No matter how it goads you, no matter what you've seen, or what you think you might know--don't go looking. Nothing ever good comes of it, and nothing ever will.

If you're too arrogant, or too foolish to take my advice, then don't come running to me when it all blows up in your face.

[The video begins with a view of Galadriel and Thranduil standing side-by-side in the gardens. Galadriel gives a small, formal nod before addressing the camera]

Well met. What we would say is pertinent to all who reside aboard the Tranquility and, while we are known to some of you, we are certainly not known to all. It seems, therefore, that introductions are in order.

I am Galadriel, Lady of Lothlórien and this [A gesture to the man standing next to her] is Thranduil, Elvenking of Mirkwood.

For a month, the both of us were kept in an extended sleep and visited by a strange dream- one which we both believe to hold truths about the past of this ship and implications about its present.

[Thranduil's eyeline drops slightly below camera-level.]

In the dream, two men stood alone in a long hall. A door was behind them, with a sign that read 'Biolab.' One of the men stood with hands in pockets and his weapon on the floor although the other warned him he would be sent to the brig if anyone noticed him so. They both said it was very cold, to the point of discomfort. They blew on their hands.

They called one another Ruiz and Nichols. Ruiz was the one with his gun on the floor, I remember, but Nichols was his superior. Nichols began to set his weapon down when a terrible sound, one I haven't the words to describe for I have heard it not outside this dream, came from the door. It did not seem natural to me--a machine of a sort we do not have in Middle-earth is my guess. Following it was--

[Thranduil's eyes are completely hollow and glassy, face expressionless.]

--a scream. A scream that made both men flinch, although I believe they must have heard such things often enough by now. A loud, wet scream. The two men began to smoke little cigarettes--foul things--and were silent for a time, when there was another scream. An animal scream it was, not like the one before it, and it was born of great pain.

Nichols reminded--reassured Ruiz that they had only two hours left of this, and told him they were to remain silent and pretend they saw and heard nothing. They did not like the situation, but it seemed to me that they would be in danger if they spoke of it with anyone. They picked up their guns. There was one last, terrible scream that was cut short, then an equally terrible silence.

[Bright eyes flicker to the side for a moment, then he turns to Galadriel and inclines his head to her.]

[And she takes up where he left off, keeping the same solemn expression on her face.] It is clear enough that atrocities were committed in this lab, though of what nature you know as much as we. [She has her guesses, of course, but she will let you all draw your own conclusions.] Regardless, we urge caution to any who should come across this lab. We know not what may lurk within it still.

[Thranduil continues.] Your warning may be that you have reached a very cold part of the ship--for why would it be so cold, if not purposefully, when they most likely had full control over the ship in those days? Still, use caution if you are lost, and expect it around any corner with or without warning. There is no need to repeat what happened when the genetics lab was discovered.

[He reaches out to cut the comm, but a look from Galadriel makes him stop in his tracks and tuck both hands behind his back very formally.]


Until next we meet. [And, then, with another little nod, Galadriel reaches out and cuts the video.]

[ Angel isn’t excited to be facing the camera - especially considering this is his first ever appearance on the network, he doesn’t look like he’s doing this for the potential shits and giggles. Though it’s… not as if he ever looks like he’s having that good of a time, facing the entire network with a painfully somber expression, it mostly looks like he’s been wrangled into this confession of his. ]

I’m not gonna beat around the bush, at this point there isn’t any reason to. We’ve all got memories we’re batting around, and none of them are the feel good family picture kind. Unless you managed to get the one where I saved a puppy, in which case-- [ -- you didn’t get the one where he’s nailing them to objects. probably a good thing. back to the serious topic at hand. ]

Anything else you get from me? Isn’t gonna be warm and fuzzy, and I already know that a few of you got the worst of it. My past used to be the kind of thing I bragged about and it isn’t anymore-- it’s not who I am now but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still mine. It’s still who I was, and if you want to know more? I’d rather have you ask than let it sit in the back of your head like it does in mine.

[ He knows you guys are out there, he knows. And he’s not going to hunt you down because that just makes it a hell of a lot creepier. But he will fold his arms over his chest and look put off by his own existence. ]

I don’t want anyone’s forgiveness, that’s not why i’m asking you to listen. I’m not trying to make anyone understand the things that I did. But if you want an explanation? If you ended up with memories from someone they called Angelus, spending time in Europe killing more people than you could count- torturing the rest just because you wanted to? Maybe getting cursed with a soul? [ this face he’s making means that he really could go on for awhile. ]

Then those were more than likely mine, and if you want to avoid it, that’s fine. So do I. I’ve done everything I can to try and redeem myself, and I can tell you i’m not the same person I used to be. That doesn’t mean you have to believe it. But you should hear it from me instead of wondering if there’s one more monster on board the ship.

