Orbis - IC [M]

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Eureka watched Leon walk into the newly opened room. She had seen him eyeing her and Lakota, beforehand. She didn't know what to think of him, Lakota didn't seem to like him very much, not that she was ever really good at picking up on things like that. But at the same time, there was a possibility that he was someone like her. She was both excited at this idea, and indifferent. What good could come out of someone who was like her? He probably wasn't any good, then. People like her had nothing to contribute by themselves, and there he was on his own.

But really, was she the one to judge?

She glanced at Gwen in the shower, silent and focused, and Lakota dressing himself, just the same. There was nothing else to do now, not really, but to enter that room as well. She shifted from one foot to the other, wondering what was the best decision to make, when she finally decided to follow Leon. If anything, at least she got to map out more of the ship in her head. She closed the locker, letting it release a loud whine as it shut, and quietly went through the new passageway.

What she found was, of course, nothing she expected. Truly, who expects to see a corpse of a man who was breathing just five seconds ago? She gasped (Never was a loud screamer kind of person), and immediately covered her nose with her jumpsuit. The smell of death was incomparable. Instead of running, she edged forward, scanning the room with her eyes. She didn't find herself in the room with any other than herself and Ex-Leon. He was dead, and she never even got to say a word to him. A gaping stab wound stared back at her, a mess of blood, just like the rest of the room. She turned around, and sped back into the lockers, the bottoms of her boots coated in blood.

"He's dead," she said, almost in a whisper, "Leon was killed. Someone's trying to kill us."
 
The peculiar, and vaguely familiar, voice of the computer reverberated throughout the small steel room, prompting her into action. Gwendolyn shut off the shower and headed over to ugly jump suit she left laying on the ground. Eureka's observations be damned, the unsightly overalls didn't deserve to be described as anything other than "ugly jump suit".

Gwen watched Leon, then Eureka disappear into the hallway before reaching down for the suit. Facing away from Lakota, she pulled off her wet t-shirt, threw it aside, and started changing. "Dining facilities", she mumbled to herself curiously, while struggling to differentiate the pants from the sleeves. She then huffed in amusement, as this was starting to sound like some sort of all-inclusive resort. "...they'd better have decent fish and chips...", she added idly, while zipping the foremost zipper.

With the jump suit and boots on, her scars were finally concealed properly, though it's quite possible Lakota caught a glimpse of them while she was changing. Deciding not to let this bother her, Gwen didn't mention anything to him, and didn't even look back when she moved on into the hallway. The corridor itself wasn't much to behold, rust-riddled, undignified and decrepit as it was. She walked along the hallway alone, without hearing or speaking a word, though it was hardly a silent journey. The surrounding structure, in a sense, seemed quite alive, and emitted enough noise for the both of them.

Gwendolyn reached the supposed dining facility and rubbed her eyes. The first thing she noticed was Eureka, mouth wide open. Then she noticed the one she was cautiously edging towards; Leon. His neck, incidentally, wide open.

The dining table's corroded surface was gradually being overtaken by a stain of stark crimson.

"I- I uh... I suppose fish and chips are out of the question then...", Gwen commented abruptly after a few seconds' pause, apparently refusing to acknowledge the gravity of what just happened. Or the atrocious implications such an incident would have...

Not a moment afterwards, Eureka darted out of the room from where they entered.
 
