ximilialog | OPEN // october post-mission log

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OPEN // october post-mission log

CHARACTERS: James T. Kirk & you!
LOCATION: Around the station
DATE: second half of October
CONTENT: post-mission stuff: training/sparring, space lessons, drawing, attempts at cooking, all the while pretending he hasn't been shot
WARNINGS: none for now, will update if need be

INFIRMARY ➢ CLOSED to Erik

[ Adrenaline has been fueling his body for a while now, having allowed him to power through the gunshot wound he took to his shoulder during the heist. It's not looking too bad either, but he definitely lost some blood, and the area around the injury is swollen and aching. He's also looking a little paler than usual, which at this point is to be expected.

He's making a good job of acting as though it doesn't bother him much, though. Behind pressed lips, he grits his teeth while he gets the wound cleaned and bandaged, while he's told that he needs to wait for a little longer before anyone can stitch it up properly, or heal it altogether. He doesn't complain, just nods in agreement, then leans back on the bed, preparing himself to wait for a while until anyone can check his injury. ]

WORK OUT THE STRESS ➢ OPEN

[ Working out is quite possibly not the brightest idea he's had so far, but also: it's been almost a week now, and Jim is absolutely done with sitting around taking it easy. His shoulder is still sore, but at this point he doesn't really care anymore. He can power through it, he's dealt with much worse than this.

So he's made it to the training room, where he's going through a few individual training exercises. He might be doing something more active like HITT training or boxing moves, or other times he'll be going through various yoga positions, which help him with the soreness on his shoulder. On occasion he will be likely looking like he's struggling, but good luck having him admit to that. ]

SPACE LESSONS ➢ OPEN

[ Now back on the station, Jim plans to resume the classes he's offered to anyone who wants to learn more about space. He's contacted anyone who's shown interest, has invited everyone to spread the word if anyone else wants to show up, and he's also put together some reading material on basics of space, how it divides into galaxies and solar systems, how orbits work, what kinds of astronomical objects there are. With questions about how people don't "fall off planets", he has also included a bit of information about gravity, and he's now at the mess hall at an arranged time, with a few books and tablets where he and whoever shows up can go through some information. ]

KITCHEN NIGHTMARE ➢ OPEN

[ So, Jim technically doesn't know how to cook. That said, he's been trying to learn. Mostly on his own, relying on recipes he finds and tips and tricks he's learned from reading, but he's quickly realizing that putting theory to practice is pretty tricky when it comes to cooking.

At least he hasn't set fire to the kitchen yet, but he may be struggling a little between something frying, some batter he's got that looks somewhat overbeat, or just cursing while he tries to disperse a small cloud of smoke that emerges when he opens the oven door. ]

Damn it...

HERE COMES THE SUN ➢ OPEN

[ The sunlight room is another place Jim enjoys visiting, during this downtime. He has with him a sketchbook and some drawing supplies, and finding a quiet spot to sit, he entertains himself sketching various things. Whether the scenery he has here, or other things from memory, like his ship; on occasion he may be even trying to draw simple portraits of people he knows, both from home and from the station. He's pretty immersed in it, but he will welcome any company, and he's quick to offer a small smile when approached. ]

Have a seat, if you want.

WILDCARD! ➢ OPEN

[ Would you like to run into Jim anywhere else on the station? Feel free to pull out your wildcard and write a starter of your own! ]

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Close enough to our solar system. Ours is nine planets, [ Because I refuse to believe they won't accept Pluto as a planet in the 23rd century, bye IAU. ]

And no, space isn't nothing. Everything in the universe is something. It's... difficult to explain space, though. Space holds everything in it, from stars and astronomical debris to planets and massive phenomena we can't even begin to comprehend, like black holes. Every bit of life that exists is in the universe, contained in it, so it's unfair to say that there's a nothing.

Then again, there might be, but for us that's inconceivable. No living being that's sentient can imagine, let alone rationalize or explain, the concept of nothingness.

[The attempt to describe the lack of nothingness doesn't really help his confusion any. Rosinante frowns, then settles on letting it go with the vaguest understanding that if space can hold all those things, something must be doing the holding. That something is apparently very dark and yet doesn't block starlight, and must be very light for all of the elements in it to seem like they can just float, but strong enough to keep them in their orbits. And all those mysterious somethings that make that possible must just be space itself, the way ships sail on water - for what's in water? Just water.

Got it. Science.]

You're the second person who's mentioned black holes to me. Early on, Newton talked about things like holes and giant worms and other dangers of space.

[Right? No, or is he getting them mixed up with wormholes? Wait-]

Are the black holes what the worms come from? Or the worm-holes something different?

[He's still asking very earnestly, but the furrowing of his brow hints that he's sure he's got some of this wrong, he just can't tell which part. It all sounds utterly ridiculous, but then, so do things like magic and space stations.]

[ That's... actually not a bad way to picture it, Jim thinks. Honestly, explaining space is difficult even to people in his own time, and his own world, he can only imagine the confusion it causes on people like Rosinante, who have never even considered this kind of concept, or known it to be a reality. The fact he can even keep up with the talk is impressive in its own right.

The mention of wormholes makes Jim laugh, though it is good-natured. ]

Two different types of holes. Black holes are a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing at all can escape from it, not even light or radiation. Work on black holes is largely theoretical, as we can't get close enough to study it in depth, but it's a force that can distort everything around it, including our notion of time itself.

Wormholes are something else, though. They're called that because to us, they resemble the holes that worms dig through the dirt, though in reality they can be more complex than that. Wormholes are like... shortcuts, you might call them, between two incredibly distant points in space, so that in theory you can leap from one to the other much quicker. They're not unheard of in my reality, although our own method of space travel is different. We just have speed factors that are greatly increased, but they don't necessarily mean we're traveling through wormholes.

