Proof of Humanity (RWBY - Lies of P)

Remnant III: City of Blood and Oil

The flight time to the coordinates was about thirty-six hours total. Ironwood refused to open up about the encounter with Jacques' lackey. Polendina eventually excepted that her identity would be a mystery. He did try to do some independent research, but it didn't go so good. Jacques' footprint on Atlas was so vast it made a desert look like a bike trail. Trying to find a single woman proved impossible.

Penny's time was spent trying to speak to the voice that called out to her. She remembered the message so clearly, yet when she tried to replay it in her head, all she heard was silence. Like the memory shattered and left only fragments. Penny hoped that she could speak to it. Maybe a signal from her or another message. Yet, the more Penny tried, the more disappointed she was with the lack of results.

Eventually, she gave up.

Penny was in the small room given to her by Ironwood. It was quite militaristic. Very little decoration, white everything, a desk for working, and a closet. It was lifeless, but it was what Penny got, and she wasn't going to complain about it. That would be rude. But, with the room so drab and the journey so long, even the robot girl was getting bored of staring at the wall in the darkness. Penny can't sleep. Normally, she'd entertain herself with the computer built into her mind. Unfortunately, the internet was poor twenty thousand miles in the air. She could do little more than run a game of Snake. The problem with that is when you're a hyper intelligent puppet, Snake gets repetitive.

'Father most likely has something to read.' Penny thought, crawling out of her white bed and turning on the lights. She was wearing her mint green pajamas. It was late. If she walked into her father's room while he was sleeping and scared him, he could have a heart attack. 'Best to avoid that.'

Polendina's heart conditioned hadn't improved at all. The life support machine, while handy, was just an emergency plan if he did have a heart attack. Penny calculated a median average of 3.8 times a day. She wanted to do her best to keep that number low.

'I suppose I can just wait till morning...' Penny turned off the lights, got back into bed, and tucked herself in. Then, it was back to staring at the roof. Just waiting. Second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, until the sun rises.

Then, as Penny finished her 92nd perfect run on Snake, she had a thought.

'If father doesn't hear me enter the room, he won't wake up and get frightened...' The idea was so tempting that Penny found herself getting out of bed without thinking if it was worth the risk.

Penny stopped herself just a foot away from the door. Her glowing green eyes glanced down at the doorknob in deep thought.

'Well, it wouldn't hurt... Right?' Penny's mind was made up. Technically, there wasn't a clear rule against what she was doing. It's not like the ship had a curfew. Well, there could be a case for breaking and entering, but Polendina wouldn't care.

Penny quietly opened her door with the lights still off. The hallway was dark, only illuminated by traces of moonlight gleaming through the windows. The constant hum of the ship's engine made the ground vibrate. Penny mentally drew a map of the ship, identified her father's room, and closed her eyes. The constant green glow made it hard to be stealthy.

Slowly, Penny stalked through the shadows, using her heightened sense of sound to direct anything unusual in front of her. Everyone was asleep.

Still, Penny couldn't shake the anxious feeling that something was in the dark with her. That something was watching. With her eyes closed, and one of her most valued senses out of use, Penny felt claustrophobic. Like the walls were closing, and whatever else was sharing the camouflage of the darkness was getting closer.