SEVENTH INVESTIGATION

[bathymetric]

Friday morning comes as it so often does. The hallways of the ship are still. Things are... surprisingly normal. As normal as they can feel on a cruise ship populated entirely by a few surviving members of your number and whatever the heck The Captain has become.

And on top of that, it's quiet. The voices of your loved ones no longer ring in your ears, gone as suddenly as they came.

But that would mean...

Comments

[cethflayn]

[Room 2's door is locked, but beyond it, since no one is hearing voices anymore, you can make out faint and delicate snoring.

Flayn fell asleep, and won't wake up unless you knock on her door or the body announcement goes off.]

[sivard]

[Zaveid hasn't been sleeping well.

So the sudden... lack of chatter is immediately concerning.

So off he goes to the top deck to make sure the roller coaster hasn't been used for another unholy murder.]

[scouserer]

[Oh, Christ. Constantine stumbles towards the water park, going to scope out if anyone's gotten stuffed into a water slide or something.]

[scythegun]

[Well, this is what he was expecting, unfortunately. Time to head on out and see what's going on. You know the drill by now, how's laser tag looking??]

[bathymetric]

[ There's a couple surprise things up here for later, but no bodies anywhere on the topdeck. ]

[bathymetric]

[ The water park is free and clear! ]

[bathymetric]

[ Laser tag looks free and clear! ]

[scouserer]

[Oh, good. At least there's no blood in the water, today.

Uhhh.....let's see, maybe checking out the kitchen?]

[magycks]

[ Magica comes out of room 5 relatively late, all things considered! This has less to do with whatever sleeping pills she ended up taking and more to do with the realization, as she drifts into wakefulness, that she's once again alone in her head. Which should be a good thing, aside from the murder which she didn't care about to begin with...

It's not. She needs a few minutes to sit in the reaffirmed knowledge that she's never going to hear one of those voices ever again, before she faces the rest of them.

Anyway, once she's collected herself, she's gonna get some coffee at the cafe! Come through, Starducks. ]

[scythegun]

[Saved yet again... How's first aid doing?]

[bathymetric]

[ Well, as you head down past Floor 5...

Hey, someone's lying down on the job near the stairs! ]

[sivard]

[That's... good to know. He'll come back.

How does the photo lab look?]

[bathymetric]

[ There's something off in here, but not a body! ]

[scouserer]

[Oh, God, oh, God. Constantine stops short, staring at the body by the stairs. He swallows, steels himself, and approaches it slowly. Please, God. Please don't be dead, please don't be dead....

Even he knows that's wishful thinking.]

Hello?

[bathymetric]

[ The cafe is clear! In fact, Floor 2 is body-free! ]

[magycks]

[ Fantastic! She's gonna move on to check out the bumper car room, then... and then get sidetracked by the corpse Constantine just found, so no bolding necessary. ]

[bathymetric]

[ The figure doesn't move to greet you - not that he was the most animated among you in life, but...

He's splayed out, eyes still open, but vacant, somehow. You're no robot expert, but...

It's Data. ]

[sivard]

[Well. Zaveid is headed down this way anyway, so...]

No...!

[bathymetric]

[ Well, there's a small commotion on the way, but you can push through to check the lab if you'd like! ]

[scouserer]

[Constantine exhales sharply.]

Oh, Christ.

[Uh. Hm. How does one determine if a robot is dead? He hesitates, crouching over the android, and trying to assess him. Is he mangled beyond repair? Or is there, just...you know. Is he just. Lying there?]

[sivard]

[Nah, he's, er. Thoroughly distracted.]

[magycks]

[ ladeeda, just walking down the stairs, hoping someone at least did a fun body presentation this time...

Oh, okay! That's not fun at all. ]

So obviously you can't check for a pulse, but is he...?

[bathymetric]

[ Well he's certainly not responding! But at least we don't have to pull a 01100011 01110111 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110010 01100101, he's physically presentable. ]

[scouserer]

I--I don't know. I remember him telling me he could be deactivated and reactivated, but I don't--I don't know if that counts as being dead.

[There's an invisible hand squeezing his chest. He doesn't know why, but out of all the people who might've gone down, Data always seemed like some sort of infallible, untouchable entity.]

[sivard]

But... but the motive...

[He might not understand what Data is, but...]