driftfleet | Chapter Ten [text]

Who: Richard Castle and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: N/A
When: October 25th. Ta to

anarin for supplying suggestions.

[The following are uploaded to the network at various times during the day. Castle... tried to make them anonymous, but anybody could do the slightest bit of digging and see that RICHARD CASTLE is clearly listed as the author.]

COMING SOON FROM THE PEN OF TUCK CHINGLE

DIAMOND AND BEAU: A LOVE STORY

Have you ever wondered what our mysterious and intrepid hosts get up to OFF the clock? Do their carefully cultivated personas fall apart in the throes of passion, or do they remain the delightful, always upbeat hosts we know and love? Find out in this romantic thriller by Tuck Chingle.

ROBOTS IN LOVE

Dustsucker is from the Compass, and Scrubby is from the Conquer, two ships with two sets of robots caught in an intense rivalry. However, despite their "family"'s longtime differences, the two end up falling in love and must find a way to unite their crews so that they may be together.

SHUFFLED

Is it possible for objects to fall in love? You'll believe it when the One Fish and the Two Fish gain sentience and realize they've always had feelings for each other. However, fate and a rivalry between their crews seems to be conspiring to keep them apart.

MURDER ON THE MARSIVA EXPRESS

Something has been attacking the Drift Fleet's beloved pet foxes when their owners turn their back for a moment. Tensions rise and things escalate further when one of the Fleet members is killed trying to protect the fox. Was it one of their own, or is something more sinister afoot? Intrepid author Buck Trumble struggles to piece together the case and bring justice to the victim and their pet.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

In a way. I kinda miss knowing why I'm famous, if that makes sense. Here, I have a fanbase that likes me solely based on watching my daily activities. I don't feel like I've earned it.

That makes sense. It's a weird thing to be a fan of anyway - someone's every day activities instead of - normal things, I guess.

Which is why I don't 100% buy the explanation that we're on a reality show, to tell you the truth.

It is a little hard to believe after you have time to think about it.

Whichever way you lean, show or not, there's a lot of holes to fill in, though. Not a whole lot about this reality show makes sense, but if there's NOT a show... well, what purpose are we here for? How do they make the money to feed and clothe us and give us stupid gifts? I consider myself pretty good at solving mysteries, but this one's got me well stumped.

Maybe there's just evidence that hasn't come up yet? Stuff they don't want us to know because it would give away the twist or something.

I'd believe it. They want us to be their happy and content little experiment, so they speak to us rarely and give us information even less often. Take us to a new star system every now and then to keep the interest up, keep us guessing.

And I thought investigating a serial killer was difficult . . .

I know, right? The thing about Atroma is there aren't any real patterns we can latch onto, things we can predict, clues as to their next move. They're wild cards.

Surely they'll make a mistake sooner or later. No one's perfect.

Yeah, I believe that. They also claim they've been doing this for years, and I find it hard to swallow that nobody in the history of this show has EVER found a way to outsmart them. The odds would be astronomical.

Maybe multiple someones, but they keep it secret because they don't want us to know it's possible.

Exactly. So they pretend we're a bunch of happy, willing participants and otherwise keep communication to a minimum. Maybe they're counting on us giving up if we keep getting stonewalled.

They're not very smart, are they.

Smart in some ways, dumb in others. I mean, they must not know their captives at all if they think we're just gonna give up. There's a cliche in fiction in my world that humans just do not know how to give up, and, well, there's a big grain of truth to it.

It's a popular trope, isn't it? Humanity rising above, or whatever.

Maybe they don't see that because they aren't human, so they don't realize what they're really up against. Though that's depending on where they took people from last time.

Yep- we're tenacious bastards. Numbers and sheer force of spirit conquering all.

They could be robots or some sort of artificial intelligence. They're programmed to react to us a certain way.

That sounds about right.

Maybe they're watered down versions of the Terminator. Robots who answer to like, Skynet or whatever it is.

It would explain a lot, to be honest. The way they can just keep a straight face as they spout that crap at us and don't flinch when they get yelled at. They're either robots or extremely well-schooled.

It could be that, too. It isn't that hard to keep a straight face when you're getting yelled at. Retail workers do it all the time.

Mmhmm- and my fiance's mastered the poker face, since she's a cop. So it could be anything- Which is why it's so hard to decide exactly WHAT Atroma is up to. Every explanation has holes or a viable alternative, and since we can't know what they're thinking, they're hard to get a read on.

Yeah. And they're hiding stuff, too, on that big ship - when I was there, I couldn't get into any of the other rooms. And that usually isn't a problem for me. So even if we could get someone to look for clues, they won't find any there.

Yup. Lasdt year around this time, they zapped all of us back to the Marsiva and made us all go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Some people reported trying to look around and immediately losing those memories the next day. So not only are they hiding stuff, they can make us forget.

I can't even be surprised . . . the more I hear about this place, the more I'm convinced I've been sucked into some futuristic sci-fi novel.

That's pretty much the long and short of it. They want to make it one of those dystopias where everyone is happy and never questions authority, but it's more like one of those where there're secret rebellions everywhere and the government is actually super shady underneath their squeaky clean exterior.

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