Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Chapter 3: Animals and Relics

[jameson (ST)]

Robert raises and eyebrow at Gregory's battery of questions, "Umm well I found it in the ruins of an old building, there wasn't much that was intact but that was inside a wall safe that had withstood the destruction.

"I wish I knew what James wanted to build the engines for but I would imagine it can't be good whatever it is."

Robert accepts the weapon from Raider, performs a cursory check on it and then tucks it into his waistband at the small of his back.

"Now how exactly did James contact you and where is tit that you are expected to drop off all that steel?"

[Mr Fox]

Raider nods at Roberts comments, "He has been making contact directly with Courier's mind, a kind of forced telepathy. We aren't sure about the location, but I imagine that he wants us to drop it at the crash site were we stumbled across you and Billy. Are you sure you can't tell us anything about where he might be based out of? He has to be somewhere in this general area."

[jameson (ST)]

At the mention of telepathy Billy covers his head and scurries behind a piece of furniture, Robert gives him a concerned glance before turnign back to Raider. "Well if I had any idea where we were I might be able to help. How far from the crash site are we? And in what direction?"

[Mr Fox]

Raider smiles, "Now that is something I can help with. Come look, I've got as good a map of this part of the continent as there is. Just ignore the stuff that isn't there anymore like the big cities." With that he leads Robert and whoever else follows into the main shop area and pulls on a wall panel. It swings out and on the back you see a color map of the North America. It's preburn of course, but you notice that several towns and items of interest have been marked on a piece of glass covering the map. Included are the crash site and the traditional X your location.

[Courier]

Courier will join Raider in the map room.

[jameson (ST)]

Courier leaves his home, grabbing a "light" snack and some other useful bits before he heads over to Raider's. Along the way he spots Ralphie trying too wave him down. He sets down and the young man tells him that Buzz has recently agreed to lead a diplomatic envoy to K-bec to try and open up further communications and possible trade in the wake of the previous week's forward progress. Courier thanks Ralph for the information and continues to Raider's arriving as Robert and Raider are studying the large map of the northeast.

[Mr Fox]

Raider nods to Courier as he walks in. "I was just about to go over the map with Robert and see what he could tell us about James' possible location." He turns back to the map and points to several marks. "This is where we are now, this is where the aircraft crashed. This is the range we think KB could have travelled before being taken."

He frowns, "We know that James has the ability to teleport large amounts, far larger than he should be able to with the help of a piece of technology we caught a glimpse of, so he could really be anywhere on the planet, but given his other activities, I think he must be somewhere in the area." He points to several many other marks on the map, "These are the places I've personally explored in my travels looking for tech and barter goods, so we can likely eliminate them as most of them are uninhabitable."

[Gregory]

The piece of paper was colorful and had all kinds of words on it. Gregory remembers his father looking at a similar one when he was little. He had even seen others like it. Now Gregory had a name for the oddly colored piece of paper...a map!

Gregory never had much use for maps; seeing as he never did learn to read. Instead he would sell the oddly colored bits of paper to others, for equally small pieces of food. It was fascinating to watch others use it. They actually seemed to think that it could tell them where they were. They not remember where they been?" he laughed to himself. For Gregory, knowing where you are is as easy as knowing where youv'e been and how you got there. Drawing a picture of a location, in this fashion, was useless..at least as far as Gregory was concerned.

Nevertheless, he listened to what the others had to say about Squiddie, and began to plot his next move. When he needed to, he would speak up.

[Courier]

Doug nods and says,

"Buzz is out of the town for a while, he's leading the diplomatic envoy to K-bec. I figure it won't be very hard to get the metal Squiddy wants, I guess the real issue is how to bug it."

[jameson (ST)]

Robert studies the map for a bit. "So we're here you say?" he asks indicating the "x" placed in what used to be Massachusetts according to the map.

"And the crash site is here?" he indicates a circle within which the crash site is believed to be, without exact instruments Raider can only narrow it to a region.

"Well that just can't be right, the distances aren't right. Are you sure this map is accurate?" Robert turns back to Raider and Courier, "Besides New York isn't on the ocean as this map indicates ..."

