"I wouldn't think of it," Inari promises. And then she leads the way.
"I also have to be honest and ask ... why haven't you fled yet? You aren't bound by Holly and her tape anymore," Jason comments as he follows after the large creature.
The way leads them into a stairwell, which is particularly tricky to manage safely. Meanwhile, RIU transfers mental images back of his progress toward the front of the ship, guiding the others, carrying the little metal arrow along the way so they have something to follow. (And, it would seem, the undead don't respond to pieces of scrap metal being wagged in front of their faces.)
"I may no longer be bound by Holly or her tape," Inari says, "but I am out of my element, in a place where illusions do not impress. We are on Cauchemarem ... and time has passed, and my knowledge of the status quo has proven to be erroneous."
"And here I thought that perhaps you liked us," Jason jokes as he indicates the next direction to go.
"Mind the climb," Inari calls back as she exits the stairwell and starts working her way through the perpendicular corridor - since going back to the engine room means going back up. "The floor hasn't much to gain purchase on - and you don't have claws."
"There's a skeleton in that direction. Be careful, Inari," Jason calls after the fox He rubs his hands on his jacket to try and remove any skin oils, then prepares to use hand and foot pressure to improve grip if he needs to.
"I see it," Inari says. "Mind that it won't notice your life force - but it still responds to light."
"Right, so ... Mind if I grab your tail and you guide?" Jason asks as he readies to disable his light for a bit.
"Indignified, but it's not as if anyone will see," Inari says. "It is sturdy enough. Go ahead."
"I won't enjoy it any more than you will," Jason promises as he takes a firm grip on the tail. Once he's sure his grip is good, he flicks off the light.
For the rest of the walk, Jason is in the dark, holding onto the tail of a large and possibly mentally-unstable fox-creature, making his way past dead bodies he can't see, and also past various sharp implements protruding from the wreckage, trusting in Inari's ability - and inclination - to keep him properly updated.
However, he's probably been through worse, so it's not really that big of a deal.
Still, it's a bit jarring when RIU suddenly sends back an image of a corpse animating and lurching toward him - or, rather, a dog-faced man holding a flashlight, who just shone it on the corpse. But that's there - and RIU seems to be okay for now.
"We're here," Inari says. "The engine room is dead all right. Otherwise, we'd be able to see. No corpses."
"I'm going to kill them if they don't get killed on their own," Jason mutters as he shakes his head. A flick of his thumb and the flashlight fires up again. "Wow, it's creepier in person," he admits. "And Inari? Thank you."
The chamber is as RIU "described" it. It's a bit of a climb, but here there are plenty of things to grab hold of (and, frankly, if they aren't sturdy enough to grab hold of at this point, then they aren't sturdy enough for there to be any hope of getting this craft off the ground). The central control panel - a bit more of a climb, past several turn-wheels - has a large gauntlet-shaped indentation in it - right-handed.
"Right, up I go. I hope this wasn't a bad plan," Jason comments. He checks on the gauntlet in his pack to make sure it's still there, then starts a slow climb upward. No point in rushing and slipping, after all. "If I may ask," he says as he goes, "What do you want out of, well, life? What is your hope? To escape this entire world ... or just make it to a more civilized place?"
RIU, meanwhile, sends back a visual reading of the interior of the bridge - full of slumped bodies over the controls. Ms. Trudeau and Randall hesitate at the door, quite the unlikely adventurers in their silly hat and mask.
"I want revenge," Inari says. "Forester did unforgivable things to Akiko. For that, he must die. Painfully and slowly, I prefer. But in order to see through to that, I must first survive."
"I just want to go home. I may not have a lot, but my loft apartment and my business has been enough for me," Jason comments as he continues upward. Maybe talking helps keep him from worrying over too much? "Sounds like you're very close to Akiko. What do you remember him doing to her?"
"He used me to use her," Inari says, as Jason finally reaches the control panel. A stool is securely bolted to the floor - like all the furnishings around here - and now it serves reasonably well as a sturdy if uncomfortable perch, so that he can reach the controls.
"He was her superior," Inari continues, her voice gaining more of an edge to it. "She admired him for his brilliance and his creativity, and she believed his flattery. Even when she saw that he was dabbling in things well beyond reason ... she still trusted that he was working on something truly amazing."
RIU's vision transmits Randall shining a flashlight around on a bridge full of corpses. They don't remain still for very long.
Oblivious to the mayhem unfolding on the bridge, Inari continues, "But to him, she was only a toy. An object. Something given to him and under his authority, for him to play with as he saw fit. He was not content enough with being God of his own world. His Eden was not complete."
"We all do things when we're young that are ... questionable. Keep in mind she probably didn't see the dangers because she didn't want to; I've been guilty of the same before. It doesn't excuse his misuse of her, I'm just commenting on how it may have happened. Even if I disprove of some of your actions, well, she's lucky to have a friend who's looking out for her, Inari. For whatever it's worth, I intend to try and stop Forrester from harming anyone else,," Jason comments as he slips the gauntlet on. He sighs, adding, "And now Randall and Holly are in trouble. I don't know if this will help or hurt things to try and start this ship up. Akiko said this ship was powered differently. What will happen if I put my hand on the controls?"
