#002 [Video]

[everydayhero]

Who: Hiro Hamada and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: SS Bishop!
When: 3/8, in the afternoon



[What's that sound? The sound of an alarm going off. What's that video feed? Well, right now the camera is set on a bobblehead that is rattling like crazy. Its base has been elongated, and from under said base flashes (slowly) a red light. Then it turns blue after two buzzer sounds from the alarm. Then yellow. Then orange. Then green. Then purple. Back to red. It continues to cycle as Hiro turns the camera to face him, and he's bobbing his head with the beat of the buzzer while standing at a control panel of different metal than the ship that has been welded onto the wall by the door to the main deck. Every time he presses a button on said panel, the light changes color. Then he hits a small green button above a large red button on the side, and the whole thing stops.

[Yes, the entire Bishop was just subjected to that without warning.]

Pretty cool, huh?

[Hiro looks like a cat who just caught his very first bird.]

It's all hooked up to our control panels, but I can't program it to do everything I need it to until we have a pilot and a communications officer. Right now, we have fire, gas, and the latter half of the collision alarms. I still need to program one for docking and to hook up another to the radar so we can know when we're headed dangerously close to something that could damage the ship. Right now, we've only got one that tells us we've been hit.

[SHRUG.]

But since, for some reason, everything under the control panel looks like gibberish to me... [he takes a moment to look into the camera like he's on the office] ... we get to wait until we have someone more "competent" [airquotes!] than I am.


[VOICE EDITED IN LATER]

P.S., if there are any communications officers who wanna hop ship over to the Bishop for keeps, let me know. It'll work out best if you're one of two on your current ship.

Comments

[howcanihelp]

[ She lets out a small huff of air and presses a hand to her chest ]

Maker's breath, that scared me! Maybe warn a girl next time?

[everydayhero]

[hand over his heart] Scout's honor. [i was never a boy scout]

Sorry about that. I got into The Zone.

[howcanihelp]

[ Scout's honor? The Zone? Man, why do people talk so weird?

She gets the gist of it, though. ]

That's all I ask.

[ She peers at the device ]

What are you making, anyway?

[everydayhero]

It's an alarm system.

[let him just tap a few things on the little touch screen above the buttons]

See...

[button press, look, red light on without sound or rattling!]

When the light's red, it means we collided with something and the ship is damaged.

[button press, now it's green!] This means there's a poisonous gas leak, just in case we get a new lab tech and something goes wrong, or something starts leaking.

[another button press, and it's yellow!] This means there's a fire. There are detectors around the ship for the last two, and the control panel is synced up to every part of the ship's systems I can access. They'll go off on their own when there's an emergency, and then well all know.

[a pause]

And if our ship gets hit and something starts leaking and sets on fire, it'll flash between the colors. Just to be clear on that one.

[howcanihelp]

That's fascinating!

[ She pokes at it a little, not trying to set it off but just seeing what it does. ]

And quite useful, if something happens, even if it's very loud.

[everydayhero]

Hey, if it can't wake you out of a dead sleep, it's not a good alarm system.

[watching her for a second here.]

... Oh, right, here. [pointing to the side!] This big red button sets off the purple alarm. It's a manual one for any emergency that needs the ship's attention. Right now, it can't do everything I want it to, since I need it to be able to send out a distress signal to other ships, but it'll at least call attention to the Bishop's crew. So for now, its a catch-all for things that won't automatically set it off, like a fight breaking out or a robot gone rogue or something like that.

The green button above that one shuts the alarm off.

[howcanihelp]

I think it could be half as loud and I'd be up. I don't sleep very heavily.

[ Or very well, many nights, but shhh. ]

I'm a little jealous. I don't think there's much of anything useful I can do in a place like this, even if it weren't all so new. Most of what I did before was just... killing monsters and reading books.

[everydayhero]

--killing monsters?

[you have his attention]

Really? What kind of monsters? [tell me more look who's jealous now]

[howcanihelp]

[ She laughs softly at his sudden attention ]

Um... really nasty ones that wanted to destroy the world?

