vivarium | the garden

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the garden

T H E G A R D E N

Early in the morning, yet again, the test subjects get to wake up to Calhoun’s dulcet tones. Through a megaphone.

“Hey! Lazy test subjects, get your human rears up!”

Once everyone is moderately awake and gathered, Calhoun will continue.

“You all did such a great job last round, and everyone’s been so pathetic lately, that I, your glorious, merciful host, decided to open a room for you! Remember, rooms are a privilege, not a right! That means!”

He takes a deep breath to scream out the next parts:

“Don’t. Break. My. Stuff!!”

He eyes at a few people in the crowd before leading everyone up to the second floor, where a new door will now be openable. Once inside there is a surprisingly refreshing breeze and bright light flooding from the ceiling.

Welcome to the Garden!

The roof of the garden is made up of what appears to be grids with screens depicting a blue sky during daylight hours and a starry night during the evening (they must be sunlamps because the light from the ceiling feels warm and, yes, finally some vitamin D for you sad test subjects). It appears to be more of a dome than anything else, but the grass is green, there’s a few trees around, some flowers, a bench here and there, and even a little waterfall that creates a small creek around the garden!

Sure, there aren’t any edible plants, fruits, or vegetables around, the water is freezing, everything feels almost artificial, but this is a lot better than the cold, monochrome, and bleak look of the warehouse so far, so unless everyone else wanted to stay in the boring lobby instead of here, there wasn’t much to complain about.

Well, have fun! Enjoy your new surroundings.

basic info ✖ mingle

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Thank you, I appreciate it, Sasuke. [He answered, smiling a little more when Sasuke joined him. Company was nice and Sasuke was one of the few people who didn't routinely stress him out with worry and what not.

He stared at the sky quietly for a few moments before asking:] How have you been doing? You've been here a while now, I know it's not really an easy adjustment, is it?

[Just you wait for it. He'll spend a moment looking up at the "stars" before he gets around to answering Hershel's query.]

...It still isn't easy. But I think I've gotten used to it.

[Which is... sort of depressing in of itself.]

[It's super depressing. Hershel regards him a moment, like he wants to say something but doesn't really know how. He seems to decide not to, for now at least, and just nods.]

That's probably the best way to handle this. I... hate to say it but I don't think we're going to be saved. I think we're going to need to save ourselves.

[He doesn't appear to notice. Rather, his voice is pretty resigned:]

You're probably right. I don't think an operation like this could go for so long without anyone noticing. Even if there was a rescue effort, Zero would probably have all sorts of ways to deal with them.

[He had a fondness for traps that couldn't be denied, and it's only because he wants them alive that they were able to survive them all. If Zero wanted to defend an area, he's pretty certain it would be hell for even the most trained of professionals to break through.

However, a sliver of determination slips into his tone.]

Our best bet is to keep trying to get everyone to 63BP.

[They need to make sure all of the captives could be released.]

[Wow Hershel, way to bring the party mood down by bringing this up. He feels a little bad but it wasn't like it isn't an important thing to talk about, right?]

I wonder if he's built this place underground, it'd certainly explain the complete lack of windows. Maybe it's just a defensive measure not to have them, but... [Being mole people, troubling thought.

And he hesitates yet again before asking:] Sasuke, what do you think will happen when someone earns 63 BP?

It could be why he let us into this garden, too. Isn't it supposed to be bad if you don't go out into the sun enough?

[What was it... vitamin D deficiency? If that fake sun was made to emulate the real one closely enough, it could probably help make up for it.

Then again, that would also assume Zero cared about their health to that extent.

Hershel's next question brings him to silence once again.]

...I think that person will want to leave immediately. [It would be better if they all went at the same time, but getting a person to stick around and play a few more rounds after reaching 63BP would be difficult. Not impossible, is Sasuke's hope, but...

Definitely difficult.]

I think that might be the reason, he couldn't want us dead and a few of us have been here for almost a month, I can't imagine the diet and lack of sun promote good health. [They're all going to get scurvy, just wait.

And for a moment Hershel says nothing, wondering if he should add his much grimmer expectations before deciding not to make things even more depressing.] I can't imagine they wouldn't, with or without their memories. I wonder though, would Zero take away their memories of this place to protect himself?

We don't know what sorts of facilities there are outside of that door. It's possible.

[And frustratingly likely. He actually frowns a bit, but it's probably difficult to tell given his eyes are still on the stars glittering above.]

I think... once people start getting closer to 63BP, it would be good to mention the possibility. Even if their idea was to leave the facility and get help for the rest of us, I doubt Zero would let them.

... honestly, I'm not entirely sure our wisest course of action would be to go through the nine door when the time comes. Logically, no matter what Zero's intentions, he must know he's committing a crime. He's been clever enough to stay hidden, to not come into our view, to give us next to nothing to learn about him, those aren't the actions of someone arrogant enough to think he can afford the risk of letting people with potentially valuable information out into the world.

Of course that leaves the option of wiping our memories of this place, but is it really foolproof? We've already seen that there are some things we can work out ourselves, and even if it's with these machines the memories clearly still exist. If there's even the slightest chance our memories would return it's a risk he should know not to take.

