005 - video/text; the power is yours

[geonomy]

Who: Clay Terran + You
Broadcast: Yeh
Action: On the Vanquish
When: April 11th

[Clay had been counting down the days, and now, today's the day. Just a year ago, he arrived with his former captain, Sheena, and set out on the journey of a lifetime. It feels - It's weird, it's like a mix of gratitude and exasperation, happiness and sadness. It's a whole jumble of feelings that he's been trying to sort through ever since he realized the date was closing in.

He thinks about contacting a few people about it, and even opens up his communicator and tries to do so, but he notices that he can't reach one person in particular. And when he sees why... Well. Okay then. It's fine, it's just - It's fine. He's fine.

But... he might as well tell the network, for the few that did know the guy. When he turns on the video, Clay's sitting in his room, papers taped up to the wall of various notes and sketches of what they've come across so far.]

So, uh... it looks like Orion went home.

[He purses his lips a bit and frowns at the thought of him going back there, now that he's said it out loud. He knows Orion's not... exactly a good person, and he's done some terrible things and has a horrible past. And he's going back to that, probably not remembering any of the progress he's made, and he might not even be Orion again if he comes back -

Right. Right. On to other things. He's fine.]

It's also been a year since I showed up here. [And here he finally smiles a bit, though it grows as he keeps talking.] I was so enthralled - Space is my whole life, and it's always been my dream to go. So to come here and wake up to a galaxy full of stars... I didn't know why I was pulled into Atroma's gravity, and I still don't know. But when I first came here, all I wanted to do was find evidence of all the answers to the questions my Earth has to send it back to them. But now? It's about way more than that. It's about everyone's homes, every planet and moon we come across. I want to seek out the truth of what's out there for the betterment of everyone out there, not just my planet. It... took me a while to come to that.

[And he's proud of it, and it shows. And now that he's on the subject:]

I wrote down all my notes about this moon. The file's going to be attached to this broadcast, if anyone wants to take a look at it. And if you've found out anything else about the moon, could you let me know about it? Thanks in advance!

[He waves to the camera, then turns it off while he uploads the file.]

moon and planet unnamed. citizens of the moon just call it "home".

source of sunlight - yellow dwarf star.

planet's gravity is severe. shuttle showed signs of distress even from a distance. no oxygen, can't support life that relies on it.

reason for critical pollution: conflicting.
what we know: the cause - the terraformers. terraforming efforts originally successful, giving them a forested ecosystem with clean air and water. something with the terraformers went wrong, causing deadly toxins and oils to spread across the surface. vein and channel system? while it was a source of wealth at first, it soon got into the water, soil and air, affecting all life.
inhabitants don't know what happened - terraformers are self-maintaining/programmed, people never worked on them. error in terraformer programming?
all other information conflicting. study history more.

wildlife: adapted and evolved to handle pollution. look like Earth creatures with some key differences. some are large and very dangerous, do not go near. BEARS ARE BAD.
if they can adapt to a poisoned life, they can surely adapt to life without

vegetation: forests from the past still stand, horrible shape. very hilly terrain, several cliffs seen when atmosphere was clearer. abandoned mineshafts - big source of gas? another source: oil towers. air felt oppressive even with the mask.
water extremely polluted: need more study. papers for notes became contaminated while sitting near a lake, showed symptoms of sickness after taking them on the ship. soils show signs of critical pollution as well.
really really need microscope
water heavily filtered to support residents? - yes, mud is too for games

residents: "war games" happen often. no real physical violence allowed, citizens get pitted in a war game match for it. adapted well to the poisonous ecosystem, take pride in the gas masks they create, though would like to see a day they won't have to put them on all the time.
i really want to help them see that day

the core: while much of the poison is on the surface, even more of it is inside the moon and in the core of it. (observation by: mikleo)
question 1: did the pollution come from the core and the terraformers just brought it out into the world?
question 2: did the terraformers introduce the pollution to the moon and its core?
question 3: what was the moon like before the terraforming started?
overall question: where did the poison come from?
pollution is not supernatural in nature (observation by: allen walker), so how did so much of it spread?

hypothesis 1: the terraformers are still working and the poison is coming from themselves
hypothesis 2: properties in the core are being brought out into the rest of the world
hypothesis 3: the moon is rejecting what the terraformers are doing (hypothesis by: mikleo)

Comments

video

[passingthrough]

[Oh. Well then... She's disappointed, but she had only spoken to the man once. It was a long talk?]

I'm sorry about Orion.

...I guess this makes you Clay? [Between the things Orion and Allen told her it kind of fit.]

video

[geonomy]

[His eyes do cast down a bit at the mention of Orion, but his own name makes him perk up, a ready smile on his face as he gives a two-fingered salute from the bill of his visor.]

Yep, that's me! Heard of me?

video

[passingthrough]

Orion said you were his best friend, and Allen said you're an astronaut. So, I guess your reputations precede you.

