driftfleet | Chapter One [Video/Action]

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Chapter One [Video/Action]

Who: Richard Castle and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The good ship Windrose
When: RIGHT NOW

Video

[Castle is looking dubiously at his bowl of celebratory chocolate pudding- at least he thinks that's what it is- as he broadcasts to the network.]

Dear video diary,

Today is the start of my new life as a space reality TV contestant. It can't be much worse than paparazzi and serial killers, right? Right. I have been assigned to the good ship Windrose and hope to be an asset to her crew. Oh, diary, I do miss New York City, but I might as well make the best of things while I'm here.

Love always, Castle.

Action

[Upon exploring his new digs, it didn't take Castle long to find the tiny cleaning droids. He was attempting to line them up, but as they seemed programmed to go and clean on their own, he was having some difficulty.]

Come on, stand still and be a good robot army.

[Or perhaps you'd like to run into him elsewhere? Just name the time and place.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, that's a huge relief- because she's a federal agent. She'd be breaking out all the stops to try and find me. My daughter, too... and my fanbase, come to think of it. I'm a pretty famous author back home, you see, and I'm nto sure they'd take kindly to me poofing into thin air.

[He tilted his head.]

Back home, time travel was still just a theory. Alternate universes, too. I liked to believe in them, but having that confirmed is totally different than just liking the idea.

[She knows that feeling all too well... If Wesley knew she was here, she has no doubt he'd be ripping through space and time to get to her.

Literally.]

Oh trust me, they are most definitely real and I've had more than my fair share of experiences with both. If you have any questions about either that or just our situation in general, I'd be more than happy to help!

I'll keep that in mind, thanks. So, uh, how long does this reality gig last? Do we get voted off the island? Get all-expense-paid luxury vacations to the scenic 7-Zark-7 Nebula for our troubles?

The island?

[Her brow furrows in some confusion and then... oh! He must be referring to the islands on the planet. Though she's not entirely clear what he means by getting "voted off" (Sorry Castle, Survivor never existed in her reality).]

Oh no, the islands here aren't our usual sort of stop! We'll probably be at this planet only one or two more weeks. As for the whole show, none of us know how long it runs or what exactly the so-called winner gets at the end. I've been here five months, but some of my crewmates have been in the fleet for almost a year. Still others are only here for a couple of months before they leave again....

[With that reminder of Julian, her cheerfulness fades away.]

As far as we know, they go home.

[Not that that is any sort of comfort in Julian's case.]

Ah- you must not have gotten my reference. Back home, there was a reality show called Survivor where the contestants were stuck in the wilderness, and each week one of them got voted off and sent home- thus, voted off the island.

[But he listened intently to the rest of her words.]

A year, huh... I've never heard of a reality show lasting that long. Of course, they don't necessarily have to play by Earth's rules anyway.

So... you're familiar with "reality shows" then? We didn't have anything like this at home.

Yeah, they were a very common form of entertainment back home. Of course, "reality" is a bit of a misnomer, since they could be heavily edited for content. And the contestants could be manipulated to show a certain personality or have a gimmick for the audience to latch onto.

Hmm, sounds familiar...

Yup, so I totally plan on gaming the system here. I got to bring some cleaning robots onto my ship thanks to my implant- [he indicated his augment-] so I get to play the role of the quirky janitor.

The quirky janitor? Well, can't say we have one of those yet...

SCORE. Then I get to fill a unique niche and win over the audience with my loveable antics.

Be careful. If the audience loves you too much, you might get stuck with some... odd gifts.

... do I even wanna know?

Well, recently our cargo bay was filled with crates of shampoo... but only for redheads.

[She wrinkles her nose.]

And then there was the banana flavored coffee...

I have to ask, then- did a non-redhead try using it, and if so, what happened?

Banana coffee sounds pretty nasty.

Oh, the shampoo was fine, surprisingly enough for Atroma. I scanned all the shampoo first before handing it out to anyone, not just the non-redheads.

As for the coffee... it was horrendous.

That's good- I have to wonder how it would have distinguished between redheads and non redheads in the first place, come to think of it. Unless it was weird space shampoo with un-Earthly ingredients that can do just that.

[She chuckles.]

No, no, it's just formulated to enhance the color of red hair.

To help enhance your appeal to your fans, no doubt.

[A small sigh escapes her.]

No doubt.

[Castle looked sympathetic at that.]

I'm used to having fans myself- not necessarily watching me 24 hours a day, but still. I can't imagine how weird it is to be new to that, if I'm right in assuming so.

You're right. It's unnerving, to be honest, that these people, these strangers have all this access to my life and everything I'm doing and saying, without my consent. Mostly I try not to think about it, or I'd go crazy, but ... at least it's not just me.

Yeah, my fans could get a little stalkerish, but mostly all they cared about were my characters and my books. Not... me as a person.

That I understand! A good holonovelist can attract quite the following at home, but it's like you say, it is more about the art they produce than anything else.

Exactly. People were content to leave my personal life out of it, even when I met with them at signings and the like. Oh, sure, they'd send gifts and stuff, and I had a Twitter account and all, but there's that and there's... the whole constant observation thing.