Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Chapter 1: The Delicate Sound of Thunder

[Gregory]

Gregory thinks about the offer for a minute and replies. "Ok, do your thing. It would be best if everyone knows what everyone should."

He reaches out and takes Dougs hand.

[BlueNinja]

Adam shrugs to Courier, steps away from the Jeep a few steps, and prepares a Warp back to Newborough when everyone is ready. "I hope that little box has something pretty darn useful."

[Courier]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gregory:
Gregory thinks about the offer for a minute and replies. "Ok, do your thing. It would be best if everyone knows what everyone should."

He reaches out and takes Dougs hand.

Doug takes his hand and (assuming it works)

*Testing...*

[Buzzkill]

Buzz's hangdog expression doesn't change with the conversation. However he hefts his hand and drops it into the pile with little enthusiasm.

[Courier]

Quote:

Originally posted by Buzzkill:
Buzz's hangdog expression doesn't change with the conversation. However he hefts his hand and drops it into the pile with little enthusiasm.

(Again, if it works)

*Testing...*

[Buzzkill]

"Yeah, I heard ya. Don't be pokin' around in there." he mutters. "I got a special filing system, you'll screw it all up."

[Courier]

Quote:

Buzzkill: "Yeah, I heard ya. Don't be pokin' around in there." he mutters. "I got a special filing system, you'll screw it all up."

*Understood, and you don't need to talk. This is what it feels like to break the link.* [CLICK]

"And this is what a 'call waiting' signal feels like." (Buzz feels the gate could be active again, if he lets it).

After creating two links Doug looks visibly tired. This took a lot out of him. He nods to Adam and says,

"I think that's it. We'd better go back while we still can."

[jameson (ST)]

Adam concentrates and a pair of bomb bay doors shimmer into existance in front of the jeep. As before Courier goes through first and the others push the jeep through before continuing on themselves.

They arrive back in Boothe's private garage. They've been gone at most 30 minutes and they can all hear the commotion outside as people still discuss the fireball which had so recently broken the calm.

The rain still falls in steady cold drops though the sky appears to have darkened some. Everybody realizes that after a half hour in the rain they are all pretty cold and wet.

[Michael Peters]

"Well gentlemen. This was a very... interesting afternoon. The facilities of my garage are at your disposal."

Jimmy walks over to a locker and pulls out some towels, handing out out to everyone before dabbing at his hair and face with one of his own.

"Meager as they are, I can provide some anemeties. I have some coffee, an expensive luxury I think we could all use right now."

He walks over to a battered machine on a table in the corner of the workshop. He pulls out a small can, carefully measures out two spoonfulls of the rich brown powder and pours it into the top. He then connects the machine to the portable battery in the wall. Checking the battery's charge, he smiles and presses a faded red button on the coffee machine and it begins to chug loudly.

"There. An involved process, but one well worth it. Who would like a cup?"

Thinking to himself: I hope this will put everyone a little more at ease... especially Buzz. I know that they favored this stuff before the Burn. They must have for what I paid for it.

[Gregory]

After spending several minutes learning how to communicate with Doug, via telepathic link, Greg is back home. Adam opened his gateway, and they were back where they started.

"Who has food?" is the first word out of Gregory's mouth upon exiting the Jeep into Boothe's garage.

"Thank you for the towel. I am thankful." He says innocently, as he looks around the room at his newfound compatriots.

[BlueNinja]

Adam takes off his shirt, wrings it out, and puts it back on. He's had enough nights on the wall to know sometimes that's the best you can do. "Hey, Raider, sorry I wasn't good for much 'cept transportation. Lemme know when you figure out what that thing does. Meantime, I'll be back at my post, and I'll try asking some of the other guards if they know anything about tentacle-boy."

Once everyone is done with any comments to him, Adam leaves.

[Michael Peters]

"Thank you again Adam. You were very helpful. Without you, we wouldn't have been there in time to see the machine at all."

Jimmy smiles as he speaks to Adam.

[Mr Fox]

Raider claps Adam on the back. "Nah, you did great. Given that guy's powerlevel, to have teleported something that large, I'd hate to take him on anyway."

