#03; 2 Jul, evening. (forward-dated)

[paragon]

Sorry to spring this on the folks just getting out of the hospital. [ Not 'new people'. That would only be more cause for confusion than what he's about to say. ] It'll make more sense if you go back and listen to the recent messages from Dr. Rousseau. In her first message she asked us to accept the leadership of the people who brought us here in exchange for certain freedoms. That's not really how it works.

[ Boy, is it nice to be able to speak his mind again. It took a few days, as he was told, for the consequences of attempting to do so to wear off so he could get on the phone for this at all. ]

They were trying to save the people of this world. I understand that. But to do it they made some choices, choices that kept us from making our own. Made us think their choices were ours. That's something they're gonna have to live with. They don't get to make decisions for us anymore. It's not up to them where we go from here. That's in our hands now, if they really intend to make up for their mistakes. In my experience those with power don't tend to give it up easily, so they've got a long way to go to prove that. Half measures where they approve who goes outside the fence and when don't count. Neither does retaining the positions they've given themselves in this town. They need to offer their cooperation, not ask for ours.

[ That might sound like it's the end of it — short and sweet. It certainly has a note of finality, and maybe you've even hung up on your own by now. But after another pause, he continues: ]

Some of you may have heard my conversation with the doc after her last message. I could only confirm one person for myself with the restrictions they gave me, but I can tell you a friend I've been missing is still alive in one of their cryo units. If people you care about have gone missing too, I'm willing to take them at their word that's where they are too.

[ Now he's done. ]

((ooc: The phone lines throughout Wayward Pines are currently very fucky and unreliable due to the damage to the town and also Raven blowing up a house, y'all. So your character will not necessarily have to pick up the phone this time, since not all lines will be ringing. Please feel free to say they don't hear this message right away or at all if that's your druthers!))

Comments

voice;

[allfornothing]

... yeah, considering how much knowledge and expertise they have which we lack, I somehow don't see that happening in the near future. They don't need us, but we need them. Until we find a way to survive whatever is out there independently and indefinitely...

You're not wrong in principle. But practically? With the kind of power they have, and how little it'd cost them to start over? We don't have a workable alternative yet. And we won't for a very long time. I mean, I can't wake people up from cryo. I don't think any of us not in the direct employ can. So even if they turn over everything? They'll still have hostages. All of us.

Crowe out.

[vdova]

If they don't need us so badly, why bother keeping us alive at all?

[allfornothing]

I hear people play with dolls, usually when young. [ ... and it really is from hearsay, with her. ] They leave them in their boxes, or they set them up to do things, playing out different situations. They get upset if the dolls break or get lost.

But they don't need those dolls. They just like to have them.

[ If Crowe had a little more knowledge of biology, she might have brought up genetic diversity as a necessity for species survival, and how they don't even need them awake for that. But, well. Species survival became a question shortly after her time, so she missed those questions and answers. ]

[vdova]

[ Natasha's tone changes from the mildly casual of her previous comment to almost ice cold. ] I wouldn't know. I never had the chance. And I don't intend to be anyone's plaything — regardless if I'm left in my box or not. I worked hard to own myself. I'm not going to let someone take that from me because they think they have the right or obligation.

[allfornothing]

[ Meanwhile, Crowe's tone doesn't change at all. She didn't have a chance for dolls, either, but that's a. irrelevant and b. she already said it. ]

And what exactly can you do to stop them right now? Kill them? Kill yourself? Once you start trying, how long until you wake up, again, not remembering a thing about this conversation?

[vdova]

This isn't my first rodeo.

[allfornothing]

It seems it's the first 'rodeo' for none of us. [ Going by Rousseau's explanations about previous failed attempts. ] Don't think it makes any difference.

[vdova]

I'm not talking about whatever lies this Ortech is feeding us. I'm talking about my real, actual, life. It's not the first time I've toppled a regime. It won't be the last.

[allfornothing]

[ Crowe considers for a moment, then just gives the equivalent of a verbal shrug. ]

Right.

[ Not disbelief, not argument. Whatever. If the woman's right and she manages it, great. If not, whatever. There'll still be more than enough people who'll need to be shielded from the worst of what's to come, and that's been her job for long enough that she's just going to... focus on doing that. ]

[paragon]

If they mean what they say about cooperation, it goes both ways. They can't be the only keepers of that knowledge or the decisions we make about what to do with it. That's the point. And I wouldn't discount the ability of the people who were brought here to learn what they need to know.

[allfornothing]

Yeah. We need to know a lot more before shoving away from what they have. But I for one have people here I'd rather not see turning into creatures like the ones who attacked. Or see me do the same.

Until we know enough for us to survive out there, going along with what they're giving is our best chance.

[paragon]

[ Putting aside the erroneous conclusions about himself or his intentions regarding the people he cares about and this message in particular— ]

Sounds like you already know something the rest of us don't.

[allfornothing]

... I was hardly the only one who got bitten by those things and survived enough to need an inoculation. I don't know much about mutation, not something I ever had to be curious about, but I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with that.

[ Look, she's a layperson. And, no, she doesn't want to become and 'abbie.' Or watch her people become them. And the only people who can reliable prevent it, currently, have a hell of a lot of power, from what she's seeing. Trying to get in their way? Counterproductive. ]