[So much for not going into depressing topics. He sighs, committed now to finishing his thought.] No, the smartest and most logical thing for him to do would be to dispose of anyone who leaves the nine door, with anyone left inside never being the wiser. His experiment can go on indefinitely, adding new people as others filter out, while those inside still spend their time focused on BP as their best form of escape.

... I'm sorry, I suppose that's all a grim thing to say. [He offers Sasuke a tired smile.] Just... when the time comes I think we should bank all our efforts on escaping on our own, if possible.

[...Wow, way to be a huge downer, Hershel. The unfortunate part of it is, Sasuke could actually imagine it, too.

People kept being brought in whenever others were taken out for whatever reason. Zero clearly had no problems whatsoever securing new subjects. Even accounting for those who became ill or died, the experiment could go on indefinitely unless...]

...In that case, wouldn't it be safer to try to find Zero himself? I don't think he would leave a secret escape hatch anywhere we could access. If we could find Zero, we might be able to get access to the facility controls and free ourselves that way. Besides that, we could take him in ourselves and make sure he couldn't continue his "experiments" again somewhere else with new victims.

[He's here to keep this party going, rad happy times all day every day.

He does nod, offering a less pathetic, tired smile for that.] That's what Heiji and I have been thinking, or at least we've talked about the best course of action being something similar. The one way we know for certain we can escape and that all of this won't happen again is if we take control and find Zero ourselves.

[And another sigh.] Of course that's an incredibly dangerous line of thought, let alone line of action. Calhoun and Zero have made it clear they won't abide by rule breaking of any sort. [Surprise bombs and what not.]

Unless we find either a loophole or an opportunity to break through...

[It's a soft murmur, more musing than anything else. His hand remains on his chin, as it does whenever he gets to thinking.]

Has anyone else mentioned the idea?

No, not that I've heard. Ema I think realizes that Zero probably won't let us go, and there are others that may as well. It's... difficult to speak of, we really have no idea how much Zero or Cahloun tracks our conversations.

[Uncomfortable to think they're being watched and listened in on right now. He shifts and glances at the sky grid.]

That's really the problem. How much could we safely plan together?

Zero probably expects us to plot against him. With so many people held captive in a situation like this... It would be stranger if there weren't any resentment about it.

[Zero wouldn't be that stupid.]

Discussing it's a problem, though. Are there any rooms without cameras you can think of...?

[If there was no video at least, they could pass notes. Alternately, video but no audio could be dealt with by covering their mouths with their hands as they discussed, but that one would probably be more of a stretch...]

[Hershel shakes his head.] No, but...

[He lowers his voice, they could probably be heard but hey. better than nothing.] There is the possibility that we can find blindspots, and I also noticed something during this last round. Isn't it strange Calhoun let Jake and Heiji steal that couch? I can't imagine he would have if he had his eye on them, but he was busy. Kuzuryuu hit the screen in our room, and he was probably distracted watching us, especially when we triggered the trap.

I'm starting to wonder if Calhoun really can only be in one place at once, and more so if he really is mostly on his own, monitoring the facility.

[...That was pretty curious. Sasuke himself had been surprised they had gotten away with something so big.]

I've never been with a group that turned on the screens before. [Mostly because he... sort of assumed it was for the sake of bringing Calhoun in from the start.] Do you know if there was ever a round where multiple teams summoned him?

[Because if he really is the only one monitoring them, then...]

[Hershel was too, man. He considers that question frowning.]

I'm not certain, it would make sense if there was. I always assumed there was more than one of Calhoun, or at least multiple people controlling him.

[His brow furrows, serious stuff.] Maybe it's something we should try testing ourselves, one of these days.

[His voice becomes even more quiet, muffled by his hand as he assumes a thoughtful pose.]

...As long as we're in different teams, that's at least two. Depending on who's in the other groups, we might be able to make sure he's activated in each room. And if we can force him to keep talking to us the whole time...

[Hershel regards him a moment, wondering if he was hiding his lips from the cameras so they wouldn't be read. It was clever, if he was, and it was a happy accident if he wasn't. He nods after a moment, tone low and curling his fingers near his mouth as well. Just in case, right?]

That would certainly give us an idea of how much he can stretch his attention. I'd like to see what happens if his physical form is distracted as well, if we could get someone to distract him at the shop we may be able to see. Even if he had to leave suddenly and head to wherever the other group was, that would suggest he only has one of those robotic forms active at a time.

[Smart man, Hershel.]

We could probably test something like that out with only two people if we had to. We would just need a good opportunity...

[They're such smart, dumb kids sometimes.]

Maybe we should try after the next Calhoun Hour, we should have coins then so someone can try to barter and distract him that way. It wouldn't be too suspicious.

That could work. Are you any good at bartering?

[Hahahahahahahahaha.

Have the exact look in this icon.]

Ah... no. Not at all.

[He straightens a little] Heiji is, though. I'm sure he'd be more than willing to help.

[...Is Heiji just the living Osakan stereotype or something? Though it does at least work in their favor.]

Then next time you get a chance, could you ask him about it? I think it would be less suspicious if you talked to him.

[Because let's be real here, Sasuke has more or less established a pattern of wandering off on his own; it may just pique their host's interest if he was the one to approach Heiji about it out of the blue.]

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