[OPEN; VOICE]

[boygodofneuro]

[The sound pops a few times, the microphone getting jostled all over because the guy holding this communicator? Yeah, he's flipping out something fierce.]

No, no, no, this is so-- Oh man. Oh man. Every kind of not good, it's--

[Awkward, nervous chuckle.]

Help destroy the mainframe, get sucked into it. It's like living The Matrix except I'm not Neo and I--

This is one hell of a mental sock, I mean, wacky space ship, big fancy dome that screams perfect, idealized society free of worry and then all the little people trapped on the outside. Sounds like the premise to a summer blockbuster! Or a B movie on SyFy. But it's not. It's gotta be part of the illusion my brain cooked up to constantly keep the adrenaline running.

So, if I'm gonna believe Echo, Priya and Anthony about their reports on what this whole Attic thing is like, where's the constant conflict, the puzzle I keep looping through, never able to solve no matter which way I think about it...?

Oh, oh! Can I take a guess? Because it's a pretty good guess. I'm gonna keep walking down this quaint little path and I'm gonna find Boyd and his little buddy Clyde in Saunders holding Bennett hostage or something. Save the girl, they get on with the thoughtpocalypse. Let them kill Bennett again and bam! Loop stars all over again and never get to know if it saved the world because I just get to agonize over the choice again! And again! Oh man, that sounds like so much fun! Bundles-o-fun like none other! I just can't wait to feel--

I, ah, Yeah. Gonna shut up now, I think.

Comments

[seesobserves]

[Sherlock actually sits back and listens to that whole thing.

And then there is a long

long

pause.]

...Oh! Oh, you're done. Got it.

[boygodofneuro]

This is true. Though look at you! With your optimism! Must not have phased you all that much.

[boygodofneuro]

Not much, other than hey, there's dinosaurs here and your theory must be wrong.

[how_i_tease]

Hey, it's not like I have a home to head back to anyway.

[seesobserves]

Simplistic of them.

The vessel you just walked out of is a spaceship of unknown origin. Almost everyone you're speaking to over this network also awoke inside the ship, although none of us have any memory of the ship or who it was that abducted us prior to our waking up. So far they can only be identified by the term 'S8,' which appears on the ship's barely-functioning computer consoles.

What is so far known is that the ship contains people from several different points in time, some from planets other than Earth, some who are potentially from altogether different versions of reality, and some who aren't exactly people. It crash-landed here at least a generation ago; the natives claim that it was inactive all their lives and only started doing anything approximately three weeks ago, when we all started to wake up.

I'd tell you that all of this is really happening and not a figment of your imagination, but there wouldn't be any point. It'll have to be borne out by your own experience.

[voice]

[radars]

And welcome to the new world. Unfortunately, you'll have to use the alien ship as a substitute mother.

[femshep]

I get it now. You're the designated smart-ass.

Good job, then. I mean it, keep up the good work.

[boygodofneuro]

Oh. Well, that sucks. But I'm not sure if I've got a home anymore either. Thoughtpocalypses are totes tricky business.

[voice]

[boygodofneuro]

Fine by me, alien ship mama is a lot cooler than a normal, human mom.

A lot less irritating too.

[boygodofneuro]

Wow, I'm in shock, someone that's actually helpful!

But, uh, yeah. Sarcasm aside, thanks, dude.

[original_fine]

That's an interesting and very dangerous way to look at things, young man. You can't count on the things you're seeing not being real. My name's Jim Kirk, and I woke up here just like you did.

[boygodofneuro]

[There's a long pause while Topher processes that.]

...Jim Kirk? As in, James T. Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise and completely all around amazing guy? Because dude. One hell of a coincidence.

[voice]

[buckingauthority]

It's descriptive. You like descriptive.

[voice]

[buckingauthority]

Is that what you are? A professor?

[voice]

[buckingauthority]

My name's Kara Thrace. I tend to go by my callsign, though: Starbuck.

[voice]

[radars]

An interesting perspective you have there.

[voice]

[radars]

It is, as a matter of fact.

[seesobserves]

Mmn. Good that we understand each other.

[seesobserves]

No sense in keeping you in the dark.

You should know there's no way into the dome. Not an easy one, in any case. The Outer Authorities are invested in keeping us out here.

[voice]

[boygodofneuro]

I laugh in the face of societal norms.

[voice]

[boygodofneuro]

[Callsign. That's...a little too dollhouse-y for comfort right now so...]

I think I'll stick with Kara. Or just Thrace. That kinda makes you sound like a bad ass video game heroine.

[boygodofneuro]

Hrm. Might be an interesting challenge to take on. Getting in.

[Good job, Sherlock. You've gone and given him a puzzle to play with.]

[seesobserves]

It'll be more challenging if you get shot.

[And now he'll be [Locking] the feed, yup.]

I wouldn't mind finding the way in myself. But they guard the dome heavily and they watch us.

It's also been discovered that members of the Authorities all look rather similar. Not clones, but bred from within a very limited gene pool. It's possible that anyone who managed to sneak their way in, somehow, would be recognized as an outsider simply by looking different.

[locked]

[boygodofneuro]

Ouch.

So. Then we have to fake it. Make ourselves look similar. In theory? Totally possible. The issue would be getting the resources required before they figure out what we're up to.

[locked]

[seesobserves]

[Sherlock makes a disappointed tch.]

Didn't get a look at the faces myself... Drawing them out intentionally won't do; it would put us on their radar and they do have a tendency to go for overkill.

...They'll be back sooner or later.

[He does not sound satisfied with this conclusion, but it's the only reasonable one.]