04 - video

[winn]

Who: Winn and you!
Broadcast: y!
Action: on the Tourist!
When: August 2nd

[ some of you may have noticed that winn has been uncharacteristically quiet for the past...16 days. he's not really sure how to address the elephant in the room - he knows these two weeks and change have been hard on the people he loves but for him it's like no time has passed and the dissonance is hard to bridge.

it's a good thing he has a not at all unhealthy coping mechanism set in place. ]

You know, if we're entertainment on a reality show, the least they can do is give us like a recap - you know your basic [ in a tv announcer impression ] here's what you missed on the Fleet - or - last week, on the young and the Drifting - [ he rubs the back of his head before shaking it ] Well, maybe talking about the 'least they can do' isn't such a great plan...first order of business - what'd I miss? Second order of business - if you or anyone you know has ever fallen into an unexplained sleep here or at any other kidnappy world - I'd appreciate it if you'd answer a couple questions, they're a text attachment at the bottom. Sorry if it's been done before, I'll gladly take a link to any previous research as well as fresh data. Third order of business -- hi. [ he gives the camera a little wave and a nervous chuckle ] Um. Yeah, I'm, I'm fine, I should've opened with that but if you know me the order isn't really gonna surprise you that much and if you don't you're probably really confused right now and looking for the off button - it's to your right, right on top, there you go.

That's it, I guess....good morning, Drifters - don't forget to drink your coffee! Winn out -

<br />1. <b>date and duration of sleep</b>: self explanatory.<br />2. <b>surrounding events</b>: when it happened were you or your sleeping acquaintance going about your daily lives, experimenting with anything, uncovering anything?<br />3. <b>results</b>: did waking result in new memories, loss of old ones, a change in personality or attitude, were you or your sleeping acquaintance at a different physical location (ex: new planet, back at your ship, new kidnappy world), were there any physical differences or after effects, if so how long did they last, anything you can think of that changed - put it here.<br />

[ except he's not all the way out. hank and cisco each get the following message to their personal numbers ]

I need to discuss something in person. My place? [ he can't really leave kitty yet ]

Comments

[beathach]

[no, no he's not. Winn pretty much slammed his paranoia button, too. He'd been worried about the whole, falling into a coma and waking up with new memories thing, but this? This was something else.

He stares at Winn for a moment before he takes off his glasses to rub at his face]

I wouldn't dismiss anyone's paranoia. [not when it lines up so nicely with his own] But if that is true, that's . . . worrying. Someone mentioned to me that all of his research was deleted once, but this is . . . a step beyond that.

[he heaves a sigh and drops his hand]

I'm probably already on their radar, so don't worry about it.

[winn]

I keep my research strictly on paper, no electronic trail, so it makes it hard to just delete.

[ this is why he loves his nerd squad - they're open to these out-there ideas. ]

I think -- it's all connected. All the planets we visit - think about it, we have a hell of a time on the ships, we park in paradise. The tree just happens to have the same sort of link to different times and dimensions that the Atroma does. We magically gain an ability to connect to each other's minds, an ability that people who can control out intake of information and even our mental state with these augments clearly have. It's more than that - all those other worlds that people have been in - they all have certain characteristics in common - the comas, the sudden physical or mental changes - to create all of that - it's too much. But to create a vivid virtual reality and convince us we're trapped inside it -- doesn't that make so much more sense?

[beathach]

[ooooh, he doesn't like this theory. Not because it's unlikely, no - it's a very valid theory, considering the evidence.

It's because he's experienced a vivid, virtual reality and knows what it's like that he doesn't like it]

I don't like that it makes sense. [may as well be honest about it]

But - to play devil's advocate just for a moment - if that were the case, would this conversation even be happening if they didn't want us knowing? If they have that much control, then why even let you get to that theory in the first place?

[winn]

Why are we here, Hank? If it's for entertainment, watching us drive ourselves nuts with theories gotta make for good TV. If it's for a social experiment - watching how we react and what kind of theories we come up with is a crucial part of it. If it's some sorta test -- then they'd wanna see how we solve it.