He moves towards a bench and starts pulling out tools. "Hey Jimmy, a hot drink sounds great." He smiles and then points to the datarecorder, "You have the stuff we need to hook this thing up to or should I go scrounge through my stuff? Between the two of us, I'd say we should have this thing working in an hour or so."

He looks up from tinkering with the object as Adam starts out the door, "Hey Adam, while yer at it let the common folks out there know there's nothing to worry about." He pauses for a second, "Actually, maybe Buzz should talk to the people and you should handle the watch. What do you guys think?"

[Buzzkill]

When Buzz hears the magic word 'coffee', he visibly perks up. Usually the best thing that can be drunk around any of these communities was a pretty weak and tasteless tea. The last cup of Joe he had was years ago, and was the 5th brew made from the same grounds.

"Bless you boy, I could really use a cup.". He begins brushing off the water and dirt. "Yeah, I'll talk to the folks outside. Gimme a minute."

Buzz heads toward the entrance where the people are gathered.

"Hi folks, nothin' to be worried about. Just a...satellite fallin' outta orbit or something. Crater got made, but couldn't recover any wreckage. But this weren't nothin'. Back before the Burn we called these things 'Popcorn balls'. Happened all the time up to the end. Go on home now, or go to your watch if that's your job. Keep up a good eye!" he turns back to go into the garage and get his long lost cup of coffee, knowing that the people would listen to him, even if that punk aberrant didn't.

[Gregory]

Noisily smacking on food, Gregory listens to the conversations going on around him. The language and vocabulary becomes increasingly difficult to follow, when analysis of the recovered piece begins. A large group had gathered outside the shop, and Buzz went outside to speak with them

Eventually, when Greg's clothing was mostly dry, he headed out to help the party discover the identity of the stranger. He was going to check with the local gangs, street people and smugglers for information. While there, he will see if he can find weapons or equipment for sale by smugglers, and other less savory customers.

[Michael Peters]

Taking a gulp of hot coffee, Jimmy turns to Raider.

"Ah yes. Our prize. I have an old data reader that Courier got me from the tower of a ruined airport. I tinkered with it a few months ago, but I thought that even if I got it working it would be useless."

He moves to the back of the shop and opens one of the parts lockers. Digging through it he removes several small machines in various states of assembly.

"Radio... radio... motherboard... copper cabling... cooling fan... ah! Good! It hasn't been cannibalized for parts yet."

He pulls out a featureless black battered piece of equipment. Its larger than a radio, but not by much. The bottom has a series of cables about the width of a finger hanging down, the other end seems to have a port for connecting it to something.

"This is it. Hopefully the data recorder from the crash is American. We'll have to modify one of my data readers so we can view the information... shouldn't be that difficult. Your aid, Raider, would be much appriciated."

[Courier]

Doug comments to Adam before he leaves,

"You did well. This wasn't a defeat, more like a marginal victory. If we'd thrown down on Squidward, maybe it would have worked, or maybe he was set up for that. For all we know this was the absolute best way it could have worked out."

Doug then sips his coffee and listens to the conversation, nodding when the previous recorder is mentioned.

[jameson (ST)]

Within half an hour the group has largely split. Adam is back at his post at the Wall, keeping an eye to the sky and to the forest, looking out for signs of aberrants. He takes the times he can to ask after the mysterious figure from the crash site but garners little information.

*****

Gregory has wandered off to the seedier parts of town and is looking for information. In short order he has found a scuzzy looking fellow in the back of a bar, "What exactly are you lookin' for sonny?" he asks, apparently willing to do business, or at least conduct initial talks.

*****

Buzz has gone off berating his way across the district on his way home to change into some warm clothes. Back before the Burn people used to dress for the weather, seems that maybe they weren't complete fools back then after all.

*****

Courier has remained at Boothe's garage with Jimmy and Raider. The two brainiacs are hard at work first repairing the data reader and then working to open the black box. As they get the box open they both give an exasperated cry of dismay.

The data recorder uses magnetic tape to record the telemetry. They had just wasted a good 20 minutes repairing the reader without any need. Luckily a magnetic tape reader is easy to put together and connect to a computer.

