1. Say, say, say, ain't it been some kinda day

[pompous_today]

Who: Simon Tam and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Anyone aboard the Marsiva
When: From yesterday until the mighty shuffle!

[A very well-dressed man is seriously studying the communicator. His hair is tousled, and his clothing- fancy as it is- looks disheveled. Like he fell asleep in his clothes or... something else.

Hmmm.

At any rate, the young man looks pretty irate, but when he speaks, his voice is perfectly friendly.]

I've been watching this network for a bit and want to make sure I am understanding things correctly. I am part of a group of people who have been abducted and will be used to entertain a television audience? [He purses his lips.] Is there anything else I should know?

Comments

video

[dancingmd]

You're missing one big thing: we've all been implanted with a computer chip that is somehow connected to our brains, tracking us and providing us with new skills and abilities, including some working knowledge of this universe's technology. [She sounds incredibly unamused by this.]

I've been studying the implants, trying to figure out a way remove them, but I have had no luck so far.

[A tight smile.]

I'm Dr. Beverly Crusher, by the way. One of your fellow abductees. I'll try to answer any questions you might have, though I'm a fairly recent arrival myself.

video

[pompous_today]

[That- makes Simon look alarmed. Meddling with a person's brain never ended well- his sister was living proof of that.]

So this is an Alliance experiment as well. Wonderful. Interfering with someone's brain... I am not happy to hear that. To say the least.

[Simon smiles lopsidedly in return.]

I am Dr. Simon Tam. I do not mind going by Simon, though- I suppose my degrees do not matter here as much.

video

[dancingmd]

Maybe not. Nevertheless, it is good to have another doctor onboard.

Who or what is this Alliance? And why do you think they may have something to do with this?

video

[pompous_today]

[He pauses, unsure of what to make of that. "Staring blankly" may be more appropriate.]

The Alliance... the government. Do they not exist here?

Re: video

[dancingmd]

Not that I'm aware of. Unless your Alliance is powerful enough to pull in people from different universes and times, I doubt they have much to do with this. Atroma is the one you want to blame here.

video

[pompous_today]

[He sucks in a breath. No Alliance. Different times and universes. It could still be a trick, of course, but he would play along for now.]

I... doubt that they are capable of that. They can do a lot of things, but time travel is something we have not figured out yet. So Atroma is the government here? Or are they, as they say, the showrunners?

video

[dancingmd]

Showrunners I think would be more appropriate. I haven't seen much evidence of governing from Atroma, but I suppose that doesn't really mean anything. We aren't told a lot about our audience or the show's creators.

video

[pompous_today]

That makes a sick sort of sense- I guess to makes it harder for their prisoners to rebel if we can't reach the people who have taken us. Plus, extra entertainment for trying to figure out that mystery. They win either way.

[got_it_memorized]

That's the long and short of it. Not exactly my idea of a vacation getaway, but I suppose I could think of worse.

As for anything else? Just hope you get assigned to a ship with nice people on it: you're gonna be spending a lot of time with your crewmates.

[pompous_today]

[That manages to tease a smile out of him.]

Even if I am unlucky, I am used to dealing with crewmates I do not get along with. I hope it will not end up being a problem, though. What sort of ships are they?

[got_it_memorized]

Oh, so you've done this spaceship ride before, huh? Well, so far I haven't met anybody too intolerable. Even the guy I thought was a huge jerk isn't so bad when he's deigning to engage in conversation like a normal person. [Fenris is still a jerk, but maybe a slightly less massive one than Axel had thought.]

Sort? Mm, that I'm not sure. They're not Gummi Ships, which are the only kind I was ever familiar with before this, but space engineering was never my strong suit. They're kinda small and not real fancy, and they mostly only fly in a holding pattern around the big monolith ship you're on right now.

[pompous_today]

Indeed- space travel is commonplace where I come from. [He smiles.] Sometimes people who seem difficult to get along with can be different depending on the circumstances. [He and Jayne had been the same way, after all- the two had been very antagonistic until the crew had banded tightly together to broadcast the message from Miranda.]

A Gummi Ship sounds like a sort of candy. But thank you for the information- do the ships ever leave this holding pattern?

[got_it_memorized]

That's true. And first impressions aren't always accurate, either. Everything's kind of a work in progress.

Candy? Well... you're not wrong... [He's still not sure how the gummi blocks work, to be honest, and he'd rather not think about the hull of a ship being made out of taffy or... whatever they're made of. It's a little creepy, and he's still not convinced Cid wasn't a little nuts.]

If your ship has someone with a pilot augment, they'll be able to take the ship out of autopilot and tool around a bit, but I don't think you can get real far from the Marsiva. There's little shuttles, too, that I think anybody can pilot, if you feel like going for a joyride.

[pompous_today]

Exactly.

[He listens intently, making a mental note of everything.]

Well, then, I hope I will be so lucky. I am not the type to go for a joyride, though- I'm a doctor, so I tend to leave the flying to the pilots. Of course, that doesn't mean I wouldn't ride along with someone else, but by myself I tend to play it safe.

[got_it_memorized]

Playing it safe is never a bad idea. [It can get a little dull, but in the end, you gotta look out for #1.]

Well, welcome to the ride, Doc. Got a name? Mine's Axel, I'm captain of the Tourist.

[pompous_today]

I'm Simon- it is nice to meet you, Captain. And thank you for the information.

Video

[principality]

The food here is dreadful but if you're fortunate enough to have a cook on your ship, they may be able to make it tolerable.

Video

[pompous_today]

Let me guess- protein of all shapes, sizes and colors?

[video]

[delincuente]

There are no Doritos. I checked, like, fifteen times. And it's really, really freaking boring.

[video]

[pompous_today]

[That gets a laugh from him.]

No junk food? That is quite a shame. ... But it seems pretty counterproductive to abduct us for the purposes of making a reality show then leaving us to our own devices.

[delincuente]

I know, right? Last time I was stuck in a place like this I pretty much spent the whole time eating potato chips and binge-watching bad movies. This reality show junk is cramping my lifestyle.

[pompous_today]

But watching us watching other people would not make for good ratings, I'd wager. I am not looking forward to seeing what we will be expected to do to get ratings, mind...

[delincuente]

Same, I watch way too much terrible reality TV to be comfortable with this whole deal.

[pompous_today]

I do not plan to play along with their games myself, but then again, I may not have much of a choice.

[delincuente]

Yeah, you won't. I've been through this whole mess before. One moment you're resisting, and the next you've been turned into a cat or something.