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[mothmansplaining]

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"Stanford Pines. Leave a message."

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[tetractys]

SO HOW DO WE KNOW WE'RE NOT THE FLOOD FOR SOMEONE ELSE? HOW DO WE EVEN KNOW OUR PASSENGERS ARE ALL REAL NOW, HUH?

[mothmansplaining]

The only way to determine that would be the same way I noticed the last thing the Director published: to look for behavior that doesn't add up when what we should have known at the time is taken into consideration.

We also have the network. That thing's been around forever, and it doesn't seem to be affected by floods. Put something up there, and it's there forever! We might be able to cross-reference network activity with a passenger list.

[tetractys]

OH YEAH.

WHAT ABOUT BREACHES, HOW DO THEY WORK?

[mothmansplaining]

[Ford pulls up another set of readings, one of someone with a breach self and one of someone without one.]

It's a similar phenomenon. But instead of another Barge overlapping with us, it's an entire dimension. The energy is at much higher levels and remains constant throughout the event. We and the versions of ourselves we become don't shift back and forth, like they do in floods. It becomes stable very quickly.

[tetractys]

ARE BREACH COUNTERPARTS EVER REAL?

[mothmansplaining]

Sometimes.

[He pulls up data to demonstrate.]

[tetractys]

SO THOSE ARE WORLDS WE'RE TANGLING WITH, NOT EVEN SHIPS.

[Bill is drumming his fingers somewhere near Ford's spine]

WE'VE MESSED A LOT OF WORLDS UP PRETTY BAD IN BREACHES! I KNOW I KILLED A BUNCH OF PEOPLE AT LEAST ONCE. RHYS ENDED THE WORLD ONE TIME!

[mothmansplaining]

And Cthulhu rose from the depths in the last one. I can't imagine that ended well for anyone.

[tetractys]

YEAH, BUT THAT WASN'T OUR FAULT! I THINK THAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED EVEN IF WE HADN'T JUMPED INTO THE WORLD.

[mothmansplaining]

Eesh. Well, at least there's that.

I don't know, Bill. I can't determine how responsible we really are for what happens to breach-worlds! We don't choose what our breach selves are like, and we make choices we wouldn't have if we weren't changed.

I do wonder what it looks like from the other side.

[tetractys]

AND WHAT HAPPENS AFTERWARDS, FOR PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T HAVE COUNTERPARTS? DO THE OTHER PEOPLE ON BUFORD'S SHIP THINK SHE JUST VANISHED? DO THEY NOT REMEMBER HER AT ALL?

[mothmansplaining]

...there's no way to say for sure. Not without reaching that ship somehow. Or asking the Authority directly.

[tetractys]

FORDSY, THIS IS PRETTY BIG. ARE YOU GOING TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS?

[mothmansplaining]

Not yet. I'm going to gather data on ports first. Someone's going to go overboard, and I want a look at the watch readings when they do. Most likely, it'll look similar to what happens in a breach when someone doesn't have a counterpart, but I want to know for sure. After that, I'll make the report.

[He hasn't made much progress on the real purpose of the project, which is disappearances, so he kind of wrote these discoveries off as incidental. Bill caring about them and telling him they're important reassures Ford, makes him feel just as warm as the limb-tangle he's currently wound up in does.]

[tetractys]

THIS CHANGES A LOT OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SHIP. THESE EVENTS AREN'T JUST, YA KNOW, INCONVENIENT, WE'RE CHANGING REAL LIVES FOR THE SAKE OF SOMETHING THAT'S PROBABLY JUST TO MAKE THE SHOW SEEM MORE EXCITING.

[Bill scans over the screen again.]

Y'THINK WE COULD USE THIS TO PROVE THAT THEY'RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE?

[mothmansplaining]

[Heavily:]

I'm not sure. There's a high probability we'll have people arguing that because the other worlds are real, this can't be artificial. It's just the Admiral steering us into other worlds, or transdimensional weather, or something.

I'm afraid this doesn't prove anything except that the Barge causes chaos on every world it lands on.

[tetractys]

THERE'S AN EASY SOLUTION, YOU KNOW, IF WE'D JUST PARK IN A PORT...

[No floods. No breaches. No nothing.]

[mothmansplaining]

[Ford looks over at him in deep surprise and no small amount of horror.

Yes. Yes, that would prevent all the damage that happens when a Barge full of complicated, difficult, and often murderous people crashes into another dimension.

He takes a deep breath, hoping for a wild moment that maybe this will be it, maybe this will be what does it --

-- and then he lets it out, shaking his head.]

Ah, you're right. That would prevent the Barge from affecting other worlds. But I don't think it's going to work. If the people on this ship can look at the compulsory kissing that happens every year and really think this isn't a show someone is putting on, then I'm not sure anything will change their minds.

[tetractys]

[Bill watches it hit him and then watches him go right back to resigned.]

DOESN'T IT TICK YOU OFF? TICKS ME OFF.

[Giving up on this would feel much worse than trying in total futility forever, to him. Because then it's letting the people that are wrong be comfortable about it.]

[mothmansplaining]

Oh, I find it absolutely infuriating! But nobody listens to me. In the best case scenario, they nod and then go back to going about their business. Worst case, they think I haven't changed at all, and I'm just going to trap the entire Barge in their own nightmares again.

[It's one of the things he's missed, not having Bill around: not being the only one who feels like this.]

I'm not good at talking to people.

[tetractys]

YOU'RE GOOD AT OTHER THINGS.

[Bill actually gives a shit if Ford is feeling sad now? amazing, what a bar to clear]

I'M GOOD AT TALKING TO PEOPLE, BUT I'M NO GOOD AT TREATING THEM WELL. SHOULD HAVE BEEN A POLITICIAN!

[mothmansplaining]

[He blinks. Supportive Boyfriend Bill is a new look, and one Ford historically hasn't expected. It cheers him up enough to make him give a chuckle at the politician joke.

He reaches forward and shuts the laptop off, closing the screen with a click. Ford may have his frustrations, but he doesn't have to live with them alone anymore.]

Still, I'm glad you're back.

[tetractys]

ME TOO.

WE WEREN'T OFFICIALLY TOGETHER THAT LONG.. BUT UNOFFICIALLY IT'S BEEN A PRETTY LONG TIME!

[Look, even if Ford wasn't aware that Bill's been trying to date him for like 15 years, BILL is very aware of it and it colored those years for him a lot.]

[mothmansplaining]

[Pfffhahaha, oh, Bill.]

I still think those years don't count, because I had no idea you were flirting with me!

[He sobers.]

...but you've been very important to me for a very long time. It felt like just when I'd started to really want you in my life, I lost you.

[tetractys]

THEY WEREN'T THIS. BUT THEY WERE SOMETHING. FOR ME THEY WERE SOMETHING. NOT DATING! JUST SOMETHING.