Re: Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Round One: The Pacific Spire]
08-04-2012, 12:27 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.
"So... what do the reports say?"
"Well, I don't quite know how to explain this sir, it is all rather unorthodox?"
"Re... Really?"
On the penultimate floor of the Spire, is one of the higher leveled offices. Unlike the lower, constantly fighting and backstabbing levels, the dudes up here have the opposite problem. Things are too easy. For better or for worse, the people up there don't really bicker with each other, partially because unlike the rented office space below, the upper floors were all hired by the same body that owned the Spire. It didn't really feel right. As a result, unlike the various lower floors who let out their pent up aggression with wanton destruction, the workers here had to settle for running bootlegged Half-Life.
So when the head of the floor got news that Something Bad had happened he was pretty psyched.
"I'm afraid so Sir Bradley, it seems that there is an 80% chance that the elevator system has been disrupted partially thanks to our uhm... <font size="2">latest-experiment."
"Are you joshing with me Krieger?" Large scale error was also something unfamiliar to the higher floors.
"I'm afraid not sir, according to our scanners we may have accidentally broken reality."
"That... is... Hm."
Sir Bradley stood up from his Head of the Floor chair and scratched his perfectly grizzled chin.
"Alright, I'd like to check these elevator reports myself if you don't mind. I don't want to doubt you or anything it's just... wow."
"It is a lot to take in Sir. i understand."
As those scientists were getting out of their comfort zone and seeing what was up with the elevator system, Elise and Blake were seeing this anomaly firsthand. The two were rather powerless to stop the elevator's continued movement upward despite their various button presses. Just as Blake was about to whip out another bottle of magic, it stopped.
"Well that was unexpected..." Blake removed his hand from his bag and instead joined Elise by the door.
She grunted a bit as he joined her in trying to open the elevator door before ending her fruitless effort. "It won't budge."
She looked around the elevator and noticed the panel at the top, the emergency exit.
"Help me get that open."
Blake nodded and stood under the panel. He clasped his hands together as a makeshift step for Elise to climb. While he hadn't ever done it himself, he'd seen it on T.V. and he was sure he could manage it. After a while he noticed that Elise wasn't going for the boost.
Noticing Blake's awkward and expectant pose, she coughed before saying, "Uhm... I meant with magic?"
"Ah, that makes sense." Blake began to dig into his bag for a bottle with some appropriate magic while trying to save face. "Sorry, I saw on T.V. this one time and I'm not really used to using magic, I just sort of make it." He finally found an appropriate bottle, a greenish-turquoise-skyblue-white mixture usually attributed to wind, "I haven't really used magic since college... I've got a knack for it though!"
Taking a small sip of the magic, he shot out a blast of wind and blew the panel far far away into the darkness above. While the panel made a small clang as it was released from the elevator, it didn't seem to make another noise as it flew up the shaft.
"Well that's weird..."
"Yea, I thought we were closer to the top but it's pitch black."
"Are you sure that this is a good idea? Couldn't we just wait around and hope that this blows over or something?"
"I don't think that will work... we need to get out. Do you have a rope or some other trick that can help us get up?"
Let me see, I grabbed a lot of stuff, didn't really see wha- here we go!" Blake produced a long coil and demonstrated it's sturdiness by pulling on both ends.
"That'll do." Elise grabbed the coil, her crossbow, and an arrow, and tied the coil the the end of the arrow. She shot upwards, hoping that the arrow would hit something higher in the shaft or more optimistically, outside.
Without a sound, the arrow seemed to hit something solid, as the rope stopped uncoiling. Elise and Blake pulled down on the rope, but it didn't seem to budge.
"You think that it can take our weight?"
"It should." Without another word, Elise began to climb up the shaft, leaving Blake alone in the elevator.
He wasn't really all that pumped to climb up the shaft, but he was less pumped to look like a wimp. Against all of his internal logic, he grabbed the coil and began to climb up.
At first, it was pretty pathetic.