[Courier]

Doug blinks and says,

"Ah... yes it is. Always has been."

[jameson (ST)]

"Hmm ... strange but I guess if the city was leveled during the burn ... well whatever the case," he points to a portion of old Pennsylvania just north of old Allentown, "New York is here. And that's where James operates from, at least as far as my knowledge. I'd guess if he really was going to build some sort of aircraft he might have a more remote location in mind.

"New York, mostly they just call it York, is a cesspool of Aberrants and baseline worshippers. Aberrants have absolute rule over baselines, they can kill rape and torture them with no more thought than you or I would give to swatting a fly."

Robert shudders, clearly his knowledge of the place is first hand, and likely traumatic.

[Courier]

Doug says,

"Wait a moment. New York is here." Doug points it out on the map.

"It's a radioactive mess too, it was huge so it got multiple nukes. Between that and the ocean it's very poor hunting. Your city here isn't even inside the state of New York, that's Pennsylvania... ah... Pennsylvania's Allentown."

"Or wait, how large a city are we talking about? Did someone take over and just decide to rename it New York? Someone named York perhaps?"

Doug searches his memory for what he knows about that area and tries to remember if he or any of his contacts have been there.

[jameson (ST)]

Robert nods, "Yeah it's a wasteland there, probably a good 10 or 15 mile radius, as I understand it even the waters are radioactive. York if big, maybe eight thousand people ruled over by damn near five hundred aberrants. Though only about a hundred fifty of them are 'real' aberrants. Most are just muties, they probably have a touch of power but nothing like you guys or James or any of the real deal. It's a nightmare, breeding pens, martial law, hell I even heard of experiments done on the humans. Horrid stuff."

He scratches his head, "I can't say why they call it New York, York, whatever. It's been there since I was a kid, pre-burn maps like this tend to be rare and somewhat useless, this is the first time I've seen one showing this much of the land."

[Gregory]

"Muties mean people. They live this way too." Gregory moves his hand from the Pennsylvania area westward across the continent. "This all 'Blight Lands'. People say that Abbie s'plode in sky a long time ago. He poison land with taint. Land is t'wisted and all normals hunted and eaten by abbies. Even the plants try to eat you."

Gregory shudders slightly. "If York be near Blight, then we going to go against nasty people if we goes there."

[Mr Fox]

Raider ponders. "Well, I can get in and move around without fear of physical attack, but obviously James is a telepath which is the one thing I can't deal with, and there might be others that could sense me even in my ghost state." He looks to Robert, "Can you give us any more detail of the city itself? Anything at all would be better than nothing and if we can figure out where in there James is likely to be, perhaps I could sneak in and take a look around and maybe rescue KB."

[Courier]

Doug snorts then says,

"You're going to search a city with thousands of people? Much, much better to just grab someone, maybe several someones, preferably baselines, and ask them what's going on. Maybe offer them a chance to move here instead."

"No, wait, if you and I just flew around we might be able to see Squid's rocket ship or whatever he's building. He'll need an airport or something."

[jameson (ST)]

Robert looks worried, "Did you say rocket ship? You think James is building a rocket?" He moves away and sits down clearly something has rattled him, "Are you sure? Do you have any proof?"

[Courier]

Doug says,

"From the materials he's gathering and the technology he's stealing it's clear he's building something. No, not 'something', some type of craft. With his technology there doesn't seem to be a point in an airplane, and Billy drew a picture of a rocketship."

"Billy's a much better artist than I'll ever be, but I think he's a I-see-it-so-I-draw-it type of guy. So if he's drawing a picture of a rocket it's because that's what he's seen."

"...Why is this important?"

[jameson (ST)]

Originally Posted By: Courier

"...Why is this important?"

"Because we all know James wants power, he loves being in control, and I suspect he's found a means to get the power to destroy what he cannot control, and rule by fear."

Robert notes the confused looks around the room, "When the burn happened it was because the Chinese had enough atomic weapons in orbit to fry the planet right? Most people know this. Well there's not much to say that there isn't a good chance that those ships and satellites might still be up there and some may still have weapons aboard.