Inari frowns. "Honestly, I am not certain. The Empire of Stars is ... a curiosity. They have the semblance of civilized society, but it's a poorly kept secret that they dabble in things of the Shadow. Small wonder, since they live so far from the Light. Take care. From time to time, they are known to use traps to keep the unintended from using their technologies."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I worry that this ship powers off life force or something. Put my hand down and I die to start it up," Jason comments a bit grimly as he examines the controls.
"Hmm. A fascinating idea ... though I suppose if they wished to power it by sacrificing slaves, they would have some chamber far away from all their precious - and very vulnerable - workings." Inari pauses. "Oh yes - the Empire of Stars is known for slavery. The worlds of the Light don't care much for that."
"I would look lousy in a slave collar," Jason mutters as he gently pokes and prods at the odd controls, looking for anything that seems to be electrical leads, small holes where things might launch out, etc, on the console."
As Jason examines the controls more intently, he can see that the "steampunk" trappings of this place are something of a misnomer. The interior of the indentation is too smooth. There is a pressure plate, sure, but mechanically speaking it would seem to be just as likely that someone could trip such a switch by just poking the palm of the indentation with a 10-foot pole. Rather, the fact that the interior of the indented area is made of pieces of metal - with thin areas of separation with non-conducting materials - suggests that there may actually be a bit of electrical engineering at work in this place.
Meanwhile, RIU transmits images and sounds of flashes of light jogging around randomly, occasionally illuminating skeletal monsters in tattered uniforms, occasionally illuminating an absurd-looking dog-headed police officer wielding a thick pipe and crushing skulls ... and occasionally a confused-looking woman trying to illuminate the scene with a flashlight, while the monsters try to get through the dog-headed man to get to her.
"I think this is a power conduit," Jason remarks as he slips his hand back out of the gauntlet, "I put my hand in here and I fry myself. Nice. But good! It means I have a better chance at working with this ship." So instead he starts stuffing paper into the metal gauntlet to fill it for tripping the pressure plate. He then grabs a pair of insulated pliers from his tool bag and grabs the edge of the rusty metal gauntlet. "If I get killed, well ... the others can help you find Forrester," the man comments as he tries to now use the pliers to set the gauntlet in place.
He goes through the whole experiment, but nothing happens. No sparks, no paper catching fire, no nothing. Trying it again this way, then that, still nothing. Perhaps the rusty contacts need some buffing (good thing he's got tools). But then, as he tries looking at it in different ways (and trying not to be too distracted by the combat going on in the bridge), he's suddenly hit by a feeling of deja vu as he looks at the indentation and tries to figure out just how the gauntlet is supposed to fit into it. The bottom line is, whatever gauntlet is supposed to go in here, the one he procured doesn't quite fit. Not without some modification, anyway.
Jason tries putting the gauntlet in upside down, pressing the back of it into the socket instead of the palm. "The others are zombie-bashing," he remarks absently, "Hard to concentrate when seeing two things at once..."
There does appear to be some charge to whatever battery is rigged up to fry anyone foolish enough to stick a bare hand in here (or a simple metal gauntlet insufficiently insulated to keep the wearer from being electrocuted). Two of the sections of metal contacts appear to be the offending "live points." The arrangement of the other contact points ... well, they aren't truly contact points. There's some sort of inductive or conductive cleverness at work here, entirely at odds with the design of the rest of the place, and rather anachronistic (not to mention probably a bit overly complicated for a mere deathtrap).
"Seeing two things at once," Inari murmurs....
"Gah, I must be stupid," Jason growls and suddenly wishes he has a desk to beat his head on. "What do the Empire people look like? Do they work in pairs? Is there another control point in this room that has to be activated at the same time?" he asks Inari as he tucks the gauntlet back in his lap and just tries connecting the two contact points with the metal part of his insulated pliers.
There is a momentary spark, but nothing spectacular.
"RIU, is there any switch, lever, or other gauntlet point on the bridge?" Jason thinks at he stares at the indention, then tries to look at the underside of the controls.
Inari, meanwhile, prowls around, and looks intently at the control panel. "You're ... you're playing with something there. I ..." She shakes her head and looks away. "I can't quite ..." She closes her eyes, then opens them again. "I can see it just fine. I correct myself. But denizens of this world do not see it. That indentation is not meant for eyes of this world."
"What do you see?" Jason asks. "What does it look like?"
RIU dives around, dodging flailing skeletons, amidst the sounds of pipe crunching bone in the background. At last, he comes up to the central control panel in the front, where there are a great many controls, and fancy framework, but half buried by a fallen panel is the edge of an indentation. RIU scoots it out of the way, momentarily setting down his metal arrow to do so - and there is another right-hand indentation.
"Paired activation ... maybe," Jason murmurs. "RIU, can you find another gauntlet? I need to you to set one into that indention. But be careful! It's live electrically."
"It's a hand-shaped indentation, but there are patterns in the metal. It's hard to see because of all the rust," Inari says. "But I'm not supposed to see it. There's a part of me that should avert its eyes. I don't think this is meant to be opened by someone from this world. There's some sort of key. Something ... special."
