Move 17 Recap

We continue our study of the team's activity around 05:00 on Monday.

Alaric, Crowned-With-Eyes, Fluffy, Iawa, Mikodez, and Sulen

Iawa and Sulen run into Mikodez (Avrayen) near the medical center. Mikodez sports some scratches from Fluffy; Crowned-With-Eyes has a light sprinkling of glitter from Mikodez' physics experiments. Sulen tells Iawa, "I'll deal with him if you want to check on Imsayed"; Iawa does so. Mikodez asks Sulen whether they were aware that his "cousin" Imsayed (Istradez) had a prior concussion.

At this point, Alaric arrives, carrying a tray with four caffeinated beverages and some crispy desserts. One of the drinks contains the sleeping pill that Sasha gave him. He tells Mikodez, "Sasha said you might need some company." Sulen, unluckily, takes the drink containing the sleeping pill. Alaric warns that the drink is for Mikodez: "Sasha said he might need a little special pick-me-up, if you get what I mean?" Sulen refrains from tasting the drugged beverage, and states that they will escort Avrayen (Mikodez) back to the ship. Mikodez prepares a distraction by opening the latch to Fluffy's cage.

Alaric asks whether the creature in the cage is one of the "baby... animals". After some confusion, he tells Mikodez about the voidmoth on the team's moth: "It wants us to take all the young ones that Remi has, and conveniently he wants to bring them along too. By the way, the moth is sapient and I basically invented an entire new field of xenolinguistics." Mikodez attempts to distract potential observers by stating loudly, "The Nirai Voidmoth is an important mythological symbol in high culture." He then tugs on the fabric in his backpack, potentially freeing the mothling Crowned-With-Eyes.

Iawa and Istradez; messages between Ashari and Sasha

After leaving Mikodez, Sulen, and the pets, Iawa sends Sasha the lokwor message, "Sulen with A [Avrayen/Mikodez]. I'm checking I [Imsayed/Istradez] then doubling back in case backup needed." Sasha responds, "thx, will update Rii [Ashari]. Damion [Alaric] on his way too. lmk when I can be moved." She forwards both messages to Ashari, who replies to Sasha after a slight delay, "Well, someone's making progress. Wake me if there are any crises."

Iawa finds Istradez, who is asleep in the medical center, and reads his chart, which states he has a mild concussion, likely not the first. As Iawa watches, Istradez stirs and appears about to wake.

Sasha and Yehan

Yehan visits comms and offers Sasha breakfast, which she refuses on the grounds that she has just eaten a ration bar. Sasha asks Yehan about the Rosemallow crew list; Yehan explains that the people listed as slaves (cargo) appear to come from rural areas of Naxarat. Sasha, who comes from a rural area, is somewhat concerned. Yehan asks about information to report to Ashari. Sasha replies, "Tell Ashari I've got a ping on Avrayen's lokwor, and Alaric has gone to fetch him." She asks Yehan to take over comms after the meeting with Ashari; Yehan agrees.

After Yehan leaves, Sasha inserts malicious versions of near-future memes into station chatter, incorporating Clowder Purring characters. She prints a fancy brush pen which can change colors; due to the ongoing difficulties with the Wasp's matter printer, the colors are fluorescent and even glow in the dark, but they don't set off the airlock's radiation sensors. Sasha also prints a removable recycling sticker that will tell the station's automatic refuse sorter that the item in question is a crushable toy.

Gerae and Virmad; messages from Ashari and Sasha

Virmad sends a message to Ashari through the Wasp's grid, copying Sasha and Sulen: "I think it would be wise if someone were to check on our wayward magistrate guest; I would be happy to volunteer for the task." Sasha replies, "have u checked the cameras. is he even awake". When Sasha checks, she finds that Gerae is agitated and muttering to himself in a language that the grid identifies as the "thieves' argot variant of a semi-local language." Sasha asks the grid to record Gerae's speech and provide a rough translation; she sends Yehan a pointer to the recording, for further linguistic analysis.

Ashari authorizes Virmad's visit to Gerae, with the warning, "On no account are you to let him out of his room, no matter how big his eyes are." Virmad takes a shower, then goes to Gerae's room and warns him to stay away from the door. Gerae complies, sounding anxious and potentially tearful. Virmad enters the room, saying, "I just wanted to tell you that we’ve recovered Fluffy; she should be on her way to the ship as we speak. How are you holding up?" Sasha listens to the conversation through the grid.

Coordination and Risk Assessment: Challenges

The events detailed here highlight the team's ongoing difficulties in coordination. It would not be unreasonable to send two or three people to retrieve a single Shuos cadet, but Alaric and Sulen both act independently, thereby interfering with each other's plans. Moreover, Alaric's choice to attribute his tactics to Sasha is likely to disrupt the fragile working relationship between Sasha and Sulen. Iawa and Sulen have also failed to establish trust, and Iawa plans to monitor Sulen's actions.

The establishment of common risk assessments and security protocols continues to be a challenge. At one extreme, Alaric's only concession to possible station observers is to speak somewhat more quietly; at the other, Sasha refrains from sharing details of contingency plans via lokwor, despite her confidence in her own encryption. Paradoxically, the efforts of Mikodez, who has been using Sasha's gamified map of station surveillance holes for his own purposes, may be the team's best hope of avoiding official inquiries about the nature of voidmoths.

Meanwhile, team members on the Wasp make wildly variant assessments of the threat Gerae represents. Virmad's sympathy for Gerae may represent a lingering sense of loyalty toward the Rahal, though the faction bond might also be exploited in Gerae's recruitment.