station72 | (CLOSED)

[ The little datacard and its reader are conspicuous on the desk. Left out in the open on an empty desk, in an empty room, in an empty research facility. Ilde picks it up in her fingers, turning it over, the glimpse of its metal interior pieces glittering faintly. ]

What is this...

[Lexa's exploration of the room is apart from Ilde, as she tries to take note of her surroundings in a way that allows them to double the area. If they're found too close together, they might find themselves in danger. She wonders if Ilde realizes that she's keeping her distance, all in order to protect herself. Then again, she doesn't intend on leaving Ilde behind if she can help it.

There is that.

The words bring her out of her thought, and she glances over.] Let me see it.

[There is much in her world that she doesn't know the use of, but she's fairly certain she's seen a card like that before—at least, on the body of someone from Mount Weather. It might be the same.

She closes the distance between them, extending her hand palm forward.]

[ She offers it over. She finds that she has an easy rapport with the other woman, they understand how to be cautious, how to survive, and in this case how to scavenge. How to look for the little things of abandoned every day life and root out what was still valuable. ]

Angel has begun to teach me of these things, but there is so much.

[ It was hard to sort through it all when she wasn't even sure what she was looking at sometimes. ]

[Once she retrieves the card, she turns it over in her hand. It isn't just her knowledge of the Mountain Men that makes her aware of what this is (though that certainly helps). There's something buried deep down that offers her the recognition she needs (or confirms it, though she isn't aware that it's being confirmed at all).]

I believe it may be a key. I've seen something like it before. We'll have to try it. Though ... [She glances around.]

It may be that nothing works as it once did.

[Aspects of this place remind her of what she imagines Mount Weather would have looked like after her people were done with it.

But in the end, her people hadn't really done much with it.]

A key.

[ There is no incredulity in Ilde's voice, really she doesn't know and any guess is as good as any other in her estimation. Rather than doubt her, Ilde begins to look around the room. The size of the thing suggestions to her that maybe it goes to a chest or a box, it seems too small for a door. But then what does she know.

It is purely by accident that she thumbs open the player and sees the slot inside, its similar glittering pieces of metal inside... ]

For this?

[It is not like Lexa to exhibit doubt. At least, on her features.

Ilde gets a sense of that through the link of the Nest, but not physically.]

Try it.

[Even a simple statement like that comes with its doubt.

She really doesn't know.]

[ She accepts the return of the datacard, turning it around in her fingers so that she can look at its metal pins once more. It looks like it would slot together, although the pieces are so small and intricate she can't be entirely certain... With an excess of caution she pushes it into the opening. She's being too gentle at first, it won't click into place, but then it sinks into the indent. ]

...it seems to fit.

[ But now what... She had opened the device by pushing one of its buttons, but was it one of the others that would unlock it? ]

[Right now, they are like computer illiterate people using Internet Explorer to get online. Or American Online. Either way, Lexa's eyebrows knit when nothing obviously happens, and she haphazardly reaches out, pushing another button.]

We have nothing like this where I come from, [she asserts, though some part of her is concerned that she might activate the ... wrong thing.

Hadn't there been a button involved with the self-destruct mechanism in Mount Weather?]

[ Ilde has no idea about self-destruct mechanisms. The entire concept would astonish her. She presses another button and a red light turns on briefly... Startled, she hits the next.

The track starts in silence, playing back her brief recording before moving on to the next files, the log entry begins... ]

A piece of someone... locked inside?

[ She is thinking of seeing Angel's face on her datapad, not the girl herself but a little fragment of her will and her connection. She isn't even entirely wrong, just unable to express herself in terms of the technology. ]

Edited 2016-04-27 04:06 (UTC)

[The red light makes her tense momentarily as she recalls the lights from just outside of Mount Weather, but she relaxes when the recording plays. Here, Lexa has a firmer grasp over what they've just found. She's heard the music in the tunnels leading to where the reapers are kept, and elsewhere as well. It's rare to experience it in a world where batteries and radios have gone unused, but she's seen it.

And she's seen a radio as well, though she knows this isn't the same.]

Not exactly, [she says, speaking with more confidence. That firmer grasp helps her. She's never seen something like this, but it's close enough.] It's a recording. Some people choose to keep them to pass messages. [Like Monty had from inside the Mountain to alert Clarke and the others.] Others communicate through live transmissions.

I don't understand precisely how it works. I've never seen anything like this. But it was left behind. Like a book. [She knows books more than anything else.]

