Night 48: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[inherited]

[from here]

Another hallway, which meant that he needed to slow his steps to a jog and turn on his flashlight. His light shifted over the walls quickly, up, down, around him, and even toward the floor, as if little black heads with yellow beady eyes would suddenly pop out and attack him. Though he didn't have any idea what most of the monsters looked like here, Riku doubted that he would see anything like the heartless. They may have the Darkness to change Kairi completely, but it didn't seem like the type of thing they would use against their patients. Making them into heartless would only be useful in the situations where Nobodies might be involved. Some people here might be strong in heart, much like Sora had been, much like Kairi had been, but he doubted that would be the intended result of their experiments. No, they were probably going for something else.

But what?

Riku shook his head uncertainly before he picked up his pace again. Nothing seemed to be clear. Not even the Darkness of this place seemed like that Darkness, even as he tried to see if it was the same way. But with every aspect of him feeling relatively weaker, it was no surprise he couldn't really check, couldn't really differentiate to tell for certain. He also knew there was a possibility that his senses were weakened. That would slow him down more, but they didn't bother to remove his experience or knowledge. Those were still things Riku pocketed and kept. They were what would help him help his friends.

[to here]

Comments

[hes-deadjim.livejournal.com]

McCoy shook his head. "No, I'm not." They lacked information, which meant standing around just waiting and hoping that she would return was logical. Charging off without further details didn't make sense to Spock, but it was also irresponsible in his eyes. It was a clear cry for help. They had to take an active role here.

Was it just him or was Spock in one of those moods right now? Not that a Vulcan could have 'moods', of course not, but Spock obviously had some. There were days when he'd be surprisingly patient or indulgent, or just unmoved by anything short of a red alert. Even then, Spock just wasn't the type to go batting an eye when he had phaser fire going around those pointed ears of his.

Then there were some days where he'd shut someone down lightning fast with his logic, where he wouldn't tolerate anything. And right now?

Right now, he was being downright inscrutable. Spock hadn't actually agreed or disagreed with him yet, just pointed out a wrench in his suggestion so far. He hadn't reprimanded him for speaking out of turn either. Instead, he was asking what he'd have them do with that problem in mind. It felt like he was given some leeway here. He just wasn't sure how far that went, but if he could convince Spock to go on, maybe they could help that woman and her friend.

McCoy went on cautiously.

"We don't know when or if that woman will get the chance to make another broadcast," he pointed out. "Standing around waiting won't get us anywhere. At least if we're moving, exploring, we might have a higher chance of finding him on our own before she does."

He added, appealing to that logic of his; "And we can broaden our knowledge of the grounds. We'll understand more about the layout in the process." Knowing Spock, he'd had the entire institute already mapped out by now, making that point null, but McCoy only had a very limited map himself to go on, and no photographic memory either for it. "Whatever clues she gives us won't mean a thing if we don't know what it refers to."

Why she'd have to resort to clues in the first place when she seemed to badly need help from the patients, instead of just saying it was a good question. Maybe she was afraid the Head Doctor would hear it, use it to find her. But if they could figure it out, why not the Head Doctor?

What was going on anyway? McCoy had assumed that this was all the work of a unified group of lifeforms, if not just one incredibly powerful one, but it sounded like there was obviously a dissenting group.

[dual-worlds.livejournal.com]

It was true they needed to broaden their knowledge concerning the facility's layout. While Spock had certainly seen patient-made drawings of the area, there was only one way to verify their authenticity. Not only that, but they were still in need of more supplies. Consequently, Spock was not opposed to moving on until they heard any more messages from over the radio. That was far more efficient than remaining in one place, and it would increase their chances of doing something productive regardless of whether they succeeded in locating the injured man.

The possibility that this was a trap was still not out of the question, of course, which meant they would also need to go about this cautiously.

"He may be trapped in one of the higher floors of the building," Spock said. "Particularly if the administrative offices are located there, as I suspect they are." Judging from the messages they had heard, it sounded as though the staff had engaged him in some way. Unless he had managed to escape outside on his own, he was likely on an upper floor.

"Perhaps it would be best to enter the second floor again and continue searching for useful areas until we hear another message," the Vulcan quietly added.

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