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apocalypsehowcomm2022-05-02 11:56 am
failedpromise) wrote in apocalypsehowcomm2022-05-02 11:56 am
Entry tags:
(Closed) It's not fair
Who: Cortana and Donna Noble
When: Early May
Where: Book Fair!
Summary: Cortana has a bad time with quizzes, Donna gets to learn some upsetting information.
Warnings: Mentions of mass destruction and murder, rampancy, mental illness, suicide baiting, general bad times.
She'd been enticed, initially, by the flyer. Books were a good source of information. Why not go check things out?
The first sign that anything was off was when she'd tried to take up the offer for a library card (again, could be useful, so why not?) only to find out that she was already in the system. Panic had gripped her at the idea that she might have forgotten-no. She couldn't have been in the system for that long. She'd only been here for three months. Besides, she could account for the entire time she'd been here: there simply wasn't room for enough lost time to have checked out so many volumes.
...Oh great, it was entity bullshit again, wasn't it?
Her hands balled into fists, and her expression was distinctly dour as she explored what should have been a light, pleasant experience. She avoided talking to anyone, and eventually ended up playing around with the quizzes. It all seemed fairly normal until she decided to test her knowledge of the book version of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The questions started out simple enough, but quickly turn ...strange. Stuff like what is the common name for Hal's condition (rampancy wasn't even a concept mentioned in the book), whether if she were in Dave's shoes would she destroy Hal, etc. Probably not a coincidence, but if someone thought that rigging the quiz like this would get to her, they had another thought coming. She wasn't going to fall for such a simple, cheap trick.
But then...
How many people lived in colonies destroyed by Guardians?
She tensed, sucking in a breath. How? It shouldn't be possible to rig the quiz with that question because no one knew about that. She hadn't told anyone that much detail about her life.
Still, if whoever was doing this thought she wouldn't know that number, they had another thought coming. Her actions had been misguided at best, but she'd known the consequences.
She'd doomed millions.
If you'd truly died on that ship, would those people still be alive?
An attempt to pull away, to close the window and leave made it clear that wasn't going to happen. At least, not yet. Looked like she was going to have to play along. And so she answered.
Yes.
Given your previous answer, would you have preferred not to survive?
Yes-ERROR.
She tried again, only to be refused. And again. Her body was stiff, focused entirely on the screen in front of her. Why wouldn't it take her answer? It was only logical: if she'd died, none of this would have happened, those people would still be alive, she wouldn't have betrayed John-
But he still wouldn't be hers anymore, would he? The galaxy would be a better place for her loss, but she'd never get to enjoy that. She'd be gone, and John would still get another AI, and no one would remember her or care...
"Selfish." Tears stung at the corners of her eyes. "Selfish!" She barely choked out the word before it turned into a sob and the tears began to stream down her cheeks, unnoticed.
When: Early May
Where: Book Fair!
Summary: Cortana has a bad time with quizzes, Donna gets to learn some upsetting information.
Warnings: Mentions of mass destruction and murder, rampancy, mental illness, suicide baiting, general bad times.
She'd been enticed, initially, by the flyer. Books were a good source of information. Why not go check things out?
The first sign that anything was off was when she'd tried to take up the offer for a library card (again, could be useful, so why not?) only to find out that she was already in the system. Panic had gripped her at the idea that she might have forgotten-no. She couldn't have been in the system for that long. She'd only been here for three months. Besides, she could account for the entire time she'd been here: there simply wasn't room for enough lost time to have checked out so many volumes.
...Oh great, it was entity bullshit again, wasn't it?
Her hands balled into fists, and her expression was distinctly dour as she explored what should have been a light, pleasant experience. She avoided talking to anyone, and eventually ended up playing around with the quizzes. It all seemed fairly normal until she decided to test her knowledge of the book version of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The questions started out simple enough, but quickly turn ...strange. Stuff like what is the common name for Hal's condition (rampancy wasn't even a concept mentioned in the book), whether if she were in Dave's shoes would she destroy Hal, etc. Probably not a coincidence, but if someone thought that rigging the quiz like this would get to her, they had another thought coming. She wasn't going to fall for such a simple, cheap trick.
But then...
How many people lived in colonies destroyed by Guardians?
She tensed, sucking in a breath. How? It shouldn't be possible to rig the quiz with that question because no one knew about that. She hadn't told anyone that much detail about her life.
Still, if whoever was doing this thought she wouldn't know that number, they had another thought coming. Her actions had been misguided at best, but she'd known the consequences.
She'd doomed millions.
If you'd truly died on that ship, would those people still be alive?
An attempt to pull away, to close the window and leave made it clear that wasn't going to happen. At least, not yet. Looked like she was going to have to play along. And so she answered.
Yes.
Given your previous answer, would you have preferred not to survive?
Yes-ERROR.
She tried again, only to be refused. And again. Her body was stiff, focused entirely on the screen in front of her. Why wouldn't it take her answer? It was only logical: if she'd died, none of this would have happened, those people would still be alive, she wouldn't have betrayed John-
But he still wouldn't be hers anymore, would he? The galaxy would be a better place for her loss, but she'd never get to enjoy that. She'd be gone, and John would still get another AI, and no one would remember her or care...
"Selfish." Tears stung at the corners of her eyes. "Selfish!" She barely choked out the word before it turned into a sob and the tears began to stream down her cheeks, unnoticed.
no subject
Inside her head, thoughts race. She can't go home. Donna knows. She killed civilians. The people here are kind to her in a way that no one else has been other than the Chief, but she would have killed them too without ever knowing if she'd come here even just a few months earlier.
...She'll never see the Chief again.
"What are you going to do?" She tries to distract herself by asking. Will Donna tell ADI about this? Will she tell someone else?
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no subject
She's quiet for nearly a full minute.
"Thank you, Donna."
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"I think I'll keep things between me and the people who are helping me." Which right now is Tony.
think we can ftb on this one!
At least until the Doctor finds her. Donna is still determined that that's going to happen. She'd waited a long time for him the first go around. She can do that again, whether it's one year or ten.