[beathach]

. . . I really don't like it.

I've - been in virtual reality before. It certainly felt real, while we were in it - but there was still some level of disconnect. But that may be because we were aware of what it was the entire time.

[winn]

The prison Kitty was in was a virtual reality, too. It all fits. How do you restrain so many powerful people? You don't - in their head, you don't have to figure out how to physically limit so many different abilities - you just make them believe that there are some things they can't do and -- you're done. Power of suggestion.

[beathach]

It would explain how they're able to limit so many people without any obvious magic, and why it's varied depending on who you speak to.

[he drums his fingers against his knee] I wonder if there's a way to test it.

[winn]

That's what I wanna work on.

[ he nods ]

And if I'm right -- there's gonna be something on every planet we land on. It may not be as obvious as the tree - but there's always gonna be a clue, a focal point, some connection to the Atroma.

[beathach]

[a little dryly] It'll be like a glorified scavenger hunt.

[winn]

And the prize in the end can be anything between being knocked out and having our memories wiped, going home, and playing right into the Atroma's hands.

[ he hates it just as much. ]

[beathach]

There's no winning. [he can't decide if this is worse than Kyriakos' Echoes and their magic or not]

[winn]

That's what they want us to think cuz if we don't try - we forfeit. No system's perfect, trust me - if there was such a thing, I'd design it. We have to look for the bugs. The big ones like augment malfunctions we'll never be able to separate from intentional ones - but there have to be little hiccups here and there, things that serve no purpose, provide no sick entertainment - we gotta keep track of everything that's weird.

[beathach]

That's getting into deeply subjective territory, though - things we don't find entertaining, someone else might. Though I agree we should keep track of everything we can.

As for the augment glitches . . . we could at least separate them into ones we think are intentional and ones that may actually be glitches. And find out what those people were doing before the glitch started.

[winn]

How will we tell, though? What's the criteria to quantify the Atroma's intent, when we don't even know what their endgame is?

[beathach]

We look at other factors. Are we experiencing some sort of downtime? Are we between planets or stopped? Is the person experiencing the glitch under a high level of stress? Things like that. It's just like gathering any other data - we figure out what they can be categorized under, and then go from there.

To use a recent one as an example - Erik experienced a glitch before we arrived at the planet that was too personal and too well-timed to be anything but intentional. And right after that was the incident with Winter - another glitch I'd say was intentional.

[winn]

[ he clenches his fists without even noticing at the mention of winter. that's a glitch that alone would be enough to drive him to shut the atroma down. ]

But then there's what happened to Cisco -- he handled it really well, it didn't hit any personal notes - [ mulling it over ]

[beathach]

[Erik's glitch was enough to drive him, Winter only added to it tenfold]

One could say it was triggered by his friend arriving, but - as you said, he was able to handle it without a problem.

[winn]

He didn't freak out, he had fun with it...which, could be intentional too, but it doesn't really seem to serve the same kind of purpose if it is.

[beathach]

Certainly not the same as the other two, at least.

[winn]

Yeah...have you ever...malfunctioned?

[beathach]

Er. No, I haven't.

[not yet, anyway.

. . . he just jinxed himself, didn't he]

[winn]

[ winn's pretty sure they both did. there's no way they can poke their heads in this without consequence. ]

Alright -- tell me about that virtual reality you were in.

[beathach]

[wonderful, let's hope it isn't a terrible consequence, at least]

There's not much to tell, honestly - it just - felt real. The magic there did the same thing, more or less at times. I was only involved in one of those games once, but the Echo who ran those types of games was called Iota - she was an AI.

All we really did was play a game where we had to guess whether or not our opponent was lying. [he shrugs a shoulder] It was harmless.

[winn]

[ one can always hope. and suck to their mun. ]

That's...a bizarre use of a virtual reality.

[beathach]

Mm, a little bit. [a shrug] By that point, you're just . . . conditioned to it.