| 003 | VIDEO |

[briefly]

Let me start this by saying that I feel absolutely silly for having not thought of doing this a long, long time ago, but - well. That's obviously not longer the case. But I ought to get it out of the way anyhow.

[a breath.]

Katherine Stewart.

Marguerite Chadwick.

Stanley Chadwick.

Anthony Proud.

Delphine Gaudin.

Emilia Gorski-Grumley.

[With a little tension in her voice-] Julia Grumley.

[And after a pointed pause, exhaling again - this name is the hardest to say.] And Frederick Grumley.

I don't suppose anyone here has seen either of these people. Or - is any of these people? Who knows how long I've been here, but considering how long we've all been here, I... I thought it couldn't hurt to ask. If I'm here, chances are one of them might be, too. Not that it would be ideal, but I'd rather know about it.

[Read: she misses them. And she's worried about them. So there you have it.]

Thank you.

Comments

[voice--encrypted 100% & unhackable]

[ryuuzaki]

I can't say I've heard of any of them either. The month before the last time we spoke is the only one I've missed since 10.

Who are they? The ones who aren't obviously family members.

[Tactful.]

( same! )

[briefly]

Right. Thank you for answering.

Er - friends and coworkers. And... Fred is my boyfriend.

[ryuuzaki]

The other two are his... sisters?

[It sounds like he's still working on something.]

The names don't come up as ever having used the network, so unless they used something false... no, I don't see them.

Would you want him to be here?

[briefly]

Julia is his sister, yes. Emilia is his sister-in-law. They've been married for a while, now.

Well, I don't see why they'd use something false, so - I suppose it's for the best.

[a pause.]

I think I just want to see him, that's all.

[ryuuzaki]

It's understandable. It wouldn't even be that they're far away, it's that it seems impossible to know how far, in space or time.

[He's not sure what good it would do just to see someone. But there are very few people he misses, and time has dulled that, although there are things he has to do for himself now that he'd rather not do. And his handler is an old man, and this place seems better suited to younger people, even if they're all engaged in some kind of steady progress to their doom.

These conversations often turn existential almost immediately -- and then he notices something, and there's a slight change in his voice, to irritation. It annoys him that he's overlooked something like this.]

No, I'm mistaken. I found a Jules Grumley, but nothing recent. I think she was gone before I was here. This was her?

[He sends this video through.]

[briefly]

[NO PROBLEM.]

Oh my God. Yes - yes! That's Julia! How did you find her?

[ryuuzaki]

It's more that I didn't find her before, and I should have. I set the search parameters in a way that made it easier to overlook her.

[He's been sitting at this desk for around 18 hours, but he's not going to volunteer that information. It might be time to admit a temporary defeat in his personal war against sleep. That's easier when he can't be completely sure that most of the things he does on the ship aren't as much of a waste of time as sleep sometimes seems like.]

You sound English to me... is that correct? When was it for you?

[briefly]

I wasn't even aware of any search parameters, so. You're obviously much better at this than I am.

[a pause. She still can't believe it's Julia.]

Yes, I'm from London. What do you mean, when from-? What year I was in?

[ryuuzaki]

Yes, the year. I've realized recently that I can't even be sure that an accent means what I think it does, but it seemed possible that you and I might have some common ground.

[Although they're not from precisely the same world, he thinks. And then he adds, as an aside,]

As far as the search parameters go, I work in Communications.

[briefly]

Well, it was... 2012.

[ryuuzaki]

I don't remember anything after 2004.

Any significant worldwide events in the interim?

[briefly]

Goodness, I... I'm not sure. I'm not sure what happened to me will happen to you.