Re: Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Round One: The Pacific Spire]
08-11-2012, 05:02 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by ~ATH.
Jean had a job to do, oh yes. Well, it was more like her fifth job, because she hadn't done so well on her past few jobs, due either to her clumsiness or her lack of a higher level intelligence. But this one was an easy job, so she would be able to handle it. All she had to do was to deliver mail back and forth between some floors. Nobody had even bothered to tell her that she actually wasn't needed, as there was already an automatic mail delivery system. The elevators were tough for her to figure out, but she got it with enough time. The hardest part was dealing with the screams of people who didn't know her. She had tried to reassure them that she was just an ordinary laundry golem, sent to deliver some mail, but it never convinced them. Fortunately, that wasn't her job, so she simply let the package down and left every time.
She was on her way back to the main floor when the elevator suddenly shuddered to a stop, the lights flickered on and off, and the elevator lurched a bit.
The doors opened, perhaps out of reflex, and sent all the occupants tumbling out, on the wrong floor. Jean's clothes sprawled all over the floor, the doors closed, and the elevator zoomed, straight up into nowhere.
This floor was dark, with no lights but the lights streaking in from the heavily-blinded windows. There were some people already there, huddled in the corner, but they made no reaction when the elevator crowd burst in. Everybody stood up, now thoroughly disorientated, and attempted to make sense of the situation.
"Where is this? What the fuck is going on?!"
"Why are we here? What happened to the elevator?"
"The elevator said floor 244. What was that floor again?"
"I don't know! I don't even know!"
"I'm scared! Someone help me! Help!"
"The elevator won't open!"
The populace was thrown in general dissent, as they struggled to deal with a new situation. Perhaps it was the fact that they worked all day in a monotonous routine, but the rise of something new caused them to collapse in a panic. Shrieks, squalls, and sobs echoed across the room, and Jean didn't do anything, as she didn't really have a reason to be scared. She just went over to one of the people in the corners and asked what was going on and why everybody was raising such a din. After she got a good long, disbelieving stare aimed at her, the bedraggled worker finally took a long ragged sigh.
"...This is floor 244. The temporary prison of The Heisenberg Science Company. They've made their move."
Some other people heard, and moved closer to the man, who proceeded to explain the whole thing.
"Okay, so you've noticed the elevators have been weird lately, right?"
Some nodded, others murmured, and some just stared blankly and looked confused.
"So there's this company, right? They tried to make the elevators faster, but they broke physics in the process. Well, the Heisenberg Science Company is taking advantage of that, to lock us here and take over the tower."
The mob, sense now brought to them, calmed down and and started coming up with plans. The rate at which they calmed down would be startling to any outsider, but Jean was starting to lose interest in the whole thing. First, they would have to get out of here. But, the elevator was closed to them. They needed a way to communicate with other floors then. Everybody checked their cell phones, and while they did indeed have service, they found they couldn't connect with anyone in the building.
Eventually, the subject of food was brought up. Some suggested cannibalism. Some suggested eating their waste.
One suggested breaking the windows and jumping out.
The crowd of people continued to waffle further on the situation, coming up with many outrageous plans, each much less plausible than before. Jean, meanwhile, had completely lost interest. Elevators, science, fighting, who cares? She just wondered what was going on back down there, with those gorgeous office ladies and the woman in the pretty dress and that robot who still had her sweater.
"Psst. Hey. Did you see those two weirdos walking around the corridors?"
"Yeah! A zombie-looking guy and a woman in the strangest dress I've ever seen."
"Uhuh. I also heard a rumor that there was a living pile of clothing and a floating metal robot ... thing, but personally I think everybody's just off their rocker."
"I dunno, with all the weird shit happening lately, it's possible."
"... A living pile of clothing?!"
"Hey man, have you even seen the shit that science company gets to?"
"Yeah, but I still think you're nuts."
"Whatever, man."
They frittered away idly for a couple more minutes, but one question could simply not be unasked. Something gnawed at them, and it could not be ignored. Like, why were the weirdos even here? Their minds worked themselves into a sort of panic, in realizing that their simple office life could be uprooted soon. This sort of thing, two odd strangers showing up out of nowhere, was too strange to be ignored. One of them finally built enough confidence to pipe up.
