middleofsomewhere | Enemy Unknown: Conclusion

The third night is as long and creepy as the others...

It might be that they found the engine room, solved the puzzles and found themselves in the hangar bay with no way out. It might be that they were still in the station hiding from the invisible monsters. Or it might be that they had been plucked from the mission and were waiting in their holding room.

Either way morning dawns on the fourth day...

ENEMY: UNKNOWN

DAY FOUR

the trapped. THOSE WHO SOLVED THE ENGINE ROOM SPENT THE NIGHT IN A LARGE HANGAR THAT DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE ANY DOORS. Their SCA's are working, so they can still communicate with those in the station, perhaps talk them through the engine room puzzles or tell them to stay clear. As morning comes all the lights in the hangar come on. Brighter than any lights so far in the station, harsh white light after the eerie red of the rest of the mission.

Everyone still in the station wakes where they fell asleep - if they slept at all. It's not long after most people are up and about that they will hear a high-pitched beep from their SCA, and then a blue light will envelop them and those around them. It might be they spot their friends vanishing before they too disappear.

They arrive in the hangar, reunited with those who spent the night there. All their gear is with them at least, but that doesn't solve the problem of being in a hangar with no obvious way out. Nor are any of those who vanished during the last three days here, their SCA's still go unanswered.

the vanished. FOR THOSE IN THE HOLDING ROOM, THEIR NIGHT HAS PROCEEDED MUCH LIKE THE NIGHTS BEFORE. One of the screens showed the hangar, and those that had succeeded in completing the engine room task. The lights had dimmed for sleeping and turned on again bright in the morning. For those watching the screens they will see those in the station vanish in blue light and turn up in the hangar.

Around half an hour later a voice sounds in the room. "Please gather your belongings and prepare for release."

It's another ten minutes, allowing them to make sure they have all their things before their SCA's beep. They are then surrounded by a blue light, taking them from the room they had spent the last few days in.

REUNITED

reunion. AN HOUR PASSES AFTER FIRST ARRIVALS PASS IN THE HANGAR. Suddenly, there is another flash of blue light, and the missing eighteen Voidtreckers appear with the rest of their crew. They will find they had all their gear as well, including their missing weapons.

They are left to their own devices for a small while, a time for reuniting with friends, but not long enough to exchange stories before a voice rings out in the hangar:

"THANK YOU CREW OF THE VOIDTRECKER EXPRESS FOR YOUR COMPLIANCE. YOU MAY RETURN TO YOUR CRAFT."
There is a loud mass of beeping as everyone's SCA's flashes at the same time, holographic messages popping up too fast to be able to read them in their entirety.

Voidtreckers come in.

All Voidtreckers return to the Voidtrecker Express
Voidtreckers evacuate now

Voidtreckers do you read?

Layers of holographic messages pile on top of each other but a moment later everyone's SCA's glow gold and everyone vanishes from the hangar...

LUGGAGE CARRIAGE

return. EVERYONE ARRIVES INSIDE THE LUGGAGE CARRIAGE, PACKED LIKE SARDINES BETWEEN SUITCASES AND TRUNKS. There is no announcement, no warning of returning to the void; just a lurch that is likely to throw anyone on the train unaware of what has just happened off their feet, no matter the carriage they're in.

They return to the void at what feels like breakneck speed. Colours fly past the windows, and it is a good few hours before they seem to slow to their normal travel speed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh yeah? What are you planning when you get out of here? If you have a choice on where to go..."

Now, if Murphy has a choice? He... to be honest, he doesn't even know if he'd go back. He might, finally, decide to do the right thing. But if he could go somewhere else after, or just send the formula for the cure home and keep moving? He absolutely would.

He does have some urge to do the 'right' thing, but he's not stupid enough to commit himself to a lifetime of pain if he doesn't have to. The state he's in is already pretty uncomfortable, even if he's learned to live with it.

This had been a point that he pressed in some conversations with others before, alluding to the fact that he chose to come here, and then refused to go into any further detail. The truth was that as far as he was concerned, his departure was already arranged -- he just did not know precisely when it would be. Whether that remained true or not? Well, he wasn't going to let on.

"Oh, the choice is already made," he said conversationally, raising the glass before taking another sip. Murphy had been right -- it would be better with something stronger. "I've my empire and my army to return to. The sooner the better; they really are terrible without someone to guide them."

"Having an Empire would have been nice. I barely could gather up a few hundred. Too many people dead."

But he rebuilt civilization in one little place from scratch. And his people had meant a whole lot to him. Couldn't help it. It's how his brain worked, the connections built an empathy he'd lacked to some extent prior to the apocalypse and the experiments on him.

"But that's the fun part. Some people come from places barely habitable and some people are from massive space-faring worlds and got the cred for it."

Freeza did not bother to include that he had inherited a sizeable population to start with -- so much in recent years had been so focused on rebuilding what had been broken in his absence that it hardly mattered, anyhow.

He supposed he could see the -- utility in the man's perspective on this place, though. The emperor had been accustomed to a far more diverse group in his own territory, enough that the barge had thrown him somewhat. And the army had its places where it lacked, the rigors and requirements of uniformity being what it was. The differing level of experiences here with nothing to stuff them down or force disregard meant they were more apparent and more challenging to adjust to. And this was all something he apparently needed.

But "fun?"

He raised a brow with interest. "Any sort in particular that you prefer?"

"Something more established than what I had. They couldn't defend themselves without me. Zona came and decimated them after I was taken- I didn't know about that until I found their bodies." Murphy doesn't show a lot of genuine emotion, but he's bitter there. Those were his people.

"When I use my infection, besides making someone immune it also psychically connects them to me. I can do things like, oh, provide some mental stability against chemical imbalances or fix certain other neurological issues while I'm at it. I keep them immune from broader diseases. As long as they let me do it willingly, anyway-" He spreads his hands. He will fuck up someone unwilling psychologically, and honestly by the time he infects someone unwillingly he doesn't give a shit about how they feel. He just wants to shut them down.

"Not that I mind the chatter of the zombies, but I'd rather be surrounded by real thoughts again." As much as his serum-addled brain can handle.

"It'll never be big but at least if I go home, there's a chance of rebuilding something."

That was apparently more than he was expecting to receive, shown not so much in expression so much as he simply seems to stall in a single one for an uncomfortably long time. Though he could see how such a thing might be advantageous, if you were willing to hand over that much of yourself in return.

"That sounds like trading one vulnerability for another."

"No one's ever managed to successfully exploit it. Early on I would get bent out of shape over hordes dying- I'd feel it, but never enough to stop me."

He's definitely not one of the physically stronger guys on the train, just above average thanks to the vaccine and the affects of the virus it fought. He has the optimized system meant to function under the worst conditions a zombie has. Just without the impending rot.

But he's got a mental strength to him. Made even sturdier by the fact that he doesn't have an excess of empathy. He's not going to let someone sway him if he doesn't damn well want them to.

Enemy Unknown: Conclusion

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