[center][hr][h1][color=f49ac2]Owen[/color] & [color=ffaa00]Echo[/color][/h1][hr][h3]The Living Quarters[/h3][hr][/center]

Owen had propped himself up with his hands on his temples, his head hung low and eyes closed as if he was deep in thought. Once he saw that Benji hadn't lost his qualifications as a doctor and that Rend was still breathing he had quietly slipped out of the doorway, unable to be in the same room with Tahlia or Benji lest his tongue started lashing out again. He probably should of felt some sense of relief or some modicum of pride that he had stopped an unnecessary killing, but he didn't. All he felt was a creeping uncertainty about everything; all he had was even more questions about things he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to anymore.

He sighed. It had been a while since he tried talking with God. Owen always figured it was kind of pointless. Even if something was omnipresent and all-knowing, he doubted that it would take the time to listen to, and certainly never respond to, one little ant in a sea of billions of other ants. However, now that he was more than fifteen percent of the population of known life maybe he'd have a chance of actually being heard. Then again, maybe it was better to be quiet. If God was real, then he had let humans destroy the world, meaning he was useless. Alternatively, he had destroyed the world himself, a likely thought considering his track record, and Owen felt that their futuristic Noah's Ark wasn't something sanctioned by the big guy upstairs.

[i]Best not to get his attention, then,[/i] thought Owen.

The seat jostled and bounced, but was designed for the weight of a human body collapsing in it. Rend had just been carried out of the room, and for the moment it was just Echo and Owen. She stared up at the lights, eyebrows raised and blinking while in silence. [color=2b2b2b]Oh, heavens, even with a population of 6, mankind still eagerly chases after war...[/color]
There was Owen, just as silent as her seated across the room. The silence, though she preferred it, was rude. She knew this because she was taught so by teachers, relatives, and society in general. [i]Something[/i] had to be said. [color=2b2b2b]We should all accept the inevitable, we’re meant to destroy ourselves.[/color]
[color=ffaa00]”Penny for your thoughts,”[/color] she addressed Owen. With the statement she rose and started probing around in attempt to locate damages caused by the bullets.

[color=f49ac2]"That's about how much they're worth,"[/color] he said as Echo's voice drew him out of his own mind. He opened his eyes and tried to smile; it looked more as if he had winced in pain. As he spoke his voice was low and quiet, as if he was too exhausted to speak loudly. [color=f49ac2]"I'm frustrated. Confused. I kind of wish that I never signed up for this project in the first place. If they weren't all dead now I'd definitely give Cryonautics a negative review. Like, how is this even supposed to work? Why withhold information? Why let outsiders in, or be unsecured enough that they can find their way in? Even the original goal is a pipe dream."[/color]

[color=f49ac2]"Part of me thinks this is all just an experiment, or maybe just a lame kind of joke like one of those old hidden camera shows. Cryonautics tricked all of us or a few of us into believing that we'd be frozen for the future, when really we're just gassed and knocked out for a few minutes, and now they're studying or laughing at us or both, all in preparation for the real deal. What crappy celebrity guest could we get? What if we convince them that they're in space? Man, I kind of wish that was the case."[/color]

He laughed a bitter, short laugh. He was supposed to be the shrink, yet he was the one doing all of the venting. 

[color=f49ac2]"Ecks, I feel like you know more about this project than the rest of us, right? Did you,"[/color] he paused for a moment, picking his words carefully so that it didn't sound like he was accusing her of anything, [color=f49ac2]"Did you have any suspicion that things were going to end up like [i]this[/i]?[/color]

[color=ffaa00]"Not like this, no. My expectations were greatly divergent."[/color] She explained with a smile and bugged out eyes. [color=2b2b2b]For one thing I am supposed to be dead.[/color]
She picked at the hole in the ceiling a moment, she couldn't see any wires or pipes or fluids leaking out so it was probably okay. She popped the panel open and began looking into the interior to make sure that her initial assessment was true. The outer protective titanium foam layer of the electrostatic artificial gravity plate held the bullet barely embedded into the surface, the kinetic energy had been devoured by the plate, but it was no threat... the protective layer was designed to absorb harder, smaller, faster objects traveling near the speed of light. Echo did not know any of this, but shrugged and pulled the bullet out a little perplexed. Other than a dent everything seemed okay.

