Part 2: Hatched!

[Zyriel]

Hamish scanned the room, his attention roaming from group to group and to the voids between them. He found it interesting how colorful the inmates always seemed at meal-time, despite the unforms. They didn't seem that way in the work rooms; just cogs in the machine there. Maybe something to do with the lighting, he mused, brow furrowing a little.

A sharp, unusual, motion in his periphery snapped his attention to a nearby table. A hybrid, fixing to pounce. His body tensed, hand lowering to his baton. It seemed like the station paused for a moment, took a breath. Then... nothing. As her posture relaxed, Hamish narrowed his eyes.

That was the naked one. And with her, one of the new ones. The other one he recognized due to her height but her vibe had always been one of compliance. He found her relatively unconcerning, except perhaps the company she was keeping.

Outside of animated chatter he didn't see anything more from the group though. Mentally, he commanded his heart rate to slow again, and resumed his scan with a thought to check that table a little more frequently.

He noticed there was a utensil on the floor between two other tables. Designed to be harmless, unreliable as weapons or tools for anything but eating, he still didn't trust the situation.

"You there," he barked at the inmate nearest to it, "pick that up."

[Auryn]

"Aw, don't worry about that, Buddy, I got it." Gerald was walking into the room. His guard's uniform was tidy, his baton was holstered and secured with care, but he wore the top couple of buttons loose which revealed dog tags and a black undershirt underneath. He sauntered over to the rounded fork and picked it up with an exaggerated bow toward Hamish. He spun on his heels to continue walking toward the return-receptacle where he deposited it. He hesitated, and then spun around. He'd seen this inmate's file. Further, he had put together enough pieces to know a bit more about her than what the official records could verify; but this was the first time he'd seen her in person.

"XJ, right? I must say, I was surprised to see you in here." He raised his hands in an 'I come in peace' gesture. "I know what I'm wearing, I promise I'm not here to gloat. I didn't always work here. I was on the losing side during the, uh..." He leaned in a little and lowered his voice "gas company billing incident." He brought his voice back to normal volume. "Gotta say, I was impressed! I was sure you'd never end up someplace like this! Bummer. Truly. My genuine condolences." Gerald looked at the other two. "Sorry, I know you're all on social time. I'll leave you to it, I just..." He looked back at XJ, "It's honestly good to meet you. You were a worthy opponent and... It was fun! Even though you fuckin' smashed me. Last coding job I ever took, hahaha!"

[[OOC: Gerald's heading somewhere, but I figured I'd give XJ a chance to respond before I moved him 'exit-stage-left' Hamish can prolly follow if he wants to respond too.]]

[andrav]

XJ had almost entirely finished breakfast and was trying not to think about how soon before she would be hungry again when one of the guards approached her--or maybe just the return mechanism to put a fork away. But, no, he turned around, definitely recognized her, and then said, "XJ, right? I must say, I was surprised to see you in here." XJ's eyes grew wide, and she stopped chewing for a second. He held up his hands in front of himself like he was trying to be chill, but XJ looked at Anya and Dolly, not buying it, before looking back at the guard and blinking several times. Did she know this guy?

"I know what I'm wearing, I promise I'm not here to gloat. I didn't always work here. I was on the losing side during the, uh..." XJ leaned backward as the guard leaned forward in her direction and finished quietly, "gas company billing incident."

XJ didn't know it was possible for her eyes to get even wider. It was a good thing she wasn't, like, hooked up to some kind of heart-rate monitor to detect lying right now. Although she had never been very good at keeping it off her face anyway. But, damn, she had to try.

