[ audio ]

[signifies]

Who: Clark Kent and you.
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: Aboard the Marsiva.
When: The week of his arrival.

I don't suppose I could click my heels three times. . . [ Only Clark gets his little joke. ]

I'll keep this brief. My name is Clark - I'm from Kansas.

[ He's been the new guy at work often enough to sound chill about this, but he is feeling a little shaky having woken up here in the middle of his workday. To top it off, not being able to hear his mother's heartbeat is jarring.

There's some stress baking in Clark's future. ]

What do you make of this place? I'm curious to know how it compares to where you come from.

Comments

[universal_charm]

Fairly well, by most standards. More than a few first contacts which is always exciting.

Though at the time I was taken from my home world, my ship was being repaired and my crew and I were grounded for awhile. We had recently been through a rather... hostile encounter.

[signifies]

[ He can imagine so many first contacts that went better than his own. ]

I'm sorry to hear it. How long have you been away?

[universal_charm]

Oh, it's been...

_{[ A pause while he does mental math. ]}

A little over two years now I think? Though one of my crew is also here with me, so it hasn't been so bad in that regard. Though there are plenty who have been here longer than me. Plenty who haven't too.

[signifies]

( sorry, I missed replying earlier! no obligation to continue )

Wow. [ Two years. He doesn't know what to say to that. ]

Does it get easier or harder?

[universal_charm]

_{[ He paused for a moment as he considered how to answer that. ]}

It... has ups and down, I think is the way to describe it. You make friends, lovers. Some stay. Some go home. Some come back and remember you. Others don't. It's a rollercoaster, to be cliche, but it's the truth.

[signifies]

A cliche wouldn't come from anything but the truth. Thanks, though, they don't really have a brochure for this.

[universal_charm]

We do have welcome packs and handbooks, I believe, but sometimes it's better just to hear it from a person. Don't be scared to ask anything either - it's a lot to take in and understand and come to terms with and we're all on the same boat - quite literally. So we should help each other out.

[signifies]

Sound advice. Thanks, Jim.