//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Voyage of the Equinox // by Starscribe //------------------------------// “So that’s the message,” Twilight finished, after having explained everything. They would’ve ordinarily had a meeting like this in the dining room, but the risk of being overheard was too great right now. So they stood on the bridge instead, looking down at the translation and Twilight’s notes. Life is not advised, the message said. You must change into constancy. We will perform it. “So that’s her plan to convince us?” Applejack asked, her tone doubting. “Come up with some new way to read the Signal that will get us to do what she wants? You can’t seriously be thinking of listening to her.” Spike nodded his agreement. “I’ve been working on the Signaler machine for almost two weeks now, and nothing about it seems dangerous. It’s not making a bomb, or… anything else we need to be afraid of.” “It’s a dumb plan,” Applejack repeated. “She’s lying, obviously. Or… been misled somehow. If these ‘Listener’ ponies were so smart, they would’ve been smart enough to convince Celestia. Nah, I don’t buy it. She’s leaving somethin’ out, somethin’ huge. Maybe the whole reason for her being here, or… maybe she’s just crazy. Dunno which, but it doesn’t frankly matter.” Twilight has since studied the translation and attempted to discover alternative reasons it might be so convincing. Critical Success “Well… it might not say what we think it does. There’s a problem with compression… particularly alien compression we had to reverse-engineer. Since data is lost, there’s a possibility the same message might be decompressed into different, equally valid possibilities. There’s a chance it was meant to say something else… maybe not even in our language.” She turned to Spike. “What do you think we should do?” “Well… I wish we had Fluttershy,” he said. “If there’s anypony who could’ve been sure about this translation, it’s her. But since we can’t… I think keeping her is dangerous.” “She said…” Twilight hesitated. She didn’t want to make it seem like she was taking the prisoner’s side. “That she knows the ship almost as well as you. She’ll follow my orders from now on and be another skilled engineer on the crew.” Applejack laughed. “Yeah? And if you believe that, I’ve got some FlimFlam pharmaceutical anti-aging infusion back home you’d be interested in. Real magical stuff.” She rose from the engineering station, turning to leave. “Frankly cap, we could really use another engineer. But havin’ a pony wandering around the ship we don’t trust—one who’s already tried to attack us a few times. Busted Spike up pretty good, and you know what would’ve happen if that were you or me.” We’d be lucky to be alive, and we both have earth pony endurance. Had most other crew been standing there, they would’ve been turned into a reddish paste. “I see two real options here, cap. One ain’t so pretty, one’s the right thing. You get to decide which is which. We can freeze her right away, or… we could use some stronger methods to get the real truth out of her. Maybe start waiting a few days between her meals, or… I dunno, somethin.’ Make her willing to cooperate, and only when we’re sure she’s tellin’ the truth do we put her on ice. No more made-up translation business.” “If we freeze her, we won’t be able to wake her up again until the first crop of geneseed is finished,” Spike said. “Same as the rest of the crew. It feels like a waste to just lock her in a box for the rest of the trip, but… I can’t think of any way to be sure she’s on our side. Maybe if we had a changeling on the crew who could read her emotions… but we don’t.” Twilight winced a little at that—there was unicorn magic for reading minds, the kind Starlight Glimmer probably would’ve known. They didn’t need a changeling, they just needed an evil unicorn. Something they didn’t have. “I think this translation… means your device warrants some extra caution, Spike. She might be telling the truth, despite all our instincts. I think you should start using the portable computer instead of the Equinox’s own mainframe.” Spike shrugged. “Might go a lot slower that way, but… guess we’ve got time. Or I do.” “And if anything happens down the line to suggest the Signalers might be hostile, like she’s suggesting… maybe that’s when we thaw her out and give her another chance.” “Think she’ll go quietly?” Applejack asked. “She was obviously willing to die if she climbed onto this ship. Freezing her might mean mission failure. Might mean we’re going to freeze her and then cut the cord and let her die. Cornered animal like that… get real desperate.” “I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted. “Probably isn’t smart to tell her what we’re planning before we do it. But…” “We could still let her be an engineer,” Spike said. “With me to supervise her, maybe. Maybe if we convince her we’re at least considering her point of view… getting the Equinox working right and refueled is in her best interests too. She might not fight us while we’re doing things she wants.” “Ain’t worth it,” Applejack argued. “Frankly cap, you’re being nice as anypony could ask for by not spacing her. That’s more than a stowaway like her could expect in any free spacer’s ship, make no mistake. Twilight frowned down at the table, considering her options… 1. Take on Cozy Glow as an engineer. [New Character joins the party. Repair: 4, Construction: 3, Persuasion: 3, Computers: 3]. Her motives are dubious and her reliability moreso, but she will certainly improve ship readiness and repair times. This might also be an opportunity to learn more about the Signal and why she’s really aboard. 2. March her to cryogenics and freeze her. We don’t need any special plan; a gun will do. She’s just a Pegasus, and these hallways are tight. She won’t be able to escape. 3. Leave her as a conscious prisoner for now. She obviously hasn’t shared everything with us. Maybe she needs time to be convinced she was wrong. 4. Applejack suggests drugging her food first, then marching her to cryogenics. Even if she has an escape plan, she’ll be too doped to carry it out. 5. Extreme interrogation methods. The information extracted this way cannot always be relied upon, and even if it succeeds it is likely to have a negative morale impact on the crew. Ponies just don’t do this. (Certainty 150 required)