She folded one hand toward her risk in a "oh stop it" sort of gesture, looking away briefly. But then what he was saying started to dawn on her. The gas company incident... right, it was early on in XJ's hacking career. A flawless job, and easy, too. She added a virus to the backdoor of their billing software, and blammo, they couldn't charge anyone for utilities. XJ had no idea that would mean they would shut down all production, though. She hadn't actually believed they would be that stingy. But, what did she expect of the corporate world, anyway? They let millions of people go without heat for weeks just because they couldn't charge for it. Bastards. XJ wondered what this guy's job had been to get him fired over that whole mess. Tech support? Gods, what a bummer way to become a prison guard. She almost felt bad for the guy. Granted, he wasn't the one eating prison chow.

At normal volume, he said, "Gotta say, I was impressed! I was sure you'd never end up someplace like this! Bummer. Truly. My genuine condolences." He then finally seemed to register Dolly and Anya. "Sorry, I know you're all on social time. I'll leave you to it, I just..." He looked back at XJ, "It's honestly good to meet you. You were a worthy opponent and... It was fun! Even though you fuckin' smashed me. Last coding job I ever took!"

He laughed, then, and XJ remained uneasy as he walked off. She stared down at her empty plate, eyes gone wide again.

"That's not..." she started to say, jabbing her thumb to the left where the guard was walking off. "They can't... That wasn't in my file." XJ looked at Anya, worried that iObey could somehow make her stay even longer if they found out about another crime she had committed. Soundlessly, XJ mouthed, "help" to Anya, as though that would do any good.

[Auryn]

Gerald moved on to the maintenance door for the return-receptacle. He pushed a button, and the iObey system verified his identity and credentials; opening the maintenance door for him. He watched it close behind him, ensuring he wasn't followed, at least by anyone who shouldn't follow. He felt a little bad, XJ had seemed rather spooked. He wondered if he should have found a more opportune time to meet the master hacker behind his last coding job. He liked meeting former opponents. There was often no honor in the work he took, so he'd taken to trying to have honor in life instead, often still working in the system--and sometimes not. He probably wouldn't have been able to find a better time to say 'hey.' He shrugged the discomfort off.

The station's systems had reported an overflow in this maintenance hatch to the control room. Karen had suggested radioing Hamish, but Gerald volunteered instead. “Nah… I’ve been on my ass for the past few days. Let me stretch my legs, Karen. Besides, you wouldn’t want to interrupt Hamish’s glower-hour.”

In truth, Gerald didn’t love the prospect of dealing with whatever refuse was jamming the system. But now that he’d freed himself of the control room, he could roam and find odd jobs to do to keep himself busy…and away from Karen’s persistent nose-blowing and drink-slurping. Meeting an honorable opponent had been a nice bonus too, although it bummed him out that she’d gotten stuck here. One less decent merc in the world for when he got out of this dump. He'd have liked to see what it was like to work with her on a job. “What a waste,” he muttered to himself. As he walked farther inside he saw the jam of half-eaten food, intermixed with utensils and plastic plates. He smacked his palm to his forehead, “Aw, man!”

-

Anya's eyes were as wide as XJ's. She spread her arms in front of her, palms up in a sustained shrug. She opened her mouth, but only a small grunt akin to a short "Uh..." came out.

"He's nice," said Dolly, "He helped me get settled in my cell when I got here. He got me a bed large enough that my feet don't dangle off. He said the trade off was that I couldn't have a cell mate. My bed takes up the whole width of the cell. There's not room for another bed." Dolly kept eating, unfazed.

Anya kept the same pose, slowly turning to Dolly. "Wh-... You have your own cell? I didn't know that! I thought you just didn't like your cellmate."

"Nope. It's just me in there. Sometimes it's lonely. I'm not lucky like you two, but my bed is comfortable. That's neat that he likes you, XJ." Dolly clearly hadn't picked up on any implications that XJ was worried about.

"Potentially nice guards talking to us, and now Dolly is the talkative one? What is happening?" begged Anya, looking at XJ.

[andrav]

XJ's nervous system started to settle down the moment Dolly and Anya started talking.

"He's nice," said Dolly, "He helped me get settled in my cell when I got here. He got me a bed large enough that my feet don't dangle off. He said the trade off was that I couldn't have a cell mate. My bed takes up the whole width of the cell. There's not room for another bed."

