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[asaqueenshould]

As I believe we should all be more capable of thinking clearly now, I'd like to pose a couple of questions that have been on my mind for a while.

First is the matter of language barriers - or rather, the complete lack of them. Quite aside from meeting an American who admitted to no knowledge of Japanese (and my English certainly isn't good enough to fill in the gaps), I've had perfectly comprehensible conversations with people who aren't from Earth at all. Is it more likely that something about this world is translating for us on an individual basis, or somehow taught us all a common language without us noticing? Either way, can the translation effect be chalked up to Chroma, or is something else at play?

My second question circles back to Chroma itself, building off its local importance as both currency and energy source. We've been told that the locals see Chroma as the solution to their clean-energy woes (if only breaking oil dependency were this simple...). Our hosts believe that higher rates of Chroma generation will permit faster development of their technological capabilities, possibly including a means to return us to our worlds of origin.

How, exactly, do they intend to sustain that technological capability if all of us return to our homes?

I'll grant that that's a rather large assumption; there's a very real chance that this world is preferable to where some of us came from. However, a substantial majority of us refusing to stay here, once the means is in place, could still decimate Chroma production to the point where little to nothing that we help them make can be powered. That could potentially impact the ability to return everyone who wants to leave. If nothing else, it's something those of us who intend to get hands-on with the local technology should keep in mind.

Comments

[asaqueenshould]

One of my friends is here, from slightly after that point.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

[And Temple is absolutely gobsmacked by that.]

So, from your future, you mean?

Does that mean that people from the past can come here too, or does it only apply to people from the future?

[Sure, Temple had took a brief glance at the network post about that stuff but he hadn’t given it much thought. He hadn’t met anyone from his world here so it didn’t really apply to him and the poster of it wasn’t someone he recognized so it was easy to dismiss.]

[But now she’s said that to him, the meaning finally sinks in.]

[Biff.]

[If the moons can bless Biff, he can come here and be alive again and Temple can have his friend back. Temple has no idea how likely or possible it is but now, now, he has hope. A single shred of it but still, more hope than he’s ever had before.]

[asaqueenshould]

There are a few people here from my world's past as well, but no one I know personally outside of this context.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

How far in the past are they from?

[Temple wants to know all he can about this, now he knows it is possible. If there’s a way for him to get Biff back, he will do anything for it.]

[asaqueenshould]

Several years, at least in the case of the person I talked to.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

That’s perfect.

> Private

[asaqueenshould]

[It's a while before Hifumi responds, and the answer, when it comes, isn't available to the network at large. If she's done this right, anyway. She doesn't want to put this guy on the spot in an open forum, especially with the people determined to make this a freedom fight and otherwise be pessimistic about things.]

Is there someone you're hoping to see? [It's just that she can't think of any other reason why that kind of gap would be 'perfect.']

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Yes, there is.

How’d you guess?

[Temple’s surprised that she caught onto him.]

[asaqueenshould]

I couldn't think of any other reason why you'd describe the chance of someone being several years behind your personal timeline 'perfect.'

Good luck. I'd imagine trying to summon specific people here would take at least as long to engineer as reversing the process, but in the meantime, another influx like the one that brought us here might do the same.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Well, all that means is that I now have something to do here other than just relax and learn to fight.

[And Temple is glad of that. He can enjoy peace and quiet and relaxation but he always feels the most like himself when he has a purpose of some sort, something to work for or fight for.]

[Sure, it is not something he has likely to succeed at but even still, he figures it is better to try and not succeed than to not try at all.]

[asaqueenshould]

That is very true.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

So, what do you plan on doing here?

I mean, if you don’t mind me asking, that is.

[asaqueenshould]

Beyond 'spend some time enjoying my mother's absence,' I haven't really thought on it yet. I've never objected to school, so I may see what's on offer in that regard.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Is there something you’re particularly interested in learning about, then?

[asaqueenshould]

Local history may prove useful to understanding what we can do in the long term. We'll need a good knowledge base to be able to plan further out than immediate necessities.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Yeah.

I think the science and technology is important to learn about as well, so we can understand what they can do and what we can do and what can’t be done at all here.

[asaqueenshould]

It is, and I may pursue that direction as well. Given technological work is our key to potentially not being stuck here, though, I'd imagine several people will be taking up those studies.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Yeah, I think you might be right about that.

I don’t see why so many people want to leave, though. This is a pretty nice place.

[asaqueenshould]

I suspect everyone you asked would have a different answer. We have come here without our consent, and with no clear timeline on when we might be able to leave, which makes it rather different from taking a vacation. Some people might have a task they feel can't be left unattended, or people who didn't come here with them. We have no idea how to account for the passage of time in our worlds of origin while we're here - if that's going to be a factor, it may change things considerably. Some people simply chafe at not having full control over their own actions, or see grand conspiracies under every rock, apparently.

(Whatever else is going on here, it is not a grand conspiracy. I have seen the kind of manipulation it takes to get an entire city to go along with that kind of thing without complaint, and there would be holes. Sooner or later, someone would protest.)

That said, though, there are just as many reasons to choose to stay. This is, as you said, a very nice place; we've been given a fair amount of freedom, earning money is as simple as holding someone's hand, it's not an active war zone, it's relatively free of systematic oppression, and it could prove just as hard to leave new friends behind, if and when the time comes, as it is to be separated from people who didn't come here. I don't want to turn my back fully on my world - it's not without its problems, but if we don't fix them, who will? - but I certainly don't mind a break from both the dire situation I was pulled from and my mother.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Yeah, I suppose those are all good reasons.

And I really wish I didn’t have to turn on my back on my world. But I had tried to fix its problems and failed catrastrophically before I came here so I think that, even I hadn’t went here or if I came back later, it wouldn’t even matter.

Because there’s nothing I can do about anything there now.

[He’d lost his team, his army, and all his stuff, and been put in jail before arriving on Prismatica, after all.]

[asaqueenshould]

I can't say I blame you for wanting to move on, given the opportunity.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Really?

You don’t?

[Because her whole multiple paragraph spiel has gotten Temple feeling like maybe he is betraying Biff and the other sim troopers by wanting to stay here and give on the futile fight he fought in his own world.]

[asaqueenshould]

Really. Pushing back that hard against what turned out to be insurmountable odds would be exhausting. Only you can speak to your specific circumstances, but if you've had enough there's no shame in saying so, and passing the fight on to someone else.

Knowing when you can't do any more is just as important as knowing when to push on to checkmate.

[sometimespawnskillkings]

Well, it was a long and hard fight, that’s for sure.

And I am exhausted.

But I’m not sure if there’s anyone back where I’m from that will take it on now that I’m done. Yeah, I had a team and an army behind me before but they all suffered the same losses I did at the end. And many of them are dead now.

So, if I can’t make things right and they can’t either, who can? And who will?

[asaqueenshould]

It may be that the time isn't right. It may be that, even though your own efforts failed in the immediate sense, you've begun clearing the path for someone who will follow.

There's a difference between doing nothing at all and knowing you've done all you can.