Feb 25 // The Master, OPEN

[lord_and]

Date: Feb. 25, early morning
Characters: The Master, OPEN to all characters
Location: Control Room
Summary: The Master takes a break from closeted scheming with a shift at the radio.
Warnings: None, probably

Comments

[ghost_bullets]

It sounded like one of the British guys was in the control room doing some sort of chemistry experiment. That was no good. Those guys plus chemistry plus the big fucking computer that controlled everything was a recipe for disaster. Especially if it was that older jackass, but they both sounded exactly the same to him.

So he couldn't help but poke his head into the room. "Hey, what're you- oh. Uh, hi. You're that new guy, aren't you? I thought you were someone else." Whoops.

[lord_and]

He turned in his chair at the sound of the door opening, finding himself facing... a robot? Someone in heavy armour? And with a gun, this was an interesting change of pace compared to the kid in the cape.

"Hello," he said, drawing the word out a little as he stood, pushing the chair to the side and offering his hand. "I'm Cyril. Private Church, is it? Or are you Freelancer Tex? I haven't made the rounds yet, so I haven't met many of the rest of you."

[ghost_bullets]

"Church. Tex is a chick. She's got black armor. Anyway, uh, good to meet you, Cyril." He gave his hand a shake. "Sounded like you were doing some sort of project in here. What's up?" Clearly there was no chemistry going on in this room after all. Which was a shame, because he actually kind of liked chemistry, though he preferred things like adding sodium to water than, say, titrating small amounts of weak acids into other liquids until the whole thing turned vaguely pink.

[lord_and]

His handshake was extra firm, trying to feel whether there was anything organic beneath the gauntlet. It was no use, though. This was not armour he was familiar with, making it impossible to tell for certain. His instinct, however, said 'robot.'

"That's good to know." So there were more military women here than men. That would make for an interesting dynamic. He turned back to the radio. "It's not much of a project; I was just filling the dead air here."

[ghost_bullets]

"Radio duty, huh?" He snorted. "Waste of fucking time, but yeah, I've done a bunch of that, too. What, you reading science experiments to our nonexistent listeners, then?" he asked, amused.

[lord_and]

"Reciting recipes, actually. Enriching life for our captors, if they're listening," he said with an ironic smile. "Otherwise, I can hope it's about 1936 out there and by some very unlikely stretch there's a relay that will broadcast it to Earth and everyone will discover apple caviar a few decades early." And the ensuing culinary revolution would lead to the destabilization of all Western governments and... well, it wasn't a very good plan, in fact, it wasn't a plan at all, but he wasn't all that enthusiastic about opening up the vortex at the moment.

[ghost_bullets]

"1936? They didn't have this kind of technology back then, did they? This colony's gotta be at least, what, 22nd, 23rd century? I don't think you'll be contacting the 1930s by radio, dude." Never mind that he didn't even know what the hell apple caviar was. He knew what apples were and he knew what caviar was, and as far as he knew not only did they not go together, but something like calcium chloride had no place getting involved in food.

[lord_and]

"They didn't on Earth, no." The relativity of when they were now, however, didn't seem like a point worth arguing. "You're familiar with 23rd century technologies? When were you brought here from?"

[ghost_bullets]

"2554. How about you?" By the sound of it, here was finally another person who was from sometime past the early 21st century. He'd gotten sick of being surrounded by all these morons from the past. Not that it was their fault that they were from so far back that they were practically cavemen, but talking to cavemen on a regular basis made him feel dumber.

[lord_and]

"2554... not a bad year. Though," he looked at his armour again, "you weren't fighting the Draconians, were you?"

[ghost_bullets]

"Drac- no, what? What're the Draconians? No, uh, I was fighting in a civil war, against the Reds. Though there was also a war against the Covenant up until not too long ago, going at the same time. But I didn't actually fight any aliens myself." It sounded like he was familiar with the time period, but maybe in a different universe or whatever that bullshit Robin kept talking about was. He tried again. "So, what year are you from?"

[lord_and]

He nodded. "Different universe, then. That'd explain why I don't recognize your armour. Though there are so many groups that call themselves 'Reds' and 'The Covenant' you could just be a very out-of-touch soldier." He shrugged and pulled his chair away from the radio, sitting down backwards with his arms folded across the top of the chairback, still facing Church. "If you must know, I was brought here from 2006. I'm afraid that's the best answer I can give you. If you want my birthday or something, I'm on a completely different calendar."

[ghost_bullets]

"Wait. But if you're from 2006, how do you know what 2554's like in your universe? You a time traveler or something?" Church was instantly suspicious. It took a seriously powerful computer to calculate time travel, and in his experience, an AI to run the whole setup. And AIs were seriously bad news.

[lord_and]

The Master raised an eyebrow ironically at Church, resting his chin on his hands. Was that scepticism? "I am. But at the moment I'm travelling at exactly the same speed as everyone else." It was impossible to read someone when they stood around with a opaque helmet on. All he could see was his own reflection in the faceplate. Had they even figured out time travel in his universe? Humans were traditionally slow with such things.

[ghost_bullets]

"Yeah, no shit. So, what, how do you guys do it in your world?" he asked, still suspicious. If this guy had one of those programs with him, maybe it was just best to avoid him from now on.

[lord_and]

'How do you do it,' he asks. The Master laughed to himself. Like it's 'Oh, is that how you do the tango in your world?' As if he was going to sit here and explain it. Shame 'You use a bloody timeship' wasn't going to be an acceptable answer.

"You know, what I do is I just close my eyes and wish real hard that I was somewhen else." He shut his eyes tightly for a moment and hummed a few bars of waiting music, then opened them again and looked around with mock disappointment. "But it doesn't work here." He remembered the gun Church was carrying, and quickly hedged: "Some of us use a semi-organic dimensionally transcendental time ship, though." Actually, that didn't come out much better.