driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Natasha Romanoff & You
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: 6/24

Video

[Transmission starts at the same moment the woman laying in fram shifts from unconsciousness to tense stillness—her eyes open, darting, and she goes tense, but otherwise there's no movement from her for the first four or five seconds. That seems to be how long it takes her to process that she's in an unfamiliar space with no memory of how she came to be lying there. Then one hand balls consciously into a fist. Her eyes flutter. Jaw tightens.

Natasha takes a deep breath and forces her body to relax muscle by muscle.

Seems like spies don't make for great entertainment when they first wake up. Not unless you find tension and veiled suspicious looks riveting. The first minute or two isn't much more than that. She wakes up. She sits up. She swings her legs over the edge of her cot and stretches her back, trying to flex the adrenaline out of her muscles.

She looks directly into the camera at one point, her expression flat, lips tightening in a frown. She taps the edge of the lens experimentally.]

You know, if you're gonna kidnap a girl you could at least buy her dinner first.

[Her voice is just a touch to defiant to be neutral as she speaks.

Then she hauls herself to her feet. The last thing caught on camera before the broadcast ends is a shot of her catsuited figure walking away.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is it asking to much to hope for my stay to be short?

[She figures she knows the answer to that before she asks, but the sentiment seems worth expressing.]

I think I've got the basics. Aliens, Abduction and reality TV?

Yes and no. Your stay may very well be short. So far, there doesn't seem to be a pattern to who stays for how long. And why.

[She nods.]

More or less. And an augment in your head.

Can't forget that part. [A wry chuckle accompanies that.]

It's strange but you do sort of get used to it and forget it's there after awhile. Until you need some random bit of information about the fleet and suddenly it pops into your head.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

[That's a lie. She has a pretty good idea how she feels about it—not really a fan.]

I guess it saves on time, though.

Yes. And spares anyone from doing anything particularly dangerous due to ignorance. There's quite a bit on the ships that could make things go horribly wrong very quickly. [A pause, and a frown. She's not sure if she wants to reveal this to a newcomer so soon, but... better to be warned ahead of time.] Though occasionally, the augments do malfunction.

When you say malfunction, you mean...? What, exactly?

I've seen people suddenly wake up younger than they were. Or act strangely. It... even made a man go berserk and attack several people on the Iskaulit not too long ago.

Did it? Sounds rough. [Her lips tighten as she considers the potential of those scenarios. Especially the violence.] Anyone you know? The guy losing control.

No, I don't even know his name. A crew mate of mine knows him. She insists it wasn't his fault. He was... brainwashed, is the term she used. [She rubs the back of her neck.] By my understanding, Atroma touched upon something that was already there. But I do not know enough to discuss the subject with confidence.

I won't pry it out of you then. [Natasha swallows, not quite entirely holding back a frown.] I can see how that would happen, though. There are plenty of people whose heads don't need to be messed with.

There's little to pry out, honestly. I hardly pressed for details myself.

[Her usual response to that sort of situation is to seek the other out and demand answers from them. But between Beverly's insistence on his innocence and what the man managed to do, she thought it wiser to leave it be.]

Yes, that is entirely true. [She sighs.] Forgive me, I hope I didn't put you off too much. That sort of happenstance is rare. I've been here near seven months and that's the first I've ever heard of something like that occurring.

And the other things they do? Waking up younger, things like that? Are those rare too?

[It would be better if they were, she supposes, but at the same time the idea of a grab bag of unknown variables that might come out of her own head isn't reassuring.]

As far as I've seen, yes. It's certainly not a daily occurrence.

I'll call that good news, at least. [Relatively speaking.] I don't suppose there's any way to prevent things like that in the first place?

Not to my knowledge, nor anyone's, I suspect. The augments prove impossible to get around so far. A few people tried and apparently it ended quite painfully.

I wouldn't expect it to be that easy.

Thank you. You've been very helpful.

Nothing ever is. I'm glad to help, even if it's just the bringer of bad news. If you have any more questions, you can always ask.

I'm sure I'l come up with some once I get out of here.