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[aluminumandash]

[ RE419S | TEXT | 001 ]

[ After the message (warning?) has blared two successive times, Rust waits about an hour and sends: ] Progress on locating unauthorized transport?



[ OOC: Threadjack to your heart's content! ]

Comments

[hyakuoku]

[ well THAT'S an ominous callsign, if he's reading it right. Interesting...? ]

As soon as I reinvent carbon dating equipment I'll let you know.

[ Surely he's kidding. Right? He must be kidding. ]

It's hard to say for now. It's too waterlogged to really get a read on that. It's a hard case one, has barnacles on it. Barnacles can grow a lot faster than you think, though, so it could be days, weeks, longer. Had some paper in it that turned to unreadable mush.

No Mr.
Just Senku is fine.

As far as I can tell, I'm on the southwest part of the island. Are we sure it's just one island, though?

[salamanca]

[ Screw you, man, they're random!!! He didn't pick it. ]

I meant approximately, smartass. Couple years ago? Two decades ago? What style is it? Suitcases go in and out of fashion. You can tell one that was made now from one that was made in the '70s just by how it looks.

[ He does consider what Senku is saying, though. Interesting. SW, huh? Not sure it's one island? He looks around at the peninsula that juts out in front of him. ]

I don't think we are certain of that, unless I missed something.

Hey, you a marine biologist? Sounds like you know a lot about barnacles! I'm impressed.

[ He means that! He is impressed. ]

[hyakuoku]

It's hard to tell with the water damage. That's also a very relative question, isn't it? I assume you mean 1970s. But 1970 was so long ago for me that this suitcase should have rotted into nothing if it was from then.

[ Though really it shouldn't exist at all but he won't get into that just yet. ]

On this island, when is "now," do you think?

[ This might sound patronising even in text but he does really mean it. He's got two theories he's bouncing around already about this place, but needs more data. ]

Without a better idea of just how much ground we're covering, I'm not sure if it's one big island or several small ones, or even if it attaches to a bigger land mass. But assuming it's an island, southwest.

You didn't tell me your name back btw.

Not specifically a marine biologist, but I am a scientist.

[salamanca]

[ When is "now," do you think?

Many possible interpretations of that question run through Lalo's mind at warp speed. Frustratingly, operating over text like denies him the opportunity to interpret the tone of voice of the person or even the sound of the voice he's talking to, that might make it a little bit easier to figure out what's meant by that.

He considers that he's talking to a teenager or college kid who is making fun of him for his age, which frankly, sounds pretty likely if this person apparently thinks the '70s were that long ago. He considers that he might also be talking to someone who is insane.

Or... that he's talking to some kind of physicist who understands things like time warps and worm holes and has devised some theory to explain all of this shit.

He works backwards. He answers the question about his name first, since that's the easiest! ]

Wow, I did, didn't I? That was rude. Officer Ben De Guzman. At your service, Senku.

[ Next the question as to whether it's an island or a peninsula or multiple islands or... ]

Moving inland. Just arrived at the mouth of river. Looks like a bay, maybe a sound of some kind. Not sure. Looks like where I was before was connected to something bigger. Doesn't mean it's all one body of land. Looking like at least some of it might be pretty well-connected, though. Decent-sized!

[ Now the question of "when"...

He settles for a playful approach. He can always lead more into credulous later. He figures his good-guy cop identity should maybe be a little gullible, right? ]

Hate to break it to you but the '70s weren't that long ago, kid. How old are you? 20? :P

[hyakuoku]

[ Really, two of the above are true things in the end. Senku was born in 2004 so to him, sure, the 1970s were awhile ago. But he'd never make that rotting comment if he didn't mean it literally.

He does have an advanced understanding of physics, though things like wormholes and time travel are base theories that no one had proven; he hasn't studied them extensively because there wasn't much to study. But the point of science was always to advance, wasn't it, so he'd read up. Wormholes often came up in relation to space talk, and his number one goal was always to go to space. ]

You're a cop?

[ That means a certain set of skills, he thinks. Too bad they're not anywhere in close proximity. Senku knows he can't survive alone forever, after all. ]

I got stuck at a river too, so either it's a big river or there are multiple ones. Could still be one island with a river system, or several islands that are connected with larger bodies between them that we haven't discovered, but I think I'm leaning towards the one island idea for now.

