#01 | @ANONYMOUS

[sumio]

Hello there. It looks like we can post here, too, kind of like a message board.

There doesn't appear to be any kind of correlation between newcomers and those who were already hiding in this safehouse. And there isn't anything that seems to link us together as a group, either. We're men and women of a wide range of ages, appearances, and, I'd assume, nationalities-- in every mass kidnapping case I've ever heard of, all of the victims always had at least one thing in common. It doesn't make sense that we'd be here at random... but in a situation like this, common sense has long gone out the window.

"Who the hell are we" is right. Nothing here adds up.

[The message seems to end there, but then, as an abrupt afterthought:]

Fuck... They gave me such a shitty haircut...

Comments

[wrenchinald]

This would be REALLY FUCKING USEFUL back home but noooo, have to get kidnapped and have it shoved in your skull while some guy berates you about shit you didn't exactly decide on.

I don't think they were thinking about FASHION with the haircut shit for some reason.

[sumio]

The message board? Absolutely. Faster than a phone call or an email, and more discreet, too. This kind of advanced technology might be a hint as to where we've wound up, too.

I've seen at least one person who's nearly bald. Assuming that they shaved all of our heads, maybe we could count backward from how long our hair's grown and figure out how long we've been here?

[wrenchinald]

I mean the brain shit in general. You'd have to get a TON of shit to shield it, but if you knew what you were doing you could do fucking ANYTHING. I wonder what we can connect it to.

...Did you memorize how long it takes for your hair to grow? Mine's definitely on the shavey side and there is some SERIOUS FUCKERY on the back.

[sumio]

Are you really sure you'd want to risk connecting your brain to the internet...? [DOWNLOAD MEMES DIRECTLY TO YOUR FRONTAL LOBE WHY DONT YOU WRENCH]

I haven't, but you can work from averages. It's about a centimeter every month, or so. Also, what kind of fuckery are we talking about, exactly?

[wrenchinald]

We connect everything else to it, might as fucking well. Security's easy when you know what you're doing, and I know what I'm doing, dude.

[HOW BETTER TO CONSUME MEMES?????????]

And it's like scar tissue fuckery. There is some WEIRD BUMPAGE like riiiight down towards the neck. Probably where they shoved the shit in.

[sumio]

Not everything. I don't think technology's at that level yet, but maybe soon... are you some kind of programmer?

[it's 1999, bear with him

also, a pause between the messages as he reaches back to massage his own scar tissue, right where wrench mentions.]

Well, fuck. I guess that's the price of this convenience.

[wrenchinald]

Yeah, I'm some kinda programmer. We'll go with THAT.

[Well, it's not like it's not an accurate description of some of what he does.

Sorry about the 1999.]

I wouldn't be SURPRISED if they were really close to this shit though. I know a couple biohackers who aren't assholes and MAYBE I'd let them do this. Random fuckers in some mystery place? Fuck no.

[strove]

Commonality can extend beyond age or appearance. It's not common, but we can't count it out just from what we see while sitting in a room together.

[sumio]

Then we might need to start getting friendlier. Figuring out what questions we need to ask about each other.

[strove]

That's the thing. It's hard to know when we know nothing.

Does any of what you've seen seem familiar to you? I guess that's a good place to start.

[sumio]

It's not familiar to me at all. I'm from Tokyo's 24th Ward, in the Kanto region of Japan. What about you?

[strove]

It's complicated. Let's just say that Tokyo doesn't exist anymore where I'm from.

Nothing does. But regionally, I guess ... Virginia, the United States. Or what was left of it. Before that, the Ark, which was a combination of twelve space stations. I haven't been up there in almost a year now, though.

[cyberlife]

We've lost time and none of us can remember how we got here.
I think "nothing here adds up" will be a relevant statement for quite some time.

[sumio]

What about "before" we got here? Do you remember anything of import from before you woke up?

[cyberlife]

I have no memory of where they kept me or what's been done to me, but I assure you the damage is substantial. By the growth of my hair, I assume I've been in their captivity for months.

Before all this, I was with my partner. We were standing by a food truck in the snow.

[sumio]

[oh good some other weirdo like sumio who was thinking about hair measuring]

It's all the same for me... What part of the world were you in before? It doesn't seem like we have a baseline on where we've all been taken from, either -- I haven't spoken to any another person who came from Japan yet, for example.

[a beat, then--]

You said "partner". Are you law enforcement? I'm a detective. [was. kinda.]

[cyberlife]

(!!!!!!!!!!)

A detective? That's a welcome coincidence.

My name is Connor, I'm an investigator for the Detroit Police Department in America. The year was 2038 when I got taken, if that helps at all.

[sumio]

Interesting... I'm Sumio Kodai, of Kanto's 24th Ward Heinous Crimes Unit. The year, for me, is 1999.

If you're not still recovering from our arrival, would you be able to meet? I'm getting tired of talking into the void, I want to speak to someone face to face.

[cyberlife]

(wow... okay grandpa...)

That's a considerable gap in time... not very helpful in a search for patterns. We have our work cut out for us.

Where is your location? My leg is damaged, but I'd like to come to you if that's alright. I've been sitting for hours now and I'm getting "stiff", which the only suitable word to describe what I think might be muscle atrophy.

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[dirtyredneck]

They want workers. Slaves.