0002: A Proper Q&A

[crux_npcs]

Early in the morning, everyone's comm devices start jangling in pleasant tones, marking a new message. It's text, posted over the network, and at the top is an official looking seal, featuring the rotating pyramid that seems to be the Confederacy's symbol.

So, I hear you people woke up yesterday. Congratulations. I'm sorry you had to deal with that simpering incompetent, Baker. Allow me to illuminate you so that you can better appreciate your situation.

It is 0458 A.C. That's After Confederation, marking the date in which humanity, the Dorfs, and the Jool chose to band together for power, security, and knowledge. By old Earth calendars, that puts us somewhere near the end of the 27th Century, but I don't know exactly when. Ancient history is not my area of expertise and we had multiple calendar changes before settling on an interstellar standard.

I am Thaddeus T. Thrax III, deputy mayor of the Teuberg, the mighty cityship on which you stand. The city in which you now live is in a ship sixty miles across, with layers bringing our great vessel up to thirty miles in height. At the time of this writing, it houses some five hundred thousand souls. We are a great city, born and bred to colonize brave new worlds and explore unseen frontiers. The mayor, the honorable Ms. Maria Masters, will address you when we've finished this latest round of memorial services. Fleet Admiral Bulsara may also address you. Do not try to address him first.

You have been given two months to examine this city, see its needs, and decide where you fit in. Will you join the government? Perhaps you'd rather see what lower-level employment there is, such as becoming a baker or working at a market? Furthering your education is highly suggested and, unlike some more primitive cultures, we respect students and will provide you with living expenses as you work. As a note, this will be mandatory for citizens up to the age of sixteen, our legal limit for adulthood. I should also bring up that we do allow apprenticeships for our younger citizens and guests, should they decide on an employment track they desire early on.

Scholarly pursuits and regular life too boring for you? Fair enough. There is always the military, of course. We just lost thirty of those brave souls in a skirmish yesterday, I'm sure the recruiters will be happy to hear from you. We have tracks for Medical, Command, Engineering, Security/Infantry, Pilots, and Science. That said, you will still be expected to go through training. It will not be easy but after a few swift weeks, you too can go to interesting new places, meet fascinating new people, and pray to whatever God you worship that they don't speak with acid rainbows. Some of them do. I've met them.

Of course, not everyone will want such a rigid, disciplined life. You can hardly be blamed, the military isn't for everyone. But if you still want to defend this city, you may wish to join the militia. Civilian operated, funded, and supplied, the militias of old Earth traditionally answered to the county or the Count, with no connection to the military. Here, though, the military is in command. The militia will have a military liason, but you will not have to follow the same strict discipline of our men and women in uniform. You will deploy when they say and do your utmost to follow their orders in a combat situation, but the rest is up to you. God help us.

Of course, if you want off this ship, there are plenty of other jobs other than fighting. We are always on the lookout for skilled farmers, educators, diplomats, pilots, traders, and asteroid miners! Plus, we will provide training for any of these jobs. We have two agricultural vessels available, and they could use all the help they get. Or, if you fancy yourself some kind of pop star or athlete, you could try for a job in the entertainment sector. I should warn you that competition is stiff. I could not in good conscience honestly suggest any of those jobs.

The more irritating among you might be asking now, "What if we don't want to help out? We didn't ask to come here." Well, we certainly would regret it if you felt that way, as we are doing our best to help you fit in and return you safely to your homes. However, after two months we'll no longer have the resources or the patience to assist you. We will drop you off at the nearest inhabitable planet or neutral space station and leave you there.

Ultimately, I hope it won't come to that. I wish for you to be as happy and productive as any average citizen. We will do our utmost to reverse the accident that brought you here, and it is my hope that when you do, you leave our universe a richer person than you entered it.

Your servant,
Thaddeus T. Thrax III
Deputy Mayor

Comments

[Video]

[soul_sister]

"I only have one. I know we're heading back physically, but what if the issue is time?" Rosette normally isn't one for overthinking things, but there was nothing like this, barely dreams of something like this in the 1920s. It may even be an issue of universe, but frankly, that's a bit too far for her to take in.

[crux_npcs]

The video flickers into place in a room filled with great clutter. Boxes with blinking lights, cables strewn everywhere, and engineers surging in the background. A young man, close to Rosette's age and wearing an all-black uniform, rubs sleep out of his eyes and frowns. "Ensign Navarro here. I'm sorry, but what exactly is your question? Are you asking if you'll arrive at the instant you left or something?"

[soul_sister]

"Yeah, I guess it's something like that." She scratches the back of her neck. "Or something close. I mean, home wont be the same if it's hundreds of years later."

[crux_npcs]

He considers it for a moment, then pulls up some figures on a crystalline display panel and starts to crunch some numbers. "...Assuming we can pull you back home, the gravitational forces we use to assist in the fold-space operations should distort time enough that we'll drop you back right when you came from." He coughs. "...Give or take a few weeks. If you show up earlier than when you left, I'd suggest not meeting yourself. I'm not exactly sure on the math, but the two of you meeting could, uh. Implode time. Or something."

[soul_sister]

There was a lot of shoulds and maybes in that, but in general... it did answer what she wanted to know. It just left the issue of time here. That she wasn't so sure of how much she had. "As long as you're working on it..."


There's a beat, where she was going to close the feed, and was struck by a Very Important Thought. "... Uh. So. How strict is 'meet?' Could I leave something for myself?" Like the winning horses? She had a lot of debt.

[overclocking]

At this point, another face pops up on the feed behind Rosette. Where she goes, so goes Chrono, and there is always a reason for this.

The primary reason, of course, is that she needs a 24/7 babysitter so that she does not collapse the fabric of the universe, among other possibilities.

