un: cpt andor [posted at 0324 december 19]

[ouzel]

What waits for you, back where you came from?

You can be as specific or nonspecific as you like, really. A person, a place, a thing, a concept, a task. A belief. A dream.

Nothing.

I'm just curious, I guess.

Also, for those who don't wish to give out even vaguely personal information to unknown strangers in an unknown place: how many of you are from pre-spaceflight planets?

Comments

un: mio.amakura

[remainingtwin]

[She debates on how to answer for a long time, because honestly the first thought is 'nothing'. Her sister is gone, so there's nothing worth going back for, really. Her world is gone. But she can't just, you know, say that, she's aware enough to know that's not a normal response.]

My uncle and my mother, I guess. I'd gone missing before this, so they're probably still searching for me and my sister. I guess it doesn't matter now.

[She glances at the second question.] We've gone to the moon. [VICTORY...]

[ouzel]

That is unfortunate. I'm sorry.

[ He does notice that she says nothing of the sister, and assumes the girl or woman is dead. ]

There's just one moon to your planet?

[remainingtwin]

[She makes a face at the text and is about to ask 'what, yours' doesn't?' before realizing that, duh, probably not if he asks it like that.]

Yeah. There's the moon and the sun, and then a bunch of other plants not that far from us, but you can't live on them. Some of them have more than one moon though.

Are you not from Earth either? I've been meeting some people like that lately. It's all a little weird. Where or when I'm from, that sort of thing is impossible. You only hear about it in science fiction stories.

[ouzel]

I'm not from Earth, no.

You're the second or third person to mention science fiction. Is a lot of it concerned with spaceflight?

[remainingtwin]

Are you an alien? [Maybe he's got extra eyes or tentacles or something, that'd be exciting. For a space ship, the lack of alien-looking alien has been fairly disappointing.]

yeah. Usually it's exploring space or fighting aliens or something goes wrong with the ship and everyone has to figure it out before they crash or something. But space or generally any kind of really futuristic stuff.

[ouzel]

I'm human, if that's what you're asking.

Ah. So science fiction is just...fiction that includes unknown technologies, right?

[remainingtwin]

[BORING... She can't help but feel a little disappointed.]

Oh. But have you met aliens before?

And yeah, you could put it like that. I think there's a bunch of things that fall under it, like alternate universes or timelines, superhumans stuff, or stories about the apocalypse. Time travel is pretty heavily featured too. When i think of scifi I think of aliens and space, or time travel.

Some of the earliest legends from my country are some of the first science fiction stories, even.

[ouzel]

Yes, I have. Maybe some will show up here?

Ah, okay. These kinds of stories transcend being trapped planetside, which is good. Maybe it's part of what makes us human.

What were the legends?

[remainingtwin]

Do you think so? It'd be strange to be in space and only ever see other humans.

I think humans always want to know more and try to explain things we don't understand or no about. And space is huge and unknowable, so we fill it with things in stories. You know?

The first one I can think of is Urashima Tarō. Do you know it? [She assumes not, but better to ask]

[ouzel]

I should hope so.

[ Otherwise the whole deal sounds more and more like a weird conspiracy. Not that it isn't, but. ]

Makes sense.

No, I'm afraid I've never heard of it.

[remainingtwin]

It's about a fisherman who one day notices some kids torturing a poor turtle. He rescues the turtle and releases it back into the sea. The next day, a huge turtle shows up to thank him, telling him that the turtle he saved was actually the beloved daughter of the great sea dragon, the Emperor of the Seas Ryujin and that the dragon god wants to sea him to thank him personally.

So Urashima goes to Ryūgū-jō-- the Palace of the Dragon God-- where he meets Ryujin and his daughter Otohime, who's changed from a turtle to a beautiful woman. He stays with Otohime for three days, but soon asks to return to the land so that he can see his aging mother. Otohime lets him, but gives him a box that she says will protect him, but he must never open it.

When Urashima gets back to land, everything's changed drastically. No one he knows is around anymore, his house and mother are gone. When he asks around, he finds out that 300 years have passed so everyone he knows is dead. In his grief he opens the box, where a white smoke comes out and ages him rapidly, eventually turning him to dust, because the box actually held his old age.

[ouzel]

Not bad. It's a good story. Too bad he didn't listen about the box.