video broadcast

[unbearablynaive]

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.

Comments

[unbearablynaive]

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.

[recopy]

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!

[unbearablynaive]

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.

holy late tag batman

[recopy]

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?]

[unbearablynaive]

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.