 [What you are seeing is Topher. Topher looks a little like hell. Someone may or may not have been avoiding dealing with one of his empathy links for SCIENCE (the first one worked out fine- that's how he knows enough to figure this out, but the second one...) ... Also, it's possible he's been occupied running scans and trying to figure out if he's wrong, which... he's still not convinced he's not.]

I've been working.... [He pauses, plants a palm on his forehead, and sucks in a breath.] I've been working on a theory. It's not entirely sound yet, but I was trying to run through every logical possibility before entertaining the notion that it might actually be... that, and... no dice. None. And it was bad enough when it was just memories, but now- now. Oh, it's much worse. 

Whatever this is, it's on a synaptic level- whatever one person feels, the other person feels too. Observe. [He picks up something sharp and pricks himself, which makes him hiss in pain.] Now someone out there felt that. That means that we are doing some serious groupthink weirdness without the whole "all of us are Borg" BS- SO FAR. Who knows what it'll be in a few weeks. Or days. And what was the last thing 90% of us experienced that involved groupthink? Anyone?

[YEAH, TOPHER'S HAVING A BAD DAY. HOW ARE YOU?] I think we might be in trouble.

[He rubs his face.] And is anyone who was fully assimilated on Strela even still around? 'Cause that'd be a start to maybe possibly proving me wrong. Or right. But let's err on the side of blind optimism and assume my fancy medical degrees in neurology mean nothing and I'm just talking out of my... bottom area. Whatever.

[Maybe you should deal with your link first, Topher. MAYBE. There's science to do, okay.]

I made something.

[ Jaye sounds delighted about this, even as the camera pans to show a crude wood carving of a coyote. It has quite the smile. ]

It's not quite my trickster, but there is a trickster here.

[ One finger taps the top of the wooden coyote's head. ]

We're seeing things; you might have noticed. Whatever you see of mine -- I don't think you'll like it.

[This is a new voice. A smooth voice, canyon-deep and deliberate in its enunciation. Occasionally, the speaker breaks from his practiced tone, but, for the most part -- this sounds like a professional.]

Hello, everyone -- however many people and non-humanoid entities that word may entail. I won't take up too much of your time tonight, but I'm sure you've all noticed it by now. The stray feelings, arriving out of nowhere, and with no apparent courier. The images, too.

Oh, the things I've already seen so far. The things I may never stop seeing. The things now imprinted, permanently, behind my eyelids.

[He sighs, but he doesn't sound aggrieved. It's a soft, dreamy exhale, a gentle 'aah' that's slightly incongruous with the low, dark octaves of his voice.]

I just wanted to say, to whomever may be behind this: you're doing a great job. Simply fantastic. We had an emotional entrepreneur in my little hometown, and I thought I was impressed by their work, but this is a cut above! Full-featured memories, delivered right to us, and without any long and frustrating sign-up process.

It's a great service, and you're performing it so efficiently. Why, if this keeps up, I may never have a feeling or thought of my own again. My sense of self might become completely sublimated to a foreign set of memories and experiences. I would have no identity-based responsibilities whatsoever.

Dream vacation, right?

So keep up the good work, whoever you are. Five stars.

[Q looks completely wrecked. The lack of sleep that the Tranquility has so kindly blessed him with has left him looking almost on death's door, bags under his eyes and his clothes and hair dishevelled. Apparently, however, insomnia prompts either genius or madness and around him are a plethora of papers and diagrams, repeatedly scribbled out and redrawn with blue and red pen. Q rubs his bloodshot eyes and smiles slightly up at his audience.]

Hello, there. So these past few months have been rather hectic and it got me thinking. [That and more cups of tea than he would care to count.]

So the universe is endless, yes? A giant mass of endless stars. As our telescopes get stronger and stronger and we look out into the void of space, we keep finding more to look at. We cannot find its horizon.

[He rocks on the balls of his feet and begins to rifle through his papers.]

Yet a recent theory suggested that while it's endless, it isn't some vast, infinite mass. Instead, it loops back on itself. Time and space is...a doughnut.

[He holds up a complex diagram filled with numbers and various intersecting circles up to the camera.]

If we look far enough into the distance, we can see ourselves and it is my belief that the people, the things which we are witnessing on The Tranquility are either ourselves or the ship's past or future catching up on us. The jumps, in my opinion, are literal, as we dot from place to place, picking up fragments of time.

[He lets out a sigh and scratches his head.]

Fuck me if I know who Smiley is though.