5. [video]

[pompous_today]

Who: Simon Tam and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: N/A
When: August 13th

I have a rather strange question. Twice now, people have arrived here who look nearly identical to people I knew back home- and yet, they are clearly not those people. They are close in looks, but in personality... not so much.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is it just something I should chalk up to alternate universes and time travel? It's rather unsettling, to tell the truth...

Comments

[touchofrogue]

Then just think about how that applies to the multi-universe.

[Mysteries of the universe...]

[pompous_today]

So it may be quite likely to happen again, then. I would not be surprised if Atroma found it amusing and did it on purpose.

[touchofrogue]

[...well, that was one way of lookin' at it.]

If you wanna give them that much credit, sure. You're right, though. No reason why it won't happen again.

[pompous_today]

I would not put anything past them, to be honest. Of course, to be fair, I am not sure they do have that much control over who gets brought here.

[touchofrogue]

[...that was kind of what she just said, wasn't it? As a result, Rogue's tone is dry.]

Glad ya see it that way.

[pompous_today]

[Simon smiled, taking the jibe.]

As long as we are both on the same page.

[touchofrogue]

...right.

[And really, Rogue is very tempted to leave it at that. However, she is making an active attempt to be just the slightest bit more friendly, so she tries to redirect the conversation.]

Have ya been here long?

[pompous_today]

I have... for 5 or 6 months now, I believe. It feels like it has been so much longer, though- I am used to flying around in space, but not so much with being observed every hour of every day.

[Well, he had been on Alliance planets, even if in retrospect he wasn't aware of such. Feds, sensors and security was everywhere in the Core, but the outer planets were still beyond such things.]

[touchofrogue]

[She thought about that for a moment.]

You're used to flying around? You're some kind of astronaut?

[pompous_today]

Not so much- just from a future where space travel is common. ... The year 2517, to be precise. [And he lets it go at that, half expecting disbelief.]

[touchofrogue]

[She raises her eyebrows, impressed and interested.]

2517? An' you're from an Earth? I'm impressed the world made it that long.

[...no, seriously. She really is. Right now, she gives her Earth about 3 more months before it ends, unless they find a way to stop it.]

[pompous_today]

Not even from Earth, actually- in my time, humanity abandoned it centuries before I was born for greener pastures. There were too many people, not enough resources to go around, so humans packed up and left.

[touchofrogue]

Huh. [Burned out all our own resources and then left to go burn out other planets' resources? That sounded so depressingly... human. Yay, humanity.] So - no more Earth, but plenty of humans?

[pompous_today]

Indeed- we keep pushing further and further every year. A process called terraforming allows us to make new Earths- give them a liveable atmosphere and land. Then, anybody enterprising enough can settle and grow crops or make a ranch or do what else they can to make a living.

[touchofrogue]

[Please hold.]

...make a ranch?

[pompous_today]

Indeed. Food animals were some of the things we brought with us from Earth, and the further a planet is from the Core- the central planets that hold our seat of government and are more technologically advanced- the less technology there is. And some people like raising cows, I suppose.

[touchofrogue]

Huh.

[...yup. That's it. Such a talker, this girl.]

[pompous_today]

I do not see the appeal myself, but then, I was fortunate enough to be able to get the education I did, too.

[touchofrogue]

[...she's talking with someone posh, isn't she.]

...yeah. How great for you.

[pompous_today]

[Simon's expression falls a little at that. Ah, he recognizes that look. "Good for you, rich boy." Not that he wasn't asking for it a little, in retrospect.]

I at least tried to give back a little. I'm a doctor and went traveling to some of the border planets to offer my services.

[touchofrogue]

[...it was kind of strange, really. Just when Rogue was about to write off the conversation, Simon kept saying something that drew her back in.]

Yeah? [Pause a beat. Consider.] What'd ya find there? Was it worth it?

[pompous_today]

It was humbling, to say the least. My primary role was as a ship's medic and I am a trauma surgeon by trade, but we often traveled to planets that didn't have regular access to a doctor. They definitely challenged me a lot. The first thing that comes to mind was when I helped deliver a baby, which was nerve-wracking, but the woman might never have seen a doctor to help her through it otherwise. I wish I could have done more, seen more, before I was taken here.

[touchofrogue]

[She thought about that for a moment.]

So is that what you'd do, if ya were sent back? Go travelin' again?

[pompous_today]

I would. [Not like he had much of a choice, of course, but that's not something he'd share, either.] I became a doctor because I wanted to help people... and there are so many who could use it.

[touchofrogue]

[...huh.]

Do you have a doctorin' augment here too?