Video Broadcast - OTA (Post Storm)

[doubled_speed]

[Hey guys, look who it is. The bright and cheerful and constantly snarky kid. Who is smiling wide, though it looks a bit strained. Good news, his arm has healed since getting back. Bad news, Tommy looks nervous and maybe a hint of stressed as the video starts. But hey, he's in the greenhouse, which is obvious from the greenery around him. And his communication device is propped up against something, because his hands are in the shot, working at the soil around a lush Cyanana plant, clearly working fertilizer into the soil with care.]

So, like... Just because we've got the ships and stuff doesn't mean it's not important for us to maintain the greenhouse, right? We were gone for a while and not all the places in here did well while we were gone. And then I was walking around and realized that we're sorta scattered, the people working here. So maybe people with the skill should, like, coordinate? Because fresh food on the ships is good too. We can preserve shit and put it on the ships for variation.

I also wanna do, like, hydroponics on some of the ships. So if we gets spaced again for a while, we can have fresh stuff.

Guess...

[He sighs and his hand cards through his hair. Which means some dirt is now there in the perfect white strands.]

Guess I mean I'm willing to help organize. Map out the greenhouse, help us figure out schedules and when to work on different plants and that shit. Or not. Someone else can take that charge. I don't much care. It just needs done. Might also need an engineer to help with the ship part. And maybe people to okay adding it to other ships and to take care of the plants.

Anyway uh...

[Let him be useful. He failed as a hero in the storm. Disappointment and frustration flash across his face in the video and then it's gone.]

Thoughts?

Comments

[kallig]

I see. I'm glad you've healed, at least. Should you feel the need to check that you've healed correctly, the hospital is here- as am I.

[He gets that he's pushing a bit too hard. He knows. But he considers Tommy a friend, and there's nothing he won't do for someone who makes that list. Besides, that tone, his expression... Something's very obviously wrong.

But... He won't push more. Not now, anyway.]

That you are. I can't claim to handle my issues half as well.

[That would be a bit of sarcasm. Seems to him they handle issues in about the same way.

Something chirps on Altair's end and he turns his head- and a droid hops up into his lap, examining his communicator curiously.

Altair puts a hand on the droid, pushing it down so he can be seen over it.]

I'll be coming by to tend to the glownies sometime soon, by the way. I don't think I need a specialized data point to herd them to where they need to go.

[doubled_speed]

[Wait, what is that? Tommy's eyes light up with delight. That thing is CUTE.]

Dude, what is that? What the hell is that? It's fucking perfect.

[Maybe if Altair brings that to herd, maybe Tommy will come talk to him. Maybe. To see the cute thing.]

[kallig]

[RE-1 lets out a high-pitched whistle, followed by chirps and warbles. Apparently he's pleased, and Altair laughs.]

RE-1. He's a scout droid we used on archaeological digs back home.

[Altair gives the droid a pat, and the small droid beeps happily.]

Quite useful for getting into small spaces and such. Spaces too small even for me.

[doubled_speed]

Wait, you have a droid too? Space-Shatner has one. He calls it BB-8. Do they all have names like that?

[Can beeps be happy? Maybe... maybe he hears that?]

Why do you guys ascribe male pronouns to droids anyway?

[kallig]

Space-Shatner? [Altair arches a brow. Who?]

But yes, I have a droid. I got him during last month's little trip off the planet. I was quite surprised.

[Of all the reminders of home, he got the droid. Still, he's happy to have near constant company.] And perhaps there are some who give their droids different names. RE-1 is RE-1 though... What else would I call him.

[He looks down at the droid who in turn looks up at him.] RE-1... RE... Rhea, maybe?

[Maybe. He's not sure.] There are also droids that identify as female. RE-1 is male, though. It's in his programming, I suppose.

[doubled_speed]

[Nicknames are great. But damn he's jealous of people getting companions to mean they aren't alone.]

IT is self-identifying as male?

[kallig]

He identifies as male, yes. I'm sure he'd tell me if he'd rather I call refer to him as female.

[Looking down at his droid, he pats him.] Wouldn't you, buddy?

[doubled_speed]

[Which means it's fully self-aware. Self-aware enough to feel that gender, a human created concept, should apply to it. Him. Which means...]

Are you enslaving that robot?

[Because he might have to hurt you if you are.]

[kallig]

[Altair's eyes widen for a moment, and then, there is rage, electricity working it's way up his arms as his control momentarily slips.

