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Tweak says, "All you base are..."

Pavel Chekov (candothat) wrote in marinanova,
@ 2014-10-18 19:26:00

Entry tags:

:smith, data, deanna troi, euphemia li britannia, kitty pryde (aoa), korra, pavel chekov (au), sarah williams, spencer reid

Day 293 - Video / Action
[VIDEO]
[It's well into evening by the time Chekov, confident that he has a solid understanding of this new prison, makes use of the communication device that he was issued upon arrival. The nineteen year-old bears a striking resemblance to a current inmate. His posture is significantly better, he looks far healthier, and he has a ridiculous accent, but there may still be confusion.]

This is Lieutenant Pavel Andreievich Chekov of the starship Enterprise. I would ask anyone who is affiliated with Starfleet to respond to this message, please.

[Not the most subtle of hails, but he doesn't want to risk missing fellow officers by taking a stealthier approach. Why put effort into being subtle, anyway? Isolated prison universes are very different from, say, alien planets; Starfleet's rules regarding contact with new lifeforms hardly apply.

Business out of the way, the Russian abandons the careful diction and formal tone for something warmer and more personable.]

Is there anyone who is interested in speaking with me? I find foreign universes very lonely and boring when everyone is still a stranger.

[ACTION]
[Chekov spends the day investigating sectors one, two, and three, taking a special interest in the maintenance bots that are busy cleaning up after the storm. The food carts in sector one also capture his attention. As soon as he decides that it would be ridiculous for those in charge to poison those they wish to rehabilitate, he becomes intent on tasting everything that is both edible and unfamiliar. When imprisoned, it's always wise to take advantage of any hospitality offered.

He keeps the headset off as often as possible. It's an annoying contraption--not nearly as sleek and unobtrusive as devices at home with similar functions. Should anyone address him in a language that he doesn't understand, however, he's perfectly willing to put it back on, as is polite.]

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	candothat 2014-10-26 05:10 pm UTC (link)
	You would? [Forget about fishing for information because this is like Christmas. Have a wide, excited smile that probably looks weird on a face that resembles Nathan's.] You are interested in theoretical physics? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thisiscalm 2014-10-28 02:08 pm UTC (link)
	[ So weird. It kind of makes him wish he saw it on Nathan's actual face from time to time, preferably not in combination with stabby stabs. ] Of course, how could I not be? Especially here where we could very well be living in a real world application of the many worlds theory. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

candothat
2014-10-31 03:00 am UTC (link)

[Dream big, Reid.]

To some, I think, it is preferable to avoid anything that may undermine the validity of their worldview, particularly in situations like this that can be explained only with theories that have disquieting implications about reality. There is some comfort in ignorance, I'm told.

But no, please, tell me, when are you from? How did you come to be interested in a branch of physics that--so far as I know, I may be wrong--has no use to the FBI?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisiscalm
2014-10-31 08:54 pm UTC (link)

[ Maybe he'll try to feed him cotton candy, sometime. ]

Comfort, maybe... but not safety. If you don't know everything you could possibly know about a situation, how can you handle it in an efficient and suitable manner? I don't understand people who just... don't want to know. [ He wants to know everything. Some people claim he already does. ]

It was 2013 last time I was home. [ Or whatever you want to call it. ] I have three PhD's that have no use to the FBI as well, so... call it a hobby, I guess?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	candothat 2014-11-01 05:35 am UTC (link)
	They may have sensible reasons. What those reasons might be, I have no idea. [As a fellow seeker of all knowledge ever, he can't begin to come up with reasons himself.] It's a noble hobby, but Doctor... how can you be a fan of anything I have done when you predate my birth by two-hundred twenty-seven years? Have you mastered time travel? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thisiscalm 2014-11-01 09:48 am UTC (link)
	{ Ah, there we have it. ] Well... to keep up the theme of quantum mechanics, in my world you're a character on a tv show that first aired in 1963. This is no guarantee that it's the same, of course, but I've met others that seemed eerily similar to the characters I know back home. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	candothat 2014-11-03 03:35 am UTC (link)
	[He's far too pleased to hear this.] Finally, an answer! In two years, no one else would tell me this, even when it was obvious to me that they had heard of me--or someone like me--before. Thank you; this makes fictional realism a far more credible idea. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thisiscalm 2014-11-03 08:09 pm UTC (link)
	[ This right here is an enormous sigh of relief. ] See, I've never wanted to say it out loud! There's been so many here that I know from tv or movies that I had to pretend I'd never met before because of the potential psychological ramifications! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

candothat
2014-11-05 04:16 am UTC (link)

I imagine that it can be difficult to be told that you exist in a strictly fictional capacity in some universes if the idea is unfamiliar, yes, but please never feel that it's necessary to avoid these things when you talk to me. I doubt that any possible negative consequences could outweigh the value of what might be learned.

[This reasoning goes both ways, of course. Chekov is happy to share what he knows since the Prime Directive, in his opinion, is not applicable in other universes.]

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisiscalm
2014-11-05 12:54 pm UTC (link)

[ This makes everything so much easier. ] Exactly - you never know how someone will react to a threat to their self concept like that, especially since it not only questions who they are but also whether or not their existence is what they believe it to be. I can certainly see how it can be mentally damaging — not unlike the gaslighting effect — but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be discussed as a possibility.

