[He's still sold on the idea that Bellamy's paranoid. He'd probably be paranoid if he got jerked around to varying worlds, too.]
A shard like...of what? Glass? Something else? [The answer is no, Grell didn't mention that.] That explains how people got there at least. Maybe there's something similar here, too, and that's why all of our code in particular's been retrieved.
A gem. A magic gem. Which probably sounds like bullshit to you - it did to me, too. Each shard was connected to our home worlds - it's how we were pulled in, yeah.
[A pause.] Do you know how weird it is going from medieval magic to a world with technology again? It's whiplash, like code is the new magic.
[It sure does. The look on his face says it sounds like a bunch of crap to him but he's still listening. A shard in each person that connected them to their home world? How big was this stupid gem anyway?
He doesn't get to ask though before he snorts.] If you ask around enough you'll find a couple of other people who're more well-versed with magic than other stuff. I've never had to explain tech to so many people before. Nothing in this colony surprises you?
[Bellamy actually looks a little amused by Hiro's reaction. Standard, really.]
I lived in space, remember? For twenty-three years. I wouldn't say nothing is surprising here, but it's not all that hard to figure out technology-wise, even if I haven't touched a computer in a while.
I'm still not totally clear on how you actually survived in space for twenty-three years besides being on that ship thing you were talking about. I'd love to see the tech on that thing.
On a space station called the Ark. [It is not lost on him that this is the second time he's had to explain it to Hiro.] It was made up of a bunch of other stations, once the Earth blew itself up about a hundred years ago.
[He raises an eyebrow.] How old did you think I was?
So a little like this place but in the sky. How'd you get enough supplies and stuff to sustain the population and everything? It kinda sounds like a pain.
[And he shrugs.] And I dunno. Closer to Tadashi's age maybe? He's only 21. [And he's going to be only 21 for the rest of his life :')]
It was a lot smaller than this place, both in size and population. [He frowns.] That was part of the problem. The station was running out of air. All the other supplies were grown or re-purposed from whatever the original space stations had before they all joined.
[Welp he knows about Tadashi too, which gets another frown out of him.] I'm 25. It's not that much older than 21.
[What do you mean it's weird that he doesn't ask who Tadashi is???]
It sounds pretty complicated since you can't just get clean air without a lot of work. [And the earth was, apparently, destroyed and unsafe to live on.] I'm not even entirely sure how Cerealia runs since everything outside of the colony makes it impossible to breathe after a while. Some of us can last longer than others but not by much.
[He blinks again because 25 is even older than 23, and it's a whole decade on him.] You'd be surprised. Reaching 25 can be a big deal for some people. [There's a casual shrug but he sure is avoiding eye contact suddenly. It's not too weird. He assumes maybe Bellamy met Tadashi here already. A lot of people knew his brother even before he arrived.] You're still old.
Yeah, that was the problem. The system was malfunctioning and the Ark was dying, so they decided to send a bunch of teenagers to the ground to see if we could go back. It was a shitty system, and I'm glad we'll never go back. [He squints.] But you picked up on some stuff I assume about how this place works, yeah?
[Even with the casual shrug, Bellamy knows right away what Hiro means and that he's thinking of Tadashi - but he also knows from home that even 20 was impossible for his people buried in the ground. So, yeah, he gets it, and that comes out in his voice.] No, I wouldn't be surprised. 25 can be pretty old. I'm lucky.
[bELLAMY DON'T BE DOOM AND GLOOM. He tries to offset this by taking another burger bite.] Fine, I'm old too.
[He takes a breath because...who the hell sends kids down to a poisonous planet?] At least the earth was apparently okay enough, but that sounds more like an excuse than an experiment. [It's bullshit is what it is.]
[There's an awkward little smile then. At least Bellamy's playing along] It's okay, old-timer. I'll catch you up to speed. I've been here for about five months now and...I guess I wanted to understand everything about this place. We've had a lot of people come to us in the last couple of months and tell us how things on Tellus should be and used to be. I've learned a lot.
[He snorts.] Not radioactive enough to kill us, but I wouldn't call it great. Barely even 'okay.' It was probably both an excuse and an experiment with those deemed expendable, honestly.
[He tries very hard not to look Fond at the use of Old Timer.] It doesn't have to be right now, but - I'd definitely be interested in what sort of things you've found. Didn't even have to be here a week before I realized how little I trusted just about anything.
Then why didn't they send adults who were more "expendable" or whatever? Man whatever, it's still wrong no matter how you look at it.
[While he's busy grumbling he doesn't notice Bellamy's expression.] I think that's how you're supposed to feel here after a while. Nobody makes sense and it starts to get more complicated the more people talk to us and give us information. I'll do my best to help.
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A shard like...of what? Glass? Something else? [The answer is no, Grell didn't mention that.] That explains how people got there at least. Maybe there's something similar here, too, and that's why all of our code in particular's been retrieved.
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[A pause.] Do you know how weird it is going from medieval magic to a world with technology again? It's whiplash, like code is the new magic.
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He doesn't get to ask though before he snorts.] If you ask around enough you'll find a couple of other people who're more well-versed with magic than other stuff. I've never had to explain tech to so many people before. Nothing in this colony surprises you?
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I lived in space, remember? For twenty-three years. I wouldn't say nothing is surprising here, but it's not all that hard to figure out technology-wise, even if I haven't touched a computer in a while.
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[...but.] I didn't know you were that old.
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[He raises an eyebrow.] How old did you think I was?
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[And he shrugs.] And I dunno. Closer to Tadashi's age maybe? He's only 21. [And he's going to be only 21 for the rest of his life :')]
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[Welp he knows about Tadashi too, which gets another frown out of him.] I'm 25. It's not that much older than 21.
[What do you mean it's weird that he doesn't ask who Tadashi is???]
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[He blinks again because 25 is even older than 23, and it's a whole decade on him.] You'd be surprised. Reaching 25 can be a big deal for some people. [There's a casual shrug but he sure is avoiding eye contact suddenly. It's not too weird. He assumes maybe Bellamy met Tadashi here already. A lot of people knew his brother even before he arrived.] You're still old.
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[Even with the casual shrug, Bellamy knows right away what Hiro means and that he's thinking of Tadashi - but he also knows from home that even 20 was impossible for his people buried in the ground. So, yeah, he gets it, and that comes out in his voice.] No, I wouldn't be surprised. 25 can be pretty old. I'm lucky.
[bELLAMY DON'T BE DOOM AND GLOOM. He tries to offset this by taking another burger bite.] Fine, I'm old too.
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[There's an awkward little smile then. At least Bellamy's playing along] It's okay, old-timer. I'll catch you up to speed. I've been here for about five months now and...I guess I wanted to understand everything about this place. We've had a lot of people come to us in the last couple of months and tell us how things on Tellus should be and used to be. I've learned a lot.
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[He tries very hard not to look Fond at the use of Old Timer.] It doesn't have to be right now, but - I'd definitely be interested in what sort of things you've found. Didn't even have to be here a week before I realized how little I trusted just about anything.
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[While he's busy grumbling he doesn't notice Bellamy's expression.] I think that's how you're supposed to feel here after a while. Nobody makes sense and it starts to get more complicated the more people talk to us and give us information. I'll do my best to help.