Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Chapter 2: Wish You Were Here

[jameson (ST)]

Two days have passed since the group sent the Frenchmen back to K-bec with their equipment and Raider has recieved the detailed mechanical drawings that he will need to build his own craft. The Frenchies actually started to warm up toward the end as both side became more amiable towards each other and sent along 5 crocks of maple syrup, a commodity well known for being dificult to obtain, along with the plans.

The weather has been good for the fall. Sunny dry and a bit warmer than normal. The town dries out and life returns to normal in the wake of the plane crash. The town councilors thank the group for diffusing the situation with K-bec and prevent relations from degrading further.

Raider has spent his extra time working with the plans to the aircraft pouring over the technical data looking to determine what caused the aircraft to fail and crash. While he is sure that it is a structural problem he has not yet been able to identify the specific problem, more work is needed possibly some simulation of the stresses at work will help him to determine the problem.

Courier has spent his days working, flying cargo out to his customers in the area and generally keeping busy as he would normally. He does begin to worry about his lack of communitcaion with KB however and soon calls a meeting with his freinds...

In the evening on the third day the group (sans Jimmy) is gathered in Raider's house at Courier's request.

[Courier]

Unusually for him, Courier seems agitated.

He says,

“I’m getting seriously worried about KB. While we were going after the cockpit, she went out to look for salvage, and I haven’t heard from her since. When ever I try to contact her mentally I don’t get a pickup. I think she found something and then ran into Squidward.”

“Has anyone else seen or heard from her since then?”

[Mr Fox]

Raider looks at Courier, "Nary a word. I've been so engrossed in the whole engine thing and the K'bec folks I hadn't even noticed she was not around. Do you know what areas she was looking in, we could go search for her."

[Gregory]

Gregory had done a thourough scouting of Courier's house; he was inconspicuous about it. After several minutes, he returns to hear Courier talking about a some girl named KB.

Not sure if he knows who she is, he asks. "I don't think I met her. Wat' she look like?"

[BlueNinja]

Adam has spent the last few days talking with several of the 'veterans' of the city guard, hoping to pick up tips on tactics and timing, since he's a fair stranger to battle and he knows it. But when Courier calls everyone together, he's off duty, and heads over to the shop. He echoes Gregory's question. "Who's KB? Where's she live?"

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Gregory

Not sure if he knows who she is, he asks. "I don't think I met her. Wat' she look like?"

Originally Posted By: BlueNinja

...He echoes Gregory's question. "Who's KB? Where's she live?"

Doug halts, non-plussed for a moment.

“Oh. KB, ah, make that Kelly Bolt. Local resident. She’s a nova weather controller and electricity generator. She’s about 20, Blond, Hispanic, and really good looking. We met… well, never mind that. I think she was searching in the direction of the crash. I think she was searching in the direction of the crash, but that’s just an assumption because it’s what I would do. She carries the mate to this…”

Doug pulls out a pearl handled heavy hand gun which looks like it doesn’t get much use.

“And I haven’t been able to mentally contact her for days. That’s just not like her. …” (Courier tries to mentally contact her again). “Hold it.”

At first Doug smiles in relief, then he frowns and holds up his hand to show that he’s getting something.

Courier starts talking out loud, and verbally relays the communication.

”Help. Courier. Captured, Aberrants, damping…”

Doug says loudly,

”KB. WHERE ARE YOU?

[BlueNinja]

Adam nods quietly, flexing his hands. "Just give me a target, and we're ready to go." He stops, and glances over at Gregory. "Hey, that sheep - you have something a little more, well, hostile than that? Just in case KB doesn't mix well with explosions."

[Gregory]

Gregory ponders whether to tell Adam, or to show him. He chuckled to himself, as he pictured Adam's reaction upon turning around and seeing a 12 foot fire breathing demon. Prudence got the better of him, as he realized he'd better conserve his energy.

"How hostile do you need?" Gregory says with a wink and a grin.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz seems distracted, lately he's been working on his memory, which was always a bit chancy. The town council was ultimately pleased at what they accomplished with the KBeckers, but they admitted they were worried in the beginning with the peculiarities of Buzz's recall and social skills. So, he's been working on puzzles lately, as well as trying to chronicle his vast amount of Pre-Burn knowledge. He'd been working on a journal, and was also in correspondence with the KBeckers with some of their oldest citizens, to maybe restore just a bit of the Pre-Burn Glory.

He looks up with a start at Courier's sudden shout for KB.

"What the Hell?" snaps Buzz as he drops the tablet of paper he was working on. "Who are you trying to get, KB? Is she on now? Put her through, I'll talk to her."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Buzzkill

He looks up with a start at Courier's sudden shout for KB.

"What the Hell?" snaps Buzz as he drops the tablet of paper he was working on. "Who are you trying to get, KB? Is she on now? Put her through, I'll talk to her."

Doug responds,

"I... I can't. I only only talk to one person at once, and she's so weak. I can barely hear her."

