text / audio | un: newt

[groupiedrifter]

Alright, let's not be total wallflowers at prom here, if we're going to be stuck together for the foreseeable future, I think it's only right that we (read: I) start getting to know all of my fellow space cadets. If we're ACTUALLY in space and this isn't some humongous simulation. You guys saw how easy it was for this place to manufacture a hyper-realistic simulation earlier, right? Yikes, big yikes.

But if we ARE in space and we're going to be traveling around, that's actually kind of AWESOME.

No offense to anyone who didn't want to actually be here of course, but you're nuts if you're not a LITTLE curious about the vast expanse of outer space. C'mon. OUTER SPACE! How incredible is that? And here I thought me coming face to face with aliens back home was INCREDIBLE, now we've got ACTUAL OUTER SPACE??? Pinch me I'm in a simulation. LOL.

Sorry I'm rambling, my name's Newt. Dr. Newton Geiszler, but but that sounds so much more boring and overcomplicated than 'Newt', so just stick with that. Worked as a xenobiologist on earth (is there multiple earths or what??? a lot of you are crazy unfamiliar with Kaiju, which is wild to me), helped giant robots fight aliens, the usual. Likes are rock music, playing instruments, tattoos, science and tech, dislikes are bossy pushovers who complain about those things.

Speaking of which, my really good pal from home's name is Hermann Gottlieb, and you should call him Herm to make him REALLY feel at home. :)

It's nice to meet you guys on the NEWTwork. ;P

... Actually—

[Suddenly, the text turns into audio, in which a higher voice with some focal fry bleeds in-]

—can I just abruptly switch to an audio function?

[A pause, and then an excitable:]

Holy shit, how awesome is that?! This is amazing; we've made some pretty monumental gains in technology back home, but we're still working on finessing the finer aspects of neuralogically connecting to networks like these for the general population. I'd love to take one of these apart sometime and see what makes them tick. Good to have an idea of what to expect, in case we need modifications or repairs done at any point.

Anyway. Uh. Hey!

... This whole voices-in-your-head thing can't be good for my train of thought, but geronimo, right?

[If anyone listens beyond that, they may catch the accidental thought-to-audio that follows:]

Wha — oh, dammit.

I sure hope this is the last nosebleed, because I would rather not worry about having accidental brain damage from drifting with aliens.

Comments

[neveroutwrenched]

[What the hell was a "god zilla"? Ratchet keeps that question to himself, afraid of the answer. Or, the length of the answer.]

So these kaiju come from another planet...but you don't have interstellar travel? Is there anyone who can help you guys?

[Ratchet was starting to inadvertently formulate a sort of tragic picture in his head of Newt's world. Maybe their planet was just very remote.]

[groupiedrifter]

We have some space travel, but... We can only send a handful of people into space at a time, and we can't go very far. The furthest we've ever gone was Apollo 13 — 248,655 miles from our planet, to be specific.

In that time, we've never known of any other lifeforms out there.

So we were definitely just — on our own. Other than the aliens that wanted to kill us using the Kaiju, of course.

[neveroutwrenched]

Huh. That sounds...lonely.

[He means it too, and not in a disparaging way. It was a hard concept for him to grasp, your planet being...the only planet. He understood being stuck on the one planet at least, but even then, he'd always had the knowledge that more were out there. His planet, no matter how far flung or isolated, was part of an expansive community of other worlds, and people, as different as they were alike. Not yet knowing if there was anyone else out there must have be immensely isolating. Scary, even.]

Well, if you ever want the schematics for a gravity drive or warp engine...you could probably change your world when you go back.

Or at least get really rich.

[groupiedrifter]

It's only as lonely as you make it, right? There's billions of us on that planet... but I'm sure even if there were a billion planets full of billions of people around us, you can feel impossibly alone.

[Wow, Newt, a little heavy. He switches it up to something way less serious:]

Ratchet, I would love to learn about gravity drives and warp engines. Is your name really Ratchet, by the way? 'Cus I love it, it's a perfect name for a guitarist.

[neveroutwrenched]

Heh. Yeah.

[Maybe there was something to that. You could let your aloneness drown you, or you could find what makes it better. Or bearable. The people that make it better. It wasn't a terrible way of looking at it, and one that Ratchet was still working on.]

Yeah, it's really Ratchet. [That was the uncomplicated answer, at least.] I guess 'Newt' is a pretty perfect name for a drummer, so we've almost got a whole band.

[groupiedrifter]

[ehem]

Actually, I was in a band for a while. Me and some fellas from college, we played some gigs here and there — it was a total blast, dragging all our equipment around and playing at whatever'd take us. Keyboard's pretty fun, but there's nothing better than riffing on a guitar.

[neveroutwrenched]

I'll have to take your word for it. I've never played an instrument in my life.

[And he intended to keep it that way.]

So, medicine, engineering, music...got any other talents you want to disclose?

[groupiedrifter]

Does teaching count as a talent? I did that for, like, six years.

... Though I guess whether it was a talent or not depends on what my students say.

[A pause.]

Oh! I'm good at whistling. There you go!

How about you? What talents are we working with, here?

[neveroutwrenched]

It's a skill, so, yeah, sure, I'll count it. Whistling...half credit.

[Ratchet laughs at the question getting bounced his way, a nervous deflection, if anything.]

Eh, nothing cool like being in a band, that's for sure. My skills lie mostly in ship engines. Warp drives and gravity boosters and that kind of thing? [Sure there were other things, but Ratchet was putting forward what mattered here, the stuff he felt confident about. The uncomplicated thing he loved most.] So you know, if you ever need like, an experimental upgrade for anything with a propulsion system...I'm your guy.

[groupiedrifter]

Uh, excuse me? Are you saying warp drives and gravity boosters aren't cool?

You're incredible, dude. Don't put yourself down thinking your skills aren't crazy awesome.

[neveroutwrenched]

Uh, no. I'm saying they're normal where I'm from, very everyday life.

...but also they are cool.

[Damn it.]

You know, you sure have a lot of confidence.

[groupiedrifter]

Well... Yeah! I gotta have a lot of confidence. You never know if you're gonna be the only one who's confident in yourself and what you can do in the world, so you might as well give it all you got!

[He holds up a hand, throwing up the horns.]

I'm a total badass who kicks ass! Anyone who thinks otherwise can get lost!

[His uncle used to practice these exercises with him when he was little, and it meant the world to him, you know?]

[neveroutwrenched]

[It was such an intense outlook, positive or not, that it take Ratchet by surprise. That kind of raw, congratulatory self confidence felt, well...alien to Ratchet.

But somehow it didn't feel arrogant.]

Heh, well. I guess I know who to call when the team needs a little morale boost.

[groupiedrifter]

Totally. You need it, I'll give it! I've got plenty to spare, anyway.

And in return, you can help me get used to all this space travel business. Pretend I'm a tourist.