"Beyond that I know that James is convinced there is a habitat on the moon. I don't know if it's real or not but he believes it. And either way neither can be good for the rest of us."

[Courier]

Doug says to Raider,

"Please tell me that he can't do that. That after this many years those things won't work."

"As for the moon, I think Buzz said once or twice there was one. I'd think it'd be no more because of the war and time, but I'm not sure anyone knows."

[Mr Fox]

Raider listens to Robert's comments and sits deep in thought when Doug asks his question. He looks up startled, "Uh, actually the weapons platforms might well still be there and functioning. He might have to do some repairs to them, but I think he'd be capable of it. I know I would. As for the moon base. I've heard the stories and as best I can make out that base would have survived the burn. It might not still be thriving today. I can't see how it would be after all this time, but the technology is still there. At the very least it would give James a massive leap in the technology race. I've thought about going there since I can survive in space, but it would take me years to travel there at the speeds I'm capable of. I don't know if Adam can reach there with his warp, but I can't travel any faster than a run. It sure would be worth investigating though." He sighs. "First things first though. We need to rescue KB. Doug, I can make us both insubstantial if you can fly us over the city. Heck, with your speed lets fly under the city too while we are at it. Make sure there aren't any big open caverns down below it where the work could be performed."

[Courier]

Doug nods.

*The way to do this is too have Adam open a gate there high in the air. Any chance you can turn us invisible as well as desolid?*

[Mr Fox]

"We will be partially invisible, and hard to see unless someone is directly looking, and even then they'd have a very hard time telling what we are."

[Courier]

Doug reflects,

Pretty good odds... although with hundreds of novas maybe less so. Hopefully they aren't well organized...

*Let's do it.*

[Gregory]

Gregory was excited about visiting a new location. Even though the prospects of encountering tainted monstrosities was high, Gregory still wanted to look around the city.

With an innocent expression on his face, he turns to Doug and Raider: "After you's look around the place, I can go in and get information. I need some goods to trade to get the rumors though...Okay? Can I borrow some money or stuff to use?"

[jameson (ST)]

Later that day ...

After his shift at the wall Adam comes to Raider's and is brought up to speed. He agrees to try and open a warp over the city and with the map and Robert's descriptions providing hmi better focus he is able to get the right location after a couple of trys.

Raider extends his quantum waveform over Courier and pushes Quantum through his node, shunting matter into a subdimension. Seemingly instantly he and Courier are as insubstantial and transparent as ghosts. Courier and Raider then jump down through the portal. Courier allows them to fall for a few moments before pushing his own node to allow them to ignore gravity and fly.

*****

Back in Newborough the warp closes leaving Adam, Robert, Gregory and Billy alone in Raider's home. Robert goes to find something to eat and Billy follows him complaining about his tummy. Adam finds a confortable chair and drifts off to sleep after turning one of Raider's old music players on.

*****

Below them Courier and Raider see a sprawling metropolis, or rather the rotting corpse of one. Many of York's buildings appear to be intact pre-burn structures though they are clearly damaged and neglected. None of what they see shows any sign of repair or new construction like one would see in Newborough. At the street level crowds of people move through the streets in some cases carrying or hauling large loads on rickshaws or carts, in others on their backs like pack animals.

Even at this height there are inhuman shapes easily made out from the crowd. Though Robert had described it, seeing it was something else. Aberrants moved through the throngs pushing humans out of the way or outright beating them into giving way. Inhuman in appearance and action Raider and Courier were astonished by the sheer variety of shapes. Some grotesquely twisted human mockeries, others looking more like mutated crabs, octopi, or other creatures.

[Gregory]

As soon as the others relay their infomation about what they see, Gregory approaches Adam with an idea.

"I get goods for trade, then you send me to York, OK?"

Gregory looked excited about the prospects of showing the others what he is capable of. He was also nervous. The place he was going, was full of those who hunted him when he was growing up. For him it was about facing some of his fears.

Gregory begins rummaging around Raider's place, grabbing random trinkets and stuffing them into a sack. When he finishes, he stands in front of Adam.

