fandomhigh | Day After Doomsday, Thursday, Per 2

Entry tags:

doomsday

Day After Doomsday, Thursday, Per 2

Class began with something unexpected. Rather than an introduction from Hardison, a voice was heard from Cecil's radio.

"Hello?" It was a man's voice. He sounded tense, maybe even scared. "Hello, I don't know if anyone is still out there, if anyone's listening, if anyone's alive still to listen. This is Jeremy, at First National Bank of Fandom Town, over on Unicorn Street. We've been hiding in the vault since those--those things arrived. There are six of us. We're--we're awful hungry. It's been a few days since we've had anything to eat. If you're out there...if you can hear us...please help? Again, we're at First National Bank of Fandom Town, on Unicorn. I hope you can hear us. My name is Jeremy and there are six people here in the vault. We're weak and we're hungry and we're scared. If anyone is still alive out there, please help. Hello, my name is Jeremy, we're in--"

There was a loud squelching noise and the broadcast stopped.

"Well," Hardison said, stepping into the sudden silence. "There's that. Your radio's still working fine, so the problem's likely on their end. But there you have it. The first definitive proof that there's intelligent life still on the island. The question is, what do you make of it? More important, what are you gonna do about it? You got plenty of options, but each options is gonna have an affect on the group as a whole. This seems like the kinda thing you might wanna discuss."

"Now, as for last week, some folks realized that the noises comin' from the bathrooms was the water pipes. They were able to learn that the water's shut off to the dorms. This could be somethin' as simple as a watermain broke or somethin' or it could mean that someone's turned off water here deliberately. You don't know. Elsa's keepin' you supplied with fresh water for drinkin', bathin', an' for the garden. No one's presented me with a plan to turn the water in the pool into somethin' drinkable, but it's enough to keep the toilets flushin' manually an' to keep the dorms clean if you're so inclined. Raven found some cleanin' supplies, but..." He looked around at the dorms which were definitely a bit worse for wear, so no one had mentioned doing any actual cleaning. "Y'all might wanna start puttin' 'em to use, just sayin'. Or not! Maybe you're looking to Oregon Trail it up in here an' see who dies of dysentery first."

In which case, keep on keepin' on.

"One thing. Food's gettin' tight. Most of the scouts are on food detail, but gardens can only grow so fast an' you got some pretty heavy competition in the top predator category. You got a greenhouse goin' an' that's cool, even some seeds an' things to plant in there, an' Hanna's been able to smoke an' salt a lot of what you do catch to make it last. Congrats, the food you have right now is gonna last till Week Six if you keep tight rationing, but huntin' is pretty much gonna take up most of your time if you wanna add enough to get to Week Seven, leavin' you no time for other scoutin' pursuits. Looks like y'all have got some choices to make."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I think it's time we start thinking seriously about how to get rid of those things out there. We're obviously not going to be able to just hole up here forever, and we've got some good information now about what they do and how they behave. Picking them off one by one isn't going to help us. Is there --" She looked around for Cosima and Tali ~~if they were there.~~ "Is there someway we could make a bomb?"

Then she looked for Elsa.

"Or freeze them out."

"If we're willing to sacrifice what's left of the generator and fuel, maybe," Tali said slowly. "Otherwise we may need to consider some kind of low-tech trap instead."

Raven nodded. "Could work. Any ideas?"

"Not much that doesn't involve more energy and time than we can probably afford to expend," Tali admitted. "Digging a pit trap, for example, isn't likely to be worth the effort. But maybe we can herd them into an abandoned building somehow, and collapse it on them, or set it on fire?"

"I don't think we'll be able to herd them too well. Lure, maybe. I don't know how we'd collapse a building on them without bombs, though."

"I know. That's the problem," Tali said, and she sounded more than a little bit frustrated about that. "My only other suggestion is some kind of deadfall trap. Trees, or -- I don't know, an old car chassis. We don't have to worry about running out of gravity."

Well.

"Unless Earth's gravitational field suddenly changes."

Thanks, Tali, that's reassuring.

Re: Plan Ahead

tigerundercover - 2015-05-28 18:39 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Plan Ahead

goforthe_optics - 2015-05-28 19:10 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Plan Ahead

tigerundercover - 2015-05-28 19:26 (UTC) - Expand

"I think you are right. Without enough food, this is going to become more and more difficult." Hanna frowned, trying to remember. "Do we know if they are vulnerable to fire?"

"I don't know. I've been keeping an eye on them while scouting, looking for weaknesses. I'll check with Hardison."

