outer_divide | [Video | 001: Arrival]

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[Video | 001: Arrival]

Mom?

Dad?

[Closing her eyes, she forces herself to focus as she takes a calming breath.]

Think, Ella.

[The harder she tries to recall how she got here, the less she seems to remember. Why can't she remember? Her memory isn't something she usually has to worry about. Sighing, she slowly climbs to her feet, cautiously following the lights.

Sitting not far from the exit, she looks out over the destroyed city. She wonders what happened in this place, whether anyone had survived. More than anything, she wishes her parents were here to see it with her.

Finally turning her attention to the device, she studies it a moment before figuring out its basic functions. After a moment's hesitation, she activates the video feed, drawing her knees up to her chest.]

I'm not supposed to be here.

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[It takes a minute for that to sink in.] You think I was on the ship when it crashed?

That is the most likely explanation, yes. I...do not want to give you false hope, but it is possible others you recognize might be amongst those still sleeping. There are several groups here that all appear to have been taken from similar locations.

[She perks up some at that. Maybe she wouldn't be alone after all.] Why wouldn't we remember?

There are some sedatives that make it difficult to remember the time directly surrounding their application - we must have been sedated in the pods, so that seems a likely explanation.

[She is aware enough of human maturation rates that she's not quite willing to broach the topic of forcible memory erasure with one who's clearly so young. Not when it makes her own stomach churn.]

Maybe. [She doesn't seem convinced.] Do you think we boarded by choice?

I do not know. I cannot imagine doing so - not with the entire galaxy at stake - but I find it equally difficult to imagine capture by an unknown species.

Maybe that's why we did it? Maybe there wasn't a choice, and we just can't remember.

It is possible. Once we know more about the ship, or the people who built it, we may also know more about why we were aboard.

I'd like to know. If you ever find out.

Of course. If I discover that information, I have no intention of keeping it quiet.

[...For now. Depending on what it is, she may change her mind in the future.]