(IC) Lost in Dreams (Julian)

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Mr. Orgel: "They're just here to keep you and me honest and make sure we leave the station. They'll even pay for our pod."

Well, I guess they want us off their club station. Wait, 'Here to keep ... me honest'? "Why don't they trust you?". Something's off...

Originally Posted by ericthered

The three of them make their way through the station a bit more, getting on another tram, and finally come to a lobby somewhat reminiscent of an airport, except its dirty and worn.

How does it compare to the trams?

If it's much worse, I ask, "So... Are the, 'spaceport' workers on strike?"

If not, I guess they don't pay much on maintenance for anything.

Originally Posted by ericthered

The windows don't show a tarmac* outside though: they show a canvas of stars, with a surprising number of painted white space stations in view. Most people aren't looking out the window. They're looking at doors and schedules for departures.

I guess it's easy to be blasé about space travel if it happens all the time. Aura and Lloyd didn't seem to think flying through the sky was all that special either.

Originally Posted by ericthered

*has Julian ever actually been to an airport?

I can't imagine why he would have been at an airport. On the other hand, going with my working assumption that Claibourne's (i.e. Julian's Home World) Port Royale is fairly similar to OTL's Coxen Hole, he's most likely seen the outside of an airport (Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport seems fairly central to the layout of the city)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Well, I guess they want us off their club station. Wait, 'Here to keep ... me honest'? "Why don't they trust you?". Something's off...

Uniformed Man: "Its not his job to keep you on your station, its our job. He works for Panogos, not the concordance"

How does it compare to the trams?

The first subway was cleaner. The Tram you took here was about the same level of cleanliness.

I guess it's easy to be blasé about space travel if it happens all the time. Aura and Lloyd didn't seem to think flying through the sky was all that special either.

I'm missing the reference here.

I can't imagine why he would have been at an airport. On the other hand, going with my working assumption that Claibourne's (i.e. Julian's Home World) Port Royale is fairly similar to OTL's Coxen Hole, he's most likely seen the outside of an airport (Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport seems fairly central to the layout of the city)

Looking at Coxen Hole (please make a note of that on your sheet, its really useful information), It has the classic carribean island airport: a strip of the beach has been turned into a runway, because that's where you get flat strait strips of land. Its offset from the city center, because the city center is around a dock. He'd see the outside anytime he passed by on the main road. So he's seen tarmac a lot, but never the inside (which is what is relevant here).

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Uniformed Man: "Its not his job to keep you on your station, its our job. He works for Panogos, not the concordance"

Well, that still doesn't explain why Orgel would include himself. Maybe there's worry that he'd just dump me off somewhere and not bother bringing me where we're going?

Originally Posted by ericthered

The first subway was cleaner. The Tram you took here was about the same level of cleanliness.

Hm... Maybe they have a different transportation for poor people? I ask about the difference in maintenance between the 'spaceport', the tram and the subway.

Originally Posted by ericthered

I'm missing the reference here.

Two people he knew personally who flew on an airplane. The 'flying through the sky' bit was a tad poetic, I guess. Perhaps a better metaphor would have been the people getting on the large Vasic being nonplussed about teleportation.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Looking at Coxen Hole (please make a note of that on your sheet, its really useful information)

Noted in the contents post.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Hm... Maybe they have a different transportation for poor people? I ask about the difference in maintenance between the 'spaceport', the tram and the subway.

Mr. Orgel: "Different teams, different levels of wear, and different populations passing through and making messes, cleaning messes, or complaining about messes. You took that first Car* from a really nice area. This pod-port isn't in the nicest area of the station. That's why its cheaper to head out from here."

*They call interior transport "cars", like a train car.

Noted in the contents post.

Thanks!

Two people he knew personally who flew on an airplane

makes sense.

Well, that still doesn't explain why Orgel would include himself. Maybe there's worry that he'd just dump me off somewhere and not bother bringing me where we're going?

Perhaps there is. It seems that the concordance doesn't trust Panogos social welfare personnel to enforce border policy.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Mr. Orgel: "You took that first Car* from a really nice area. This pod-port isn't in the nicest area of the station. That's why its cheaper to head out from here.

"Yup, always the cheapest. The things that never change."

Originally Posted by ericthered

Perhaps there is. It seems that the concordance doesn't trust Panogos social welfare personnel to enforce border policy.

Maybe it's a matter of different departments, or perhaps Panogos is stretched... Or maybe they don't like outsiders. No matter, I'm headed there anyway and resisting isn't going to get me anywhere.

[ericthered]

Julian and Mr. Orgel climb up into their pod, and strap in to the sides. There are no windows, and the sides of the long pod are packed with about 35 people, There is a countdown, and suddenly, the gravity vanishes. For the second time in 24 hours, Julian is in freefall. This time, he's strapped to something much larger, and can't feel the air rushing against his face.



They arrive with a fairly sudden slowdown, and then the gravity abruptly resumes, yanking his stomach around. Everyone climbs out of the Pod. They can't have gone very far at all.