"So, strategically... some kind of an attack on the community center. Then, taking care of the stragglers." Hanna paused, then said, "Then, maybe, Jeremy and his friends?" Or before they got to the stragglers?

Hanna had enough sense to know she needed cooperation to get Jeremy and company out of the vault, but even though this was an imaginary exercise, she still felt the obscure bite of guilt at leaving them to suffer for any length of time.

"Maybe we could get more supplies to them. If they have survived this long."

"I want to at least check the bank out," Raven said. "If it's a trap, then we need to know that there's something here intelligent enough to set it up." The monsters outside hadn't seemed that clever to her, yet. "And if it's not -- we might be able to share resources somehow with them, or get more information than what we already have. I can go in without being seen, check things out."

Hanna frowned. "I think I should go too." And no, that wasn't just wanting to do something. "At least at a distance. If this is a trap, you will need help. Or if those things are smart enough to notice a broadcast too, and try to find a way into the bank."

Re: Plan Ahead

tigerundercover - 2015-05-28 20:21 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Plan Ahead

hexentotchen.livejournal.com - 2015-05-28 20:23 (UTC) - Expand

"Molotov cocktails?" Cosima suggested, a bit cheerily considering the topic. "Dirt simple, cheap, and there's enough stuff out there that if we threw a couple big ones into areas with a lot of rubble we could make some big fires. Only problem would be how to put the fires out before they reached us."

"Ooo, I like that plan," Raven said, grinning a little evilly. "Do we have enough booze? . . . Do we have any booze?"

"Boarding school dorms" Cosima said, and shrugged. "If we don't, TV has lied to me. Besides, does it have to be real booze,or can we use perfume and mouthwash and stuff?"

"I guess anything that'll burn. We could test it in small batches, maybe?"

"That'd help," Cosima nodded. "We don't want to waste a ton on testing, but we also don't want to make a bunch and find out they don't work."

Re: Plan Ahead

tigerundercover - 2015-05-29 01:47 (UTC) - Expand

"Putting out fires is probably where I'm most useful, in that regard," Elsa offered, tentatively. "I'd be slightly concerned about what might happen if I get carried away, but ice is a little easier to handle than wildfire. I think."

She... didn't really feel cold the same way other people did, so that one was a wild guess.

"You," Cosima informed her, "are a lifesaver. Like, literally. Could you make some kind of ice wall around the dorm before we start bombing things, or is that too much?"

"That... is a very good question." Elsa offered Cosima an apologetic little smile. "I suppose I could at least try to work small and move up from there. But if I wear myself out, that's it for fresh water for a while, too. I've never done anything on quite that scale before."

She hadn't quite made it to 'let it go' mode, yet.

Cosima pursed her lips. "So ... maybe that shouldn't be plan A," she decided. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to magic and stuff. I don't really know who can do what."

Re: Plan Ahead

iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com - 2015-05-29 01:46 (UTC) - Expand

Elsa ducked her head a little at that suggestion, but she couldn't deny, after hearing the voice on the other end of the radio, that things were getting dire. If the call was real... that sound on the other end didn't really say wonders for the possibility that the people on the other end might still be alive. And if it wasn't... The creatures didn't seem capable of setting a trap like that, but other people, who were hungry and desperate and who didn't care who they took down in order to get through this alive without having to go out there themselves...

"I guess there's a chance that the creatures will be susceptible to cold as much as anything else," she allowed, biting her lip. "I would need somebody to point me in the right direction, of course. I'm more a resource than a strategist, in this class, I'm afraid."

Raven nodded. "How big can you go? I know you had the, uh." Raven bit her lip, not sure how open Elsa was about what she'd done under the influence of Gaunt. "But that was sort of extraordinary circumstances."

"Fairly extraordinary," Elsa agreed, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I don't entirely know what my limits are. I've spent a lot of my life trying to keep myself from reaching them. I would probably have to start small, make whatever I do count and then work my way up from there."

... Probably no bears, though.

"Even just supplying water for everybody is more than I normally let myself do. That, at least, I know would be easy enough to manage."

"Small steps, then," Raven said. "We don't want to exhaust you when you're the one helping us with the water situation." She glanced around a little and lowered her voice. "If you ever want to practice, though, I know a thing or two about testing limits. I'd be happy to help."

Elsa bit her lip and then nodded a little, dropping her own voice in turn.

"If you're sure. I don't think I would ever feel comfortable doing anything like... what I did before... again." Creating life with her hands? Nope. No thanks. Not today. "But I am getting a little better, I think, at coming to terms with the idea that I'm not much good to anybody if I don't even know what I'm capable of."