driftfleet | video.

Who: Thor and you
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: on the Blue Fish if you want him
When: today

[Thor has obviously stuck his communicator on the desk in his room, because the video opens with him in profile, sitting on his bed. For a few moments all he does is toss a small rubber ball out of the frame, then catch it when it rebounds off the opposite wall with a thud back towards him. He does this a couple of times before he speaks.]

When I arrived in the Fleet, I was told a lot of things and given several warnings. All of them with good purpose. What I remember most though is being told not to try and take out the augment. More than one person told me this.

[A sidelong glance at the communicator, before he throws the ball into the wall again. Thud. Catch.]

No one said why exactly, other than the obvious part where it's stuck in our heads. Still, I would ask what exactly we know about these augments. What's been tried to get them out, what happens when you do? And have they been known to do anything else besides give us information about our ship roles.

If I had heard more about it earlier, I probably wouldn't have-- [Hold that thought: Thor misses the next rebound on the ball and it smacks him in the head, making him jump and drop out of frame for a moment.] --shit.

[Okay, he’s back up, with the offending ball tossed away into a corner. He rubs at his face before continuing, faintly annoyed. Everything is out to spite him today.]

Anyway. If you know something about them, I'd like to hear it. Or even if you have an opinion on them. Those are good too.

[One day he'll make a network post when he's in a cheerful mood. Maybe.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Thor hasn't encountered Justice in his new body, and it's been roughly two years and change for him since they spoke anyway. So there's no recognition here for now.]

It takes a great deal of power to do something like that. Something I would have thought beyond the reach of a piece of technology.

[Magic is a different matter, but Thor doesn't think these augments are magical in nature.]

Is that so? So your powers work on some occasions but not others?

[It's okay, Thor. Justice doesn't immediately notice the lack of recognition. Mainly because he keeps forgetting that mortals depend on their eyes to recognize people.]

They do. Under normal circumstances, I should always know when I am being deceived. I discovered that a group of people were able to deceive me for months because this augment selectively disrupted my power whenever they lied or were thinking on the topic they were hiding from me

These power disruptions are not mere happenstance. There is intention behind when they affect us.

That sounds awfully specific.

[Like someone is deliberately flipping switches when monitoring him. Hmmm.]

I agree. Both from that, and from what others say about the augments reacting when you try to remove them. That on its own might be a failsafe, but everything else must have some form of trigger behind it too.

Whoever was disrupting my powers would have had to have been monitoring me very closely. I spent much time in situations where the secret could have been revealed in thoughts or lies, and yet there was not a single slip from the augment.

I do not know what would motivate someone to put in such effort. Do you know anything of this sort of technology? [Justice comes from a world where the most tech-y thing is a water mill, so he's hoping Thor will know more.]

Nothing on this scale, though I have seen other devices that can affect the bearer by a switch. Obedience discs.

[A beat.]

Of course, all those did was electrocute you until you passed out. But that was bad enough.

That does not sound pleasant.

[Justice should probably thank luck that at least the augments don't do that.]

Where did you see such devices?

They're the worst. [Emphatically.] I had one used on me on a world called Sakaar. Those would incapacitate you any time the person holding the controller pressed a button.

What happened in Sakaar to cause you to have that device in the first place?

[This sounds like the kind of thing Justice would like to keep in mind, just in case the perpetrators come here. Justice can't fix all the worlds' injustices, especially when he doesn't have access to all the worlds, but he still likes to know of the injustices just in case the opportunity to avenge them presents itself.]

I was captured and sold to the person running the place. He kept prisoners for his own entertainment. That's how I got stuck with one.

They've all been freed now, but it was a terrible time.

Was the man who kept the slaves punished?

[Justice is glad to hear that everyone was freed and things worked out, but justice hasn't been done until wrongdoers are punished or atone for their wrongdoing. And Justice really doesn't like slave-keepers.]

I honestly couldn't tell you - I was too busy escaping the planet to do it myself.

[As much as Thor would have dearly liked to give the Grandmaster a thorough beatdown, it wasn't the priority.]

I did start a revolution on the way out though, so with any luck he was overthrown.

Well, that is something. [Starting a revolution is nothing to sneeze at, though Justice always prefers to confirm that justice has been done.]

What was his name? I would like to know, should he ever arrive here. [Don't worry, Thor, he'll make sure you get first dibs on exacting justice.]

The Grandmaster. He swans around in a gold robe and blue eyeliner. Can't miss him, if he does show up.

That does sound distinctive.

[Justice somehow doesn't think he'll have trouble recognizing someone like that.]

Very well. Should I see him, I shall ask you how you would prefer justice to be enacted.

[Maybe Thor is the forgiving type. Maybe he's the type to pound his former slavemaster's face in with a hammer. Justice doesn't know.]

[Thor chuckles a bit. He has no doubt he'll be the first one to get the boot in if the Grandmaster does show his face around the Fleet.]

Great! I appreciate it.

video.

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice

Voice