nebula 2, morning

[blue_ice]

[ Seto looks tired. Someone's only been having his mandatory sleep and nothing more, and that shows. His frown is etched deeper than usual too. ]

We have to talk about the people we've lost. And I don't mean in a 'let's all gather and mourn' way, though that might be...beneficial to some, and I'm not against the idea.

I mean that I refuse to accept that they're gone forever and there's no way we can see them again.

Remember when we visited the void river, and we were told that our emotions, allegedly, would travel across spacetime and reach the people we've left behind? Remember Diagad, when we walked the void to bring people home? The people we've lost are still out there---they have to be, a small handful have returned, right?

If my suspicions about how this all works are correct, all we need is full control of a voidcraft...and that, of course, is the thus-far insurmountable obstacle. So I'm researching as much as I can when we touch down, and I'd like to ask for your help. If you have any other clues or theories about how reaching our lost allies would be possible. Share, please.

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

Ah, these hub worlds might be a sort of. . . dumping ground for the Voidtrecker Express and other entities that collect passengers or residents. That makes sense. It would be easier to dump people on one of those hub worlds than to take them home.

Emotional connections may involve mind or heart connections that can be felt at a distance. They would function as a sort of compass. That would certainly make it easier.

[blue_ice]

Hm. I know of at least one hub called Havenwell, there's bound to be more.

[ He idly taps his desk. ]

I just wish we had another opportunity to test out the compass.

[so_dark_a_road]

So, if we had a voidcraft, you'd visit Havenwell? And I agree, there's bound to be more. Probably a lot more. We could ask the other passengers if they've been to similar places, and I bet we'd get more information.

What sort of opportunity do you think would be needed, to test out whether heart and mind connections can act as compasses? Do you mean something like the Void river?

[blue_ice]

Exactly. I'll make a point to ask about it.

I just wish we had some way to know that the others could hear us from their worlds.

[so_dark_a_road]

I'd really like to know how many passengers have been to these hub worlds. And if you're going to ask, then we'll soon know.

I really hope that those who are lost to us are able to receive communications from us. I don't know how we'd verify whether it works or not, though. Any ideas?

[blue_ice]

...ask them to send a message back? But that might be an impossible reach.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin is in the laundry car making short work of dozens of baskets of soiled clothing, sorting them and tossing them into the machines, pouring soap in with them, running a whole row of machines at once. He darts back to the ICP to respond to Seto between actions. Strange, this combination of completely mundane routines and talk about really significant, emotional, philosophical, and seemingly arcane but possibly scientific things. ]

Impossible, maybe. Who knows whether all of the methods, or any, make possible a return message. But we could try including a request for a reply, as you say. And since we'd be talking to people who cared about us, if we didn't get a reply, we'd know that particular method wasn't two-way.

What do you think?