Network Video

[dr_riley]

[ Months after anyone has seen or heard from Drake, a video appears on the Network of a young man who looks agitated and a bit frazzled - so nothing unusual, really. He's in the only place with which he's gotten completely familiar and more or less comfortable (the research lab) and looks more or less the same as he did the last time anyone saw him, save for looking like he's just rolled out of bed but hadn't gotten any sleep, and a few scrapes and bruises on his arms. His military drab jacket has been swapped for a light blue t-shirt with alien writing on it and anyone who knows him might notice that he's now wearing a wedding ring and that he seems hesitant and stilted. ]

He- uh. Hello. Everyone. This is Doctor Drake Riley, and... [ Though he tries to start strong, there's a definite frightened quaver in the back of his throat. ]

I um.

I'm going to get right to it. I've lost a lot of time, and...and I don't know where it's gone. [ He runs a hand nervously through his hair - ah, this is probably why it looks so messy - and the air sparkles with little red heart confettis and glitter. ] I don't know how long it's been, I don't remember....anything. Wasn't there snow on the ground?

I'm - uh... I'm here at the research laboratory, everything looks the same.

Can anyone-

Did something happen?

Comments

[Video]

[tyrants_son]

Doctor, it has been some time.

The snow has not been gone too long, replaced by...that. [Obviously someone does not care for the glitter.]

Are you well? It is difficult to say if anything has happened given that you cannot provide more exact a reference, but the past two months have been relatively quiet.

[dr_riley]

You! Uh...

[ He taps his middle finger and thumb together, trying to remember, and finally points ]

Felwinter!

No, I- Well I don't know, the last thing I remember...I was talking to Kyle. It was right after... [ Here, he trails off, unwanted memories rushing back in ] ...after......the nightmare.

[tyrants_son]

[Felwinter waits. Patience is something he has in droves, and when Riley says his name, he acknowledges it with a nod.]

...the nightmare.

[His optics seem to narrow at that, but he again nods, if more solemnly before looking away from the screen for a moment. That is not something he wishes to revisit either.]

You did not go back? I have heard that some vanish, only to return from their place of origin, changed only by experience in whatever length of time they have continued then before finding themselves here again.

[dr_riley]

[ Drake puts both hands down on the counter and leans forward. ]

That sounds awful. Going home just to get dragged back here again? Bloody cruel.

But no, I...I don't know, I don't remember. [ He runs a hand through his hair again. This time, the glint of his ring catches his eye and he freezes...then holds his hand up close to the screen. ]

I have this, though. I don't remember putting it on, but I didn't have it here before. And - where is it - [ He twists around, looking for something that he finds on the counter behind him. ] THIS. [ Again, he holds something up to the screen. It's a photo of a pretty red haired woman and two children. It's not hard to guess who they are. ] This is new.

[tyrants_son]

I will not claim to understand the reasoning but I do not think the Agrii have control of these matters.

[He lifts his head slightly as Drake brings these items into view.]

Gifts, perhaps. A good while ago the Agrii set up some sort of celebration to signify a new year. Gifts were given to those here, personal things, it seems.

[dr_riley]

[ He puts the photo down and raises his eyebrows ]

Does that mean I've been here the whole time, then? Or that they knew I'd be back?

[tyrants_son]

I do not know the answer to that.

[dr_riley]

[ He takes a moment to let the unequivocal finality of that sink in...and looks more defeated than he should. ]

...no. No, I don't suppose you would.

I don't suppose anyone would.

[tyrants_son]

It is frustrating, but there are unfortunately little enough answers to be provided for many things here. If you are unharmed and can still remember things at all, then I would count that as fortunate. Perhaps explanations will come in time.

[dr_riley]

[ He makes an unpleasant face, suggesting he doesn't agree with that at all, but agrees anyway. ]

It could be worse. Not by a lot, I reckon, but it could be.

Right. Time.

...

One can hope.

[ He looks resigned instead of hopeful. Then a light clicks on in his eyes. ]

Time. If my tablet stayed here, it'll have timestamps on any energy or atmospheric changes it's picked up. Thanks, talk soon, have to go.

