001; video

[razorback]

[a kid comes into frame, he's wearing cargo pants and looks 100% geared up for war]

So, where do I get my class schedule?

Uh. And if I had a gun with me before showing up, is it still around? I'd like it back.

[he's always facing the camera as he speaks, someone observant might notice he's not nearly as calm as he's trying to look]

Comments

[razorback]

I was thinking when I woke up, that if I was gonna kidnap people with shitty lives and lie to them. I'd give them a good life. I thought it'd be something like that at first, but then buildings had blown up and it sounds like people got killed.

[mindoirsurvivor]

Hey, for some of us, it's still a pretty slick deal. That's the sad part.

[razorback]

Yeah, I know. If I could get the rest of our group here we'd settle in and never leave.

[mindoirsurvivor]

I've still got a galaxy to save. But I know the feeling.

[razorback]

A whole galaxy? What are you saving it from?

[mindoirsurvivor]

Would you believe giant robotic bugs?

Giant, in this case, being somewhere between one hundred and sixty meters long and somewhere over two kilometers.

[razorback]

That sounds like something that'd make a great explosion.

[mindoirsurvivor]

You're damn right it does.

[razorback]

Do people ever get out of here?

[mindoirsurvivor]

Not on purpose.

[razorback]

How does that work?

[mindoirsurvivor]

People vanish. The government always knows when. They're not dead; because sometimes they come back. But they don't remember having been here before.

That's all we know.

[razorback]

Is there a pattern?

[mindoirsurvivor]

Not exactly. Newcomers are more likely to vanish than people who have been here a long time, but it still happens. A year and a half ago, someone said young women were the likeliest candidates to vanish, but that looks like it was a fluke.

Loners. People who can't adjust and don't fit in. They're more likely to go, too -- but that might just be us trying to make sense of who disappeared, rather than a real pattern.

The truth is, it could be anyone, at any time. Usually somewhere between five and ten people a month; just a little less than the rate of new arrivals.

[razorback]

Might be worth trying to keep tabs. Maybe you haven't caught the pattern because there's more than one criteria.

[mindoirsurvivor]

Trust me, kid. Police department's been looking for a pattern for ages; and they're not the only ones.

[razorback]

Man, don't tell me you're police. I was starting to like you.

[mindoirsurvivor]

I was the police. Now I'm just another civilian. More or less.

[razorback]

That's better. Police are kinda useless.

[mindoirsurvivor]

Did I mention I was the Chief?

[razorback]

Did you quit before or after people started blowing up buildings?

[mindoirsurvivor]

Actually, I was fired. Long story. Short version is... about the same time.

[razorback]

... please tell me you were the one blowing up buildings.

[mindoirsurvivor]

No can do, I'm afraid. Spent too long being called a terrorist for that to sound like any fun.

Blown up a few space stations in my time, though.

[razorback]

You still get cool points for that.