Participants:
| Scene Title | Damnit Hector… |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Abigail brings a note she received in the last shipment to Raith, a note that speaks not of good things. |
| Date | January 13, 2011 |
Pollepel Island - Raith's Corner
Thump, thump, thump.
That's the hello that Raith is granted when Abigail tracks him down to where he's hiding in the castle. Tucked away in his hidey hole of an office, Abigail's got a envelope in hand, her name scrawled across it in writing. The thumping wasn't from her hands but from the foot of the crutches that her hand pins the letter to, that she used to knock on the door.
"Raith, I got something for you" Waiting to see if the man is decent or doing something indecent in his office. "Something came on the boat that you need to know about before I toss it to the rest of the network" Her accent normally colors words, but the broken nose, courtesy of her late night ketel fueled sparring with Nora makes for a far more nasally southern inflection. "You there or am I talking to a wall or some mice?"
"Yes, yes, and yes." Three for three. That's pretty good, Abby. The door opens and Raith appears in its frame, plenty decent and rubbing his eyes, however briefly. It's plain that he was catching up on important work. Namely, he was catching a nap. "But now, you're just talking to me," the ex-spy adds, finishing with his eyes and focusing fully on Abigail. "Qu'est-ce se passe, bébé? What's up?"
"My irritation" Raccoon eyes looking over a splint on her nose regards the man named Raith and her apparent summoning of him from a nap. "Message came in on the boats, It didn't get to me till now" She was in the infimrary sleeping off a hangover and a broken nose. WHich might explain her above usual grumpiness. "The robots we intercepted, they're already out. Cardinal says they're in midtown already, roaming." Leaning to one side, she lifts a hand, offering the white envelope to raith.
A-
Get msg to Jen. Steel's work loose in mid. They are adapting compass tech into his work. Keep ppl away from mid.
-bird"
Admittedly, Raith was concealing any shock he felt upon seeing Abby in a state of beaten-up. And really, it wasn't hard. They lead dangerous lives, and news travels fast on Pollepel. What he doesn't manage to conceal any shock at is the mention of robots, if only because, unlike most people, the old soldier maintains very specific associations with the word.
When the envelope is offered, he snatches it away, hurriedly opens it up and begins pouring over the contents immediately. Few notes he's ever read in his life have carried news as bad as this. "Do we have confirmation on this?" is all Raith can think to ask, even though he's sure that the intel is accurate. "Please, please tell me we can't confirm this."
The news of Abby thrown from a horse doesn't account for the nose. The rumor mill accounted for the ankle and the way she favour one side, not the nose. "It's from Richard. means likely that one of his people ran across one of them. Survived to tell the tale. He knows about the compasses, he's the one I took the broken one to, to see if one of his people could fix it. I would have it working right now but Jonas was killed"
And Jonas was the key to it. "I can head to the mainland and find out from him, I've been staying in the ruins as it is, at the library when I'm in town, I haven't seen them, so if they're there, it's been the last two weeks or so they've been deployed if what he says there is true."
And if it is… "Terminal might be…" She'll leave that for him to finish.
"I don't want to think about that." Raith is pointed and direct with his reply, sloppily folding the note back up and stuffing it into the envelope from whence it came. "Shit's fucked up enough without it. Goddamn robots…." There's no follow-up, not immediately. That's the surest sign that Raith has been spooked, and spooked badly, because he always has a follow up. "We need to be careful with this. People will freak right the fuck out when they hear."
"I'm sorry, no no you need to think about that and so do others because if there's enough of the individuals who are like me down there, that thing is going to find them if they decide to send it down into the tunnels. It's not like a human, it can get lost and keep going down there, so not thinking about it isn't an option" Abigail snaps at raith, fingers tightening around the handles of her crutches.
"It needs to go to the council and people need to stay away from midtown. Period. Till we can confirm if this is real or whether it's just rumor that Richards come across. I can get off the island, send him a text and find out, it's that easy. But the council should be told in the least and somehow, a message gotten down to the Terminal."
If the mood to stare down Abby strikes Raith, he doesn't dwell on it. Especially since there are other things to dwell on that are, in his mind, more important. "You figured out how you're going to tell them," he asks, "Without turning them into a bunch of panicky, flailing rodeo clowns?"
"I do it without Cat there"
Abigail's made a joke.
Maybe.
There is a certain sound that people make. They make it when they know they are about to laugh when they shouldn't, and they almost manage to stop themselves. A strangled, pre-matured killed 'snerk' that comes from the back of the throat. When Abigail makes her reply known to the world, that is exactly the sound that Raith makes. Just before he moves on to business. "Does Benjamin know, yet?"
"He's not here, he's off the Island. You're the only one. I brought it here first, and if you tell me that it stays with you Raith Jensen, I will have no compunction kicking you in the arse and your man bits with my hurt foot because the last time that happened, Susan got to run free with her little cockamamie plan that landed us here"
Did he just almost laugh? Really?
Abigail reaches up, scratch gently at where tape meets nose, try not to wince as irritation and pain that flares from doing that.
"Bring it to the council," is all Raith has to say, "Whatever you all decide to tell people is what we'll tell people. But mark my words. You tell people there are robots in Midtown that can unerring pinpoint the Evolved, and you may as well be shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater. You will not be able to control the situation. Just remember that.
"If there's nothing else, I have to start figuring out an evac plan for the Terminal, in the event we need one." It's an abrupt attempt to draw the conversation to a close. It doesn't help that the tone of voice Raith uses suggests less that he feels they might need a plan, and more that he feels they might need one today.
"There's a teleporter somewhere, her name is Nelly. Can probably use her to help. I'll try and hobble my way into town and see what Richard can tell me, if they're there all the time, how many and what they look like" Abigail purses her lips, turning away from Raith and his door so that she can start thumping her way back, see if she can't find other council members on the island. "I'll make sure you know what the council decides to do with regards to letting everyone know, and that you're already working on an evacuation plan"
Once again, Raith has little to add aside from, "Thank you." The less he speaks, the more dire the situation.
"Whatever Jensen" An uncommon word from the EMT. But it's tossed over her shoulder to Raith. No love lost on Raith by the former healer. Not in the least.
No reply. The door closes, and Raith retreats to the mess surrounding the bed in the room that belongs to him only until he leaves. Then, it will belong to someone else. And then maybe to nobody. It won't matter. Evac plan? Raith knows exactly what they're up against: There is no evac plan. There might never be one.
"Dammit, Hector…."