[ He reaches forward and clicks the camera off ]

[Text]

[in_extremis]

What do you mean, you don't remember anything? How do you know you're missing time?

[Text]

[dr_riley]

I mean the last thing I remember is the immediate aftermath of that dreadful giant eyeball making everyone mental, and there's dust on the machinery here that didn't gather overnight.

[ The way the incoming text is worded makes it sound to Drake like he's been present and ought to remember it, and he isn't sure what he dreads more: hearing that he's been traipsing around like someone on a constant low dose of midazolam doing God-knows-what, probably stupid, embarrassing things he doesn't remember, or that he'd been gone altogether and will never know what happened. ]

[in_extremis]

Just...nothing? Like that was yesterday, and you just woke up?

Have you touched anything? You should be checked. Don't change your clothes or anything, maybe there's something there.

[dr_riley]

Not like yesterday. It's hard to describe. Feels like awhile ago, but I've got nothing in between. Office looks the same, like no one's been in, except there's a photo and a ring that weren't here before.

Checked by whom exactly? Is there a department for this? Office of Anterograde Amnesia?

[in_extremis]

More like the Centre for Alien Transfiguration.

A couple of people went missing and had some weird marks when they appeared again, once before. Never figured out what they were.

[dr_riley]

[ Transfiguration?? He does not like the sound of that, no sir. But that next bit gets his attention so fast, he makes a few typos. ]

AMF who was that, who DOD they go se did they lose memory's to

[in_extremis]

If this is you already developing tentacles, I think we have some answers.

They're both gone now, that's the other problem--they weren't here much longer after that. They disappeared, we found them on an alien ship, they seemed to be in some kind of coma, and they had puncture marks. Real alien abduction stuff.

Then they were gone again.

[dr_riley]

[ There's a significant pause this time, while Drake takes a few minutes to be disappointed and unpack the few things he'd put together in preparation of meeting these people. ]

That's very funny but no. just in a hurry.

Did they wake up before disappearing a second time? And did anyone examine the wounds?

[in_extremis]

Uh...one of them did.

Honestly, I'm starting to regret telling you this part, because I don't actually know that much myself. I'm not a...meat guy.

I'm not sure who else is still here that did examine them, though. Maybe Billy. You could try the hospital.

[dr_riley]

[ Drake pulls back and makes a face. Meat guy, what does that mean? But it doesn't matter, as he's got the disappointment gist of the message anyway.

Thank you, that's not very helpful but still the most helpful anyone's been today.

[ video ]

[beholding_archivist]

[ Lost time, huh...? ]

Maybe you were sent back for a while. Back home, so to say. Though differently from how i went for some of us who are only gone for a few days here, yet years passed in their home dimension.

And now you are back. Are you quite alright?

[dr_riley]

[ He rubs his temples more out of habit than necessity. ]

I am not quite alright, I am the opposite of quite alright, I am shattered. If I went home, I don't remember it, which........you know, I'm not sure if that's worse or not, but either way, it seems unnecessarily cruel. Why send someone home only to drag them back?

[beholding_archivist]

I doubt the Atroma are very concerned with treating us decently.

You missed... A renaissance fair. Everything tasted like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Again.

[dr_riley]

Are we saying their name openly, now? Because I recall getting torn off a strip.

What do you mean a Renaissance Faire? Did this place have a Renaissance?

[beholding_archivist]

What else are we supposed to call them? They who shall not be named? That's ridiculous. The Atroma know we know of them. Whoever believes to be able to be keeping any secrets from them is utterly naive.

But no. This appeared to be more inspired by the sort of Renaissance Faire you'd remember from Earth. They even tried to decorate it with projections of remotely appropriate costumed humans.

[dr_riley]

Well that seems like a waste of time.

[ Not that he doesn't enjoy Renn Faires; Drake actually enjoys them a lot, but if the Agrii want their planet restored, he can't fathom why they would dedicate time and energy toward distracting the people they want to do the job. ]

Projections? As in, holograms? I didn't know there were holo-projectors down here that they could access.

[ could be useful if cannibalized... ]

[beholding_archivist]

I don't believe they actually need holo-projectors for these.

[ Jon sighs in 'Weird alien technology makes no freaking sense.' ]

Regardless. That... Happened.