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candothat
2014-11-06 07:41 am UTC (link)

Gaslighting effect? [He can guess at what that means through context, but why waste an opportunity to learn a term that doesn't show up that often on twenty-third century spaceships?] You sound as though you have given this thorough consideration. Have you come to accept this existential threat gradually, or were you unsurprised to find that there is a complex web of interconnected universes? I understand that multiverse theories were relatively new in your time, but I would guess that you were familiar with the possibilities before coming here.

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thisiscalm
2014-11-06 10:49 am UTC (link)

Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity. Instances may range simply from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.

[ His inner fanboy may just faint at this rate. ]

I dabbled a bit in theoretical quantum physics during my free time, but it's not something I ever really thought about seriously until I arrived here. After a while, you just have to accept that the world isn't the way we may perceive it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

candothat
2014-11-08 05:49 am UTC (link)

Ah, thank you. I'm glad that I have never had the need to use such a word. Your primary area of expertise is psychology, Doctor?

[Chekov is just happy that someone cares about this stuff.]

Non-Newtonian physics are best appreciated when they can be applied directly to a real-world situation, I think. Working out the mathematical probability of encountering other universes is far more exciting when you have proof that those other universes aren't only theoretical.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisiscalm
2014-11-09 02:32 pm UTC (link)

You could say that — I'm a criminal profiler, we specialize in forensic psychology, geographic profiling, emotional evidence... [ And so many things. If the criminology class wasn't on pause (again) he'd advertise for it right about now. ]

And I agree. We haven't quite reached that level of technology yet where I'm from... it's exciting to actually get the chance to test some theories that would've remained untested.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

candothat
2014-11-13 07:52 pm UTC (link)

I am afraid that I know nothing about all of those subjects. [He sounds genuinely unhappy about that. Being unable to talk to someone wonderfully intelligent about their primary area of expertise is terribly disappointing.] I will try not to be too boring.

Test what you can while you are here! Even in my time, testing theories regarding the infrastructure of multiple interrelated universes is difficult. We have our theories confirmed by chance more often than by design.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thisiscalm 2014-11-17 03:09 pm UTC (link)
	[ Oh my god Chekov how could you be boring ever. ] Actually, I uh... I teach a criminology class at the school here. I've got some handouts from past classes if you'd like? [ Internal screaming forever. ] Still, you get a chance to confirm them! That's really awesome compared to where technology has gotten in my timeline. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	candothat 2014-12-04 02:33 am UTC (link)
	Yes! If it's no trouble, I would like to read them. When does this class meet? Is extracurricular reading required? I would offer to teach you something in exchange, but I have no talent for that; it would be terrible. Every time has something to be excited about, even when the technology to confirm the existence of other universes doesn't exist yet. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thisiscalm 2014-12-04 06:37 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, it's uh... it's kind of on hiatus right now. No previous experience or required reading, though. It's difficult enough to hold a regular lecture with the way people come and go here. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	candothat 2014-12-06 06:02 am UTC (link)
	Is it so frequent? The coming and going? Where I was previously--not home, but before that, when I was in another prison universe--arrivals were regular, usually, and departures happened with no discernible pattern. No one found any meaning in it, but maybe the timing is important here. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisiscalm
2014-12-06 11:53 am UTC (link)

It's about the same here — a new batch of prisoners come in every four days or so, with the occasional fault in the system that brings in a larger, temporary group of individuals. A small portion of those stay, or return shortly after disappearing but the majority doesn't last longer than a day.

The disappearances are... mathematically random, but I'm not so sure if the same can be said about their psychological significance.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	candothat 2014-12-07 08:13 am UTC (link)
	A fault in the system. That it is a fault and not by design has been established, without doubt? I would like to know what you think of the impact of all of this is, psychologically... I have never spoken to anyone who was interested in more than numerical patterns. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisiscalm
2014-12-07 09:04 pm UTC (link)

Honestly? I'm not so sure about that either. It seems to be regular — I've experienced three days like that so far with relatively even intervals so it wouldn't surprise me if it was intentional and disguised as an accident. They sure do a lot of that around here as is.

As for the psychological factor... well, it's pretty self-explanatory. Living in an environment as unstable as this is emotionally exhausting, especially for those of us that remain here for months. Some close to a year by now.

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candothat
2014-12-09 10:12 am UTC (link)

So either they are liars or their equipment malfunctions with frightening regularity. I'm not certain which of those I would prefer.

Yes, okay, but do you think that it is something that can be adapted to, given time? In a healthy way, I mean to say. Surely it would not be in the wardens' best interests to keep us here under these conditions for a very long time...?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thisiscalm 2014-12-09 04:47 pm UTC (link)
	Honestly..? I'm not sure. This is my 146th day and if anything, I think it just gets worse with time. [ But maybe that's just him. ] You lose a lot in here. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	candothat 2014-12-10 08:43 pm UTC (link)
	You lose a lot everywhere. That does not always need to be a tragedy. Perhaps that is something to talk about later. Is there anything that you, as someone who is familiar with this place, think that someone who is new should know? Sinister secrets? Hidden threats to life and limb? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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