driftfleet | this is too long

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this is too long

Who: Mattias, Oren & YOU!!
Broadcast: Fleetwide!
Action: Starstruck
When: 6/5

[The camera peeks into the Starstruck’s bridge to a flurry of papers. They drift across the floor before the view shifts and the scene expands. Mattias has his back to the camera, plastered against the second half of a large circular map that he’s in the process of pinning to the wall. Arm pressed against the paper, he balances on one foot, using the other to stop a pile of other segments from falling while his hand grapples with a piece of tape. Whoever’s behind the camera holds up a finger for quiet as they creep towards him, stopping only when the camera is nearly touching Mattias’ neck.]

Mattias. [In a feat of grace, Mattias yelps, jumps and slips in a matter of seconds. He crumples to the ground as the remaining sheets snow around him, ignoring them as he looks up past the camera.]

Oren? [He’s going to say more but his brow furrows.]—Is that on?

Tell me, how many hours of sleep have you gotten in the past two weeks?

Uh—[He pauses too long for it to be a sane amount.]

None. He means none, you see. [He doesn’t wait for whatever thought Mattias may have been trying to form, brushing past it smoothly.] This map has taken a majority of our time, and while most people would have the sense to sleep... Mattias just can’t rest until it’s complete. So, with that in mind, we’re looking to enlist some help! [He extends a free hand just enough for it to appear on screen, rolling in the air to encourage Mattias.]

Go on.

[Mattias looks about to protest needing people but Oren must shoot him a look because he quiets immediately. Glowering at the camera, he points up at the map.] That is a star chart. Or a star map. Or whatever the correct terminology for it is. I don’t know. I only know that we can work off navigating from radar for so long. Now, I know there are others in the library. But they don’t help. They cover a section of space [he holds up a single sheet] this small when we’re flying through something [He slaps the multi-sheet map behind him. Another paper falls loose. He tries to ignore it.] this big. We need a broader view. With this, we can adjust as we go. Make edits, additions, have the most accurate information possible to move forward. We can chart courses, analyze our past patterns, maybe even find out where we are.

[He runs a hand through his hair and shrugs.] I don’t know. But it makes more sense than flying blind, at the whims of the Atroma.

[He glances back at it.] Right now it’s about eighty percent done on the first draft. [Pointed stare at Oren.] If people want to help, fine. All it really involves is copying the radar’s data from various degrees and directions. I can tell you what parts we’re missing. Is that satisfactory, Oren?

Near perfect. [He lets the camera take one more sweep of the map.] What would truly be useful is if someone were able to transfer this digitally to each ship’s controls. A paper map would be of no help to us while piloting. [Again, the camera shifts, focusing on Mattias. Minutes stretch. Mattias waits for something else to happen only to finally say:]

Shut it off.

[ooc note: did you know they’ve been flying half-blind the whole time?? ~~anyway all characters are free to help out and make a map they all can use! they could use anyone in some way, but feel free to hit us up for any questions.~~ we've actually both dropped the game now sorry!]

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[Ah, he remembers these guys. And star maps, well, that's always pretty neat to start with anyway--but in the end he's sidetracked from most of that by the last bit, familiar as it is.]

Oh, a digital transfer? That wouldn't be too hard! Even if you guys only have paper maps right now...it shouldn't be very difficult to digitize what's already written down, and once you do that transfer should be pretty easy.

If we could get the papers into a scanner...or actually, even just taking pictures might work. Can these comms do pictures? I mean, if they can already do videos and things, there's got to be a button for pictures too right...? [brb getting about ready to prod around and check this out himself actually--]

[Oh, this one again. He recognizes that... The rambling typing that challenges even Mattias, too. He'll spare him from his chat speak this time.]

They can send pictures, in fact. That much I know. [It's about the only thing he knows in this field, really...]

Can a simple picture be turned into something a pilot would be able to access and use? Like this radar, but with more detail?

[oren have you been spamming selfies at everyone you know as soon as you realized you could, is that how you've discovered the photography life]

Oh ok, then that's really good! Yeah, once you have a picture you can do a lot of different things to it! A picture is stored as a file, and you can make and distribute unlimited virtual copies of those.

