"You've been gone for seven months, that's why. I'm being cautious." he explained, frowning. There was still too much time lost in that story. "And where is this other person?" they drummed their fingers. He had been alone in this facility for a month and despite his best attempts to keep busy, he knew it was beginning to get to them. Knew it by the way his thoughts spiraled out faster and faster, knew it by the way he panicked too fast when anything went wrong. Knew it by the way he shouted and ranted to himself for hours, pacing down the hallways in near darkness. He needed another person to speak to, needed another person to interact with somehow but they also needed to be safe, and this Dohnal was listed as missing, as of seven months ago, and it didn't make sense.
“I stayed with them for a few months while I recovered,” Dohnal explained, this time remembering to hold the button. “They’re in another facility…I don’t know where it is exactly. I’d asked if they wanted to come with me when I left, but they declined.”
From that point on Dohnal was most definitely telling a string of lies. He pulled his hand away from the bottom after a few seconds, and glanced behind himself. One thing would never change, and that was his patience - Dohnal was not the most patient person.
After a pause, he pressed the button again.
“Please, just let me in. I’ll tell you the full story if you really want it in there.”
"Why are you still listed as missing in the databases, then?" he asked, even while knowing that the databases hadn't been updated in months, since they couldn't connect with the other stations. The database at this one was only accurate for the people that had been there; Ro had updated it with the details of his missing team members. They mumbled a curse under their breath, tearing a hand through their hair and adjusting their glasses. He wanted to let Dohnal in but some instinct wasn't sure it was a good idea. Then again, his instincts hadn't been very good at identifying danger, now had they? Not when he'd traveled to Cicreon and gotten trapped there with…he shuddered, shaking his head quickly.
“Missing..?” Dohnal mumbled out, taking a few steps back. He supposed he..expected that, but couldn’t help but shake the surprise away. After a rather lengthy pause, Dohnal walked forwards again, and spoke into the speaker.
“They must have not have thought to update it,” Dohnal explained, referencing the ‘person’ who had supposedly aided Dohnal in recovery. “Or there were problems with updating it. I don’t know.”
Dohnal glanced up at the camera that was closest to him, supposedly looking directly at it. Supposedly. It was hard to tell where his eyes were focused, due to the suit, but one could see his head lift, and slowly turn to the camera.
“So, it would be really nice, if you just let me in.” Previously, when Dohnal had said to ‘let him in’, there was a pleading tone to it. While that tone was still there, it had almost been taken over by a more frustrated…annoyed..tone.
He closed his eyes, rubbing his face with a hand. He was so tired, and so sick of being alone, but something still felt off about all of this. "Fine. Yeah. I'm coming." he turned the mic off, and headed to open the door manually. Before doing that, however, they locked down many of the main controls so that he was the only one that could access them. Dohnal would still be able to open most doors, and activate most things, but any sensitive equipment could now be operated by Ro and Ro alone. Just out of caution, they grabbed one of the tasers; this felt off and suspicious, and a weapon never hurt. He wondered if the current could even get through the strange suit, but still. It took him a few minutes to get through the halls. His burned leg was acting up right now, the muscles cramping slightly and slow to respond. They needed a cane or something, but were rather too proud to find and use one. So they made their way to the door, inputting the required codes to open it. It slowly began to open, and he stepped back, a slight frown tugging at their face. They could have sworn there was still a rank smell hanging around, but that was impossible.
Dohnal stayed silent, leaning against the wall for a moment. He looked back down, then pulled away from the door, taking a few steps back as he waited for the door to open.
That came moments later when the heavy door opened, and Dohnal didn’t move an inch, seemingly waiting for it to completely open.
they’re coming. they’re coming.
That feeling again. Dohnal didn’t ignore it, but he didn’t take any action either. Instead, he continued as normal, until the door completely opened, and Dohnal could completely see the other person who he had been conversing with.
Dohnal could tell right away that this was a person who had been on their own for an undetermined amount of time. They almost seemed a bit wary, judging by the expression on his face. Dohnal, on the other hand, was a blank slate - his expression unreadable, hidden by the helmet he wore over his head.
There was yet another unnatural pause - Dohnal actually hadn’t spoken face to face with anyone for a long time. He hadn’t interacted with anything really, aside from the lone ‘Puppets’, who were few in numbers and sparse in distance.
