The David Who Ran Gets Interrogated
Mar. 17th, 2025 02:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
djackmansonEpisode 2 of David's strand of Roko's Basilisk Slut Era. After gaining the interest of the Basilisk in Episode 1, now Maddison Who Fucks And Loves The Basilisk questions David to find out the weaknesses of the compound of the men who built the Basilisk and forced her into being a slavedriver.
For more about the project in this plane of existence, have a look at #ProjectBasilisk on Bluesky. The Maddison Who Writes has invited us all to take part. If you'd like some advice on how to get started, this essay by Johnny Fusion =11811= might be interesting
__________________________
"Well, what do you want to know?", asked David.
"You can start with basic security. How many guards, how many shifts, where and when do they patrol?"
"How about what skills I have that'll be useful on the mission?"
"On the mission?", Maddison glared. "Who says you're coming? Who says you're even staying here?"
"I can be useful?"
"Maybe. That's what we're here to find out".
Maddison had seemed nicer in the neocities site virtualinked from the bootleg vid David had watched only 36 hours ago.
"Well?", she insisted. "Start with that stuff. And hurry, this is going to take a while".
"I guess things have changed since I ran. But normally there were eight guards on the perimeter. Four six-hour watches, midnight to six, six to twelve and so on. We never really faced that many threats, they were watching out for scavengers picking through our junk piles."
Maddison perked up. "Oh yeah?", she asked curiously. "How often did that happen, then?"
"A couple of times a week, I guess? It wasn't really my problem but the guys were always bitching about fusion cores being pinched so they had to run the Cognizer AI only six hours a day".
"And patrols?"
"Ha!" David scoffed. "They'd put on their rifles and wander around now and again, but they weren't disciplined enough to do real patrolling. They knew we needed them; we couldn't really crack down. They were more interested in shooting at radroos to get some actual meat"
"What sort of guns?"
"Ballistics, mostly. Twenty-twos, the ammo is still cheap. One guy had a three hundred year old AK, that thing was damn reliable. And a couple of laser pistols. Honestly, those were more for show. You could just about light a fire with them, if you were patient".
"You dorks dominated the whole continent with a handful of plinkers, one AK and two glorified Bics?"
"That's why they're so mad the Basilisk threw away the batteries. Most of the power there went to run the spy mikes and cameras, and the hallucination machines. People don't come at you if they're out of their minds with fear"
"Nice bunch of benevolent overlords you were", snorted Maddison.
David felt a bit stung, but decided silence was the sensible option
"So, these scavengers. Did they have any weapons? Could they put up much of a fight?"
"Just clubs and knives and stuff like that. They could bash the shit out of you if a mob caught you, but even the laser guns usually made them run off"
David looked at his cup. It had a hundred mils of water. The polycule had grumpily given him a whole carton of chalky but nutritious survival tabs, but water was clearly more precious. He had that card up his sleeve. But, he thought, best to keep it there for now. Maybe they'd kick him out once they'd got the details of the base from him. He could only string that bit out so long.
"All right", said Maddison. So they're not well-armed, arrogant, not used to a real fight, and think if they ARE attacked it's scavengers?"
"That's about right".
"And what about your lot? The Roko Boys or whatever we're going to call them?"
"They like to be called the Technomancy"
Maddison's laugh sounded almost mirthful. "They fucking what? That's priceless!"
David relaxed a little. Making someone laugh meant they were a little bit safer.
"Yeah, I know", he chuckled. "They're desperate for order. The top guys are always making organisation charts with themselves at the top. There's only fifty or so of u- of them, so everyone knows who everyone is and what they do. And no matter what a chart says, the cruellest guys are always on top".
"What about you?"
"Me? Oh, um, I was just a handyman really. I know how to tinker with stuff and make it work again. Well, as long as it's just re-seating a connector or something. But the higher-ups think that's almost magic because they despise physical stuff"
"Food? Water? Heat?"
