And now for something completely different.

When: During the flash forward, while South was asleep.
Who: Not really anyone. Well, a few people who aren't real-Well, not actually real anyways.

South lay fast asleep in the bed, his pet beetle nestled into a furrow in the blanket behind him. Across the room, on a shelf near the closet, a small digital radio hummed to life. “Hello,” said a calm, automated feminine voice from inside the speaker, “and welcome to the Blue Dwarf automated news system, simulated people, bringing you real news.”

This statement was followed by a flashy news theme that played quietly across the room, accompanied by the beep bee beep beep noise of the broadcast's simulated telegraph sound. “Hello,” said a new voice, which sounded as human as it could, “and welcome to this edition of our broadcast, bringing you up to date on some of the most current events on the ship. Our main headline tonight is the ongoing negotiations between the rodent leader Chuntey, and the captain of the ship, Jay Chrysler. The negotiations are aimed at making peace between the crew of the ship, and the race of rodents that live on the promenade level. Hostilities have been had between the two parties when a crew member of the ship, Gavin Winship, awoke from stasis and assaulted one of their people, the son of 'Vinda' Lou, a prominent rodent in their ranks. Although Winship claims he acted only in self defense, a view held to be more than likely by the crew, the rodent people are calling for demands of 'compensation' in the form of a gesture of good will by the crew. Included in their demands are farming tools and seed, as well as the rights some of the land in the ship's atrium. Meeting this demand, many think, is likely to be difficult, as it means negotiating a land treaty with the arboretum inhabitants, the Huzzards, a tribal warrior race of bronze age reptilians, who many think are unlikely to be willing to trade their land for anything other than weaponry from the ship's stores. Captain Chysler hopes that they may be able to barter for land with one of the peaceful tribes of the Huzzard people, who the crew hopes will be willing to negotiate for commodities other than arms. Neither Jay Chrysler or Chutney were able to be reached for comment.

“In other news, one of the flooded cargo decks was nearly drained recently, causing a great deal of anxiety among it's locals, pink skinned aquatic fish people, (called so because no one can think of a better name, and they are pink skinned aquatic fish people), when the patriarch of one of their families was nearly swept away by the current pouring into an open cargo elevator. The elevator was reportedly opened by another of the crew, Brett Bishop, the ship's resident chef, when he was awoken from stasis. His pod had been submerged below the water when he was revived, leaving him no choice but to use the cargo lift to escape from drowning. The patriarch allowed one of our correspondents entry into his home, a magnificent medievel castle made from cargo crates left behind when the deck flooded some three million years ago, and had this to say:”

The sounds on the radio were replaced by the bubbly, soft, swishing sounds of water pushing past a submerged microphone. This continued for a good thirty seconds or so before the sound stopped. “The patriarch also said that he understood the human's actions, although they seemed strange to him at the time, and forgives his accidental transgression.

“Stange sighting of lights have been sighted in varying locations on the ship, many believe them to be nothing but bad lighting, though some have suggested that they might be spacial anomolies, such as teleport feedback, the reuslt of someone trying to beam on board, or dimensional lights, as a result of space time paradoxes or projections. It is suggested by all standard galactic saftey regulations that not to approach, or come into contact with these anomolies at any time, for any reason, until their origin has been identified. Thank you. And now for the travel report.”

Another voice piped in after a hlaf a moment of silence, saying “Sadly we are unable to bring you a travel report concerning space lane traffic, planetary destinations, or points of interest, because we basically don't know where the smeg we are. We apologize for the inconvenience. This concludes the Blue Dwarf up to the minuets news broadcast, simulated people, bringing you real news.”

The radio shut itself off and the room was again silent, save for South snoring softly in the bed. He coughed and rolled over, settling back into a comfortable position.

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OOC - That completes the second news broadcast. So? Strang light in the ship. Spacial anomolies? Faulty lights (probably)? ...Aliens (maybe)? Time cops (that would be bad. Real bad.)? Or something simple, like a trans-dimensional space-time projection of a crashing time-ship slowed to an infinitesimal rate due to the anomalies of it's exiting in a pocket universe (what?)? Don't know, let's find out. They said don't touch them, (Sod it, jump in!), so that might be a good idea, (nah.). Hope the broadcast helps keep things straight for everyone.

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