( 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]

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.

[retrorsum]

River Song.

Would you meet me at the stasis pods?

[kludging]

a pleasure.

of course. when would you like to meet?

[retrorsum]

How's an hour?

[kludging]

an hour's perfect.

[retrorsum]

I'll see you up there, then. Don't be late.

[kludging]

i'd never dream of it.

[retrorsum]

( river will already be there when he arrives, crouched by the pods closest to the transport area, trying to investigate and scan whatever she can. it's a process that she's done many times already, the sonic not telling her anything new, but she'll keep trying for new information )