While Attilisk tries to open the door, Paraton starts observing the small orbs around them. It's unsettling to be the focus of this interest, and the seeker has learned to listen to the gut when it talks. They try first lightly touching one of the machines with a gloved finger, then smelling them, looking at them carefully through a lens, and finally speaking to them in a calm, but firm tone. Licking them would be the absolute final step.

[OOC: Paraton is trained in understanding and identifying Numenera. They rolled a 6 towards  Understanding what the orbs are about.]

Attilisk has to wrestle with the door for a little bit, but after pausing to "listen" to the vessel for a few moments, the door turns translucent and he finds he's able to pass through it. The passage feels slightly slimy, but he is dry and unmarked on the other side.  The orb whirrs slightly as Attilisk goes through into a room that is dim, curved, marked with a large, crescent-shaped console on the "bow" end, and a series of larger, flatter protrusions on the "aft" end of the room, similar to those in the corridor.  The console illuminates slightly as Attilisk enters, showing two pink lights, five blue lights, and a ring of pulsing green around one of the blue lights.

--

As Paraton (and Porgot) goes to examine the orbs, Eleisai carefully descents by her own means of translocation, going from the walkway above to the vessel's interior in a blink.  Cube stays above, watchful for any unwelcome surprises.

She inspects the orbs with her own powers, and says, "They are watchful and... eager?  Eager to be watching, excited at seeing... something new.  But not just you.  This vessel too."

Paraton attempts to touch the orb, causing the glow to change to light pink on both orbs, both of them shifting like Porgot's to show the glass "eyes".  They smell slightly of ozone, have tiny depths of light at the bottom of the "eyes".  When they speak to the orbs, they shift slightly, parts of them readjusting the position of their "eyes", as if trying to view something from a new angle.  Licking them (head bent to keep in shadow) finds that they taste like... grass.

"It is nice to meet you little friends, what works does he put you to, I wonder." Porgot climbs into the hole behind Attilisk and peers into the room he's just opened. "A control room of sorts, it looks. I wonder what it controls." He walks to the consoles and examines them, seeing if there is any indication what each console may be for.

Attilisk moves toward the bow, hoping he'll have better luck with the interface there than with the ones similar to the hallway.  If nothing seems to make sense, he'll touch one of the blue lights.

But... They were here. Were they sleeping? How long have they been here, and why did they not notice... The seeker ponders as they try to wash the grassy taste from their tongue.

Paraton follows the others into the vessel, then crosses after Attilisk, and starts analyzing the bow controls.

OOC: Paraton uses Planner [When you observe or study a location for at least one round as your action, the next time you interact with it (possibly in the following round), the difficulty of a related task (such as finding a clue, a tool, or a secret compartment) is reduced by one step.] and then tries to interact with the hallway interfaces. They're also trained in understanding the numenera. They rolled a 3. All considered, they succeed if the task is level 3 difficulty or less.

Porgot examines the controls carefully and makes some educated guesses.  Including the hatch they entered by, there are seven doors on the ship.  Two doors, the one to this room and the exterior hatch, are open.  Likely pink indicates an open door and blue a closed one.  The circle of green around one of the blue lights probably indicates some kind of condition is present, though what is currently unknown.



Attilisk comes to a similar conclusion as Porgot about the doors, but upon closer examination and some tentative exploration, it seems there are a number of conditions that could be indicated. Some likely related to activity levels, environmental factors, power levels, and in the case of green... that seems to indicate damage.  Likely one of the aft doors is the culprit.

Also, the one that that is lacking here is any way of moving this vessel.  This seems to be a place of information, not motion.



It's getting a little crowded in the room with three people smooshed in. Stepping outside to examine the hallway interfaces, it seems there are ways to adjust the lighting, and even possibly gather information about other spaces in the vessel, though it looks like there is a companion component that should be used for full efficacy.

Attilisk discusses his finds with the others, and then suggests, "Why don't I try the door at the end of the hall.  See what that does to the indicators.  Maybe that will help us learn more."

Not waiting for a response, he heads that direction (down/forward?) and tries to open the door.

The door at the end of the hall is aft, but also "up" due to how the vessel is angled.  It's a bit of a hike and almost more of a crawl, but by the time Attilisk gets up there, he can see the door at the end of the corridor looks quite heavy compared to the other doors.  There is a soft green glow around the door itself, though the door looks intact.  His orb companion makes a few soft clicking sounds, and its "eye" apertures realign slightly.

