un: maine | @everyone (ota)

[bloodbathing]

Technology's archaic.

[ Well, that's one way to introduce oneself. Insult the technology. Like an asshole. ]

Year you're from? [ Then, as an afterthought: ] Mine's 2547.


[ private @ wash ]

[ Guess what, buddy? Maine's got the Best News Ever: ]

Found soap.

[ BEST. NEWS. EVER. ]

Comments

un: reva

[vidal]

[ Finally, more high-tech people. ]

2185. Or -- 2819, depending on how you count it.

[bloodbathing]

[ Heck yeah high-tech! ]

Big difference.

[ Between those dates, he means. ]

[vidal]

[ Reyes is growing more and more accustomed to sharing this little detail from his world; there's no clear advantage in holding it back, as far as he can tell. He's examined it from most angles and can't see, yet, how someone could use it against him. So: ]

Sure is. We have six hundred years of cryosleep to thank for it. Galaxy-hopping.

1/2

[bloodbathing]

[ Maine's familiar with cryo-sleep. Getting put down is standard procedure for any voyage over 120 hours. But six hundred years?! ]

Holy shit.

[ Yeah, that's ... all he can say at first. Sorry, Reyes. ]

2/2

[bloodbathing]

[ A few moments later: ]

Who manned ship?

[ Or what, he guesses. Could an AI run it without human assistance? Maine doesn't know. ]

[vidal]

Computers. Automated systems. Which, now that I think about it, is probably the most ridiculous long shot that we didn't just crash into a black hole or fail to wake up due to aging failing systems. Will wonders never cease.

[bloodbathing]

No shit.

[ Maine's far from an expert on space travel — he just rides the ships; he doesn't fly them — but that? That sounds like a fucking miracle.

After a moment: ]

Waking up rough?

[ He's always hated that part. ]

[vidal]

[ That question finally shakes Reyes to closer attention. Even terse and monosyllabic, these questions have a certain kind of specificity to them — which makes him wonder if the asker has at least some passing familiarity with the tech, particularly if he's coming from that far in the future too. But the question itself makes Reyes laugh, suddenly reminded how bad it was. ]

Absolute fucking nightmare. It should have been smooth, but our ship did get hit with some kind of anomaly upon arrival. Nothing wrong with the cryo itself, just the destination. Survived, but it wasn't pretty. Took ages to get the place back on its feet and working properly.

[bloodbathing]

[ This time, Maine shares his thoughts: ]

Fucking miracle.

[ And it sounds familiar from Maine's end, as well. Not the "miracle" itself or the time spent in cryo, but the terminology. It reminds him of home in a way that little else here has. ]

Hate wake cycle. First breath sucks.

[vidal]

[ That, right there, confirms Reyes' faint suspicion. ]

You can say that again. Or twice, or three times for good measure. They put us through a practice run, but nothing really prepares you for the actual thing. Feels like your body got run over by a truck.

You do it often?

[bloodbathing]

Yeah. Standard procedure. Conserves resources.

[ He may understand the reasoning behind it, but: ]

Still sucks.