Final Trial

[cartesio]

Final Trial

It takes a few minutes after everyone talks with the generic mannequin. The easygoing conversation, the bragging from Gant, Keith's exasperation, it all stops when a very heavy and ominous presence fills the room.

"I think it's about time this circus stopped"

It's the Sergeant. He's standing on the doorway, arms crossed. The shadows on his face wriggle, he seems to be rather furious, but is restraining himself from lashing out

"I should have guessed you bunch would take advantage of all that noise and ruckus to sneak in here. I was careless, I admit. 'Oh, this is over in like four hours, it will be okay if I step away to deal with that'. Careless."

Slowly the Sergeant enters the workshop. Behind him, the door slowly disappears, fading away, until where the door was now there's only a smooth wall. The Sergeant raises an arm, the entire room shakes.

All the mannequins fly up to the ceiling, the one that was now Damon Gant turned back into the empty husk the mannequin was before. The one with a t-pose has the same fate. Once all the mannequins are up on the ceiling, the operation tables are uprooted, bolts and screws flying around. The tables are twisted in the air, formed into knots, disassembled and assembled all over again, until several rustic podiums are formed and deposited on the ground.

Seven podiums, with him at the center. The Sergeant crosses his arms and speaks:

"Get on those spots. Tell me... ...how much do you know?"

Is it a rhetorical question? Who knows. You still have to answer, though

Comments

[pecker]

Ah! Thank you very much.

[She is checking them now. FIRST SHE'S GONNA SEE IF HER IDEA OF GLITCHING THE DEAD INTO THE MANNEQUINS WOULD WORK but presumably there is no straightforward path to that.]

Hmm... I guess stabilizing it first really is the only option.... Everyone, I suppose we should cooperate on this.

[But she's not giving up the PDA itself. Do you trust her.]

[cartesio]

[Something in the coding seems to hint something along those lines could be a possibility, but it's currently too damaged to determine successfully]

[pecker]

[good 2 know!!!]

[cartesio]

[In the meanwhile, there's a form to input your vote!]

[pecker]

[She didn't offer to murder a baby magical girl to not progress from here, Y it is]

[relieable]

[he comes over to look at the PDA... if she'll show it to him]

"Stabilize?" What's that even mean?

[pecker]

Yeah, um, the simulation is only running at 3% right now. It's basically garbage.

[relieable]

[OH. he stares at the PDA for a moment longer, before pulling back and linking his fingers behind his head]

Guess we probably should stabilize it, then. But what if that erases everything?

[cartesio]

My existence -- our existences are literally tied to the simulation. If the simulation crashes, everything will be gone anyway.

[pecker]

Yeah... with things being the way they are, we have more to gain than lose.

[relieable]

[hm. he looks at the Sergeant, then turns back to the PDA]

Guess we're doin' this. [he can input his vote, right? because he doesn't really trust Niwa after what she said]

[cartesio]

[Go ahead! Input your vote]

[relieable]

[GULP. nervously, he inputs his vote for stabilize]

[protectandselfserve]

We should, though... admittedly, I'm not the most technologically savvy person, so I might need a little help.

[cartesio]

[If Gant approaches, he'll find the screen asks him to input approval. It's like a vote, it seems]

[protectandselfserve]

[He'll input approval, then!]

[pecker]

I can assist you if anything more complicated than that button shows up.

[protectandselfserve]

Thanks for that, Niwa. At least the approval's easy!

[robitussin]

Yeah... Stabilizing it seems like a good choice.

[She walks towards the PDA.]

[cartesio]

[Input your vote, Natalie!]

[robitussin]

[She does, even if there’s a few moments of hesitation. She's voting to stabilize.]