"I go now. I will find us friends there. I find safe place for everyone to come. I can fit in with them too. I spy for us."

[jameson (ST)]

It takes Gregory a few minutes to convince Adam to open the warp for him but sure enough he finally convinces him. Gregory quickly gathers up a great deal of small items, specifically avoiding anything that Raider has used recently, and then leaps through Adam's warp into the wilderness near York. Dropping prone immediately Gregory does his best to blend into the surroundings as he determines if he was seen. After five minutes it's obvious he's alone and he begins to trek toward the ruined city visible through the trees.

Within half and hour Gregory is standing at the edge of the forest, peering out from behind a tree. The tree line is artifical and the downed trees are piled high and interwoven with wrecked cars and sections of concrete to form a makshift wall around the city. Gregory follows along the wall for another twenty minutes before locating an opening in the wall. Apparently standing gaurd are four monstrous looking aberrants, all claws, flags, and and ugly.

[Gregory]

Gregory had a problem. He had not planned on their being a wall around the city, much less guards. If the city was teeming with aberrants, as Robert said, then they should not have much to fear. Obviously Gregory's assumptions were wrong.

He remained low to the ground, next to the wall. His mind raced, as he formulated his options. He could either try to scale the wall, or somehow, distract the guards and sneak by. He was also contemplating a direct approach, and try to talk his way past them. Obviously the last option was the most dangerous. After a few minutes, Gregory decided that he would create a distraction, and while the guards were busy, scale the wall. He was too intimidated to walk up to the guars by himself. With any luck, there would be few people on the other side.

Moving 40 meters along the wall, he stopped at a spot that would allow his a speedy ascent. Then he focused his Willpower into maximizing the effect of his "creature creation" power. He formed an image in his mind of a giant fire-breathing dog, 10 meters in height, with armored plates and sharp teeth. He would have the creature breathe fire, and then rush at the guards. He was going to try to make the creature run out of the woods, and towards the gate. After breating fire, it would leap at the four guards, tearing into them with it's teeth. If he was lucky, they would be occupied long enough that no-one would see him climb over the wall. At the first sign of danger, he will activate his Force Field.

[OOC: Power Maxxing, then Quantum Construct w/ Q-bolt fire + Armor + Claws(teeth)]

[Courier]

Doug comes out high in the air, high enough that they can't be attacked, high enough that they probably can't be seen, or in other words, too high.

(To Raider) *Let's see... we're looking for something the size of a building like the space ship from the drawing, or larger than a building like an air field. We want to be high enough that people down there can't tell who we are, no, further than that, some of them will have enhanced senses.*

Doug tries flying at 500 meters and then simply moves from one side of the city to the other. After he gets to the other side he'll do the same thing in another direction.

(To Raider) *I'd run a search pattern but I don't want to look like we're running a search pattern. This way hopefully it looks like we're moving from point A to point B.*

[jameson (ST)]

Crossing the city for the first time Courier and Raider observe the ruin of the city. Suprisingly the damage seems to be from small scale weapons and time moreso than the nucular devestation that they have seen in Boston and other cities. Skyscrapers, still reaching upward, no longer clad in glass stand like skeletal giants within the ruins. Between the stall standing buildings are the ruins of other structures which have fallen. Entire streets appear blocked by debris and the two observe hundreds if not thousands of humans forced to slowly clear away the rubble with thier bare hands. Aberrants freely walk the streets, some appear to act as slave masters or gangers, while others go about their own buisness.

In other areas, especially near the center of the city the streets have already been cleared though the buildings still stand in ruin. The streets themselves are in poor shape with many sprouting trees quite a few years old and others collapsed into the sewers and access tunnels below.

As they pass through the apparent center of the city they are presented with a handfull of buildings which have been restored, including a steel and glass spire well over twenty stories tall. Small structures are also restored including a domed building which appears to have been a sports arena sitting alone in a field of broken concrete.