Boothe and Raider determine that they will need about another 30 minutes before they can read the data on the black box.

[Gregory]

Gregory dorms down as he goes on his search for information. He has realized that when dealing with "norms', it is best if he looks like one. Of course when dealing with a Nova, it is usually more beneficial if they know you are also a Nova.

Gregory sits down across from the man.

"I'm looking to trade some information." Greg says with a confident look in his eyes. "What I have for you will undoubtedly be of value to you. How much I tell you, depends on whether you have the answers I'm looking for, or if you can tell me who does."

[Courier]

Courier watches the two work for a while and considers either scouting out among his contacts for info on Squidward, then he considers going back to work ripping apart the crumpled up I-beam he brought in earlier, but instead he drifts off to lightly nap.

[Mr Fox]

Raider works with Jimmy to hook up the flight recorder to the computer. "Well, we may have just waisted time repairing this thing, but look on the bright side, we now have a working flight recorder if we decide to build our own ship at some point."

[Michael Peters]

Jimmy frowns, then grins at Raiders observation.

"I suppose so. Now, lets get a magnetic-reader connected to my personal data computer. Its not much, but it should be able to show us what we need."

With that, Raider and Jimmy start putting together the reader.

[jameson (ST)]

... half an hour later ...

Courier naps on a pile of drop cloths and tires in the corner of Boothe's Garage while nearby Raider and Jimmy finish connecting the black box to the computer and begin to download the data and voice recording. The two exchange a congratulatory high-five and get a second cup of coffee while the data downloads to the computer.

A few moments later they are greeted by two things; the sound of success, and the sound of a French voice recording.

*****

Meanwhile in a dimly lit bar Gregory sits across from a fellow who claims to deal in information and other less savory things.

"Alright kid, we can do an information exchange ... if you have something I want and, naturally, if have the information you want." The man pauses and signals to the large man behind the bar who nods back.

"My associate tells me we can speak openly, tell me what are you looking for and what is it you have to offer?"

*****

Buzz returns to his modest home and takes a warm shower to wash the chill out of his bones. As he dresses afterwards he hears a knock at his door.

As he opens the door he see young Ralph Johnson his aide, "Mr. Buzz sir, the council sent me to get you, they want your help with some talks ... with some outsiders."

Buzz sees Ralph's rickshaw over the boy's shoulder, apparently it's important enough that they don't want for him to take his time as he would usually.

*****

Out on the Wall Adam is leaning on the parapet staring out into the woods, the glaze of boredom has come into his eyes. It's hard to focus on routine guard duty after the afternoon's events but he forces himself to keep focused, at least as much as he can.

Out in the forest he suddenly hears the sound of galloping horses and shouting voices. In short order he spies a wagon drawn by two horses barreling down the southward road toward the city. The driver is whipping the horses into frenzy and the man next to him appears to be frantically reloading some sort of rifle.

[BlueNinja]

Adam shouts to the other guards, then tries to drop himself through a Warp onto the back of the wagon (I'm sure it's an Athletics roll to land). Assuming he lands, he'll shout at the driver, "Newborough city guards! Head that way to get inside the walls! What's chasing you?" The last question, of course, will be not asked if Adam can see what it is chasing the guy with the wagon.

[Mr Fox]

Raider sips the second cup of coffee he's had in his life and decides he just might like it. It certianly was tasty compared to the weak tea he usually drank.

"Well, I'm gonna pull up a chair, this may take a bit." He pulls out a notpad and a pen and prepares to take notes over the recording. "Good thing I speak French."

[Gregory]

"It is just a simple exchange of information." Gregory smiles slyly as he looks back at the man behind the bar. "You see, I'm new here, and I am trying to meet the more powerful and influential people in the region. I'm sure a man of your talents can appreciate that." Gregory then leans back in the chair and takes in a long relaxed breath.

"I have heard rumors about a particular aberrant who has a mass of tentacles for an arm. My interest in him is purely a 'professional' one."

"Now before you ask, I will tell you what I have to offer in return." Gregory quickly puts this forth before the man can respond. "I have info about the object that blew up overhead."