RIU's sends a mental ping that translates as something like, "on it!" and it starts bobbing about, avoiding the undead as it searches for a decent gauntlet. It seems that gauntlets weren't widely used among the bridge crew - but this is a fantasy world, so one can't be sure one way or the other.
"But who would have the key?" Jason asks as he starts scraping at the rust with a screwdriver, trying to clear away the pattern. "There has to be a key somewhere on this ship."
As Jason clears away the rust, he can make out the reason for the grooves and the little inlays. While two points near the wrist were conduits, the rest of the grooves appear to be for decorative purposes, forming a sort of diagram. In the middle of the palm is a small shape that is like an addition sign, or a stubby cross. Near it are small circles.
"Uniform medals, maybe?" Jason muses as he peers at the cross, then thinks back to the skeleton in the hallway in uniform that RIU found. He tries to think back to its medals.
The fingers are divided into squarish segments in ways that wouldn't make any sense for segments of a gauntlet.
Suddenly, the design rings a bell. Why, Jason should know this like the back of his own hand ... that is, if his hand were wearing a power glove.
Jason smacks his forehead. "You can't be serious," he says, feeling very stupid now, "That's ... " So, he starts digging in his back for his old control unit for RIU.
There it is, still intact.
Inari's eyes widen. "You have ..." Then, she seems a little less awed. "Oh ... right ... it's a ... I see. I suppose that makes ... sense?"
Jason pulls the archaic device on his hand and pulls the cinch straps right. "Okay, time to try this again. I hope this doesn't kill me," he admits. He takes several deep breathes, then turns his hand upside-down into the socket, trying to align the holes.
The glove fits perfectly - his fingers seem to be drawn just a little, to snap perfectly into place. Blue light bathes the power glove - definitely not a standard feature - and he feels a slight tingle. Thin cracks in the rusty control panel briefly illuminate as pulses of blue light race outward, evocative of ... well, some really, really, incredibly old movie from the last century or so.
"Well, love of reusing old tech pays off!" Jason laughs giddily, "We have power!" He doesn't try to pull his hand free yet, instead he seems more fascinated in watching things around him spring to life. "Lets just hope you're intact enough to power..."
The viewports into the fluid chambers slowly begin to cast off a faint bluish glow. Several of the needles begin bouncing within their gauges. The ship shakes and creaks, and hissing noises can be heard down in the distance, elsewhere in the ship.
"We've got a live one!" Jason calls into the pocket radio in hopes the others will hear him. To Inari he says, "I may not be able to shapeshift, but I'm not completely useless!"
RIU's vision seems to relate that they haven't yet figured out what's happening - or they're too distracted to respond, in any case.
Jason tests to see if he can pull his hand free from the panel without everything powering down.
As he removes his hand, it seems that the "chain reaction" is going on by itself. Back in the corridor, glowing blue gas seeps from a broken pipe.
Inari spins about. "That doesn't look good. Oh, curse it. I need hands to turn shut-off valves, don't I?"
"Right, it's still going. Great," Jason says, "And yes, you do. Shift if you need, I won't look." In fact, he's busily trying to look at the various gauges and figure out what they might mean.
Inari stealthily makes her way over (no longer having to climb down) to the wheel, where she wrenches at it. "Ngh!"
"Yell if you need help!" Jason calls out.
"Need help!" Inari gasps out. "Too rusty!"
"Right!" Jason says and gives up trying to decipher the gauges. Instead, he's trying to get back to where Inari is now. He's also pulling his coat off again should she desire it for cover.
Inari takes the proffered coat and slings it on without a word. She has a piece of metal that she's worked into the spokes of the turning wheel to try to offer some leverage, but it's still stuck fast. In her bigger form, she might have the muscle, but she wouldn't have the hands.
"We'll do it together," Jason tells the fox-woman and stands beside her. His hands close around the piece of metal and he waits for her to grip it again. "On three?" he asks her.
Inari nods and counts off with him ... "One ... two ... THREE!"
Inari is almost knocked to the floor at Jason's unexpected burst of strength (or incredible leverage). The wheel turns, and the spray shuts off.
RIU transmits an image: Randall and Holly seem to have dealt with the last of the skeletons in assembly line fashion - Holly holding a light for them to lumber toward, with Randall smacking them, one by one, over the head with a pipe. And now they're working to shut off a leaking pipe - Randall applying leverage with a pipe, while Holly redirects the spray with ... a blowdrier she pulled out of her purse?
"Haha!" Jason cackles and hugs Inari, "We did it!" Of course, when he realizes he's hugging a very dangerous creature he quickly lets go and coughs. "Riiight, not dignified," he says, looking a bit embarrassed over the matter. "The others have been skeleton bashing. They've gotten rid of the ones on the bridge."
"They've ... oh, right, the little dragon. It's been invisible for so long, I nearly forgot," Inari says. "Er ... well, I suppose it would be time to check on them again?"
"Yes. Though we have a skeleton to deal with in the hallway. Lets get back to them, though," Jason agrees as he pulls the piece of metal out from the wheel. I can try to bash it with this, I guess!"