Scheduling Victorious III
Cpt 3
She crumples the paper into a compact wad and throws for the wastebasket, (both as anachronistic as can be: an Osirian Pyramid ship from the 35th century—one of the most technologically advanced pieces of starcraft ever created—and sitting in its gleaming white, high-tech, fully automated control room, an honest to goodness piece of paper and cylindrical metal can) sending it in a near-perfect arc across the room. The makeshift ball bounced once on the rim and out, skittering across the floor making that noise that was both satisfying and strangely unnerving.
She rolls her eyes. “Really? You couldn’t let me have that one?”
She melts upright off the couch and into a stretch, her lithe body arching beneath her white silk robes. Paradoxes aside, it was getting annoying to have to reschedule things every other week, even if she was just the mouthpiece. Sauntering over to the wastebasket, she nimbly plucks the wad of paper up and unsmooths it, re-reading the characters on the page. She shakes her head, inputs a few sequences on the panel before her, and hits the transmit button.
TTV #473 –Tales of the Dark Times #3 (Comic Maker), The Enemy of My Enemy (Big Finish Audio), Monstrous Beauty #3 (Comic)
Thanksgiving – OFF
TTV #474 – TLV: Daleks! #1 “The Archive of Islos”, #2 (Animated Series)
TTV #475 – TLV: Daleks! #3, #4 (Animated Series)
TTV #476 – TLV: Daleks! #5 (Animated Series), The Minds of Magnox (Audio Book)
That finished, (again), she crumples the paper and drops it without fanfare into the trash.
“You realize this is wrong, right?” She shakes her head. “I mean, you are aware of the inaccuracies here.” She hooks a thumb over her shoulder toward the platform she spoke from not all that long ago. “I mean, aside from the fact that there is a ruined city outside that looks like it barely survived a nuclear blast—and granted, that may just be 2020 doing its thing—there’s a golden Pyramid ship sitting on top of it. Weird, right?”
She begins to pace, waving her hand around the room. “A 35th century Pyramid ship, you described it as. But the Osirians, are from the DARK TIMES. With one or two notable exceptions, they do not still exist today, and they certainly won’t exist in the 35th century to create this technological marvel that I’m currently shooting hoops in.” She moves back to the wastebasket and digs out the printout. “And look at this!” She cries out, holding the page aloft. “It’s ye ol’ green and white striped, tractor fed, DOT MATRIX paper!?! Could you get any more analog? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!?”
She collapses back on the couch, a sense of genuine worry about her.
“Are you off your game? I mean, I thought something was afoot last week when you named the post ‘Scheduling Victorious II’ and didn’t tag it with ‘Electric Boogaloo’ at the end. I know how you love that joke.” She pauses, the wheels in her sharp mind turning. “Unless… the Time Lord Victorious paradoxes… are they affecting you too? Is that even possible? I mean, you’re the author. The Narrator. You should be outside of these fictional events, but…” Her eyes travel skyward as if looking for god. “Hell, I’m self-aware, so who knows what your game plan is.”
Somewhere, the loud and abrasive grinding of the dot matrix printer started its insecticide chewing noise. It was only one line, and so mercifully short. She rose to pull the just printed page.
AS ALWAYS, THE SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
She re-reads the words several times as if imposing her own will on the text would cause it to change. But of course, it doesn’t. Instead, she wads the paper up and tosses it into the trash, where it makes a perfect basket, (nothing but net) thudding on the bottom of the can with a small echo.
“That isn’t reassuring.” She tells the author.