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[BCOLOR=transparent]This all had to be some part of a sick joke. Now that he was in the abyss, alone, surrounded by the water. It gave him time to breathe and think on his own. He must seem like real scum trying to get into the heart of some cute girl with a humble, "I'm as Humble as the Christianity I was born from", attitude. Then again he was always real scum. Though that wasn't the point. If he could reverse time, he could change the whole course of his future at thirteen by moving into the 40s and rethinking what his town could have accomplished, [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He was sucked into this portal of madness and he was weeping the rewards of his terrible choices. His mother must be really heartbroken right now. He came back and then he disappeared again. Left me all alone. He said he wanted to make things better, and then he left.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]That's the sick joke of his life right now. That he went to do the right thing. He wanted to do the right fucking thing. And this time a circumstance not of his own shitastic choices was made for him. The shit stain he made himself out to be, became all, but a reality again to those back home.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He could imagine his mother on the phone right now. Crying to Aunt Bethany, that he left. He said he wanted to make things better and left. And he could almost imagine the response Aunt Bethany would give. The person he had become had allowed people to make assumptions about him. Some of them true at some point in his life. She would say something like, "Oh sister, don't you know by now, he was probably just using you for a hot shower and meal in his stomach." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Yet, he hadn't. Wasn't. He really had wanted to try. Before the shower could wash away all his pity party thoughts, then there was Eureka was coming in about how Leon had been murdered. He told him, didn't he?[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]That the biggest threat right now was someone murdering them. Not whoever took them, but the murderer. And he didn't heed his warnings. So now, he was probably where Lakota presumed in a pile of his lonely blood. He turned off the shower. Already remembering the layout, well enough. He dried himself off as quickly as he could.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Putting on the jumpsuit. How strange he felt so comfortable in the uniform? He quickly, well as quickly as he could stumbling out of the locker room and following the wall closely. Till he reached out feeling for something, yes, a rail. So some stairs. Here went nothing.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He ran his hand along the rail which helped guide him up some stairs. The only thing to him was the humming and buzzing of the machine. Reaching out his hands again, the smell of blood was palpable enough for him to discern where everyone else was.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Well, this is very bad for the rest of us," Lakota spoke under his breath. Though to think Leon, the strong headed, aggressive guy who threw him in the wall was the first to die. This was some sick horror movie plot. Because surely Lakota should have been the first victim.[/BCOLOR]
 
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Eureka followed Lakota back into the dining room. She twiddled her fingers together, unsure of what to do. She stared at Gwen, and then Lakota, and then Gwen again, searching for some sign of what she should be like, whether she should be afraid, or angry, or a mix of the two. She gulped when Lakota spoke, indicating the danger that surrounded them. "Wh-what should we do?" She asked them, "I don't know what...to do..." her voice was drifting. She hoped they didn't expect her to understand all of this. It was all messy, overwhelming. The smell surrounded her and this time, she didn't think of covering her nose. She placed her hands to her chest, pressing on her heart. It was beating faster. All of it was starting to get to her. She was just starting to realize the situation she was in.

She would be away from society. Away from her parents.
Alone.

Her eyes started to roll, but she forced them to stay focused. She took deep breaths, she couldn't faint, not here. How awful would that be, how weak? They would see her as that, wouldn't they? And then they would leave her in the dust because she was obviously no good for them. Oh, but she couldn't stay on her own. No way could she do that, she couldn't make a single decision by herself! She pressed a hand to her cheek. She didn't want to be here anymore. She didn't want to disappoint everyone. She didn't want to be alone, again. And what if she did manage to become one them, and then they all died? Leaving her? She could not even stand the thought.

She was going to faint, she could feel the dizziness swell her head. She hated these moments. She could always see her mother's eyes filled with rage as blackness started to fill her vision, and now, whenever she closed her eyes, they were there, vivid and demanding. She needed to stop herself. She quickly grabbed Lakota's arm and hugged it, digging her face into jumpsuit. "Please don't make me decide what to do, I don't know what to do," she softly cried. She felt as if she would let go, it would all fall apart.
 
In her short time alone, Gwendolyn stared blankly at poor Leon. The sight of death never bothered her as much as it did her peers. Instead, she felt a tingling sensation that she could only describe as fascination mixed with a hint of paranoia. There was an indiscernible shift in the centre of her mind, like another crack in an already fractured piece of glass.

Her senses were amplified, every step she took in his direction sent a wave of sensory stimulation. The vibrations of the floor, the feeling of the boots' insulation against her feet, and the sound of approaching footsteps all seemed much more exaggerated. Yet somehow, far less real. When the others entered the room, Gwen would appear calm, collected and with stronger initiative... It would take careful observation for anyone to notice that the outer defences of her psyche had somewhat thinned.

