driftfleet | [video]

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[video]

Who: Ravi Chakrabarti and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: HS Marsiva
When: Pre-shuffle!

[When Ravi wakes up in a completely unfamiliar bunk, his first thought is that he's been whisked back to the zombie camp with the unmentionable name and is about to have a bevy of overenthusiastic, purple gorilla nurses descend upon him. But as the minutes tick by uneventfully, he decides to brave the unknown to explore his surroundings and - despite the perplexities of his current situation - is visibly delighted by everything he sees. When he finally gets the hang of the communicator, his hands are actually shaking from the excitement of it all, making his image a little blurry onscreen.]

Apparently I'm in space! Which is actually pretty bloody brilliant! It's a definite upgrade from my previous zombie camp escapade, let me tell you, but I have so many questions!

[He looks like he's about to start rambling for hours on end, but manages to visibly reel himself in first. It's probably best to start with the basics.]

I'm Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti and I suppose this makes me a new member of this fleet, if there is a fleet. Which I'm pretty sure there is since I'm just about one hundred percent certain I could see other ships from the viewing area.

[A huge grin breaks out over his face as he mentally processes this again.]

I'm part of a fleet and I'm broadcasting in space! I mean, look, I'm obviously not thrilled about being displaced from home again, but if it has to happen, at least I'm on an actual, honest-to-God spaceship! And if anyone can provide some information on why exactly I'm in space, I'd be much obliged. Don't get me wrong, I could only have ever dreamed about all this robotic medical equipment in the last place, but at least the gorilla nursing staff was a bit more communicative.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pretty bad, would be my hypothesis. I didn't make an effort to get close enough to find out. Sense of self-preservation and all that.

Probably for the best, yeah. You preserved yourself all the way to space!

Boom! Self-preservation skills strike again!

[ she laughs. he's very entertaining ]

Well, I don't know if you should be THAT excited. I mean, ideally we'd all be at home, right? And luckily, I'm not sure you'll have many patients here.

Just think of it as an extended vacation! Is there a discrepancy in the flow of time between here and home as well? The last place I was at had that all properly sorted.

As for patients, it seems like I'm doomed to be cursed with a lack of them! Not that I really mind, my medicine's pretty rusty anyway.

That's the working theory with the time thing. We'll see how it goes but so far no one that I know has noticed a gap in people who are here at home.

And yeah, I suppose if you work in a morgue, not having patients is a good thing. I'm a personal assistant at home and mostly what that means here is I randomly bring people coffee.

And how exactly does one get on your "random coffee delivery" list?

To be honest? If there's an awkward situation I want to smooth over or if you haven't been sleeping. But also, just if you ask nicely.

Do you know where you'll be staying yet? I guess you don't really find out until you're there...

Right, asking nicely it is!

I've no idea where I'll be staying. Do they make an announcement about assignments? How many ships are there anyway?

A lot? Honestly, I've been here for nine months but I haven't counted them. And with regards to the assignments, they kind of just put you somewhere. I'm sure you'll be part of a great crew, though. Almost everyone I've met here is really nice.

"Almost" means there are probably some people to watch out for, yeah?

I suppose? I just don't want to assure you that everyone is perfect when in truth we're pretty varied. And some people get a bad hand and get their augments messed with in a seriously unfair way, but they're not bad people.

How exactly do their augments get messed up in a seriously unfair way? Does it have some effect on their health or personality?

Two of my friends, actually, got kind of "reset" to earlier versions of themselves... one was a brainwashed assassin, and another was more of a violent vampire type? And that's not who they are now, but the augment made them back into those people... they both caused a bit of damage.

And there's nothing that can be done to prevent that kind of malfunction?

Not that I know of. They really discourage meddling.

Am I going to regret asking how they discourage meddling?

You might not regret asking, but you'd probably regret doing it. I don't know, I haven't witnessed it, but I've been told it's no bueno.

Duly noted. If I want my current success of self-preservation to continue, do not meddle with the augment.

[He sounds a little deflated. Not that electronics are his specialty, per se, but it would have been fascinating to figure out the augment system.]

Right, which is too bad but! I bet my friends would love to add you to their think tank! They are suspiciously lacking in medical doctors. There's a former geneticist, my friend Winn who's kind of a renaissance man but mostly a computer guy. And Cisco, who invents things and also does computery stuff.

Can you tell I'm not part of the think-tank? They've already done really great things though.

I don't see why you can't be part of the think-tank! Everyone has something to contribute! Okay, maybe not everyone. Donald Trump, for example... but anyway, that's neither here nor there.

As long as I'm not subject to any kind of long and embarrassing hazing ritual, I am all for submitting myself for consideration as a member of the think-tank!

I'm pretty sure they won't haze you, but I can't speak for the boys. Cisco might have something up his sleeve.

And mostly, I bring the coffee and give the pep talks, though some of the think-tank products have been for my benefit. The ice cream, for example.

I like the sound of it already!

Look, things happen when you get a bunch of scientifically-minded people stuck in space. Didn't you see The Martian?

Do you have The Martian?

Are we talking about the same movie that had Matt Damon moonlighting as a potato farmer using fertilizer made from human fecal matter? Because I have to confess that particular scenario - while taking place in space - is somewhat unappealing.