driftfleet | first shock

Who: anyone who wants to watch this loser build some terrible construction out of dubious food material
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Caprine
When: September 20, evening

[ What's this? The camera shows the view of the table in the galley.

Someone offscreen is painstakingly constructing....something on a plate, cutting up solids to serve as the construction material. They don't appear to care what flavour it is, only that it's being carefully chopped into bricks and co-opted for the noble purposes of construction.

Occasionally there's movement from the edge of the screen, footsteps to and from the table, and the sound of the protein machine dispensing more of randomly-chosen foodstuff. Gel is carefully layered onto the small, solid 'bricks' of food to create a kind of mortar, and sticks of solid are pressed into service and shaped to provide appropriate support.

It holds solidly together, enough that whatever this person is building is taking shape quite quickly. It appears to be, when it's done...

Some kind of pixel imitation of a spaceship. Thrusters, fins, and all.

They sit back, turning the camera towards them, to reveal someone who doesn't look very human. The camera passes by an untouched plate of dessert cream. ]

I think I used every flavour to make this.[ He motions to the spaceship model on the plate. ] Go ahead and eat it if you want.

[ He sounds bored. After a moment, he stands, picks up the communicator and turns it off. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You know I'm right. But that doesn't mean you're wrong, I guess. [ A little bit of more professional indignation poking through, and a bit of thoughtfulness. His horizons have widened quite a bit since that whole Beyondard business, that's for sure.

He shakes his head. Wrong again. ] He didn't build anything like that. He's done a lot of things, but creating a 'Life Virus' wasn't one of them.

I guess it might be another parallel universe phenomena...

[Geez....he can practically feel the situation beginning to kind of gradually slip away from him now. Or, well, slip away from what he knows is accurate and true. --Thought was true? No, that's not... Megaman frowns further, but it's all confusion this time.]

But, like this, we can't--we can't both be right... [...Can they? A handful of months back, and it would have been the most basic kind of logic to draw--but now, in a place like this, with somebody like Atroma hanging around....Megaman suddenly isn't quite so certain, and that tilts even into his first statement.

His hand moves up from his jaw to the edge of one of his earpieces instead, eyebrows furrowing. At least Elecman seems to know who Wily is, thank goodness, but--no Life Virus? What? But then...wait. He just barely catches that last line, and Megaman leans forward a bit despite himself.]

Wait, might be like what?

If we were humans, it'd be different. They're more susceptible to memory editing. But since it's between two AIs, that narrows things down. [ It's hard to make a good false memory that a netnavi would believe wholly; the human mind-blurring and skipping-around that helps humans to keep so much packed into a brain that can't really contain everything they experience isn't present with them. Even just one would be time-consumingly difficult. ]

Ah...a while back, there were some incidents with portals that led to a parallel universe. If you have to ask, then it probably didn't happen for you.

[ They'd gotten a very abridged version from Dingo, and a more detailed one from Tomahawkman. ] It was a world that was similar to the one we existed in, but things happened differently there, and changed it. At least, that's what I heard.

[ He shrugs. ] So, we can both be right that way, if this is anything like that.

[It's also a valid point, that first bit, though memory tampering is a troubling subject to consider anyway--uncomfortably, Megaman finds himself reminded of the augments they've been given here too, and how seamlessly some of their supplied knowledge has been integrated. A memory edit for a program would be a lot of trouble indeed, for most people--but would that be enough to deter Atroma?

It's a question he never actually gets around to considering anyway, though, because then Elecman actually does explain that whole...parallel universe....thing......

Oh.

Megaman visibly listens carefully to all of it, to his credit, although he ends up looking increasingly dismayed as Elecman goes on. And when he finishes, Megaman sits back. Opens his mouth. Closes it again. Then, after another moment:]

...Um, hold on, I just--

[DON'T MIND HIM HE'S JUST...standing up and wandering away from the camera now, for a bit. Not very far, by the sound of things--his footsteps are still audible off the edge of the feed, pretty obviously pacing, and if one listens a bit harder there's a bit of mumbling that's also audible, if not just a bit too quiet to make out the words.]

