[video ] open

[two_percent_dopamine]

[He'd gone blank before, shut down in China, in Dean's office. He was too used to being shut down, waking up some place other than he last remembered.

[But this was...new. And unpleasant, even among a series of experiences that Alex would describe as less-than-pleasant. Because it wasn't his docking cradle he'd woken up in. At first he'd thought he'd been kidnapped, but there were no guards, and his weapons were just where he'd stowed them, fully charged. ]

This is Detective Ale--. Just Alex.

[The voice is slightly modulated, almost , but not quite, inhuman.]

I’m looking for a man. A Dr Dennett Norton. Five foot nine, Caucasian, mid-forties. No criminal history.

[You spend enough time on the force, and people seem to settle into categories like that.]

I can provide a list of known associates.

[A short list: did Norton have a family? Anything outside his work? He should probably know, after all this time.]

He’s….. I need him.

[He doesn’t want to say for what, at least just yet.]

((ooc: open to network or action for anyone on/near the ship))

Comments

Action: On the ship

[wrench_and_ruffles]

[Working on the ship, you get used to certain things. And one of those things is definitely that you never know when new people are suddenly going to be wandering about.

And since Kaylee likes people, she tends to keep an ear out for them. He's already found his communicator, she can hear that much. Still, sometimes it's better to get the explanations in person.]

Hey there. Just wake up?

Action: On the ship

[two_percent_dopamine]

[He didn't know how half of him worked, but the communicator device was close enough to a cell phone that it was easy enough to figure out. He turns toward the sound of the voice, pneumatics hissing: female, but not familiar. ]

Is that what you call it? Where am I? Who are you?

[Sellars had always kept tight security around OmniCorp, and it had gone lax. Had he been kidnapped? She...didn't seem like much of a kidnapper.]

Re: Action: On the ship

[wrench_and_ruffles]

[The usual first questions]

I'm Kaylee Skywalker. The ship's called Salvation and the planet's Verdana. How we wound up on board is a long story and we still ain't rightly sure of all the details.

Action: On the ship

[two_percent_dopamine]

[He was about to introduce himself, again, before he realized he did it on the broadcast already. Force of habit.]

Planet.

[Yeah, that's going to take a moment to sink in. He'd figured this wasn't Detroit, but, a whole different planet?]

This, wait. This is a dream, right?

[He looks around, expectantly, waiting for it to dissolve. Another of Norton's little memory packets to trick his brain into action.]

Re: Action: On the ship

[wrench_and_ruffles]

It ain't a dream. Been here over a year now.

[It's hard to remember exactly how long, but it's been at least a year]

Best bet looks like gettin' Salvation flyin' again.

Action: On the ship

[two_percent_dopamine]

A year? I can't...I can't be here a year.

[He's not sure how long his body can go without maintenance, for one thing. And Clara. David. Everything back home. He can't lose them, not again.]

How the hell do we do that?

Re: Action: On the ship

[wrench_and_ruffles]

[Everyone always says that]

We reckon if we can get the ship runnin' again, we should be able to get folk back to about when they were grabbed up.

[For the people who could go back anyway]

We're mostly tryin' to get her self repair systems goin' these days. Know much 'bout engineerin'?

Action/on the ship

[heartofasun]

Trance heard her comm go off and an unfamiliar voice chatter on it. It sounded like someone just woke up. Putting down her tools and plant mister she, ran out of Salvation's gardens and to the pod area.

"I don't recognize the name but maybe I could help you?" Trance popped over by the door, and stayed where she was. Just in case. For some reason some people were rather startled by her appearance.

"Do you know what's happened to you?"

Action/on the ship

[two_percent_dopamine]

In theory, Alex was the last person to be put off by someone else's appearance. He'd been upset enough at his own, when he'd woken up in Norton's lab. And there was part of him that thought this was a dream, still, some neurochemical glitch. One that was messing with his colorscale, because her skin tone wasn't matching what human normal. All his HUD gave him was [unknown: no threat] which was...not really helpful.

"Happened to me. Like worse than this?" He raised his left hand, the cybernetic one. "Something about a different planet." But his tone says 'but that can't be right.'

