001 ↓ [video]

[biffail]

[Larry is sitting cross-legged on his bed in his cabin, looking pretty bored. He tries to put on a grin that ends up looking more sheepish and clueless than anything, and takes one more moment of valuable transmission time to glance up at the ceiling, presumably in thought. Then he sighs, and faces his device. At least he is no longer panicking the way he was during his first few days on the ship.]

Um...hi, I guess. I'm Larry Butz, and one day I woke up in a tube with weird gunk that took forever to get out of my hair. Gum is worse, though.

[A pause. He wonders what else he should say.]

Thought I'd introduce myself since we'll be on this ship for a while. In space and all that.

...

By the way, I got a couple of questions. First, are there any art materials on board? I'm kinda bored. [As if that wasn't obvious from the fact that he has decided to lie back down, his eyes half-closing in a dazed expression.] And second, are the numbers on our arms supposed to mean something, or did we all get random ones while we were asleep?

[Because his reminds him of something. Something more than just an age, or a birthday, or any sort of date.]

Comments

[biffail]

Mine is eleven...so that means I got onto this thing during the eleventh jump?

[signatures]

That's generally been the case, yeah. One question resolved only brings up more, though, I'm sure.

[biffail]

It sure does. How'd everything start? Like...what happened with the very first jump?

[signatures]

I wouldn't know. I only came around on the sixth.

[biffail]

Oh. Does your number...seem important to you? Like, does it make you remember something?

[signatures]

No, not at all.

Why, does yours?

[biffail]

[He nods.]

Yup. It's the exact number of...well, money.

[signatures]

Money you had on you?

Lucky man.

[biffail]

Not really money I had on me...okay, I had it on me for a while before I had to pay it back.

[After fifteen years. After fifteen years from the time he nicked someone's lunch money.]

[signatures]

So a debt that sticks with you enough that you think it transferred to your arm?

[biffail]

It stuck with me for fifteen years! I kinda forgot about it for a long time.

[That's not very assuring.]

[signatures]

You forgot about something you'd yet to fully pay off?

[biffail]

I did! C'mon, cut me some slack, I became friends with the guy who owned the money and the guy who got accused of taking it...I got carried away.

...But I didn't let 'em point fingers at the wrong guy!

[signatures]

Sounds entirely too complicated for money owed - did the man you owed forget, too?

[biffail]

I think he did, but once he remembered, he knew it had to be me all along...

It wasn't exactly a debt...I kinda took the money back then.

[signatures]

[ Your life - filled with amnesiacs? ]

So you're a thief.

[biffail]

[Wait till you figure out who that particular person was.]

Hey, I was a kid back then! I forgot about it for a while then gave it back.