route666radio | (voice)

—This is Jayce Talis. [ that's not going to mean anything, to anyone. this man's voice is rasping, dragging, in between sounded exhausted, heavy and ill. ] I'm a scientist. I researched . . . The Arcane, with my . . . With my partner, Viktor— most of my life.

[ frequent pauses are a must. he almost feels out of breath if he doesn't, and that puffs through the radio, ragged and sluggish. ]

All of us— seem to have a symbol. A rune, on our bodies. If you've been to the Shrine, then I'm sure . . . You have something else, now. Maybe a message. Please, if you could show it to me. I'll be . . . [ another hushed pause, ] Outside the Common Room. There's a truck, with . . . Butterflies, [ the irony in his voice is dry. ] That's— Where I'll be.

If it helps get us anywhere, I . . . Need, to crack it, I . . . [ i promised, he mutters, before swiftly adding, through a strain that's tight in his throat: ] That's all.

(action/flavor)

[ jayce is rebounding hard on his magic sepsis as his first symptom to becoming undead! so he is not visibly well for anyone who wants to come see him, but he is trying deathly hard with the symbols and trying to fight the clock with obsession. the iridescent pick up near one of the camp lights is a mess of papers in the front seats as much as the flatbed behind it, spread out and held in place with pebbles or stones, littered with those very symbols as well as formulas he's trying to link and complete like a map.

it's what keeps him from giving into sleep. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ mb you are saying "just" when "just" is hilariously more than what jayce is used to thinking up. it's the kind of tech he would've loved to see with the rise of hextech, there same way he'd probably all over eden and its improvements to find out more. more, and more . . .

jayce has quelled that particular hunger in him. he doesn't have . . . that dangerous audacity in him anymore. its been kicked out, replaced with survival, reality and tremendous guilt for taking the simpler things for granted. his eyes sweep over what he could see, reminiscing over that particular flavor of jayce, dried up in the well, and drops the back of his head against a rest. ]

I would've loved this.

Sure.

[It doesn't come out sarcastic, just awkward - it's hard to imagine not living half-in the Feed, even if its access is currently cut off. They already hate being cut off from it here, and this planet almost certainly wouldn't have the parts of the feed it actually wants.

Just in time the central screen flickers to life, cycling through images as SecUnit finishes its upload. There's one still of the runes in their context, and more that clip out and enhance individual symbols - a few more of the graffiti found around the place, for good measure.]

Here. Do you want any more?

[ words of awe and praise would be kept to himself, but jayce finally pulls his strength to lean his body forward and align his torso with the dash module immages. he's managed to deduce through trial and error by now what each person does with minimal mistakes. he slowly flips back and forth through the images, and then nods with intense focuse on the screen. ]

If you have more, I'll take them. [ the angle, different symbols, anything he could get his hands on to start sketching out and placing them in the back to complete the first step of his work— it deserves at least his attention for this, as jayce turns his gaze to the other in the car. nothing overt. but it is genuine. ] . . . Thank you.

[It edits together a couple alternate angles, a few other combinations of runes, and starts uploading those, as well, leaving it to stare forward. There's... what might be a response to Jayce's thanks in an uncomfortable shoulder movement, but otherwise it mostly seems ready to let the silence sit awkwardly between them as the uploads finish.

Until things are three-quarters of the way done, when it says;]

Wherever this is, there's a ship with an advanced Medical system coming to find us.

[ . . . this has to do with his entire state of being, huh. jayce doesn't know if he finds comfort in that, or if he even believes it. not because eden would be lying to him (although he is guarded, in that regard)— jayce simply doesn't thing medicine could fight against magic.

he asks anyway, with haggard eyes through the fissures of his hair: ]

How do you know that?

Because -

[It has to hesitate just for a moment. Imperceptible to most people, but it struggles to formulate an answer in a way that doesn't sound alarming, because My Spaceship is going to be furious and it has a stockpile of warheads it's looking for an excuse to use isn't comforting to most people. (It's comforting to Murderbots but it already knows it's fucking weird.)]

- I was in contact with it before being kidnapped, and the crew is on high alert about abductions already. And the ship has a wormhole drive.

[... Which needs to be cleared of alien contamination first. Shit. It snaps its jaw shut again, trying not to look grim at the thought.]

[ if he could take a guess at what any of that means, jayce will take a whack at it. ]

Does that amount to interdimensional travel?

Sure.

[No. It's... more a conscious lie this time. But it's confident that these humans are wrong about what's happening here. Dimensional travel is something out of fucking stories. Even alien remnants can't do that.

And if it accepts that ART can't find it -

Sharply, almost angrily ~~almost anxiously~~, it starts untangling its arm from the console at the center, spooling away wires and pieces and prodding the overlying organic parts back into place, its expression stony.]

What are you going to do with the runes.

[ now, jayce is astute. he's a scientist. he doesn't sit that well with this reaction and switches on his alert. he looks to eden with more scrutiny, now.

why would it lie about that—? ]

Decipher them.

[~~Denial.~~

"Eden" flexes its hand to ensure all that the pieces, organic and synthetic both, are back more or less where they belong, still staring ahead and avoiding Jayce's eyes. It's been doing that the entire time, but still, it's particularly noticable, now.]

And then what. Decoding's fine but for it to mean anything you have to do shit with it.

Exactly.

[ eden, you are not fooling anyone. but . . . it doesn't feel like it's something— should he say, personal toward jayce? he should ask, but. not right now. ]

If those runes brought us here, they could take us back.

... Sure, okay.

[It's not like it has a better suggestion for what these humans should be doing. But - it's also done with its errand, so it snags its helmet off the dashboard and starts to climb out of the car. It'll leave Jayce to whatever the fuck he's doing, and -

Something occurs to it, just long enough to make it pause. Since Jayce has seen the mechanical components without too much freaking out, and since he seems at least partially more stable than that first day, it should... probably clear up that initial misconception.

Not going to help Jayce's impression of it, but sooner or later it's going to be caught in the lie anyway.]

Don't call for Eden if you need more images.

Then who am I talking to?

[ it may just be caught as is; jayce comes off a little more irked than necessary; he's hangry. maybe not the best of answers for someone already anxious, but lying is a recent sore spot for jayce. he's been used too much in lies. ]

[It really wants to put the helmet on - it glances down towards the black visor of it, held between both hands.

It doesn't, because it's not great at humans but even it knows that will come across as further alienation and cause for suspicion when it's already making itself so trustworthy.]

Me. [Not answering the question he's actually asking, Murderbot, so quit stalling. Not like he knows what a fucking SecUnit even is. For all it knows he'll here it as a weird name, and not the kind of designation that implies thing.] Just ask for SecUnit.

[ he's a little too tired for this. jayce isn't sure what he should even be arguing about.

secunit is an odd name, but it's not the worst. for now, jayce leaves it at that. he needs to breathe, maybe close his eyes for a bit.

maybe take a trip to the medical wing. ]

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