(Untitled)

[aimedforthemoon]

The Russian astronaut is feeling mildly lazy today, which is why she's down in the bar instead of upstairs with the flight-sims. Leisurely breakfast, washed down by coffee and Bar had been kind enough to provide a newspaper

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[52_dropoff]

"Hi." Charlie is not far off, enjoying a bowl of berries and melon for breakfast.

[aimedforthemoon]

She blinks, then looks up.

"Morning, Charlie!"

[ooc: and I'm actually heading off now, but I'll catch up in the morning!]

[52_dropoff]

"It's been a while. How's the space race?" By which he means her adventures in space of late, having not seen the newspapers.

[ooc: sleep well - probably won't be on at the same time as you again till Sunday morning.]

[aimedforthemoon]

She, on other hand, assumes he means her world.

"Oh, well, working in partnership with Americans, which is...good, I think."

[52_dropoff]

"I meant your missions, but that's also interesting." He moves closer and now reads the headlines. "In my world, there have been joint missions for some time. But never to Jupiter."

[aimedforthemoon]

"There was an American one, in 2001 - it, uh, ran into some difficulties. So, another crew to go and check."

[52_dropoff]

That sounds familiar.

"And you've learned that from the newspapers the Bar gave you, yes?"

[aimedforthemoon]

She nods.

"Everyone else I talked to said that no one else went to Moon. So, I looked at my own world's, and it's different. That interests me, so Bar generally gives me the newspapers with new leaps forward and things like that."

[52_dropoff]

"I think that is rather fascinating. But I'd be afraid to find out what comes after my time. Things were bad for a while in some ways and I think were on the verge of getting worse."

[aimedforthemoon]

"I...I had to know what happened to my murderer anyway, and then it just became habit. Plus, I'm curious. My world is in not such a good shape, but it's my world. I have to know."

[52_dropoff]

"Tell me about it, then? About the Russian efforts in the space program, and these missions?" The space program was never a passion for Charlie, but the idea of alternate timelines has grown on him.

[aimedforthemoon]

That gets a laugh.

"Which one?"

[52_dropoff]

"The one your people and mine are investigating, for starters." Might as well have the context first.

[aimedforthemoon]

And so, she gives him the context, starting with the Americans discovering a monolith on the Moon, and their expedition ending in diaster with four men dead, and the other gone beyond the stars. If it sounds familiar, well...

Fact and fiction and alternate worlds do tend to blur together, in Milliways.

Which brings her to the current one; Soviet ship, mostly Soviet crew (Captain Tatiana Orlova, she mentions and, no, she can't help that proud smile, because she's still a Soviet through and through), with three Americans - the one who helped design the HAL computer who went insane, and the other just as much involved with the events of 2001.

[52_dropoff]

He saw that movie, long ago. And the idea that it's real someplace...he wonders if Kubrick would be impressed, or somehow disappointed. (Alas, Charlie knows more about Kubrick than Clarke.) "In my timeline, we have some pretty advanced robots and some pretty advanced spacecraft, but no one has quite combined them that way yet.

"And not to go to Jupiter. But we don't have anything like the monolith." Unless it's been squelched.

[aimedforthemoon]

"The monlith is odd. But, it's...it's so strange, your world and others. The Americans get to Moon before Russians, and no one else goes. It's just all wars and everyone not looking to stars anymore. I don't understand it."