COME AND KEEP YOUR COMRADE WARM

[maskormods]

WHO: The kidnapped imPorts that have signed up HERE.
WHERE: Unknown.
WHEN: January 20th - until they have been ICly rescued OR February 5th.
WHAT: The imPorts have been kidnapped! Try not to bite each other's heads off in captivity, kids.
WARNINGS: Potential violence, death. Please let us know if this needs to be updated.



When the kidnapped imPorts come to, they'll find themselves disoriented as if they've been drugged, aching from the callous way they were simply thrown into their shared cell, and limbs leaden with the residual effects of whatever it is running through their systems. Here, there's no superhealing to help accelerate their recovery period, no incredible powers of perception, no seventh sense alerting them of their surroundings. Here, they are as powerless as any other human, and at the expense of those that wish them harm.

The first thing they will notice is their clothing. Any imPort with simple, fabric clothing will still be in the clothing they were abducted in, but any imPort who had been previously clothed in anything containing more metal than a small button or a small zipper will find themselves in dull grey scrubs, loose and formless. Once they look up from themselves, they will see the state of their cell.

All kidnapped imPorts - over a whopping fifty - will be in the same cell, one that is slightly too small for such a high density of bodies. Both the floor and the walls are made of wide, reinforced metal plates, and while the imPorts may attempt to scrabble at the screws, they will find no purchase, and will be left with nothing more than bloodied fingers. At first, it appears that they have been provided with nothing more than a large, metal room, but they will soon find that that is not quite the case. Within the deep panels of the walls are full oxygen tanks with corresponding attachments that fit over the nose and mouth. ImPorts may wish to use this more than they would originally expect due to the paltry latrines they have been fitted with: in the back right corner of the wall, there's a slightly smaller room (albeit one without a door; their captors care little for their sense of privacy) with little more than a grate to piss in, and three buckets kept on a ledge with an adjoining door just big enough for the bucket.

Once they look up, they will see nothing more than more dreary metal, save for one inconspicuous presence just above the door in the form of an intercom. It seems that the guards are present to issue whatever information they believe the imPorts need to know so, one may wonder, why bother with an intercom in such an enclosed space? The answer comes soon enough when a calm, clear voice speaks through it:

"Good day, imPorts. I am aware that you have grown accustomed to more grandiose accommodations, but I encourage you to make yourselves comfortable for your lengthy stay.

I am called LACKEY. I brought you here. I advise against escape attempts. You won't like what's out there."

NOTE: ImPorts may address or attempt to communicate with LACKEY if they/players so choose; please indicate any thread directed to LACKEY by commenting with a link to your thread HERE. LACKEY will otherwise be silent unless it has something necessary to say.

Outside the door, they will always see at least one guard standing at the ready. He will answer their confused cries once, and only once:

"You are now property of the USSR," he will inform them in surprisingly excellent English, only a touch of a Russian accent making its way through. "You have been secured in our space shuttle. If you and your American comrades cooperate, no harm will come to you. Do not anticipate rescue; the Americans do not have the adequate technology to pursue our shuttle."

After that, the imPorts may cry and scream until their throats are hoarse, but the rotating guards won't say a word, merely stare stonily in front of themselves, as impassive as if they were watching paint dry instead of hearing the cries of their captors. Three times a day, food that the imPorts may recognize to be similar to what they were served at NASA's HQ will be shoved through a slim hole in the door: foods that have been freeze dried and then rehydrated, and foods that are simply served dry will heavily dominate their diet. Some imPorts may greedily take more than their share, but this is immaterial to their captors; if one of the imPorts go hungry for days at a time, it is none of their concern.

With little to do but rail at the walls and talk amongst each other, however, the imPorts will be able to pay very close attention to their surroundings. They will receive the following hints as to where they are being kept:

1) On the third guard shift on their second day, they will notice that their guard's uniform is strangely damp. He will shift uncomfortably in his uniform, and as he pauses to wring out the bottom of his pant leg, he will mutter to himself: "Ach, соленый"

2) In the middle of the night on the first day, they will feel a rumbling underneath them that feels like the murmuring of a strained engine, and with it, will feel a subtle surge of movement.

3) By the fourth day, they may overhear two guards outside their cell communicating in sharp whispers, one appearing to be angrily trying to pull together the other, who is experiencing claustrophobia and complaining about the length of their shifts, blaming imPorts for the fact they have to be stuck here for so long. He will be silenced quickly by his companion guard.