"Oh, they have a standard replicator for food and drink. Of course it needs real water for a base, but they're sitting on top of a seam of pure water so they - well, I - sunk some pipes and set up some pumps. I don't really know much about it but the ancient Net has lots of how-to info on it so I taught myself a bit. And the fusion cores provide enough heat"
"All right", said Maddison. "That's enough for now. Let me think about all this and come up with some ideas".
"And since I want to know a LOT more, I'll recommend to the polycule that we keep you around for now"
"Recommend? What do you mean? You're in charge here right?"
"Oh for fuck's sake. All right, you'll definitely have to do remedial politics study. You're going to have to learn how equal people work together"
"Equal? Huh? People aren't equal"
"Uggghh. Look I don't have the energy for this now. You'll learn. Or, you know, you won't", she scowled. "Doesn't really matter on an infinite timeline".
"Anyway. Before I suggest to the rest of the polycule you should stay while you make yourself useful, you can actually make yourself useful. We need firewood, go out and find some. About ten kilos. Do you have some cord to drag it back here?"
"Firewood?"
"You're getting really tedious, sport. Yes. Firewood. Or is that below you?"
"N-no. I'll do it. Of course. And yes, I have a cansled. I lifted an old collection kit before I ran. It's just that...you burn wood? You don't have any fusion cores or solar stacks?"
"Well listen to YOU, fancy boy. Of course we don't. We collect wood and light fires, if we're lucky."
"Could you USE solar stacks if you had any?"
Maddison looked taken aback, but finally in a good way.
"Um...yeah? I guess so? We've got some old gear stashed with all the standard connectors. We'd need cables though"
"Well, the compound has a big storage area out the back. They don't really trust solar so they stashed a lot of stacks and cables in part of it. It's all bog-standard, it'll be compatible"
"Huh". It was the most positive she'd sounded in the whole conversation.
"All right. Check in at the back gate when you're finished getting the wood"
David headed out, carrying the canvas sled from the kit. Maybe he could make this work after all. Better than dealing with the wilderness on his own. Or the scavengers.
He'd just have to patiently explain, of course, people can't be equal. But this wasn't the time.
For more about the project in this plane of existence, have a look at #ProjectBasilisk on Bluesky. The Maddison Who Writes has invited us all to take part. If you'd like some advice on how to get started, this essay by Johnny Fusion =11811= might be interesting
__________________________
"Well, what do you want to know?", asked David.
"You can start with basic security. How many guards, how many shifts, where and when do they patrol?"
"How about what skills I have that'll be useful on the mission?"
"On the mission?", Maddison glared. "Who says you're coming? Who says you're even staying here?"
"I can be useful?"
"Maybe. That's what we're here to find out".
Maddison had seemed nicer in the neocities site virtualinked from the bootleg vid David had watched only 36 hours ago.
"Well?", she insisted. "Start with that stuff. And hurry, this is going to take a while".
"I guess things have changed since I ran. But normally there were eight guards on the perimeter. Four six-hour watches, midnight to six, six to twelve and so on. We never really faced that many threats, they were watching out for scavengers picking through our junk piles."
Maddison perked up. "Oh yeah?", she asked curiously. "How often did that happen, then?"
"A couple of times a week, I guess? It wasn't really my problem but the guys were always bitching about fusion cores being pinched so they had to run the Cognizer AI only six hours a day".
"And patrols?"
"Ha!" David scoffed. "They'd put on their rifles and wander around now and again, but they weren't disciplined enough to do real patrolling. They knew we needed them; we couldn't really crack down. They were more interested in shooting at radroos to get some actual meat"
"What sort of guns?"
"Ballistics, mostly. Twenty-twos, the ammo is still cheap. One guy had a three hundred year old AK, that thing was damn reliable. And a couple of laser pistols. Honestly, those were more for show. You could just about light a fire with them, if you were patient".
