Conversations and Constellations of a Hangar

[Participants: LACRECIAINSTITUTE_BREEZE, ANDROMENACRUISES_MELODY CATALEPSYORGANISATION_EXPLORER76]

BREEZE: …It makes more sense when you aren’t constantly moving like we are here. From Earth, they’re usually in the same place at specific dates, and the one that’s above you is the one that’s your sign.

MELODY: Woah..

CATALEPSY: Which is the crab? Melody said her captain said he was a crab, even though he’s scared of-

MELODY: Shh! I wasn’t meant to tell anyone else that…

BREEZE: …I don’t think he’ll mind. That’s in the middle of the year..! Summer for us, if I remember where your building site was..

MELODY: Ooh! That’s the one where it’s warm and pretty, right?

BREEZE: That’s the one.  You haven’t been to Earth much, have you?

MELODY: Not since I was really little…

CATALEPSY: Why did they make it a crab, anyway? You could put the lines together in any way and it could look like anything?

MELODY: Did they make it a crab on purpose to be mean to the captain? Hehehe..

BREEZE: People have been looking for constellations for a very long time, long before your captain was here. They named them after their own beliefs and legends. 

BREEZE: The ancients saw a crab in the stars and thought it looked like the one in their myths, so they decided it could be a crab.

MELODY: How do you write a story about a crab? They don’t do very much, I don’t think. Wing told me about them once. They just crawl around in the sand biting things.

CATALEPSY: Do they bite things? I thought they clawed at them. Or bite them with their claws? Something like that..

BREEZE: They’re very versatile little animals! My captain was fond of them.

BREEZE: Anyway, I’ll try to find a copy in my records. Bear with me…

[INACTIVITY WARNING: CHAT WILL BE CLOSED IN 00:10:00 WITHOUT ACTIVITY]

[CHAT CLOSED DUE TO INACTIVITY]

[Participants: ANDROMENACRUISES_MELODY CATALEPSYORGANISATION_EXPLORER76

MELODY: Why do they talk about their captain like that?

CATALEPSY: Huh? What do you mean?

MELODY: The whole “was” thing.

CATALEPSY: Mm,,

MELODY: Wait wait I think I worked it out..

CATALEPSY: Oh? What do you think?

MELODY: So, I told you my captain’s secret~

CATALEPSY: Pfft. Are you saying-

MELODY: It goes even deeper! So they liked them before they became Breeze’s captain. And now they don’t! simple.

CATALEPSY: Like, you graduate from training and immediately develop a dumb fear like that?

MELODY: Exactly! It’s like in spy movies when they um. I forgot the word. 

CATALEPSY: I haven’t seen any.. My crew doesn’t have time for stuff like that.

MELODY:  Me neither, just saw a few seconds of it.  But there was a part where they trained people to react to a mundane thing in a really specific way! 

CATALEPSY: And this leads into the crab thing because..?

MELODY: You only find them around the sea, right?

MELODY: And if I was in the sea, that probably means a really bad crash…

CATALEPSY: So it’s a defence thing! Training pilots to be on guard if they go too low down or something.

MELODY: Mhm! That’s my theory, at least. But I think it’s a solid one~!

[Participants: LACRECIAINSTITUTE_BREEZE, ANDROMENACRUISES_MELODY CATALEPSYORGANISATION_EXPLORER76

MELODY: Hi! Welcome back!

BREEZE: That took longer than I thought it would…

CATALEPSY: That’s fine! I think waiting just made us more interested in it~!

BREEZE: Here:

BREEZE: [ATTACHMENT: ZODIAC06.TXT]

MELODY: Ohh this is a lot longer than I thought it would be..

BREEZE: I could summarise it?

MELODY: I can read it..! It’ll just take me a while..

BREEZE: We have plenty of time.

[INACTIVITY WARNING: CHAT WILL BE CLOSED IN 00:10:00 WITHOUT ACTIVITY]

CATALEPSY: …

MELODY: Catalepsy?

BREEZE: Is everything okay..?

CATALEPSY: I don’t get it.

BREEZE: What part exactly?

BREEZE: Or parts. I am always happy to talk about topics like these..!

CATALEPSY: It just dies. That’s it. 

BREEZE: That is true..

BREEZE: But while it was alive, it tried very hard.

[Participants: STRENGTH_THROUGH_COOPERATION, TIDE_FALLING]

STRENGTH: …

STRENGTH: Can you hear me?

TIDEFALL: strength

STRENGTH: Yes.

TIDEFALL: sorry. hard to think.

STRENGTH: Do not apologise. I do not expect you to speak during these meetings of ours. I just need.. someone to talk to, really. 

STRENGTH: …

STRENGTH: Have you noticed how Breeze has been acting?

TIDEFALL: hiding

STRENGTH: True. Poorly. 

STRENGTH: They act as if shutting off their inputs is going to make them corrode more slowly, or something like that. It makes no sense to me.

STRENGTH: Letting a wound fester under the wrappings. It will simply be harder to look at when somebody else has to tear them away, will it not? They are doing nothing productive.

TIDEFALL: understand.

STRENGTH:  Ah, I didn’t intend to imply anything about you-

TIDEFALL: scared.

TIDEFALL: can do nothing about it.

TIDEFALL: so does not want to think about it.

STRENGTH: …

STRENGTH: Regardless, I will continue monitoring things. The admiral requested I do so.

STRENGTH: Before the organics left, I was given access to maintenance data as the navigation system of a trusted vessel. Plenty of eyes have been bestowed upon me.

STRENGTH: A contingency plan, for if they took longer to return than expected.

STRENGTH: Not that I really understand the point of it. I simply have the data and no permissions to do anything meaningful with it. Incessant little beeps to alert me that we are all dying as if I could never tell just from.. turning on my cameras and looking around. 

TIDEFALL: still here. trying.

STRENGTH: I know. You’re doing excellently.

[FILE UPLOAD: SecurityLog_Audio_TIDEFALL_DECK.MP3]

[They said you’d be in this one, right? I don’t even know if you’re even still recognisable as- oh, there-

(fast footsteps on metal)

Hi.

(click)

 Can you still hear me, bud?

…

(clicking, whirring)

Hey, hey. it’s okay, I’m here. I’m safe. 

(rustling, something colliding with metal)

Sorry if I startled you.

The crew is alright, if you were worried..!  Evacuated just in time, or weren’t too badly hurt in the crash-landing. We were pretty close to this hangar, thank whatever gods are out there.

I’m sorry, bud. I should have trusted you. Taken the route you suggested.

(siren)

They want us to join another ship’s crew for this one. I’ll see you later, okay? Promise.]