043 [audio]

[farfairersoul]

When we all went belowdeck, did anyone else find that room full of posters? I have a fair number of of them in my room--all birds. Not any birds I've ever seen, of course, but Kras City is lucky to have seagulls, one would require quite a bit of luck to find a cardinal or whatever those were.

Or the bird would have to be utterly mad.

[He's

Comments

[scionofwisdom]

I find myself frequently thinking about those very same questions.

[farfairersoul]

I suppose everyone would, now and then. The proper question would be why no one ever asks about it.

[scionofwisdom]

Very true. Perhaps there are those among the ship that are at peace with ignorance.

Or, perhaps we know that our questions will continue to go unanswered for the most part.

[farfairersoul]

Ah, but the point of asking questions isn't always to get an answer, is it? Reactions can often be just as telling as words, and planting that seed of curiosity in others is well worth missing out on an answer or two.

[ntjstapwn]

There are some birds here. I've seen a seagull.

I'm not sure about the rest. You have good points.

[farfairersoul]

Oh? I've been here six months and the only bird I've even heard is the Heron.

[She responded to one of his posts a while back, but he's never seen her.]

If there are seagulls, I certainly haven't seen them.

[ntjstapwn]

I've only seen the one...I guess its probably connected to a passanger, since there aren't others.

[farfairersoul]

One seagull does sound significantly more passenger-related than natural. Dealing with one of those little mongrels on its own would have been a blessing back in Kras, but in my experience they tend to move in flocks.

I suppose I'll simply have to keep my eyes open.

[ecopiracy]

What do you mean, "the ship is not a ship?"

[farfairersoul]

An earlier passenger used her golden frog to ask the crew about the ship, and was told that what is isn't at all what we see. She had a bit of a breakdown about it over the network.

So no. The ship is not a ship.

[ecopiracy]

Why perpetuate an illusion as large and complex as this? How would such a thing be done, and for such an extended period of time?

[farfairersoul]

...Phoenix.

[By his tone, he's stating the obvious.]

Redd turned us both into sixteen-year-olds for three days. He turned Erol into an eco-drunk cyborg, and Jak into a child.

I don't think making us see things differently would be difficult at all.

[ttlynotawizard]

And that's exactly what I've been wondering.

[farfairersoul]

So even you, a man who's hard-wired into the ship's informational system, doesn't know? It must be quite the closely-guarded tidbit of information.

[ttlynotawizard]

Is that my reputation?

[farfairersoul]

I recognize the tone of voice and the like--people say it takes one two know one, so you aren't the only infomonger aboard. Difference being, I have no idea what you intend to do with the information you've gathered.

[Actually, the difference is that Razer doesn't really care as much as he probably should, so he just learns what he can because he can.]

[explosivetalent]

Truly a haunting sentiment... We could be traveling through another world entirely. Or something that isn't a world at all.

[He's starting to wonder what a bad storm would do to the ship.]

[farfairersoul]

Or not traveling--not even moving at all. That would explain why the so-called trip is taking so long.

[explosivetalent]

I guess there's no way to judge if the horizon's moving if there are no clouds and no landmarks. Are there even clouds?

[He knows it at least gets dark. Time is moving, though it might be cyclically.]

[farfairersoul]

I've been told there was an island, quite a while ago, but it exploded into feathers as soon as the ship left port.

[Pause.]

No, I don't understand it either.