network video from red fish bridge;

[aberrant_type]

Who: Zoe Hange
Broadcast: Video
Action: for Red Fish crewmates
When: Tuesday... October 7... midday...?

[Someone is experimenting with shipwide broadcast. The screen shows Hange sitting with her hands folded in front of her, grinning amiably at the camera.]

Hmm. Is this thing working? I think so... [She pauses for a couple seconds and then laughs.] Well, I guess I'll find out! Hello, everyone, this is Captain Hange of the SS Red Fish speaking. [She winks.] I just got the paperwork turned in. Sorry to surprise you, Nunnally and Skull, but I decided I'd be up for it and thought it was better to get it done!

Now, I'm addressing everyone today to mention the tiny thing that's been embedded in our skulls! I'm guessing everyone has noticed that they have something in the back of their head that's difficult to even touch. It feels maybe bottle-cap sized! I hope that's familiar-sounding to all of you? I'm a little reluctant to actually open up someone's head but I wonder if anyone has tried that yet! Have you removed someone else's implant? Have you removed your own? If so, amazing! How did you do that? Nunnally let me experiment with hers a little, noninvasively of course, and reported discomfort that seemed unnaturally strong even when another person was just touching it! Thanks for your contributions, brave girl.

Also, as I told some of you, I didn't know anything about space before arriving here, but suddenly upon arriving I do! Also, we have a little room on this ship where I know how to use everything! That's unusual, given my home doesn't have anything close to this level of technology. I'm still exploring that equipment, but I wonder what others have noticed! I certainly don't understand everything on the ship, but I'm guessing if I mysteriously understand this one room, others will understand some other parts! What do you know now that you didn't know before? If you feel up to it, please let me know!

[holy talking, batman. She takes a moment to breathe, grinning at the screen still in an I know I know many words fashion.]

Great to meet you all, by the way! Let's get along and work productively together!

Comments

[wilder]

That's the one! Yeah, she at least seems a better handle of the job than the rest of us.

[Seeing how Peter can barely finish sentences and he just hates people]

[aberrant_type]

What about you, Kaneis? Have you found a job to do?

[wilder]

Heh, yeah. For some reason they thought I'd be a good pilot!

[aberrant_type]

Are you assuming you won't be?

[wilder]

Who knows. Flying spaceships was never exactly on my list of things to do with my life.

But hey, at least it means I won't be stuck working in the sickbay again.

[aberrant_type]

When did you do that?

[wilder]

Lot of places. [Traveling back home, Earth, the moonbase] I have healing magic, so I tend to get stuck doing that.

[aberrant_type]

Oh, there's so much magic here! I keep hearing the word. "Ghost," too. Do you believe in ghosts, Kaneis?

[wilder]

Uh....yes?

[Said like she just asked if he believed in sunlight. So weird you non-magical worlds]

Why wouldn't I?

[aberrant_type]

Hahaha! I don't, but it seems like I'll be observing some interesting phenomena here regardless!

[wilder]

Seriously?

How do you not believe in ghosts? They'll try to rip you apart if you take a wrong step on their haunting grounds.

[aberrant_type]

I suppose in our world, they're replaced by titans, then.

[wilder]

[Oh jeez, not the titans again]

Ha...yeah. Ghosts don't get that big, luckily.

Least, none that I've seen.

[aberrant_type]

[Always the titans. Always.

But it seems she infodumped at him enough last time...]

The ghosts of scouts don't choose to haunt us, if they exist. Fortunately.

[wilder]

[a slight pause; he'll speak in a slightly more serious tone than his usual apathy.]

They've probably moved on then, to whatever your world has for an afterlife.

[aberrant_type]

What determines whether a person becomes a ghost or moves on, Kaneis?

[wilder]

Well, I'm no expert...but I think it's a mixed of things. If there was something unusual about their deaths, their feelings about their deaths, how badly they wanna stick around, if they got unfinished business they're deadset to finish....

[He gives a little shrug]

They exist, but they don't happen that often, even in my homeworld. Most souls get to move on. [Lucky bastards]

[aberrant_type]

I'd be curious why such things don't happen in my world, then.

[scout's deaths are certainly unusual and full of strong feelings, full of unfinished business... maybe some of them lacking resolve, but even so.]

[wilder]

Who knows. I'm not an expert on the matter to say one way or another.

[a pause]

Still, I wouldn't feel bad that it doesn't happen. It's a pitiful fate, to linger as a ghost.

[aberrant_type]

I'm a scientist, so I'd like to quantify these things.

[And she's entertaining the conversation, but does she really believe? No, she doesn't. Not yet. Maybe he's observing localized phenomena that superstition has explained... maybe something else.]

How many people who die are ones you'd say linger on? Just a rough estimate.

[wilder]

Are you? I would have never guessed.

[And he considers.]

Maybe less than one percent, if we're just talking about straight up ghosts. Like I said, it's really not common.

[aberrant_type]

"Just straight up ghosts"? What else is there?

[wilder]

Well, there's a type of...gem thing, called an Exsphere. Anyway, if someone's wearing one when they die- it'll absorb their soul and all that stuff, so they can't move on...or move at all.

[aberrant_type]

... is there supposed to be something appealing about that?

[wilder]

Not at all. I'd say it's a fate worse than death.

But Exspheres can be used to boost a person's power- but they don't work unless someone dies with one attached first. So a group called the Desians would round humans up, put uncompleted Exspheres on them and then...harvest them after they died.