XJ stared at Dolly for a moment, gears turning. And, wait, had that been the first thing Dolly had really said? Whoa...

Anya looked even more surprised.

"Wh-... You have your own cell? I didn't know that! I thought you just didn't like your cellmate."

"Nope. It's just me in there. Sometimes it's lonely. I'm not lucky like you two, but my bed is comfortable. That's neat that he likes you, XJ."

XJ startled a little, chewing once awkwardly.

"Potentially nice guards talking to us, and now Dolly is the talkative one? What is happening?" begged Anya, looking at XJ.

XJ shrugged for a moment, baffled. Had she just avoided more prison time? Met a fan? She couldn't really tell.

Did she really think she could trust a guard to help them get out of here? But what choice did they really have?

The "no-touching" guard was looking especially salty after watching XJ and the other guard interact. She didn't want to draw more attention over here, really, but...

She did have a map now. She closed her eyes, pulling the blueprints up. After a moment, she opened her eyes again.

"Hey, did you all ever mingle with the inmates in the other parts of the station? Are they always cordoned off?"

((OOC: I suppose I'm making some assumptions here. Maybe there are other sections with other cafeterias and work areas, etc. Or maybe one of them is shut down entirely for repair right now. Would you enjoy adding onto that? If not, we can change it.))

[Auryn]

"I'm not sure how that works," said Anya; "What I do know is that when one woman got injured in an accident, she went to the processing crew for a while until she healed. She said that it was mostly elderly or disabled folk. They sit in small stations and do the more precise and delicate work after all our hard labor of rock breaking and the like. Could be gemstone extraction, could be fuel processing. She said that she was surprised there were even that many stations since most of it could probably be automated anyway. I guess it gives them something to force prisoners to do once they can't break rocks anym..." Anya stopped short of the sentence looking at XJ. Her ears fell flat against her head, and her face held a sustained wince.

"Gods, XJ, is that what we have to look forward to? I don't even know how long I'm supposed to be here for, what if it's forever? Please don't tell me it's forever."

((OOC: I like your idea of there being other sections, and that perhaps at least one is down for repairs / maintenance / refitting. I didn't think Anya or Dolly would know. Although maybe Dolly would, I don't know how long she's been here. Not too terribly long, since Gerald set her up when she arrived and I didn't picture Gerald being here long term. Then again, how long has Hamish been here? I guess I'm sort of leaning toward this being a new operation that is filling with new prisoners that likely won't have high turn-over.))

[andrav]

"I'm not sure how that works," said Anya. "What I do know is that when one woman got injured in an accident, she went to the processing crew for a while until she healed. She said that it was mostly elderly or disabled folk. They sit in small stations and do the more precise and delicate work after all our hard labor of rock breaking and the like. Could be gemstone extraction, could be fuel processing. She said that she was surprised there were even that many stations since most of it could probably be automated anyway. I guess it gives them something to force prisoners to do once they can't break rocks anym..." Anya stopped short of the sentence looking at XJ. Her ears fell flat against her head, and her face held a sustained wince.

"Gods, XJ, is that what we have to look forward to? I don't even know how long I'm supposed to be here for, what if it's forever? Please don't tell me it's forever."

XJ balked for a moment, but then softened, taking a liberty to gently put a hand on Anya's hand for a brief moment. "It's not forever. It can't be forever. We'll make sure it's not forever." XJ sounded a lot more sure than she was, but she was determined to make something happen.

((OOC: Happy to move to the work room if that makes sense. And maybe we could have an in-person brainstorm sesh about what sort of things might happen next.))

[Zyriel]

And then Gerald came waltzing in. Undermining Hamish's command and addressing the inmates in an altogether too friendly manner. Echo's of Mrs. Fischman's scornful, "Tsk!" rang in his mind. She'd give it out to neighborhood kids behaving foolishly or disrespectfully. Hamish thought Gerald was doing both.

