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fandomweekly2026-05-03 02:36 pm
m_findlow) wrote in fandomweekly2026-05-03 02:36 pm
Entry tags:
[#299] ONE FALSE STEP (SILO)
Theme Prompt: #299 - Uprising
Title: One false step
Fandom: Silo
Rating/Warnings: PG. Spoilers for Season 1.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Juliet has to carefully consider her next move.
Juliet turned the object over in her hand, wondering for the hundredth time what it was. It was only six inches from top to tail and made from the strange smooth polymer material that was almost never seen in anything other than the trays on which their canteen meals were served. She knew that Supply had a method of melting down these things and forcing them into molds, shaping the liquid heated material until it set hard, in the same way that Walker might smelt metal and fashion it into critical generator parts.
The object had a long rectangular tube. If she pulled at it, she could feel the small resistance made by the spring in its base that kept the inner chamber sealed inside the outer chamber. On top of that was a bird type animal. Not a chicken, but shaped the same way, bright yellow with an orange beak. It smiled at her, and when she tipped it backwards she could see the tiny lever underneath that swung perpendicular to it. It was like the safety on a gun, with bullets in the magazine pushed one by one into the firing chamber by tugging back on the safety catch.
It wasn't like any kind of gun she'd ever seen before. It wasn't sturdy enough for a start, and the size of the magazine inside the polymer tube would have contained bullets a quarter of the size of even the smallest calibre ammunition. Yet it stored something and was able to dispense them one at a time. Perhaps some kind of pharmaceutical dispensing device? She let her fingers trace over the embossed lettering in the side of the tube. PEZ. Those three letters must have stood for something.
Juliet cast her gaze around the dark space, hearing the faintest trickle of water in the deep pool beneath her small hideaway. How far down the water went she could only guess. The bottom of the silo was somewhere no one dared to tread. She surmised that there must have been a time when the plan was for the silo to be larger, to go deeper, beyond the world of Mechanical where she'd lived most her life. She'd never imagined anything deeper than that, but George had found a way down into this space below where large digger machines stood rusted and beyond repair.
The object in her hand was as dangerous as being here itself, she realised. Relics needed to be registered with Judicial, and even then, that didn't guarantee their lawful possession. Finder's keepers was not part of the Pact. Relics were not just things of a time beyond living memory. They were reminders – clues, perhaps – of what had caused the Uprising in the first place. Their survival within the confines of the silo was a delicate balancing act. Every person had their role to play, from the engineers in Mechanical that kept the generator working, providing light and power, to those in Supply, growing their food and recycling broken objects for reuse in a place where there was no way to make more than what they had, to the Up Top who ran IT, law enforcement and Judiciary.
Possessing relics was even more dangerous for Juliet in her capacity as the Sheriff, but neither could she bear to let them go. George had been fascinated by them, like treasure, and George had been her whole world. The wristwatch he'd given her, broken, now ticked a steady rhythm against her forearm, replacing the reassuring feeling of a lover's heart that no longer beat.
There were more important things she should be dealing with now than being down here, hiding away from her Sheriff duties. She had the death of their Mayor, and of her deputy Marnes. Judicial had already their scapegoat for the murders but it didn't sit well with Juliet. No more than had the unsolved murder for George. She would be walking a tightrope to press the investigations harder than she was. George's murder was connected to the former Sheriff Holston.
George had possessed many relics, but the most valuable thing he had was a hard drive. He'd shared it with Holston's wife before she had committed the ultimate sin – requesting to go outside the silo. Her death had driven Holston to his own suicide, following in her footsteps, but before he'd done that, he'd had a file on George's death. Juliet was certain that the relic, now missing, had been responsible for George's murder. It was all connected, including Holston's insistence that she be promoted to Sheriff upon his death.
There was something Holston had left behind that he wanted Juliet to find, even though she didn't know what it was. Not without the hard drive, and not without all these other deaths hanging over her head, like threads to tug at which could unravel everything. The silo had benefited from a hundred and forty years of peace since the Uprising, yet the reasons why it had happened had always remained unclear. Something on that hard drive must provide clues.
The dispenser tube in her hand might not be worth killing for, but it was risky nonetheless. ‘How do we get rid of you?’ she muttered. She was loath to part with anything of George's, and yet… That man, Doug Trumbull from Judiciary, had tried to set up Kennedy for the murder of Marnes. He was corrupt and with some invisible agenda. If Juliet could cast doubt on his motives it might open up opportunities for her to investigate properly, and if she could somehow link in relics, she could use it as a way to track down those who dealt in them. Whoever had provided George with the hard drive might have other things.
