driftfleet | 9. [video]

My mother has some notes on attempts to work on the augments. I think I can send you some copies of those if you haven't seen them.

Otherwise...I'm afraid I haven't been around long enough to tell you. Want me to keep an eye out for you?

I would like to see them, yes- every time I've tried to do something to my own augment, it's done everything it can to prevent me, and my medical ethics have been stopping me from keeping out a subject.

I'd appreciate that, yes. I want to know if we are as isolated from the rest of the universe as we seem.

Give me a second, I'll call them up.

[Tapping away for a bit, and she'll be sending him report one and report two.]

Looks like your medical ethics were right about not trying to tamper with augments on others. I would also figure the augments are limited to the fleet, since Mom thought they're part of how we're brought back if you try moving too far away. But all it takes is one person outside the fleet with the right tech to prove me wrong on that.

Thank you; I will take a closer look at these.

That explanation does make sense- if others had access to this technology, then yes, somewhere along the line we would be able to find someone to help disable it. But if it's of Atroma make, and they haven't shared the knowhow with others, it heightens their ability to keep us on a short leash. After all, this technology could be life-changing for others, and I can't see it NOT spreading like wildfire were it commony knowledge.

Hmm.

I've seen people around the galaxy with cybernetic implants, but it's not something everyone wants to do. There's maintenance and health issues for some.

Which raises the question of how long they can keep us with these augments without some more direct contact.

Indeed- and we have seen that these need maintenance from time to time, as well. I don't know if you have been here long enough, but there was an incident where we were all trapped on the Marsiva again for a month while they, as they put it, recalibrated. This was shortly after some other unknown ships pushed us into a cloud of electrical interference that caused the augments to go haywire. So perhaps others ARE aware of the augments, but choose not to share that knowledge for their own reasons. Perhaps out of fear that Atroma might harm us if we knew.

Really?

[She sounds a bit more curious than troubled by the notion of recalibration.]

Not every culture develops the same technology, but that doesn't always mean they're unstoppable. If people fear the Atroma, there's bound to be people out there finding ways around tech, just like people here try experimenting.

...I have to ask. What was the recalibration like?

Precisely- Atroma claims to have been doing this for many "cycles" so far, and I find it hard to believe that nobody in their entire history has figured out a way to successfully rebel.

Well, during the day we had all the amenities- a kitchen, a workout room, endless amounts of media to consume and so on- then when a timer counted down to zero, we were warped back to our bunk rooms, sound asleep. How long we were asleep or what they did WHILE we were asleep, I cannot say, but others reported seemingly entering into others' minds and memories. I did not experience that myself, but it may be work asking some of the others about.

[Oh, look, it's one of the "others" you mentioned.]

I haven't walked around feeling up anyone's neck, but I haven't seen anything either. [Which doesn't mean much since you can't necessarily tell from a visual inspection. She has been looking for what it's worth.]

Do you suspect something or are you just gathering data?

[Simon had to snicker at that.]

Nor have I, but nobody seems to know what I am talking about when I mention "augments", either.

Gathering data for now. Law of averages means we should have run into SOMEONE by now who has heard of this supposedly popular program, and yet... nothing.

Maybe they took us very far from the viewing audience so we wouldn't spend all our time autographing things. [Yeah, no, she finds it all suspect too.]

[Simon smirked.]

They do claim our fans are high in number, right? So we would indeed be in high demand. But in all seriousness, one would think they'd make even more money from this alleged program if they allowed us SOME contact with the fanbase- not just autographs, but selling and auctioning fan encounters and the like. But our fans never speak to us except the occasional letter Atroma reads out.

You're thinking it might just be a cover story? [It sounds like he's doubting things to her at least.]

I do... but the problem with that theory is, a cover story for what? If the reality show is all a ruse, what other purpose are we serving? That I cannot figure out. Either there is an audience and Atroma is not as willing to exploit them as they are to exploit us, or there is no audience and we are here for some other mysterious purpose.

Gets to be a complicated mess when you know you can't necessarily trust anything they say. [She knows that pain well. She was from a prison in virtual reality complete with regular mind games.]

So, why lie to us if we can't do anything about it either way? Either it's because the truth would give us some leg up on escape or because they want to generate the behaviors this lie would generate. Or it's the truth. [She looks to him, wondering if he sees any other options.]

Exactly. And when they speak to us so infrequently, toss us so few crumbs, it's harder to assemble what we do know into the bigger picture.

[He then nodded agreement.]

One of my working theories right now is that they are not as in control of who comes and who goes as they want us to believe- they simply found a way to take advantage of it. That way, they can reassure the audience that anybody sent home was simply doing poorly in the ratings, while anybody who has stayed is doing well. Because you must admit, bringing in certain combinations of people from home could spice things up.

That would make more sense. As good a theory as I've heard anyway. I haven't been here that long, but it all seems a little random. I doubt Leia's ratings were too low considering the stabbing.

