Literal speakers, I just recorded it. The station plays some version of the garbled noise every time I ask things, so it's probably trying to tell me something as a response. Can't vouch for the intelligence of it. It might just be trying to assign me a ticket number and telling me to come back in five working days. I don't speak noise, unfortunately, so I can only hope it's not 'self destruct armed' or 'back up generators low'.
How does this response differ from responses you've gotten prior to the station being interfered with?
[ Jim has a brief moment of his blood pressure rising at that last sentence, because it would be really nice if everyone would stop poking around blindly at things, but he doesn't say anything about it. Sigh. It's not John's fault he's already had somebody from the dark ages nervously point a giant gun in his face. ]
[ I mean that's... pretty much it at a base level. ]
I can show you if it would help, I realise my descriptive skills leave something to be desired. I can't hang around long, I have stuff to do, but I haven't been up today.
[ Man, this is why he offered to show not tell. It's way easier to show than it is to describe. He doesn't know how else to word it. ]
It really depends on the situation. It's not like I've had to go up there when the powers was dipping in and out before to ask it, 'hey show me the problem?'.
Listen, I would love to tell you I have a scientific study of all things I've tried before this and after complete with chart but I don't. Hindsight 20/20. Next time I'll do that. If you want a behavioural comparison, it still works on these things even if the station is a horror movie.
It didn't work the first few weeks after I arrived, I figured maybe it never would. Not in this way, in a just dead silence way. Like it was ignoring me, which I fully understand as a response. But then it all jumped to life. So I assumed maybe I had to prove I could be well behaved first or something.
[ Not that he's well behaved, but you know. Not... excessively badly behaved? ]
[ It's completely unintentional. It's just weird for him to explain. ]
No, mean it did. It came to life. And that's what I meant by these things still work, I meant the communicators. They still listen to me fine. It all began listening to me about the same time.
Don't worry, I gave up after an hour or so. I'm not poking it repeatedly with a stick to see if I can annoy it into action.
[ He actually just wanted to talk about what might have happened conceptually but nvm, this conversation has gone in wild circles and no way is he steering it back to the beginning to try again.
That risks the circle starting over and he still can't explain how his own spaceship whispering works. Explaining unconscious things is too much. ]
Alright. If anything changes with how you're interacting with Natha tech, let me know. As it stands it sounds like you're getting what everyone else is getting: there's a problem. I appreciate you telling me.
I'll be up here for the next day at least. Longer if anything changes, but if it's a consistent state up here it might actually be best if we minimize the depletion of oxygen reserves. We'll have to see how it goes.
[ John feels weirdly like he's being managed. Which, he supposes, makes sense given the deep space big crew thing. Maybe Kirk just has middle-management tone in any problem.
John is used to being the person managing other problematic people. It's unsettling and frustrating to realise he is now the problematic person being managed, even if he's not done much to convince anyone he is anything but problematic. ]
It's worth monitoring for patterns at least, if the power goes out at consistent intervals or if they're getting either further apart or closer together. A shift pattern might work, so we don't have too many people up there at a time and everyone gets a break. At the same time, unless you stumble upon a manual marked 'What To Do If The Natha Vanish' we're pretty much making it up as we go along.
[ John is prevaricating around direct questions, which strikes Jim as odd since the guy told him he was air force; so we're here at Thanks For Your Assistance, Good Citizen. He's being honest, though, since it is useful to know what results a technopath is getting. He really doesn't have the time or the temperament to try to 'manage' anyone, and is just trying to find a way to talk to John that nets clearer results. :( ]
Don't worry, that kind of pattern monitoring is one of the first things I started when I got here.
Nah. This ship is slightly older tech than what I'm used to. Push comes to shove, there's options. It's just a matter of trying to find the least invasive, for now.
[ Older Tech? The phrase spawns a million more questions. Is this a sweeping comment about the complexity of Natha gear, the literal age of the station, something else? They clearly have transporters and stasis pods so they're not exactly backwards.
Is Kirk middle management of fancy time-travelling people who scrap anything older than three years? Who knows.
Clearly they're not advanced enough to avoid being destroyed by the storm like everyone else. ]
I'm not so good at delicate, non-invasive options so I guess give me a call when you get past that desire.
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[ Jim has a brief moment of his blood pressure rising at that last sentence, because it would be really nice if everyone would stop poking around blindly at things, but he doesn't say anything about it. Sigh. It's not John's fault he's already had somebody from the dark ages nervously point a giant gun in his face. ]
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[ I mean that's... pretty much it at a base level. ]
I can show you if it would help, I realise my descriptive skills leave something to be desired. I can't hang around long, I have stuff to do, but I haven't been up today.
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Specifically: how did Thesa Station respond to you prior to you getting the garbled audio now?
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It really depends on the situation. It's not like I've had to go up there when the powers was dipping in and out before to ask it, 'hey show me the problem?'.
Listen, I would love to tell you I have a scientific study of all things I've tried before this and after complete with chart but I don't. Hindsight 20/20. Next time I'll do that. If you want a behavioural comparison, it still works on these things even if the station is a horror movie.
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[ John is more than welcome to come back up, but the question will be the same in person. ]
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[ Not that he's well behaved, but you know. Not... excessively badly behaved? ]
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So the answer there is 'no'.
Have you ever interacted using this ability with other Natha-provided off the station, such as the communicators?
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No, mean it did. It came to life. And that's what I meant by these things still work, I meant the communicators. They still listen to me fine. It all began listening to me about the same time.
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Maybe give it a rest with trying to get anything out of the station for now, since there's no way to know what, if anything, it's trying to say.
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[ He actually just wanted to talk about what might have happened conceptually but nvm, this conversation has gone in wild circles and no way is he steering it back to the beginning to try again.
That risks the circle starting over and he still can't explain how his own spaceship whispering works. Explaining unconscious things is too much. ]
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I'll be up here for the next day at least. Longer if anything changes, but if it's a consistent state up here it might actually be best if we minimize the depletion of oxygen reserves. We'll have to see how it goes.
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John is used to being the person managing other problematic people. It's unsettling and frustrating to realise he is now the problematic person being managed, even if he's not done much to convince anyone he is anything but problematic. ]
It's worth monitoring for patterns at least, if the power goes out at consistent intervals or if they're getting either further apart or closer together. A shift pattern might work, so we don't have too many people up there at a time and everyone gets a break. At the same time, unless you stumble upon a manual marked 'What To Do If The Natha Vanish' we're pretty much making it up as we go along.
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Don't worry, that kind of pattern monitoring is one of the first things I started when I got here.
Nah. This ship is slightly older tech than what I'm used to. Push comes to shove, there's options. It's just a matter of trying to find the least invasive, for now.
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Is Kirk middle management of fancy time-travelling people who scrap anything older than three years? Who knows.
Clearly they're not advanced enough to avoid being destroyed by the storm like everyone else. ]
I'm not so good at delicate, non-invasive options so I guess give me a call when you get past that desire.