[ video ]

[beholding_archivist]

[ Unlike the last time Jon has appeared on this network, this time it's very intentional. And it's very obvious that it is intentional. Apparently he has found himself a usable desk (presumably in the hospital) and has taken the time to prop up his phone appropriately to address his fellow involuntary inhabitants of this lovely place.

It's also rather obvious that he has been using this desk for a few days now at least. There is a comparably neat stack of paper in front of him, two or three notebooks, an assortment of pens, two different types of tape recorders along with some tapes and an empty mug all rather present and no, he doesn't really care about the slight mess. He himself looks a little messy himself, though that's just his normal state of being perpetually tired. But... There are more important things right now, right? Like... How to even start. ]

Uhh... Good evening.

[ That's just remotely awkward. But okay. ]

I have- I mean. I already spoke to a few of you. Either through this network or at an actual encounter in person and... I suppose you might have noticed me at that little welcome home party the Agrii have set up, but... Let's not talk about that. That was... Dreadful.

[ He pauses a moment to sort his thoughts, then goes on. ]

To those I haven't met yet: Hello. I'm Jonathan Sims and I have agreed to help with the hospital.

[ Here he makes a short gesture with one hand to indicate his surroundings. He is indeed at the hospital. Maybe that's your clue to avoid needing medical help anytime soon?

He drops that hand back down. ]

Further, I have decided to take on the task of turning what is left of what appears to have been a library once back into an actual library. To be more precise: I plan to make recordings along with written pieces and store them there once the place is cleaned up. These may serve for our own reference, but also for the Agrii if they are so inclined. My hope is that by teaching them about ourselves, our worlds and our language, we can achieve a more successful way of communicating with them. Learn to understand what they want and need and- You get the idea.

Now what I need is to find a suitable format to record on. While I work with magnetic tapes a lot myself for certain reasons, I am not unfamiliar with digital recordings. Also I am well aware that some of you come from worlds that are technically far more advanced than my Earth happens to be, so I... I would be interested to know if there are more practical formats available. Preferably ones that allow for video as well as audio recordings and don't necessarily require additional hardware for playback. Your universe's version of the data points to be found across this city, for example, just possibly without that direct access to a person's mind. Given that we may soon have access to a functioning replicator... It should be possible.

[ He lets that hang there, then takes a moment to try and think what else he might have to add. He ends up with a short shrug and half a sigh. ]

I guess that's it. If you have a suggestion you believe might work, I would very much like to hear it. And before you ask: Yes, I am planning to keep a purely digital library along with a physically accessible one.

Thank you.

Comments

[Video]

[deal_me_in]

[Oh look, that meeting with the glowing-eyed robot man wasn't a bad dream after all.]

So do we call you doc? Anyway, you're lookin' a lot better.

[He's trying to be nice.

The video tilts as Cayde moves his communicator around, as though doing so would provide him with a better view of Jon's surroundings.]

Hospital, huh? You gonna stay put for a while?

[Video]

[beholding_archivist]

[ Not a dream, no. Even though that setting could have easily been a nightmare. ]

Well, thanks. It helps that the music has stopped, believe me. And... Please don't. I'm not a trained medical professional. I'm just... I try to help where I can.

[ He's seen his share of body horror to not be too squeamish about it anymore. Though he won't go as far as to call that one bullet removal actual practice in surgery. Though at times... He still just knows things. And that just might help here? Maybe? ]

I'm currently working, so... yes. There are also a few rooms I would like to start cleaning up. Do you need anything?

[Video]

[deal_me_in]

Oh yeah, maybe you can teach the Agrii how to play or mix some real music while you're doing everything else.

[He tilts his head but nods. Calling him 'doc' had mostly been a joke. Lighten up, Jon!]

Me? Oh nah. Just wanted to drop something off.

[Video]

[beholding_archivist]

[ He's mostly resistant to jokes, sorry. ]

Music... Well. That might not be a bad idea...

[ Though his knowledge in music is a little limited. ]

And I'm at... I think this counts as the emergency entrance. Making this part usable for our needs seems sufficient for the time being.

[ And it's enough work down there as it is. ]

[Video]

[deal_me_in]

[That won't stop Cayde from making them when he can.]

What are you talking about? It's a great idea. Unless you want to risk bleeding eardrums the next time they decide to throw another party.

Emergency entrance. Got it. I'll um... See if I can find it.

[Video]

[beholding_archivist]

[ That's okay. Jon won't stop him, he will merely protest.

At the mention of a potential next party, he grimaces. ]

That's true, I suppose...

[ He pushes himself up from where he is sat and picks up his phone. ]

It's at the side of the building - I will wait outside.

[ And that's what he will do. Not without taking a simple pencil along, though. At least give his fingers the impression of holding a cigarette. ]

[Video]

[in_extremis]

[Hey, babe.

Tony is looking wildly less relaxed than he had on Risa, which might be safer for Jon. Except for a flash of a smirk in greeting, he doesn't even screw around one bit now.]

Are these messages not being stored somewhere?

[Video]

[beholding_archivist]

[ Oh no. That guy. See that slight eye roll and the barely disguised, yet inaudible groan. Just his luck, right?

But!

Fine. ]

Presumably somewhere out of our reach. I may not be as technically versed as others, but I do understand the concept of servers. And I would rather not try and store an entire library on this network.

