Aberrant: The Long March - Chapter 9: Where the Road Leads

[Ulric Reikspar]

Ulric gives this look to Lorean as she shoulders him aside and then stands up and gets out of her way. Upon hearing the mention of a bomb beneath the complex, he gives a weary grin.

"Makes sense," he says. To Lorean, he adds, "I'll be outside if you need me."

He knows he is one of the best computer people on the team, but not so much with the conter-measures that might be in place. Not needed here, he goes over to Joani and Meri and stands close by.

"Meri, is there anything else about this complex and it's defenses you can tell us?"

[SalmonMax]

Meredith shrugs at Ulric.

"As far as I know, this is all that's left that I couldn't remove, or fix so I controlled. It had already been partly looted when I found it. I don't know why they didn't take everything else."

[Courier]

Steve looks considerably more sorry and says,

"Oops. Sorry about that. Next time I'll know better."

To Meri Steve says, "Welcome to the Lorean. That's the ship's name as well as hers." Steve nods towards Lorean and continues,

"Joani was only partly serious about not being able to leave. We have people do that occasionally. There are communities where we could drop you off if it doesn't work out. Not at what we call home, but much better than this. No offense, but this is hard core bad."

To Omar Steve says, "Morgan could fix that."

(After the news of the bomb)

Steve says,

"Any reason why we can't power down the facility, take everything that isn't nailed down, then dismantle the computers and deal with them on the ship?"

[Mr Fox]

Lorean speaks up, "The networking on these servers is very complex. We could take them but it would be very difficult to put humpty-dumpty back together again. I also suspect that if a server is removed from the cluster it might trigger a security routine when it is powered back up that could cause loss of data. Don't worry though, I can hack this system. It will just take some time."

[Omar]

Quote:

"Morgan could fix that."

"I'm not hurt." Omar says as he continues examining his eufiber. "The laser blasts only burned a few hairs. It's my eufiber I'm more worried about."

He raises his head at the mention of a bomb. "If we can find the bomb, Joani or I can take it to the surface. Once it detonates, we have all the time we need to search this place."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Ziggurat

"I'm not hurt." Omar says as he continues examining his eufiber. "The laser blasts only burned a few hairs. It's my eufiber I'm more worried about."

Steve tries again,

"That's what I mean. The suit is alive enough that his powers will work on it."

"And maybe everyone but Lorean should take some gear and go back up. I for one am really tired and Meri would probably like to take a look at what we have to offer."

[SalmonMax]

Confused for a moment by the conversations and questions, Meredith waits for a lull before speaking.

"Okay...lemme clear this up. I was kind of in a hurry before, and I didn't explain it right. In the floor, and even in the walls, are a whole bunch of bombs. I started thinking of it as 'the' bomb, but really it's a lot of them. They're all linked together, and meant to go off if anyone tampers with the computers. They'd pretty much wipe out everything in this room if they go off."

She takes a deep breath.

"I'm pretty sure messing with one would set the rest off. Disconnecting anything would too. So I don't know exactly how to disarm them. It's the only security system in here that I haven't been able to deal with, so I just leave it alone."

"Now...what are you talking about? Other communities? Ship? You can teleport around, but you came here over the sea? And...how many communities are there? I've never heard of a single one all this time! You're the first real people I've seen since...since it all started!"

[Courier]

Steve nods as Meredith talks about the bomb(s) and then says,

"In broad strokes and skipping a ton of history and physics, our ship is in orbit. The Lorean is a big ship, think aircraft carrier. We already have roughly two hundred baselines and a dozen novas, we'd be pleased to add you to our number. We weren't here for the war and we're looking into what happened after the fact."

Steve waits a moment to see how Meri reacts to that.

[z028 Riley]

Kyria stood up after a moment and approached the rest of the group, figuring that the quicker they were done with these Proteus computers, the quicker they could leave.

"What about encasing the servers in as much concrete as," she gestures to the new nova, who seems handy with stone, "you can, or whatever better heat-and-pressure resistant material could be used. Then we open a portal as close to the servers as we could, multiple ones if possible, into space. We blow the bombs, let the warps take most of the blast and heat out of the room, and then move the computers." She tilts her head to the side, obviously still thinking. "That is, unless the computers are internally rigged to wipe if the bombs go off." She shrugged and glanced around at the others. "It's a first idea, at least. Anyone got something better?"

[Omar]

He had forgot the eufiber was a living thing. "I guess I could have Morgan fix it for me."

When he heard Meri explain the set up of the various bombs, he figured that his usefulness on the surface was limited. He looked at Meri with a smile, and held out his hand. "I am going to the ship. If you want to come with me, I can show you where you take a bath and get some food."