Courier and Raider fly over the city for well over an hour and find that the sights are the same. The aberrants, or their leaders, are using the human population to slowly repair the city from the center out. This prevents somebody who stumbles upon it from the wilderness from seeing it as anything other than a deserted wasteland. the city itself is walled with rubble, concrete, steel, and old vehicles piled high to ward off outsiders and keep the human slaves within.

[Mr Fox]

"Lets try another approach. Lets fly underground through the city. If there are any large open areas undergound we'll cross em. At the very least we might find something interesting."

[Courier]

Doug says,

*We'll start by dropping through that dome and see what's inside. After that... I don't mind diving through the ground but I don't have directional senses. How do you prevent becoming disoriented and flying down rather than up?*

Doug moves to the dome.

[Mr Fox]

Raider smiles and replies, "I guess it just comes with the ability. I can still feel gravity as a force, it just doesn't exert the irresistible force on me that it does in my physical state.

[jameson (ST)]

Courier moves down toward the dome and passes through the roof near the apex. Within they find an old arena, football by the size and shape. Most of the seats have been torn out of the upper levels though there remain sections on the lower levels with seating. Some sections are closed off and clearly suffer from structural damage. The "floor" of the arena is bare concrete littered with the ruins of small vehciles and hastily made buildings as well as large sections of rubble and debris.

The lower level is somewhat populated by people while the upper balconies and seating have a myriad of twisted shapes; aberrants jeering or cheering the action below. Courier moves them to the edge of one of the closed off sections of balconies, the concrete and steel showing obvious wear and shaking as the energy of the croud transmits down to the length of the structure. From their vantage point Raider and Courier watch as two groupd of human slaves engage in a bloodsport. Much like LaCrosse the players weild long staffs with netted ends and crash into each other as they attempt to get the ball into the oppsing net. Unlike LaCrosse they wear spiked and bladed armor and the staves appear to be heavy, solid pieces, many sporting blades and spikes of their own used to intentionally injure opposing players.

The game ends quickly, as one team's players are brought down, crippled or dead and the opposing team scores. An aberrant, large with oversize gorilla like arms ending in tentacle like hands comes out to the field as the winning team leaves. Only the members of the winning team able to leave under their own power make it off the field. Moving toward the closest of the losing teams players the aberrant wraps the man in his masive tentacled limbs despite the man' best efforts. With a roar and a sickening wet tearing sound the man is torn limb from limb, his body rent in a spray of blood and gore.

The creature moves among the losing team and mutilates any surviving men in similar fashion. The crippled and dying members of the losing team are also put to death though they are allowed a clean, relatively painless death.

[Mr Fox]

Raider watches grimly as they descend toward the ground and whispers, "That does not look pleasant. We are really going to have to do something about these guys. Meanwhile, lets get underground before we're spotted."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Raider watches grimly as they descend toward the ground and whispers, "That does not look pleasant. We are really going to have to do something about these guys. Meanwhile, lets get underground before we're spotted."

Doug sends, *You really should be using the link.*

Doug zips back outside the dome through the nearest wall then takes a couple of deep breaths and goes into the ground and heads towards the rebuilt buildings.

*I didn't hear from KB this time, I only heard from Squid. I'm thinking he's either going to kill her, if she isn't dead already, or he's going to break her into little pieces, mentally at least, before he gives her back.*

*I'm thinking I should get the metal together and then insist on an actual trade. Our position is stronger while we actually have something he wants, if we wait I don't think she'll be coming back.*

[Mr Fox]

Raider returns the thought, "Yeah, I think you are right. Although I don't think he has any intention of ever giving her back. I think he plans to place all of us eventually in his tender care."

[jameson (ST)]

Courier and Raider pass through the broken concrete and emerge within the sewers and utilities conduits beneath the street level. They are suprised to find that the lights are active and the tunnels arrea to be well kept, they are free of debris. Courier follows along the corridor in the direction of the city center and the emerge into a large underground chamber where the various utilities tunnels intersect. Here there is the noise of people working and they quickly conceal themselves as they observe.

Within the space some humans and a great deal of aberrants work on a machine. Raider is unable to identify it are first buy after a few mintues of observations he belives that the device is a reactor of some sort.