taxonomites | Case #1 [holo | location: the sanctuary]

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Case #1 [holo | location: the sanctuary]

Kate had been circling the crime scene, taking in every nuance to aid in her investigation. She had knelt down to inspect a footprint in the dirt, when the dirt suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a cool silver floor.

"What the hell?"

She stood up, looking around. Everything had changed. The crime scene was gone, replaced by a circular room. She spun around, confused. Where was the door? Jumping down from the platform, she sprinted to the wall, stretching her hands out to feel for a door.

"Hello? Hey, anybody here?"

She pounded on the wall, though stinging hands were her only reward. As she inspected her hands, she noticed the silver bracelet on her wrist, and immediately tried to pull it off. Heart beating rapidly, she realized it wouldn't budge.

She circled the room, panicking slightly. On her second pass around the small room, she noticed the small table. On it laid what appeared to be a remote control, but upon closer inspection it looked to be some kind of cell phone. Maybe she could call for help?

She picked it up, but there did not appear to be any way to dial. She touched various places on the screen, but nothing seemed to happen. Then she heard a sliding sound, and looked up to see a door open a few feet from her. She immediately set the device down, heading for the door. It slid shut again before she could make it.

"Dammit!"

She kicked the door for good measure, then walked back over and picked up the remote/phone/whatever it was.

The door opened. Kate looked from the door, to the device, then back to the door. She set the device down again.

The door closed. Kate picked the device up again, then grinned as the door opened.

"Ok, ok. I get it."

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The Master watched this girl fumble about the chamber for some time before bothering to reply, smiling faintly as she discovered how the door works. It was a bit like watching a rat in a maze.

"Everything all right?" his voice finally emanated from the tablet. He waited patiently for her to figure how to work that out next.

The voice startled her, causing her to drop the tablet, which caused the door to close. She cursed, looking around for the owner of the voice.

"Hello?"

He made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Oh dear, you certainly are jumpy." Jumpy or incredibly clumsy, anyhow.

"Down here," the Master suggested. "Pick up the tablet."

She picked up tablet, turning it over. She held it up to her ear like a phone. "I'm jumpy with good reason, don't you think? What the hell is going on?"

"Absolutely," he agreed. "After all, you have been kidnapped." There was a small pause.

"That, by the way, is 'what the hell is going on'."

She took a moment to look around the room. She couldn't think of a worse place to stash a kidnapping victim, given the open door and cell phone. Unless it was a trap. And if she had been kidnapped, why was this guy calling to inform her? The only explanation she could come up with was that this had to be the kidnapper, calling to taunt her. The idea really pissed her off.

"So what do you want, then? Why take me? Why don't you come down here and show me your face and explain it to me?"

voice; private

syncopath - 2010-10-11 20:53 (UTC) - Expand

Re: voice; private

noheatnikki.livejournal.com - 2010-10-11 21:26 (UTC) - Expand

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voice; private

syncopath - 2010-10-13 07:07 (UTC) - Expand

Somehow, B'Elanna doubted that. They knew that they were prisoners, yes, but they didn't know where or why or, indeed, who was keeping them locked up in the first place. She'd opened the door but she didn't get any of it.

"Would you mind sharing it with the rest of us?" she asked wryly, before adding: "You're in a city called Taxon. We're all prisoners here."

"What?" she asked, holding the tablet at arms length. "Taxon? Prisoner? But the door's open. Can't I just walk out?"

Breaking bad news wasn't B'Elanna's strong point, so she answered a little too bluntly.

"You can get out of the room," she replied, "But no one's got out of the city yet."

The secondary city - ruins filled with bodies - probably didn't count. Moving from one prison to another didn't sound like freedom to B'Elanna.

Kate took a moment to process that. She appreciated the direct answer, but it didn't exactly clear up the issue for her.

"No one? How many people are here?"

"No one," she repeated, "And the number of prisoners goes up and down. I'd say there's around forty of us at the moment."

B'Elanna tended to keep herself to herself. She didn't like answering questions about her forehead.

"Oh."

Forty people in a city? It seemed so strange. Then something occurred to her.

"The number goes up and down? Do we know what's happening to the people who leave?"

(no subject)

aklingonside.livejournal.com - 2010-10-13 19:31 (UTC) - Expand

And that would be someone new. Kaylee wiped at some grease on her face, smudging it more than cleaning it off, before picking up the tablet and offering the woman a smile. "Quicker'n most, too. Good portion of folks it takes tellin' about it, myself included. Somethin' about pickin' up the mysterious object on a podium in the middle of a room that just seems a bit more ominous than it should."

Kate hadn't considered that the object might be dangerous before she picked it up. Now she looked it over as if it could potentially explode at any moment.

"How did I end up here?"

"Don't worry, just a comm device. Basics of communication--video, visual, holo, text, got a map of the city, all that handy sorta stuff."

Kaylee scratched the back of her head. "That's the tricky part, though, is the how. Teleportation of some kind, controlled by aliens who run about as hamsters...it's hard to explain. And a bit on the silly side of things."

Kate looked at the girl in the tablet, exceedingly confused.

"Teleportation? Aliens? Hamsters? Where the hell am I?"

"Taxon's the city. Underground, in the middle of a planet or moon we ain't quite figured out yet. Kind of a...well, kind of our own personal cage. Got room aplenty, resources, food, even got a zoo now, but we can't actually go anyplace."

Re: [ visual ]

noheatnikki.livejournal.com - 2010-10-09 21:30 (UTC) - Expand

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gotcouplings.livejournal.com - 2010-10-12 05:17 (UTC) - Expand

Yeah, you kinda need to take that with you to leave.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm not sure i want to leave yet."

I can get that, but for the record? It's not so bad out here.

This new arrival was Spencer's first chance to ask the questions that he and Fred had devised for newcomers. He cleared his throat and tried to remember all of the niceities of polite conversation.

"That's good that you figured out how the tablet works. About 62% can't when they first arrive here. That's a positive step forward."

Spencer marked this information down on a pad sitting on the table in front of him.

Kate watched as the man wrote something on the notepad.

"Um, thanks, I guess."

She studied him for a moment.

"How did you get here?"

Spencer looked up curiously. That was not part of the script.

"Uh.. the same way that we all did, I suppose - through that room that you're standing in now. It's where all new arrivals come from. You can leave the room, but if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions first."

Kate narrowed her eyes, instantly suspicious. Why did he want to ask her questions? And how was it that of all the people she'd communicated with, none of them were being particularly helpful?

"What kind of questions?"

Spencer held up the pad that he had been writing on.

"Oh, it's just a questionnaire. Things like your name, your occupation, where you came from, when you came from, what you were doing when you came here, you species..."

He still wasn't quite used to that last one.