"Has anyone even done anything about those two weirdos?"
"Uh, no. From the looks of it, everybody's just letting them wander about."
"What? Why?"
"Hey man, I'm not gonna get near them. Are you?"
"Haha, hell no. Besides, it isn't our responsibility, so we don't need to worry about them, right?"
"I hope you're right..."
The two office workers then turned back to their cubicles and started working, desperately attempting to ignore everything else. Their words may have been casual, but their feelings most certainly weren't. Their overworked minds were clinging on to the last vestiges of sanity by carrying out boring routines. Those vestiges were strained quite thin indeed when a deafening blast echoed across the complex. A harsh light and smoke emitted from somewhere in the rest, followed by several screams. Everybody heard machine-gun fire.
"Agh! Fuck!"
"What the hell was that?"
The stressed office workers rolled back their chairs, reached under their desks, and pulled out emergency assault rifles. Everybody else did the same. Their hands quivered, but they gripped their guns tightly. In their hands, were their lives themselves. They would fight. Fight or die. Someone started crying, only to be ignored by everyone else. But he knew this. In war, there's no time for sentimentality. They marched onwards, to their eventual death.
Desperately, his mind began thinking of a way out of this bind. He was going to die, within the span of a few seconds. He could only think of one thing. "Help! Someone stop this body of mine!"
Right away, he was surrounded by a strange aura.
pain pain run away
John's body calmed down nigh instantaneously, and Alberich was able to steer it back into a hiding spot, next to Miss Blacklight, who was holding a sickly greenish gem.
"... Was that you? Erm... Is that... John's desire?"
"You bet it is! Seems my quick thinking saved your life!"
"Ah. Well."
"Yes? You were gonna say something?"
"...Thank you."
"Anytime. We're all in this together. I mean, I know we're in a battle to the death, but that doesn't mean we should fight each other like uncivilized buffoons!"
"Ah. Exactly my thoughts. But this isn't the time! We should find a safer place, away from all this ... madness!"
Madness was too light a word for the chaos in the room. People dropped dead, no, exploded into a mist of blood and gore. Blood sprayed across papers and keyboards. Once office workers, now killers, or dead. Alberich kept his eyes shut, but sight wasnt his only sense. John's oft-neglected sense of smell was aroused by the scent of blood, and Alberich felt queasy at what he was experiencing - hunger. Blacklight stood up, and dragged him away with an unusual strength. They stepped over bodies, dead bodies that stared listlessly back up at them. Eventually, they finally found a janitor's closet. They closed and barricaded the door. Nobody else was here. They took a deep breath, and slumped down to the ground. Eventually, they felt like they had to talk, if only to have something to concentrate on other than the gunfire.
"Say, I was thinking about that one god who brought us here. I thought she was a hallucination at first, but all this seems pretty real so far."
"Yes. She had called herself The Sociologist, didn't she? From what I can read of her, she desires to study us, by making us kill each other, but if you ask me, this isn't the most conductive place for us to fight each other. I mean, we're already in a battle!"
"So, what do you suggest we do?"
"All I really want is to stay alive, to be honest. Some of the other contestants looked like they were ready to kill, and we already have people trying to kill us. We should team up for the rest of this so-called battle."
"Yes, we should. What of the golem? Jean, was it?"
"Oh, yes, her. She really doesn't seem at all prepared for a battle like this, but you never know, right? I mean, why enter someone like what she is in one of these battles? I think we better get her on our side, before they get her."
"And the robot?"
"We really can't predict what someone like her would do, but she seems innocuous enough."
"Right, right. Is it possible that the Sociologist wanted all of us to team up from the start?"
"Hahaha! You really think it will be that easy? I really don't know anything about the other constestants, but they didn't seem as well-adjusted as we are, so to speak. I mean, it's possible that they're the ones driving this whole battle..."
Miss Blacklight let those words hang, and Dr. Alberich found that he had a lot to think about, indeed. They fell silent, and listened to the unrelenting gunfire.
