Inbox for saltburnt.

[intelligence]

WELCOME TO THE SALTBURNT NETWORK
USERNAME: @prefers_outside_apparently text ❖ audio ❖ video

Comments

[breeding]

alright, hard no on mike, then.

commander, huh? navy, or some other branch?

[intelligence]

Not Navy, but we do have ships.

I'm Starfleet. It won't exist for another century in the present timeline.

[breeding]

you know, i'm kinda shocked it only takes 100 more years. wonder if i'll still be alive by then.

[ The thought actually starts sending him into a spiral, so he pivots: ]

you got your own ship?

[intelligence]

[ She wants to ask if increased longevity is one of his abilities but she is smoothly distracted by the ship question. ]

Yes. When I left my universe, I was operating a small freight ship with hardly enough space for me plus cargo. She always got me where I needed to go, though. I called her the Alice after a children's book my foster mother read to me.

Discovery is the ship I belong to as crew. It's larger than this house and the surrounding grounds and faster than light. That's home.

[breeding]

alice in wonderland?

don't know if i've ever seen a craft that big outside of a ... no, i think even most aircraft carriers wouldn't be quite that big.

do you miss it? home? or being in space?

[intelligence]

That's the one. I never anticipated how practically relevant it would be to my life.

I do. I miss exploring the galaxy. I miss my crew. I miss the thrill of flying. There's nothing like it.

[breeding]

[ He considers, first, that this is something he's offered to others more than once. And he considers, second, that it's a good fucking offer. ]

i can get you a close second, if you're interested.
i can fly, as far as this place lets anyone go anywhere.

[intelligence]

You can?

[ She knew about his strength — that's all over the network. Heat vision came up organically when they were snowed in together. But flight is something she immediately connects with. ]

I am. I'm very interested. [ Understatement. ] How far can you go without restrictions?

[breeding]

no boundary, no power cap, i can reach space.

[ Though that's a decidedly less friendly environment for any passengers than it is for him, and even then it's not exactly great. ]

[intelligence]

That's incredible. The closest I've come to something like that was piloting a flight suit.

[breeding]

how far can one of those take you?

[intelligence]

Well. The last one I piloted was also a time machine, so... almost a thousand years.

[breeding]

you have time machines??

[intelligence]

More like had. It only worked for one trip.

[breeding]

[ That sparks a few questions, namely: Are you stuck? Did you die? Did you get back? ]

shit.

[ And then— ]

you okay?
besides all this shit, i mean.

[intelligence]

[ How to answer honestly without answering honestly... ]

Oh. Sure.

My crew was supposed to follow me through the wormhole and meet me on the other side. I hadn't caught up with them yet when I was taken from my world, but I haven't given up. I'll find them when I make it home.

[breeding]

they must miss you.

[ A stab of something like envy, cresting as high as his sympathy. ]

i hope you do make it home.
back to your home world and back to the right time.

[intelligence]

Thank you.

I hope I get to show you around my ship someday. If that would interest you.

She's one-of-a-kind.

[breeding]

oh, fuck yeah.
all the stuff you describe, it's like
i mean, obviously i've never seen anything like it before.
don't know if there's much about the past that'd surprise you.

[intelligence]

I don't know if that's true.

I'm surprised by everything you can do, for instance.

[breeding]

[ Completely guilelessly: ]

yeah? which part surprises you most?