Courier Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Doug said coldly, "Air born, and visible from here. So it wasn't a lab in York making some grand discovery they shouldn't. Looking more and more like it was deliberate, not that this should be a shock.""If I were a Luna ship, I'd want to do it with the sun behind me. That'd make it very difficult to see it coming." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 Stand by, scanning data banks. ... Active scientific instruments show a high energy pulse in the quantum strata that conforms to the magnetic field of the planet. Quiet an ingenious method of affecting a planetary scale with a singular energetic effect. The energy source would have to originate from within the magnetic field however. Any external energy source would be broken and diverted as the solar wind in routinely diffused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fox Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 "So it would have to have originated within the Earth's core?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 "If it originated in the planet's magnetic field, then it wasn't actually ON the moon. Maybe the source of this is still there."She looks at Fox, and the terminal. "Can you detect anything in orbit at the spot this...pulse came from?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 I do not believe so. Stand by, simulating. ... No, an atmospheric or terrestrial source of sufficient power would be able to cascade through the planet's EM field. The screen changed showing a wire diagram of the planet with the magnetic field. A red dot rapidly expanded from a point on the surface of the planet and suffused the magnetic field. Without sensory data from at least five other points on the planet it is impossible to extrapolate the origin source of the energy pulse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fox Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 "AI, please patch into these satellites and search for the data to make a triangulation." Raider mentally input the access codes for all of the remaining functional satellites that he had explored and hacked into. "Also scan for all currently active satellites and look for any that have been added within the last 6 years." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 The red sphere returned, regarding Raider and the others from the terminal display. I'm sorry Dave Raider I can't do that. I have no communications and up link capability with a sufficient range. As I have indicated previously my function in internal to the city to run and maintain civil operations here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Doug said, "If we can't have an exact point, can we get a distance? Or is even that not possible without more points?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 The AI replied and the three in the room got the odd feeling that its focus was shifting to Doug despite there being no change in the display. Without knowing the strength of the originating pulse there is not enough information to determine the origin. As you may know in flat space three points are needed to determine the location of a point. In three dimensional space six are needed to do the same. If you can acquire additional data regarding this event phenomenon I could collate and extrapolate to determine the origin point and possibly the nature of the energy source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Doug replied, "True, but... assume for the moment it happened on the surface of the planet. If you have a distance, then we could draw a circle on the surface and see if it intersects with anything interesting. With my speed maybe I could even travel over the circle and just look. Of course that assumes you have distance and not just a power reading." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Ashley shook her head."I think if it -could- do that, it -would- have," she says. "It's telling us what it needs to give us more information. Now we just have to figure out how to get it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 The young lady is correct, I cannot determine distance without knowing the original strength of the energy pulse. Likewise I do not have the data needed to perform even the most basic determination of a point of origin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fox Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Raider nodded. "Right, I will see what I can find out. Back shortly." He teleported up to the Chinese weapons platform and quickly moved to the console and checked to make sure the orbit hadn't decayed enough to be dangerous. If things are working he will reestablish communication with the other satellites he's hacked and see if he can download any data for that time period.Click to reveal.. Straight Computer roll:(13:03:21) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 10d10 and gets 5,7,6,6,1,1,10,1,2,6.(13:03:26) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 1d10 and gets 5.1 total successCyberK roll (control):(13:03:51) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 8d10 and gets 6,4,2,2,8,3,5,9.(13:03:54) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 1d10 and gets 7.4 total successes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 Click to reveal.. Diff was +3 for the task working off the combined successes So you score 6 sux, 2 over the diff which cuts your time by 75% (1/2 and 1/2 again). Base Time was 48 hours. Raider works for 12 hours to get all the desired dataRaider is gone for some time. Communication with Courier allows the others to be prepared for the wait. The process, while moving, is going more slowly than Raider would like, with multiple networks needing to be hacked and data needing to be located, transferred, and in some cases decrypted. The process takes just over twelve hours but in the end Raider returns with an optical holographic drive which he interfaces with the AI mainframe. OOC: Ash & Doug have 12 hours to do whatever they like, or just chill out. I'll give you both a day to post and then I'll update with the AI's data analysis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 With Raider gone, Ash hangs around for a few minutes, then goes out to sit with Anna and Gregory for awhile. After making a food run for everyone, she decides to look at the artist's paintings again.Was that how it'd been on N-day, she wondered. When the first novas erupted. She was a bit vague on her history, but somehow she didn't think that's how it had worked. So why was it so different this time?And the more she thought about it, the less it made sense that this was an attack. The moon people wanted to reclaim the Earth, not destroy it. They might well be capable, morally, of doing this...but it seemed totally at odds with their stated goals. Whatever had happened would only make their job harder.But as much as there was no 'smoking gun' to convict them, there was also no clear alibi to exonerate them. Then something occurred to her, and she charged back to the terminal room Raider had left."Computer!" she called. "Were there any aberrants...or novas...in the city before this green light flashed?