R50 - Now my song's on the radio

[with_my_teacup]

This is Richard B Riddick calling out from the barge. Anyone interesting out there?

[He's feigning casual, but last year he was able to talk to Fry and Kyra and that wasn't a small deal for him.]

Comments

[composited]

Do I count?

[with_my_teacup]

You're definitely something.

[Riddick flashes a jaunty salute, tapping his goggles.] How's it going post-barge?

[composited]

Make your feed private and I'll tell you all about it.

[ Not telling Ned his world went to hell in a handbasket? You don't say. ]

Private

[with_my_teacup]

I'm listening.

Private

[composited]

They fucking destroyed the goddamn planet. Used the tech. Mass signals. Wiped huge chunks of the population. Programmed hunter-killers in some places, left people blank in others.

Few are immune. If you've already got architecture-- you're fine. If you don't... you're not.

Re: Private

[with_my_teacup]

Fuck that.

Why would you even do that?

Private

[composited]

So they can body hop and live forever, of course.

Sure, they're kings of a pile of shit but they're still kings.

Re: Private

[with_my_teacup]

You thinking about coming in for a deal?

Private

[composited]

The very idea curdled my guts.

But I've had it way too much lately to be comfortable.

Private

[with_my_teacup]

That's the thing about being offered absolutely anything, ain't it.

Private

[composited]

More like-- [ He stops, tilting his head, as one of the Dumbshows shuffle over, eyes blank and glassy. She makes small, empty noises, and he gets back up to get a bottle of water from an aging fridge before he comes back. ] More like you think, 'I could fix everything for all of these people, and not just feed them, cloth them, an wipe their asses when they can't remember how.

[ Alpha: Gentle Caretaker Composite. Who'd thought. ]

Re: Private

[with_my_teacup]

Exactly.

Private

[composited]

Hell of a thing. But -- no. No, I don't want to go back.

Re: Private

[with_my_teacup]

Good luck back there. Sounds like you're gonna need it.

Private

[composited]

Yeah. If people aren't Dumbshows like this, they're psychotic berserkers, or they've got a parasite imprint in them. Most of 'em are like this. They get rounded up for slave labor, body hopping, and worse.