revivalproject | → 003 | network | audio | OTA

[Sameen Shaw, aged ten, has been taught what to do if anyone ever tries to kidnap her. She has not been taught what to do if she wakes up someplace completely strange and unfamiliar, wearing way-too-big clothes that don't belong to her. Has she been kidnapped? Is she still dreaming? Did her mom die, causing the police to take her to an orphanage while she was sleeping? She certainly doesn't know. And since she's alone in the room she finds herself in, and the hallway happens to be empty when she sticks her head out to check, there doesn't seem to be anybody around to ask... until she finds her network device.

She doesn't have anything like this at home, but it looks a lot like the things they use in Star Trek, so at least there's some level of familiarity there - and that's enough to inspire her to try to use it.]

Hello?

[She stops and waits, but no one answers - which, as she quickly figures out, probably means that she's not placing a call on an open line, but rather preparing a message to send. And that means she should say a little more. In a completely calm, measured voice, she adds:]

If my mom is dead, can you just tell me? You don't have to wait to decide how to say it in a nice way.

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I don't know if she was here. I've never been here before. I went to bed at home, and when I woke up I was in a different room.

[It sure is weird!]

I thought maybe a policeman or a social worker brought me here because she died. Are we still in America?

It's definitely an awkward and disorienting experience; I've only been here a handful of days myself. [ Just so she knows she's not the only one who's had to deal with weirdness so recently, since it might be slightly reassuring. As much as something like that can be, anyway. ] If you want, you can tell me some stuff about your mom so if I see anything that indicates she is or was here, I'll know? But, as for being in America still, we are not there, no. That's where I was before here, too.

Are we on a base?

[But-- okay. Describing her mom so the big kid can help her find her is a good idea; she can do that.]

My mom's name is Niloufar Hanifnejad. She has long dark brown hair and she likes wearing blue jeans. She works at NYU; she's a literature professor.

Like a military base? No, not that kind anyway.

[ Well, unless it's just very good at hiding that. But that's doubtful. ]

Oh, if she's here, I can find a literature professor so easily. I do a lot of reading and writing, and even more talking about them. [ Hence, 'find the literature professor' becomes more of a 'find the person who doesn't have the expression of 'if you don't shut the fuck up two and a half hours ago, I will murder you' all over their face' thing. Finally, this becomes useful. ]

[HMMMMM. Sameen considers this tactic, decides that it's a good one, and says:]

Can you tell a lot of people that you want to take a college class about poetry? And that you want to write good papers about Robert Frost and Rumi.

[A pause.]

And that you're looking for an advisor.

[Nailed it.]

[ yeah, no tactic he's ever had to use or will ever use again for looking for a person is ever going to top this one, both in terms of just general greatness and also how easy it is. ]

I can definitely do all of the above. Also, which cabin are you in? [ that would probably be helpful information to have too in case he does find her ]

[Good question. She sticks her head out the door, makes a note of it, and then reads out the number to him.]

Do you actually want to do all those things?

There's not a lot more things second nature to me than both trying to help people find other people, and talking incessantly about literature related topics. So yes I do want to do those things to help.

[ assuming that's what she meant by the question. ]

What about writing papers?

[He can't possibly actually like doing that, can he?]

Yep, actually those too. How about you — what's your list of things you like doing?

[ thinking about fun things is so much better than thinking about being stuck on weird planets, ok ]

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