I mean, I'm not very familiar with the picture programs on these yet. But if the comms were made by Atroma, and the ships are too...they've got to be connected somehow. If I have a picture of a chart on my comm, there might be a way to upload it to a pilot's console. So that they can pull it up like a radar, yeah! Hopefully...does that sound like it makes any sense? I might be getting ahead of myself a bit too actually (;´△`)

[ all of these terms and all of this information is baffling, honestly, but Oren can follow the way it's being explained here. ]

In other words, it's possible? [ he summarized it as such, flashing a smile as he ducks to help pick up some of the papers falling. ] I'm not sure what that last group of figures in your message is, though. You're not familiar, you say, but would you be able to look into it enough to aid us?

If you mean to offer any help, that is. I'd hate to assume.

[Ah whoops, in retrospect he probably had been getting a bit rambly there--text might be a struggle but at least like this he can hide a moment of sheepishness when he realizes this...]

Yes, it could be possible! Maybe. To put it simpler... [oh--] And that bit at the end was supposed to make a face, sorry to confuse! I've been practicing doing things on the keyboard v(´▽`v) Like this! People use those in messages sometimes to show their feelings, since text is so quiet.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind helping at all! I don't have a lot of other things to do right now, so it would be nice to pass the time with something productive like this. Would you guys be alright with me stopping by sometime soon?

And what emotion do those convey? [He chuckles short, interrupting himself quickly.] No, no, don't bother answering.

The map isn't complete just yet, but you're welcome at any time. Perhaps then you can have a better look at the systems we pilots work with in order to help transfer everything over. I think we're able to call you over at any time, but I've never done it myself.

[Do you really want these guys beaming you up though.]

Hey, what's that supposed to mean?? You're going to make the faces sad at this rate (-ε-｡)!

[OK BUT NO IN ACTUAL SERIOUSNESS...]

But yeah, that sounds fine by me! It makes sense to wait on digitizing the maps until they're finished, after all. A look at the pilot systems in the meantime would be useful for sure though. I'm not certain if the pilot console looks the same on another ship as it does on mine. You'd think it would, but you never know around here!

[But wait...beaming up what beaming up??] A call should be ok! But you've never done one...? You mean it's a different kind of call from the one we're doing right now?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doing that on paper seems to be missing about... an entire dimension we need to consider. Then again, I'm new to this space-piloting thing, so maybe that's just my earthling sensibilities.

[Hello. Camera opening on the scramble of papers left on the floor.]

You're right, of course. It's another reason why the library maps are useless. We'll be flying through the stars, not viewing them on a two-dimensional plane. [Mattias' hands appear, rearranging and shuffling the papers until he finds a couple sheets and pieces them together. Slowly, another chart begins to form, a bit smaller than the one on the wall.]

Now, it's difficult to replicate that using merely paper but my thought was to slice the larger map. Metaphorically speaking. Cut it into layers and then assemble them somehow digitally.—I don't know. That area's out of my expertise.—I've started about four, maybe five, but I'll need more time to cover every direction.

[He's rambling. Catching himself, he rights himself back on point.] The idea is to isolate the stars that appear to be on the same "plane" as each other on a sheet. The further you go down the sheets, the further you get in space. A rudimentary method, probably, but it's the only one I know.

If you have a more efficient method, I'd gladly hear it. Save my hand some of the trouble.

Well, with approximating the third dimension on paper, that's about as simple as you can get. If we were talking photoshop or something, I could probably whip something up for you but at this rate, it isn't exactly my expertise and my flight calculator is on the fritz. Usually he would be able to put something like that together if I asked nicely.

[ She sighs. ]

If we had some kind of projector or maybe even cobbled a holographic module somewhere, it would be a piece of cake. These ships are basically rust buckets for all that we're flying in space, though.

[There's a long pause between replies to the point where the line might have been dropped. When a response finally comes, it's in audio.]

I'm sorry, I've no idea of anything you just said.

[ She doesn't even pause or really seem put off by the reply. ]

If they even pretended they cared about keeping us up to date, this wouldn't be a problem at all. There's rudimentary tools back home that I could use to try and do this, and even more advanced stuff that couldn't possibly be too difficult for these guys to reproduce.

