outer_divide | [ video ] 001 (Sunday p.m., Week 66)

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[ video ] 001 (Sunday p.m., Week 66)

[A man in a blue uniform coat with a ridiculously high stiff collar appears. His expression is grim under an abundant mess of brown hair peeking from under the large front-brimmed hat he has jammed onto his head.]

This is Captain Bulge of Sirius Platoon. If anyone in the SDF can hear me, please respond. I don't know yet where I am, and I need to know what happened. Did the Alfort forces retreat? Is Destiny safe?

This is very important. I have no idea where I am, except that it's not one of our trains. I may be in an enemy ship. If-if that's the case, then if anyone in the SDF gets this transmission, leave me. It isn't worth a rescue. I know what to do if the situation is that hopeless.

[A pause, because it isn't usually in the course of his duty he has to offer to commit suicide if necessary. He looks around again, and the background shows he is still on Salvation, although its obvious not something he recognizes. After another grimace and frown, he turns back to the device.]

I have reason to believe that I may be somewhere else entirely. It's far too quiet here to be still in battle.

I've been prepared to give my life to the Railways for years, but I don't want to waste it. Yu-Manabu, one of your damned insubordinate rescue attempts would be welcome about now, so long as I'm not on an Alfort ship. The rest of you, David especially, you'd better take care of Big One. I'm counting on you, too. Save Destiny and the Railways and get your butts home.

Somebody please respond. Come in, SDF headquarters.

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[Caryo tosses her head again, this time rather proudly, and Selenay reaches a hand down towards the man--easier with a hand up.]

That's perfectly alright. She won't lose you.

[Bulge takes the offered hand, and settles behind her on the Companion's back. The creature didn't seem that much bigger than a horse, but the size and strength of the remarkable animal surprised him.]

I can see this is going to be quite a ride.

I'm sure it's an experience you'll not soon forget.

[And with that, Caryo turns and gallops off toward the city.]

[Hopefully Selenay will pardon the clinging. There isn't much else to hang onto.]

She's fast!

[He can see they're going to get back to civiliation much sooner than he'd anticipated.]

[She is fine with the clinging.]

All Companions are. They can run much faster, farther, and longer than ordinary horses.

[So far as Bulge could tell so far, Companions were faster than many ground vehicles he knew.]

I appreciate the effort. What is that city we're going to?

Poseidon, I think. I'd never heard of a name like it until I came here.

[Bulge had the advantage of being from somewhere that made use of popular Earth mythology. All the platoons were named for constellations as visible from Earth, which in their turn were mostly based on said mythology.]

God of the sea. Is it on a coast?

Yes. Is that where the name comes from? I've never heard of any god by that name.

Probably. Humans like referencing things. I think Poseidon is Greek. I learned quite a bit about Earth history in school when I was a boy.

[Sigh.]

It seems I may need to find a school.

To learn about Earth?

Yes. I'd never heard of it before this place. But I suppose there are enough strange places represented that a school might take quite a while.

Where are you from then? [She looked human to him, but the Companion looked like a horse.]

Velgarth. Valdemar if you want be specific.

[All these new place names are v-words. Huh.]

I'm from Destiny, actually. [What's up with Earth is a little vague by his point in the universe, other than it used to be around.] Or rather that's where I'm based for my work. Everyone knows about Earth though.

"Destiny?"

It's the planet that's now the headquarters of the Galaxy Railways. I assume it's named after the founding family. The current Supreme Commander is Layla Destiny.

I'm afraid I don't understand much of that.

Uh, which part? [Granted, she's used to horses used for transportation, but he isn't sure which part needs explaining or if none of it is important other than small talk while they travel.]

Layla Destiny's family founded the world where I'm from. It's named after them.

That part I do follow. Should I even ask what "galaxy rails" are or will it only invite another headache? I mean, you mentioned they fly between "planets" and "systems" and something about how they're trains and these trains are vehicles of since kind or another. I'm afraid I know nothing of what they are or how they work.

I don't know if there is any good way to explain space travel at all except it's like ships that sail from port to port in an ocean. The ports are the various planets with space as a sea of stars.

The Railways are supposed to be safer because the trains are limited to pre-laid routes which are presumably safer. Regular space trains anyway.

The only thing I can think of that might be like trains from longer ago than the regular ground-bound ones are merchant caravans or pioneer caravans. I think those were called trains sometimes. They kept together and followed in a row, for the safety in numbers. A mechanical train is like that with a lot of sections or separate wagons, but they're all hooked together with a big machine to pull them instead of a lot of smaller ones or animals. The machines could go faster, too.

Ah. I think I may at least begin to understand. Thank you for clarifying.

Please don't get curious about the mechanics of it. I'm a worse engineer than I am a historian.

I think if I even tried to consider it my head might fall off.

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