[jameson (ST)]

Courier gets not response from KB. Based on the trajectory of the exploding plane it's safe to say that she would ave headed generally south and west from Newborough if she were looking to slavage the remains of the craft.

[Courier]

Courier stops and says,

"I've lost her." ...

"Adam, you can't open a gate unless you know where you're going, right? So is the best move for me to fly south and west at her speed, looking for whatever she found?"

[BlueNinja]

Adam shifts a little uncomfortably. "Well, um, I think I can open a drop to places I haven't been before, if I have a good description, or a picture, or something like that. If someone knows what is between here and that crash site, I'll give it a shot." He shrugs. "What've we got to lose, really? If it doesn't work, I waste maybe a minute at most."

[Mr Fox]

Raider responds, "I think it would still be a good idea to have Courier to fly the route she would have taken. I can tag along in non-corporeal form for an extra pair of eyes and to do scouting if we find something. Courier can contact you to open a warp once we narrow it down. Or we could do both."

[Gregory]

"I'm ready when you guys are." Gregory then ripped off his shirt, and pulled out a small weapon. He now waited for the strange doorway to open.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz puts down his work but doesn't look entirely certain about what's going on. He picks up his jacket and puts it on (it takes two tries, he initially had his arm in the wrong sleeve).

"So we're going to pick her up then?"

[BlueNinja]

Adam looks at Buzz and raises an eyebrow. "If she's not responding to Courier's phone-in-your-head, then she's not in a good way. Maybe an accident, maybe she ran into some abbies, maybe she ran into the human type of scum, but I'm figuring she ran into something bad out there." He pauses, mouth open, and frowns, lost in thought.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: BlueNinja

Adam shifts a little uncomfortably. "Well, um, I think I can open a drop to places I haven't been before, if I have a good description, or a picture, or something like that. If someone knows what is between here and that crash site, I'll give it a shot." He shrugs. "What've we got to lose, really? If it doesn't work, I waste maybe a minute at most."

Courier says,

"I've got no clue where she is between here and there. Can you just open up a gate right next to her?"

(If the answer is "no", then Doug will go with Raider's plan, i.e. pick up him and follow what he thinks would have been KB's route.)

[BlueNinja]

Adam considers it for a moment, and shrugs. "Give me a direction and a distance, and I'll try. I've never actually tried to open a drop to someplace I've never seen or heard of." (Assuming I can roll for this, Adam will drop a temp Willpower for an auto-success.)

[jameson (ST)]

Adam concentrates and soon a horizontal warp opens in the garage through it the group can only see the ground, covered grass, leaves, twings and the like. Unable to dtermine the targt location due to the horiziontal nature of his warp Adam drops through and scouts about momentarily. Adam is unable to determine where the warp has opened to in the short time he has while the warp is open.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz is still fumbling with his jacket until Ralphie helps him out. Finally on, he strolls over to the edge of the opening and takes a look through it.

"This it? What is she lost? KB! You in there?!" he shouts into the warp.

"So what's the plan?" he says turning to the group.

[BlueNinja]

Assuming there's a working pair of radios within sight, Adam will grab one, toss the other to Raider (or someone else who's going to stay there) and quickly ask, "If I drop through and send you a signal, you can track my location right?" (If the answer is a 'yes' then he's going through the Warp and closing it behind him, otherwise he'll just let it close without anyone going through.)

[Gregory]

When the warp opens, Gregory tries to listen for sounds coming from the other side. He will focus his energy into enhancing his hearing and awareness. When he hears Adam mention his plan for sending someone ahead, he stops his listening and speaks up.

"Are you saying that someone go through and look around?" Gregory looks at Adam then Buzz, and finally Raider. "I volunteer to go with Adam. I think any of us going alone, is a bad idea. Adam can work that signalling thing and I can scout around unseen."

[Courier]

Doug frowns, he doesn't think this will work... but steps through anyway and pulls out one of his throwing spearheads.

[Mr Fox]

Raider will follow Courier through and is ready to go incorporeal at the first sign of danger.

[Gregory]

Gregory looks around briefly, then shrugs his shoulders. There is always safety in numbers, he reminds himself.

He removes his shirt, and follows the other two through the Warp. When he arrives, he hides and alters the color and pattern of his skin to match the surroundings.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz sees the rest start going through, shrugs heis shoulders and walks through as well...only to fall flat on his face on the other side.

[jameson (ST)]

The group drops through the tear in space-time and lands on the forest floor. Everybody but Buzz is able to keep thier feet, the old man falls on his ass and sits there muttering under his breathe until Courier gives him a hand up.

Gregory is crouched next to a tree and some low shrubs hit body blending into the foliage such that the others have a hard time making him out. Raider has shunted the lion's share of his mass into the aether and stands ghostly among the others looking around. Walkie talkie in one hand and a ball of roiling quantum energy in the other Adam is also surveying the scene but finds nothing out of the ordinary for a random spot in the wilderness.

