Roving the Galaxy - Friday, Period 4 (After Lunch)

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"So, Roving the Galaxy," the Doctor said, winging it. He might have lost track of the days and forgotten to prepare anything. It was more fun to do it off the cuff anyway. "Galaxy. Roving it. Okay, so, you're all here for whatever reason is your own and you're welcome to talk about it to someone else. Me, I'm probably not going to listen to be perfectly honest, so let's get onto the good stuff. Well, good in the sense that it's not all good but fun! Well, fun if you're into that sort of thing." He realised he was getting off track, paused with a 'I just caught myself getting off track' expression on his face, then started talking again.

"Most of you, I would assume, haven't been too far from home, whether that's Earth, Raxacoricofallapatorious or somewhere I haven't even heard of. Do you know how strange that is, places I haven't heard of? Love it. Beginning to love Fandom because of it. Anyway. Moving on. Over the next couple of weeks, we're going to go through a crash course in the basics of what you need to know to rove the galaxy.

Some weeks we'll go off to another planet, fake planets in this case thanks to this beautiful piece of technology although we might take a field trip at the end of the course, and a lot of weeks we'll deal with aliens coming to Earth. Why? You're not the only ones roving the galaxy. Better get used to it. If you can learn how to be a good host, you'll learn quick smart how to be a good guest when you're out there travelling around.

Smaller class than last time, all good, means we can get to know each other. I'm not much one for introductions, but let's give it a shot, shall we? I'm the Doctor. I'm a 903 year old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I travel a lot and I've been just about everywhere you can point out in the night sky. You," he pointed to the person he was looking at. "Name, species, place of origin and off-world travelling experience."

Comments

Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Now that that's out of the way, let's do a pop quiz. No, let's not call it a pop quiz, those can be nerve-wracking. Let's go with a brainstorming session. I'll propose a situation where an alien of some description comes into your life. You tell me how you'd deal with it. No deep thought, immediate reaction."

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

Gwynn was obviously interested in the brainstorming. She was taking notes.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Okay! Gwynn. Gwynn, Gwynn, Gwynn. Let's try this one. A group of renegade Sontarans, a war-faring species, show up in 1199. Right near your home, as a matter of fact. They're looking for a fight, but they're not interested in you or your friends and family. They want to fight the King as he's the biggest challenge in the area. Now, granted, they could turn around and wipe out all the nearest villages and all of Briton when they're done to finish the job, but you don't know that for sure. They've agreed to let your village pick the new ruler to replace him, provided you give them support during the war. What do you do?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

Gwynn looked at him as she thought about this, a small frown creasing her forehead. Part of her knew that her answer was probably not the one he was looking for... but she knew her people and how they would react to something like that.

"We always have scouts in our forest," she began carefully. "So, the moment these warriors were seen arriving, a runner would have already been sent to warn the king and his army. Our people would never betray the king, or allow anyone else to do so -- not when we have fought so hard to bring a measure of peace to the land." She let out a breath. "We would die first, I'm afraid. Many of us have sworn to fight for our king."

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Setting his recorder on the desk in front of him, Karal waited patiently for his scenario.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Karal! Altra, no helping." He knew nothing about Firecats, but the mind that had touched his own was an old one, nothing like what he picked up from Karal. "Let's see. Okay, I don't know anything about Karse, so let's stick to Fandom. Over the course of a week you find that your teachers have been replaced. One won the lottery, another fell ill, you get the idea, they all suspiciously moved on. The Principal too, even though she has no reason to give up the job any time soon. A few other suspicious things have been happening as well. They keep trying to feed everyone up, students start going missing - just the ones no one's supposed to notice - and suddenly everyone's getting incredibly smarter. What do you do?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal frowned "I'm guessing I haven't been affected by whatever it is that's causing this, so..." He flipped ideas around in his head, dropping his connection to Altra; the darkness made it easier to concentrate. "I would find other people who hadn't been affected by it, allies, and we'd try and discover what was different between us and the ones who'd changed. Actually, if everyone's getting smarter, I'd ask some of them, as well, if it was safe, because if they're smarter, they would have a better chance of figuring it out. Once we knew what we were dealing with, then we could stop it. Though what that would involve would depend on what we discovered."

He paused. "Although--" he began, then stopped and shook his head. "No, never mind."

