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[bit_impossible]

[when the Sphere turns on, it shows him sitting in an office somewhere on Level 12, hands covering his face and muffling his mutterings. his knuckles are bloody and the two fingers on his left hand still move with an odd detachment like they're simply along for the ride and not being controlled by him. he's not showing it, but those nerve endings in his burnt hand have started to come back--something he hoped wouldn't come around until much later.]

[when he finally does remove his hands, he doesn't look all that different than he did a few days ago. no dark circles, yawning, or even hand tremors even with his recent assault on the wall behind him; his hands are as steady as ever. it's the dark, acerbic look in his eyes that tell a different story. he might not need the sleep, but that doesn't mean he isn't frustrated as hell.]

There has to be a way of helping them. I'm just not finding it. Medications, hypnosis, meditation, not even--! None of it! And if they don't get some sleep soon, they'll... [he trails off, not wishing to think of the people he knows and cares for dying from something so easily preventable.]

If only there were some way to get to that man! [he's aware of the Sphere being on now.] Say what you will, Orion. You talk of saving "them", well my friend, talk can only get you so far! And that's saying nothing about the riddles and endless games you and Ganymede force us to play! For all your talk about him and blaming the man for what's happened, you two are terribly alike. Perhaps his madness had grabbed hold of you before you evacuated the ship, I wonder.

[laughs bitterly] How foolish of me. It's not like you're going to respond to this or anything else we say to you, is there Orion? If I could only get to you...

Comments

[bit_impossible]

Of course. Looks like I was right about there being more people than just you effected by all this.

[oliverplus]

It's the whole ship!

[glumly] I was hoping it was just me...

[bit_impossible]

Oh yes, I'm very aware. If only I had something of Orion's, I could use my--oh wait, I'd left that device in the room.

[oliverplus]

[eye twitches] You what?

[bit_impossible]

[sighs and remembers what he has to deal with.] My detector. You know, the one I said would 'moo' when it found you, although it never did because I got sidetracked before I could find you with it.

[oliverplus]

Oh. What happened to it? Wait...it's in the room? The rotted room? [frowns] Guess it's never gonna moo, then.

[bit_impossible]

No. No mooing. It's useless anyway now that Ganymede's dead and it probably wouldn't have survived the reset anyhow.

[oliverplus]

You never know. Well, I guess now we do know since it's gone and... [pauses, squinting at the Doctor] Hey, what'd you do to your hand?

[bit_impossible]

[looks at his hand with the bleeding knuckles and shrugs] I tried the forceful approach. I wasn't about to rule out any options, you know.

[oliverplus]

Forceful approach to what?

[blinks, then stares for a moment] Did you try to knock somebody out?

[bit_impossible]

No. Besides, if I did, you'd see someone else wandering around with a black eye.

[the sphere drifts a little, showing the bloody marks on the wall behind him.]

[oliverplus]

Don't we all have those already? No wait, someone else? Who already has a black eye?

[narrows his eyes at the wall] Doctor, what kind of argument did you get in with the wall?

[bit_impossible]

No, this black eye would be slightly more fist-shaped had I actually done such a thing.

Argument with the--[arches an eyebrow at him] Do you really want me to answer that?

[oliverplus]

Well, what else could you be doing punching it?

[bit_impossible]

[runs a hand through his hair.] I was trying to find a way down to the next level again.

[oliverplus]

[blinks at him] You'd have to punch out a whole lot of wall!

We could always trying blowing a hole in it...

[bit_impossible]

[firmly] No explosives.

[oliverplus]

What? Why not?

[bit_impossible]

Because there's only one person I trust with explosives and she's certainly not on-board.

And secondly, you of all people shouldn't be suggesting blowing anything up. Not after what took you away from me the first time.

[oliverplus]

[sleep deprivation is not doing good things for his temper] Hey, I can't be afraid of explosives for the rest of my life because of that! I wouldn't get caught in the explosion.

[bit_impossible]

[even firmer.] No explosives. And I doubt they'd do any good here anyway. Remember what happened on Eos when people tried to break into the outer haul?

[oliverplus]

It didn't make things any worse!

[bit_impossible]

How about we find a middle ground between punching and explosives, hmm? Sledgehammers work well for such purposes as wall breakers. Ask anyone who was there when the Berlin Wall was torn down.

[oliverplus]

Where are we gonna find a sledgehammer? And who's got the energy to use one now?

[bit_impossible]

Not...all of you are completely out of action...

It's a matter of finding one. Though, I suppose if I must, I could ram a filing cabinet into it.