Yes, about 20, but my age is ten billion percent irrelevant here.
My question was: when do you think NOW is?

I'll ask another way to get the answer I want to know. What year was it just before you came here?

I'll even make this more interesting for you so you don't think I'm screwing around.

[ Not that what he's about to say will probably help, but he's such a straightforward person that it doesn't occur to him that it won't help. ]

I meant what I said before very literally. WHEN I was just before waking up here, there isn't one millimeter of a chance that a suitcase from 1970 could exist. I don't mean it hyperbolically. Nothing made of cloth and plastic could have lasted anymore.

So? What year was it?

[salamanca]

Yeah. This thing we're by? It has to be pretty good-sized to accommodate a sound like this. If you're at one mouth, and we're at the other, then we'd know for sure if it's one island or a couple if we meet in the middle.

If there's a middle to meet in.

[ In other words: he, too, thinks it's likely there's only one island. He starts with that first because it's the easiest. ]

Doesn't mean there can't be more than one, but a big island looks the most likely. If you ask me.

If there's more than one island, then at least one of them can't be too small.

[ It does occur to him that he's not just being mocked, though. Even without being able to hear them, he can tell the person on the other side of the walkie talkie believes what they are saying. This person is serious about this. They mean it.

20 and "a scientist" registers to him as odd, but not as odd as all of this "when" shit. ]

Yeah, I'm a cop. But I was just shitting you, kid. I don't care how old you are. As long as you obey all local age-restricted alcohol laws wherever you're from.

[ Lalo hesitates before he types the next part, unsure if maybe it's a bridge too far for someone who is supposed to be "nice". But it's genuinely the first thing he can think of to say. ]

Hey, don't take this wrong way or anything, but what are you on and where can I get some? Kidding, kidding! Don't actually give me anything. Please.

[ He continues typing. ]

You sure you're okay, though? Didn't hit your head when you washed up here, did you? You said nothing from the '70s could've survived, soooooo. ..

What year do YOU think it is?

[hyakuoku]

I wish I had a better idea of the actual scale. It would be a lot easier to get an idea of map and location if we knew that. I can't calculate where we are in the world without more information either. It's frustrating, but a lot of science starts with barely any information. It's only been a few hours. We'll get some answers eventually.

But those are good points. So we'll stick with the only one island theory until we know better.

[ Senku is a very serious person all the time — ten billion percent serious — even when he sounds like a lunatic. He sometimes forgets that other people are like ?!?!?!? in his general direction. Even at home that was true for most of his life. ]

There aren't any laws like that anymore and I don't drink.

[ See, too serious! ]

[ He's just going to roll his eyes and ignore that drug comment. ]

I'm completely fine. You didn't answer my question but extrapolating from what you've said, I would assume you're from somewhere in the early 21st century. You're older than I am based on the comment about me being 20, old enough that you might have lived in the 1970s yourself. I'm assuming you come from before 2019 but I might be colouring that with my own experience. I do know better than to do that but I have to start somewhere.

To answer YOUR question, it's 5749 WHEN I come from. The where isn't entirely relevant at the moment, but we can get to that eventually. I can already guess how you're going to take that, and I am NOT confused, hallucinating, or bullshitting you.

Go ahead, ask whatever you're gonna ask and get it over with.

[salamanca]

Occam's Razor, right?

[ About the island. The easy part. If they were speaking over voice, he'd insert a slightly nervous laugh there.

The things Senku is saying are... well, they're are all correct, but they're also obvious statements to throw out, if you're also from 2004 -- like everybody else here, ofc -- and want to convince somebody you're a time traveler. For some reason.

He considers how to react to this. It would be easy to dismiss this person as crazy or a charlatan, and he considers doing just that. He still gets the impression that this person is extremely serious but can't fully get away from how much the way this person lays out how they knew his age and "when" he lived feels like a ploy.

After some thought, he offers one question and two statements. ]

How do I know you're not bullshitting me? Prove it. Prove you're from 5749.

