video + action || the first

[speedboat]

Who: Howard Stark and YOU (I'm sorry)
Broadcast: Video Transmission, Fleet-wide.
Action: The Marsiva
When: Now

[ howard begins by painstakingly peeling himself up off the surface of the deck. this is a familiar position for him so he's not overly worried, smoothing back his hair as he rises unsteadily to his feet. he blinks heavily a few times, expecting his eyes to be heavy and for the customary knock in his head to follow. nothing happens. he feels remarkably alert, actually. wait a second...

the hairs on the back of his neck raise up, triggered by that eerie feeling of being watched. ] If this is a ransom demand, you're going to be sorely disappointed. [ it's not directed at anyone, scarcely above a mumble, he doesn't know anyone can hear him yet. howard steps towards the viewing ports, sticking his hands in his pockets and wondering what form of trickery this could possibly be. very advanced and very clever, surely, but just as frustrating. ]

I must admit, I'm impressed with your holographic technology. I could almost believe I were really in space... if we weren't at least a few decades off from such an advancement anyway. [ unless, they aren't. that disquiets him, smugness dropping from his tone as he continues to look around, but his voice only grows smaller. ] ...Hello?

Comments

[speedboat]

Everything. [ no really you shouldn't have opened the floor for this discussion. ] Is your makeup still carbon-based? Are you sustained by oxygen? What planet are you from? Were you aware of Earth before arriving here? If so, do you know the precise distance between the two? [ rapidfire, naturally, eyes widening slightly. he needs to take notes. ]

[resnipstance]

Yes. Yes. Shili, originally, but I grew up on a different planet called Coruscant after I turned three. There's no planet named Earth in my galaxy. I couldn't even begin to approximate the distance, sorry. There are still sections of our own galaxy that haven't been charted yet, let alone the next one over.

[speedboat]

Fascinating. How advanced is your space travel?

1/2

[resnipstance]

Oh. Ummmm. Huh. ... That's a kinda ... subjective question, isn't it?

[Space travel is just standard to her, and she doesn't know what leve of technology if any would be familiar to this guy. She thinks about it for a second, stumped-- how can she give an answer that will have any meaning?]

2/2

[resnipstance]

I guess-- the first recorded instances of space travel were about a hundred thousand years ago, I think. But it only became commonplace about thirty thousand years ago. When we figured out hyperspace! The usual laws of physics don't exactly apply to hyperspace, so it allows for vessels to travel much faster than the speed of light.

Before you achieve that, interplanetary travel takes too long to be really practical... unless you live in a system that has a lot of planets close together, anyway. But that's pretty rare.