Before he leaves, Omar says to the rest. "If you need me, let me know."

[SalmonMax]

Meri looks from Steve to Omar, then says, "I'll stay if you think I can help...but I'd love to see a spaceship. It seems impossible though, something that big. Wouldn't we have heard about it being launched? It must have been before the impact."

Then she does a doubletake. "Wait a second. War? What are you talking about?"

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Kyria Thea

"It's a first idea, at least. Anyone got something better?"

Steve replies,

"...I'm working on it... Whatever we do, I think we want to ask Amber whether or not it will work."

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Then she does a doubletake. "Wait a second. War? What are you talking about?"

Steve says,

"This wasn't... ah. We'd just assumed there was a nuclear war. What did happen here? And how long ago?"

[Omar]

"I will head out then and have Morgan look at my eufiber." He says to the rest of them.

He turns to Steve. "I will tell Amber to come down and help. I will return in an hour or so."

[SalmonMax]

Meri stares at Steve as if he was growing a second head.

"You...must be joking," she says. "Even if you were in space you must have seen it. The -asteroid-. The...it was a giant meteor. Somehow they missed it until just like, a day before it hit. There was no time to stop it."

She looks around at the others, clearly deeply disturbed.

"How could you not KNOW?"

[Joani]

Joani looked at the others and sent over the link *Someone should tell her who we really are. I'm against leaving her here alone to herself. She seems sane to me. I suppose if Cody and Michael scanned her we should be on the safe side that she won't pose any threat to us and our goals. Any objections?*

"That's a long story, Meri. You'll understand once we've explained but we need to solve the problem with the Computer here first. How did you survive?", Joani tried to distract her a little and gave her a confident smile.

[Andrew Murphy]

Onboard Lorean Andrew rests in a way that any stessed out person would envy, as little more than a pool of gelatinous goo. After a while he requests an update on the situation planetside from Morgan. After assurances that he's just fine Morgan finally relents and fills Andrew in on the issue with the computers and the bombs. Andrew tunes his transmitter and sends the following:

*Hey guys, try not to blow that stuff up ok? I'd rather like to think that maybe I can get up and walk away from this with the data I need. Lets table the issue with the explosives for a minute and try and figure out how to access the data, if we can do that we can just download it and avoid the explosive unpleasantness. What are we looking at? Biometric? That'd be nice and easy but it's probobally still going to need a password or clearance. See if you can't find any bodies down there or maybe in the building proper. Somebody has to have a key card or something that'll give us an idea on what kind of security systems we need to breech.*

Andrew stopped and "sat" there wishing that his taint had never gotten to far progressed. Almost as an aftertought he added, *Oh and I'm ok, just need some rest.* And more of that sweet sweet stem cell cocktail. Seems to do wonders for mind and body. If he could have smiled Andrew would have.

[SalmonMax]

Originally Posted By: Joani Reikspar

"That's a long story, Meri. You'll understand once we've explained but we need to solve the problem with the Computer here first. How did you survive?", Joani tried to distract her a little and gave her a confident smile.

Meri looks away with a haunted expression.

"I...erupted," she says quietly. "I didn't know it at first. There were a few of us...locked in a bunker underground. An old bomb shelter under the school library."

She shakes her head, pushing the memory away.

"After I erupted, I moved around...but only a few novas survived. There was poison gas from the volcano...and ash. Novas that had to eat started...well, they got a bit crazy once they'd stripped the stores. I started looking for a safe place to sleep...and I found this. I still go up sometimes to look around. It's not really safe to try to go far though."

She gives Joani a shy smile. "I guess that's not a problem if you can teleport. You know, and...have a spaceship." Abruptly something dawns on her.

"Are you guys...from another planet?"

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Joani Reikspar

Joani looked at the others and sent over the link *Someone should tell her who we really are. I'm against leaving her here alone to herself. She seems sane to me. I suppose if Cody and Michael scanned her we should be on the safe side that she won't pose any threat to us and our goals. Any objections?*

Steve sends back,

*We are telling her who and what we are. We're just doing it in digestible amounts. And I agree. At a bare minimum we can relocate her... although I'm not opposed to her joining us.*

Steve says,

"We weren't close to the planet when the meteor hit. We've only known about it for less than a day. And... and I'd like to table this until we get some juice back. Is everyone ok with a rest break?"

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

She gives Joani a shy smile. "I guess that's not a problem if you can teleport. You know, and...have a spaceship." Abruptly something dawns on her.

"Are you guys...from another planet?"

Joani smiled at Meri, "That's the closest to the truth I can offer you right now. I'm really sorry that this has to suffice for now."

Joani was still close to Meri and put one hand on the side of her arm, "I'm sorry what happened to you. That must've been a terrible experience for you. Is there anything I can do for you?"