Basically, they're keeping us on a short chain. We'll basically have to go homebrew.

Edited 2015-06-07 03:02 (UTC)

Well, that's obvious. It's probably some part of the appeal of whatever sick show we're performing. For all we know, this very conversation was engineered to happen.

[Which is... another problem entirely. For a man so used to performing the unexpected, the idea of falling into someone else's accidentally through even the smallest act of rebellion is disturbing. He waves it off.]

So we have to make it ourselves. That's fine. That's expected. The question is, how do we do it?

That's a... fairly easy question considering all the others we've got around here. There are engineers that either had the stuff put in their heads or ones who know how to build stuff from home. Find them, figure out what we need to make this stuff, then acquire the stuff.

It isn't like we're trying to reinvent the wheel here.

Then perhaps that's what I'm missing.

[That's wrong. There is no "perhaps".]

What exactly is the "stuff" I need? You threw a list at me and failed to explain what any of it was. I am a cartographer, a researcher, a doctor from a world far younger than most people here. I'm not an idiot, but I will need certain things clarified.

That's just it, I'm not an engineer. Not an inventor, not a person who puts the things together or anything. You'd have to talk to a specialist about that, about what parts you'd need. What I can do is take down data and maybe help keep it in order until we can put it on a proper map that someone else can help you make.

[ If shrugs could be audible, man. ]

I'm just a pilot.

[Flatly:] Insinuate this isn't a proper map again and you'll be stuck with radar. Forever.

Take your ego somewhere else. You're putting a lot of work into that and it's great, but not something we can use until it's on a three-dimensional plane which you yourself have said. Right now it's just the parts of the map. Do you want help or not?

[HE HAS A LOT OF GRUMBLING ABOUT THE APPLICABILITY OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL MAPS IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACES but whatever he'll just rant about that off-camera. "Proper map". What an insult.]

Fine. I suppose it couldn't hurt to have another pilot's radar readings. I'll have Oren talk to you about it.

[YEAH THAT'S HIM HANGING UP WHAT ABOUT IT PUNK]

Ah, hello.

[And back on with video, this time it's Oren.]

I'm afraid I'll have to stress once more that he's had practically no sleep! Dimensions are being applied to various layers of paper as best as we can manage, so the main issue is extra data for the last sections and digitizing it.

[He smiles all too calmly.]

So it's just the first you're capable of?

Maybe you shouldn't put someone on the spot when they've had no sleep, huh?

[ Despite Oren coming in on video, Misha's sticking to voice. Maybe it'll be easier to avoid confusion with Claudia or distraction from other things this way. ]

Yep, all I'm good for here. Might know someone who can help with the latter, might not.

It's his lack of sleep that leads me to ask for help to begin with, actually.

[His smile stretches the slightest.] Do let me know if your memory sparks with information of that person.

In the meantime, I can assign you a part and explain the details of the data I've been collecting. We only have the radar to work off of, so it's rather tedious, but remember: the more details the better. I'll message you the specifics once we've finished here. Any questions?

How very kind of you.

It's less memory and more I'd need to talk to them first, but hey. We'll figure it out.

That is so cut and dry, there's really not much else to ask. Well, okay, that's not true. You guys trying to map out the asteroid field in the meantime or are we just ignoring that for the bigger picture?

The... asteroids, was it? It's the stars we're concerned about, as those are what seem to stay the most constant in space. No... moving from collisions, you see.

Making note of the presence of asteroids and how far they stretch is fine. You won't need to map it yourself. I'll explain how to transfer your data.

[ Makes enough sense. She isn't gonna fight on that or anything. Her own ship is well-enough equipped to deal with the field just fine. ]

Go ahead. Let's get this show on the road.

[AND SO HE DOES explain it in great, technical detail. The use of the radar, the best way to record data, angles key in collecting information, all that good stuff. Thanks Misha!]

[ SHE'S GOT THIS. Expect regular enough reports with good detail and not much else. She'll help with the project, sure, but she's also going to ask for a return of their own findings to essentially make backups. ]

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