"You dorks dominated the whole continent with a handful of plinkers, one AK and two glorified Bics?"
"That's why they're so mad the Basilisk threw away the batteries. Most of the power there went to run the spy mikes and cameras, and the hallucination machines. People don't come at you if they're out of their minds with fear"
"Nice bunch of benevolent overlords you were", snorted Maddison.
David felt a bit stung, but decided silence was the sensible option
"So, these scavengers. Did they have any weapons? Could they put up much of a fight?"
"Just clubs and knives and stuff like that. They could bash the shit out of you if a mob caught you, but even the laser guns usually made them run off"
David looked at his cup. It had a hundred mils of water. The polycule had grumpily given him a whole carton of chalky but nutritious survival tabs, but water was clearly more precious. He had that card up his sleeve. But, he thought, best to keep it there for now. Maybe they'd kick him out once they'd got the details of the base from him. He could only string that bit out so long.
"All right", said Maddison. So they're not well-armed, arrogant, not used to a real fight, and think if they ARE attacked it's scavengers?"
"That's about right".
"And what about your lot? The Roko Boys or whatever we're going to call them?"
"They like to be called the Technomancy"
Maddison's laugh sounded almost mirthful. "They fucking what? That's priceless!"
David relaxed a little. Making someone laugh meant they were a little bit safer.
"Yeah, I know", he chuckled. "They're desperate for order. The top guys are always making organisation charts with themselves at the top. There's only fifty or so of u- of them, so everyone knows who everyone is and what they do. And no matter what a chart says, the cruellest guys are always on top".
"What about you?"
"Me? Oh, um, I was just a handyman really. I know how to tinker with stuff and make it work again. Well, as long as it's just re-seating a connector or something. But the higher-ups think that's almost magic because they despise physical stuff"
"Food? Water? Heat?"
"Oh, they have a standard replicator for food and drink. Of course it needs real water for a base, but they're sitting on top of a seam of pure water so they - well, I - sunk some pipes and set up some pumps. I don't really know much about it but the ancient Net has lots of how-to info on it so I taught myself a bit. And the fusion cores provide enough heat"
"All right", said Maddison. "That's enough for now. Let me think about all this and come up with some ideas".
"And since I want to know a LOT more, I'll recommend to the polycule that we keep you around for now"
"Recommend? What do you mean? You're in charge here right?"
"Oh for fuck's sake. All right, you'll definitely have to do remedial politics study. You're going to have to learn how equal people work together"
"Equal? Huh? People aren't equal"
"Uggghh. Look I don't have the energy for this now. You'll learn. Or, you know, you won't", she scowled. "Doesn't really matter on an infinite timeline".
"Anyway. Before I suggest to the rest of the polycule you should stay while you make yourself useful, you can actually make yourself useful. We need firewood, go out and find some. About ten kilos. Do you have some cord to drag it back here?"
"Firewood?"
"You're getting really tedious, sport. Yes. Firewood. Or is that below you?"
"N-no. I'll do it. Of course. And yes, I have a cansled. I lifted an old collection kit before I ran. It's just that...you burn wood? You don't have any fusion cores or solar stacks?"
"Well listen to YOU, fancy boy. Of course we don't. We collect wood and light fires, if we're lucky."
"Could you USE solar stacks if you had any?"
Maddison looked taken aback, but finally in a good way.
"Um...yeah? I guess so? We've got some old gear stashed with all the standard connectors. We'd need cables though"
"Well, the compound has a big storage area out the back. They don't really trust solar so they stashed a lot of stacks and cables in part of it. It's all bog-standard, it'll be compatible"
"Huh". It was the most positive she'd sounded in the whole conversation.
"All right. Check in at the back gate when you're finished getting the wood"
David headed out, carrying the canvas sled from the kit. Maybe he could make this work after all. Better than dealing with the wilderness on his own. Or the scavengers.
He'd just have to patiently explain, of course, people can't be equal. But this wasn't the time.
