maskormenace | 💣 001

[There's the sound of fumbling and a little bit of unintelligible muttering before any real words are spoken - the communicator isn't hard to figure out, but it still takes some practice to get the hang of.]

-- this button here, and then-- oh, there we go. Have I got it? Hello.

[Alfie's voice is deep and rumbly, and very Cockney. He switches on the video next. It's zoomed in too close on him to give any real clues to his surroundings - there's just the back of a couch and a blank wall visible behind him - but his clothes are clearly old-fashioned.]

Fucking fantastic, these things. Looking at your little images on the screen, it's like you're really there. Yeah, wonderful picture quality. I'm very impressed. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, should I - bigger and bolder seems like something of a trend here. I discovered one of your supermarkets earlier this morning. Fucking hell, the size of that place. Entire aisles set aside for nothing but ketchup; for ice cream. Hats off to the future, eh?

[And since he's actually wearing a top hat, he goes ahead and tips it.

But despite his conversational tone, his eyes are deadly serious. He narrows them a little, as he peers closer at the screen. He seems calm and affable, sure - but if you look behind that front, it's clear that he is very much not happy with how his day is going.]

Right. How many people am I speaking to, right now? Is it just those who've been brought here like me, or do I also have the pleasure of the army's company?

[Because he would like to have words.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Then you're way ahead of me as I assume. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of world is the twentieth century like?

A big one. That's not a very useful question, yeah? I've only been to one small corner of it, and there's lots of things I could talk about.

By a small corner, you mean you've never traveled out of the country you're from?

I've been to one other country, just across the channel - a little bit of water.

Only a little bit of water? I don't know about you, but I find travelling through the sea to be the slowest way of travel from one place to another. It took me ten days, at the very least, to leave my island to head over to another nation. Another three days by carriage to get to the capital afterwards. [If you ignore her wasting time playing super hero o a family that was having trouble that is.]

This doesn't take nearly so long. It's not a proper sea - just a little spit of it, between us and France.

How long does it usually take you to get to France from wherever you're from? Does it take you a few hours to get there? Since you don't have a sea in between the country you're from.

I'm guessing your period of time doesn't have a flying vehicle known as an airplane, right?

We do, yeah. They're a bit new. Twenty years old, I think? Yeah, something like that.

You really are ahead. It's amazing. Are the planes as big as the ones we have now? I mean, if the camera has a long history of advancement, then it should be the same for an airplane, right?

The only planes I've seen here have been high in the sky. Show me a photo of on on the ground, and I'll tell you.

There are all kinds of planes, but...

[She's send him a link of one regardless.]

These are the ones I see all the time. Are they as big as these?

[Alfie leans forward, using his little pince-nez glasses to see better, and-- damn.]

No. They're much, much smaller.

How much smaller? I almost want to see if the planes from twenty years ago in this timeline look different to the ones you're used to.

[Actually, she'll begin to do another search which will have her sending him another link.]

Are they about the same size as this one?

Where are you finding these photographs? Are you taking them yourself?

No. I'm using a search engine on the internet to find them. I wish I had the skill to take good pictures as the ones I just showed you.

[Now it makes her wonder.]

The internet doesn't exist in your time, huh?

We've got nothing like it. A search engine - what does that do?

[He's picturing a literal engine, of course.]

I don't really know the specifics, but it's a place where a lot of information is stored where you can easily find it. I mean, I always use it to search for pictures and all types of information. It's like a library, but on the internet!

You could access it on your communicator!

Mm, yeah. I haven't gotten that far with it yet. Is this here, this "network" thing - is this part of the internet?

I like to think it is. Maybe a special part of the internet though, where only imPorts like us can use it and all. I know anyone can use the internet. It's only this network that's restricted to just us.

I'm not really much of an expert though. I still have a lot to learn on how to properly use it.

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