VIDEO 🙀

[hombrenuevo]

I can't believe this! Audio and video in one small device! This is so much better than our radios back home!

[ This kid is definitely excited over his new toy; it makes his Nicaraguan accent a little more pronounced. He's chipper despite the rough shape his face is in. Looks like someone clocked him across the forehead real good. ]

So this really is America? I have always wanted to come to the country where the infamous Big Foot lives! [ He looks around the sunny neighborhoods of Heropa. ] You know, it's a lot warmer than I imagined... Humid, too. Not as hot as Costa Rica, though. But you don't even have a rain forest! Where does it all come from?

Comments

[devoutish]

I'm not sure. Smaller here means better, I've found - better and more advanced. A couple hours at least, I should think. But what do you mean by tape...?

[Cassettes hadn't been invented in his time, and they're obsolete enough in the 2010s that he hasn't learned about them in this world.]

[hombrenuevo]

You know, the cassette tape.[ He sets his Walkman down and pulls out the cassette tape inside. There's a bright yellow skull printed on the grey cassette off to the side with the acronym MSF close by. ] It's what holds the recordings of the music. Or your own recordings you make.

[devoutish]

Here, it's done on thin silver disks.

[He's thinking of DVDs, and is just assuming that iPods work similarly.]

[hombrenuevo]

On real silver? America must be very rich...

[devoutish]

No, silver in color only. I haven't got a clue what they're made of. Here.

[He switches on the video. There's a close-up of a man's hand with several gold rings on the fingers, holding up a DVD for inspection.]

[hombrenuevo]

Huh. It's like a record, but smaller... So that's what people use now to listen to music?

[devoutish]

I think they do, yeah. Films, also. This, here - this is a film.

[hombrenuevo]

You're serious? But... how can it all fit on that small disc? How can the projector even read that?

[devoutish]

You can't think of these things in terms of what you're used to. Yeah? Everything is done differently.

[hombrenuevo]

[ Yeah, that's true. Everything he's seen and done so far has been above and beyond the cutting-edge technology that MSF had on base. ]

I can't believe we've come this far so quickly...

[devoutish]

Well, we are over forty years into your future, mate.

[hombrenuevo]

I guess, but... Well, it doesn't actually matter. I'll get used to it!

[devoutish]

Yeah. You're from Costa Rica, then? The jungles?

[hombrenuevo]

No, I'm from Nicaragua, but... we had to leave. So I've been in Costa Rica for awhile.

[ He would like to say more, but he'd rather not get red flagged by the US government just after getting here. ]

[devoutish]

And you've living in Florida. Better there than where the snow is. Eh? Have you seen snow?

[hombrenuevo]

No, but I plan to! Especially if I ever climb the Himalayans to find a Yeti!

[devoutish]

A yeti? That's gonna be a tall order, innit? Better bring one of these newfangled cameras with you.

[hombrenuevo]

Oh I'll be taking more than a camera! If he gets aggressive, I may have to neutralize him. Plus, I need to get real evidence, not just photos! No one ever believes the photos these days... Hmm, maybe I can fulton him back to America, or to a lab where they can run tests...

[ Now his brain is working a mile a minute to figure this theoretical trip out. ]

[devoutish]

You can what? What did you say, there?

[hombrenuevo]

Fulton. It's a recovery system for soldiers in the field. You put the device on someone—Or something—and it lifts it right into the air with a balloon.

[devoutish]

Another future invention. We certainly didn't have that when our boots were on the ground.

[hombrenuevo]

Were you a soldier, too?

[devoutish]

Yeah. I served in Europe, not so long ago. The Great War.

[hombrenuevo]

The First World War. [ There is awe in his voice when he says that. ] You're a real hero.

[devoutish]

[He turns on the video so Chico can see him tipping his hat to him.]

Thank you, mate.

[Too bad he's also a horrible criminal.]

Didn't stop the next generation from getting us into another one, but we did what we could.