[color=ffaa00]"I am capable of putting your mind at ease in some regard. Rend didn’t come in here shooting security guards, and holding a gun to a scientist’s head seconds before launch. The freezing process would have killed him since he would require a panel of drugs and decrystallization agents and would have had to have a baseline established before he could even know the dosage needed without killing himself. I know from our perspective, we took a pill and woke up in a pod. That was just an ambio stasis anesthetic used while they work their magic.”[/color] [color=2b2b2b]Which should have reacted to the liamin, a common additive to swim lotions that prevents water logging, it should have killed her upon freezing by making ice crystals explode every one of her cells in her body. Somehow it failed.[/color]
[color=ffaa00]“I seriously doubt that there could have been a tactical team that slipped him in here already frozen. There was armed security that nobody told us about. Apparently it works. If there were any intruders, there would be laser holes peppering a path clear to the airlock.”[/color] At this she proceeded to her cabinet door that had been placed on the table and flipped it over to reveal the laser marks from a hundred years ago, still frozen in metal.

[color=ffaa00]"I find it almost humorous when I say that I am not surprised in the least by the presence of our guest. Rend didn't need any form of violence to get in, he just needed to play politics. The management of Project Renaissance was malleable at best."[/color] at this she released a good-natured and cheery laugh, one that clearly struck her funny bone, [color=ffaa00]"Do you honestly believe [i][b]I[/b][/i] would be here if I were about 15 pounds heavier and hadn’t dyed my hair red? However apprehensive and distasteful the concept may be... this is the imperfect time-capsule left by a vicious world constructed by an erroneous corporation run by pernicious people and inundated by a self-righteous government. The amazing thing is that somehow in putting forth their greatest effort at spectacular failure... they succeeded anyway. Call it dumb luck or destiny, even an act of God that we are standing here now, what with the shortcomings of EVERYONE involved,”[/color] Echo smiled as she gazed deeply into Owen’s eyes, looking for anything that might glimmer in her insight.

[color=f49ac2]"Yeah, it's truly amazing. Gold stars all around,"[/color] he said dryly, responding to her smile with a thin, grim smirk. He knew she was right, at least in regards to the susceptibility of the Project's managers to external pressure that would effect its outside appearance. If word got out that Rend had weaseled his way inside, if they had only chosen people from one race, heck, if they didn't have a pretty face to put on the marketing then it probably would've been ravaged by critics and would never have gotten off of the ground. Still, he couldn't accept the thought that they actually [i]succeeded[/i]. If anything, Owen believed that they were spiraling towards a failure even more spectacular than any of them could imagine. It was like in a film where it seemed that the heroes are about to make it, but you know that there's still an hour left and something's going to blow up, or the AI is going to go rampant, or there was another masked man with a knife, but unlike a Hollywood film it wouldn't get a happy ending pasted on after poor test screenings or executive meddling.

[color=f49ac2]"But how long do you think we can last upon dumb luck or the will of God or whatever? The tanks are either broken or prone to sabotage. We're in the middle of space where an asteroid can smash into us at any time. We have a limited amount of supplies. And half of the time we're all in the same room together somebody ends up almost dead—that's not really a great track record,"[/color] said Owen, flipping his hand out to emphasis his point. [color=f49ac2]"All signs point to us screwing this up, and I'd wager that it'll be sooner rather than later."[/color]

[color=f49ac2]"And,"[/color] he said, forcing a smile, [color=f49ac2]"to make matters worse, now I know that you're not actually a redhead."[/color] 

Echo heard Owen's concerns and couldn't help but widen her smile more and more as he spoke. It was like the sunrise on a fine morning in early summer that seeped in through the screens and spilled over the furniture in golden light of the future.[color=ffaa00]"You don't realize what you have done, do you? You, by your own hands, created a world that has never been seen before! A world that has chosen justice instead of vengeance, mercy instead of hate. Dreamers have longed for what you dismay. A new world is not pending, it is already upon you... a better one if you and the others decide to keep it so. I find a conspicuous level of success is already at hand. The cryo-tank survival rate alone is staggering. The experts said that there was only a 25% success rate to actually freeze someone, when coupled with the duration and possibility of failure over time, it was highly unlikely that even one person would wake again. Yet, we find Benji alive and well even after tank failure. Any further good fortune is likely to see us to land and air and sea."[/color][color=2b2b2b]The success rate was accurate, but all of her words were habit. She honestly didn't absorb her own optimism, but she was so practiced that it did not show. Leaders only existed in the presence of support and self-deception. [/color]
[color=f49ac2]"Has anyone ever told you how un-, um, inexhaustibly positive you are?"[/color] he said, shaking his head in disbelief. [i]Uncomfortably[/i] positive was what he actually intended to say, but better judgment won out in the end. He couldn't help being slightly unnerved by her smile, although perhaps it was because he had never heard that there was a 75% chance that he would've died in the cryo-tank. Still, he couldn't help but recall his earlier conversation with Tahlia and how she had mentioned that Echo seemed off in a way. Then again, maybe she was just coping with all of the recent excitement and didn't want to focus on the negatives that he was so quick to point out (like how their "new world" was still totally going to fail). Perhaps it'd be best if he stopped trying to push that realization on her, or anyone for that matter. [i]The power of positive thinking, right?[/i] He made a noise that was something between a laugh and a scoff.

