Chapter 35: I Know It Was F-fake
Captain’s Chronicles 1333 / 41-4-2598 / Crescent-Bryst
“Gramps1I know it was state in the last chapter like this that Avalyn will now be talking in Melcarna in her chronicles, but I wanted a reminder that isn’t just repeating starting off with a sentence stating that. and I have been working hard on the exterior of the ship, and we are now at the point that it’s painting time for most areas. The trouble is finding someone that can make the paint to the same specifications as the original, because apparently the original recipe is owned by the corp that made the Stargazer. So we could buy it from them, but at a truly insane price, or we can hope someone has done the whole generic drug version of it.
“Scevi has been hard at work on the wiring of Stargazer, though I have also been helping a lot with that. When my cradle changed the wiring, it didn’t destroy the original wires; it just rearranged and melded them, so I’m doing all the unmelding while Scevi puts them back in their places.
“Hugh hasn’t come back… I don’t even know if Gramps or Scevi has heard from him. As for what we’re going to do about the magic, well… we don’t know. There is a chance we could buy some of the spellwork, but it’s going to be so gods-damn expensive. The other option is just to go to the shows without any spellwork, which feels strange if we have done repairs to every other aspect of the ship.” Sigh. “Or we can just put in temporary spellwork that isn’t a replication of the original, which would admittedly make it easier to play off the golden amber of the spellwork and even the power generation.”
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Captain’s Chronicles 1334 / 42-4-2598 / Crescent-Bryst
“Scevi still hasn’t left yet, and I don’t think she’s going to. Though we’re struggling with what to do with Stargazer, Gramps is always in good spirits when Scevi is close by. I’m still not going to ask them what’s going on between them, but I think it’s pretty obvious.
“They’ve asked if I want to spend meals with them and I just said yes… I don’t want to because it makes me so fucking upset, but I gave in and I couldn’t say no to them. I don’t think this is going to end well, but you know me, I’m just going to bottle it all up until it blows up in my face.
“I still haven’t gone out to buy some stuffed animals. Honestly, we haven’t gone out since we went to get me clothes. Would they be upset if I asked to go out by myself? I don’t have a sense of value or worth, so I suppose I can easily get tricked into buying something expensive. Not to mention, if I’m alone, I’m going to have to deal with people thinking I’m an automaton alone, and I don’t know if that will be good.”
There’s a long moment of silence. “Can I download video games from the simulation? Probably. That could fill my time.” More silence. “Holy motherfucking goddamn shit, I’m stupid! This civilization has to have video games! Gramps fucking called out Hugh for saying shit about my simulation while he was addicted to a VR game! Oh my fucking Gods! There are games here! What the fuck am I doing with myself?! Reading books like a chump while I could experience the wonders of a potentially insane level of VR video games!”
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Captain’s Chronicles 1335 / 43-4-2598 / Crescent-Bryst
“Motherfucker, games like the one Hugh played are expensive as hell and require full body suits for touch sensation. It’s really a Ready Player One situation. And not the movie version, but the book stuff. Damn, that movie was fucking shit. Yeah, it was cool that we got the pop culture visuals, but outside of that, it was a big letdown.
“The suit wouldn’t even work for me… I could commandeer it, but then I would just understand what the suit was doing to give touch sensitivity, not that I would experience it. Maybe if I just directly plugged myself into it, then… I would just be feeling inside a simulation only to pull out and have no sense of touch… As much as I want to do that, I know it won’t be good for my mental health.
“No VR games for Avalyn… But there are games that aren’t VR. Huh… Does this civilization have any tcgs? What about ttrpgs? Gramps and Scevi didn’t mention those, but they have to exist, right? I could pull the ones from my simulation out, but I would be worried that they might be offensive to people of the real galaxy. Alright, I need to go out and find a local game store.
“I also need to get a companion. Those are the smartphones of reality. I love the gizmo and would much prefer to keep using that, but I would really need to upgrade it for that. The problem is that the gizmo is part of Stargazer and thus upgrading it would be altering part of it for consideration in shows. Also, the gizmo isn’t touchscreen.”
A loud sigh fills the audio. “I’m going to try to convince everyone to go out tomorrow. I need to get out. Admittedly, I do get outside a good bit, and I get to spend some time in trees and plant life at the edges of Gramps’s yard. I can’t really touch grass and feel it though.”
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Captain’s Chronicles 1336 / 43-4-2598 / Crescent-Bryst
“We’re going out tomorrow! They don’t know what an LGS is, but I’m pretty sure we can find one. I should also mention that I have an allowance now. I don’t really understand how much it is, so I guess tomorrow will be a learning experience. Hopefully, it will be fun, but I think the bigger point is getting me some of the basic stuff I need to exist in this society rather than a little self-indulgent shopping trip. Mainly it’s to get me a companion, so that I can communicate with people. Not that I have many people to communicate with.
“The communications of reality are interesting, to say the least. While there is faster than light communication, there are still limitations, and since the Alliance is still really just a connection of independent systems, it adds complexity.
“A standard companion in a person’s pocket has an average range of around 2.5 light-years. Keep in mind that 2.5 light-year connection is a direct connection between devices, with no middleman. That’s pretty cool and a very far distance, but not enough to really reach another star. To reach further, you need to go through the satellite communication systems that each local cluster of stars has. Basically, there are groups of close stars and local governments that all agree to jointly make a communications net between them. The best way I can think to explain it is like servers in a multiplayer game. I don’t know if that’s really comparable, but it’s what it reminds me of.
“The Alliance is split into dozens of smaller interstellar communications networks between closely connected star systems. Each of these smaller networks basically acts as the local internet for systems. When you start having to connect through other systems, then lag starts to build up. Like I said, it’s not perfect instant faster-than-light communication. I didn’t get an exact on what the delay is like since Gramps and Scevi have never really traveled much outside of a 100 light-year distance at max. They just know that it’s better to send a simple text based message once you reach around 70ish light-years. Can’t have a science-fantasy isekai without at some point having to resort to sending ‘letters’ to communicate.
“Of course, with more powerful devices and more advanced magic, those delays start disappearing, but those types of things are typically reserved for governmental communications across the Alliance. Or, as any capitalist loves, you can pay for services that allow you to do that, but it’s more expensive than virtually anyone but the richest of the rich can afford. All in all, there is a way to communicate across the Alliance, but at some point you start needing to accept increasing amounts of lag and simpler communications.
“As for what the local ‘internet’ systems are like and the cultural opinions of it are, I will be honest, I don’t know how to describe it because as of this moment I have never accessed it. I’ll have to get back to you on that.” Pause. “I suppose it’s ‘get back to myself’ not ‘you’. Who the fuck would want to listen to my damn chronicles? Sure, my life is now some isekai now, but who would ever be interested in my isekai?” A gentle laugh fills the audio. “Would my readers enjoy this? I’m more of a supernatural/fantasy romance writer. Never written sci-fi before, and my life sure as hell is not a romance at the moment.”
A much longer pause fills the audio. “Don’t know if I really want much romance anymore… Every romantic endeavor I’ve had has been a lie… How the fuck would I know that anything in life would be any different? How can I know I’m not in another fucking simulation now? What if this is a simulation, and my past was all real…? S-sure, I was able to find… E-everything was right t-there in the cradle. The entire s-simulation was laid out before m-me. I know it was f-fake, b-but what i-if… I… I can’t… It… I can’t…” The words ‘I can’t’ repeat for a while, growing slower and quieter before silence fills the audio for several minutes. Then the sound of metal pounding against metal takes over for quite a while. Crying is soon added to the mix of metal hitting metal.