IC - 13 - Administrative Building - Virgil

[Mephistophilis]

Day 1
11th March 2189
23:40 Earth Central European Time
Barnard's Rest Colony, Titan

Virgil exits the Medical Centre, passing an immobile ARM vehicle, stationary in the middle of the corridor. He hurries to the first floor of the Administrative Building. All the offices in the complex are dark but the corridor lights flicker on as Virgil enters. He finds himself outside Kingsley's old office and tries the door, but it is locked.

[aine]

“CENTRAL, where is the location of Administrator Kingsley? Please can you open this door for me?” It was worth a try.

[Mephistophilis]

CENTRAL's smooth female voice says 'Hello Executive Officer Steinmann, I am afraid that I am not authorised to tell you Administrator Kingsley's current location.' There is the slightest of pauses, 'Administrator Kingsley has granted you authorisation to access his office.' The door clicks, as if it has been unlocked remotely.

[aine]

Virgil mutters something under his breath but he’s pleasantly surprised when the door clicks open. He pushes the door open and quietly steps inside, closing it behind him and looks around to see if there’s any sign that Kingsley has been there recently.

[Mephistophilis]

OOC,It's Kingsley's real office, I thought you were after the 'cargo'

Virgil enters the reception area outside Kingsley's old office. It looks the same as the last time he was here, empty desk with an intercom, black leather chairs, low tables with high end document readers and plates of mouldy looking pastries. The wooden door to Kingsley's office itself is closed.

OOC,Roll Listen

[aine]

Ooc,Yes, much more interesting than writing reports. It was my objective once the coast was clear. Also to finalise its export.

Virgil wrinkles hiss nose at the pastries wondering why they haven’t been cleared and pads over to the interior door.

Listen,500

[Mephistophilis]

Listening at the door for a moment, it seems silent inside Kingsley's office. Trying the handle and finding it locked, Virgil again asks CENTRAL to unlock the door and then he enters Kingsley's office.

At first glance, everything seems as he had left it, wooden desk, black leather chair, slightly vulgar antiquities and expensive collector's items.

However, something feels wrong. Virgil can't put his finger on it, the atmosphere maybe, but he feels something tightening in the pit of his stomach.

OOC,Spot Hidden please

[aine]

Virgil looks around uneasily.

Spot hidden,50 0!

And sniffs the air, wondering what it could be that’s making him so edgy. He hopes the freezer hasn’t packed up and let the body start to rot.

[Mephistophilis]

Virgil smells the air, it is crisp and cold. Looking around Kingsley's office he sees several vents set into the walls at the boundary with the ceiling. Presumably these allow gas exchange.

Virgil notices that one of them, towards the rear of the room, appears wide open, the usual flap vent and fan unit are missing, exposing the open ventilation duct.

[aine]

Virgil feels a deep foreboding; it looks like someone has made an unauthorised entry and if Kingsley’s relics and antiques are all undisturbed that can only mean one thing.
He makes his way to the freezer to check that the cargo has not been tampered with.

[Mephistophilis]

Slowly walking around Kingsley's desk, Virgil feels his hackles rise and that discomfort in his stomach spreads to his chest. As soon as he sees the freezer unit he gets a tightness in his throat.

The door is wide open, a massive dent on the inside and the hinges buckled. Although the thick power cables still connect it to the wall, there is none of the misting he saw last time he was here and he cannot feel any coldness. Most strikingly, whatever it was that was in the freezer previously is no longer there.

[aine]

Virgil walks over and looks into the empty freezer as if that might change what he’s seeing. That someone has stolen the body is the obvious answer but deep down in his churning gut Virgil feels there is another reason for the large dent, the lack of alien and the open vent.
Against his own will, his heart pounding and barely able to breath, Virgil is compelled to walk over to the vent and examine it closely to see if anything bears out his horrible theory.

Spot hidden,50 0

[Mephistophilis]

Looking inside the freezer Virgil notices a viscous looking white residue. The freezer door is smashed up and flipping open the control panel reveals only a black display. Turning to the vent he tries to look for evidence of what has happened. The vents are actually quite high up, Virgil can see the fan and vent flaps strewn across the floor, it is difficult to know if they were pushed out or pulled off. There might be some scratching around the outside of the vent itself, but it is difficult to say from this angle.

OOC,You could push that failed roll by jumping up to look at the vent. That would be easier than it sounds since the gravity is low on Titan. It would need a successful Low/Zero G roll but you could have a bonus die for removing weighted boots and another bonus die for taking off your weighted clothes (so that's two bonus dice for doing it in your underwear). Consequences of a fail would be crashing into the vent and making a big noise.

[aine]

Virgil looks around for a table or similar to push under the vent that he can climb onto first. He takes his shoes off but he certainly is not galavanting around in his underwear.

Zero-G,20 0

He aims to grab hold of the vent edge and pull himself up to have a look inside it.

ooc,I have a bad feeling about this. (Having watched [i]Alien.[/i]

[Mephistophilis]

Having pushed along a small side table Virgil takes off the weighted boots that help to keep him rooted to the floor in the low gravity. Stepping onto the table he launches himself up towards the vent and grabs it easily. He finds that even in the weighted clothing he is able to hang by one hand from the vent and examine the opening.

As he suspected, the outside of the vent is scratched and dented while the inside is relatively smooth and unmarked. This suggests to Virgil that someone or something gripped the vent from the outside in order to remove the fan and flaps.

Virgil stares into the ducting, noting a trail of the white viscous substance he saw in the freezer. As he hangs there Virgil hears a strange noise echoing through the vent, a sort of clicking sound, three clicks in rapid succession.

OOC,Sanity roll 1/1d3

[aine]

The clicking doesn’t do anything for Virgo’s nerves.

Sanity,500 1

It looks like the alien in the freezer wasn’t dead after all, which is barely possible considering its wounds. It has then escaped into the vent and is who-knows-where in the air conditioning system of Bernards Rest.
Things are not looking good; and not sounding too good either.

Virgil drops quickly to the desk, determined to remove himself quickly from any possible alien that may be hiding in the vent.

[Mephistophilis]

Dropping gracefully to the desk, Virgil then climbs back onto the floor and grabs his boots.

He doesn't hear anything further.

[aine]

Virgil puts his boots back on and looks round the office one last time. Then he has a thought and shuts the freezer lid. That will hopefully preserve the scraping of white ichor in there should someone wish to analyse it later.
“CENTRAL, lock the office door after me. Put your highest security on it; no one should be allowed in unless Administrator Kingsley or I know about it.”
He’s rather doubtful whether the AI will comply but it’s the best he can do.

Deleted text,He then returns to his room to prepare his luggage for a swift departure, should it be necessary; he also retrieved his concealed gun and puts it in his jacket pocket. He looks at his watch: is it time to meet the others or has he time to rest first. He also looks around his room to see how big the air conditioning vent is...

[Mephistophilis]

Trying the door handle, Virgil finds it is locked again.

OOC,Sorry, had to amend your post a bit. Virgil's not getting out that easily I'm afraid

[aine]

“CENTRAL, open the door!” Virgil barks. If there’s no answer he tries contacting Marshall Favre. “Marshall? Are you there?” He curses under his breath.

Ooc,:twisted: