one . video

[misconceived]

WHO Chris Halliwell
BROADCAST Network unfiltered video.
ACTION The SS Huntress.
WHEN Shortly after the Shuffle.

Again?

[ This is a young man circling around as he's transported to his new ship, the SS Huntress. He's mostly talking to his new crewmates but there's that unknowing broadcast going out, too. ]

Moved around twice in twenty-four hours, and this one is not nearly as nice as the first one. We're supposed to stay here while we play this stupid game? [ Psht. ] Which, by the way, I didn't sign up for. Did anyone? Because I was in the middle of something, you know, important.

Comments

[misconceived]

[ Okay, that gets a small laugh. ]

Any luck so far?

[rebella]

( She breathes in, sighing as she shakes her head. )

Not especially. I haven't seen anyone be able to re-enter the Marsiva once they're off that ship, and finding anyone directly responsible that we don't see just on this broadcasting network who works for this whole thing is difficult. No one seems to recognize the idea of the show at all when I've tried talking about it at the waystations or the last planet we were orbiting.

Which is at least knowing something to start with.

( Like how much they don't know. It's a start of sorts. )

[misconceived]

[ Eh, it's process of elimination. That's better than nothing. ]

Must have everything automated or something... Maybe they have us in the boondocks? Nobody out here gets the station we're on. Or maybe everyone is just getting paid off. [ Sounds like a feat for such large areas, though. Entire planets? ]

[rebella]

In a whole universe, there's a lot of... boondocks, you said? That's the same as the countryside or deep inside the forests, would you say?

( His lingo's just a bit beyond her, but that would make sense in context. )

[misconceived]

Yeah. That's what I meant. Somewhere completely out of touch with everywhere else.

[rebella]

Strange to think an audience doesn't need to be local... but that might be part of what works in this case. If we're so far away from anyone who knows this, doesn't it make it harder to believe us? And would anyone care?

[misconceived]

Probably part of the appeal. No help from the locals because they won't know what the hell we're talking about.

[rebella]

Or they don't care. It's difficult to say in the end. People we've run into so far aren't very invested in what we're doing.

[misconceived]

Even if they didn't care, they'd still know, right? What are we doing?

[rebella]

I think that's the question of the hour. The last however many hours, by now.

[misconceived]

Just great. Perfect. And I bet you there's no way to break a contract we didn't sign, either.

[rebella]

Can't really break it when we have no idea what's in it, or what's claimed as a signature, that's true enough.

[misconceived]

Basically. Is there seriously no way to fight back?

[ There has to be something. ]

[rebella]

There is always a way. It might not be as direct as we like, but there's always a way.

( EVEN IF THE WAY SUCKS there is always, always a way. )

[misconceived]

[ He pauses, tilts his head partway to a nod. ]

No way that we know yet.

[rebella]

Inquiring minds find answers.

( She smiles. )

Which I'm sure is unsurprising to our watching audience, whoever they may be.

[misconceived]

They're probably expecting us to do something.

[ He sighs, then offers a meager smile in response. ]

I'm Chris, by the way.

[rebella]

I'm Ella. It's a pleasure to meet you, Chris. Circumstances aside of course.

[misconceived]

I think we can imply that part, really. Nobody is gonna say this is a pleasure.

[rebella]

Oh, there might be a few. Sad, unfortunate souls they might be!

( Said with a half smile and a shrug of her shoulders. Can't dismiss that some might find it a sort of attention they wanted, if they were selfish enough not to care about the other details. )

[misconceived]

Don't know how sad they'd be here. If there are any.