Video

[notzubats]

Oh sure. Now someone mentions bears are bad.

Thanks a lot!

Video

[geonomy]

[Pffft, okay, that makes him grin as he strokes his chin, as if in thought.]

Well, you know, I'm not naming any names, but I heard someone in the fleet got chased up a tree by a bear. So now we know they can be hostile!

Video

[notzubats]

Ha. Very funny.

[ action ]

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue sees the broadcast and figures Clay will be busy for a while. That leaves her time to get a few things together before coming to find him.]

Hey.

[ action ]

[geonomy]

[And he is indeed busy. He's messing with a sample Allen gave him, a test tube of soil with a thread of the oily pollution running through the middle. He taps at the side of it, jostling the soil a bit and seeing how it crumbles, if the parts that are in direct contact with the oil react differently or not.

In fact, he's observing so hard that the greeting startles him, making him jump a bit while holding on tight to the tube so that it won't fall to the floor.]

Fine! I'm fine! [... And he checks the test tube too] It's fine.

[Then he'll turn to see who's there - ] Oh - Hey, Rogue!

[ action ]

[touchofrogue]

[...captain, you are such a goober, what. -.-

Rogue enters and leans casually against the door frame.]

Whatcha doin'?

Video

[save_the_souls]

[First, he focuses on business.]

Thanks for the attachment. I'll look through my medical notes again to see if there's anything that could added...though I don't recall seeing anything that would be unusual for being in an environment of this high of pollution.

[And with that out of the way, he gives him a smile]

Also, happy anniversary.

Video

[geonomy]

[He nods, frowning in thought at the business part - Yeah, he doesn't recall anything too unusual either... Though the smile does make him do so in return.]

Thanks. I'd make Sheena's Famous Pineapple Curry to celebrate, but I think we've run out of pineapple for now. [And he does nooot want to shop for produce here.]

Video

[save_the_souls]

That's too bad. [no Sheena curry this is sad :<]

We could go out though. I managed to get some extra money. [By doing shady stuff. But hey]

[video]

[sonofgold]

A year, huh... and you've been through a lot since coming here. But I'm glad I met you.

[video]

[geonomy]

[He gives a big smile in return - it's nice to hear something like that, especially from a crewmate.]

And I couldn't ask for a better crew to be by my side! I'm glad I met all of you, too.

[video]

[sonofgold]

We do have a really good one, don't we? I feel lucky to have landed on this ship.

[invigorates]

You were certainly the ideal candidate for the show then, hm? [ said with a smile, she's honestly glad to see someone so enthusiastic about being brought into space so suddenly. sure beats the alternative. ]

As for notes on the planet, I have not gathered as much as I would have liked yet. But should I happen to, I would gladly share them — and I appreciate your dedication thus far. With any luck, we may be able to help these people yet.

[geonomy]

I like to think it's at least part of the reason they picked me for it! [Bleh, being reminded it's a TV show sucks, but whatever. Everything else is totally worth it for him.]

Yeah, that's the goal here. I mean, sure, I want to learn everything about what we come across. I'm an astronomer and an astronaut in my soul; I'm never going to stop wanting to learn about everything we see! But it's about way more than that now.

video

[delincuente]

You nerd.

[But it's affectionate.]

Sorry about your friend.

video

[geonomy]

Takes one to know one. [He says while sticking his tongue out like the mature adult that he is.]

But... yeah. Yeah, it's like... Some people here have a lot to go home to, and want to go home, so it's good when they can. But Orion... he was better off here.

audio

[experiencepoints]

Once I can write again, do you mind if I borrow some of these notes for my guide?

audio

[geonomy]

That's definitely fine by me. You're making notes of all the planets and moons we've gone to, right?

voice;

[nerdeology]

If you need any help with researching the water, I've been working with it a lot since we arrived.

[If he sounds grumpy, it's because he's still mad. This planet is wretched and he hates it.]

voice;

[geonomy]

[Ooooh yeah, he can imagine. Even the water the fleet ships offer bothers Mikleo, from what Clay's heard. So this...]

I need all the help I can get. What'd you find out about it? [He's nowhere near as in-tuned with the water as Mikleo is, so this could be incredibly helpful.]

voice;

[monolike]

[Whatever Sorey can contribute regarding solid observations of the world's elements will be whatever he's experienced through Mikleo and Dezel, but he wants to be involved anyway. This is important.] Mikleo said something when he was trying to purify the water. He said something like, the water was killing the world. He usually doesn't talk like that.

voice;

[geonomy]

The water?

[Oh wow. That's... ugh.]

Well, that does make sense. Water seeps into everything. The soil, the plants, wildlife drink out of it... The water's a huge source of the problem.

[He lets out a little sigh, his fingers pressing to his forehead.] But without water, no life can exist.