I had a lot of help, though.

[everydayhero]

Well, yeah, you gotta use the buddy system. But seriously, your world was attacked by monsters? That's so cool!

--Well, it's terrible, but... Man, Fred would kill to hear about this.

[howcanihelp]

Mmm, I don't know if I'd say "attacked by". It makes it sound like they just showed up, but the darkspawn have been around for... almost all of history, I think.

It was... definitely less 'cool' when you were there. [ though he clearly knows that and she doesn't want to make him feel bad, so let's lighten the mood a little... ] Mostly it was really gross and smelly.

[everydayhero]

Gross? Oh, were they the rotting, bleeding kind of monster?

[he's so interested]

[howcanihelp]

Sort of like that, I suppose, yes. I wouldn't even know how to start describing them, they're just... darkspawn.

Dangerous, though. They fight like berserkers, and if you're not a Warden, getting infected with their blood can kill you very quickly.

[everydayhero]

Infected..? Does that only happen when their blood gets in an open wound or your mouth or eyes or something?

[howcanihelp]

Honestly? I don't think anyone's entirely sure. But ingesting it is more or less a death sentence, and getting badly wounded in a battle with them often doesn't end well.

The taint is... not kind. Even the Wardens don't really escape it, but we can slow it significantly, so that we have a couple of decades we can work in.

[everydayhero]

... So are you infected with it?

[NOW HE SEEMS SAD??]

[howcanihelp]

[ CRAP WHY DOES SHE KEEP BOTHERING TO EXPLAIN THAT PART? EVERYONE SEEMS TO GET SAD OVER IT! ]

Like I said, it's different for Wardens. With the spells and rituals used in the Joining, if you survive it, you can live for a good 30 years before you hear the Calling.

[ Yes, if you made it that long, Steffa, you'd be all of 45! Such a full life. ]

[everydayhero]

... There's no way that's enough. There's gotta be something that cures it.

[howcanihelp]

Not that anyone's found in thousands of years.

[ Well, one Warden may have found a way, but Steffa doesn't know about her, and it also may've been a fluke. ]

I don't mind. Becoming a Warden has saved my life at least twice, and I got to help stop a Blight before it even properly got started, saving thousands of lives, probably.

[everydayhero]

... Somebody has to help, right?

[He seems to very much understand that sacrifice.]

You saved thousands of lives. That means a lot.

[howcanihelp]

[ She nods ]

Exactly. It's... not fun, a lot of the time. But it's good. I can help people - I have helped people. And it's better than living in a tower your whole life, so... there are worse prices to pay for the chance at something better.

[ Though she looks a little distant when she says it. Her mind's definitely not with the Fleet, that's for sure. ]

Ah, sorry, I sure do go on sometimes. What about you, what did you do back home? Something creative, if this little odd-bob is anything to go by.

[everydayhero]

I don't mind the talking. Just means you've got a lot to say, right? [Shrugging lightly.]

Back home, I did a lot of work with robotics. Built some pretty impressive stuff... Some of it got a little too impressive, ended up in the wrong hands, you know how it goes. Pretty basic origin story for a superhero, right?

[howcanihelp]

True. Since my... someone I cared about left, about a year ago. I haven't really had anyone to talk to since. Not that she was always the most sympathetic listener, but... [ she smiles fondly and shakes her head. Morrigan sucked at listening. She listened anyway. That's what mattered to Steffa. ]

A... super hero? What is that?

[everydayhero]

Hey, I hear you. Not a lot of people who feel great for listening to personal problems out there.

[Here it is even worse.]

Oh, a superhero is someone who has powers in a world where no one else does, either by invention or by genetic differences, who fights crime. Usually they stick to the city they live in.

[howcanihelp]

You're very young to be doing that.

[ sheepishly ]

Not like I'm one to talk. I was 15 when I was conscripted, and that was only two years ago.