, Peter, Jim, Beverly, Sigrun).
what: With the team gathered, it's time to venture down into the dead zone.
when: July 17
where: The Abandoned City.
warnings: Potential injuries, ambient creep factor, and some telepathic weirdness.

Mingle Prompts

i. Outside

The team is gathered: After feeling out some contacts through the Perimeter Guard's roster and connection, Breq had put out the call, and this team had answered. Not only that, but helped to arrange it themselves, in some cases. Now they have everything they need, and it's time to go out and investigate. Thanks to Jim's handy offering of a shuttle, getting the entire team out to the crater is a quick trip, just long enough for the shuttle's passengers to get to know each other, fall asleep, or work their way through whatever pre-mission rituals they might care to partake in.

Not much more than an hour or two, from the moment they lifted off to the moment that Breq interrupts her humming to point out the spheroid depression in the earth, surprisingly stark against the ruins of the city that rise up around it.

"There. Careful of the field around it."

Descending the steep walls is a simple matter, again thanks to the shuttle. Whatever caused it-- impact, sinkhole, or some other, stranger source, there's enough space for them to find a stable, relatively even place to set down and step out. Despite the strangeness Breq had observed, the inside is surprisingly lush, filled with a variety of plants that seem to be taking advantage of the natural reservoir the crater forms. Living things are everywhere, hunting and running and flying.

They all hardly seem to make a sound.

In fact, nothing in the depths of the crater seems to make a sound. The members of the team will feel like they've walked into a soundproofed room, or like they're trying to listen through noise-cancelling headphones. It takes effort to hear one another speak, and if they pay attention, they might sense a sort of buzzing, fuzzy feeling, as though some pitch is playing just beyond their hearing.

The strange podlike building stands in front of them, shimmery and nearly untouched. Strange triangular panels both large and small, all colored strangely opaque, seem to be set into the sides in place of doors. It might take a few creative solutions to open them.

ii. The Capsule

Inside of the pod, the not-quite-there buzzing feeling only gets stronger, and the silence feels that much heavier. It's taken on an urgent strength, It's like the feeling of an unexpected hand at the nape of your neck, the ache of something sour in your mouth. The source seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Inside, the capsule is dim and featureless. The corridors are awkwardly rounded at the corners, meaning the footing is never quite solid and flat, but the paths twist with seemingly no reason. Even worse, every time a member of the team turns around and tries to go back, it never quite seems to lead back in the direction they remember, though if they keep walking, it still returns to the places they were trying to go.

iiia. Meet and Greet

They're around corners and through doorways. They're clinging to the ceiling. They're scuttling along in strange, meandering paths when the members of the investigation team come across them. 'They' are strange, triangular robots, ranging in size from roomba to obelisk, with strange, sharp, spinning tools that come off of arms along every point of the triangle. The rest of them is covered with a strange, dull grey metallic carapace that gives no sign of their internal workings.

Even stranger, is the way they react to their discovery. Their reactions seem to mirror the actions of those who find them-- aggression or fear will be met with the same, and be careful-- those tools of theirs are devastatingly sharp.

iiib. Did You Say Something?

It's hard to get a sense of direction inside of this place, but the team members will get a strange sense, as they continue wandering, that their paths are taking them closer to the "center," whatever that might be. Nothing else seems to change, in the branching paths and random doorways.

What does change is that there-but-not buzzing. It grows more powerful with each step, until every member of the team seems to feel their head fill with fuzz. Thinking slowly begins to feel like struggling upstream against the current, and to get a coherent line of thought together, everything feels, mentally, like shouting. A thrumming need seems to fill them, driving them onward wordlessly. It feels like something is beginning to whisper inside their heads, words just beyond the range of hearing, just too far away to make out. Something like another mind touching theirs.

Some of that noise in their heads isn't on the edge of their hearing, though. Some of it is much more audible, though still disjointed-- and it sounds a lot like the person they're standing with-- even though they're very sure they didn't say anything out loud, just now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Peter finds himself falling into step with Breq almost unconsciously, most of his attention taken up with the pod in front of them. The sensations pouring off the thing almost feel like some of the strongest vestigia he's ever come across, only it doesn't fade. Just keeps pouring off in a deeply unsettling way.

Maybe that discomfort is why it takes him a moment to realize that Breq is trying to get his attention. Peter blinks at her, then back at the door she's indicating. ]

I don't suppose there's a doorbell?

