driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: James T. Kirk
Broadcast: Network - open to all
Action: all around the SS Red Fish + SS Heron
When: Right now, and throughout the following week

NETWORK BROADCAST ▹ VIDEO;

[ Jim's staring seriously at the camera as the broadcast begins, concern visible on his features. He might be easily recognizable to most everyone on the Fleet, but as soon as he starts talking, it will become obvious that he is not the same man, or at least not having the very same memories. Not of this place, that's for sure. ]

My name is James T. Kirk. I'm... not entirely sure how I got here, but for what it's worth, I'm one of the new arrivals.

[ He presses his lips, glancing around. ] This isn't the first time I've been brought to a universe other than my own, but I was wondering if anyone else here has had a similar experience. Coming here from a place that's not your reality of origin.

[ A pause, ] Specifically, has anyone here heard of Riverview, or the Quarantine?

[ He can't help a hopeful look. A familiar face, any familiar face, will be welcome. He's looking for a specific one, admittedly, but he's not holding his breath on that one. ]

Thank you in advance.

ACTION ▹ SS RED FISH

[ Once he makes that broadcast, he'll be exploring his new location, so he knows what he's dealing with. He can be found roaming the ship, poking his head into all the nooks and corners, and possibly trying to sneak his way into off-limits locations, if there are any. Stop him getting into trouble, or help him? Or just come say hi to a not-quite-new face. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Any and all kinds of alien contaminants and bacteria. Anyone who arrived through the portal had to stay on the moon for a certain period of time before being allowed to move along to the Capital planet, or going back home through the portal if they so wished to.

Quarantined against a number of aggressive things living beyond the walls too, if you ask me. Fauna and flora both. Honestly, I get the feeling that the moon had been mostly abandoned for a while before people started trickling in again. There were a few natives there, but not many. I did see plenty of people going back home though, and a few choosing to stay and move to the Capital planet.

[There's part of that that definitely captures Felix's attention and he leans forward a bit.]

There was an option for being sent home? And you know for sure that they were?

[That's certainly not something he's ever heard of when it comes to these places. Obviously, people did get to leave in his experience, but it was never an active choice.]

How long was the quarantine period supposed to be?

Yes. Some left, then decided to come back of their own volition. That's how I know for sure that they went home.

[ He thinks of Beverly and smiles, a little sad. But he presses on anyway. ]

The informed period would be five years, but that was more of a worst case scenario. I remember at least two people who moved to the planet after a little over a year spent on the moon.

That's....interesting. I mean, where I was you did get a choice of destination once you were informed that you had to leave but--

[He pauses to tilt his head to the side and think about it.]

Well. Maybe it's not....that different. Choosing to go home or choosing to stay in a new world, versus the choice between leaving for your own world or a new one. With the quarantine period that variable, too....

Yeah, it was all very flexible and generally... up in the air, in a way. The timings weren't very strict, nor were the patterns. Usually people came in batches in a small window of time each month or something, but there had been far fewer new arrivals over the last few months before I left. A lot of people leaving, too.

[ Jim will miss a good number of them, but he considers himself lucky that at least one very important person ended up here with him. ]

[Felix knows a lot about missing the people he'd come to make friends with, and nods a little bit solomnly at that. Though he still looks...minorly curious.]

You know, I kind of noticed that where I was. At the end. They actually sent everyone home eventually.

Huh. Really? [ He cants his head a little, and nods slowly. ] Maybe that's what was happening, in Riverview. Maybe they were just gearing up to send everyone home. Well, or... other places.

[ Just like Jim and Victor ended up here, who's to say that others didn't find themselves going to various other strange locations. ]

Where were you, then, before coming here? What was it like, there?

Well, they said it was a summer camp. As I understand it, they pulled people in on the premise that they were searching for the culprit who murdered the director's fiancé.

It was...strange. And more than occasionally a little dangerous.

[Felix makes a face, and then shrugs.]

But I've heard of stranger and more frakked up.

Trust me, it sounds pretty strange. But 'dangerous' seems to be the norm more often than not, for these alternate realities.

[ He tilts his head. ] Like a underwater prison? I've been told of that one.

Like that, yeah.

Or like the place where people had to compete in games to get their memories back.

[That's messed up.]

Games? [ Jim frowns. Yep, that one does sound pretty damn weird. ] What kinds of games? Like... sports, board games, or... something else entirely?

[ Jim's betting on 'something else'. Something dangerous most likely, maybe even deadly. ]

I'm not exactly sure. I was told that people often died in the course of the "games" so...probably also something else. But maybe not entirely.

[Also: ding ding ding, Jim is a winner.]

[ He is not exactly feeling like a winner right now. ]

After what I've heard about other pocket universes and alternate realities, hearing that doesn't surprise me in the least.

Doesn't it? I mean, I still thought it was pretty out there.

Oh, it is. But then most of these alternate realities are.

Don't even have to go that far, actually. There are a lot of different races with strange and even downright dangerous customs and traditions, back in my own galaxy. It takes a lot to really surprise me.