un: rocipilot, video

[donkeyballs]

[The video comes on to show a small group of people. Alex is in front, obviously doing the filming, but behind him are two women - Naomi Nagata and Bobbie Draper - and one man - Amos Burton. You may have met some of them. A little behind them stands Prax Meng, who is looking very awkward, and Joe Miller, who is visibly rolling his eyes.]

Hey there cowboys and cowgirls. [ Alex’s characteristic texan drawl is easy and smooth, and despite the fact that there’s currently no gravity, he doesn’t sound worried.] Hope ya’ll had your magboots on.

Looks like somethin’ in the station’s centrifugal system is jammed up. That’ll be why ya’ll found your breakfast start floatin’ this mornin’. Ya ain’t gonna die, so no panickin’, but we’re gonna need all hands on deck to sort this one out. Now me and my crew here have a lot of experience with space-walk maintenance, but this is a big station. Ain’t no way we can do this by ourselves. But we wanna make sure anyone that’s venturin’ outside isn’t gonna get themselves hurt.

[He raises a hand.] Now my name’s Alex, and these here are Naomi, Bobbie and Amos. [He points to each of them in turn.] We can check over your gear and make sure it ain’t gonna start leakin’ oh-two on ya while you’re out there. We’ll be headin’ out ourselves, but at least one of us’ll be by an airlock at all times.

If anyone is havin’ problems with the weightless side of things - you just give one of us a shout and we’ll try t’ get you set up. Basic rules are - you’re gonna keep goin’ in any direction you are propelled in. Easiest thing is to just use your magboots to get around, but if you’ve gone and gotten yourself caught without ‘em, make sure you stay within arm’s reach of a wall or bolted-down-object at all times, else you’re gonna find yourself floatin’ uselessly with no way of gettin’ t’ anything.

[He pauses, looking back at the group.]

That about it? [ He waits a couple seconds, but no one adds anything, so he looks back in the camera. ]


Alright. Let’s get this show on the road.

[ The feed winks out. ]


[[OOC: Each of the Roci crew will have top levels in the event post to help people with their suits, so feel free to hit them up there! I will also link them here for easy access. Naomi || Bobbie || Amos || Alex ]]

Comments

[donkeyballs]

[ He nods. ]

Been workin' in space m'whole life, and run into just about every damn issue you can think of. Space Stations ain't my speciality, exactly, but Amos and Naomi here are two of the best damn engineers I know - they'll figure it out.

[He offers a rueful, lopsided smile.]

Think I can go ahead and guess that you ain't ever spacewalked before?

[monomachy]

[that... actually makes her feel much better. not many here seem to have any experience with space, but having someone state so confidently that they do is a relief. she smiles back, nodding.]

Your knowledge will be invaluable, I'm sure. Thank you for offering to help us.

[diana laughs a little, and shakes her head.]

You've guessed correctly. I didn't set foot off the island on which I was born for a long time. But it seems that since I did, I only get further away from it each day.

[she doesn't say it sadly, exactly. it's just a statement of fact, tinged with an unreadable emotion.]

[donkeyballs]

We'll make sure everyone pulls through it alrigh, don't you worry, darlin'. [ Where some people might have said that and made it sound condescending, he uses it as if it's just a replacement for her name. Which it is. Sorry, he's terrible. ]

An island? [ He looks a little impressed. ]

I ain't ever even seen an ocean, so you've got me beat there.

[monomachy]

[there's a little twist of her mouth that might have been a frown, but quickly fades into a gentle smile once she recognizes his tone. still:] My name is Diana.

[her brows raise, and she looks incredulous.]

Never? But most of the Earth is covered in oceans. How can you never have seen one?

[donkeyballs]

Good to meet you, Diana. [ He offered a warm smile.

At the question, he shook his head. ]

Ain't ever seen Earth, either, save on a view screen, a few hundred thousand clicks from Orbit. Mars doesn't have any oceans. Not yet anyway.

[monomachy]

[her eyes go wide. she's... never met someone who's never been to earth. a wide grin splits her face, and she leans towards the camera as if she can get to him through it.]

You're from Mars? What is it like? I remember learning where it was in the sky, a reddish dot among all the stars.

[donkeyballs]

[ The smile broadened. ]

Well, it sure is Red, I'll say that much. It ain't like Earth - the terraformin' project ain't done yet - probably won't be in my life time. So most of it is rock and dust. We live in domes on the surface.

Or I mean - they do. I haven't lived on mars for years, now, but. Was born and raised there.

[monomachy]

I can't imagine what it's like for people living there, but it only makes sense. It's impossible for Earth to be the only planet hosting life.

Where have you lived since?

[donkeyballs]

It ain't an easy life, but it ain't the worst. Belters have it a lot worse than us, I can say that much. Life under the domes ain't too bad. [ Even if he just couldn't hack it. ]

Me? Oh, uh. Actually I've lived ship side, for a while now. Most recently on the Rocinante - and she is a hell of a girl - and before that the Cantebury. Before that I was Martian Navy, so. Don't have a home port, exactly.

[monomachy]

What is a belter? And you lived beneath a dome? Why?

That is a lot of ships. Were any of them much like this one?

[donkeyballs]

Ah - Belter's are what we call the people who live out in the Belt. Or beyond it. It's an asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter - though a lot of Belters actually live in the Jovian system, some in the Saturn system around Titan, for example.

There ain't a planet or moon or rock in the solar system that can live without domes or some other structure - save Earth. Earth's the only one with a habitable atmosphere. The rest of us gotta get by with what air and water we bring with us. Like this place.

[ He gestures around him. ]

This ain't a ship. Trust me, I'd be a hell of a lot happier if it was. But this is a station, which means she ain't goin' anywhere, any time soon. She reminds me a bit of Tycho, though. It ain't completely unfamiliar. Though no station I ever heard of would put windows like the ones we got on the observation deck.

[monomachy]

That's amazing! How could you bring enough air, or water? [she will keep asking questions unless he stops her tbh]

Even if this station doesn't go anywhere, that doesn't mean we are lost to it. People were here once, so they had to come and go somehow. And I cannot imagine anyone would simply abandon a magnificent structure like this. Perhaps someone will come before much longer.

[donkeyballs]

Well, I ain't gonna lie, it takes a careful bit of calculation. But we have recyclin' systems, so for the most part as long as you're careful and have full tanks when you take off, you can keep goin' for a while. The real problem is when you start usin' it up faster than the ship can recycle it.

I hope you're right. Though I ain't so sure I want to meet whoever the hell brought us here, but - it's probably the only way we're gonna figure out how to get home.

[monomachy]

I can see rationing water, but how would one ration air?

I want to meet them, very much. I need to have words with them about being brought here in the first place.

[donkeyballs]

Well, that's the thing. You can't ration it, exactly, but you can calculate how much a person uses, on average.

Earthers use the most - they've got denser bones and muscles and so need more oxygen for their metabolism to keep up. And people use a lot more oxygen awake than asleep. So you figure out how much your crew needs, then make sure you have enough that with the recyclers you can get to your destination and back - with air to spare - even when considering the losses that naturally come with the recyclin' systems.

Water's the same way, though the losses on the reclyin' is a lot higher.

Hell, you're more'n welcome to it. Just let us know if you manage to get anythin' out of 'em.