It's the only way to be sure [Open]

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

So many people had recommended the Media Library to Soren that it ended up being one of the first locations on-ship that he paid a visit to. As promised, there was plenty of information to be found in convenient, electronic format.

Convenient for everyone who wasn't essentially from a medieval time period and thus had no framework for understanding computers, let along databases.

Losing patience, Soren began mashing the controls on some kind of instrument panel, and was rewarded with a moving picture featuring humans being menaced by floating tin plates, a woman singing about less-than-optimal romantic encounters, and some sort of storybook featuring a blue-skinned 'space explorer' and his evil nemesis (both with rather improbable hair).

"Infernal machine," he hissed, hitting the table with one small, bony magefist. "I'll show you a bad romance."

As far as he was concerned, the future should be destroyed. With fire.

Comments

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

She won't. She'd rather no one's eyes linger on her scars and will afford the same courtesy.

"It was a joke. Most of our technology does what you want it to do if you cajole it enough. Probably not unlike your magic."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Well, it was more like a birthmark than a scar. Same difference.

He sighed. "Magic works on some very basic principles. Once you learn the spells, they're reliable. You don't need to navigate through some ridiculous, complex interface just to perform a simple task. And the worst you can do while casting a spell is destroy something by accident."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Once you've learned a technology, it's usually fairly reliable. I haven't seen the comm system go down yet, for example." She raises an eyebrow. "Oops, sorry I set you on fire, I meant to point my wand at that tree?"

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Well, that excuse tends to work only one time per person. Twice, if you're lucky."

That was a Soren-joke.

"In any case, magic is generally learned under the supervision of experienced sages. So there isn't too much potential for disaster. It helps that tomes are written in a dead language. Difficult for fools to blunder into."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Eva gives a surprised laugh. She wasn't expecting a sense of humor out of him, even a sardonic one.

Arrogance, though, doesn't surprise her. For all she knows, he's earned it. "And I take it you've been thoroughly trained, to feel comfortable using it?"

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Soren occasionally made a joke or two. Occasionally.

"...You might say that, yes." Thoroughly and rather unpleasantly trained. "After my instruction, I continued studying as I had the time. By now, it's more or less second nature. But that's true of any profession -- if you stick around long enough, anyway."

He sighed. "I find it alarming how many untrained 'Chosen' are aboard this vessel. I met a boy of nine or ten with no real battle experience whatsoever. How is he expected to defend himself?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Children surprise you," she says with no real lightness in her voice. "But we try to keep them safe. It's all up to the damn ship at the end of the day, who stays and who goes, who's in danger or not, besides the space fighter combat. But I expect it's because Stacy expects to keep us here for a very long time, and in ten years that nine year-old boy will have had his formative years spent in a war zone."

She bites her fingernails.

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes. This ship. I wonder by what standards it chose to kidnap those that it did. By notoriety? In which case there were plenty of individuals that might have been better equipped to deal with this... conflict." Someone about to die anyway, maybe. Zelgius. Greil.

He looked grim. "I am not planning to spend ten years on this vessel." Because by then there might be questions he didn't want to answer. By twenty, almost certainly.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"It couldn't have been by notoriety. We've got some relative unknowns on board, supposedly, although I guess it would be within reason to lie about being famous." Eva would know, after all. She kept her own notoriety hidden for several months onboard.

"Neither am I. But the way this is set up, it seems like people are thinking more longterm than you or me. It might not be up to us," she says. Her voice has a bitter edge to it. She's tired of other people deciding her life for her.

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Fate, then?" Soren scoffed. "I'm not really one for lying down and accepting the inevitable, good or bad. One way or another, this conflict will be over. And I plan on being on the winning side. Regardless of how I got here."

Did it matter if there were overwhelming odds conspiring against him?

...no, not really.

He taps the table. "And the sooner I can learn what I need to, the sooner I can help bring that about."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Fate doesn't have to mean lying down and accepting the inevitable. I believe in it and I intend the same things as you."

She stands up. "Well, unfortunately, my specialty is obviously not in technology. If you need help finding books or alcohol, I tend to specialize in that instead."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Books?" That piques his interest. "What sort of books?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"All sorts of books. I'm a bit of an aficionado. Mostly fiction, poetry, memoirs, that sort of thing, but if it has the printed word I'll give it a look." She winks. "And I know where all the real libraries are."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" Soren leaned forward ever so slightly. "And what would someone have to do to inspire you to impart this secret to them?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Generally I require a toll and bribery, but since you made jokes about blowing people up I can let you in on it for free." She smirks. "Most of them are personal libraries owned by friends, although they're incredibly comprehensive. If I ask I could probably show you my friend Goliath's."

She still wouldn't feel comfortable inviting herself over to Lex's or into the TARDIS.

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"I'd appreciate it. I was beginning to think I'd have to serve the rest of my time here staring at one of these panels. They may be efficient, but they lack the feel of real paper." Actual books. Imagine that.

"I should talk about explosions more often, clearly."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Not to mention they'll give you a migraine if you stare at them too long." She curls her lip and shakes her head. "I don't like to be a romantic, but there's something intangibly wonderful about actual ink and paper and binding."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I agree. Electronic copies may be 'convenient', but they'll never replace reading by firelight and turning the pages by hand."

He pauses. "By the way, I've heard a little about these devices called Sensoriums. Do you know anything of them?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

She perks up. "I use them pretty often. They're a way to create scenarios that you can imagine. For example, I like to go conjure up beaches and gardens and my tactical officer simulations. Some people use them for combat training. And most people use them to make the food taste better, so there's that."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Would it be possible to read books in these Sensoriums with information from this library?" That's what Soren's really after. He doesn't know if it can actually be done, but if it can, it'll save him a lot of eyestrain.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

She nods. "You can. And if you're feeling particularly imaginative, you can literally bring the books to life. I've re-enacted quite a few famous scenes in there. But yes, save yourself the headache if you can."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

He smiles and stands. "Thank you, I think I'll do just that."

Luckily, he's got a map that should tell him where the Sensoriums are.