-2- [Text]

[doghasitsday]

The technology in this place has given me much pause and so much to think about. I wouldn't consider myself a techie by any stretch of the imagination; I've got a more literary mind, I think. Still, perhaps things would have been different if I had come from a later generation. These journal devices alone are advanced far beyond anything I could find in the year I before the back home. The ship itself is a marvel. Since I've been up and about I've taken time to explore when I could, and I know there's rooms here that are a lot bigger than should be physically possible, given the space allotted. The way the ship moves: it looks like we're in space, but there's nothing really separating us from the open air. Does the barge produce its own atmosphere? There's things about the system here that I'd like to better understand, too. Nobody really explained the last time I asked. I think I'm an Inmate. No one's really told me. And I know that guy...the Admiral, assigned a bunch of people together. Inmates with Wardens. Is that what I'm waiting for? A Warden? How long does that usually take? I'd appreciate whatever answers can be given me. --Harold Emory Lauder

Comments

[doghasitsday]

Can I ask how it's more inhumane?

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Most wardens will ignore your problems or regard them with apathy, so if somebody harasses or harms you and your own warden isn't available? You're probably out of luck.

You can't die permanently, which is something of a blessing, except it means you can be killed over and over again.

And there are periodic anomalies that alter your perceptions, your body, your sense of self, your memories... And there's no way to prevent them-- or, rather, none that anybody's uncovered yet.

Essentially, you'll be mindfucked, sometimes literally fucked, and everybody will treat it as business as usual.

private

[doghasitsday]

I see. When you talk about anomalies I guess you're not talking about drugs, are you? In the journals -- people talked about changing in port. It's like that, right?

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Precisely. Sometimes it's more subtle. You may not even be aware of it.

private

[doghasitsday]

Unsettling. I'd say it's rare to find a person who wants to be directed and manipulated, that's completely untrue. But I know I for one don't much relish the idea.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Let's be honest: most people do.

private

[doghasitsday]

It's easier for a lot of people not to have to think or really make their own decisions. They'd die without it.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Yes. Of course, on the Barge we have a slightly different sampling, but there are followers all the same.

private

[doghasitsday]

Harold Lauder. Good to meet you.

...If this even counts as meeting.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Dr. Rex Lewis. A pleasure.

It counts on the Barge.

private

[doghasitsday]

Doctor of what? [He's more interested than one normally would be, since he's from a place where Doctors of anything were rare and treasured]

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Biomedical engineering. And computer science. [TWO PhDs BITCHES.]

private

[doghasitsday]

You would have been very popular back home.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Really? [BUT NERDS ARE NEVER POPULAR; WHAT IS THIS MAGICAL PLACE???]

private

[doghasitsday]

Well, a year ago maybe not. ...Save you're a Doctor so you'd be surrounded by other people in your field most of the time, right? I used to hear sometimes that it'd get better after high school. Anyway, none of that really applies anymore. Government engineered a virus that took out pretty much everybody. So people that know technology and medicine suddenly became especially rare.

Re: private

[requiresssacrifice]

Somewhat. I spent quite a lot of time around soldiers, too.

College is certainly more stimulating than high school, but there are plenty of people who are only there to get drunk, have sex, ignore the intended purpose of higher education. It can be something of a disappointment at times. And peers aren't always much better. [But Rex was a snotty little child prodigy, SO YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.]

This is an odd question... but are there zombies in your world?

private

[doghasitsday]

No. Just people.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

I see.

The Barge must feel like a godsend after that, I imagine.

private

[doghasitsday]

It got to be where I almost forgot anything had changed. To quote the old saying: Same shit, different day. Same sort of people. Just fewer of them. Same prejudices. Same stupidity. So yeah, Barge doesn't seem so bad yet. Mind I wasn't attacked the day after everyone died back home, either.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

You were attacked? By whom?

private

[doghasitsday]

I don't know his name. It's fine, though. I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring that up to anyone, though.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

I won't. But what did he look like?

private

[doghasitsday]

Like every other jock: big, stupid and self-important.

private

[requiresssacrifice]

Unfortunately, that describes quite a few people on the Barge.

private

[doghasitsday]

I can't really provide an accurate description. I had a concussion at the time. I think.

Though if I ran into him again I'd probably know him.