"Let's see here...", she muttered, avoiding splats of blood, and making her way forward. "Leon, fellow? Are you breathing? No? I didn't think so", Gwendolyn then spoke to him in a kind voice, albeit futilely. Standing much closer to the body slumped over the dining table, she carefully inspected the grievously raw wound. "It isn't too deep, but it's much too wide and too messy to be a knife wound", she began, speaking clearly and concisely, trying to sound as though she knew what she was talking about. "Maybe a... power tool?", she suggested seriously, before mumbling under her breath, "or a bloody pickaxe hehehah". Clearing her throat, she gave her verdict. "By the looks of what just happened", she paused, then continued, "It's evident that we probably aren't the only ones here. Robots, aliens, the government, who knows what could have caused this".

Something about her statement felt so false. Her subconscious seemed to insist that there was no one else but them, and she didn't know why. They were alone, the three of them. All logic pointed against it, but somehow she knew...

One of them was guilty.
 
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[BCOLOR=transparent]So it was clear there was something happening. Especially when Gwen was speaking like, he assumed maybe a corpse? The way she talked was haunting and kind of creepy. If she was a doctor keep her away from him because he didn't want to think that she'd talk to his body that way. Though he was getting distracted from the main issue at hand.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]So he digressed from his own thoughts to the more important issue. The more important issue being, the dead person.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"So, what's going on? How was he killed? How recent? Are any of these questions you ask in a detective show?" Lakota asked.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Error. It appears a life sign has disappeared on my systems. We will have the automated system clean that up right away for you. Please standby and go on with your day.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Because that's comforting," Lakota mumbled to himself.[/BCOLOR]
 
As requested timeskip


[BCOLOR=transparent]Questions remained. Everyone seemed to remain still. A robot, well it really wasn't a robot, more like a personal rust bucket, with a roomba for feet, had shipped the body off to the medical bay. At first they watched a janitor bot clean up the blood. Soaking into the mop heads, gallons, and gallons of blood had turned the very water it used to clean, into more blood. Blood was not thicker than water. It was just runny and smelled heavy of ammonia..[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]None of them felt like eating, maybe it was the heavy smell of bleach that had cut their appetite. Or perhaps it was the mysterious dead body. And the reason why someone would murder Leon. Everyone was looking at everyone. Well perhaps not everyone was looking at everyone. But they were suspecting each other.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Hey wasn't Lakota arguing with him. Yes, but he was in the shower. Speculation and untrusting of each other they sat in the hallway. Afraid to turn their backs, but afraid to be alone. Couldn't it have been Eureka? But the same problem lied in the fact that they swore they saw her in the locker room.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]No way. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]It's not like they were kidnapped by anything invisible. What if the ship is rigged by one of them? Someone could appear in the locker room, have a secret doorway sneak into the dining room and sneak back. But what about the blood?[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Eureka shoe had blood on it.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]It could have also been Gwen. Her lack of remorse. Her lack of emotional expression. A woman like that. Couldn't she be a killer? It was several hours before Lakota was the first to step up. He was going to be like a modern day sherlock holmes. Or something like that.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He'd um figure this shit out. Is what he thought. Except that he didn't know exactly where the medical bay was. Except that the other two were just as cautious as to what Lakota was doing, so they followed the stumbling blind man in the hallway.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He could be faking it?[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]No totally look at his eyes. He could maybe partial see? There was speculation among all of them.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]And in the dirty medical bay, a stirring occurred without the presence of others. As Leon's eyes flickered open. Staring into rusty, metallic lights. Right when the doors swooshed open. The other three trailed in. Staring at a healed neck wound and Leon looking around listlessly. Exactly what was going on? And why was it going on?[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]But then maybe they'd get their answers from Leon on who in fact killed him.[/BCOLOR]
 
Leon awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright and gasping for air until he got his bearings. His hand flew to his neck, feeling for the wound that he knew should have been there. It had closed? How? He shifted slowly, his head spinning from the experience he had just had. He looked up to see the others walking into the med-bay. "Wha... What the hell happened? I was in the dining area while you guys were still in the shower, and next thing I knew..." Leon shuddered. "Someone stabbed me in the neck. I don't know who, or how, but..." His hand moved back to his neck. "I know it happened."
 