Indeed- there are plenty of people who have randomly vanished whom one would think are doing well. And many people here are without anybody at all from home. I am one of them. Some of the participants are without spouses or significant others, without siblings or mentors or even their enemies... and since they seem to know a lot about us, picking and choosing whom to bring to maximize the drama would make sense. And yet they don't.

Someone from my world arrived not too long after me. I wasn't expecting that. [X-Men from other realities, sure, but she really didn't think it would ever be someone from home.] But you're right, for pure ratings they could have chosen better. [Like Piotr.]

My sister was here for a few months, but other than that, nobody else from home has shown up. It's strange, though- a few people who look a great deal LIKE people from my home are here, but we are not from the same world at all.

I've seen something like that. No one from my home, but I've known people to look the same and not just be different versions of the same person. Who are your world's lookalikes?

A man called Mr. Castle looks a lot like the captain of the ship I traveled on, but the two of them are complete opposites in personality and demeanor. Mr. Castle is older than Mal, too. And my colleague Dr. Keller greatly resembles my girlfriend, but she has blond hair and Kaylee's is brown. Kaylee is a mechanic, as well, not a doctor, and again, their personalities are very different.

Oh, [The sound of recognition here] you know Mal. Probably Inara too then?

I do! All of us are from the same world. None of them have shown up here since I arrived, though.

I met them both in the prison. [Is that suspicious sounding?]

Prison...? [Well, then again, it DID make sense that some of the crew would end up in prison eventually. They WERE criminals, even if they did have a gift for staying one step ahead of the law.]

It's the multidimensional trap I was in before this one. MarinaNova Asylum. It wasn't a very prison-y prison for what it's worth.

Ah, I see! [Simon nodded in understanding.] I've known several people here who are in a similar situation- they've already been through the whole ordeal where they woke up in a strange place and lived there for some time before being brought here. I've even met a scant few people who have known other versions of me in such places.

I'm actually starting to feel like more people have been somewhere else than haven't. It wasn't like that at the prison. I only knew one person who had been somewhere else like it. [She knew two but never realized it of the second.]

I have gotten that impression, as well. It seems like a very cruel move on Atroma's part to me... instead of getting to go home, you end up here instead. Not only not home, but on a space reality show of all things.

Edited 2016-04-14 19:39 (UTC)

There could be worse things. Like...actually going home in some cases. No one needs to have their lives controlled by unseen overlords enjoying the show though.

True... not everyone has much of a life to go back to, from what I understand. Some even see this place as an improvement. Myself, I just want answers. I want the truth of who brought us here and why. Of how things work.

What if the reality show is the truth? I mean, how would you know the truth when you saw it?

I'm not sure, to be honest. They could show us some of the footage they've been allegedly showing us, but that does not definitively prove the existence of the show or the audience. And at this point, I'm not sure I can trust anything Atroma tells us.

Right. Makes learning the truth harder when you're just going to deny it anyway. [She doesn't just mean him. She'd do the same thing.]

Precisely. When Atroma's entire... thing is secrecy and vagueness, it's hard to separate what is truth and what is 放屁.

[放屁 = fàng pì = bullshit]

[She understands that and she wonders for a second if it's just knowing enough mandarin and being good with languages to pick it up or if it was the augment.]

At a point you just have to choose what you're going to believe until more evidence is available I guess.

And I intend to gather as much evidence as I am able.

Anything you want me to keep an eye out for?

I mostly want to know if anybody else in this entire galaxy has heard of this supposedly popular program. That would sway me more than anything- we have to have fans SOMEWHERE. And if we don't find any, well... it adds another layer to the puzzle.

It's a big galaxy. Maybe they're just flying us away from the fan base. But I'll ask around and let you know if I hear anything worthwhile.

Edited 2016-04-27 02:31 (UTC)

I would appreciate that a lot, and I will continue doing the same myself. ... I only wish I was a computer hacker, but then, it's likely they have all of that tightly monitored as well.

I have been, but I have the augment of a pilot and things are more complicated without the corresponding augment. [It doesn't mean she hasn't been working on hacking things here.]

[Simon nodded.] And even with the augment, it can take some learning. Despite having similar technology to what hospitals and labs have back home, I still had to learn how to work everything here.

[She nods. I had some piloting experience back home, but same for me. Then again that was all jets and helicopters and not so much space craft so I figured there'd be a learning curve. [And she is good with learning curves. Fast study. Intuitive. She finds the other systems frustrating because she's used to picking things up faster. But she also likes a challenge so, frustrated or not she's been trying to push through.]

Did you have something in mind you wanted to try to access? [After all, she does know people like Winn who might have a faster path to success with hacking here.]

I'd like to know if they keep records on the passengers- specifically, if we'd be able to find out things about some of the contestants on past cycles. How long they lasted before "winning", who they were, what their appeal was. That sort of thing.

Sounds reasonable. {Which doesn't necessarily mean obtainable.] If you find anything worthwhile out let me know and I'll do the same.

I shall keep in touch. Thank you again.

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