Chapter Four [Video]

[thebestseller]

Who: Richard Castle and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: On the Windrose if you want
When: January 10th, morning

[Video broadcast]

So, folks, I woke up to find that my fleet of cleaning droids suddenly doubled. All of them need names- I only have Cameron, Robocop and Leopardon so far. Got any suggestions? I'm a big sci-fi fan so I'd love to name all of them after famous robots, but I'll take anything.

[Action]

[And on the Windrose, Castle could be found following his new troops, a big, goofy smile on his face.]

Don't work yourselves too hard now, hmm?

Comments

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[nulliverse]

[Oh, why not. She's too much of a mess to accomplish much right now, and pop culture is one of her fortés. She'll bite. She looks a bit pale and none too happy, but she'll bite.]

Johnny 5? Dot Matrix? Sonny? Marvin is obligatory, although you shan't get much work out of him. Sci-fi is hardly my genre of choice, but those are what I've got off the top of my head.

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[thebestseller]

Marvin- I can't believe I didn't think of that one! [But then his expression softens.] You feeling okay?

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[nulliverse]

Well, thank god I was here to save the day, then. It'd be a sad robot collection without a paranoid android.

[She actually found out about Hitchhiker's Guide through Radiohead, but she's learned not to say things like that around nerds. And this whole thing has the strong whiff of nerd.

But then she's laughing a bit awkwardly, scrubbing a hand over her face.]

Good lord, is it that obvious? I've only just arrived, yesterday. It's been - well. [How to put this?] - it seems as though most people here were taken from somewhere? I was more in transit, so it's not where I'd planned to wind up in a lot of ways.

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[thebestseller]

It would indeed- someone needs to be the realist and keep everyone else real, right?

[Castle smiled kindly.]

Yeah, I have yet to meet anybody who's actually from this galaxy. Some of us were taken from home like I was, and others have apparently already been through the "kidnapped and woke up in a strange place" routine once already. So I can understand not feeling the best about it.

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[nulliverse]

I was - [She pauses, thinks about her words for a second. A rare thing for her.] - I chose to make a trip like this, because they offered me something in return. I'd actually just squared up and was supposed to be going home.

[The sadness is more pronounced when she speaks again.]

Home. I don't really know what that is anymore. I feel more like I've left home this time.

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[thebestseller]

[Castle listened with a sympathetic expression.]

So just when you thought you were gonna be able to go home, Atroma yanked all that from underneath you, huh? No wonder you're upset. [Castle mutters something that sounds a lot like "assholes" under his breath.] Our benevolent hosts seem to enjoy doing that kind of thing to people.

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[nulliverse]

It's... it's all a mess. There's a lot. But that's a large part of it, certainly - home was all I had left to hope for, because Eudio could never be permanent.

[And then she presses her lips together, nodding tersely.]

So I've gathered. Apparently there's no such thing as intergalactic law out here, if people can be stolen for entertainment and that's just standard practice. [Softening a little, she considers him more closely.] How long have you been here?

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[thebestseller]

And at least you chose to be there, not a sudden change of plans and hearing "surprise, you're now part of a reality show, lucky you".

[He sighed.]

I can't see any universe where this would be legal, no... not unless they're that good at covering up the fact that we're not here voluntarily. [He thought for a moment.] I've been here around... 5 months, I think.