Eureka pulled herself together, after what seemed like forever, and stood up straight. She wiped the few tears that happened to leak from her tired eyes, and brushed her hair off of her face. She took a long, deep sigh, and silently watched the little janitor type robot sweep him away. She eyed Gwen and Lakota, but wouldn't really turn to face them. She honestly could not decide whether to suspect them or not. It seemed improbable for them both to attacked him, they were in completely different rooms. And they both seemed so kind...And Dr. Anderson was a...a doctor!! And doctors help people, not hurt them. She thoughtfully placed a hand over her mouth. Who had killed Leon? The boy she hadn't even talked to yet...There had to be someone else on the ship, someone else here to hurt all of them.

Eureka warily followed Lakota into the medical bay. She was surprised that he figured out how to get there by himself, though, she had never really met a blind person before, so what did she know? Leon sat on the bed, his eyes dazed and shocked. Eureka walked towards him, slowly with her eyes fixed on the back of his neck. She gently brushed over it, ignoring his personal space, and softly pressed on it as well.

"It's gone.." she said, "That's impossible. There's no stitches, not a thing..." she paused abruptly, her eyes suddenly widening. She looked up, meeting eyes with Leon, "I'm Eureka, nice to meet you."
 
Leon didn't move as she touched where the wound had been. "I know," He said quietly, "I heard you when we woke up." He leaned back against the wall. "We're not alone out here. But whatever's with us, it... they... aren't human." He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. "Something was speaking to me, before I came back. I think it might have been one of the ones who put us here. Whatever they are, they look down on humans as a whole. I think this is all a joke to them. They want to turn us against each other. For us to kill."
 
The several desolate hours in the hallway with Lakota and Eureka were silent. For Gwendolyn, most of the time was spent trying to piece together her skewed memories, in hopes of understanding how they ended up... well... here. She remained a relatively safe distance from the others the whole time, and didn't turn her back on Eureka. What if the girl's apparent sympathy was superficial? What if her show of emotion really did hide darker intentions? It would certainly make her much more threatening than Gwen had anticipated. Shortly after the thought, Lakota decided to wander in the same direction the stray robot had drifted off to, and so she followed without speaking, amazed with his ability to navigate the unknown passageways.

The three of them reached some sort of medical bay, where, defying all reason, Leon regained consciousness. "First robots, now this... just when I actually started to believe I was sane", she stated, although she wasn't as outwardly astonished as Eureka. Considering the fact that an unhealthy amount of blood was, uh, outside of his body, Leon either managed to put on a very convincing act, or this is some sort of miracle of medical science. She couldn't decide which would have worse implications...

Leon's explanation, as crazy as it sounded, was right. She felt as though she had always known that their captors were not of Earth, and that they wanted them to betray one another. The memory was there in her head from the beginning, it was just repressed, waiting to be called from dormancy. "...'They' sound like a lovely bunch of chaps, if I do say so", she commented idly after Leon spoke, presumably trying to be sarcastic, and perhaps treating the situation too lightly.
 
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[BCOLOR=transparent]So Leon was alive. But was not talking about aliens. Except. You know it totally made sense without making sense. You know it's like one of those moments in your life when you totally accept the craziest idea because it filled in the blanks. Lakota snapped his fingers, he had an aha moment. He sounded dumb. Spoke dumb. But Lakota could be quick.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Isn't that like any alien in any alien movie? They think humans are stupid," Lakota said, he cracked his knuckles and continued.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Look Leon, we got on the wrong side of things, not seeing your dead body, but just knowing some of this information, it's got me thinking," Lakota began slowly, "What if. Cause I remember something from the terminals. That there were 5 of us. Where's the fifth person? Isn't it obvious hiding somewhere on the ship and that's who killed Leon."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Lakota smiled cause he was a good detective.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"It's makes more sense than any of us because that's wicked crazy, how can we be in two places at once?" Lakota paused, "So, we just gotta make a I am Not Going To Kill Any of Us Pact. Because then we're smarter than the aliens. They want to see us tear apart. Let's not. Let's put our differences aside and let's not try to kill each other or rip each other to shreds."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Sounded Legit to Lakota. Beside he wanted nothing to do with his old life any more. Maybe this was the start of something new inside of him.[/BCOLOR]
 
"I don't know. But whoever the fuck it was, they've already proven that they're dangerous. We need to get moving, though. Whoever attacked me probably already knows there way around better than we do, and that's a crippling disadvantage to us. We need to stay together if we aren't somewhere secure." Leon pushed himself up and stepped around the group, leaning out into the hallway and looking down it to see if there were any other doorways down it before moving back into the room.
 