The forest is quiet, a light breeze disturbs the topmost branches of the trees and provides the only sounds to be heard. Adam's quantum will loses out to the forces of the universe and the warp closes quietly as space-time is allowed to return to it normal configuration.

[Courier]

Doug attempts to yell over the link at KB,

*KB!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME!*

(Assuming that fails)

Doug shifts the link around to give everyone this message,

*Anyone see/hear anything? Raider, grab my shoulder and I'll fly both of us up a few hundred meters.*

[Mr Fox]

Raider makes one hand solid enough to hold on to Courier's shoulder and keeps his eyes open for anything that might suggest aberrant presence or passage through the area.

[BlueNinja]

Adam clicks on the Walkie Talkie. "Boothe? Please tell me you can hear me. And then please tell me that I landed us where I wanted to land us."

[Gregory]

The scenery was beautifl. He had only recently come upon such fertile lands. Before arriving in these lush areas, he had spent all his life roaming and living in the twisted and tainted lands to the west. Scenery like this made him feel calm.

Gregory stayed motionless, as he concentrated on listening to distant sounds. He figured that if he could hear voices or other sounds in the distance, he might be able to help everyone find KB.

[Buzzkill]

"Goddammit, can't they put stairs in these warps?" growls Buzz as he stands up with some help and begins to brush himself off. "Where the Hell are we? What's KB doing out here?"

[jameson (ST)]

Courier and Raider fly up above the tree tops and into the clear mid morning sun. Looking around they spot little other than the forest blanket covering everything around. Off in the distance at the edge of their vision they can see the what looks like a settlement.

Back on the ground Buzz continues to grumble about bad service to Adam while Gregory scouts ahead using low lying brush and his natural camoflage to stay hidden. Gregory spies a deer blind in the trees a few hundred meters away and picks up snippents of conversation. Although he cannot make out what they are saying he is confident thet are speaking American.

Adam gets only static and some faint garbled sound out of the walkie talkie, either they are out of range or there is something wrong with the radios.

[Gregory]

"Hold it for a sec." Gregory whispers to the others on the ground. "I can hear some voices ahead, and I think they are coming from a partially hidden structure."

"They may be guards, but I can't tell what they are saying. I can get closer and find out what they are saying?" Gregory then looks upward, searching for the flying men. "Does anyone have an open link to those guys?"

[Courier]

Doug continues to fly up in order to gain an idea of where in the world they are. As he's doing so he sends back over the link,

*Settlement off that way.*

Originally Posted By: Gregory

..."They may be guards, but I can't tell what they are saying. I can get closer and find out what they are saying?" Gregory then looks upward, searching for the flying men. "Does anyone have an open link to those guys?"

*Ah. OK, go ahead, I'll keep the link open.*

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory moves forward leaving Adam and Buzz in the small copse of trees where they warped in. He proceeds slowly allowing his natural chameleon powers to maximize his stealth. As he approaches within a stone's throw he accidentally steps on a dr branch, the snap is loud enough to draw the attention of the two men who bring a rifle and a large crossbow to bear but cannot locate Gregory. "You here that? I don't see anything ..." One man whispers to the other.

Above Courier and Raider move higher, and their view increases further off to the far east they can now see a silvery ribbon of the ocean. As their field of vision increases they begin to see blighted areas to the west and south as well as a blasted island off to the east along the ocean coast.

[Gregory]

Gregory froze when he stepped on a branch. He knew that the two he was trying to sneak up on would be looking for the culprit. If he stayed there, they might just start firing. If he exposed himself, they would kill or capture him. Gregory began to think about a diversion.

He pictured a dog in his mind and focused his energy. He shaped the amimal figure within an invisible barrier; giving it form, structure and color. He gave the construct instructions.

The dog he created, ran away from Gregory on a course parallel to where the two men were pointing weapons. The construct made no effort to sneak about, and remained visible and noisy enough to get the men's attention.

Still motionless, Gregory pleaded to himself that the ruse would work. Come on, follow the doggie.

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory concentrated for a moment visualizing his old pet dog, the creature appeared and immediately ran off barking as though scared out of the underbrush. The two men immediately start tracking the animal as it runs past them, "Hold on, it's just some dumb dog, no pointin wssting our shot on it," on of the men says. The two put their weapons up and lean back into their seats getting comfortable at their post once again.

Gregory sees that the men have been distracted and moves closer, as close a he dares to get. Though they are obscured by the blind and natural camoflage placed around them he can make out that they are dressed in browns and greens and their clothing appears handmade, possibly homespun. One man has a large hunting rifle, most likely a .30-06 while the other has a massive crossbow, large enough to easily have a pull of well over 150 lbs. They quickly get back to their watch, siting quietly, alert to their surroundings.

[Buzzkill]

For once Buzz seems to know when to keep quiet and quit his constant grumbling. He stays close to Adam, but tries not move knowing his clumsiness could cause a real situation.