Re: Action/on the ship

[heartofasun]

"Different reality actually, probably a different universe." This was where it got tricky, if they weren't used to that sort of thing. Trance took a couple of steps forward, when he didn't immediately scream and run for his life. Or pull a weapon on her.

"You fell threw a crack in reality. The ship caught you."She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "People are working on fixing it. So we can all go home. I'm Trance."

Action/on the ship

[two_percent_dopamine]

"A crack in reality." He was aware he was just repeating her words, but it was one of those things where he had to be hearing things wrong. This couldn't be a dream: he simply didn't have this much imagination.

He turned around, scanning the room again, as though he could see a crack in something. "Trance. Interesting name. Can I ask, uh, what you are?" If it was a dream, it wasn't rude, right? And if it wasn't, well, then he'd apologize.

Re: Action/on the ship

[heartofasun]

"What I am? Trance Gemini." Trance replied with a bit of a smirk, as if that explained absolutely everything, her name, her species, what she was doing there. And unfortunately for the person standing opposite her, it was probably all he was going to get. Unless he preferred some more non-answers. She could get creative.

"Yes, a crack in reality. You fell threw." Why was this so hard for people to understand? "It's not here. You can't see it. You'll just have to trust me."

Action/on the ship

[two_percent_dopamine]

Right. That doesn't help at all. And his HUD readings aren't helping at all.

It was hard to understand because yesterday, he was in Detroit, and his biggest problem was the crime statistics, and now he was her, without the whole team of support he needed, on some different planet. Apparently. The CPU in his brain was absolutely refusing to make sense of it. "I trust you." Not that there's really much choice. "Whose ship is it? Are we prisoners?"

[Audio]

[thulium]

[The voice that answers over the communicator sounds more than just a little modulated, dual-toned and running over top of subvocals that sound nothing like English.

Nothing like any language spoken on the Earth of Alex's time at all.]

There's no one here by that name. Do you need on-site medical attention, or are you mobile?

[Because why else would someone's first act after waking on a crashed spaceship be to ask for a doctor?]

[Audio]

[two_percent_dopamine]

[His enhanced hearing could tell there was something strange about the voice, but he couldn't place it. ]

On si--no. I'm fine. I mean. Now.

[In a few days, weeks, different story, probably. He was trying not to think about that.]

[Audio]

[thulium]

If you change your mind, contact my comm code. I'll put you in touch with one of the medics, or with transport down to a medical facility.

[Audio]

[two_percent_dopamine]

I'm...not sure you'd have the facilities. Everything was custom made.

[Norton said they'd never make another. Everything, from his cradle to his nutrients to armor, everything was fabricated just for the RC-2000 program.]

[Audio]

[thulium]

The medics here are remarkably creative.

[They have to be, considering. If it's not cyborgs, it's aliens, or magic.]

[Audio]

[two_percent_dopamine]

I've been getting that impression.

Anyone good with robots, then?

[video]

[girlworthfighting]

We don't have anyone here by that name, not yet. Those of us that come from that vessel are all pretty good about keeping track of one another.

It looks like you just woke up. Welcome to Verdana.

[video]

[two_percent_dopamine]

Not yet.

[He wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.]

Does that happen? Others from the same place show up?

[video]

[girlworthfighting]

It happens. [She takes as much stock of him as she can, from where she's standing and what little is visible on-screen.] You have very interesting armor.

[video]

[two_percent_dopamine]

Not sure if I should hope for it or not.

[Except Norton. He kind of needs him.]

I-it's not armor. It's me.

[video]

[girlworthfighting]

That's the common indecision, yes. On the hand it's nice to have faces you know, on the other...this place isn't always the most welcoming.

[That gets a sharp look, first of surprise then confusion.]

Oh. But I thought... [She trails off.] Are you a robot? [The question is genuine, slightly wondering. She's met a few here though it's still not something she's used to.]

[video]

[two_percent_dopamine]

Can't be much worse than Detroit.

[Says the new guy who hasn't been outside the ship yet. But still, Detroit was pretty rough.]

No. [It comes out a little sharp, at first, still raw from Sellars' insistence he was 'just a robot'.]

I mean, no. Not really. Just, well, mostly.