Yet Owen couldn't help but notice how she seemed to exclude herself from the responsibility of keeping their world a better one. Did she just assume that she'd obviously make things better, or did she think so little of herself that she'd absolutely have zero effect on their future, or...

Owen folded his arms over his chest. [color=f49ac2]"I don't think it's very fair that you put all of this on me. For starters, I didn't really do anything. Tahlia stopped because she's not a murderer. Yaz got Benji because she wanted to save a life. All I did was yell at people. And, seriously, I can't tell if you're trying to be humble or coy or if you actually don't even realize it, but the only reason I even tried anything was because of [i]you[/i]. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there, but I do know that the only reason Rend's alive right now is because you acted first. If you want to believe that we did something incredible—which we didn't, we just did the right thing—then go ahead and tell yourself that we created some wonderful world full of love and peace and other junk like that. That's fine."[/color][color=2b2b2b]No, Owen, I CANNOT take this from you, not any longer. It is out of my hands.[/color]
He pointed a finger at her. [color=f49ac2]"But at least take some credit when credit's due. If it weren't for you, things would've been screwed."[/color] He looked around the room, noting the missing panel, the bullet casings, Rend's blood that was drying on the ground, and frowned, rolling his eyes as he relaxed back into his chair. [color=f49ac2]"More screwed, I mean."[/color]

He wasn't getting it. All of the normal tactics Echo was applying were carefully avoided and countered. Owen really was a confusing person to Echo. Most leaders would gobble up her nuggets of encouragement with their ego. Those who feared leadership would simply accept it as an isolated incident and close up shop. Owen was neither. Echo couldn't do anything but sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose a moment before flipping her hair to the side and smiling again. If the subtle approach wasn't going to work with him, she was going to need something more direct. [color=ffaa00]"Owen, oh, Owen your reluctance to lead is unmistakable. You have heard the siren call of counselor, and your heart resides therein. You seek to keep the wellspring of words flowing until their own solutions wash out before their very eyes. Such we cannot afford any longer. In the haste of the moment, the true colors of our comrades have been revealed. Believe what you wish now, but Tahlia [i]was[/i] going to kill. Your very actions spoke of that conviction. When you raised the cost of her actions by a threat of destroying your alliance she didn't have the stomach for it. She stopped by your command. Yaz found the doctor... by your command. The doctor took action by your command. If these situations are left to run their course disaster would surely follow. So, perhaps you screw up, be assured that even in such folly, it will be nowhere the calamity as left to its own devices."[/color]

Owen was silent after Echo finished speaking. He had shifted in his seat while she had been talking, leaning forward with his fingers perched in a triangle under his lips. He didn't want to believe Echos assertion that the only reason Tahlia stopped was because of him, but he knew Echo was right—Tahlia seemed just fine slaughtering Rend until he had stepped in. Yet what was this talk about being reluctant to lead? He wasn't reluctant; he wasn't even considering it. They didn't need a leader, they just needed to be understanding with one another. 

[i]Yeah, Owen, like you believe that's even possible. You just don't want responsibility,[/i] he thought.

[color=f49ac2]"I hear what you're saying. I'll consider it,"[/color] he said, an ambiguous reply at best. [color=f49ac2]"But right now this room is an absolute mess, and if I sit around letting that blood stain my clothes any longer I might have a panic attack. I'm going to see if I can't find anything to clean all of this up."[/color]

He pushed himself out of his chair and started towards the door. Owen felt that Echo would take this as some sort of excuse to avoid the thing she was trying to push him into and, well, he was. He found it unnerving how she seemed to take everything he had said and twist it back to him. Owen always believed that there were two kinds of shrinks in the world, regardless of whether they were a psychiatrist, psychologist, or something else along those lines. There were the kind who listened to and observed people and then made their diagnosis and helped others, and then there were the kind who made their diagnosis and then only heard and only saw signs that confirmed it and, inadvertently, harmed others. Plenty of shrinks had been both in their lifetime. Owen wished to believe he was exclusively the first, but he knew that sometimes even he dipped into the second role. Still, as he got up out of that chair, he couldn't help but feel as if Echo had been playing the role of his shrink and, worse still, he could not tell which type she was. 

Echo watched him go. After his departure, she sighed and hung her head. Was that some sort of fight? It felt like it. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a control panel. She pressed the clean cycle and allowed the room to rejuvenate itself as she returned to her quarters, cabinet door and bomb in tow. The harmonics of the cleansing cycle made the composite deck plating sing.