inhistorybooks | [020: voice]

So, Ray's gone. I'm startin' to wonder if I'm ever gonna get assigned ta someone for more then a couple weeks before they vanish.

... There's somethin' I don't understand. Now, I don't pretend ta know people's reasons for needin' to go back home or anything, but I don't understand why wardens choose to leave permanently without completin' their deal. Choosin' ta leave everything for god knows how long ta complete a deal isn't somethin' you just toss around lightly. You're makin' a commitment to another person, and packin' up and leavin' because it's too hard or somethin' just seems...

I don't get it. And again, I'm not sayin' people who disappear are at fault, or that I get why people leave or anythin' but...

I'm here to do a job. And I'm not leavin' until it's over.

[Private to Fred]

Kinda weird meetin' someone when we're not actually ourselves and with a whole buncha memories that kinda... aren't ours, but it was nice ta meet you.

[Friends Filter - Martha, Kay, Capa, Sarah, Tim, Rex, Four, Kirk (yes even you), anyone else who should be on it.]

How's everyone doin' after that breach?

[Filtered to Tosh and Harper]

I know this might be some kinda "too many cooks in the kitchen" thing, but would either of you mind if I come down and take a look at the engines or somethin' once and a while? It's just, it's been kinda weird not havin' engines ta keep an eye on these last couple months and I'm not lookin' to step in and take over or anythin', I just want somethin' a little different then fixin' laundry machines and cleanin' up after people. [He's a chief engineer, not a maintenance guy and all that.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes. It was the "trying to put it back together" phase that got me in trouble.

What happened?

There was an incident involving my dad's tools and my mother's car.

How old were you?

No more than ten. I didn't take the car apart, of course. But I managed to damage the engine.

Irreparably? [This sounds familiar.]

Probably. I don't really remember much. It's hard to get a feel for the outside world when you've been grounded for six weeks.

A feeling I remember all too well.

Do you also remember feeling like being grounded wasn't a punishment at all, because it meant that you got to stay in your room and not be bothered?

Nah, I'd usually try ta convince my parents to let me off easy after a while. Maybe if there was somethin' in there that could keep me busy, I wouldn't mind so much, but most of the time, I was really glad when it was over.

I always had something to entertain me. And if I didn't, I could always sneak out my window to the telescope outside. [Because Capa wouldn't ever think about sneaking out to go be with friends.]

Did you always want to work on the whole fixin' the sun project thing? [Friends, psh, who needs those.]

No, not really. That was...kind of a secondary thing, to me. I was more fascinated with dark matter. I wrote a paper on it and it got the attention of a few people who used it to make the Stellar Bomb, the one that went to the sun. So, I was caught up in it.