001 - Video/Action - Welcome to space?

[helladoomed]

Who: Chloe Price and open!
Broadcast: Fleetwide, accidental
Action: For people on the Marsiva, if they like!
When: Right now! And on until shuffle

[There was a young woman with blue hair passed out on the floor of Marsiva. She looks maybe nineteen or twenty, her clothing seems to be a tad damp, and she shifting occasionally as if having a nightmare of some kind.]

-on't you forget about me..

[The words come out in a mumble against the floor, and maybe it's the way they sound in a spaceshiip that yanks her out of her sleep, but a second later her eyes flare open and she sits up in a shock.]

WAIT I- What? [Whatever she was expecting, the Marvisa was clearly not it, and after a quick, panicked look around, she scrambles to her feet.]

Okay, calm down. Maybe this a good thing. Okay. Okay [She is clearly talking to herself, with no idea anyone is watching. Trying to calm herself down, probably.] Still alive. What does that even...

[She finally seems to have noticed a nearby window and the void of space beyond it because she freezes, then immediately darts over to it, staring out for a long breath, one hand coming up to press against the glass, making sure it was there.]

...What the fuck. Am I in space?!

Comments

[helladoomed]

Great. Fuck.

Okay. So once I do get...assigned. What do I do?

[neverknight]

Find someone to pilot you over to the Paisley. [He won't just go advising people to go piloting shuttles unless they know how.] Or just go meet on the Starlight. I don't know if you can see it from the viewing bay, but we've recently docked somewhere with a little more space than these old freighters have.

[helladoomed]

I think I'll have to find a different window.

So, bribe somebody who likes to fly then they can get me to the Paisley. Or the Starlight. Great.

Now just four days of waiting.

[neverknight]

It's going to be a whole lot more than just four. This place is a waiting room made big. But you'll meet your friend at least.

[helladoomed]

One problem at a time man.

Once I fin Max...then I can start worrying about everything else.

[neverknight]

Hey, don't let me be the guy that overwhelms you. By all means, take your time.

[helladoomed]

Overwhelmed doesn't even begin to cover it, man.

[She moves a few feet away, pacing a bit as she thinks.]

But I guess it's better than not having any of this to worry about. [A beat.] How long you been stuck here?

[neverknight]

A few weeks. But I've been in and out of atmosphere for as long as I remember. I just wasn't being filmed during all of that.

[So in some ways, this is all very familiar. In other ways, he was in over his head.]

[helladoomed]

You're used to being in space?

[Well that's weird.]

Are you an astronaut?

[neverknight]

[Well there's a term you don't hear every day. It gives him pause.]

Not... really. You could say I do cargo delivery mostly.

[It's a very technical kind of truth.]

[helladoomed]

...But in space. Cargo delivery in space.

[That's the important part.]

[neverknight]

What's wrong with that? People in space need cargo too.

[helladoomed]

Nothing is wrong with it, man. It's hella awesome!

[neverknight]

[He chuckles.] It sounds that way, until you're stuck in a small ship for days on end between systems. Seeing as you're in space, you can't exactly pull over for some fresh air.

[helladoomed]

I guess. But okay, where I come from, there have been maybe forty people in space ever.

So this is pretty fuckin' sweet.

[neverknight]

... so that would make you forty-one, right?

[helladoomed]

Rough estimate, dude.

But 42. Max got here first.

[neverknight]

Close enough. Unfortunately I can't even claim to be among the first billion to have been in space on my planet.

[helladoomed]

That's...weird.

So is your whole civilization in space?

[neverknight]

It has been for thousands of years. There's plenty of planets out there that haven't managed space travel yet, but that's only if they're remote enough and don't have any resources worth exploiting.

[In other words, pre-space travel aliens aren't given any special favors. Especially with the Empire around now.]

[helladoomed]

I can't even really imagine that.

Like...all of humanity is on one planet. Just earth. We made it to the moon a couple times?

[neverknight]

It's hard for me to imagine it the other way around. Being stranded on one planet for even a month can be unbearable at times.

[Maybe if he came from a galaxy where planets had more than one ecological feature, that might be different.]

[helladoomed]

Hey man, I get that feeling at least. 'cept replace 'planet' with 'town.'

Same diff.

[neverknight]

Everything comes in degrees. It shouldn't take you too long to adapt to being out here.