Climbing rope was never really his forte, and as a result, it was a slow ascension that Blake did his hardest to endure. After he finally made it out of the elevator, and into the shaft, he noticed that something felt... off. However, as whatever it was made climbing the rope easier, Blake opted not to think about it.
Higher up, Elise had realized why the climb up got easier. The coil maintained it's straight course upward, until it suddenly didn't. She looked up and suddenly the rope bent. Elise didn't really have a response to this.
As Blake finally caught up to her, he wondered why she had stopped. Then he looked at the bent rope. "Oh."
===
"Ahem."
After confirming the information as accurate, or to be specific, 80% accurate, Sir Bradley was pumped. Rallying his office up, and raising their spirits with the promise of a SCIENCE EXPEDITION into the physics warped elevator shaft, the various, bored, frustrated workers who were blissfully unaware of the situation downstairs (and had obviously never read any horror stories) were suiting up for SCIENCE.
All except for Krieger, who wasn't sure that this was the best course of action.
"Oh Krieger, calm down! It's good for morale!"
"I'm just confused at where all of this came from!"
"Oh I knew this day would come."
"That doesn-"
"Shh, Krieger, do you hear that?" Sir Bradley clutched his diminutive assistant close to his perfect chin and pointed to the group of nerds that were putting on and looking over their new 'SCIENCE' equipment (the armor and weapons all had 'SCIENCE' written on them in bold, red, letters), smiling, and even giving each other high-fives, something that was almost unheard of in the office, except on Tournament Sunday's.
"That, my fine assistant, is the most excited our fellow workers have been in years! We are going to look at this rupture in reality or whatever it is."
"But that's the thing, what if it isn't? What if we are wrong? What if it is something else, something worse?"
"Oh come now, at 80%? If the most likely solution that reality broke, I really doubt that the other 20% is something worse. The odds are in our favor! No suit up with the rest of us, we've got some broken reality to explore."
Sir Bradley stood and exclaimed, "Last ones to suit up have to carry the scanning equipment!"</font>
"So... what do the reports say?"
"Well, I don't quite know how to explain this sir, it is all rather unorthodox?"
"Re... Really?"
On the penultimate floor of the Spire, is one of the higher leveled offices. Unlike the lower, constantly fighting and backstabbing levels, the dudes up here have the opposite problem. Things are too easy. For better or for worse, the people up there don't really bicker with each other, partially because unlike the rented office space below, the upper floors were all hired by the same body that owned the Spire. It didn't really feel right. As a result, unlike the various lower floors who let out their pent up aggression with wanton destruction, the workers here had to settle for running bootlegged Half-Life.
So when the head of the floor got news that Something Bad had happened he was pretty psyched.
"I'm afraid so Sir Bradley, it seems that there is an 80% chance that the elevator system has been disrupted partially thanks to our uhm... <font size="2">latest-experiment."
"Are you joshing with me Krieger?" Large scale error was also something unfamiliar to the higher floors.
"I'm afraid not sir, according to our scanners we may have accidentally broken reality."
"That... is... Hm."
Sir Bradley stood up from his Head of the Floor chair and scratched his perfectly grizzled chin.
"Alright, I'd like to check these elevator reports myself if you don't mind. I don't want to doubt you or anything it's just... wow."
"It is a lot to take in Sir. i understand."
As those scientists were getting out of their comfort zone and seeing what was up with the elevator system, Elise and Blake were seeing this anomaly firsthand. The two were rather powerless to stop the elevator's continued movement upward despite their various button presses. Just as Blake was about to whip out another bottle of magic, it stopped.
"Well that was unexpected..." Blake removed his hand from his bag and instead joined Elise by the door.
She grunted a bit as he joined her in trying to open the elevator door before ending her fruitless effort. "It won't budge."
She looked around the elevator and noticed the panel at the top, the emergency exit.
"Help me get that open."