[Yeah, all right, the bit of laughing is fair. Rosinante isn't bothered, it's hardly his fault he doesn't know this stuff.

Anyway it's nice to hear that the wormholes don't mean literal giant worms making holes in space because that sounded nightmarish in his head.]

All right. I can picture that, sort of. The idea anyway, of using a shortcut or just going really fast. The black hole... I'm less sure about. But I do know what gravity is, just to be clear.

[Keeps your feet on the ground, and all that good stuff. Simple and effective and part of daily life.]

Wait - you said something about time. There's someone here, that Doctor fellow, or both of them I guess, who talk about time travel. So is that something you do too?

[ It's not mocking, not really. He just is entertained that the word 'worm' never fails to throw people for a loop. It's a strange word to choose to name it, though, he is aware of that much. ]

Good. It's one step closer to understand black holes, but I wouldn't worry much about that if I were you. Even te people who dedicate their whole lives to studying them don't fully understand them. They're well beyond our understanding in many ways, but that's why we want to study them and learn more.

[ All this to say, black holes are the last topic Rosi has to worry about his knowledge to be lacking. It won't even be necessary here. Well, Jim hopes it won't be. ]

Ah. Yes, I've met him. Well, one of him anyway. And no, time travel isn't something we do, and even if we could, it would be highly regulated. Time travel can mess up a lot of things. We have had one accident involving time travel where I'm from, and that one incident was what created the reality I'm from. I come from a timeline that's alternate to an original one that, linearly speaking, happened first.

[He might not get the science stuff, but he does understand, and admires, the search for answers. That's one of those very human things, isn't it? Curiosity, the drive to know the world. One of those things people could devote more of their time to, really, instead of fighting each other.

Anyway, speaking of not understanding things, he almost regrets asking about time travel, and the blank look he gives Jim probably makes that pretty obvious.]

What? I - No. Your whole reality came about because of a time travel mistake?

[He must know how ridiculous that sounds, right?]

[ Jim smiles a little at that. He was expecting the surprise and confusion, as he's gotten it before, but even if he hadn't, he would figure it's the kind of reaction someone would have to learn about this. Not that a lot of people know even in his own world, even though Ambassador Spock's existence wasn't exactly the best kept secret. ]

Yes. Well, an incident that led to two ships traveling back in time. But time travel was never part of their plans.

Then I can see why it'd be banned, or at least heavily regulated.

[How the hell, though? He's not going to ask for technical details or anything, he already knows it's beyond him, but still. How can someone just accidentally travel in time?

He shakes his head.]

I guess we'd better hope the orbs can't disperse themselves in time as well as in space. I'd hate to think of what could happen if we had to time travel to get one.

[ Jim hums, nodding. There are all kinds of complications that come with space travel, far too many things that they could do wrong that would mess with the natural progression of time. Change the future entirely, create alternate realities in a way that would become unsustainable. Of course, there was always the theory that there is an infinite number of alternate realities out there, and even back home Jim knows of at least three, but it's probably not the best idea to be hopping around and sprouting up even more. A disaster waiting to happen. ]

I hadn't even thought of that, [ He says, frowning a little. ] I honestly hope that's not something we have to worry about. I have plenty of issues already with what we're doing, I can't even begin to imagine adding time travel to that list.

You're not alone with having issues with it all. Don't really know what to do about them, though. Viveca doesn't give us a lot of options. And when you start asking questions, she either starts trying to do the schoolteacher scolding thing, or gets all stressed out and insists everything's fine.

[He keeps asking questions anyway. It's just the sort of person he is, and she's made clear that she knows it, and tolerates it without really encouraging any of it.]

It might be embedded in her programming, that kind of reaction. Some kind of safety mechanism built into her responses to rebuke or push away anyone who might come to her looking for concrete answers. Honestly, she might not even have said answers, or not be aware of what those may mean.

[ People are generally so worried about Viveca, but Jim is frankly much more concerned about the Commander. A mostly faceless man, a complete unknown to them, yet somehow in charge of this station, and thus in charge of their well-being. ]

Could be. I did ask her about that though - about her programming limits, I mean, since you're not the first to bring up that she might be blocked from giving certain answers or knowing certain things. And you know what? I swear, she got offended. It sure sounds like she's functionally as much a person as you or me, if you take her at her word.

[Should they, though? He really can't tell. Her reaction was awfully believable, but the truth is he just doesn't know enough about things like AI and computers to judge how realistic it might be that she can speak freely, or to work out how likely it is that she can lie and act as well as any human can.]

She might have. To be honest, we don't really know much about Viveca. Her personality might just be a set of responses programmed into her, or she might've actually become self-aware and is now an independent life form of her own. We don't really have fully functioning, self-aware artificial intelligence where I'm from but it's a long debated topic. The possibility is definitely there.

[ Jim happens to be of the opinion that it will happen, sooner or later. Whether created by their own hand, or through some other means. But it does complicate things, if Viveca has become self-aware, then with that she may have gained the ability to lie for her own personal reasons. ]

It's as foreign to me as everything else here, but I'm doing what I can to keep up. Ignorance is about the farthest thing from bliss.

[But there's not much more to do about Viveca in particular other than watch and learn, and keep talking to her to find out how she reacts. As for the space stuff...]

I think I've packed about as much into my head as I can fit for now. I'll let you go. But, hey, thanks for helping with all this.

We're in full agreement there.

[ Not just in this context, but any context. Jim will never prefer ignorance over even the most unpleasant truths.

He smiles a little at Rosi and nods. ] Not at all, it was my pleasure. I'll make sure to get you more reading material for you to pick through at your leisure.

[ Easier to absorb all that information at his own pace than try to force himself, it'll just make it all the harder. ]

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OPEN // october post-mission log

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