Comments

After Some Time

[timecapture]

[Max has been doing her best to look out for everyone - not that she really thinks she's helping. After all, empathy only gets so far, and that's all she has, right now. So when she sees Clara doing something that actually looks useful? Well, of course she wants to help.]

What are you doing?

[justimprobable]

Listening for the engines.

[A reasonable enough answer.]

[timecapture]

Why? What's wrong with the engines?

[Because Max knows next to nothing about this stuff. Okay, so it's Actually nothing, but hey, she's trying, dammit.]

[justimprobable]

[Good thing Clara knows at least one or two somethings, then.]

What's wrong is that that I can't hear any.

[timecapture]

Huh.

[Max crouches by Clara, putting her ear to the floor.]

So what's that mean?

[justimprobable]

[Clara's eyes flick around, landing on the door, and she drops her voice.]

I don't think we're in space.

[timecapture]

[Max lowers her voice when Clara does.]

I figured. If there's one thing I've learned here, it's that governments are full of shit.

So where are we, if not space?

[justimprobable]

Still on Earth, I'd wager. Maybe they told us we were in space so we'd assume we had no means of escape. Think about it, that's the only piece of specific information they gave us.

[timecapture]

You're right.

But then, where are we on Earth? Russia?

[That seems the most likely guess, anyway.]

[justimprobable]

It's possible. The country's big enough to hide fifty people easily, for a long time.

[timecapture]

No kidding. But where exactly would they be keeping us?

[justimprobable]

[She goes distant again, looking around the room as though she's trying to read something off its walls.]

If the oxygen tanks aren't just decoration... Max, where would you need supplemental oxygen if not in space?

[timecapture]

Underground? High in the mountains? Underwater?

[justimprobable]

Bingo. And I bet we can narrow it down even further. If we needed oxygen due to altitude we would already be feeling it, unless there was the chance for decompression. That would be possible in an airplane, but we'd notice the air pressure. Our ears would tell us what we needed to know about that.

[timecapture]

True. My ears haven't popped all that much since I got here.

[Not that she's noticed, anyway.]

So, it's more likely that we're either underground, or underwater, then. How do we tell which is which?

[justimprobable]

We pay attention.

[She taps the floor with her fingernail. From the look on her face, she's enjoying this a bit too much.]

Something made us move. If we were in an underground chamber, that wouldn't be possible.

[timecapture]

So... underwater?

[If that's the case, how the hell are they going to get out of this?]

But what if technology here lets them do just that? What if this is an underground train or something? Well, not a train, but. You know.

[They have flying cars; why not?]

[justimprobable]

If they went to all the trouble to build underground transportation of this magnitude, then they'd have to be taking us somewhere, otherwise it wouldn't make sense. But why would someone go to the trouble to build an underground facility that could only be accessed by an underground train? That seems tedious and costly, they'd be much more likely to just use direct-access elevators.

[Doctor Oswald is in and she can't shut up.]

'Course, maybe they are taking us somewhere. Maybe we're not just being held as some sort of ransom or collateral.

[timecapture]

Good point. But wouldn't they consider moving us around a worthwhile investment? What if they plan on taking more?

[Which they almost certainly do.]

It makes sense. If they keep us in the same place, it would increase our chances of being found.

[justimprobable]

True, but the same stands if they were moving us around in any sort of a closed area. A train needs a track, and a car needs a road, and both of those can be followed.

[timecapture]

So we're sort of... free-floating?

[Not really, but her point's made.]

[justimprobable]

Either moving about freely, or not at all. I haven't detected another movement since the first, so it could be that it was simply created by something inside the facility, some kind of machinery... [She tries to think of buildings that might have heavy, large-scale equipment in them, but it's too vague. There are too many thoughts in her head. She needs to narrow it down, but she doesn't know how.] Oh, I wish the Doctor was here. There's not enough to put it all together, but I can't see anything I've overlooked.

[timecapture]

I wish he were here, too.

[Because if anyone would know what to do, it's him.]

I'm going to try and contact people on the network later. Here's hoping he'll respond.

[She's pretty confident he will, but he could be planning something and not paying attention.]

[justimprobable]

I'm sure he will. He's probably all over this already, halfway to tracking us down.

[She hopes.]

[timecapture]

Won't he be mad, though?

[She's heard things about the Doctor when he gets angry, and none of them are good.]