[ Will that even be possible here? Lalo isn't sure. He can't imagine what this person could say that will definitively prove to him that they're from so far in the future. ]

wow i'm so sorry for all of this text

[hyakuoku]

Occam's razor. Exactly.

[ That went better than he expected, but he's also operating only on text here. Oh well. All he can do is answer. ]

Prove to me you're from whenever you're from. You can't, right? How can you do that with letters on a screen? I can't do it any more than you can. You knew that when you asked me though, right?

But the way you answered gave ME some answers. I'll share.

One. You're definitely not from when I am or what I said wouldn't have surprised you. You'd have treated me like some kind of idiot for saying what you already knew to be true. We had already pretty much established that but it was confirming it.

Two. No argument about the 21st century thing which doesn't make me spot on but makes whatever time period you're from far enough away from 5749 that you find what I said totally unbelievable.

If you saw me in person you might have an easier time of this but I wasn't born in 5729 or anything. I was born in 2004. All of humanity was petrified by an unknown event in 2019. It took me 117,354,893,870 seconds to revive. That's 3,700 years and change if you're doing the math. I woke up a few years ago now, but a lot happened since that doesn't matter in the current conversation. Most people from my time have yet to wake up, though my plan has always been to revive everyone. Obviously I've been waylaid by being here.

Before you think you've found a flaw in my story, if you're following along mathwise and you think my age doesn't add up, I'll clear it up for you. We spent another 7 years petrified recently. I do know what caused that to happen, and it was necessary. Again, not relevant to the current convo but I want to give you as much context as I can that provides as much "proof" as I can give you in text alone that you can't come up with some annoying argument for.

We now know what device caused the petrification, though not its origin, not yet. I could show it to you if we weren't however far apart on this island, though the battery is burned out now and without both a very fine craftsman to replace it and that power source itself, I couldn't make it work. But the tech is ten billion percent guaranteed to be unlike anything you've ever seen.

[ He would definitely laugh if this was an out loud conversation, because he has sort of a habit of doing that when he feels awkward or nervous or excited or anything. He just does that. ]

That's a lot of info to dump on you. I'll give you a minute.

And I know what it probably sounds like, but again I'm not crazy or screwing with you. I'm a scientist. I'm only interested in facts.

nooooo don't be sorry! <3 <3 <3

[salamanca]

[ Frankly, it is probably for the best that this is all happening over text. Getting Lalo Salamanca to shut the fuck up long enough to let you monologue this much in real life would be enough of a challenge, even before you contend with getting him to believe all of this.

There is a long, long, long time before Lalo responds. It might seem like he's not going to respond at all, until finally a single sentence pops up. ]

It's 2004. May of 2004.

[ Then another, longer text. ]

Look, I don't want to doubt you. You seem like a very kind and erudite young man. And I believe that you believe everything you're saying to me right now.

But you have to think about how this sounds from my perspective. The time I met someone who said they were from the future and something happened to wipe out most of humanity, it was because I was taking them in on a 5150.

So. How about this. Show me your... tech... thingy... and if it really is unlike anything I've ever seen, then I will owe you an apology. Sound fair?

[hyakuoku]

[ He's absolutely the monologuing in real life type if he has some science thing to explain, whoops.

He has about given up on getting a response, but then. ]

In May 2004 I wasn't even a year old. But I had guessed you were a little further on than that, so I was off. Not too far off though, huh?

I don't know what a 5150 is but I can guess what it sounds like to you, yeah. If we figure out how to cross this island, I'll show you the Medusa. I don't need an apology or anything like that. I just want you to believe I know what I'm talking about. If you can't trust me, it's a pain in my ass trying to solve the answers that will get us out of here. I can't do it totally alone. Too much island to cover.

[salamanca]

[ Notably, this response comes after the one to Shaw.

He's tempted to latch onto that one word — trust — and lose himself in a rage-fueled tangent of torrent of thoughts about how trust is bullshit, how trusting anyone gets your house burned down and anyone you care about killed.

But he doesn't. Can't get distracted. Gotta stay focused.

He has an idea. ]

Actually, there might be something you can do. Might not prove anything but it'll make you more, let's call it, credible.

I like to cook. Not professionally. Just a hobby.

You said you're a scientist, right? So. Explain the maillard reaction to me. Break it down the way a scientist would. I'll know if you're shitting me.

