unfringed | File #004 video

[Walter turns on the video for the journal, sets it up and then moves back, sitting down on a chair in front of it. He's wear a lab coat over his usual checkered shirt and sweater cardigan combo and looks quite gleeful, gesturing toward the camera with a welcoming motion.]

Fellow denizens of Luceti! My name is Walter Bishop and I come to you with a unique request.

I would like to take a tissue and wing sample from every person in the compound - a simple test, really, very quick, not at all painful [Says the man who can tolerate electroshock therapy with a smile] - in order to help the scientists of our great community better understand the makeup of this universe.

Should you and several of your companions be from the same world, it would be most helpful if one or all could donate, although one should suffice if anyone is a tad squeamish.

I will be taking the samples this afternoon in the plaza.

Oh! And hot cocoa will be provided for compensation of course. I'm no madman.

This afternoon, starting at 1pm. Any and all volunteers are welcome! Those who don't wish to volunteer, don't worry - I'm sure I can find you somehow, yes?

[Action: Plaza, 1PM]
[As promised, Walter is bundled up in warmer clothes at the plaza with a little table of lab equipment and a rather large cooler that holds several Thermoses of hot cocoa. There are even little marshmallows for people who want them.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Uchiha.

[He frowns as he listens. It seems like he should understand what the man is getting at, so it's frustrating to realize that he doesn't quite.]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by frequencies, doctor.

Music! Every universe has its own music - normally a singular tone at which is vibrates. This keeps each universe from collapsing into the others - a sound wall, if you will.

The wall here, is broken, but something is keeping us together, so there must not be a single note, but a harmonic chord made up of all the different sounds, Belly. I just have to understand what the chord is, find the right tone and send us all back.

... [It does make sense, in a way, but it's a rather curious way of putting it, which causes Itachi to wonder if this man is entirely in his right mind.]

And you can... study this music. Through science.

Yes, tonal vibrations. Listen.

[Walter shuffles off and comes back with a tuning fork, he clips it lightly against the corner of his table and lets it ring into the journal.]

Do you hear it? The slight clash of sound in what should be a perfect C Major? It's due to the dissonance caused by this universe.

[Itachi's hearing is very good, but he's not exactly musically inclined.]

... I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Well, I suppose not everyone can be tonally inclined, but still - my point remains valid. This universe is vibrating at a harmonic frequency to keep all of us here - isolate that frequency and your own unique one; and you can be sent back.

[Still very skeptical about this.]

And you think you can do this?

What about those whose time has ended in their own world?

Well, I managed crossing universes before and have seen such technology used, so yes? I do believe it is possible and within my realm of possibility. If Walternate can do it, then so can I.

[Wait - what was that question? Walter stops, confused.]

...What do you mean by that? Are you dead?

[Twice over, but there's no need to go into that.]

I am. As are many others I've come across.

Fascinating.... Then the scientists here have learned not only how to conquer death in this world, but in bringing people over from the other side as well.

[He scribbles a few notes and then looks back up at the camera.]

It's always been a pet project of mine - learning how to bring the dead back. But I suppose you don't recall anything of the reanimation process, do you.

[There's no way he's bringing up a forbidden jutsu with this man, so he sticks to the Luceti details.]

No, I do not.

[Even though he'd been brought back here more than once.]

[Walter sighs. Of course not. No one ever remembers. The brain is dead and incapable of creating new memories even if their old memories can be accessed for at most three to six hours after.]

I guess it was too much to hope.

Are you certain I can't convince you for a tissue sample? I wouldn't send anyone back without their permission of course, but it would help me find the frequency for others who do wish to return.

[Others. Like his brother.

He doesn't like the idea of experimentation, and this man seems of questionable sanity, but if there's a possibility that a sample from him might help his brother, then it might be worth looking into.]

... One tissue sample.

If I find that any of your experiments here have brought trouble to the villagers, I will make the rest of your time here very unpleasant.

...Thank you. [he sounds relieved - and visibly relaxes.] That's all I need - one sample from your world and I can work out the frequency from there.

[He can't guarantee that nothing will come of his experiments, but he's trying his best to make sure it doesn't. He looks at the camera and nods.]

There isn't much that can make this place more unpleasant for me. Although the walls are wider, it reminds me too much of another place I was incarcerated in for seventeen years. ...There's nothing worse than that.

I can understand that, given our inability to leave, but for a prison it can be fairly pleasant at times.

[He's getting married in a few days, after all. Only here could that have been possible.]

There are those who need to return to their own world and time, though, and I sympathize with your desire to get them and yourself back.

That's what they said about St. Clair's. It was supposed to "help," be pleasant. It was still a prison.

[It made him what he is now - wrong, not right, everything garbled and strange. It was where he'd lost his brain and his mind. So much wrong, so much unrecoverable.]

....But thank you. I know-- I'm not easy to understand. So thank you.

Tell me where to meet you and I will get you your sample.

As long as it does not incapacitate me, which I doubt it will, it should be fine. I have an important event to attend in a few days, so I have to be cautious.

The plaza, 1PM.

It won't be more than a minor inconvenience depending on how quickly your skin heals. I just need to scrape a few cells from your upper epidermis and draw a bit of blood. Both should heal with a day, two at the most.

[He sighs. The concern was never for his own safety, but he must always consider others.]

Very well. I will be there.

...

[Wow, he actually agreed. Maybe Walter is getting better at people than he thought?]

T-thank you. I'll be waiting there with a table. I'll be sure to make it very obvious!