Outside the vessel, Delfino and Eleisai watch for anything untoward, whilst Cube holds the rope above, should a speedy ascent become necessary.

Attilisk can feel a warmth on the door, and smell a crackling scent, like that of lightning, in the air.

Attilisk pauses and tries to take in the energy, the structure, and anything else that strikes him as being ... dangerous.

Paraton stops the fiddling, and starts humming a nenia calmante. When they feel anchored in the now and the here, they finally start seeing the vessel as it is, and they finally understand the relationship between the parts and the whole.
The seeker looks now and then at Porgot, at Attilisk, and thinks of the people outside, of the orbs, and puts everything together. They are all here, now, and they must make their purpose here, now.

[OOC] Paraton rolled a 20, trying to understand the 'companion' device for operating the controls.

Examining the door and the slight glow, it seems the door is meant for holding something back.  Something that could deliver great impact or some other great force.  Judging how the vessel is sitting in this room, the strange light that surrounds this door but no others, and the position of the door itself, it's possible that the door leads to where the propulsion systems could be located, and the blinking light could indicate activation or even some kind of distress!



The orbs!  It comes to Paraton in a flash of insight - the orbs are the companion devices, what was needed to indicate to the vessel that the inhabitants belonged.  For some reason, likely the reason that the vessel ended up in such a strange position, the orbs were cast free of the vessel and had been seeking "crew members" to attach themselves to.  What became of the original crew, it is difficult to say, but whatever forces put the vessel here were likely tremendous.  The twin orbs on Paraton's shoulders shift and go slightly pink, and more lights illuminate in the room Attilisk had first opened behind them.  He realizes that that room is not the bow controls, but rather the security console; and they have been designated the primary user of that console.

"Guys!  I think the ... movement parts, I think, are this way.  Past this door.  But I'm not sure it's safe to open the door.  I'm not sure if they're active or maybe if something's wrong.  Any ideas?"

Let me see what I can do from here, the seeker says, before they start fiddling with the console.

By the way, it might be a good idea to try and really understand what the orbs on you are trying to tell you. Looks like this ship works with'en.

[Today: Paraton rolled 10 using 1d20. They are trained in understanding the Numenera. Also they just rolled a 20. Unlocking Attilisk's gate /disabling the security.]

Paraton's hands glide confidently over the console, and the orb helps by gliding down their hands and shifting and chiming in a way that is clearly aiding them in getting the sequence perfect.

In front of Attilisk, the door irises open.  Inside is a large, oblong room with high ceilings.  Distributed in an arc are twelve transparent floor-to-ceiling pillars, collared at floor and ceiling with the same midnight blue material that makes up the ship.  Each of the pillars is filled with a silvery vapor that slowly drifts and billows within its confines.

Each of the pillars, except one, that is.  One of the pillars is cracked, the vapor spilling out slowly onto the floor, a silvery sand collecting at its base.  And within the vapor is movement, the scuttling of small forms.  Attilisk can spy at least a dozen lizard-like creatures, perhaps a half-meter long, with heads that are a variety of metal tools; things to cut, pierce, squeeze, shatter, pry.

Eleisai, when asked to take a look, can tell you that the creatures are feeling both purposeful... and hungry.

Attilisk takes in scene and does his best to understand it.  He's trying to determine if the tool-headed creatures are hostile to himself or the tubes.  Perhaps they came out of the tube and need to go back?  He's also trying to figure out if the smoke or the sand is poisonous.  To the extent that the orb beside him offers any clues, he will certainly follow Paraton's advice and pay attention to the orb.

The creatures running around this room appear to be more biological than mechanical, and thus not able to be affected by Attilisk's powers.  However, the orb chimes several times, rolling down Attilisk's arm, and he moves it slightly until he sees a small crack near the back of the room, likely where the creatures gained entrance.  Observing the creatures, he sees them getting close to the cracked cylinder, their heads abruptly changing shape as they rear up to try to touch the damaged part.  But as they draw close to the sand or a whiff of the silver vapor, they fall back again, heads changing shape, seemingly disoriented.