It won't prove you're who you say you are, but if you can't do it, I'll know you're lying about at least one thing.

[ Lying or crazy, but he doesn't say that second part. He doesn't think Senku is lying anyway.

Crazy, though? Probably, although Shaw's response gives him some room for doubt. ]

not me having to google the actual chemical steps lmao

[hyakuoku]

Maillard reaction, sure, its sugars reacting to amino acids generally between 140-165. That's Celsius, of course. If you're American then figure that conversion out on your own.

[ He could do it, or he could be a brat about it. ]

I'm going to do this out loud since I don't know if the voice to text will get this correct.

[ After a minute, he does switch to voice: ]

This is a little simplified, since there are some other small things that can happen, but...one, formation of N-substituted glycosamine from amino acid group and carbonyl group in the food sugars.
Two, glycosamine becomes ketosamines, which can form different compounds including butanedione or melanoidins.
Generally these are what give brown colour to foods, like the outside of meat or brown crust on bread.

TO994M; text

[cactusy]

December 2015.

[what the fuuuuuuuck]

[salamanca]

[ ...you're kidding, right? You don't seem insane, lady, so like... you are kidding, right? ]

Haha. Very funny.

text | RE419S threadjacking the threadjack...

[aluminumandash]

Hang onto the paper.

The suitcase washed in from the ocean?

[hyakuoku]

It isn't paper anymore, just mush that used to be paper.

I found it in a tidepool covered in barnacles so I'm fairly confident that's where it came from. It wasn't at the mouth of the river or anything.

[aluminumandash]

Just where do you think paper comes from? Can reconstitute it, dry it out and use it for kindling.

Be worth mapping the sky.

[hyakuoku]

I know damn good and well where paper comes from.

Mapping the sky isn't a bad idea though. Probably take a group effort but I don't think it's impossible.

[aluminumandash]

Just forgot, huh? [ Things that were apparently worth laboriously typing out. ]

What you know about ink?

[hyakuoku]

As if I ever would. But it's pulpy, which won't be good for kindling. Maybe in a super pinch it would serve but as far as STARTING a fire, it's beyond my skill level without some more stuff that isn't soaking wet. That whole rubbing sticks together thing isn't as easy as it looks in movies.

[ HE SHOULD KNOW, he sucks at doing it. He had to rig a whole pulley system to do it when he first revived at home, and that was better circumstances than here in some ways.

But point taken, he'll keep the paper mush for awhile. ]

What kind of ink? Synthetic or organic? That's a broad question.

[aluminumandash]

Best go with reconstitution then. What's your skill level?

Consider the here and now.

[hyakuoku]

I'm a scientist. This is pretty broken down but I'd give it a go with the right kind of setup. Just drying it out won't give us much to go on, though, unless there are deep impressions from writing.

You're asking me if I can find a way to read the ink that was on the pages despite the water damage? That's exciting. Depending on the kind of ink, a UV or infrared light could show us something. I don't have one on me and I doubt anyone has the right stuff to make such a thing immediately, but...

[aluminumandash]

[ This is such an onslaught of borderline-sci-fi bullshit in response to a simple fucking question that it takes Rust half a minute to comprehend what he's reading. Infrared light? How about a canteen, a shirt that doesn't have twenty fucking buttons and isn't soaked with sweat?

But—easy as it is for him to dismiss all optimism as blind—he recognizes, maybe, the need to get at the heart of things. To know. ]

Listen man, I just want a piece of paper and something to write with besides my own blood. [ Other blood: not off the table! ]

What do you have on you?

me googling the wildest shit to come to this answer

[hyakuoku]

[ He would be SO OFFENDED to have his thoughts considered anywhere near sci-fi, gosh!

But he reassesses; his assumption of what this guy was going for was wrong. Fair enough. ]

Hm. Nothing that would make ink on its own. To make ink with what I have on me, I'd need oak galls and some kind of iron.

[ HAS HE DONE THIS BEFORE? You betcha! ]

Let's not resort to blood immediately, though. In a pinch we can just use a dark fruit like a berry with a feather or hollow reed or plant stalk as a pen. It's less permanent but any port in a storm.