Jean had a job to do, oh yes. Well, it was more like her fifth job, because she hadn't done so well on her past few jobs, due either to her clumsiness or her lack of a higher level intelligence. But this one was an easy job, so she would be able to handle it. All she had to do was to deliver mail back and forth between some floors. Nobody had even bothered to tell her that she actually wasn't needed, as there was already an automatic mail delivery system. The elevators were tough for her to figure out, but she got it with enough time. The hardest part was dealing with the screams of people who didn't know her. She had tried to reassure them that she was just an ordinary laundry golem, sent to deliver some mail, but it never convinced them. Fortunately, that wasn't her job, so she simply let the package down and left every time.
She was on her way back to the main floor when the elevator suddenly shuddered to a stop, the lights flickered on and off, and the elevator lurched a bit.
The doors opened, perhaps out of reflex, and sent all the occupants tumbling out, on the wrong floor. Jean's clothes sprawled all over the floor, the doors closed, and the elevator zoomed, straight up into nowhere.
This floor was dark, with no lights but the lights streaking in from the heavily-blinded windows. There were some people already there, huddled in the corner, but they made no reaction when the elevator crowd burst in. Everybody stood up, now thoroughly disorientated, and attempted to make sense of the situation.
"Where is this? What the fuck is going on?!"
"Why are we here? What happened to the elevator?"
"The elevator said floor 244. What was that floor again?"
"I don't know! I don't even know!"
"I'm scared! Someone help me! Help!"
"The elevator won't open!"
The populace was thrown in general dissent, as they struggled to deal with a new situation. Perhaps it was the fact that they worked all day in a monotonous routine, but the rise of something new caused them to collapse in a panic. Shrieks, squalls, and sobs echoed across the room, and Jean didn't do anything, as she didn't really have a reason to be scared. She just went over to one of the people in the corners and asked what was going on and why everybody was raising such a din. After she got a good long, disbelieving stare aimed at her, the bedraggled worker finally took a long ragged sigh.
"...This is floor 244. The temporary prison of The Heisenberg Science Company. They've made their move."
Some other people heard, and moved closer to the man, who proceeded to explain the whole thing.
"Okay, so you've noticed the elevators have been weird lately, right?"
Some nodded, others murmured, and some just stared blankly and looked confused.
"So there's this company, right? They tried to make the elevators faster, but they broke physics in the process. Well, the Heisenberg Science Company is taking advantage of that, to lock us here and take over the tower."
The mob, sense now brought to them, calmed down and and started coming up with plans. The rate at which they calmed down would be startling to any outsider, but Jean was starting to lose interest in the whole thing. First, they would have to get out of here. But, the elevator was closed to them. They needed a way to communicate with other floors then. Everybody checked their cell phones, and while they did indeed have service, they found they couldn't connect with anyone in the building.
Eventually, the subject of food was brought up. Some suggested cannibalism. Some suggested eating their waste.
One suggested breaking the windows and jumping out.
The crowd of people continued to waffle further on the situation, coming up with many outrageous plans, each much less plausible than before. Jean, meanwhile, had completely lost interest. Elevators, science, fighting, who cares? She just wondered what was going on back down there, with those gorgeous office ladies and the woman in the pretty dress and that robot who still had her sweater.
.oOo.
Elsewhere, two office workers were placidly discussing away the day's event while working away the last few hours."Psst. Hey. Did you see those two weirdos walking around the corridors?"
"Yeah! A zombie-looking guy and a woman in the strangest dress I've ever seen."
"Uhuh. I also heard a rumor that there was a living pile of clothing and a floating metal robot ... thing, but personally I think everybody's just off their rocker."
"I dunno, with all the weird shit happening lately, it's possible."
"... A living pile of clothing?!"
"Hey man, have you even seen the shit that science company gets to?"
"Yeah, but I still think you're nuts."
"Whatever, man."
They frittered away idly for a couple more minutes, but one question could simply not be unasked. Something gnawed at them, and it could not be ignored. Like, why were the weirdos even here? Their minds worked themselves into a sort of panic, in realizing that their simple office life could be uprooted soon. This sort of thing, two odd strangers showing up out of nowhere, was too strange to be ignored. One of them finally built enough confidence to pipe up.
"Has anyone even done anything about those two weirdos?"
"Uh, no. From the looks of it, everybody's just letting them wander about."
"What? Why?"