Gregory leans forward in the chair and looks the man in the eye. "Do we have a deal? You tell me what you know of the man I described, and I will tell you what I know about the object."

[Michael Peters]

Jimmy pulls over a wheeled chair and begins taking notes too.

"As do I." He says to Raider.

The garage is soon filled with the sound of pencils scratching, the french recording... and Couriers snoring.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz grumbles and grouses as he gets his jacket. He didn't want to admit it but Ralph was a good kid, always polite, little nervous though. He also didn't want to admit that he wanted something like this right now. At least this he probably could handle and not make himself look like more of an old fool.

He finally climbs into the old rickety ricksaw. "Alrigth Ralph, let's go." After a slow start they begin rolling through the streets he asks; "Who's here?".

[jameson (ST)]

Jimmy and Raider sit and transcribe the voice recording from the black box while Courier sleeps in the corner. The recording itself is not very long it seems that the pilot got into the air with the help of a couple of strong novas and engaged the high speed turbine engines that apparently the flight was to test.

Everything was operating fine until he hit mach and the craft shuddered (this can even be heard on the recording) The pilot relayed that the craft's wings appeared to be buckling under the strain. The last thing on the recording is the pilot's scream.

Quick analysis by the two reveals that the time stamp for his transition past mach coincides with the first boom over Newborough and the second with the explosion of the craft. It wasn't an Aberrant attack it was poor construction or materials that brought the craft down.

*****

The man across from Gregory sits a moment mulling the young man's proposition. It's not unreasonable that this scruffy fellow could know something but at the same time it could be a bunch of BS. Finally he replies, "Sorry kid, while that information could probably net me some decent trade I can't give you what I don't have. I've never heard of a nova or an aberrant like you described.

"Is there anything else you might want to know or trade your information for?"

*****

Adam creates a warp in front of the rampart and jumps through. His timing is off and he hits the ground hard instead of landing in the wagon but he does manage to maintain his footing. As the wagon races away from him he sees what they were fleeing from, an aberrant.

The aberrant is far more twisted than what would be considered normal, more animal than man it is charging down the road on all four ... no six limbs. It's eyes glow with a sickly green energy and its massively distended jaws drip gooey strands of spittle. Adam gauges the distance at roughly 50 yards and it's closing on him quickly at 10-15 yards per second.

*****

Buzz attempts to get comfortable but the bouncing stiff springs of the rickshaw make the ride somewhat uncomfortable. Normally it wouldn't be a problem as Ralph wouldn't be pedaling this hard but he's in a damn hurry to get Buzz to the council building in the center of the city. Ralph provides little in the way of conversation, huffing and puffing as he speeds along, leaving Buzz to wonder at what could be so important.

[BlueNinja]

Adam is far enough away from the walls that he's not going to damage the city by tossing bombs around, and with the wagon now behind him, the guy on it is probably safe.

(Multiple actions; 3 Q-bolts, trying to aim them so that if I don't hit the Aberrant, I hit in front of rather than behind it to slow it down, and if the third one is close enough to hit the wall or the wagon, I'll drop up to 4 damage dice to try and protect the city.)

[Courier]

Doug continues to sleep.

[Mr Fox]

Raider sighs. "Well that wasn't quite what I was expecting." He sits back in his chair finding a more relaxed position.

"I'm thinking perhaps we should return the flight recorder to the owners if we can find them. We've gotten about as much info off this as we're gonna get." He looks over at Jimmy, "I revise my opnion stated earlier... I don't think we could equal this, I think we could do much better than these guys." He smiles, "Trouble is I don't think it would be worth it to try. Adam can get us whereever we need to go much more efficiently. Heck, with practice and time Adam could probably take us to the fabled Olympus."

[Gregory]

Gregory gives the man a dissapointed look. "I see that I will have to go elsewhere for the help I need. That is unless you have something to offer that might be of value...like pre-Burn weaponry or technology."

Again, he leans back in his chair. This time he begis to clean his fingernails with a small stick. After a minute of what must look like pondering, Gregory speaks up.

