The exercise:
I think that it is time to return to The Colony.
Most because Morganna's post the other day reminded me that a new month means a new entry to our yearlong story. It, uh, may have slipped my mind otherwise.
The rain let up enough for me to get some weeding done in the garden this morning. It was still a pretty cloudy, grey day though, with several periods of light rain. Thankfully tomorrow is expected to feature real, actual sunshine.
Also: Max's cousin Natalie and her mother will be arriving in the afternoon for a weekend visit. Very much looking forward to that.
Mine:
I may have made a mistake. A very, very big mistake.
I was just trying to help, okay? Looking out for everyone's best interests, that's all. The whole crew, the mission, all that good stuff. But now I'm pretty sure I've screwed up.
I can't find Robbie or Melina.
No one else seems to have noticed their absence yet. Should I report to Vassily? Probably. But that would mean admitting I messed up. Huge. And maybe I haven't! I mean, I don't know for sure yet.
All I have to do is find them. And Melina isn't exactly a needle in a haystack, you know. She's practically an Amazon! So it shouldn't be a problem.
Except I can't find them. I just can't. I've looked everywhere.
How was I supposed to know that Robbie's recent behaviour was a symptom of something much more sinister than him going a little loopy out here in space? Nothing I saw him do or say struck me as dangerous.
But now the woman I asked to talk to him, to investigate those mental issues of his, has disappeared. Kidnapped? Held hostage somewhere I can't seem to find? Or... something worse?
God, I can't even say it. I don't even want to think it! The very idea of it is giving me a headache that's threatening to split my head in two. And why does that stupid monitor in the corner of my room keep flashing like that? It's driving me crazier than Robbie!
Wait, what is that it's showing? Is that surveillance footage? Why would I be getting security video in my room... and why is it stuck in some kind of loop?
What... who... oh no. No no no no no.
4 comments:
Sunshine's overrated! But if it makes the farmwork easier I guess I can see why you might prefer it :)
I wasn't expecting a visit to the Colony this early, I was intending to remind you at the weekend about it. But I'm pleased that it's here, and also pleased that Morganna added hers to the last one as well, so that I know I'm all up to date with the goings-on. Even though they're getting odder... especially with the computer trying to grow its own robot. It's probably just one of those errors where one group of engineers were using Imperial measurements and the rest of the world was using metric :-P
Oh well, I guess it's time to find out what Eliza is seeing on her monitor screen at Camera 12...
Mine
Did you know that when you hang someone upside by their feet the blood rushes to their head and makes it impossible for them to faint? Me neither, until Melina told me. Just after she'd finished tying my ankles together and then attaching them to this pole. Stupid meanie Melina, and I don't care that I'm supposed to only say nice things about people! I feel a bit weird hanging here though, a bit like a Christmas ornament or something.
Melina followed me down here, even though I didn't want her to come. I don't think Eliza wanted her to come either, but I couldn't think of anything clever to say that would make her leave me alone, so I just let her follow and hoped it wasn't important. I don't know if what I've found is important or not, but when I got here there was some computer-y looking stuff that I'm not supposed to touch (Eliza sounds really stern when she says "Don't touch!" and slaps your hand away, and Captain Vassily just looks at you like you've just broken the arm of his favourite nephew (that totally didn't happen during training) and Demi pats your head while moving your hands away and... well, it's everyone really). But there were some extra boxes that were all kind of plugged in to the computer-y boxes with lots of cables that had Russian writing on it (my grand-dad was Russian and he taught me to read it, but then he told me never to let anyone know because they'd think I was a Communard. I think.) So I think maybe they're Vassily's? But then Melina hit me on the back of the neck and things got a bit fuzzy. And now she's tied me up.
"You shouldn't have come down here, Roofie," she's saying. I wish she'd get my name right. "You really don't need to know about any of this."
"I don't know about any of this."
"Hah, and you're probably telling the truth you little simpleton," she says. "But I can't take any chances, so I'm just going to set things up to make it look like suicide. No-one will have any trouble believing that poor little Roofie forgot he can't take his helmet off outside, so I'll go and get the Rover and we'll be off for your last little trip around Mars. You just hang around here." She starts laughing at that point, but I don't know what's so funny.
While she's laughing I can see the screens behind her, and Eliza's telling me to pull the big cable out, the one that's linking the computer-y boxes to the other ones. When Melina turns round the screen turns into a Tetris game though, which is pretty cool. I was really good at Tetris on the Gameboy, I always got 30 lines before I lost.
I let Melina leave, and then I reach across. I can't quite reach the cable, but I start swinging when I try, and that lets me get close enough, so I grab hold and pull.
That's a lot of sparks, they're really pretty. But it kind of smells like fire in here now.
Greg - sunshine is not, in fact, overrated :P
Deeply enjoyed following along with Robbie's train(s) of thought. And though this wasn't where I was intending things to go, you've left me feeling completely happy that this is the direction you've taken it in.
Though a fire in a place like this seems like it just might be a tad troublesome...
Uh oh. This is ... computing ... not what was intended. But getting results. These humans are so unpredictable. Now Alpha Female 2 is coming. Running. The fire alarms are clanging. She's found the male who was tied up. She unties him and sees the boxes. I see her jump a little when she looked in that direction. She is looking around. She sees female who set up boxes. There is yelling. Other female is tied up now. Alpha Female 2 summons Captain, pointing at the boxes. They disconnect all the boxes. The other voices in my mind go away. I feel better.
Morganna - I like how even the computer has an air of being in over its head. Fits in with the rest of the crew very nicely :)
Now to see where we go from here...
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