Written Wonderland

Kai had long ago decided that keeping count of the days was useless information to try to keep in their mind. There was nothing in this suspension chamber to give the slightest hint of what might be night and day. Their food was intravenous. They had the sealed bottoms of a spacesuit on--easier for iObey to deal with the waste that way.

They felt ill or at least malnourished, but they were keeping that knowledge buried for the moment. They needed to focus.

The prison was doing everything in its power to keep Kai only semiconscious. Kai suspected it was drug-induced as much as there was also sensory deprivation. Punishment and security. Kai also knew that the metal walls were insulated with metals to prevent any kind of vibration, with Kai's telepathy severely hindered as a result.

But they still had to scrub the air regularly. Kai had refused to cooperate with the helmet, even when they sedated Kai to get it on.

Anytime Kai woke up with it on, they overwhelmed the machinery--hedging their bets that if their captors wanted Kai dead, they would have done it already.

Kai was valuable to them, and Kai could imagine why.

And scrubbing the air was enough to send a set of signals through. Kai spent all day prepping them in their mind, rehearsing them over and over.

One breath in. Take in all the new information about the ship system that they could. Tweak the message accordingly.

One breath out. Send it all to a mind, at random, who might know what to do with it.

It wasn't a good plan. But the alternative was no plan at all.

"Uuuuh, Roomie? ...Just, give her a second, Oh-Bee, it was a long day yesterd--"
"You will refer to me as iObey, Prisoner."
Anya and iObey were having an argument. It was not their first.
"Y---yeaaah~... I mean, of course, iObey. But, you have to underst--"
"Yesterday is not relevant. Today's routines must be performed."
"mrrrRRrr... Hey, Roomie, sleep is good, but a mad AI makes for a rotten dayyyy!"
"I do not get mad. To the door for role call, prisoners. You will comply."
With a flick of her tail, Anya muttered under her breath;, "You sure seem to get mad."

Anya sneered contemptuously at toward the ceiling, the AI being the intended audience. She looked down at her waking roommate with empathy. She had wanted to sleep in too, but Anya knows that XJ could have used the extra sleep most. Well, XJ and all the other new-comers. A lot had happened in the past 24 hours, and for Anya, a lengthy trip through the vacuum of space hadn't preceded it all. She looked forward to breakfast, and to seeing Dolly. She thought of the fabled blue drink, and how maybe, just maybe she could look forward to seeing it on the breakfast menu. But most of all, Anya looked forward to seeing what ways her new friend and her could create light within this dark place.

XJ didn't wake easily in the best of times. Even less so when she had stayed up for the better part of the night looking at prison schematics. Even less so when she was in prison period.

She made a non-committal, guttural sound and rolled over. Only then did she start to register the voices, an electronic one and that of her cellmate.

"...is not relevant. Today's routines must be performed."

"Hey roomie, sleep is good, but a mad AI makes for a rotten dayyyy!" That got XJ to open her eyes again. Crap. XJ certainly didn't want Anya getting in trouble for any of her misbehavior.

"I do not get mad. To the door for role call, prisoners. You will comply."

XJ had a laugh as Anya said, "You sure seem to get mad."

Finally, XJ swung her legs over her cot, stood up, stretched briefly, and walked groggily to the cell door.

Once she did, a bright green light flashed over her and Anya, scanning the two of them. XJ yelped a bit, startled and squinting.

"Identities confirmed. Role call complete. Please proceed to the cafeteria for sustenance." XJ shook her head, trying to wrap her head around taking orders from an AI. What if she took a different path? But she remembered the magcuffs from yesterday and wouldn't put it past the prisonwardens to have magcuff stations throughout the area. Blinking, XJ accessed the blueprints again--yep, that had been real!--and saw that, yes, in fact, two set of magcuff pedestals were primed to come out of the floor of their cell if they did not comply. XJ blinked again to make the overlay go away.

XJ smiled reassuringly at Anya, trying to convey some of her optimism about the situation. At least they could stay one step ahead of the coercion methods the station had for them.

((OOC: Unless Anya has something to say, maybe we can go to the cafeteria? Maybe you can decide on the menu today? Or Hamish could, lol.))

The first inmates of the next shift began filtering into the cafeteria. Bedraggled and bleary, they shuffled into lines at each food dispenser.