[ His voice sounds oddly muted to his own ears, and it makes him frown. ]

[Since Breq is looking at him, it's easier to catch what Peter is saying, without the strange deadness of the air making him incomprehensible. She shrugs, gesturing to the door, though she doesn't yet step closer to it.]

You may have to make one yourself.

[Another look, before she adds,]

There don't seem to be visible security systems.

[ Peter's frown shifts into something a bit more dubious at that pronouncement -- if he had the kind of firepower it would take to blow through a door to hand, it would make his life significantly easier. ]

I can try.

[ Even that was an attempt to sound more sure about it than he actually was. He raised a hand and then stopped to flick her a quick glance. ]

If you've got any tech on you that you don't want broken, you may want to back up a bit.

[On her, no-- the gun is mechanical, though the bullets are another question, being alien technology as they are. In her is another matter entirely, though, and Breq obligingly nods and takes a step back.]

Do what you can.

[Again, she has to raise her voice to make sure she can be heard, and accompanies it with a gesture for him to continue, watching with interest.]

[ He waits until she seems far enough back that he won't accidentally fry anything, before Peter turns back towards the door to eye it. The building appears sound, as strange as it looks. Like no architecture he's ever seen, but that's not so surprising in a place with actual aliens.

So. With no baseline point to go off, it means it's time for some experimentation. In the lack of any better ideas, Peter takes a deep breath and lobs and impello at the door, letting the pure force of the spell thud up against the structure of it. If nothing else, he might learn just how sturdy the thing is. ]

[With the sound so strangely muted, Breq can't exactly hear the thudding force of the spell hitting up against the building, though she can see that Peter has clearly done something.

More importantly, the door-sized triangle seems to have done something as well. It's shifted slightly, as though recessed back from the smooth face of the wall a little. Not entirely, not enough to open, but there.]

Try it again? [Breq suggests from behind, her attention on that small gap.]

[ That shift has caught Peter's attention too, and he eyes it for a moment. It does seem to indicate that the thing is designed to move, at least, which is a step in the right direction.

He throws the spell again, trying to put as much power as he can behind it, which isn't saying much. But the shape shifts again, sliding in further, and Peter lets his arm drop. ]

We might be able to push it the rest of the way?

Or slip past.

[Breq turns evaluating attention on the both of them, then the door, and makes an indeterminate gesture. Maybe if they were part octopi.

But she does take Peter's suggestion, beckoning him forward with a nod as she approaches the door, and puts out a hand to touch it, where it seems to have jammed in opening.]

[ Intent as he is on studying the way the door fits into the wall around it, it takes Peter a moment to realize that Breq is trying to get his attention. He blinks for just a moment until her intent sinks in, and then he jogs his way over to join her.

And then stops right before either of them touch the thing. ]

Are we sure it isn't trapped? [ The question falls out of his mouth before he can stop it, and Peter winces a little, but well. It's a worthwhile question. Considering that whole underground temple thing. ]

No.

[She accompanies the gesture with a shake of her head, because the silencing effect seems just as strong close to, perhaps even inside the building, as it does on the perimeter of it.

Then, without pause, Breq adds,]

Help me push the door.

[Though as she does it, the silver glow of her armor appears around her. She's not going to let the thought of traps stop her, but she's not about to be overly reckless, either.]

[ Peter starts just a little at the flicker of light that surrounds her, but he makes himself bite his tongue and step up to press his hands against the door. ]

On three, then?

[ He holds three fingers up on one hand, just in case it sounds to her like he's talking through layers of cotton as much as it does to his own ears. Maybe this isn't the best idea, but it's what they've got, so hell with it. ]

[Breq nods her response, then turns her attention to the door, bracing her shoulder and preparing to shove at the end of Peter's count.

And as they brace up against the door, it--

swings open. Violently, in fact, as though whatever was holding it partially open simply crumbled away into dust the moment they hit the end of the count.

Breq nearly stumbles a few steps as the door swings down to hit the floor, but recovers quickly, looking to Peter, then the strange corridor around them.]

[ With a startled huff, Peter just barely manages to go ass over teakettle as the door suddenly disappears out from under his hands, but he does keep at least some of his dignity. Once he's sure he's back on his feet, he finds himself staring around at the inside, eyebrows pulling together.

Without thinking, he conjures up the lowest power werelight he can and sends it floating up towards the ceiling, trying to illuminate as much of the place as he can. ]

Alright. [ His voice sounds even more faraway, and isn't that strange. ] Now what?

