@moment | text

[elswhisperer]

We should assume communications are being monitored by our captors. Be careful what you reveal here.

[ Short and to the point, this is all Setsuna has to say. ]

Comments

[elswhisperer]

Yeah. It'd be stranger if there weren't. We're small enough in number that keeping an eye on all of us individually probably isn't that hard. A large scale abduction would need a lot of manpower.

[blattella]

Real question. Paranoid question.

What do you think the purpose is of having us all here in this fishtank, under observation?

[elswhisperer]

A social experiment. It makes the most sense of the theories I've considered. Will we cooperate with each other? Will we treat each other with hostility? I think the survey supports this: a means of quickly gauging our personalities, possibly so that our captors can make predictions about the outcome.

...I'm considering the possibility that an alien intelligence could be responsible. I don't have proof. It's just speculation. But I think that curiosity about other forms of life could be a motivation behind our capture.

[blattella]

I'm starting to think the same. Or an experiment of some kind. Maybe testing out the food technology, whatever's providing it instantly. It's not unheard of at all, just that I thought I was immune to that sort of stuff these days, with who I work for.

But you can't escape a Corp's meddling, huh.

Either way, the only way to win is to be peaceful, even as we look for escape. Violence is going to be entertaining. Nuts to that.

[elswhisperer]

Agreed. Conflict will destroy our hope.

[ How can Setsuna prevent conflict in a place like this, without his Gundam...? ]

Who do you work for?

[blattella]

Don't think I'd be allowed to say, but from what I can tell, the company's relatively benign, all things considered and all the stuff companies get up to also considered.

Just that there's some pretty big figures in it, who probably don't want to lose their prime worker bees. My colleagues and I were recruited for reasons, you know?

[elswhisperer]

I get it.

Just as you have value to them, we must have some value to the people behind this city.

I've been trying to figure out how expendable we are.

If there's so few of us, it may mean kidnapping this many people was the extent of their abilities. In that case, keeping us alive is to their benefit. That we have access to food and shelter supports this.

[blattella]

Exactly. More value alive than dead, that's for sure, especially if we've somehow been headhunted. Which, given the small number of us, I'd suspect.

Really makes me wonder what they're trying to get out of us. Are we getting lulled into security by the comfort, or is it really just some human condition thing they're studying?

[elswhisperer]

I don't trust the generosity. A gilded cage is still a cage.

[blattella]

Can't say I blame you, but a cage's almost comforting to me. Luxury's just a bonus.

[elswhisperer]

Is it better here than where you came from?

[blattella]

Don't exactly know yet. On the surface, yes.

[elswhisperer]

What's hiding beneath, we'll have to see.