exsilium | video; a work in progress

( Audio picks up the sound of industrial construction, either things familiar in woodshop, car garages, or anywhere of a similar sort. When the feed goes live, Collette is framed to one side, looking forward and away from the camera. She's clearly resting on her arms, and given the angle of the ground on the screen, she's probably lying on her stomach in order to do this. She glances over her shoulder, eyes going to something behind the tablet being used for recording, then smiles as her eyes drop down to the tablet itself. For all intents and purposes, the camera is positioned to make the viewing audience seem like they're side by side with Collette, wherever it is she is, keeping a low profile in this industrialized looking area. Concrete floor that she's resting on, packing boxes ahead of her, bundles of cables and chains glimpsed somewhere past her head. )

Guys! ( She keeps her voice low, not a whisper (they carry further, and can't be heard about the ambient noise), but low to avoid excessive attention. ) Anyone else catch where they dragged the ship off to with that giant crane after the crash? I wondered about that. But I've got news!

( She makes a waving motion at the camera, and it shifts, jarringly, to leave Collette off screen and show something covered in plastic and wiring and cables, a few Initiative workers using welding guns, others wheeling parts away or calling out shouts of questions over the sounds of construction. )

They say the spaceship's salvageable!

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I'm pretty sure that's exactly who I'm speaking for!

( she says with a wink. )

Scorn's kind of a strong word. I like pity, too. And uncomfortable dislike for their tactics.

Pity is a waste.

[ He glances around. ]

...I believe I'm almost there.

Look out for a big golden dog!

( She says, giving him a two fingered salute before ending the feed. Collette herself has to morph, being the dog she told him to watch out for. Now was time to put a scent to a face! Or a face to a scent?

Oh, whatever!

Thus he'll find a golden retriever waiting just inside the warehouse entrance, watching the goings on with its mouth open and a satisfied tilt to its head. )

[ He may have a blank expression and a cold tone of voice, but to a dog, Keith smells as human as anyone.

He slows to a halt a few feet away from the golden retriever, staring blankly at it. ]

Are you meant to lead me somewhere, dog?

< More like greet you! Though I can show you in to the ship. It's what you're here for! >

( Collette gives a wag of her tail. )

...psychic communication.

[ But aside from a small frown that accompanies that comment, Keith seems to catch on quickly enough. He nods slightly. ]

Show me the ship.

< One way, yep. So don't start thinking back at me, unless you're psychic too! People always make that assumption. >

( Mental laughter rings out between the two of them. Collette's amused by people's presumptions, even as she trots ahead of him, beelining for the space ship. )

< You're familiar with space travel? >

Good.

[ However cryptic it might be, that seems to be all Keith has to say on the matter of the "psychic communication" in question. Then he follows her. ]

Yes, I'm very familiar with it.

< Good! The more people who are working on this who actually know space travel, the better. >

( She takes them straight to the ship's entrance, up a walkway taking them inside the cargo bay. )

< People've mostly been moving in and out through here. Whatever it was for, they meant it to move cargo, too. Not massive shipments or anything! Most the wiring is getting taken out and drawn to remember where it went to. >

[ He slows a little to examine the ship around him as he approaches it, his face remaining expressionless as he scans his surroundings. ]

But none of the cargo was found in it.

[ A brief pause. ]

I believe it's primitive compared to the space vessels I'm familiar with.

< More like what cargo was here got lost during the crash. Not that it was full, even when we stole it, and most of that was food related. >

( They'd looked like a kind of MRE, at least. )

< You know, you're the third person to tell me that today! What'll tell you how different it is? The systems are fried, but aren't a complete loss... I think. >

I see.

Just how "fried" are the systems? A closer look at them could be instructive.

< Mostly literally fried. Kirk said he can still find the base-work, but any of the new fancy stuff that the Initiative programmed in is gone. A lot of the monitors and controls survived the crash! See, the big explosion was further back in the ship, it messed with one of the engines and started an electrical fire. >

( She accompanies him up the walkway into the belly of the ship. )

< Most the rest is structural damage from the crash. That's where the fancy files got lost, I think. >

Then we won't find much information.

[ Maybe a hint of disappointment on his face, in his voice? But he hides it well. ]

However...there are still things to learn.

[ He leans out a little from the walkway to examine his surroundings. ]

< Isn't that always true? >

( She laughs, trotting ahead and moving toward the bridge. )

< You might not get the easy specifics, but you can get a good idea of where they're at! The bridge is this way. >

At times what there is to learn is outweighed by the danger something poses. But that's not the case here.

[ And he follows her to the bridge. ]

< Have you run into a lot of cases like that? >

( Considering what it's been through, the bridge is in decent condition. Several monitors are cracked; wiring has suffered from electrical fires, but the majority has been preserved.

Just not the systems, once they're booted up. Basic frameworks are there, simpler versions of programs that are intended as backup to more complicated systems.

They're all that's survived. )

video; a work in progress

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