driftfleet | video broadcast

Who: The Vision
Broadcast: Fleetwide, open
Action: The abandoned bug ship
When: 6/27 late in the day

[The video opens up to show what sure is a red-skinned guy in a skin-tight blue suit with a bright yellow jewel on his forehead. Someone isn't going for subtlety with his look. When he speaks, it's with a cultured voice and a light British accent.]

Good evening. For those of you I have not yet met, my name is the Vision and yes, this is my normal appearance. I am an engineer aboard the SS Windrose. Like many of you I have been exploring the derelict ship and I believe it is possible to cleanse it of the fungal infection using a process known as vacuum sterilization. Essentially this means moving the air to one half the ship and opening airlocks on the other half, allowing anything not securely bolted to be swept into space - including infectious spores. We would then close the doors, filter the air, move it to the disinfected side and repeat the process. Once it is clean, we may investigate further without fear of infection to ourselves and determine if the ship is capable of being used by us, either for our own purposes or to return to its original owners.

[His expression softens to one of sorrow.] However, in order to be fully confident this cleansing would be effective, it would be necessary to release the infected bodies of the fallen life-forms into space as well. They were once fully sapient individuals, before the infection took hold, and such an action should not be undertaken lightly. Is this a course of action the Fleet would support? If there are any of you who are conversant in such things, would you consider holding a funeral or memorial ceremony for those who have been our enemies?

I welcome your input. Thank you for listening.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The Vision nods.] It would be respectful, I feel. They were not themselves when they attacked us, and what was done to them by the infection is regrettable.

I also believe it would be largely repairable or alterable. The idea to take it with intent to return it should we encounter the original culture has been proposed, and I agree that might be the best course of action. Would that be acceptable to you as well?

Yeah, it's--being controlled by something else and not being able to stop it is a really horrible thing. [He'd know, even if he'd much rather not. But it's a thought he pushes away quickly, just a slight uncomfortable shift at his seat on the other end of the feed.] It wasn't their fault. ...I think it's the least we could do.

[Really, in retrospect, this other topic's much easier--] But, so we'd be kind of towing it along until we find the civilization it came from? That sounds very reasonable to me, yes! Even if we don't know where it is yet...but it's possible that it might be kind of nearby, actually. If this ship hadn't gotten along very far yet....the probability might not be very high, but we might as well give it a shot, right?

It is. Most especially when the original personality is destroyed in the process. [which is part of why he has the Mind Stone right now, and not anyone less responsible. Not that he's going to mention those particular powers without good reason.]

Yes, that was the idea. It would also provide us with additional space to use as we might until such time, borrowing it, so to speak. Another option would be to leave it here with a different type of beacon, but there is no guarantee the original culture might be the ones to find it, rather than scavengers or raiders.

[General consensus: Mind Shenanigans Are Not a Great Time. Though honestly, he's glad to find somebody else with similar sentiments, even if it might be for entirely different reasons. But neither of them are talking about those reasons right now, and so in the meantime--]

It's true, there's definitely some utility we could get from an extra ship! People might have different ideas on exactly how much utility there should be...but there's definitely more pros to taking it with us than cons, I think. If it's ever going to be returned to where it came from, I'd say the odds are definitely better while it's with us.

[He rubs at his chin a bit, thoughtful.]

Oh, that's a really good idea though, by the way! About vacuum sterilizing the ship. With an airborne infection it makes a lot of sense...you've worked with this kind of thing before? I know not everyone that's an engineer here actually was one back home.

I would agree. I hope that is the consensus we can reach with others as well.

[He looks pleased that someone else likes the vacuum sterilization idea - it seems like common sense to him, but he's at least familiar with the concept of space from before. It may not occur to someone here from a world with a lower technological level.]

As a matter of fact, I have not worked directly with space before but I have had the theories and science made available to me. Vacuum is one force we have in abundance, while we lack many others such as a sufficient quantity of cleaning fluids. It would be wise to use what is at hand.

Yeah, space is definitely pretty much all vacuum! I suppose it beats spending time trying to build something to clean it out when everything we need is already right outside...

[In retrospect, yes, pretty common sense. He's still trying to get used to thinking of things in space terms, for his own part--and out-of-box solutions had always been Lan's job anyway, before...but it certainly doesn't mean he can't appreciate a good idea when he sees one.]

Still, secondhand knowledge isn't half-bad, for sure! [smiling a bit:] I think your first time working directly with space is going to work out just fine. Did you hang out with a lot of science types back home? Or, I guess it wouldn't be too hard to research up here either...I should look into doing some more of that myself.

Quite so. We've also had offers to cremate the bodies, and I am assured there are individuals who can control or limit fire. If we cannot find any information regarding their native funeral customs, I would like to pursue cremation as it is both efficient and respectful.

[He appreciates it!]

Thank you. I...did spend rather a lot of time with scientists, yes. I was directly involved with [cough created by cough] the most well-known scientist of my time.

Mm, because fire is a good sterilizer too, right? That sounds like a good way to go about it. If it's the best we can do, we should definitely try for it.

[But oh, look at that--this second bit sure does sound familiar! If he could give you the brofist of created-by-genius-scientists-with-questionable-life-choices solidarity, Vision, he totally would about now. Because really--]

Oh, that's really cool! Hah, it's kind of funny too, that's pretty much how I got most of my knowledge about science as well. I used to help out in the lab with D-- [wait, no, not Dad, nooot out here. the catch takes a second] --Dr. Hikari! Since he's my programmer...well-known scientists have pretty crazy projects sometimes. There's a lot to pick up just by being around them!

Precisely. It is familiar to many cultures as well, rather moreso than a simple space burial. [Which in this case is important because funerals are meant for those left behind, rather than those already gone. He hopes that by doing so, they'll all remember that these life-forms were more than just mindless bugs.]

My history is somewhat complicated, but I have many memories of working with Mr. Tony Stark, owner of the largest technology corporation in the world. He likes to take a hand in his own research and, indeed, many of the most staggering leaps forward have come from his own tinkering. [He laughs, very lightly.] Though he has, rightly, been accused of being a mad scientist at times.

Wow, the largest technology corporation in the world? That's really impressive! He must be a huge name over there... [The idea definitely earns a smile in turn, especially at that last bit.] Hah, but I guess it's good to know that Dr. Hikari isn't the only one that gets accused of that too! I don't know though, I think maybe you've got to be a little mad scientist if you want to pull off really big things, especially in science.

I could never manage it myself, but it's really admirable when it's in the right hands! We're really lucky they're nice guys. [He assumes, of course, that this Tony Stark must be a nice guy too--Vision himself seems to be a pleasant enough person, after all. Why wouldn't he keep company with equally nice people?]

Certainly. Unimaginative scientists have rarely accomplished anything significant. The difficult part is balancing that mad creativity with responsibility or personal morals. It's when those fall apart that trouble beckons.

[Yes, Tony Stark is one of the good guys--though sometimes lacking in those very morals.] "Nice" may not be the correct word, but dedicated to protecting our world is a definite priority. As for myself, I find the preservation of life to be paramount.

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