Agent York / Natalie van der Haast (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
neverknocks) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sunchime2025-06-25 02:33 pm
neverknocks) wrote in sunchime2025-06-25 02:33 pm
Entry tags:
[ all abord the express train to emotions town ]
Just about everyone on Chorus is thrilled when Dr. Grey finds herself a new science project, because Dr. Grey's boredom is the real killer around here. Something about Schroedinger's dead body and some experimental new revival procedure. Wash and Carolina are too busy trying to keep Kimball and Doyle talking for more than five minutes to spare any thought towards whatever the fuck is happening in that lab, but all that focus goes up in smoke when Dr. Grey takes control of the PA system by force. A crackling screech sounds throughout the entire base.
"Helloooo, resident Freelancers! I need you to report to the lab immediately. I've got a body for you to identify~!"
Her sing-song tone is not encouraging, and neither is the request. Asking Freelancers to identify a body means the body is, presumably, a Freelancer. Wash and Carolina book it at full fucking speed to the lab. What if it's Maine? Or South? Or — shit, what if they have to endure Wyoming's fucking knock-knock jokes again?
It's not any of them. Somehow, it's the last person Wash and Carolina expected — maybe because they've already grieved for her, gotten their closure one way or another. Maybe it's just that it's York. It's been years now since she died, and the prospect of her being alive again is just...dizzying.
Even more so that her neural implant is apparently occupied. They both vehemently object when Dr. Grey makes the slightest motion to remove the chip, but she can't help but agree that the fragile architecture of the human brain could indeed collapse like a house of cards in this situation! Well, that's just fine by her. The revival procedure alone is plenty to keep her interested, aaaand when things have settled down (or if the patient dies), she'll see about getting access to that chip.
Not everyone is in favor of reviving the Freelancer. In all fairness, bad things happen to the simulation troopers pretty much any time a Freelancer shows up, and even if Wash and Carolina know that York's the least likely to pose a violent threat, it's a reasonable concern from the Reds and Blues. But all the same, Wash and Carolina override any objections or complaints and tell Dr. Grey to go ahead with the procedure. The procedure is, of course, highly experimental — one might say only theoretical until this point — and the odds that it'll actually work are slim. Depending on how long York's been dead-not-dead, there's a pretty good chance that even if Dr. Grey is able to revive her, she'll just be a big one-eyed vegetable, tee hee!
Everything seems to happen so quickly, they don't even really have a chance to think about whether or not this is something they really want. The decision to at least try to revive York seemed like a no-brainer, and they need to know what's up with her AI chip, because if Delta's intact then the implications are, uh, alarming. But as to what it'd actually feel like to have her back, when she's been dead so long...
Well, there's nothing either of them can do but wait, now. The procedure takes long, long hours, and Dr. Grey can't say when she'll wake up, if ever, or what will happen if she does, but she tells them that it's better if someone she recognizes is there when she wakes up, so here Wash is. Waiting.
There's no such thing as a comfortable hospital chair, and definitely not on Chorus. It's late into the evening when York, after a couple of days of resting comatose in a salvaged hospital bed, finally makes a noise that sounds more like a groan than a breath.
"Helloooo, resident Freelancers! I need you to report to the lab immediately. I've got a body for you to identify~!"
Her sing-song tone is not encouraging, and neither is the request. Asking Freelancers to identify a body means the body is, presumably, a Freelancer. Wash and Carolina book it at full fucking speed to the lab. What if it's Maine? Or South? Or — shit, what if they have to endure Wyoming's fucking knock-knock jokes again?
It's not any of them. Somehow, it's the last person Wash and Carolina expected — maybe because they've already grieved for her, gotten their closure one way or another. Maybe it's just that it's York. It's been years now since she died, and the prospect of her being alive again is just...dizzying.
Even more so that her neural implant is apparently occupied. They both vehemently object when Dr. Grey makes the slightest motion to remove the chip, but she can't help but agree that the fragile architecture of the human brain could indeed collapse like a house of cards in this situation! Well, that's just fine by her. The revival procedure alone is plenty to keep her interested, aaaand when things have settled down (or if the patient dies), she'll see about getting access to that chip.
Not everyone is in favor of reviving the Freelancer. In all fairness, bad things happen to the simulation troopers pretty much any time a Freelancer shows up, and even if Wash and Carolina know that York's the least likely to pose a violent threat, it's a reasonable concern from the Reds and Blues. But all the same, Wash and Carolina override any objections or complaints and tell Dr. Grey to go ahead with the procedure. The procedure is, of course, highly experimental — one might say only theoretical until this point — and the odds that it'll actually work are slim. Depending on how long York's been dead-not-dead, there's a pretty good chance that even if Dr. Grey is able to revive her, she'll just be a big one-eyed vegetable, tee hee!
Everything seems to happen so quickly, they don't even really have a chance to think about whether or not this is something they really want. The decision to at least try to revive York seemed like a no-brainer, and they need to know what's up with her AI chip, because if Delta's intact then the implications are, uh, alarming. But as to what it'd actually feel like to have her back, when she's been dead so long...
Well, there's nothing either of them can do but wait, now. The procedure takes long, long hours, and Dr. Grey can't say when she'll wake up, if ever, or what will happen if she does, but she tells them that it's better if someone she recognizes is there when she wakes up, so here Wash is. Waiting.
There's no such thing as a comfortable hospital chair, and definitely not on Chorus. It's late into the evening when York, after a couple of days of resting comatose in a salvaged hospital bed, finally makes a noise that sounds more like a groan than a breath.
no subject
“I’m glad you’re not dead.”
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“Well, that makes two of us,” York says, then immediately regrets it. Phrasing, phrasing. For once she has no idea what the fuck to say. Maybe it was a mistake to have Wash call her in after all. It feels like Carolina’s been holding this entire conversation at arm’s length, and York wonders if her ability to read the fucking room died and never came back. She coughs, then clears her throat, then, out of habit, traces her fingers over the neural implant at the nape of her neck. Fuck.
The awkward silence only stretches another beat or two before Epsilon flickers into view at Carolina’s shoulder.
“Oh my god, C, you have got to be fucking kidding me. What happened to using your words?”
no subject
She stops, pressing her lips together, her cheeks just slightly pink.
“We mourned you,” she says finally, talking to York again. “It was hard, but we did it. And now you’re back. I’m happy about it, like I said, it’s just. A lot to take in.”
no subject
York will have to process the sentiment from Carolina in a minute. Right now, she's staring at the little blue man. "Uh," she says, justifiably, "what the fuck?"
no subject
no subject
She clearly remembers how close to crazy Carolina had gotten with two AIs, and yet she seems fine with Epsilon, who, as far as York's aware, can't function without his little computer mind unraveling. Not only has York been dead for years, she apparently came back on fucking Opposite Day or some shit. Epsilon clears his throat.
"Hey, C? Maybe you should start from the beginning instead of just kinda throwing random shit at her? Might be helpful. Just sayin."