"Hey man, I'm not gonna get near them. Are you?"
"Haha, hell no. Besides, it isn't our responsibility, so we don't need to worry about them, right?"
"I hope you're right..."
The two office workers then turned back to their cubicles and started working, desperately attempting to ignore everything else. Their words may have been casual, but their feelings most certainly weren't. Their overworked minds were clinging on to the last vestiges of sanity by carrying out boring routines. Those vestiges were strained quite thin indeed when a deafening blast echoed across the complex. A harsh light and smoke emitted from somewhere in the rest, followed by several screams. Everybody heard machine-gun fire.
"Agh! Fuck!"
"What the hell was that?"
The stressed office workers rolled back their chairs, reached under their desks, and pulled out emergency assault rifles. Everybody else did the same. Their hands quivered, but they gripped their guns tightly. In their hands, were their lives themselves. They would fight. Fight or die. Someone started crying, only to be ignored by everyone else. But he knew this. In war, there's no time for sentimentality. They marched onwards, to their eventual death.
.oOo.
Dr. Alberich von Wissenschaft liked to think that he was good at adapting to new and unexpected situations. He had plenty of experience with them, after all. But even this was too unexpected for him. A stray bullet pierced his arm, and Mr. John Doe's body instinctively panicked and attempted to flee, right out in open space. "No, no, no! That area is dangerous! We have to hide, you moron!"Desperately, his mind began thinking of a way out of this bind. He was going to die, within the span of a few seconds. He could only think of one thing. "Help! Someone stop this body of mine!"
Right away, he was surrounded by a strange aura.
pain pain run away
John's body calmed down nigh instantaneously, and Alberich was able to steer it back into a hiding spot, next to Miss Blacklight, who was holding a sickly greenish gem.
"... Was that you? Erm... Is that... John's desire?"
"You bet it is! Seems my quick thinking saved your life!"
"Ah. Well."
"Yes? You were gonna say something?"
"...Thank you."
"Anytime. We're all in this together. I mean, I know we're in a battle to the death, but that doesn't mean we should fight each other like uncivilized buffoons!"
"Ah. Exactly my thoughts. But this isn't the time! We should find a safer place, away from all this ... madness!"
Madness was too light a word for the chaos in the room. People dropped dead, no, exploded into a mist of blood and gore. Blood sprayed across papers and keyboards. Once office workers, now killers, or dead. Alberich kept his eyes shut, but sight wasnt his only sense. John's oft-neglected sense of smell was aroused by the scent of blood, and Alberich felt queasy at what he was experiencing - hunger. Blacklight stood up, and dragged him away with an unusual strength. They stepped over bodies, dead bodies that stared listlessly back up at them. Eventually, they finally found a janitor's closet. They closed and barricaded the door. Nobody else was here. They took a deep breath, and slumped down to the ground. Eventually, they felt like they had to talk, if only to have something to concentrate on other than the gunfire.
"Say, I was thinking about that one god who brought us here. I thought she was a hallucination at first, but all this seems pretty real so far."
"Yes. She had called herself The Sociologist, didn't she? From what I can read of her, she desires to study us, by making us kill each other, but if you ask me, this isn't the most conductive place for us to fight each other. I mean, we're already in a battle!"
"So, what do you suggest we do?"
"All I really want is to stay alive, to be honest. Some of the other contestants looked like they were ready to kill, and we already have people trying to kill us. We should team up for the rest of this so-called battle."
"Yes, we should. What of the golem? Jean, was it?"
"Oh, yes, her. She really doesn't seem at all prepared for a battle like this, but you never know, right? I mean, why enter someone like what she is in one of these battles? I think we better get her on our side, before they get her."
"And the robot?"
"We really can't predict what someone like her would do, but she seems innocuous enough."
"Right, right. Is it possible that the Sociologist wanted all of us to team up from the start?"
"Hahaha! You really think it will be that easy? I really don't know anything about the other constestants, but they didn't seem as well-adjusted as we are, so to speak. I mean, it's possible that they're the ones driving this whole battle..."
Miss Blacklight let those words hang, and Dr. Alberich found that he had a lot to think about, indeed. They fell silent, and listened to the unrelenting gunfire.
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