( text | un: sweetie )

[retrorsum]

Has anyone found a pod containing someone that was supposed to be dead? That they knew to be dead.

( river asks more out of curiosity than anything, out of trying to understand and gain more knowledge on the pods, on who and how they were brought here. she also can't deny that small piece of hope that comes with the question, of wanting to see someone that she couldn't (shouldn't) be able to see again )

Comments

[kludging]

i think maybe i worded it badly for the sake of brevity. what i mean is they've definitely got a way to manipulate time somehow, as strange and complicated as varying timelines are.

there's time here, but it exists outside of the times we've all been taken from. with infinite timeline possibilities, it's always struck me as interesting how they come to decisions on when and who to pull.

[retrorsum]

Manipulating time isn't the most complex part of what they're doing.

They also may not have made a decision, not consciously. Given their storage capabilities of the stasis pods, they quite literally could have removed everyone from their relative time zones.

[kludging]

i agree. there's more going on here than any of us know, i'm sure.

that very well could be. i've seen more people than i could possibly have imagined them snatching up and i've only looked at the smallest fraction. just glad i found the people i was looking for before i had to go looking forever.

[retrorsum]

You're luckier than some.

( she's still looking for some but even with the size of the place and her scanning capabilities to cut the time spent down it feels like a distant hope. even with fluctuating timelines, they may not have been pulled here -- the dead stayed dead )

What do you believe about the storm?

[kludging]

aye, luckier than many. i count myself so, i assure you.

it's difficult to say. in my timeline there is a history of strange destructive storms that warped time in unexplained ways, but nothing like this or anything in this scale. it's still something practically unfathomable in its enormity. taking out entire systems, entire realities, it's difficult for many to grasp, i think.

[retrorsum]

It also may not be true.

I've seen storms on a massive scale before, read about the destructions of worlds, even seen the end of the universe. The scale of this is something else, possibly a little convenient.

And why would they save us?

[kludging]

that's possible as well.

there are wholly benevolent races that would save people, but they're rare and it's odd that we all lucked out as much as we did to be rescued from culling.

you've seen the end of the universe?

[retrorsum]

( seen, sort of caused it. twice-- )

Or they're not so benevolent and either want something from us or have already taken it.

And yes, I have.

[kludging]

a realist, i see. i've been around enough optimists that it's almost worn off on me. but you're absolutely right. could be we're part of some deeper plan, and what then? i may be good at following orders i'm given on plans that seem like they'll never work but somehow do, but i'm no good at making said plans myself.

that sounds like a big life event to have had.

[retrorsum]

I don't like following orders. Good with plans, though.

( sort of. very good at thinking on the fly )

It ended up being a timeline that never happened.

[kludging]

i'm good with improvising, but plotting things out on a larger scale escapes me.

[ he's better than he lets on, but not as good as some people he knows. ]

timeline cancellation or something else? i've never heard of a timeline just ceasing to have happened before.

[retrorsum]

People that make plans still need someone in the plan.

Something else. Time was essentially reset, the event that caused it to occur being prevented.

[kludging]

aye, that's usually where i come in.

[ he wants to say it's fascinating but that just reminds him of spock and goddamnit fuck you spock in your stupid ice bath. anyway it's fascinating. ]

i've never heard of that either, but things often come as a surprise here. good that it was circumvented.

[retrorsum]

Yes. At some point the universe will end, no sense in it being early. Which is why this supposed storm is a problem.

[kludging]

say there's no storm. what about the things people witness before they're taken? are they ruses or smaller-scale storms that could have been managed? i wonder that sometimes.

[retrorsum]

Psychic imprints? Whilst we're in stasis they could have exposed to a number of things.

[kludging]

that's definitely a possibility. a dark one to think about, but i find i'd prefer a lie to my whole universe being destroyed.

[retrorsum]

It would probably provide hope in the end, the chance that you could go home.

[kludging]

precisely that. even with the amount of people in the same boat around, feeling as though you've lost your home is incredibly lonely.

[retrorsum]

How are you at information scouting?

[kludging]

i'm more of a 'take things apart and put them back together' man if you get me, but i've done my share of scouting as well.

[retrorsum]

I could also use a 'take things apart' kind of man. How familiar is the technology here?

[kludging]

some of it's on par with what i'm used to, some of it less so, some of it more so. i've managed to cobble together a working knowledge of some of it in my stay here, though. it's what i do with most of my free time, pull parts and rework things.

[ he modded one of the pet robots recently. ensign zoomy is better than ever. ]

[retrorsum]

I'd like you to take a look at something, see what you can make of it.

( it's absolutely a test. it's a device that river built but she's checking out his capabilities, see how useful he might be for what she needs )

[kludging]

absolutely. i'd love to.

[ it's only right that it's a test, really. he's good at those when it comes to picking apart technology. ]

i'm montgomery scott.