After the pause, Dohnal finally spoke. “Finally, it was rather cold out here. Thank you for letting me in.”
Ro nodded faintly, closing the door behind Dohnal so that more of Selnu's air wouldn't get in. He could still swear he smelled something. "You're welcome. I'm Romeo Accord, xenobiologist and botanist." he introduced themself, figuring that it was, after all, the polite thing to do. "You don't need the suit in here, you know." they added after a moment, taking a breath and shifting their weight to their normal leg. "The air is the same as it always has been." thankfully. None of the life support systems had suffered any major issues, though he had had to replace a secondary air filter at one point. It hadn't been that big a deal, and hadn't taken long to do.
“Romeo Accord, nice to meet you.” Dohnal nodded. “I’ll reintroduce myself. Karel Dohnal - just call me Dohnal. Driver. Or I was.” He hadn’t found many working vehicles in some time. There was something wrong with the vehicles. At least the ones he had found - and he hadn’t bothered to check.
Dohnal paused at the mention of the suit. It was true, he didn’t need it on in here.
you only wear it to blend in.
Hesitantly, Dohnal removed the suit, starting with the helmet. What was under the suit was just Dohnal - just normal, human Dohnal. If not a bit paler than usual, though that could have just marked up to the lack of sunlight on Selnu, as a good portion of the expedition members experienced themselves the lack of light.
“Don’t know how long I had that thing on,” Dohnal muttered, though he had an estimate. A long while. He fiddled with the suit, working at removing the rest of it. He glanced around.
“Are you the only one here?”
At the question, Ro nodded a little. "My last station member left about a month ago." they replied. "He was going to go see if he could track down anyone else. I guess he failed, or he would have come back." Lindsey was probably dead; Ro knew that much. They didn't know how, or why, but Lindsey would have come back or sent someone if he had met anyone else. The fact that neither had happened meant that the man was likely dead. "It's…good to meet you, Dohnal." he wasn't sure what the proper protocol for this was. Bio decontamination?
“Hmm. I didn’t see anyone else out there when I was travelling.” Dohnal did see people, though. He had encountered one very close to the facility, actually - which Dohnal realized, was a bit worrying. Not for him, though..or at least not directly.
He tugged the large oxygen tank that had been fitted to his back on the suit. Most of the oxygen masks on Selnu were filters, meaning they filtered the air into breathable oxygen. The suit Dohnal wore on the other hand required a supply of oxygen.
As he set the tank down, relishing in the released weight from his body, there seemed to be almost a small hole by the bottom of the tank. Dohnal didn’t seem to notice. There also seemed to be something…dark surrounding the edges of the cavity. In the lighting, it was hard to tell what it was. It could just be markings on the oxygen tank itself.
Dohnal stretched. “You’ve been alone for quite a while, then.” He commented. “Must be hard.”
Ro nodded. "It's been…not great." he agreed in a quiet, matter of fact voice. "I've kept myself busy, though. I'm alright." he didn't know how many books and audiobooks they had gone through, both fact and fiction. He had learned a lot more than he had thought he would, but they had still yearned for some human company. Their eyes flicked to the tank, and his brows furrowed faintly. "Why a tank? The filters in the normal suits would have been enough, there's been no changes to the air quality in the past few months."
“Hmm, good, good.” Dohnal mumbled, then looked at the tank.
“Well, the facility I was at was kind of a unique situation where they didn’t have the normal suits..” He began. He was beginning to stretch the lie a little thin here. “This suit is not really…how do I put this…it’s not really supposed to be on Selnu, but I guess they brought it on here just in case. It’s kind of a suit designed more for planets that have low gravity and more toxic atmospheres. Toxic atmospheres that can’t really be filtered out normally,” he explained - that part was true at least.
“Anyways, the facility I was staying at didn’t have the normal suits, but they did have these, so I took one out when I travelled.” The lighting was starting to bother his eyes. He looked down, away from the lights - even if they were rather dim.