I don't suppose you can do anything to point us toward the center of the disturbance?

[It's a particularly difficult sentence to mime, so Breq settles for facing Peter fully and enunciating as clearly as possible.]

I don't know magic, but something must be causing this.

[ He has to stare at her for a moment or so so try and parse out what's being said, but in the end Peter just shakes his head. ]

If there's a spell like that, I don't know it.

[ And just in case the words don't make it over there, Peter gives a large, helpless shrug. That should get the point across. ]

Pick a direction?

Left.

[She accompanies the gesture with a point.]

If one of the other teams doesn't take it instead, we'll double back to it.

[And with that she begins to lift her gun and steps forward, obviously intent on taking the lead.]

[ Peter nods and falls back behind her, clearly more than happy to let Breq take the lead. He's got his fireballs for sure, but a gun is going to be much more helpful if it comes to that point.

He keeps there werelight up though, hovering just over their heads as they move. He's going to have to keep an eye on how long he keeps that going, but for now having a light he can be sure of is worth the risk. ]

Have you experienced an effect like this before?

[The further into this strange field she goes, the warier Breq seems to become. She keeps tilting her head, not like she's trying to realign her ears to hear better, but like some sense in her head is slightly off, confounded by something inherent to this building.]

[ He shakes his head wordlessly in reply, once he's managed to catch the muffled words. It's almost like being underwater or putting on noise-canceling headphones, only Peter's done both of those and neither are quite this unsettling. It feels oppressive, like they should have something weighing them down despite the fact that it's perfectly easy to move.

There are plenty of ways to dampen sound waves, but as they get closer Peter silently rejects them one after the other. There's something else wrong here, and without thinking he lets the werelight overhead go out. Some strange instinct tells him he might need the magic soon, and he honestly can't tell where the thought is coming from. ]

Do you...

[ He trails off, shoulders drawing up tense despite himself. ]

Do you feel that?

[Breq's immediate answer is a sharp nod, accompanied by a tightening of her fingers. She glances around briefly, as though looking for a source, before she stops herself. Whatever it is, it's definitely not visible in this dim little corridor.]

I've only felt something even close to this once.

[One of Anaander's devices that cut off ancillary technology-- but this isn't quite the same thing, even if she feels the same kind of isolated. And the fact that Peter is affected as well makes it clear that it's not just her ancillary implants that are causing it.

It doesn't stop the feeling of aching alone-ness from echoing out of her for a brief moment.]

[ That gets Peter's attention. He twists towards her, though instinct mean he can't help but keep and eye down the rest of the hall. ]

What caused it? Can we turn it off?

[ If it's anything electronic, he might have an edge there. And it would be nice to hear properly. And stop his hair standing on end. ]

It was a device, hardly larger than fifteen centimeters. It affected all sorts of communicators, including some that shouldn't otherwise have been.

[Vague, but 'it cut me off from the rest of myself' is a difficult concept to explain in normal circumstances, let alone when half the words require pantomime.]

To turn it off, I had to destroy it, but this effect may be similar. We would have to find it first.

[ Well destruction is certainly something Peter can do, and as vague as it might be, he does feel a bit better with a goal in mind. Maybe it's not quite like sensing vestigia, but Peter has gotten used to tracking down strange sensations. Maybe that will make it easier to find the source of whatever this is.

Without thinking, he steps up ahead of Breq, concentrating as hard as he can to see if he can tell where the disruption feels strongest. ]

I think maybe this way.

Lead on.

[Breq lets him step forward, but she dogs his heels, the silver glow of the shield still around her as she does. She can't trust the thorough but slow inspection she would do if left to examine this place on her own terms, so letting Peter take the lead only makes sense. While he's focusing on finding the way, her attention is on their surroundings, and looking for any potential threats--

which she catches onto a few corridors later. Some skitter of movement from the vents, that has her reaching out for his shoulder to grab it and pull him to an abrupt halt.]

Stop. [Somehow, despite the muting of her voice in this place, that one word seems to echo strangely.]

[ Peter instantly freezes, a well-trained response to that kind of a command. He does glance over at her, waiting for a follow-up, but he's also studying the hall around them carefully. Trying to tell exactly what Breq just stopped him from stepping into. Not that he doesn't appreciate the effort. ]

What did you see?

The Sound of Silence

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