Blake nodded and stood under the panel. He clasped his hands together as a makeshift step for Elise to climb. While he hadn't ever done it himself, he'd seen it on T.V. and he was sure he could manage it. After a while he noticed that Elise wasn't going for the boost.
Noticing Blake's awkward and expectant pose, she coughed before saying, "Uhm... I meant with magic?"
"Ah, that makes sense." Blake began to dig into his bag for a bottle with some appropriate magic while trying to save face. "Sorry, I saw on T.V. this one time and I'm not really used to using magic, I just sort of make it." He finally found an appropriate bottle, a greenish-turquoise-skyblue-white mixture usually attributed to wind, "I haven't really used magic since college... I've got a knack for it though!"
Taking a small sip of the magic, he shot out a blast of wind and blew the panel far far away into the darkness above. While the panel made a small clang as it was released from the elevator, it didn't seem to make another noise as it flew up the shaft.
"Well that's weird..."
"Yea, I thought we were closer to the top but it's pitch black."
"Are you sure that this is a good idea? Couldn't we just wait around and hope that this blows over or something?"
"I don't think that will work... we need to get out. Do you have a rope or some other trick that can help us get up?"
Let me see, I grabbed a lot of stuff, didn't really see wha- here we go!" Blake produced a long coil and demonstrated it's sturdiness by pulling on both ends.
"That'll do." Elise grabbed the coil, her crossbow, and an arrow, and tied the coil the the end of the arrow. She shot upwards, hoping that the arrow would hit something higher in the shaft or more optimistically, outside.
Without a sound, the arrow seemed to hit something solid, as the rope stopped uncoiling. Elise and Blake pulled down on the rope, but it didn't seem to budge.
"You think that it can take our weight?"
"It should." Without another word, Elise began to climb up the shaft, leaving Blake alone in the elevator.
He wasn't really all that pumped to climb up the shaft, but he was less pumped to look like a wimp. Against all of his internal logic, he grabbed the coil and began to climb up.
At first, it was pretty pathetic.
Climbing rope was never really his forte, and as a result, it was a slow ascension that Blake did his hardest to endure. After he finally made it out of the elevator, and into the shaft, he noticed that something felt... off. However, as whatever it was made climbing the rope easier, Blake opted not to think about it.
Higher up, Elise had realized why the climb up got easier. The coil maintained it's straight course upward, until it suddenly didn't. She looked up and suddenly the rope bent. Elise didn't really have a response to this.
As Blake finally caught up to her, he wondered why she had stopped. Then he looked at the bent rope. "Oh."
===
"Ahem."
After confirming the information as accurate, or to be specific, 80% accurate, Sir Bradley was pumped. Rallying his office up, and raising their spirits with the promise of a SCIENCE EXPEDITION into the physics warped elevator shaft, the various, bored, frustrated workers who were blissfully unaware of the situation downstairs (and had obviously never read any horror stories) were suiting up for SCIENCE.
All except for Krieger, who wasn't sure that this was the best course of action.
"Oh Krieger, calm down! It's good for morale!"
"I'm just confused at where all of this came from!"
"Oh I knew this day would come."
"That doesn-"
"Shh, Krieger, do you hear that?" Sir Bradley clutched his diminutive assistant close to his perfect chin and pointed to the group of nerds that were putting on and looking over their new 'SCIENCE' equipment (the armor and weapons all had 'SCIENCE' written on them in bold, red, letters), smiling, and even giving each other high-fives, something that was almost unheard of in the office, except on Tournament Sunday's.
"That, my fine assistant, is the most excited our fellow workers have been in years! We are going to look at this rupture in reality or whatever it is."
"But that's the thing, what if it isn't? What if we are wrong? What if it is something else, something worse?"
"Oh come now, at 80%? If the most likely solution that reality broke, I really doubt that the other 20% is something worse. The odds are in our favor! No suit up with the rest of us, we've got some broken reality to explore."
Sir Bradley stood and exclaimed, "Last ones to suit up have to carry the scanning equipment!"</font>