Foodplot: Parte Uno [Closed]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

After the 'bitching about Stacy' session finally reached a head, Sakura and Howard decided to actually do something about all the questions they had about their spacefaring fleshy home. Granted, they couldn't really find anything out about the Ohm on their own, and the Daligig were Right Out, so that left exploring the ship itself.

Time for them to find out what it is that they're putting in their bodies.

They drew on a few people they trust, or at least have figured out well enough to not distrust (more than they usually do), and now they're gathered at the mess hall at some awkward hour when no one is there to eat. They've brought Kanoe Zouichi (specialties: stuff going boom and wrangling Howard into being cooperative) and Ian Chesterton (specialties: hot cocoa, also science). And Ian's brought Barbara Wright (specialties: ??? and pissing Howard off).

Howard's tucking away at a tray of slop, figuring that if they're going to find anything that puts them off eating food forever, he might as well enjoy sweet, delicious ignorance now.

Comments

[first_in_time]

"No, thank you." Barbara was glad that she wasn't the only one Howard snorted at and talked down to. She still wasn't used to the idea of a teenager being so...forceful and angry.

"You should have learnt a long time ago that there's no such thing as impossible," she told Ian with a light smile. After everything they'd been through, it was slightly surprising that he still insisted that everything followed his science and that was the end of it.

Though Zouichi's way of thinking was being labeled paranoia, Barbara thought that it was, in a sense, practical thinking should the very worst happen. But she kept quiet for the moment.

[splendid_roman]

Ian frowned at Howard for mentioning the tape, but Barbara was quite capable of not watching it on her own.

Given the general atmosphere that had gathered over the group, Ian tried to wrench it back to the topic of food. "I could tell you the chemical composition of this," he said, nodding in the direction of the stuff Howard had been eating. "But that's not that helpful in the long run."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Didn't think so," he says to Barbara, with just a trace of empathy in his voice. Not too much or people will start to think he's friendly! "I didn't watch it either."

He shrugs at Sakura. "I was busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off during that mess. If so, they cleaned this place up good."

He pushes his tray towards Ian. "It's different for everyone, based on your needs. Like we get paste, and Zouichi here gets half a glass of water, and my cat gets something that smells like spam. And Sampire gets blood. Whose blood, we got no idea." Howard shakes his head and walks his fork across the table like a little person distractedly. "The question isn't really what it is, it's where she's getting all the material for it."

[encourage]

"What's the theory some Earth scientist had? Matter is neither created nor destroyed?" She didn't mention how her mind went to their waste products, but... "The ship operates on some version of finite resources. Everything we've encountered hasn't indicated otherwise. Something controls it, something regulates it, and some portion of it gets turned into the appropriate nutrients to sustain all of us, no matter our particular needs."

She stood up, stepping back over the bench and starting to pace.

"Where is she getting the materials, and what regulates that supply? Before even worrying if it stops -- can we see about making sure it doesn't?"

She paused, looking at the gathered group, then over to Zouichi in particular. "This ship is enormous. We have access to very little of it, for no good reason aside from protocols left in place from the Warden or the Daligig that put her in place. Stacy can get us in to the things we should know more about to survive, thrive, and then do whatever it is we need to do for this whole damn prophetic war in the first place."

The anger that was rising didn't entirely fit the cause, and it wasn't entirely caused by anything directly involved in this situation. Sakura went back to pacing, unable to hold still right then.

[zouichi]

Zouichi didn't really feel anger at the moment, just cynicism. He wasn't personally invested in the war -- in fact, after meeting the Daligig, he'd concluded it was likely that they were simply fighting for what was currently the lesser of two evils. One was bent on destroying worlds. The other they knew little about, save that they were willing to maim or murder their allies if they didn't toe the line. Besides, who was to say the Daligig hadn't started this face-off?

And of course the ship had been an enemy since day one.

But he was growing a little impatient. "So let's find out what this source is. That is why we're here, isn't it?" Unless they'd invited him here to exchange complaints, of course, and he had plenty of those waiting in the wings.

[first_in_time]

Silently, Barbara watched Sakura pace. She couldn't really understand why she was becoming so angry.

"Where would we start?" she asked Zouichi eventually. "And how? Do we need to pull things a part or break into some place?" They might need equipment if that were the case.

[splendid_roman]

"With some equipment," Ian pointed out to Howard, but that didn't stop him from scooping out some of the paste with his finger and sniffing it.

"You're right." He smiled at Sakura. "Although it's energy that can't be created or destroyed. But perhaps the food is some output from Stacy. We drink milk from cows, perhaps this is Stacy's equivalent.

/wrap thread!

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"What kind of equipment? Because if it's breaking in, I'm all set." He pats his backpack and slings it over his shoulder, gesturing with two fingers forward. "That way!"

Then he makes a face. "God, just when I thought we couldn't get grosser than cannibalism, Ian busts out that."