02 - video

[winn]

Who: Winn
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: the Tourist
When: now!

[ last time he posted anything, he was a nervous wreck and kind of nauseous. the changes the past two months have left in him are impossible to miss; winn is smiling, upbeat, and almost comfortable. the nervous energy that is there has more to do with his addressing a bunch of strangers than the constant fear of death by space-stuff that overshadowed his first feed. ]

Hi, if we don't know each other - I'm Winn Schott. If we do know each other...I'm still Winn Schott - [ shaking his head, why hasn't he learned from the last time? prepare a script! ]

Anyway! I've been here for a couple months now, and it's been interesting - and I mean that in the original sense of the word. Think about it - not only are we in outer space [ there's only a slight wince at that, and even a lot of excitement. space is terrifying - but it's also really cool ] - but we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to reach across the multiverse and learn things that haven't even been dreamed up in our worlds yet. I've been learning - a ton from just casually talking to people, but there is a much better way to do this if we all cooperate, [ open source. it's the way of the future! ] and I know I'm not the only one out there who's interested!

So, I've got a suggestion for anyone who thinks that's really cool - and - pity for anyone who doesn't [ and by pity, he means judgment. he gestures excitedly with his hands as he introduces his brilliant concept ] - 2016: A Space-Time Odyssey - a series of free weekly lectures about anything and everything we've got here. Talks about different worlds, science, history, art lessons, concerts - I know we've got some musicians here - basically anything anyone signs up to talk about, teach, perform, or however you communicate things where you're from. Since we don't have a lecture hall we can broadcast the talks - give ourselves a fun routine....and if that doesn't work for someone, I can post the notes I'm so gonna take of all of these. Who's in? Who wants to go first?

Comments

[winn]

What's that mean? What can a - low level empath and telepath do?

[ he's got nothing. everyone is a high level compared to that. ]

[axiomed]

Nothing, really. The most they can do is read surface thoughts and emotions.

[winn]

No, nothing's what I got - [ mumbled. ] people can get a lot done just by being really good at reading facial expressions.

[ so unless someone is strong enough to block charles, or charles is lying, or the augment is keeping him from sensing other powerful telepaths - there's no one else capable of controlling his mind besides, of course, their kind hosts who have something of undetermined capabilities stuck in his head.

well that's not comforting at all. ]

[axiomed]

I suppose.

[ Charles is fairly decent at reading people even without telepathy. He has a knack for it. ]

But this is wildly hypothetical.

[winn]

'Wildly hypothetical' is the name of the game here. [ a pause ] Beats Big Brother: Space.

[axiomed]

I think the other question here is that are you playing because you want to beat them or because you can't help your mind overrunning itself with possibilities?

[winn]

Who says they're mutually exclusive?

[axiomed]

As long as you know what you're doing.

[winn]

If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn't have to bang my head against hypotheticals -

[axiomed]

Well, maybe you could map them out? And slowly remove the ones we can prove.

[winn]

The question is -- is there anything we can prove?

[axiomed]

There is bound to be. Some of the people here have been around for quite some time. Having a proper list of what is and isn't available to us would be the best place to start.

[winn]

I think a list of what's unavailable would literally take an eternity to compile -

[axiomed]

I wonder.

[ People are predictable at times. They have patterns. The Atroma has something to circumvent those patterns. But so does the Fleet. ]

We have a lot of resources here. Not everything has been hedged in.

[winn]

But all of them are monitored and contained.

[ even if they do find a loophole - the atroma can see what they do, and block them in time. this isn't a comic book with cosmic loopholes to make sure the heroes come out on top! ]

[axiomed]

Are they? We only have word about how much is monitored. We haven't seen any proof of it.

[ Charles still finds it a little hard to believe they're watched at all times. ]

[winn]

That's the weirdest part - [ he leans in, lowering his voice as if he's about to share some grand secret ] I've been trying to scan for any kind of video signal -- but there's nothing. Not besides the network. And yet -- there are clear fluctuation in our accounts when we do something -- interesting to watch.

[ he's gotten disturbingly larger payouts since he and kitty got intimate ]

So they have to be monitoring us somehow. What if it's the implant?

[axiomed]

[ Winn plz. ]

Wouldn't it be hard to get a proper visual from the implants?

[ It's possible though. Odd, but possible. ]

[winn]

What if they tap into signals our eyes send our brains?

[ tapping by his eye ] POV cam -

[axiomed]

[ Charles looks at him. ]

I can't sense it though. I should be able to. My range is limited, not my powers themselves.

[winn]

Are you sure? I mean - can you be sure?

[ see what he meant by nothing can be proven? ]

[axiomed]

The only power that's ever blocked me is a certain kind of metal. Of course, we are several centuries ahead here . . .

[ It's weird. ]

My point is having a list would also incite other possibilities into existing. Alternatives that we might not have considered.

[winn]

As far as you know. Unless you were actively trying to get past a barrier, you wouldn't know if you were being blocked or not, right? And if it's a good block, maybe it's feeding you false information to make you think you're not blocked - like you said, the implant's definitely feeding us information and stimulating processes in our brains - who says they're limited to how to fix an engine or pilot a spaceship?

[ conspiracies, man, they have no end. ]

We can try forming a list, but it'd have to be off network -if they're not monitoring us, no need to do their job for them.

[axiomed]

[ That seems . . . extreme for the sake of a tv show. ]

Paper then. Or some other form of recording.

[winn]

Paper's safest, I think.

[ he nods. don't get him started on that, charles. he's not buying this is just a tv show for a second. inter-dimensional space kidnappings are way too extreme for the sake of a tv show, even in the most desensitized world he can imagine. ]