"I can, of course, just leave and give the information to your competitors. They might be more 'appreciative' of the offer. I need you to make a decision because my associates are in a hurry."

[jameson (ST)]

Adam hurls a quick succession of explosive bolts toward the charging aberrant hitting directly with each and severly wounding the creature (4 leathal levels). It slows but does not stop, it attention is now firmly on Adam and it quickly changes its heading to charge toward him.

*****

The man across from Gregory finally shakes his head, "No can do kid, I can't be sure of the worth of this informaion you claim to have, certainly not sure enough to trade for actual goods. If my competition is dumb enough to trade goods to you for questionable information it's to your luck.

"If you need to trade anything else come on back and see me again."

*****

Buzz arrives at the council building and makes his way into the meeting hall. Three of the council members are seated at a table with two oher men. One of the council members quickly comes over to brief Buzz.

"Buzz, thank you for coming, these two men appeared via warp just a short time ago. They claim to be from K-bec (Quebec) and are looking for information on the whereabouts of a crashed aircraft.

"They say that their instuments led them here. We known that you and some other novas when to investigate, the fireball that was seen earlier and are hoping you can help to sort this situation out.

"We're also hoping that your special skills will help if the situation turns bad," he finishes obviously making reference to Buzz's ability to shut down nova powers as well as his "diplomatic" skills.

*****

Back at Boothe's Garage, the two mechanics sit dejectedly waiting for the computer to complete the data analysis. The revalation that the craft was not pre-burn tech or a orbital craft has driven them into a silence.

[BlueNinja]

If Adam thinks he can Warp away after another attack, then he'll repeat last turn's effort. If the Aberrant would reach him next round, then he'll warp back to the walls now, and proceed with tossing bombs next round, pulling back only enough damage dice on each attack to prevent damage to the walls.

[Gregory]

"I'm sorry we could'nt do business today. And I'm sorry you don't trust me." Gregory replied with a smirk. "I do hope we can do business again. In fact, I'm sure I will have some actual goods for you in trade. Once we've worked together for a time, you may come to trust me."

Gregory then stood up and nodded to the man before departing. He would alert the others about his findings, and potential prospects for trade.

[Michael Peters]

Jimmy taps his front teeth with a fingernail.

"This information, while not spectacular, is still very interesting. I thought that Newbourough was the most technically advanced community in the area. Apparently this is not so. From what this pilot said; there could be a group of nova's of varying skills and abilities pooling their abilities towards recovering lost technology. I was unaware such a group existed."

He picks up the data recorder and absentmindedly fiddles with the plugs.

"I think we need to meet these researchers. This could be a large development... and we need to return this recorder that was, hmmmm, unfortunately not within the craft when it wax removed by that nova. Think you could make some inquiries for me?"

[Mr Fox]

Raider thinks on what Jimmy has said for a minute before responding. "I don't really have any contacts outside the city. I think Courier or one of those new guys, might be more likely to know something. Lets wake Courier up."

Raider walkes over to the sleeping giant and nudges him in the arm. "Hey, Courier, sorry to wake you, but we've made some discoveries."

Raider will proceed to tell Courier of what they discovered unless he is interrupted by someone else contacting Courier.

[Courier]

Courier listens intently and then sums up,

“OK, so we’ve got a new player setting up shop. That sounds good on the face of it, another community means more business. Their so called aircraft is unlikely to dent my business, and even better, if they are inventing something like that then it’s implied they need my services. They speak French… which is odd but workable since you speak French. And… this box recording thingy is important, so we have something they want. Well, that sounds like good news all around.”

Courier slaps his hands together and there is an audible crack, like the air just split.

“So now we have to find them. I don’t know of any French places, but I can make inquirers. Buzz might remember something clueing us towards where France is. Raider and Gregory might have run across it, they’ve been out there. For that matter KB speaks a different language, she might know.”

Doug concentrates and sees who’s open towards talking on the link. If anyone is he will relay what they’ve learned and what the implications are.

[BlueNinja]

Assuming Courier opens the link to Adam, he'll get a brief moment of explosions and the aberrant charging towards him, then Adam will cut it off so as not to be distracted.