video; offering courses in space familiarization: the action lady academy of 968 AE

[nukeit]

[ She's not a public speaker on her best days, and this wasn't one of those. Her talk with Fry has kept her thinking, enough that when she wakes up out of the nightmares covered in sweat, she pushes the ache in her chest away with thoughts of something to do, something to work toward.

Fry had relegated her to doing this anyway. Schedules in space were different than on a world generating its own night-day cycles and perpetuating natural circadian rhythms. She's freshly showered, hair starting to dry in a tight, curling mess. The camera comes on as she's right up close to the eye. Stepping back, she gives a little perspective. It's a vid-phone. A conference call to anyone out there listening. ]

For those I haven't met, I'm Ellen Ripley. Carolyn Fry and I are offering to help people acclimatize and familiarize with operating full-time here in space. What we've got working here isn't an exact match for what we're used to, but it's close enough to help show the ropes to people who don't know and who want to get an idea. Call it a crash course in space-readiness training, without the option to fail out and stay down on Terra Firma.

That said, what are some of the questions you have on your mind relating to surviving in space? Or about the technology we've seen here so far. Knowing what questions you'd like answered helps us all out in the long run.

[ She reaches out, pausing. ]

Anyone with experience willing to work with us on this, get in touch. We can use you.

[ Vid over. Time to see what bites back. ]

Comments

[amethysts]

[Libby listens seriously, head cocked.]

We should stock them now, then. And I'll talk to my teacher about an independent power source for the grav couches, because that sounds way fucking better than dying to me. I don't think people here are pessimistic enough, like--you'd think, right. But everyone thinks they're going home.

[When she says to people they'll go home Libby is lying. She thinks Ward and Resnik are just smart enough to know that no one would do anything without that lie. She imagines it might be true sometimes, but--it doesn't matter to her. She's never going back.]

I could help map evac routes from the floors, too. I'm trying to map this place. It's hard, but I have a rough idea of where things are. Everyone needs a copy of something like that on their comm. Is there anything else I could do?

[nukeit]

What do you make of the one we've got right now?

[ Curious, since better maps are never something she'll turn down. ]

It depends -- what can you do?

[ Where has she heard that before? It's as valid now as it was then, when she was being asked. Sell yourself, because no one else knows what you're capable of -- or at least Ripley's rather have it straight from the kid over nodding to what she's picked up network skimming. ]

[amethysts]

Vague. It's too vague. A complete survey is impossible and things do shift, but--if I keep mapping the places we use the most I think I can build a predictive model. The hallways change but not that much. Plus--you mentioned tracking chips. I build cybernetics implants. Trackers are easy, I could hook them into the map and the comms network--no point in tracking if you can't figure out how to get to them, can't just go as a raven flies in here.

[Libby thinks all the time. This is what she's good at, beyond just engineering, what makes it possible--collect and synthesize.]

I'm a computer engineer. Working on broadening that. The hardware is bigger but it's still a machine.

[nukeit]

[ It's good to see someone thinking -- at her apparent age, all the more so. The ideas definitely aren't bad. It'd be like building their own blueprints in a sense, getting the layout and relationships between people and places down to something understandable. ]

A breathing, thinking machine. You've got good ideas. I'd love to see followthrough on that, particularly if we can get any sort of schematics on the ship itself attached to that map. air ducts, maintenance passages, power lines, water mains, the works. If you're up for working with others on that project, I suggest pulling one Charles Xavier in. He seemed reasonable intelligent and adaptable enough to work with you, even if his technology grasp is decades behind anything I know.

[amethysts]

[Libby sighs in agreement.]

Yeah, getting all these historical relics up to speed is a fucking pain. Almost like she doesn't want us able to figure her out. But I'll pull him in, yeah, if you say so. I gotta make some bots to make this easier, I can't get into all the spaces. I need somebody with robotics for that, though, my mechanical engineering is way not ready for that.

[Ripley doesn't know it, but she may be Libby's favorite person in ship hierarchy right now. She's listening, says she has good ideas--not just dismissing her as an impatient, stupid child. She actually listens, and Libby decides spontaneously that this is who to look to for actual space survival. Her and Frye. Smart people using their resources, whatever they are, who have obviously seen some wicked awful shit.]

'M Libby.

[nukeit]

It's nice to meet you, Libby.

[ And that is sincere, if not sugarcoated. Ripley's half-smile is about her standard, fighting against months of sleeplessness wit the energy that comes out of habit and need over anything else. ]

Not sure who here handles robotics. Asking on the intranet might get you an idea of who has in the past, or who's willing to in the future. It might be worth talking to the guy down there discussing building things with the different departments working together.

[amethysts]

You too. Glad you're not a fucking idiot like some of these space jockeys.

[From her it's high praise.]

Yeah--although you know it's fun to pretend we got internal politics? But for serious actually going to work together. Refer to not dying.

[In her own crew and the big one, this is her part of keeping them alive. Not as hands on as Nikolai or as favour based as Jesse and Syg. Not as much with history as Mouse. But this she can do.]

So is this your whole plan?

[nukeit]

[ There's a small smile for a moment -- hah. God, and to think these space jockeys, idiots or otherwise, were the ones who should all be helping. Alienating the ones who didn't know was stupid. It just was. ]

Hardly much of a whole plan, but it's a start. From the looks of everything, it's going to need to be revised as I go. Why?