voice | morning>day | 001>002

[lonelynotforsaken]

[ LO431Y | VOICE | 001 ]

[Martin's day isn't going well. And he's shouting as loudly as Squalo had been on the first communication. He's also very clearly running.]

May day! May day may day may day! Oh, god! Oh, god! May day! There's- Drone. Electricity spikes. Oh, god! East jungle. Close to shore!

[His responses to things may be delayed depending on whether or not he can escape the thing.]

Comments

[lonelynotforsaken]

Trying. Just threw a tape recorder. It- No!

[Martin's message cuts off abruptly, but is followed by a series of shorter messages, like he's clicking off an on from the transmission button. The first message is a helpless scream with mechanical humming in the background. The next few are just the sounds of movement and humming. Then another with a slightly less blood-curdling shout.

And then nothing until the next morning.]

[sharktrash]

[ Okay, that is alarming. ]

Hey? What's going on? Still alive?

[ Is there something in the jungle that's hunting them? Suddenly he's not so sure about his plan to follow the river. Maybe he should just... stay on the beach where it's safe. ]

[ It's a shame, though. The guy seemed nice. But Squalo has no idea where he is, and he wouldn't get there in time to help anyway. ]

[lonelynotforsaken]

[It's a long while before Martin responds. His voice is very soft, like he's whispering, and even, very calm. He really doesn't want the drones to react to him, and it's just... easier not to have to think about emotions right now. So, those get set aside. He's had plenty of practice at that.]

I'm still alive. In some sort of cell. Old. Doesn't look like it's been maintained, but the bars are still sturdy. I can see the things that came for me. The drones. There's three pads, but only two are here. I think the third one must be on patrol.

[sharktrash]

[ He really thought he had heard the last of Martin, but it seems not. He doesn't know him well enough to be relieved, exactly, but... it sure is nice that there's still a non-asshole on this island! ]

[ For now. ]

Do you have any idea where you are?

[lonelynotforsaken]

Somewhere in the jungle, but that's all I can see from my current position. No windows, just a door that's opened. Looks like it's been that way for a while. I don't think any person's been in this place for a long while. Maybe years. But there's a computer and there's power. Couple of other cells. I haven't heard any sounds coming from them, but it's hard to get a look in from my position.

[sharktrash]

Huh. Well, at least now we know there used to be people here...

[ Not that it's very helpful at the moment. He possibly has broken out of prison before, though. ]

Tell me more about the cell. What's the lock like?

[lonelynotforsaken]

Electronic, as far as I can tell. There's deadbolts I can see from this side, but there's a panel on the wall next to the door like a keycard reader. I'm working on getting a spring from the mattress stretched out to try to feel around on the front of the door to check if there's a physical way to unlock it beyond the keycard.

[sharktrash]

Well shit. [ Electronics aren't really his specialty; back home his branch had hackers to deal with things like that. ] There's usually a mechanical bypass, far as I know.

[ But he doesn't know, in this case. How annoying. ]

If you still have your knife, you could try taking the door off the hinges.

[lonelynotforsaken]

[There's a bit of a longer break in Martin's response as he tries a variety of suggestions.]

I've still got my knife, but the door doesn't have any hingles. There are actually multiple deadbolts along one side. Seems like they're designed to open electronically and the whole door pulls up into a slot in the ceiling.

[He's starting to run low on ideas for escaping this.]

Someone's suggested using a shirt to try to pull or bend the bars. That's going to have to be my next resort. I'm not seeing many other options.

[sharktrash]

Fuck. Okay. [ He rubs his face in frustration. If only he had Bel here, the kid was annoying but he could probably brain his way out of something like this in no time. ] You could try to loosen the bolts with the knife but depending how much space there is it might simply not work.

[ Bend the bars?.. Considering the (admittedly, rather exaggerated) nerdy image of the guy Squalo has conjured up in his mind so far, he has some doubts about it, but it's not like he has any real suggestions. ]

Guess you could try pissin' on the electronics, maybe you can short-circuit them.

[ Hey, Martin never mentioned that there's water, so... ]

[lonelynotforsaken]

[Martin makes a face. It's not the worst idea, but he's still making a face.]

I found a syringe I can use for that. And there's some... bad water in the toilet here. I'm going to try squirting some of it onto what looks like a docking port for the drone. Unfortunately, there's not enough of a gap to get my knife in for prying at things. I did find a lockpick, but it doesn't seem especially useful.

[His steady tone starts to stutter a bit, but he presses on.]

If I don't... If I can't figure out how to get out of here, I'll shove it and my knife to the other side of the bars. For whenever any of you can find this place later on.

[sharktrash]

Okay. Yeah. Try that.

[ This sucks... He can only hope the others have more helpful things to offer. ]

Hey, don't give up yet! 'Sides, that knife might start looking pretty tempting in a few days. [ Isn't that a little counterintuitive to "don't give up"?!! ] No vents or anything? See anybody come in or out?

[lonelynotforsaken]

I'm not giving up. I'm just... being realistic. No vents. Nothing apart from the drones. No windows. No cracks or loose bricks. Someone put a lockpick in the mattress here, but I genuinely don't understand why. There's nothing to pick.

[sharktrash]

I'd say maybe somebody stashed it because it was useless, but that's kinduva lot of effort for that. [ Pause. ] Did you check under the mattress? Tried to push the door up? Sometimes it's the most obvious shit that gets overlooked.

[lonelynotforsaken]

[It's a little bit for a response.]

The door won't budge, but I found some sort of... shiv? It's rusty. Under the mattress. I don't know how much it's going to help anyone, but where I am, I can hear a message, the one Cohle was asking about yesterday. It sounds like it's coming from right up on top of the building I'm in.

[sharktrash]

Huh. Why would that be there if there's nobody to shiv?

[ A question for the philosophers, or whoever was running the station. Most likely it implied there used to be people maintaining the jail, at least. What exactly happened on this island? ]

...oh shit. Okay, that gives us something. If anybody's close enough to hear that they can use it to head toward you.

[ They... might not make it in time, though. ]

[lonelynotforsaken]

Yeah. I'll... be waiting. [Hah.]

But really, I'll put out anything useful I've got on me if it starts getting grim. I want the things I've got to help someone else, at least.

[sharktrash]

[ What... do you even say to someone in this situation? That is, when you don't want to mock them about dying like a dog? One friendly person on the island and they're in deep shit and there's nothing he can do. Damn, this is infuriating. If he had Alo here, he could send her ahead to sniff out wherever this guy is held and ram down the cell bars, but he hasn't sensed her or his Flames at all since he got here. ]

Hang in there, yeah?

[lonelynotforsaken]

As long as I can. Stay safe, Squalo.