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen sighed quietly and waited to hear. She just hoped it wasn't cannibals.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Aww was that a sigh? No need for that. I told you, we're going to have fun." He grinned. "So Helen. You leave Fandom on, oh, let's say a little holiday. When you get back, everyone's acting a little strange. To be specific, they're all playing some sort of war 'games' where two sides battle for parts of the island. Anyone you talk to on either side will be a little out of sorts, thriving on hatred when they don't normally do that, and they're absolutely convinced that the other side is in the wrong. The church seems to be the one place they're both trying to keep their hands on and you get the feeling that there's a good reason for it. What do you do next?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

A situation where an alien comes into his life? Like, say, Fandom?

"Does the alien have a laser sword and a pet robot?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Not this time, but never rule out laser swords or pet robots. They're great fun. Okaaaaay Sokka! Here we go. None of the countries in your world are getting along at the moment," he started, not realising how close to the truth that was. "But you find yourselves united as one people, one species, when first contact with aliens with far superior technology is made. Now, naturally the leaders are all going to do their thing, but these newcomers haven't chosen to deal with the political leaders of any country. They want to deal with you and insist that you're the only one they'll speak to on behalf of your entire world. They're demanding your unconditional surrender. What do you do?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[endsthegame]

Ender kept quiet. Very quiet. This wasn't something he wanted to deal with: he was tired of giving answers, and as such, he made himself smaller in little insignificant ways, seeking to retreat into the classroom without moving a finger.

He doubted he'd be overlooked, but he hoped, none the less.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"You don't seem too thrilled to be here. Problem?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter was curious about what kind of scenario he'd get.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Peter Petrelli of New York. Let's see if you can save the city. Poor old New York, always gets a bad wrap. Anyway. A new mayor takes over and it all seems to be sunshine and roses for her rule. Catch is she's actually a Raxacoricofallapatorian in human skin, a big old skin suit that she stole off a human she killed. They're hard to spot, aside from their habit of being quite gassy in public and finding fart jokes funny, but I suppose being in America she'd fit right in. I'm getting off track, aren't I? Right! So the new mayor wants to set up a nuclear power plant near the city, but there have been some unanswered questions about the project and people who ask the questions keep going missing. You're asking questions too and you've been given an audience with the mayor. What do you do?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Well. That wasn't something that had happened before at all.

Teddy took a small calming breath and waited for his situation.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Cheer up, Teddy! It's all in good fun. Skrull or Kree. Skrull or Kree. Let's go Kree. I like the word Kree. Okay, so you go off to the Kree homeworld for a few weeks and find that they're suddenly at war with a species called the Daleks. They're organic beings locked inside a seemingly impervious metal shell and they'll stop at nothing for galactic domination. Let's skip ahead to the part where they've already started asserting their power on Kree by a fully-fledged invasion with ships and soldiers in their little metal tins killing people at will. Unfortunately for Kree, the government has been wiped out. But you're there and it's possible that you can save them. What do you do?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[likethegun]

Sam was already starting to think of possible answers, even as he waited for his scenario.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Sam the man. Sam I Am except that I'm not. Let's start in Fandom. Ghostly figures start showing up. No one seems to be able to touch them or interact with them or hurt them in any way and they don't seem to want anything in particular. They fade in and out of existence over time, but then the picture starts becoming clearer. Then they come into existence good and proper and it turns out they're not ghosts at all, they're Cybermen - cybernetic beings. Human on the inside with no emotions, metal on the outside and they've decided to 'upgrade' everyone on the island into Cybermen too. They'll kill anyone who tries to stop them as they try to march people up to the school where they've set up an upgrade plant. Bullets won't do any good. What do you do?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[makescherries.livejournal.com]

Cimorene was listening carefully and wondering if soapy water would somehow ended up in her solution.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Okay Cimorene of Linderwall, let's give this one a try. People around you start acting strangely, especially people in high positions of power. They look the same and can probably pull off pretending to talk the same, but something isn't quite right. Then one of them is accidentally killed and they revert to their original form. You have a shapeshifter on your hands. There could be more, many more, and they might be trying to take over Linderwall by impersonating people in power. What do you do?"

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[weefeetbigboots.livejournal.com]

Kaylee was taking detailed notes. Sure, they were copiously misspelled and quite messy, but still.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

The Doctor craned his neck to see what she was writing.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[key-of-heart.livejournal.com]

Sora could totally do that!

Couldn't be any worse than when he turned into a Lion on Simba's world.

Re: Pop Quiz/Brainstorming

[veryarthurdent.livejournal.com]

"Okay Sora, let's give this a try! You're back on the Destiny Islands minding your own business when an alien force, one no one's ever seen before, shows up and swarms across the land trying to take over. It seems like there's no end in sight and you don't know what will happen if they completely take over. What do you do?" Sometimes it was the same old story.