Ned & Meyer § Video 04 § Day 114

[nedofpies]

[ The video, when it flickers on, shows Ned, a pencil tucked behind his ear and a faint bruise on his jaw, care of the earthquake a few days ago. Which is, as a matter of fact, the subject of the message. He dives right in, speaking at a rapid clip: ]

I can't be the only one who thinks there was something fishy about that earthquake. Fishier than the usual amount of fishy in this place, I mean. I'm not exactly new to the whole weird-things-happen-here phenomenon, but this isn't the first time there's been an earthquake. I feel like, normally, when things go sideways here they do it in a new and interesting way. The fact that this has happened more than once seems significant. We've been... trying to guess what's behind all of it, but we're kind of coming up short on the ideas front. So, uh-

[ Ned hesitates, glances at someone near him, and then turns the camera towards the other half of the 'we' in question. Meyer sits near him, busily scribbling something into his small notebook, which looks to be running out of pages quickly. He looks up when Ned turns the camera to him, and offers that slightly too-toothy smile, brushing his hair back from his forehead. ]

Like everything else that goes on around here, different people witness different things. For our parts, we only saw a small amount of what happened during the earthquake. We need more information.

[ He gestures to the papers strewn in front of them. ]

I don't doubt that our captors're somehow... involved in this. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that we've had other earthquakes. So if any of you saw anything out of the ordinary -- more out of the ordinary than usual for this place, I mean -- it'd be appreciated if you could tell us. Maybe we can get to the bottom of at least some of this.

(OOC: Since this is a joint post, either Meyer or Ned will respond - if you have a urgent preference just let us know!)

Comments

[zen_navigator]

Do you think that the quake might be a point in favor of the idea that the experiment has not been abandoned? Has something like this happened before?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I'm pretty sure that's what it means, yeah. And there've been quakes before, according to what I've been told.That indicates, to me, at least, that this definitely isn't a coincidence.

[zen_navigator]

Consider this possibility: There exists a device which can create the conditions of an earthquake. Our observers have this device in place. Therefore it is either an automatic process and our observers needn't be present for its activation, or this particular time was chosen specifically.

Was there anything to be gained by having the quake when it happened? Or by what in particular was destroyed?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Well, all the earthquakes have targeted areas that might have resources in them. The general store, in this case. An attempt at destroying our food supply?

[zen_navigator]

Possible, but our food supply is already dwindling. This suggests a motivation beyond out gradual starvation. Is there a reason why the process would need to be accelerated?

As with the metaphorical frog in a slowly heating pot, perhaps we were not becoming aware of our situation quickly enough for our scientist captors. [He pauses, makes a face.] Either that, or they are preparing to subject us to something else that necessitates a low food supply.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I'd be more inclined to believe the latter: they have something in mind, something that requires us to be, at the very least, shaken up.

[The smallest of smiles.]

No pun intended, of course.

[zen_navigator]

[He smiles back. Pun or not, it was amusing.] Any idea what phase two may be?

[recognize_an_opportunity]

Killing all of us one by one?

[He's joking, mostly.]

I'm not entirely sure. If they manage to get rid of all of our food supply in one fell swoop, they essentially have us at our mercy -- they know we'd do just about anything to feed ourselves, and that makes us easy to manipulate.

[zen_navigator]

So, what then, a slave population? I don't imagine they'll be keeping us here, if that's the goal they have in mind. More hands-on experimentation, perhaps, if they are scientists.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

And that continually leads me back to the question of what purpose their experiments serve, if any. Certainly, there're people here with impressive powers, but not all of us are that interesting.

[zen_navigator]

Every experiment needs a control group. It's possible that only half of us are actually needed for whatever else they have in mind.

[recognize_an_opportunity]

I'd just be far happier if we could ascertain any of their motives.