It seems the sand and vapor, if not lethally poisonous, is certainly debilitating to these creatures.  It's possible they might be trying to change, eat, or repair the crack, but the contents (as the vapor seems to be turning into the sand after it spills out) are causing them trouble.  They seem to be rather confused.

As Attilisk observes, a couple of the creatures on the edge of the group finally seem to notice him, and begin scampering towards him, one with the head of a clamp, the other with the head of a sharp, bladed edge!

Attilisk backs up a few steps into the hallway and takes a defensive posture, hoping he doesn't look outwardly hostile.  He's certainly not looking for a fight, if he can help it.  He remains silent, though, not wishing to draw the attention of the rest of the swarm.

Paraton was reading the monitors to better understand the inner workings of this vessel, but they drop it when they witness the creatures approaching the Jack. The Seeker walks to the hallway and prepares for the worst, trying for the best.

Heeyyy, who's a good boy? they whisper, softly. It's worth a try.

As Paraton appears, their orbs chime in unison, and the peculiar tool-headed creatures pause in their advance.  They tilt their heads at Paraton, and both heads abruptly change into something long and tipped with a needle point.  Then they swing back to face Attilisk while moving sideways closer to Paraton.

The other creatures are still staggering around as if intoxicated.  Eleisai whispers that the two near the door seem confident in Paraton's authority, but seem to think Attilisk is "inadequate" and in need of improvement.

Attilisk merely watches warily as the pair of non-groggy creatures approach Paraton.  He's still vigilant in case the others get any ideas.

Who's got a nice needlepoint? You both! Yes you do! Yes you do!

Paraton kneels and pets the small creatures. This is not the strangest thing the Seeker has ever done, but it's up there. Top five, probably. Top three, if you push them.

Attilisk, I think I'm better attuned to this vessel than you are. At least, to some parts of it. I'm not sure, but I think these good boys and girls are trying to fix that broken cilinder.

Then they turn to the creatures again
Hey, hey. No puncturing my friends, please. No, not even if they smell weird. No.

"If that's the case, I'd be more than happy to help them, if we can figure out a way to.  I think we need to seal off the tube that the others are around."  He bobbed his head toward the lethargic pile of tool-headed creatures.

Petting the needle-headed creatures seems to dissuade them from their intense focus on Attilisk, and swings their whole attention back to Paraton. Their heads abruptly switch from exceptionally sharp and thin needles to a thicker sort of puncturing tool, then smaller clamps. One of them begins to climb up Paraton's arm to their shoulder, swinging their head to look at a nearby orb, which chimes slightly but doesn't move.  The lizard-creature seems to look between the right-side orb and Paraton's shoulder several times.

Attilisk, with the lizard-creatures quiet for the nonce, either climbing on Paraton or staggering around intoxicated, can get a closer examination of the pillar.  While not trying to breathe too deeply or get too close, he can feel the other pillars humming happily in his presence, with the discordant note of the cracked one making sour note in the song.  Changing his angle of view, he can see there is... something nearly invisible to the naked eye that is pressing into the pillar, something that sings a note that sets his teeth on edge.  Its size is difficult to determine from the farther distance, but it is certainly larger than any of these creatures.  If it could be removed, Attilisk is hopeful he could find a way to mend the pillar.

Delfino gives a soft call from the hallway, "Eleisai and I used some of the rope and her powers to take a look around the outside of the ship.  There's a shard of something long and translucent poking through the rear side quarter, and the front of this thing is lodged through part of the wall at the bottom."

Then the lizard-creature on Paraton's shoulder whips its head around and drives the sharp tips of its clamp into their shoulder, while the second leaps up and grabs the right-side orb in its pincers!

OOC: Would you care for a GM intrusion, Paraton?

Hey! What's up with you guys?

Paraton takes the clamp out from their shoulder and frees the orb, looking carefully at the creatures.

Are you trying to tell me something? What's wrong, little ones?

They peer in the direction the orb was forced to point to.

OOC: Paraton rolled 7 towards noticing anything even weirder, 1 level int effort applied, edge 1.

Attilisk, confident in Paraton's ability to manage the ... things crawling around him, focuses his attention on the quasi-crystalline, semi-phased(?), object that seems to be protruding through the hull and into the glass pillars.  He's primarily trying to understand its nature and how to safely remove it (or change it in a useful way or ... some other idea he hasn't had yet.)