► 00_01/.

[fallbythesword]

Who: Jacqli and YOU!!
Broadcast: Yes - fleetwide
Action: If you want - aboard the Marsiva
When: RIGHT NOW!

[ New kid on the hospitality deck! After establishing that she can't simply disappear from this place and reappear in not actually space the Astral Plane, she really only has one thing she even wants to bother to ask of the network at large.

She turns on the video feed, and looks very, very unimpressed - bored, even. ]

If anyone knows about The Machine as it relates to the Astral Plane, or a very specific shop, respond to this.

[ There's a long pause. ... Okay, okay, fine, she should probably also say something borderline nice. Ugh. ]

... In the absence of such knowledge, I guess someone could tell me what planet that is outside, and why it sounds like a nervous pop star.

Comments

[fallbythesword]

Where I'm from, death is death. You live, you die, you're gone. But I've been in some places where death wasn't permanent. So, I was curious to see if whoever's behind this fleet somehow pulled off death being temporary as well.

[torsion]

Death should be permanent where I'm from, but it isn't always.

Some people have been here for years, to my knowledge, so it might be better to whip up another post and ask about it if you really want to know. If you do, I'd definitely be interested in your findings.

Hope you don't mind me prying, but were you somewhere like this before?

[fallbythesword]

I'd rather read through the archives on the network than post again. It means fewer people I have to talk to.

Not exactly. I was tied into a sort of multidimensional nexus called the Astral Plane. I wasn't trapped, I could go between there and my own reality whenever I wanted. All of us could. But now I'm here, and I can't get back to my own reality, or the Astral Plane.

[torsion]

Ha ha, well, sorry to bug you then! If you don't want to talk to me it's fine. Hell, you can just drop me a bunch of questions and I'll answer them as well as I can instead.

Can't say I'm as social as I might seem, either.

Unfortunately none of that is familiar to me. I can't be of any help in that regard. :(

[fallbythesword]

I wasn't referring to you. If I wanted to stop talking to you, I would have already.

That's fine. And anyway, consider yourself fortunate, The Machine was pretty annoying to deal with.

What about you? Were you somewhere like this before?

[torsion]

Shucks, I'm flattered.

I deal with annoying pretty regularly. This is my first trip to this sort of level of annoying, though.

I'm Jill Valentine, by the way. Tactical support on the Heron. :)

[fallbythesword]

[ UGH NO DON'T BE FLATTERED UGH UGH whatever. ]

Dare I ask what sort of annoying is your normal, then?

[ She's genuinely curious, actually. ... What she isn't so thrilled about, however, is the standard convention that means that she now has to provide a name as well. Damn it all. She debates for what is probably a moment too long, before finally sending another message. ]

Call me Jacqli. The stupid thing in my head is telling me I'm an engineer. Because of course I have no choice in the matter.

[torsion]

[ Too late, the teasing happened. ]

Just one of those people who don't ever stop working because my work never stops, I guess. Bioterrorists often are so wired that they rarely sleep -- and if they do, whatever even they've put in motion doesn't.

Hey, Jacqli. Figure we all have to work together even if we don't like it, but to my knowledge the ships don't need a lot of repair (or tactical support), so at least even if we've no choice it doesn't have to be one that we actively participate in.

Don't try to remove that thing, by the way. It won't come out and you'll lose a lot of blood. There's some kind of mechanism in it that prevents people from removing it or having others do it for them. I'm not very thrilled about it.

[ That's putting it lightly. It nauseates her to the very core. ]

[fallbythesword]

I guess space annoying is pretty different from bioterrorism annoying. It might be less work, at least.

I had a feeling they were protecting the devices somehow. Thanks for the confirmation.

[torsion]

You're the first I don't have to explain bioterrorism/bioterrorists to. Pretty refreshing -- and definitely less work here, I find.

Not surprising. Too bad we can't get one out and try to analyze it.

[fallbythesword]

Really? Worlds that don't know of it are lucky, I guess. Though on the other hand, I feel like it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what it is based on the word itself - oh well.

[ She's so nice. ]

If only we could. Since we can't, I'll just have to do my best to track my observations with it still attached to me. It won't be as valuable I'm sure, but maybe it will do some good.

[torsion]

Ha, yeah! I thought the same thing, too. I mean my job isn't always easy to explain the finer details of but working in anti-bioterrorism I thought would speak for itself, too...

[ Her kinda gal! ]

If you're able to, anything can be valuable. Sometimes it's those small details that don't seem important that end up being the most integral.