RE-1 gives a worried warble.]

How dare you-

[Eyes narrow, and he looks about ready to toss the communicator across the room.]

How dare you suggest that I'd ever-

[Breathe, Altair. It was a question. A concern.] I was a slave. I was born a slave, raised a slave, and I would have died a slave. I would never, ever enslave a being. Not ever. Not under any circumstance!

[doubled_speed]

[Oops. Definitely a button. A trigger. All that shit. Tommy sits there through the rant because yeah, earned. But then he shrugs.]

Didn't fucking know that. But the way you were talking about him... Sounded more like a pet than a being. One of my best friends was a humanoid droid made of future tech, called a Synthezoid. I don't like people just calling people like that anything other than people.

[kallig]

[He takes a deep breath to calm himself.]

I do not know of Synthezoids. Droids are... Different, though. Some of them wish for freedom, to be seen as sentient beings.

Some, like RE-1, follow their programming and what they were made to do and are happy with that. An artificial intelligence can learn and grow, and RE-1 is intelligent. Intelligent enough to run for the hills should I treat him badly.

[He gives Tommy a pointed look here.] Many in my world do not see droids as sentient, believe they're merely malfunctioning when they act out of turn. I am not one of those- I've seen droids behave in many varied ways, outside of their programmed purpose.

Doesn't mean it counts for all of them. And as I said, RE-1 was programmed to respond to male pronouns. It may change, yes. And he will tell me, should he decide otherwise.

[Another pointed look.] He'd also tell me should he be unhappy with how I treat him.

[doubled_speed]

[Well, that's something.]

My world has a history of slavery, and when that fails, lashing out at things that are different. I won't standby and watch that happen. Hell, I'm like half robot or something.

[kallig]

My family were slaves long before I was born... [He pets RE-1, seeming a bit calmer.] My ancestor died dishonorably and his entire bloodline fell into slavery. I don't know exactly how long we were slaves...

But hundreds of years, at least. Possibly longer. Possibly over a thousand. Generations upon generations of my family born only to get a shock collar slapped around their necks before they could even walk or talk.

[He lived that way too. He was well into his teens when he was dragged out.] Slavery is common too, in the Empire I am from. Especially for aliens, like myself. We're seen as subhuman. Barely above animals.

[He can discuss it pretty calmly. He's not ashamed of where he came from. He shouldn't be ashamed, and he isn't.] I am one of the Empire's leaders now- but changing the way things have been will take work. Doesn't mean I don't find slavery to be cruel and destructive, though.

[doubled_speed]

Yeah that... sounds like how humans see mutants.

[And that gets him. Makes him sick. Makes him LOOK sick to even think about it. The things that had happened to him had happened because humans treated mutants worse than even aliens that came to their world.]

[kallig]

... Why don't we talk about something more pleasant?

[Altair is relatively okay with his own slavery. He's also good with being an alien, since it forced him to adapt very quickly.

But he gets it.]

When I come by the greenhouse you can meet RE-1 in person.

[doubled_speed]

[Well, his life isn't even REMOTELY happy right now so yeah, pleasant isn't happening.]

Okay. That might be nice.

[kallig]

[RE-1 gives a pleasant warble- seems he's looking forward to it, too.]

He can help us get a lay of the land, too. He is a scout, after all. So when it comes to exploring, he's the best.

[doubled_speed]

Well, this whole place could DEFINITELY stand to get sorted out.

[kallig]

That it could.

[No question about that.] First priority has to be anywhere that will actually help us survive, though.

[doubled_speed]

Which probably includes flipping off that 'Kylo' idiot.

[kallig]

[Look at this deadpan expression, Tommy. Look at it. Altair looks so tired and so annoyed.]

Ah yes, that scum. We'll have to deal with him eventually...

[doubled_speed]

[He can probably punch the guy fast enough to turn him to mush. Is that okay?]

I feel like 'eventually' is wrong.

[kallig]

I'd like to give him the chance to prove he's got a brain rattling about in his skull before resorting to murder and mayhem, but...

[Sigh.]

[doubled_speed]

He doesn't seem to think before talking, right?

[kallig]

I do believe something needs to be done- destroying supplies when we're already worried about getting by is unforgivable.

[Sigh. He wishes he could find murder as easy as he used to.]

Perhaps a mere communal beating would be better.