(backdated to pre-Pan plot -- also threadjack Miles in the comments!)

[vorbarra]

[There is a thin, angular man with dark neat hair and intensely focused hazel eyes on the screen. He clears his throat when the vid starts; he's had to swallow down his nerves and put on his calm political mask to speak. His accent is a gravelly, guttural sort of Russian, as if Russians went into space and were fast-forwarded a thousand years. Which they did.]

Hello. My name's Greg. I'm adding to your barrage of new arrivals. It's still very surreal to be here, if for no other reason than that I'm on pre-space travel Earth.

[He does look honestly bemused by that.]

I was wondering what the regulations are for obtaining jobs around here. They've assigned me one, but I was hoping for something... low key. Normal, menial work. [A quirk of his lips.] I have experience putting in lights, if that's relevant, and as a navigator.

I was also looking for confirmation that all of the, ah, abilities listed in our files are real. I'd prefer not to test something like this to find out.

Thank you.

Comments

[vorbarra]

Then you're pro-registration? This seems like a divisive issue. As for the news-- there is an incredible amount of it here. Barrayar hasn't quite caught up with the galactic standard of holo-casting absolutely everything.

With the war?

[timecapture]

I don't know what I am. It's just that they seem to leave you alone more when you register than when you don't. I registered because I thought it was the right thing to do, but honestly, I don't know what that is.

That, and other stuff.

[vorbarra]

[There's something suddenly clear-eyed about Gregor, someone used to profound moral dilemmas.] That's very insightful of you, to realize that you don't know. I find that often we don't, but must decide that something is right, simply so we can live with ourselves. I am coming to believe there is no correct answer here, either.

I'm sorry if I'm prying, [he says quite sincerely.] I'm attempting to get my bearings.

[timecapture]

I figure that the right thing to do is protect as many innocent people as I can. And friends. Screw politics.

It's okay. There was a serious case of arson a few weeks ago. Powers got swapped, too. A lot of people died. We're still figuring out exactly what happened.

[vorbarra]

Unfortunately, those goals are not always so clearly distinct from politics. [At least not when you're Vor, much less the Vor.]

Powers got swapped? I... at least arson makes sense. And we're still waiting for news on how that happened? And why?

[timecapture]

Yeah, I've noticed.

You might wanna ask Miles Edgeworth, if you get the chance; we were gathering info and he collected a lot of it.

[vorbarra]

Miles Edgeworth. Noted. Thank you, Max-- I might do that.

[timecapture]

You're welcome.