198 [Port - Video]

[impure_tale]

[The Marquis appears onscreen and holds his journal in such a way to reveal the chamber in which he and Riddick and Renate have found themselves. It is sterile and clean like much of the facility, with a whole wall open to the landscape beyond -- far less hospitable than where they are now, but only for the moment, perhaps. There is some mild interference in the camera, the lightest static.]

We've been in this room some hours, now, and cannot find [buzzzzzz]-o move forward or go back the way we came.

[An odd, electronic tinkle of notes can be heard, a slow and flowing bar played, and one can see there appears to be some light coming up from underneath. He turns his journal to show it]

However, this happens every few minutes or s-- [static]

Comments

[with_my_teacup]

[Riddick hasn't moved since the first time the floor tiles lit; he's crouched on a single one, the one he was on, ear tipped down and listening. He watches the Marquis shift his weight casually to a different tile.]

You oughta be careful where you st- ah FUCK.

[He claps his hands over his ears without apparent provocation as Renate whines and barks.]

Ultrasonics. Something got set off...

[impure_tale]

[The Marquis turns toward him, at first alarmed. The words that Riddick uses do not really connect for him.]

...I didn't hear anything just then.

[He's smart enough to catch his body language with that of the dog's, whose ears are laid back as her eye seems to follow the line the lighting tiles traced in the floor.]

[with_my_teacup]

[He shakes his head as the alarm fades, wincing.] We're supposed to be doing something. With these tiles. Let's get this game going; figure out what the mechanism is.

[So he can break it. He does not like being fucked around with. He steps onto the tile that had lit first.]

[impure_tale]

If we must. [As though he's not just as ready to get out of here.] Does it look to you as though it's following a particular sequence?

[It starts up again, but this time in two different paths. Renate barks and pads away when one of the paths leads in her direction]

[with_my_teacup]

Definitely a sequence every time. Might match the notes.

[He watches Renate and like her avoids the glowing ones. They seem to be safe after they light, but...]

[impure_tale]

[Once they go out, the Marquis relaxes some.]

Why do you suppose it had to be musical?

[with_my_teacup]

Music's one of those things people hook into to show how smart they are. 'Look, it's pretty and math.' Way to fuck with other people and look smart. This place is all about some asshole looking smart at other people's expense.

[impure_tale]

[The array reappears and spells out an extra measure of the tune, curving around when the room does not extend far enough for it to finish. This repeats, longer, this time more rapidly, as it snakes back in the other direction. The Marquis steps out of what he can see is the usual path.]

That's quite fascinating, but I hardly see how --

[What he doesn't expect is for another tendril to start right beneath where he steps, and he goes stock-still for a second, seemingly stunned]

[with_my_teacup]

"...Hey. Warden. Hey." Riddick glances at the floor beneath him, staring at the patterns, now uncertain of his own footing.

[impure_tale]

[When the ribbon of lights reaches the end of its course and fades to nothing, the Marquis moves finally, but not in the way it's expected. Renate barks shrilly as he collapses soundlessly.]

[with_my_teacup]

[Riddick watches the floor, stepping carefully along the path of a previous ribbon-- the midsections, so that when the pattern starts he'll have warning to get off. He picks a relatively safe tile to stand on, and leans down to take a pulse.]

[impure_tale]

[For all the Marquis can tell, Riddick has just rushed over to kneel in front of him.]

What the devil are you doi--

[Renate barks at him.]

What?

[The body that Riddick is checking has no pulse, naturally.]

[with_my_teacup]

[At the words, Riddick's head jerks up, as if he's straining to hear something far, far away. He stares at the air across the body, sweeping the room slowly with his gaze. Nothing]

[darknessb4me]

So go out the back.