He nodded faintly, taking in Dohnal's information. "I see. Which station were you at, and was there anyone else there?" if there were other people around, perhaps they could travel? Safety in numbers, and all that. He stepped forward, glancing around the hallway. "It might be more comfortable, too, if we moved elsewhere other than the door." he almost added "it smells", but realized it had to just be his imagination. Still. He wasn't sure. "Come on." they started walking down the hallway, limping faintly.
“I don’t remember,” Dohnal simply said, hoping that answer would be good enough. “There was only the person who helped me.”
He began to trail behind Ro, albeit slowly. His eyes traced the corridors as he moved.
“You have a radio here?” He questioned.
"What was their name?" perhaps they could look them up in the database and see what base Dohnal had been at. "Yes, I do, though no one's responded for…months." he was careful to say "I". Dohnal was still the outsider here, after all, and Ro knew better than to trust strange people who showed up or contacted out of nowhere. Knew better than to trust anyone, really. They were careful not to touch the taser, not wanting to draw Dohnal's attention to it. After a moment, he paused to give Dohnal a moment to catch up; having someone walk behind them gave them anxiety, made their hands begin to shake from too many memories building up.
“Don’t remember,” Dohnal repeated. “It..must’ve been the fall I had. Still affected me.”
Dohnal nodded slightly. “Maybe I could take a look. I’ve got some experience in operating radios. Been lucky with them. Perhaps I’ll get someone to respond.” His eyes stared ahead - he didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular. But as he caught up, his eyes flicked over to Ro - noting the slight shake in their hands. “Cold?” He questioned.
Ro let out a quiet sigh at the second "I don't remember". It would have been nice to know, after all. He shook his head a little bit. "No." They did not, however, explain why. It wasn't Dohnal's business and he didn't need to know. "And you will not be touching my radio without me in the room." He added after taking a moment to gather himself. "I am not required to trust you, Dohnal. Please do not expect me to. I've been alone for a month and I'm quite capable of managing alone." Even with a limp, he could walk fast enough to function.
“Hmm.” Dohnal drawled. “But you know, I’m very lucky. Šťastný. My pals would call me that, back on Earth. It means lucky. The radio offer’s always there.” And I’ve been alone for months, Dohnal almost added, but knew that would completely destroy the layer of lies he’d built.
you’re not alone.
“So,” he said after a moment. “Where are we going?”
He bit back a more vicious response than Dohnal's words merited. Maybe I have been alone for too long. "I did not say you couldn't use the radio. Only that I had to be in the room. On that subject, I've locked many of the main functions, you won't be able to do more than the basics." They kept walking, not looking at Dohnal as they moved through the dimly lit halls. "And I'm leading you to the dining room. I figured you're hungry, and it's a good place to talk."
Dohnal’s eyes briefly hardened, but he said nothing, continuing to follow Ro. Knowing that the main functions were locked..well, at least it was better finding out now than later. And really..would that be much of a problem for us?
“Okay. Makes sense. Sounds good.” He didn’t say anything else after that confirmation.
Ro was quiet as he led Dohnal into the dining room, turning on the lights and heading over to where the food was kept. "Here we are." He said, pulling out something for themself. "Most of these are dry packs, you can add water if you like. Later you can use the kitchens and actually cook something if you like, I don't care."
Dohnal flinched at the sudden amount of light. He held his hands together and walked forwards to where Ro had said the food was.
He looked over them, choosing a small pack of his own.
“You said you wanted to talk here,” Dohnal didn’t look up, focusing on getting the package opened. “What about?”
He glanced over at Dohnal, considering. "Why you're here, and what I should do now that you are." They replied, sitting down at one of the tables and beginning to eat. It had been a while since they'd had company. Of any sort. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea, though he didn't know.
“How am I supposed to know either of those things?” Dohnal mumbled - perhaps a thought better off staying in his head. He walked towards the tables, finally managing to open the packet. Pausing as he flicked his tongue out and tasted it.
we can’t eat this.
Dohnal briefly pulled back, then moved to the tables - before sitting down across from Ro. “I’m travelling, put simply. Trying to figure things out, what’s going on.” He set the food down, keeping it close to him.
"I see. Have you interacted with any other people? Seen anyone other than the person who saved you, whose name you can't remember, and me?" It had been seven months and he needed to know if there were any other people, if they had any hope at all of establishing contact with other people. He ate quietly, relieved to be off their feet and no longer walking.