Hamish stood in a mildly slouched military rest at the opposite end of the room, scowling. From here he could observe the seating, the machines, and the entrance. Small portals, twinkling with the vastness of space, hung behind him. Mess duty was not Hamish’s favorite assignment. He found watching glom’s eat to be… unsettling. The odor of the inmates' food, when he’d already eaten, was also unpleasant. Pungent, just like the inmates themselves.

Ed, his partner for this shift, was posted in the hall, beyond the entrance. While iObey was highly capable of managing the masses on its own (the human’s were the AI’s backup, not the other way around), the guards were employed because they complemented its awesome dominance, having an easier time getting into the fracas and sometimes seeing things in interpersonal interactions and body language that the AI didn’t interpret accurately. The food hall, and transit to and from, tended to have the highest rates of misconduct. Sometimes inmates thought a bustling hallway was a good distraction to conduct their mischief, other times squabbles broke out over food. He didn’t think the inmate food was worth fighting over, but that didn’t seem to deter them.

Hamish sighed as a small group of gloms deposited their trays of food at a table near him and slid onto the stools. It was like they knew. It reminded him of a dog his friend once had, with the uncanny ability to pick out the person in the group that disliked dogs... and then proceed to slobber and shed all over them in particular.

"Aaaaaw! Still no blue drink! Ex-Jaa~aaaa~aaaa~aay!" Anya made a pouty face as she punched in her order. Bacon, of course, with the not-quite-potato hashbrown pile for staying power. She reluctantly chose the only colorful option of orange-drink as consolation, known by most to be orange juice.

"So, anyway... aside from the waking up part, did you sleep okay on your first night?" Anya gasped without waiting for a response, "I didn't snore did I? Us hybrids can have a bit of a growl sometimes at night... Not all nights, but sometimes..."

XJ's fatigue and frustration really started to get to her as they walked the short distance to the cafeteria. This was bogus. That she was here was bogus. That this whole place existed was bogus. That she was going to have to eat the same mediocre food--this time without tricks--was bogus. XJ thought she wanted to burn to whole place down already, and she'd barely been here for more than 24 hours.

You've got a maaa-aaap, she reminded herself. She waved her inner voice off, still cranky.

Seeing the guards the moment that XJ walked into the cafeteria didn't help her mood. They looked even crankier than she did. And the one who told Anya and XJ not to touch was there, too. Mggfffpht.

As XJ was typing in her order, lamenting the dismal number of credits and prepared to scream to the whole cafeteria, "YOU'RE FUCKING STARVING US!" Anya interrupted her train of thought.

"Aaaaaw! Still no blue drink! Ex-Jaa~aaaa~aaaa~aay!" That actually made her laugh. Sooner or later, XJ would need to tell Anya what she had meant with the code word, but now still wasn't the time. She'd need to be more specific with the map, once she made it that far.

"So, anyway... aside from the waking up part, did you sleep okay on your first night?" Anya said all in one breath, "I didn't snore did I? Us hybrids can have a bit of a growl sometimes at night... Not all nights, but sometimes..."

"No, no," XJ said, trying to placate her while loading up on the most possible carbs the machine would give her. "It was just... you know... sleeping is hard."

When they sat down at their table, unfortunately not too far away from the scowling guard, XJ tried to figure out a way to communicate to Anya. XJ wished she had something to write with... or telepathy or something. Gods, it would be so useful if they could break that glom out of isolation! But, of course, that's why they were in there.

"I'm like... centimeters away from starting a ruckus," XJ said quietly, conspiratorially, with a giggle.

"No, no, It was just... you know...sleeping is hard."

"MMmmmmm~." The agreeable hum was all Anya could think to say. She turned her back having picked up her order and began walking toward the table where Dolly was. The positioning hid the sympathetic pout on her face. Her tail's low and close posture conveyed the feeling anyway to anyone fluent in Anya's mannerisms, but Anya hadn't been around someone well versed in those in some time. She had stopped putting effort into controlling her tail's gestures weeks ago--she didn't even think about regulating its expression this morning. Anya was pleased to sense XJ following her and bounded toward Dolly, that same tail animating much more at the prospect of good company with two friends. Anya hadn't reverted back to young-cub levels, and still had the where-withal to at least control her tail so as to not brush on others' as she walked past them.