[Ulric Reikspar]

"Meri, I believe you are going to be okay if you come with us. You've been a big help. I take it there is no place on the planet that you want to go to, right? No place is safe with the resources needed to survive that you are aware of?"

* She has fought at our side and given us useful information. It would be wrong for us to leave her behind. She has my vote,*He thinks to the assembled.

[z028 Riley]

Kyria gave Ulric a look, "Is there anywhere here you'd want to stay? I mean, it's not just about surviving. It's about living." She looked over to Meri, smiling, "Look, I know it sounds all cloak and dagger, but really it's just complicated. The Lorean is amazing, and well, these people were my heroes growing up. Everyone's heroes, where I'm from. You'll be safe and get a chance at living a real life instead of just trying to make it day to day."

She nods towards Steve, "I'm with him on this too, some rest and a fresh look at the problem is probably a really good idea." She grinned back at Meri, "Besides, you've got people falling all over themselves to show you around and make you comfortable. Think of it as a holiday."

[SkyLion]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Meanwhile back on the surface.

Lorean moves to the computer room and attaches a small hypercombustion generator and powers up the systems. A moment later she calls out to the other room, "Looks like there is some pretty strong security, Cody do you want to assist?"

Cody gives Kyria's hand a gentle squeeze and telepathically sends a feeling of warmth through her entire body. She can feel that he is glad to have her near.

*Of course Lo. Be right with you.* He stands from where he had been kneeling and moves to assist. As he does so he pours a bit more of the stolen juice into his armor, enough so that he can shunt it back into it's pocket dimension where it will continue regenerating on it's own. On the way he touches the disengaged arm canon and it too fades away into a ripple in space.

When the bomb is revealed Cody puts in his thoughts.

*Nothing we could do to reinforce them would allow them to survive the blast. If we try and take them away it's going to wipe the data. The good news is, they were designed to be accessed and used by the correct personnel. I think if we can get Amber down here to assist Lorean and I that would be a good thing. Also my intuition should warn us if we are about to make the fatal misstep. The biggest thing to worry about is losing the data. I don't want to repeat this process on another world...*

When the cause of this world's destruction is revealed Cody adds. *Our old nemesis strikes again. Once we deal with our growing taint problems we really should get back to that mystery.* As an afterthought. *I think we should take her with us.*

[Mr Fox]

In all the years they had worked together Cody had never telepathically assisted Lorean as she hacked a computer system. She has simply never requested any assistance before. His own extensive computer talent was useful even to a master like Lorean and she called on his expertise as she sent her consciousness burrowing into the machine. For Cody it was an eye opening experience. Rather than the human-computer interface of a screen and keyboard he was used to, what spread out before his minds eye was a vast wall of three dimensional data. There were small openings all over the surface of the wall. Looking up, down and to the sides he came to realize this wasn't a wall so much as a huge sphere and the opening were holes leading into the interior.

*The ones we find closest to us here are very likely to be trapped. Normally I'd just move a little to the side and attack a smaller opening that would be less likely to be defended but given the paranoia of those who built this system I think we will move further around the sphere and up. Attack from an oblique angle as it were. Keep in mind that most systems at current technology would be wide open with large undefended holes, just by way of comparison.*

There was no sensation of movement but the image of the sphere blurred and then resolved into a different pattern of openings and data. After Lorean surveyed the area she moved toward a tiny hole, one of the smallest seen so far. The two minds moved inside and almost immediately the hole made as if to close on them, but Lorean willed it to remain open and it did. Again there was a blur of movement without sensation. Approaching a large and well connected something Lorean cut a single tiny connection then moved again this time to another bit something and clipped another connection. Cody lost all track of time as this went on and on. As they went the connection being severed became larger and larger until they looked like major data arteries. Finally she stopped at what Cody could only assume was their original point of entry.

*That's it, I believe I have all the security and most of the functions of the system disabled. I've only left the system enough capability for me to upload the data itself. I'm going to check this two more times before I begin the actual upload, you can relax and disconnect now. Thank you, you made this easier.*

Cody came back to himself sitting next to Lorean in the server room and was surprised to find that only a hour had passed.

Meanwhile in the basement Meri had gathered up her meager possessions and everyone else had taken rest break and were just getting around to moving again. In short order the vault was emptied of everything that remained including the large teleporter. Lorean (the ship) requested that it be dissembled and brought aboard, saying that it can't hurt to have a second teleporter in case something were to ever happen to the first.

Lorean (the ship) asked, "If everyone is ready I will teleport you all up?" From the other room Lorean (the woman) called, "The data is uploading, but it will take some time. I will stay behind to ensure it goes smoothly and teleport up when it is done."