driftfleet | 10. Must Obtain Every One!

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10. Must Obtain Every One!

Who: Simon Tam and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Bloodsport
When: July 21st

[Simon had been about to make one of his rare appearances on the network, when his face scrunched up in confusion... and suddenly he seemed to trip and fall, lucky face-first into a convenient sponsor-provided crate of Flootemon stuffed toys and other assorted merchandise.

And let out a snore. Oops.

Once someone extracted Simon from the mess, he made another broadcast.]

... I have absolutely zero use for any of these stuffed toys, so they are free for the taking if anybody else is enjoying that monster-catching game. [He then squints at some of the name tags attached to them, holding up a black and gray-furred dog that's totally not a Mightyena.] ... Bigby? Really? ... Pikablu? And why is this frog called Sableye?

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[ Caitlin looks just a little puzzled. ]

Are you okay? And why would someone send you toys?

I am now, thank you. I think my augment may have glitched- it has happened to others before.

It is from the sponsors. They seem to think I enjoy getting gifts.

Wow. That's comforting, knowing that we have such reliable tech in our heads.

[ She's just counting the days until her luck runs out and something happens to her. ]

Interesting choice. And by interesting I mean, what the what.

You were not around for the recalibrations, then- Atroma fixing them was quite an experience in and of itself.

[Simon laughed.]

I suppose the sponsors saw me playing on my communicator. I may keep one or two [to give to Sascha to cuddle instead of him], but the rest are up for grabs.

No, I've only been here nearly... two months?

I don't have any use for them myself, but I'm pretty sure Cisco will ask for one. Or three.

Toward the end of last year augment glitches were becoming more frequent, so we were all sucked back to the Marsiva for a month to allow Atroma to fix them. We each had our own individual rooms plus a kitchen and exercise room and all the music, books and other entertainment we could consume, but we were only awake for a certain amount of time every day then automatically ended up back in our beds.

That's incredibly... Is "disturbing" too strong? Actually, I think it might be too mild.

Disturbing is quite apt, yes. We have no idea what they were doing to us while we were out, and being Atroma, they were never forthcoming with any answers- just the usual smiles and insistence that everything was okay and we should be perfectly happy with them. They even gave us gift baskets once we were back on our ships.

This is probably a weird question and— [ Her gaze turns upward, in effort to address their "hosts." ] —I'm not trying to incite anything, it's just a question. Has anyone tried to rebel? I imagine with their direct connection to us, it would be very short-lived.

Not openly, to my knowledge. The big problem is that we're not sure where to strike, so to speak. Atroma has never spoken to us in person, it is always through written or video messages of some sort. We don't know where they are physically located, so that limits the effectiveness of any such effort.

Have to hand it to them. They are smart about these things. [ She drags a hand through her hair. ] Even if we knew, there's no telling how quickly and harshly they'd shut it down.

Exactly. They have apparently been at this for a while, so they have it down to a science. They speak from a distance, give vague answers as to how they and their show work, and generally do everything they can to keep us as in the dark as possible. Knowledge IS power, after all.

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10. Must Obtain Every One!

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