"Goood morninnng Dolly!~" Dolly smiled at Anya and XJ, though she detected distance from XJ. Not personal, but preoccupied--in thought. Dolly's keen emotional awareness felt XJ's unease as if it were a texture to the air. There are times when Dolly's anxiety makes it about her, but this was clearly not one of those times. She kept to herself, and listened to the conversations nearby. A newcomer regaling her new cell-mate with tales of a heist gone right. A deal being made for minor contraband. A man worried about the family he hadn't seen in years.

"I'm like...centimeters away from starting a ruckus," and a giggle. Dolly's eyes rose to observe XJ, waiting to see what the future held, her muscles slightly tensing as if ready for whatever reflex might be needed for protection...from anything.

"Yeah?" Anya started. She set her claws on the table, elbows up showing that she was ready to pounce in support...but then she lowered her elbows, and her hands relaxed a bit. "I mean...whatcha thinking? I haven't really gotten into much trouble yet... it is pretty stuffy in here...but...I just..." Anya's yellow-brown eyes fell from XJ's as she looked down and to the right, her ears fell flat for a moment. "I just don't want to do anything that would threaten our arrangement. I only just got a pretty neat cell-mate. You know?" Her eyes rose back up to try and meet XJ's as she finished her thought, her left ear perking back up. "I do have your back, though," Anya grinned.

"Yeah?" Anya asked. She genuinely looked ready to pounce--claws on the table, elbows up--but she settled down quickly. "I mean...whatcha thinking? I haven't really gotten into much trouble yet... it is pretty stuffy in here...but...I just..." As she paused, she pulled her ears back. Adorable, honestly. "I just don't want to do anything that would threaten our arrangement. I only just got a pretty neat cell-mate. You know?" XJ blinked, simultaneously grateful that Anya wanted her around that much and also a little sheepish to be the reason anyone avoided revolutionary action.

"I do have your back, though," Anya grinned.

XJ looked at Dolly, quiet and unreadable as ever, though XJ thought she detected some muscle tension. XJ really didn't want to get the two of them in trouble, not unless she thought it would actually help their situation.

She shook her head. "I guess I'm just... already stir crazy is all." XJ sighed heavily. Another day of work ahead of them, it seemed. Unless...

"But, like, what if we all decided not to work? What are they going to do? Throw all of us in solitary? There aren't enough rooms on this junk heap of a space station. Starve us? Throw us out the airlock?" Okay, whoa, that last one felt kinda possible. XJ shivered.

"I dunno... I haven't really seen all that much go down. I've been a little sassy to a couple of the guards, but that's really about it. I don't think they can throw us out the airlock legally...but some of the folks I was with before here were saying that if things were done truly legally, most folks in places like this wouldn't be here. Kinda rings especially true now; I mean... We technically have freedom of speech, but the only reason I'm here is because I protested a clothing megacorp, so like... I don't know how much what they can do legally matters... Really only one way to find out, but with food credits being tied to the work we do; I haven't loved the idea of going hungry. I guess that's sort of kept me in line." Anya smiled an awkward smile that conveyed a feeling of guilt about having been innocent.

"I dunno... I haven't really seen all that much go down. I've been a little sassy to a couple of the guards, but that's really about it. I don't think they can throw us out the airlock legally...but some of the folks I was with before here were saying that if things were done truly legally, most folks in places like this wouldn't be here. Kinda rings especially true now; I mean... We technically have freedom of speech, but the only reason I'm here is because I protested a clothing megacorp, so like... I don't know how much what they can do legally matters... Really only one way to find out, but with food credits being tied to the work we do; I haven't loved the idea of going hungry. I guess that's sort of kept me in line."

XJ nodded and looked down. It made sense. Eventually, though, XJ thought she would stop caring about the food. She looked around, wondering if some of the more long-standing inmates were close to a breaking point. Nothing obvious, but XJ didn't exactly know what to expect. No one was wearing flashing lights with like, "Hey I want to plan an escape with you" sign on their chest. Obviously.

She started thinking about ways to possibly rig the sensors in the work room, maybe make them so they registered the higher credit earning rocks more often, but that would be hard to do without putting her arm down in the chute for a few minutes. Hmm... Maybe she could have Anya cause a distraction once they got there. She wished she had some chewing gum--that would come in handy.

"All I know is, we gotta get off this rock," XJ said, taking a bite of her bland meal.