unknownseas | COMMENCE VOYAGE

Fun Fact: Did you know the Atlantic Ocean has a surface area of 41.1 million square miles? No reason.

...

There's something uneasy in the air as you come to.

Well, "come to" is an interesting word in this case. It implies waking up, which is not exactly what happens. None of you are in beds, nor are you really asleep in the traditional sense. One moment you're somewhere else, doing something else with your time, and the next? You're somewhere on board a massive cruise ship - maybe lounging on a deck chair by the pool, maybe getting some Gains in the exercise room, maybe enjoying the tasteful décor in the buffet - and you have no idea how you got here or how you might get back. This is not your beautiful house. If you have a beautiful wife, she isn't here.

What you do have, apart from 25 other unlucky souls, is a small smartphone-like device in your pocket with only a handful of things on it: a clock reading 11PM, a pdf of a ticket in your name on a special Atlantic Liners New Year's Eve Cruise, an app labeled Passenger Profiles with some basic information on your traveling companions, and a message:

Welcome aboard, passenger! Please feel free to partake of any of the facilities while you wait for the big event! Remember: when midnight comes, you better make your way to the theatre at the back of Level 1 for the main event! The Captain and the First Mate will be there to take care of you all personally, and to help you ring in the new year in style!

Well, that's a start. But what you do until then, it seems, is up to you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You are not human?

[you look human from your icons!]

I'm not, no. I'm a malak; an earth spirit.

We've existed alongside humans for a long, long time. Not all of us look like me, though. Malakhim come in all sorts of forms.

Interesting. So you are also native to Earth?

Nah. The planet I'm from is called Desolation.

[...isn't that cheerful?]

Oh, I see. Do you know if it is located in the Milky Way galaxy?

[Names seem like they wouldn't be common between cultures, but the guy seems to know what Earth is, so.]

[By the blank stare Zaveid gives Data, that's a no.]

Sorry, I'm not sure what that is.

It is the galaxy we are currently located in.

[He turns and peers up at the sky. We're in the middle of the ocean, it's probably reasonably dark here, right? At any rate, his eyes are excellent.]

Do you see that white haze of light? That is what it looks like from within. The light is made up of stars too distant to be seen individually with the naked eye.

[He looks up, curiously.]

Oh, yeah, I see what you mean. It's kinda pretty out here.

[He's always preferred being closer to human populations, but the trade-off is how much light there is.]

It is.

[Yeah, that's a subjective judgement, but it's one he feels qualified to make.]

We can also use them to chart our location - though if we cannot contact anyone, that may not help us much.

My buddy's talked about that, before. Charting your course based on the stars.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I understand how this ship works. It doesn't have sails or anything obvious like that.

It likely uses an electric engine. Perhaps a diesel one, depending on what time period this is.

[.....]

It is self-propelled.

[...]

Oh.

I've never heard of such a thing.

It is quite common - although, if this is not an advanced version, it may not be very environmentally sound.

They can be bad for the environment?

[Scandal!]

Man, that would piss off water malakhim to hear that.

They can be. Most technologically advanced societies go through a phase in which they pollute their own environment. In some ways, that is to be expected. Still, it is vital that they learn to live in sustainable ways.

I don't think my world is anything like that, then. Thankfully.

We have enough problems with malevolence; destroying places where malakhim live sounds even worse! I take it where you're from doesn't have that problem?

Earth has progressed past that. Though I suppose I cannot truly say I am "from" there. The colony where I was created has long since been destroyed.

...sorry to hear that.

That can't be easy, not even having the option to go home. When I met someone I really care about, Theodora, she was taking care of these orphan kids. Eventually she... [there's a notable pause, like he's trying to find the words. he looks pretty distraught, but only for a moment] ...she died of an illness, and I was the only one who could take care of the kids.

Malakhim don't think of family the same way humans do, but even I could tell how much they were hurting.

...I am sorry to hear that. It was good of you to take them in. [He pauses, before going on.] I do not have any true memories of the colony. I suppose I have never truly considered it my home.

[And the less said about his family the better TBH]

But it was a difficult beginning. It would have been better to have...more support.

...Well. Sometimes you find your own family. Nothin' wrong with that.

Do you have support now, at least?

I do. I have many friends among my crew. They are good people.

[this would be extremely emotional if he had emotions but he doesn't so it isn't OBVIOUSLY!!!!!]

You'll have to tell me about them!

[He sounds pretty convinced this counts as emotions, at least.]

My best friend is Geordi. He is our chief engineer. Before I met him, I had never encountered anyone who did not treat me as...different.

That's terrible!

For a while, my kind were treated as disposable tools, because the Abbey had people convinced we weren't, well, people. I can't imagine what it was like to have nobody treating you well at all.

[Data considers this and nods.]

Until very recently, I did not have legal status as a "person", either. It was in question whether or not I was considered the found property of Starfleet.

(no subject)

sivard - 2021-02-03 03:20 (UTC) - Expand

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