[open!]

[falsesmile]

Who: Ves (falsesmile) and general!
When: Day 6, afternoon
Where: The Ruined Hull
What: General exploration post!

[ The Ruined Hull has been unlocked! The go-team has been in the area for a while, the stay-team members who are so inclined have probably meandered over here somehow by now -- time to go exploring, but keep an eye on those suit power levels ♥ ]

Comments

[bladebabysitter]

I think it's the most likely answer, yes -- otherwise, why wouldn't its inhabitants have flown it away? But on a similar note, I think whoever was on it abandoned it. Maybe striking out on their own, like we had to.

But everything is a guess right now, and a dangerous one. We shouldn't assume anything.

[And on that note, Elma straightens, and briefly checks the hang of her improvised weapons where they're roped to her with wire.]

[adamance]

What bodies we find may not be everything. They may have thought that this would prove to be a worthy grave.

[Lexa thinks that its position is the result of years and years of wear and tear, but that doesn't change the fact that the ship may have been too difficult. Her people burn the bodies of their lost, but that hardly seems practical here.]

[bladebabysitter]

I don't think this is the case. In fact, I'd be very surprised if this happened. [Elma lifts her eyes to meet Lexa's -- and quite aside from that extra ring in her irises that marks her as different, her look is old and carries all the weight of a very formidable personality behind it.]

But if you see any sort of vehicle, any size at all, that looks distinctly purple and organic, get away. Get everyone else away. Like I said, the Ghosts probably aren't responsible for this, but if they are...

[adamance]

Do you think this vehicle would be inside of this hull, once buried but left waiting for us to arrive? [It's not that Lexa has her doubts. She just wants to make sure of where she has to be prepared for such a thing.]

[bladebabysitter]

It's possible, if they caused the ship to crash and weren't ejected from it by the crew. Again -- not likely. But if it was the Ghosts, I can't begin to tell you how much trouble we're in. Are you familiar with the concept of antimatter?

[Elma is far past guessing who knows what about science and technology, at this point. Better to start from basics rather than assume.]

[adamance]

[There is a prickle of knowledge that begins with the Flame inside of her neck. The first Commander of her people had been a genius, a scientist, one of those "fictional scientists" who happened to be good at just about everything. But due to the degradation of the chip, she merely recognizes the word. Lexa either needs two things for recall: meditation, or to hear the information externally so she could call it up.

(Her people don't spend a lot of time talking about antimatter.)]

Unfortunately, no. Feel free to explain. [Because Lexa lacks the knowledge of what exactly the spirit is or that it's degraded, she thinks it's all spiritual, that the knowledge is easier to call when that "spirit" is stirred up.]

[bladebabysitter]

[This isn't the first time Elma's had to explain advanced science to a comparatively uninformed subject.]

I can tell you in more scientific detail if you like, but the basics of it is that it's the opposite of matter. So when it's brought into contact with pretty much anything, it explodes with more force than I can even begin to describe to you adequately.

Ghost vessels all have antimatter cores.

[adamance]

So, what you mean to say is that it could have decimated the crew that handled this ship. [If they find no bodies, then it may need to be a path that they will have to consider. It isn't an easy path, but it's one nonetheless.]

[bladebabysitter]

It's possible, but that's not my concern. When the Ghost fleet attacked the White Whale, we fought them off, but the ship had taken too much damage and crash-landed. That's what brought them to mind, actually. [She looks sidelong at the rift that leads into the ship's depths.] Whoever was on that ship might have survive. But if there's a dormant Ghost ship in there and its core is disturbed...

[adamance]

Then the same may happen to us. [That seems logical. Still, too few details line up for them to jump to this conclusion. There may be similarities, but those can blind them. Lexa believes that.]

If it becomes apparent that we are threatened by going inside, then we'll have to speak to everyone to get them to move swiftly.

[bladebabysitter]

You remember I told you Earth was destroyed, right? It was Ghost antimatter cores that did it. None of the ships here could be large enough to be that dangerous, but that ought to tell you how dangerous it could be if they're involved.

[But Elma shakes her head. She's worry too much about the Ghosts, she tells herself. They almost certainly aren't responsible.]

This is beyond frustrating.

[adamance]

It may be ... but we can take the contradictions in stride. We may find similarities, but we know too little to assume that it is your Ghosts. For now, I believe we're better served by believing otherwise. Otherwise, we'll be caught between two walls that are being closed in around us, the walls themselves representing our indecision.

[Lexa feels more at ease with this decision. If the Ghosts are waiting, they will die regardless. So they can't be limited by possibility. There are other possibilities, like the unknown factors among their group, or that some seem to be missing, and more ...]

[bladebabysitter]

Maybe the general lesson I should be offering should be, 'Don't touch grossly-out-of-place tech'. [Because her real worry isn't a live Ghost, but a dead one, with an unstable core that could be disturbed. And the Ghosts couldn't be the only race that exploited such technology...] We still need to explore regardless. I wouldn't stop anyone from that.

[adamance]

Given the circumstances, we may be forced to do that regardless. [It would be hard to tell what is or isn't "grossly out of place." Lexa's lack of technological know-how limits here here, as well.]

[bladebabysitter]

[She'd know, if she saw a Ghost ship. Elma's confident of that. The biologically-purple ships look so alien compared to any tech she'd ever seen, be it Earth or Ganglion or Ma-non.]

[...What she wouldn't give for a Ma-non or two to be among them, right now. The thought brings a faint smile to her lips.]

There are so many of us here, someone is likely to know something about whatever we find. Just so long as we all use reasonable caution.