unfringed | File #004 video

Entry tags:

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

[Dryly:] My dear man, you can't even get them to agree that we really ought to fight against the cultists, who quite literally want to slit all of our throats.

So you are stymied by lack of supplies?

I'm not so sure the Malnosso don't wish to do the same, but in a different manner.

[He comes back, face darkened by his anger and his frustration.]

They said I could earn more - get what I need, but I have to work for them to do it. Earn points, exchange them, little favors here and there - don't they understand that this is science? I can't be bogged down by the details of earning points when I'm not suited for any of the tasks they ask of me? My son won't even let me hold a gun, let alone a taser for very long. He says it's too dangerous.

Oh, I don't think they want us dead. We're not fun at all dead.

Hah. Yes. That is always the problem, isn't it. And you have no minions to work for you?

Lots of things are fun dead - that's where I get most of my work, uncovering the how and why of mysterious deaths.

[God he misses dissecting dead bodies. He sighs, slumping into his chair.]

I had one - he left. Simon - like Simon Says. He disappeared. I'm not sure where. He allowed me my eccentricities - not many here would.

But alive, they are the gift that keeps giving. [Giving more suffering, at the least.]

Perhaps you ought to put out a little personal ad.

Oh, certainly, but you can't exactly examine the innards of a live chimera, now can you? It never ends well. Very messy.

...Do you think that would work? An ad, I mean. Could there be people willing to do such things?

Mmmm. Send someone in to investigate for you.

It certainly couldn't hurt. Never underestimate the level of boredom in this place.

As much as I would love to have a live specimen, I do believe I wouldn't get a very good report out of anyone I sent into the chimera. They tend to chew things into very small bits.

And thank you, sir. I will try taking out an ad.

...

Is there a newspaper here?

Then you'd learn something valuable about the chimera's teeth and digestive processes, to be certain.

Nay. Simply the journals.

Oh, but I know much about it already - it has very sharp teeth and it eats its own weight. The creature I faced was more interested in mating than eating, however.

And thank you, sir. I'll take out an ad in the journals.

Given the choice, I think I'd rather it try to eat me. [Because...nope.]

Good luck.

Oh yes, you see, it had this tail that had these spikes that kept the eggs. Once injected, the eggs travelled through the blood stream and into the host's digestive tract where they grew and fed. It was all very exciting and such an exquisite design!

--...Only someone important was harmed and we had to kill the creature. It was a monstrosity after all. It couldn't be allowed to live.

How...parasitic. [Gross. But... hm. Well, it's not like any of those are around here. But he wonders if he can find some back in his home universe. Could be useful for something.]

Would you have kept it alive if it hadn't harmed someone important?

Edited 2014-02-16 18:24 (UTC)

...No. Once, maybe, yes, a long time ago when I was a different man. I tried to make one and failed - I could never solve the problem of genetic rejection of the different parts.

But not now. The creature, although brilliant in its design, knew only how to hunt, procreate and kill. A creature like that could not be allowed to run free in Boston or its surrounding areas. The chaos it created in the few days it was free was enough to prove that it could not be allowed to live.

[He sounds sad about that. It was such a brilliant creature, but it was too deadly, it was a menace and it had killed so many.]

Could be an interesting side project here...

[It sounds perfectly nice to him, really.]

In the business of destroying agents of chaos?

Destroying? Oh no, no no no. Studying is a more precise descriptor. It's just that my cases usually accompany a dead body or five so the culprit is often one that must be contained or neutralized.

As for creating a chimera here, you would need a lab sufficient enough to accommodate the wide variety of genetic samples, an incubation chamber, a suitable host for the growing fetus, a quiet place to conduct research in and time. Lots of time.

There is nothing here but time.

Ah. Just humans being cranky about some of their own getting killed.

But there are just so many of you.

Time, yes. Equipment? No.

And in general humans are very cranky when they lose a loved one. Wouldn't you be?

Then time can be used to make or earn the appropriate equipment, I suspect. It has been done before.

Hah. I haven't any left to lose.

Working for the Malnosso never once entered my mind. I'd sooner set my head into the lion's jaws than trust those charlatans.

....But I'm sorry. ...I lost someone once too, very important. Twice. My wife, she-- ...I'm sorry.

Oh, you never trust them. You just take them for all they are worth.

[Oh, he should probably be sympathetic now.] I'm terribly sorry to hear that. It is quite difficult.

But if that means helping them, I'd rather just do it on my own. Even with the barest supplies I've been able to fight viruses from prehistoric times, so I don't think this place can keep me stumped forever.

...There isn't anything to be sorry for. ...But thank you.

As you like. For now, I've assessed that what cooperation I give them is worth far less than what I receive in return. But that is a personal judgment, I'm sure.

Never underestimate your own worth to them, Loki. These are scientists - any and all data given can be used against us.

[Loki chuckles.]

And everything I learn of them is a dagger for later use.

File #004 video

Re: [Video]

[Video]

Re: [Video]

[Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

[Video]

[Video]

Re: [Video]

[Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

[Video]

[Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]

Re: [Video]