[And then Megaman returns, and calmly sits back down, arms folded. The look he's giving Elecman now is a mildly pained one, to say the least.]

...Okay. Well. No, you're right, I don't remember something like that ever happening back home for sure. Parallel universes, that's still--people are still only throwing around theories about that! But... [Man, talk about something to wrap your head around. It's disconcerting, really, trying to figure out just what Atroma is capable of. But something like this...] But, you're saying, that this...might be one of those cases, huh?

[ Elecman sort of trails off and watches with some confusion and no uncertain amount of concern as Megaman promptly just

walks off....and returns in a bit. He's about to ask if he's okay, but he just...refrains from that. This obviously isn't the Megaman he knows.

Another shrug. ]

It could be. It seems likely. [ As the one who's seen parallel universe bullshit go down, he's a bit calmer about it. As calm as you can get here, anyway. ] It would explain a lot.

...I guess it is a lot to take in. [ He sounds like the words are being pulled out of him. He's making an effort. ]

[HE IS MAKING AN EFFORT...some peripheral part of Megaman's thoughts do note this, and kind of appreciate it. Even if this whole thing is still kind of surreal right now. Actually starting to hold a relatively civil conversation with Elecman of all people right now, for starters...

He keeps waiting for the catch to kick in, honestly, but the talk stretches on and that doesn't seem to be happening. What should he even do with this information? He almost sort of wants to believe it, really, because that...would be a lot easier. And it would explain things. But should he believe it?

It's just too soon to decide yet, probably.]

...Yeah, it's--yeah. [Megaman sighs, rubbing one of his arms a bit.] Look, I--that probably is about as possible as anything else around here. ...But I think I need a bit more time to be sure, about that. [About you...] I'm sorry.

[A brief, awkward pause.]

You did just arrive here though, huh? ...Have you--had most things explained to you yet, for the most part?

[ He just kind of shrugs. ] Yeah, I get it, I get it. [ His smile - and tone - is slightly sour. ] Guess I kind of signed up for that when I became a career criminal.

[ He's glad for the topic change, though. ]

Yeah, I get the gist. We get to parade around for the entertainment of the viewers, right? That kind of thing, isn't it?

[Well, that is a rather blunt way to put it--and also pretty brutally honest...the sour edge there has Megaman shifting a bit in an uncomfortable fit of brief, inexplicable guilt. (For what? Trying to be more suspicious, this time...? But it still doesn't feel very nice.)

Topic change, yes, he could at least manage this much. Probably. Right...]

Mmhm, that kind of sums it up. Some sort of tv show, for space...I haven't managed to find any cameras yet, but apparently they're around everywhere. It's pretty shady. [Absentmindedly, he rubs at a point behind his neck.] I'm assuming you got an additional database too, when you arrived? They're calling it an augment, here...

[ Elecman has about as much tact as a brick through a glass window, really. ]

The augment? Yeah, I got that. I guess it's useful, but not being able to tamper with it... [ He rubs the back of his neck, feeling that discomfort. ] It's suspicious.

Yeah, it really is pretty suspicious. I guess they probably didn't ask you if you wanted one beforehand either...

[Uncomfortable to say the least, yes--and if his own visible unhappiness at the topic is anything to go by, Megaman still hasn't really adjusted to it yet either. He's had quite enough of being tampered with without his permission to last a lifetime already, honestly, but--that's another rant for another time. (And another person. Ah...)

There's another awkward pause, though, because the natural inclination to be helpful to newcomers still wars with who this particular newcomer is. Megaman had maybe been attempting to work past that a little bit, just now, but it's quickly apparent that he's at a loss again. So, after a bit...]

--A lot of people here have been around for awhile. Your crew might be able to help you out with questions and things, too. So... [wow could this get literally any more awkward...GLANCING AWAY FROM THE FEED A BIT NOW] So I guess, you want to get back working on your, uh...your spaceship, now. I'll leave you alone.

[FOR NOW..........]

first shock | video

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