Which, again, would be purely digital. I want these records to also be easily accessible to people who have never even heard of an online search engine.

[in_extremis]

If we can find it, though, then we'd already have the hardware. Or, we already do-- there's a bunch of broken data points all over that library place. Can't be too hard to reverse engineer, we've got all the pieces.

I'll need an office, of course. [Okay, maybe a little screwing around.]

[beholding_archivist]

I'm no engineer, I'm an archivist. If you believe you can recreate the Agrii's technology, then by all means- But hold on a moment.

[ He squints a little at his phone, fingers tapping the paper in front of him. ]

Weren't you going to build some sort of ship the last time we spoke? To leave this place and be gone?

[in_extremis]

That was a different life, Jonboy. We're on Agra 10 now, keep up. Did you want a ship instead? I can multitask.

[beholding_archivist]

No. I need my assistants to be reliable and capable of finishing a task without either being distracted or being a distraction themselves.

[ Yeaaaaaah, right. ]

And, please, don't call me that.

[tiedonastring]

I can possibly look into that. So you are basically wanting something that doesn't rely on the basic network to store stuff?

[beholding_archivist]

Preferably, yes.

While a remote access to a digital version of the stored data is something I hope to set up as well, I- Well. Right now I rather hope to figure out the raw logistics of the technological aspect. It's simply not the kind of knowledge I can call my own. And storing large amounts of data on the network feels inappropriate.

[Video]

[tallasaking]

I shall be frank, Jon. I write everything down.

[He shows off his small pile of journals that he has kept for years now.]

[Video]

[beholding_archivist]

That's an impressive collection, Lord Tyrion.

[ Though there is a certain cruelty to being presented such a gathering of knowledge and experiences. Speak about dangling a carrot before a starving horse. ]

These are all personal accounts, I presume. Nothing you'd be comfortable to have recorded for public access.

Re: [Video]

[tallasaking]

Well thank you. I do try to keep up with everything -- but I don't always get that lucky.

[He blinks for a moment, before he shakes his head.]

No, no, please. Go ahead and take all of them, if you find them useful.

[Video]

[beholding_archivist]

Wha- Really? That- That would be great! Thank you!

[ Oh, Tyrion. You just made his day. No. Probably his entire next month. Or probably the next few months. Even he can't possibly record all these at once.

But yeah. His excitement may be quite obvious. ]

Where- Where can I pick them up?

Re: [Video]

[tallasaking]

Oh, you can come over to our home. Although I need to speak to my wife about moving ...

[He looks around with a frown.] Now that I know there are places where I will not need to patch the roof with whatever I can find.

[Video]

[beholding_archivist]

I will. If you tell me where you live I can be there at any time that is the most convenient for you.

[ He's trying not to sound too eager. ]

How is your wife, by the way? Everything okay?

Video;

[kallig]

Don't overwork yourself entirely too much, Jon.

[Altair's tone is gentle and a bit concerned. He worries.

And he, himself, seems to be somewhere in the hospital- there's something of a mess behind him, obstructing a path further into the hospital, and he's off exploring- so he's planning to do something about the road block.

At least he's going to, once he's spoken to Jon.] If you'd prefer focusing on the library alone, I can handle the hospital for the most part.

[Don't feel tied down to helping me is what he's trying to say.]

Video;

[beholding_archivist]

I'm fine, Altair. And I have no plans to leave you alone with this.

[ The hospital is important and not something any one should try to handle on their own. ]

The library... I feel like working on it will do me good? Something a little familiar to work on after a day of pushing broken and unidentifiable alien medical devices down the ramp of the emergency entrance, you know.

[ And maybe a way to pacify his patron if he finds enough things to record. Preferably before the hunger gets bad. ]

Which reminds me. There are some unwieldy parts down here that I might need your help with. Nothing urgent. Just... When you have time.

Video;

[kallig]

Alright. If you need help with the library, you need only say the word.

[Something more to occupy his time with will do Altair some good too. Even with his hospital work, his schedule feels so empty.

He supposes some part of him misses the politics of home. Having every second of his time tied up wasn't good for him, admittedly, but all this free time isn't helping him either. Entirely too much time to think.]

I have time now. I was thinking about doing something about this, [He gestures at the road block behind him-] but it can wait.

Video;

[beholding_archivist]

Well, if you know of any futuristic recording formats we can potentially replicate for me to use, I wouldn't mind some input.

[ He is going to worry about cleaning later. ]

You can finish what you were doing first, don't worry. I doubt that any of the shelves and broken computers down here are going to run away. That would actually make things easier.

Video;

[kallig]

There was the holonet and databases, but nothing I think of as being futuristic. Considering my line of work I was honestly almost more used to writings on stone slabs at one point...

[He supposes that holocrons could technically count, but that's a discussion he doesn't really want to get into because he's not sure where to even start.]

Well, not like this will take too long. One moment...

[Excuse him while he puts the communicator down- it's still sort of facing him- and then he goes to the mess in the way- and uses the Force to *shove* it all forward, dislodging anything that was stuck.

While it's obvious he has some control over where things fly off to, there's still a great big clatter of metal and some things breaking, making him flinch slightly- there's no damage to walls, floor, or ceiling though. And while he'll need to tidy things, the rooms beyond are accessible now.

He returns to pick his comm up then.] There. I'm going to have to clean this up later, but for now I'm free.