[ Lexa's descriptions helps Ilde to pull up some of the information that the Hive possesses, that Angel has shared with her in bulk. Images pop into her head, different shapes and sizes of recording equipment, little snippets of classification: digital, analog. The physical demonstration is appreciated, stored into her memory along with the many things she has learned since leaving her miserable and comparably barbaric world of magic and death. ]

Very clever.

[ Now that she has essentially pulled up the correct manual from the wide library of the Hive, she more confidently presses a button on the recorder to start the track again, listening more closely. ]

Captain. Some kind of military group?

["Captain" is not a rank among her people, but she knows the term. She considers it, and then gives an uncertain shake of her head.]

It sounded almost like a name. We should consider that possibility, as well. [Lexa's usage of the English language is competent, and all the more strengthened since she's joined the Hive. For that reason, she definitely noticed the lack of "the" before "Captain.]

According to our surroundings, that seems likely. But not maintained. Who would risk leaving this information behind? [Unless they are risking something else here. She is not afraid, but she does mentally acknowledge the possibility.]

[ She nods, distracted. ]

Unless they did not intend to leave it?

[ It is not the first example they have seen, there was gear and other items everywhere in this cavernously empty place. ]

It's not impossible, but this is a land built upon trade. Wouldn't you think someone would locate it sooner? [They may have found the precise information to lead them there, but it is odd to think of themselves as the first. When she looks around, she sees numerous objects that could be valuable.

The device that plays the logs could be valuable all on its own.]

[ That idea sparks Ilde's nervousness, and she has to stomp it out quickly, ]

Perhaps they assumed there was nothing else to see, when they came across the damaged lift.

[ She doesn't want to let her imagination get hold of what might be down here that has stopped scavengers from taking anything. ]

It's not improbable. It just seems unlikely. Then again, we have no way of knowing how desperate these people are. Perhaps they also feared what lied ahead. [It could be risky when there were less dangerous areas available to pillage. Lexa could understand that judgment call.]

[ A sigh, uncertain. ]

It is like a tomb.

[ Could that alone have driven others away? ]

It may be, [she confirms.] There are many places like this where I come from. They were destroyed by bombs, but the deeper you go, the more intact they happen to be.

[They have decidedly ended up somewhere "deeper," though she doesn't know if the same types of decimating force ripped through here.]

[ A nod, somewhat distracted as she listens to the audio log once more. ]

It seems we will need a key to go deeper.

[ Perhaps not necessarily this man's, but there is some kind of access restriction in place. ]

Look for something similar, then. Any cards or rectangular-shaped objects.

[There's a pause as she hesitates, looking at the recording device.]

Let's pocket the key. It may prove useful later. We'll bring that with us for now.

[The device, she means, in the case that they require it later.]

[ She nods, and having now accessed enough of the Hive's information on this device, she follows its cord into a neat little socket, the bed frame stops her however. Cramped quarters affording only so many extra outlets. ]

This is in the way.

[ She'll take one end if Lexa takes the other. ]

[Her head tilts back after a moment as she eyes the bedframe. It's unusual to find something like this here, but she doesn't say as much. She has a feeling that Ilde will be able to sense that she's puzzled, but much of this place confuses her compared to what she's found at home.

Lexa strides forward, taking her half of the bed frame.]

At the same time? [she asks, and she knows that the Nest at least grants them the ability to act on that with ease.]

[ A nod, and they lift together on three. It doesn't need to be pulled far, just enough so that she can get her hand behind it and pull free the thin cord. When the bed moves, there is a clattering. Kneeling on the bed, Ilde fishes it out. ]

Another one.

[ She sits back and turns it over in her hands. ]

This one is different, there's no slotting along the edge.

[Lexa's head seems to lengthen (only seems) as she observes the card in Ilde's hands. Ah, that is much closer to what she had been expecting; that is what she had found on men from Mount Weather.]

It may be what we require. If the doors are activated. If not, then we'll find a dead end. [And they can't be trusted to build explosives to force their way in, which is the only way she knows they can.

But she also doesn't know how to build explosives, so that's a thing.]

[ She nods, she has seen enough of the automated doors within the Station. Either they will be able to continue into the Alkon site, or they won't. They will have to decide if it will be worth it to try to force open so many doors, or to simply leave it at that. Ilde offers the keycard to Lexa before, finally pulling free the thin cord to the little audio player. She wraps the word around her hand and then puts the player itself into her pack. ]

Yes, we'll see how far we get.

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