trans_9 | (no subject)

The ship never ended. The farther Zuko went, the more it always seemed there was to go . . . and those was just the areas he could walk to freely.

He found himself in a short hallway today, with three wings. He'd been here once before, continued straight ahead, and found the medical bay, so this time he was prepared for the sudden chill that skipped his physical senses and raced right across his consciousness.

The only thing he could compare it to was what he'd felt at the Western Air Temple, when he had taken refuge there while his eye healed following the Agni Kai. He'd never seen a place that felt as lonely as it looked, but the air of the Western Air temple was merely one of sadness, regret. The aura of the Special Weapons division was distinctly more negative. Angrier. More evil.

It was hardly difficult to imagine that terrible things had happened there. It looked like the scene of a fight, if anyone had been fighting in a hospital - an evil hospital. Zuko picked his way around the overturned beds and damaged equipment until he made it to the Acquisitions door. He was just about to try to open it when something on the floor caught his eye.

A whistle. Blackened with soot, lying on the floor by an overturned bed, carved in the shape of a bison.

Zuko picked it up. He turned it over in his hand, brushed some of the soot away, and turned it over some more.

Then he clenched the whistle in his fist so tightly that the wood almost cracked.

"Where are you hiding him?" the scarred prince yelled ~~unto the heavens~~ at the ceiling. "Answer me, Stacy!"

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||Of whom are you inquiring?||

"The Avatar. Aang. I know this is his bison whistle. I know that means you have him!"

||Error.||

"What error?"

||Crew-mate Aang is listed on the active crew roster. Attempting to locate on ship: Error.||

"You don't even know where he is?"

||Crew-mate Aang is listed as on the active roster|| she repeats. ||No event of loss of life is recorded. No abduction from the ship is recorded. Yet I am unable to pinpoint his location.||

A hologram appears.

"Finally," says Andromeda. "She's had us doing diagnostics and repairs for ages. Please restate your inquiry. Stacy is having difficulty reconciling an error."

Zuko does not shriek! But he does jump back when Rommie. In a totally awesome and ninja-tastic way, of course.

"You again." He'd met her once before. You didn't forget women made of light very quickly. "Where is Aang?"

"Let me check the internal sensors and the ship manifest. I can't access anyone on the stasis roster, but--" She tilts her head slightly. "Odd. I can see why she's encountering an error..."

It's all a foreign dialect to Zuko. "What?"

"Aang is listed as an active crew-mate, like yourself and the others freely roaming the the ship. Yet, while the internal sensors can pinpoint where the others are--albeit intermittently, due to damage to them--they cannot pinpoint Aang. Stacy is incapable of postulating a theory as to why is this is occurring, but my best hypothesis would be that he is indeed on the ship, but in a place where Stacy's sensors are malfunctioning and unable to pick up on him, even intermittently."

"So, where in the ship? Open it up and let him out."

"That would be the problem. He's is on board the ship in an area where he is undetectable, likely trapped, and as he is undetectable and the ship is rather large, it's impossible to tell where he is to free him manually."

". . . great. That's a lot of help. Thanks."

Zuko points at the door behind her, the one that reads Acquisitions. "What's in that room?"

Another tilt of the head. "That information is classified, even from myself. The secondary AIs have yet to access the information Stacy has locked away from us, though not for lack of trying. However, that area is part of the sensor grid. If this Aang was in there, I would be able to detect him."

She was curious.

"Accessing his crew personnel file now to see what I can make of the information..."

Andromeda is infinitely more helpful than Stacy--or at least tries to be. It's difficult when even she is barred from pertinent data.

"I didn't ask if Aang was in there. I asked what was in there." Zuko points at the destruction. "More of this? Or something else important?"

Rommie may be more helpful, but Zuko's still kind of a jerk. It's a thing.

"Though I'm loathe to parrot back what Stacy often says, that information is classified. That means I'd like to know what's in the 'Aquisitions' room just as much as you."

Another head-tilt.

"This is alarming."

"What now?"

"His file has been wiped clean. Not empty, like many of yours were when you were first pod-popped. Something was once there, even if I can no longer access it, and now that information is gone."

"So . . . he's been here a long time?"

"For some time at least. This suggests that he's been hidden on purpose. That is...not promising."

Zuko breathes in, breathes out.

"I'll find him. I know you can't help with everything, but I know you'll help more than Stacy. I want a map of the ship, with the . . . the spaces you can't see. The ones where the Avatar might be."

She looks up the pertinent information. "I have access only to maps of areas you already have access to."

A pause.

"However, Stacy does have a duct system in place for the transport of breathable air that could possibly be used to get to locked areas. The tunnels are narrow but useable. It seems to lack any defenses that could harm someone climbing through it. If you can find one of the openings in the city or the Living Area, which have to exist for everyone to even be breathing, you can potentially travel to other areas in the ship. The difficulties would lie in finding a way back. You could wind up stranded."

"String, then. I've crawled through vents before. I said I'll find him, and I will."

"Leaving a trail might be your best option, yes. Be forewarned, you may receive Violations for your exploration, but you may be able to find him before you receive Punishment."

"It doesn't matter."

He has a purpose again. Nothing else matters.

"What else should I know?" Before he goes off to save the day and all?

"I'll make new information available if I can."

"Thank you."

And because he IS a prince, and he IS honorable, he bows.

"You've been helpful. I apologize for my impatience."

Small steps.