Its a similar station, but the signage and decoration are different. Of note are the TV screens everywhere, playing what looks like news of a war. "Purge in Syliac City". "Report on weaknesses in Rebel missiles". "134 enemy killed in clash near Kiristan"


Mr. Orgel takes Julian to buy some clothing. The selection is pretty close to what he's seen people wearing.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Julian and Mr. Orgel climb up into their pod, and strap in to the sides. There are no windows, and the sides of the long pod are packed with about 35 people, There is a countdown, and suddenly, the gravity vanishes. For the second time in 24 hours, Julian is in freefall. This time, he's strapped to something much larger, and can't feel the air rushing against his face.

[138] 23-04-12 06:27:16 CEST

Panic Attack

3d6 > 6
4 + 1 + 5 = 10 ... success

Well at least this time it seems like it was planned to happen. It still shakes me up a little.

Originally Posted by ericthered

They arrive with a fairly sudden slowdown, and then the gravity abruptly resumes, yanking his stomach around. Everyone climbs out of the Pod. They can't have gone very far at all.

Well now I'm just swimming in questions.

"So is this where we're stopping? Or is it just a branch point?"

"How does the pod accelerate and decelerate so fast?"

Originally Posted by ericthered

Its a similar station, but the signage and decoration are different. Of note are the TV screens everywhere, playing what looks like news of a war. "Purge in Syliac City". "Report on weaknesses in Rebel missiles". "134 enemy killed in clash near Kiristan"

I'll ask Mr. Orgel, "There's a war going on? Here?". Well, that would explain why they wouldn't trust Orgel to take me to Panagos on his own. I can't imagine they expect people to be heartless enough to bring children into a war zone willingly. Jerks.

Seems like fate is conspiring to throw me into conflict zones and to keep my feet from solid ground.

"Rebel Missiles"... Could those be those missiles I dreamt about? They seemed pretty unstoppable. Maybe this news is slanted.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Mr. Orgel takes Julian to buy some clothing. The selection is pretty close to what he's seen people wearing.

I pick out something similar to the unadorned athletic clothes. They may be tight but the pointy shapes are just... Odd.

[ericthered]

[QUOTE=TGLS;2480044]
"So is this where we're stopping? Or is it just a branch point?"
[quote]
"Curry Station? yes, we're on the right station now. We may eventually find you a more permanent situation, but for now we'll be taking care of you here."

"How does the pod accelerate and decelerate so fast?"

"I don't know that."

I'll ask Mr. Orgel, "There's a war going on? Here?".

"Yeah, there is a pretty big civil war going on. How do I explain this to an outsider? Panogos was mostly populated using cloning. You know how the concordance thinks about that. So a lot of Panogoans are clones, and they think the existing government is trying to shut down the cloning centers. They also claim voting fraud, oppression, and corruption. There was a flare-up, and now we have a war."

"Rebel Missiles"... Could those be those missiles I dreamt about? They seemed pretty unstoppable. Maybe this news is slanted.

No Comment.

Seems like fate is conspiring to throw me into conflict zones and to keep my feet from solid ground.

Hah. Hadn't thought about that. Conflict zones are common in lost in dreams. Places other than round planets... less so. I suppose Peter has been to a grand total of two, one space habitat and the divine realm. There are some others... but they're pretty rare.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

"Curry Station?"

"Like the meal?"

Originally Posted by ericthered

"yes, we're on the right station now. We may eventually find you a more permanent situation, but for now we'll be taking care of you here."

I have my doubts about that... Getting older never helps... I try to turn my attention to something else.

Originally Posted by ericthered

"I don't know that."

I make a note to look into this later, when I have internet access.

Originally Posted by ericthered

"Yeah, there is a pretty big civil war going on. How do I explain this to an outsider? Panogos was mostly populated using cloning. You know how the concordance thinks about that."

"No, I don't."

Originally Posted by ericthered

"So a lot of Panogoans are clones, and they think the existing government is trying to shut down the cloning centers."

"If the population is mostly cloned, why would they do that?"

Originally Posted by ericthered

"They also claim voting fraud, oppression, and corruption. There was a flare-up, and now we have a war."

I keep my thoughts about how the fact that there's open war proving their point to my self.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

"Like the meal?"

Mr. Orgel: "Yeah, like the dish."

"No, I don't."

Mr. Orgel: "Really? Ok... Cloning people is a practice that commonly leads to neglect, abuse, and exploitation. It is a close cousin to non-consensual human experimentation and slavery. It is often practiced by radical communities seeking to rewrite or ignore human nature, or to build cheap disposable armies."


"Of course, that's the concordance view. Panogan cloning was conducted in a responsible manner, to quickly fill up a garden world and improve everyone's standard of living. That's why the concordance didn't immediately isolate us."

"If the population is mostly cloned, why would they do that?"

"They wouldn't and they didn't. They're not idiots. They're trying to ramp things down: the planet is full enough, and with the concordance, we don't need that massive expansion rate. But fanatics among the clones exaggerate their efforts into a crusade to destroy cloning and clones entirely, and they cherry pick statements from concordance activists as though those people are in control of the government."