She unfurled her fingers from around the PEZ tube and stared at it. Planting it in Trumbull’s apartment was a risk. She could bring the whole of Judiciary down on her head. But it was a risk worth taking. For George.
Title: One false step
Fandom: Silo
Rating/Warnings: PG. Spoilers for Season 1.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Juliet has to carefully consider her next move.
Juliet turned the object over in her hand, wondering for the hundredth time what it was. It was only six inches from top to tail and made from the strange smooth polymer material that was almost never seen in anything other than the trays on which their canteen meals were served. She knew that Supply had a method of melting down these things and forcing them into molds, shaping the liquid heated material until it set hard, in the same way that Walker might smelt metal and fashion it into critical generator parts.
The object had a long rectangular tube. If she pulled at it, she could feel the small resistance made by the spring in its base that kept the inner chamber sealed inside the outer chamber. On top of that was a bird type animal. Not a chicken, but shaped the same way, bright yellow with an orange beak. It smiled at her, and when she tipped it backwards she could see the tiny lever underneath that swung perpendicular to it. It was like the safety on a gun, with bullets in the magazine pushed one by one into the firing chamber by tugging back on the safety catch.
It wasn't like any kind of gun she'd ever seen before. It wasn't sturdy enough for a start, and the size of the magazine inside the polymer tube would have contained bullets a quarter of the size of even the smallest calibre ammunition. Yet it stored something and was able to dispense them one at a time. Perhaps some kind of pharmaceutical dispensing device? She let her fingers trace over the embossed lettering in the side of the tube. PEZ. Those three letters must have stood for something.
Juliet cast her gaze around the dark space, hearing the faintest trickle of water in the deep pool beneath her small hideaway. How far down the water went she could only guess. The bottom of the silo was somewhere no one dared to tread. She surmised that there must have been a time when the plan was for the silo to be larger, to go deeper, beyond the world of Mechanical where she'd lived most her life. She'd never imagined anything deeper than that, but George had found a way down into this space below where large digger machines stood rusted and beyond repair.
The object in her hand was as dangerous as being here itself, she realised. Relics needed to be registered with Judicial, and even then, that didn't guarantee their lawful possession. Finder's keepers was not part of the Pact. Relics were not just things of a time beyond living memory. They were reminders – clues, perhaps – of what had caused the Uprising in the first place. Their survival within the confines of the silo was a delicate balancing act. Every person had their role to play, from the engineers in Mechanical that kept the generator working, providing light and power, to those in Supply, growing their food and recycling broken objects for reuse in a place where there was no way to make more than what they had, to the Up Top who ran IT, law enforcement and Judiciary.
Possessing relics was even more dangerous for Juliet in her capacity as the Sheriff, but neither could she bear to let them go. George had been fascinated by them, like treasure, and George had been her whole world. The wristwatch he'd given her, broken, now ticked a steady rhythm against her forearm, replacing the reassuring feeling of a lover's heart that no longer beat.
There were more important things she should be dealing with now than being down here, hiding away from her Sheriff duties. She had the death of their Mayor, and of her deputy Marnes. Judicial had already their scapegoat for the murders but it didn't sit well with Juliet. No more than had the unsolved murder for George. She would be walking a tightrope to press the investigations harder than she was. George's murder was connected to the former Sheriff Holston.
George had possessed many relics, but the most valuable thing he had was a hard drive. He'd shared it with Holston's wife before she had committed the ultimate sin – requesting to go outside the silo. Her death had driven Holston to his own suicide, following in her footsteps, but before he'd done that, he'd had a file on George's death. Juliet was certain that the relic, now missing, had been responsible for George's murder. It was all connected, including Holston's insistence that she be promoted to Sheriff upon his death.
There was something Holston had left behind that he wanted Juliet to find, even though she didn't know what it was. Not without the hard drive, and not without all these other deaths hanging over her head, like threads to tug at which could unravel everything. The silo had benefited from a hundred and forty years of peace since the Uprising, yet the reasons why it had happened had always remained unclear. Something on that hard drive must provide clues.
The dispenser tube in her hand might not be worth killing for, but it was risky nonetheless. ‘How do we get rid of you?’ she muttered. She was loath to part with anything of George's, and yet… That man, Doug Trumbull from Judiciary, had tried to set up Kennedy for the murder of Marnes. He was corrupt and with some invisible agenda. If Juliet could cast doubt on his motives it might open up opportunities for her to investigate properly, and if she could somehow link in relics, she could use it as a way to track down those who dealt in them. Whoever had provided George with the hard drive might have other things.
She unfurled her fingers from around the PEZ tube and stared at it. Planting it in Trumbull’s apartment was a risk. She could bring the whole of Judiciary down on her head. But it was a risk worth taking. For George.