Eureka took a step back from Leon once she, once more, introduced herself. Absentmindedly, eyes glued onto him, she pulled her hair forward and started to slowly weave it into a messy braid. She listened to Lakota and Leon bounce ideas and memories back and forth, as if she were listening to an old favorite track while driving down a highway. She had never really watched movies, especially none with aliens in it, so she didn't really know what Lakota was talking about. But then her mind caught onto the fifth person, and the anxiety started to once more rise up in her again. Although she was able to swallow it down, she really wasn't up for another new person. Eureka was as fluid as a river until it came to even more people.

"Aliens..., fifth person...," she said, not really finishing her sentence. It didn't matter though, she doubted that they even heard her. She could barely hear herself. She stared as Leon walked past them into the hallway, and waited for decisions to be made.
 
A fifth person. That was something she hadn't considered, and frankly, she'd completely forgotten about the existence of a fifth abductee. She thought of the word 'abductee', though she couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that aliens were behind all of this...

Leon spoke about moving, but where would they go? Gwen found his sudden motivation to lead everyone elsewhere rather unusual. Then again, she was probably just being paranoid.

Standing close to a wall with her hands on her hips, she pondered their options, but didn't speak out yet. She tried to decide what would even count as being 'secure' in this place. If the rampant killer knew his way around, then they would do well to find a room with a single entrance, some supplies, or even weapons. Maybe even split up to cover more ground, then camp out for a while once everything is gathered. If they really wanted to catch this guy, they could even barricade the dining hall...

Despite these possibilities, however, there was still one glaring detail that overthrew everything. "Wait... why does any of this matter? I mean, you just defied death... If none of us can die as long as we're here, then what do we have to lose?", she interjected in a serious tone, questioning Leon.
 
Leon sat back down and shook his head. "Just because I came back doesn't mean that we all will. Or even that I could do it again. Something brought me back. And does that mean you're willing to give whatever took us the satisfaction of seeing us crumble to their will?" Leon lowered his head, clearly troubled. There was a lot to take in, and not many leads to go on, or even directions to move in. "Our biggest options are to play their game, or to flip the table and refuse."
 
[BCOLOR=transparent]Lakota took a second biting his lower lip, before slowly releasing it.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Then isn't it clear, just to figure this out, we need to kill another one of us," oh that sounded a bit wrong just coming out that way, "this is a medical bay, right? One of you guys kill me and we'll see if I come back. Or if you don't kill me, just give me a tool and I'll go ahead and kill myself and see if I come back."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Hey, it was a long shot. Either he was going to be dead and never come back again. Or he'd come back like Leon. Which would mean, that none of them would have to fear dying while trying to capture a murderer.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Kill me," Lakota just sorta added.[/BCOLOR]
 
Leon turned slowly to look at Lakota. It was a long shot, not to mention crazy, but it might not be impossible. "Are you sure about this?" He asked. "It could be a huge risk. Again, we might not be able to do it again. There's a good chance that you might not come back. Whoever was on the other side, they might not want to talk to us again after having interacted with us first hand. But... If you're absolutely positive you want to do it, I'll help. Gwen, Eureka, that way you two could get out of the room. You shouldn't have to see this."
 
Eureka's eyes widened at the Lakota's offer of death. Leon was right, what if he didn't come back? One potential friend: Dead. She doubted it's been long, and his cold body would be on the foreign medal floor, leaving Eureka. She had already grown attached to him and this is how it was going to end? Her hands froze, and she stood there for a moment, absolutely still. Slowly, she took a step forward. And then another, and another, until she was right in front of Lakota. "Don't die yet, I don't want you to leave yet," she said, staring at the bridge of his nose instead of his eyes, "I find that unfair."
 
Lakota didn't really look at Eureka, well he couldn't really look.

"Look, I think this is absolutely knowledge we should consider figuring out, think positive thoughts, I'll come back," Lakota smiled at her and winked, "You just met me. Wait till we've known each for a few weeks."

Lakota turned to Leon.

"Yeah, do it, kill me Leon," Lakota told Leon.
 
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