He had suspicions about Gerald's dedication to the job; and about whether he recognized the point of the institution and what was meant to be accomplished here. Hamish had seen the man cavorting with inmates before. Chatting with them in the corridors, letting them distract him. Delivering things like a servant. Like he worked for them.

How did he expect to command their respect?

And there he want again. Have a friendly little chat with your new besties why don't you. Get to know them, show photos of the kids, ask their favorite food so you can deliver it later. It turned his stomach. Gerald's irreverence for the position was galling.

And now, now he'd caused Hamish to also be distracted. It was just a recipe for disaster. He forced himself to remove Gerald and the table of inmates from his immediate attention, to return to scanning as he should do, as Gerald should do. The room did seem otherwise in order, at least, outside of his now sour stomach. He'd be glad when the meal shift was over and he could escape the smell of the inmates' food. He liked the industrious smells of the processing rooms.

[andrav]

All day and all night, XJ couldn't stop thinking about escape. The day passed with three meals a day, each as bland and tasteless as the last. There was another brainwashing session, and XJ could feel her soul starting to ache within her body. This was how they break people. Or at least get them as close as possible to breaking as to still be able to work. Meaningless work. Work XJ could program a machine to do, probably. If they gave her the right tools. But no one was willing to do that.

Hunger strike? she asked herself, but she thought of how food motivated she and Anya were, and XJ doubted that they could hold out for very long. Plus, the prison would probably count it a boon to not have to feed the prisoners as much. XJ also had a terrible thought of the guards force-feeding her out of a tube. She shook her head like waking out of a bad dream. She didn't enjoy thinking like her opponent, but sometimes it was necessary.

XJ continued to study the blueprints, checking them silently as they walked the halls, trying to get a sense for which rooms were blocked off and where all the air vents led. In space, those were doubly crucial and frequently reinforced.

There was maybe a sense that they could send a small prisoner down one of the chutes, but XJ was among the smallest, and she didn't think there was any way in hell her hips were getting past there.

The fact that XJ could not even stop thinking about it in her sleep started to make her groggy, and she wasn't fully her enthusiastic self in the days that passed. But then, one night, another boon. A orange overlay come into her dreams, an evacuation plan in case of emergency. XJ switched between that and the blueprint at will, and she was getting more confident in the maps. It was time to tell Anya. But she would need to be careful. After all, in the event that an evacuation was necessary, XJ hadn't failed to notice that there were only enough resources to get the guards out safe.

At breakfast three days later, XJ sat down, trying not to shiver or fidget. She thought she might have figured it out, and she was struggling to hold it all in.

"I've got it," XJ said to Anya and Dolly, trying not to look like she was whispering.

She waited a little while, waiting to see understanding on Dolly's and Anya's faces. "The escape pods and three freight ships would be enough to get everyone off this space station."

XJ hesitated to say more, worried about being any more direct about the plan. She waited to see if Dolly or Anya would say anything before continuing.

[Auryn]

Anya could sense some pensive energy from her friend as she sat down to breakfast.

"I've got it," she said quietly.

Anya's ears perked toward XJ's direction. She blinked twice in quick succession. Dolly calmly continued to eat what passed for food here.

XJ described what it would take to get everyone off the station. Just one, simple sentence. Anya blinked hard once, processing the information.

"That's... Wha-" Anya's mind reeled. How did XJ know this? Anya didn't even know how many levels there were in this station, let alone how many people were within its confines. But more importantly, how could this feat be accomplished? Anya kept her voice low. She took care to look like she was having simple, normal conversation.

"XJ, when would three whole freight ships dock? And...even if they did, how would we..."

Dolly had set down her food, and she picked up the conversation as Anya's voice trailed off; "What...should I do?"

Dolly was looking at XJ, obedience in her eyes; but also willpower.

Anya looked at Dolly, and then to XJ; curious for her response.