"Tell her no."

He has no idea how well this ensign can sniff out bullshit, so he'll just help him out a little.

[crux_npcs]

He blinks and looks between the two, then rubs the back of his head. Oh boy, this wasn't something he'd planned on.

"...No? I mean, if you gave yourself something before you got here, then you might not have actually been in a position to arrive here, which would mean that you couldn't go back in time to give yourself the thing. Which could, uh. Implode time."

He's really big on this 'Time implosion' stuff. It's such a handy excuse.

After a moment, he scowls and leans in to examine them. "...Say, you two wouldn't happen to be the Clock Kids, would you?"

[soul_sister]

Before he even gets the "No" out, Rosette has a handful of Chrono's braid and is pulling on it quite ruthlessly. "Don't tell him to tell me no! Think about wh-"

She almost misses the "Clock Kids." Almost.

Her hand reaches up and curls around the watch at her neck. "What do you mean?"

[crux_npcs]

"Science Captain McEngineer wanted to talk to some people with clock issues or something." Ensign Navarro shrugs and relaxes into his seat. "Something about an incomplete design and soul containment? I don't know, I'd have to pull the order up and that kind of thing really isn't my specialty."

[overclocking]

Chrono freezes in the midst of swatting at Rosette (braids are delicate), eyes widening. 'Incomplete design'... that sounds familiar, like something Shader had said ages ago.

If only he'd been better at listening, back then.

"What..." Less a question in itself and more a breathed exhale. He leans forward, around Rosette, so that he can peer urgently into the camera. "Where is he? Did he do something to it?"

[crux_npcs]

Navarro wipes his screen clean and pulls up a memo. The handwriting is messy, but still legible. It's definitely talking about some kind of watch "...Nope, not yet. He said it would be unethical to work on someone else's stuff, not that it's stopped him before, without at least talking to them about it."

He pauses and throws a few things in front of him on the video feed. Schematics. "He says he has a few ideas for improvements. This is... Honestly, this is math I don't even understand. He's using religious symbols in there, I definitely recognize the sigil of Armok, but it looks like he's got a few different designs in mind. The Science Captain said he wanted to present them to you guys, and I'm guessing it's you from these reactions, and see if you liked them."

[soul_sister]

She turned to Chrono, eyes wide. She wasn't sure what he meant by it either... but the one time it got a little off balance the results had been disastrous. And here was someone who UNDERSTOOD it.

She leans so close to her screen that the view on Navarro's side is a lot of her face. A LOT of it.

"Can we meet him? How soon!?"

[crux_npcs]

He blinks at the reaction and holds up his hands in reflex. Wow, that was unexpected! All this over a clock?

"Um. Sure. Give it two or three days and the Uncontested Starfall will be docking with the Teuberg for resupply. We're low on alcohol, and Science Captain McEngineer won't work without it." He grins apologetically. "You'll be able to meet him in... Looks like we'll be at Docking Bay 12. If you like, I can arrange for a message to be sent when we've arrived."

[soul_sister]

She leans back, her expression a mix of gratitude, relief and anxiety. It's unenviable real estate. "Yes! If you could..."

She glances back at Chrono, gauging his reaction.

[overclocking]

Um.

The timing is fine, of course—this is more than they ever would have expected in the first time—but Chrono raises the reasonable objections to this ... information.

"... He works on machines while he's drunk?"

What a terrible idea.

[crux_npcs]

He waves his hand dismissively. It's understandable if people don't know about the Dorfs.

"Dorfs process alcohol differently than we do. A lot of them pretty much need it to get through the working day. Sure, he can get drunk if he overdoes it, but he usually keeps that in check when working on something official."

[soul_sister]

So, another alien race. "Haaa, I'd just thought it was something that science officers just did..." She relaxes a little, visibly.

If he was an alien, they probably don't have the same prejudices about demons... She hadn't been looking forward to attempting to convince Chrono to let her go alone.

[crux_npcs]

"No, the demands a lot of the other Fleet members drive us to drink even without the racial excuse." He grins in a lopsided manner.

"Anyway, hey. I can send these to your comm devices, as well as images and fabricator samples for you to see how they'd look when finished. The fabbed stuff won't be the real deal, but it'll let you decide on designs?"

[overclocking]

"Honestly, I don't think we'll have any idea what we're looking at, but..." A glance at Rosette, something fluttering in his chest that seems treacherously like hope. "I don't think it would hurt to have a copy of them."

A hesitating pause, as something occurs to him.

"Ah, but... we don't really have any way to pay him."

[crux_npcs]

He blinks, as if not comprehending Chrono for a moment. His expression turns into a scowl of confusion.

"Why would Science Captain McEngineer need money to help you? You're a citizen, aren't you? No matter how temporary."

[soul_sister]

"I guess it's a culture clash." Honestly, she only knew of one person who had ever helped them without a motive... It seemed wild, almost impossible. "Is that really how it is? No wonder you're overworked..."

[crux_npcs]

He shrugs.

"That's just how it is. I mean, you could go to a civilian mechanic or something, but we're military. We already get paid for serving the Fleet." So another job is just something else to add onto the pile.

[soul_sister]

"Well... you have our thanks, anyway." It was almost too much to hope it would work... or what it could do. She really didn't KNOW much about the watch to start with. But ... she could imagine.

"Hopefully we'll talk so, Ensign.. Navarro, was it?"

[crux_npcs]

"Got it in one." He grins and gives her a thumbs-up. "Whatever's going on with you two, I hope the Science Captain can help you out with it."

[soul_sister]

"Me too." She grins, then adds, a bit more seriously. "And good luck with all of this."

Before signing out. She turns to Chrono. "I'm... not going to get my hopes up."