[Ford's been trying to think of people on his access filter who might have left the cookies. Neither one of them is very likely, but he talks to the slightly less unlikely one first.]
You didn't leave these here, did you?
[The feed is pointed at a plate of cookies on the desk in Ford's cabin.]
I'm trying to figure out where they came from. Never trust food that just appears, especially when it's convenient! I'm not hungry enough to take the risk.
[If they're from Bill, she'll smell it the second she goes in there.
Of course ... they are not from Bill, which leaves her relatively
perplexed, and frowning at a plate of otherwise perfectly ordinary cookies
upon her arrival.]
Someone must have left them there while I was asleep. Someone familiar with the security system I've rigged to the door.
[It's less fancy than the one he had to leave behind on the other ship. But anyone trying to force entry into Ford's cabin is in for a few nonlethal but immobilizing surprises.
Can't be too careful, especially when your breakout left you rather unpopular.
There's another difference that neither of them has noticed yet. The door that used to lead into the hallway, the one that's been non-functional since Ford arrived, has a hallway behind it now. Rooms. More space. Ford hasn't thought to try it, but Laura's senses might detect the change.]
[She deploys the claws on one hand, and goes to try the door, just
in case there's something nefarious going on behind it -- a flood, maybe,
even though they're not due for one for a while yet. Sure enough, there's a
hallway behind it.] This wasn't here before. I ... don't smell
anyone else in here. [The new rooms smell like the rest of the
cabin, actually, like they've been there as long as Ford has. Maybe a
little bit like someone's wiped them down with a fresh,
appropriately-pine-scented cleaner.] This couldn't be because of
any ... spatial experiments, could it?
[There is one more option, of course, but she wants to get the
'experiment' explanation knocked out of the running first.]
I think it is. [She peers beyond the door a little more
closely, and then steps into the hallway. It doesn't feel like an illusion
- if it is, it's got even her fooled. She puts her claws away so she can
check her communicator, and sure enough, she has no inmate. A slow, warm
smile spreads across her face, but she doesn't share the display just
yet.]
[He walks past her, up a flight of wooden stairs, and pushes a door open. The original was a very plain bathroom where old men have been taking showers for thirty years.]
I'm not sure why you wanted to see it, but there it is.
[She follows, looking from the bathroom to him.] ... Inmate
cabins don't have bathrooms. [This is when she holds up her device
to show him the display, indicating that she has no inmate assigned to
her.]
[Her smile gets wider, fueled by a swell of pride.] I think
you did. Do you ... want a party? Or ... I could ... we could ask
Hilda to make a celebratory dessert that we can assuredly trust.
[Admiral cookies are shifty.]
[Holy shit. He finally did it. After six months of trying and twelve more of just kind of doing his own thing and trying his best to determine what thing is the right thing, here he is.
The biggest thing to hit Ford is I'm not dead anymore. And then: I could go home. And, after that -- I can't go home.
Because he can't. Not until he can prove from the outside that it's real, or bring his family out of it. Maybe, if he got in communication with the other Barge, he could see Stan and the kids, but is that kind of communication even possible? Did he give them homing beacons? If he didn't, he should have.
He places a hand against the wall to steady himself, finally bringing his focus back to Laura and what she's saying.]
No, no. No party. I don't think this is something I want to publicly celebrate. It doesn't feel right!
...
...
...but I suppose I wouldn't turn down Hilda's baking.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[video]
You didn't leave these here, did you?
[The feed is pointed at a plate of cookies on the desk in Ford's cabin.]
I'm trying to figure out where they came from. Never trust food that just appears, especially when it's convenient! I'm not hungry enough to take the risk.
Re: [video]
I did not.
[A pause.]
Have you asked Tris? [She's always baking something for someone. Right?]
Re: [video]
Re: [video]
[That seems ... not good.]
Hang on. Don't eat them. I'm coming over.
[If they're from Bill, she'll smell it the second she goes in there. Of course ... they are not from Bill, which leaves her relatively perplexed, and frowning at a plate of otherwise perfectly ordinary cookies upon her arrival.]
... How long have they been here?
action
Someone must have left them there while I was asleep. Someone familiar with the security system I've rigged to the door.
[It's less fancy than the one he had to leave behind on the other ship. But anyone trying to force entry into Ford's cabin is in for a few nonlethal but immobilizing surprises.
Can't be too careful, especially when your breakout left you rather unpopular.
There's another difference that neither of them has noticed yet. The door that used to lead into the hallway, the one that's been non-functional since Ford arrived, has a hallway behind it now. Rooms. More space. Ford hasn't thought to try it, but Laura's senses might detect the change.]
Re: action
Well, if it wasn't me, and it wasn't Bill ...
Hang on.
[She deploys the claws on one hand, and goes to try the door, just in case there's something nefarious going on behind it -- a flood, maybe, even though they're not due for one for a while yet. Sure enough, there's a hallway behind it.] This wasn't here before. I ... don't smell anyone else in here. [The new rooms smell like the rest of the cabin, actually, like they've been there as long as Ford has. Maybe a little bit like someone's wiped them down with a fresh, appropriately-pine-scented cleaner.] This couldn't be because of any ... spatial experiments, could it?
[There is one more option, of course, but she wants to get the 'experiment' explanation knocked out of the running first.]
Re: action
I haven't been conducting any tests of that nature.
That looks...it looks like the rest of the Mystery Shack.
Re: action
I think it is. [She peers beyond the door a little more closely, and then steps into the hallway. It doesn't feel like an illusion - if it is, it's got even her fooled. She puts her claws away so she can check her communicator, and sure enough, she has no inmate. A slow, warm smile spreads across her face, but she doesn't share the display just yet.]
Ford ... does the Mystery Shack have a bathroom?
action
Of course it did. Stan made the tourists use portable ones outside, but I did build it to be a lab, you know.
Re: action
Could you show me where it would be, if it were here?
action
[He walks past her, up a flight of wooden stairs, and pushes a door open. The original was a very plain bathroom where old men have been taking showers for thirty years.]
I'm not sure why you wanted to see it, but there it is.
Re: action
[She follows, looking from the bathroom to him.] ... Inmate cabins don't have bathrooms. [This is when she holds up her device to show him the display, indicating that she has no inmate assigned to her.]
Re: action
Re: action
I think you did.
[Her smile gets wider, fueled by a swell of pride.] I think you did. Do you ... want a party? Or ... I could ... we could ask Hilda to make a celebratory dessert that we can assuredly trust. [Admiral cookies are shifty.]
Re: action
The biggest thing to hit Ford is I'm not dead anymore. And then: I could go home. And, after that -- I can't go home.
Because he can't. Not until he can prove from the outside that it's real, or bring his family out of it. Maybe, if he got in communication with the other Barge, he could see Stan and the kids, but is that kind of communication even possible? Did he give them homing beacons? If he didn't, he should have.
He places a hand against the wall to steady himself, finally bringing his focus back to Laura and what she's saying.]
No, no. No party. I don't think this is something I want to publicly celebrate. It doesn't feel right!
...
...
...but I suppose I wouldn't turn down Hilda's baking.
[He's not crazy enough to say no to that.]