Can You See Me Now?

[cachedout]

Who: Cayde-6 and, quite possibly, you
What: Scouting the rig's security systems
Where: Anywhere your heart feels
When: The pre-mission days after the first sheetcake party
Warnings/Notes: If you do brackets with me that is 100% fine I'll come do brackets too

One of the local robot people is out and about. Cayde is pushing boundaries, which is to say that Cayde is having a pretty typical day since he found himself in Jorgmund's loving corporate chokehold. If he has to be stuck in a frosty tincan with a bunch of strangers, he's going to make the best of it and figure out what that "best" just might look like. A key part of that is getting a grip on where he can and can't go, and how much security is going to limit his movements and activities.

Right now, he's playing with security cameras.

"Alexa," Cayde asks the ceiling, pleasant and casual, orange throat lamp lighting up as he speaks, "Can you see me on the cameras right now?" He's making eye contact (well, glowing blue optic contact) with a shiny black security camera lens as he says it. He gives it a little wave.

She processes for several silent seconds, then a sweet and chirpy reply rings out:

"No, Cayde-6, you are currently outside of visual monitoring!"

"You'd recognize me if you could?"

"Yes!"

"Is there anybody under...." he takes a few steps closer to the camera and squints up at it to check it for identifying marks, then gives her the camera number.

"Not currently!" Alexa reports brightly.

"That's very interesting. Thank you, Alexa."

"You are welcome, Cayde-6!"

He repeats this test throughout the rig. While he's careful to avoid actual world-resident Jorgmund staffers, he's less careful about other new hires. Each time, he feels like his heart (or whatever Clovis Bray gave him instead of one) grows another size. It's hard for a robot with no lips to grin from ear to ear, but the subtle shift in the plates around his eyes conveys some of the expression as Cayde figures out just how many great and nasty ideas he is probably going to be able to get away with here. The company can't visually track him. That doesn't mean they haven't planted a tracker of some kind on him, he'll have to find a way to test that later, but as long as he's within acceptable crew areas? This is an absolute game changer.

PROMPT A:

Cayde finishes another round of camera checking, asking Alexa if she can see him, and confirming that she can't. Someone else nearby might have some opinions on seeing this situation develop, no?

PROMPT B:

Cayde notices another new hire is conveniently nearby the latest camera. Wherever they are on the rig, someone finds a robot man asking them: "Hey, wanna help with an experiment I'm doing?"

Comments

[cachedout]

"I'm starting to believe in miracles," Cayde replies, disposition totally sunny. "Well. Maybe. I just hope this one lasts, we can use this."

Talking openly like that is a risk, but Cayde's nothing if he's not a risktaker.

[fromfryingpantofire]

"I wouldn't count chickens and all, but it seems like a good bit of information."

He hums softly, walking around the camera he's looking at. "If it's entirely true, at least. I mean, some of these have to be real cameras, right?" If there are any, finding them would be the trick.

[cachedout]

Cayde grins. "Well, one would think, but so far I'm running a full count on blind eyes on two decks. Or at least, the parts of decks I checked that weren't behind scary-looking doors. I'm pacing myself."

[fromfryingpantofire]

"Yeah. The scary looking doors can wait a bit."

Sam looks closer at it. "I'm trying to figure out if these are even real cameras that just aren't hooked up or if they're mock cameras to make us think that we're being watched." He pushed up on his tiptoes to try to get as close as possible without actually taking the camera down. "It would fool some of the folks here, either way. I mean, they look good, at least."

[cachedout]

"I suspect you'd be closer to expert on technology from this era than me," says Cayde, peering up at it doubtfully. "Why go to the trouble of installing fakes? I know budget's running tight around here, but considering they've got whatever it costs to light us up like it's new years, you'd think a basic security measure would fall in line early."

His eyes shift from the camera up to the ceiling panels.

"That or I've got an unreliable source," he says. Is the fault with Alexa, then?

[fromfryingpantofire]

"Well, I can't get up there to check behind the panels." Because tall as Sam is, it's above where he can get to. And most of the time, that sort of ceiling won't hold his weight. "But, to turn it around. Why would they put in real cameras if they don't wire them up?" He looks over at the Alexa, then back up at the ceiling. "Though, I suppose that budget might not have stretched far enough to connect them up once they decided on the shock collars."

[cachedout]

"The corporation works in mysterious ways," says Cayde. "Regardless of if they're wired in enough, I figure if I make this big obvious show of checking 'em out I should get myself a nice visit from security. If they know. If not... well, regardless of the reason, I'll take it."

[fromfryingpantofire]

Sam lets himself fall back to flat feet before nodding. "True enough. And if they haven't made a move by now, with you checking two floors, we may be fairly safe."

Because they certainly would have had to have realized by now, wouldn't they?

[cachedout]

"That or I can expect them to try and black bag me the next time I sleep or something."

Cayde shrugs, perfectly casual, as if he's not worried about it. He is, but he's committed to that risk and ready to take it if it comes.

"On that note, I disappear? You all know the cameras were at trap."

[fromfryingpantofire]

"They'd have to black bag us both and that starts getting awkward." And anybody else who might see them working on this, after all. "But I'll keep that in mind and let folks know what's up." A pause. "Discretely, of course."

[cachedout]

"Much obliged, Sam," says Cayde, tapping two fingers to one temple in a suggestion of a jaunty salute.

"If there's one thing we don't need around here, it's fewer of us who want to dig."

He'll go on to report the findings himself on the comms later, but in the meantime? It's nice to feel like he's already got some allies out here.