[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

[voice]

[buckingauthority]

[Kara'd never had much time for interactive vids, but she knows they exist.]

Awwh, that's so sweet. Just for that, I'll let you check out my gun collection sometime.

[original_fine]

[Jim blinks.]

What?

[voice]

[boygodofneuro]

That'd be cool, uh. Except for the part where me and guns...

We're not really friends, A-T-M.

[The boy has been recently traumatized, okay? Watching his dream girl's brains get blown to bits via gunshot wound isn't exactly an easy thing to get over.]

[boygodofneuro]

What, what? Please tell me you know who Captain Kirk is.

[locked]

[boygodofneuro]

I'd say we could get someone else to draw them out but that'd be...probably too dangerous. But we'll figure something out. Just need some time to figure this place out.

I'm Topher, B-T-W.

[locked]

[seesobserves]

Sherlock.

You'll be needing someplace to sleep within the Old City. There's a building set aside for lodging known as 'The Flop,' plenty else to find if you're willing to look...

[how_i_tease]

Well then. As good a place to start off fresh as any, right?

[original_fine]

Yes. He's me. If you've heard of me, you must be from my world. In which case I'm still confused.

[boygodofneuro]

As long as I can find a nice hidey hole to hunker down in, I'll be good.

[voice]

[destinytobehere]

Destiny is perfectly capable of doing something similar. On both accounts actually.

Well, should that be the case there's little point in wasting time in debate. Real or not there is no reason to sit idly by.

[locked]

[boygodofneuro]

Seriously? That's pretty awesome. Don't meet many Sherlocks, other than those of the Holmsey variety.

I'll look into it, it might have to do for a few nights while I search out a more solitary, less floppy place to camp out.

[boygodofneuro]

Uh. Well. Sort of? I'm from America, yeah. But it was 2010 before I popped out of my little pod so. I guess I'm from the past. And we kinda have a TV show that was based on your adventures.

You're pretty much my childhood hero.

I might throw up.

...And that's totally a compliment.

[voice]

[boygodofneuro]

Yeeeah.

Debating this would be a perpetual battle that'd devolve into "But I said so, so nyeh."

So, gonna stop with the sitting and the idling.

[locked]

[seesobserves]

[...]

Start with the far-west part of the city. Most of the natives don't like getting too close to the ship.

[original_fine]

[Jim takes this all in with an equanimity equal to his hero status in Topher's eyes. Even if he can't quite buy it. At the same time, this is not a type of crazy he's ever encountered; while the man seems to be a little off balance, it is not necessarily in a delusional fashion.]

The nature of your reflexes aside, I'm afraid I don't quite follow. That's two hundred and fifty years ago. How could there be a television program documenting my... adventures?

[boygodofneuro]

My personal theory? Someone from your time traveled back to the 1960's when the show first aired to sell the story. Totally plausible, I mean, you've traveled through time on multiple occasions!

[original_fine]

[Jim frowns.] If so, it's a grievous infringement of our rules and laws. Not to mention... [He pauses, trying to let this sink in. The kid might be crazy. Then again, he might not.] How much would you say you know about me?

[boygodofneuro]

Of course it is, but people to tend to break the rules. I'm sure there's gotta be a guy out there that just couldn't stand not spoiling us lame 20th-slash-21st century people.

But...I could probably write unofficial biographies on you. And Spock. And McCoy. And the rest of the crew.

I've got NCC-1701 tattooed on my ankle.

...Yeah, you probably think this is creepy. Sorry, it's just not everyday that you meet the guy you've pretty much wanted to be since age three!

Still with the creepy. Uh. I'll shut up.

[original_fine]

[Jim really does not know how to take any of this. But he knows Spock, and McCoy. In a somewhat familiar-sounding way. And... a tattoo?]

It's a little intense. [Still, Jim's met heroes before. They've usually turned out to be the opposite of what he thought.] I really don't know how to explain this, but I suppose I'll have to believe you.

[boygodofneuro]

I'm sorry, I'll cool it and stuff with the references. I mean, if some nerdy kid came up to me saying he and or she knew all sorts of stuff about my life? I'd probably flip so. It's understandable! Logical, even.

[original_fine]

[Pause.]

On the other hand, I think I might like to know exactly how much you do know.