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 Ash found Doug in the studio as well having apparently stayed to try and eek out some meaning as well. She moved to the terminal and asked the AI her question. The red orb that was the AI's avatar soon replied, There were none miss. The population was comprised entirely of non-powered humans, or baselines as I understand they were called. The city's founders intended to ensure that humankind, by which they meant baseline humans, survived the orbital bombardment and as such no Novas or baseline who had Novas in their family tree were admitted into the program. Shortly thereafter Raider returned looking a bit tired but otherwise none the worse for wear. He connected the optical holograph drive to the terminal and the AI was soon processing the data. Perhaps half and hour passed before the avatar returned to the screen. The differences in the quantum energy pulse were quite minute, whatever caused it was immensely powerful to have triggered a pulse that could suffuse the entire magnetosphere in sure a manner. I have done the best I could with the data and extrapolated the origin. The red sphere disappeared, replaced immediately by a blue one with green shapes that rotated about it. This is the Earth. This city is located here, a red dot appeared in to signify the city. The origin point is here, indicated in yellow to within an area of roughly fifteen miles. I am sorry I am unable to pinpoint it with great precision but the data was not all precise enough. The globe revolved and revealed a glowing yellow dot on the eastern seaboard of North America. The view zoomed in until, despite the AI's perceived inaccuracy, the three viewers knew exactly where the pulse had originated from, Goodwood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Doug said flatly, "Goodwood.""Anyone remember what James asked back on the moon? Whether the Moonies had ever sent agents or criminals to the Earth? The answer was 'no', and that was a lie too." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 "Which doesn't necessarily mean anything yet," Ash sighed. "What's 'Goodwood' anyway? A town? Seems like that'd be the place to go for answers." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Doug replied, "We were just there. Goodwood was the name of that burned out place. And it means everything, the dots just connected. It's time for a history review.""James and Raider are brothers, James was raised by their Dad after his parents split. James claimed that the guy was an evil nut who hated novas. I never thought much about that considering the source.""Raider's Dad wasn't a nova, but he had access to a shockingly high level of technology. The only thing I've seen even remotely like it was the Moonies.""James poisoned him, he only had a few months to live. It was some kind of Quantum fueled thing. That's why we left him inside the Quantum null field at Goodwood. We figured it'd stretch out the months into a year or two.""That's how the Moonies operate. They're passive agressive. It's not their fault if the rock kills everyone... all they did was watch. It's not their fault if our families think we're dead, all they did was move us forward in time. It's not their fault if the Taint Bomb went off, all they did was put the nova hater on Earth with the technology." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 "Hey, that's right...that guy who stopped nova powers."Ash closes her eyes. "I think Greg was right." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Doug replied, "Gregory? About what?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 "About this," Ash replied heavily. "He nailed it right off. That guy who shot you was talking about the nova who could turn off other nova powers. How aberrants kept coming to him, and he kept taking them in. Greg said maybe it got to be too much for him...and I think he's right.""This wasn't an act of war, or any deliberate thing. It was...a stupid accident. A mistake. He got overconfident, or cocky, or just wanted to help so much he couldn't turn anyone away even if he knew it was killing him."She leaned back against a wall and rubbed her cheeks brisky with her palms. "God, what a mess..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Doug hesitated then replied, "It's hard to say it 'couldn't' have happened that way, but we run into the same problems we had before. I felt his power first hand, and it didn't seem massive much less global. There was a surge to my powers and recharge after leaving the field, but multiply that times 100 novas and I still don't see a burn weapon, much less a super-burn.""And it's one heck of a coincidence we have our high tech guy on site. It doesn't have to be an either/or, we could be looking at a weaponized version of whatever theory was backing him." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 "Or," Ashley countered, "Maybe they were using tech to try to amplify what he did...so he could 'cure' more aberrants."She grimaced and rubbed the center of her forehead. "Of course, the only guy we know of who knew is now dead. Still...we could go back there. Maybe there's basements or cellars that survived. People might have kept diaries or journals...any clue at all right now could be critical." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fox Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 "We also left James back there. I wonder what he has discovered in our absence. Either way, I'm leaning toward what Courier is suggesting. It would be just like the moonies to set a maniac loose on the planet with the technology to destroy novas. What we are looking at here is a massive surge in the ambient quantum of the Earth, one which in a single instant burned out or mutated and destroyed anyone on the planet that either had the potential to erupt or who had the latent genes. Everything the Moonies were hoping for came true in that moment. All potential novas were revealed and either destroyed or aberrated without exception. They couldn't have done a better job accomplishing their goals. So maybe they did it maybe they didn't, maybe they set the stage such that it was likely to occur, maybe they didn't. Either way, they got exactly what they wanted, and that makes them our prime suspects." He looked at the others, "Lets get back to Goodwood and see if we can find any hard evidence now that we know it was ground zero." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalmonMax Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 "I don't think this is what they wanted," Ash demurs. "Not in the least. But I agree the only way we have of knowing for sure is to go back there and hope there's more to be found. And I know Anna will love getting out of here. What about Greg though?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Doug replied, "These were nice people, most wouldn't have made a weapon. But the sheer scale of this thing happening next to a guy James thought was a monster..." "I'll call Adam and see if he's available. Greg is pretty good where he is."*Adam, we have a lot of news on the origin of the taint bomb.* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 "So? Who cares? You can't undo what's been done." Adam's "voice" sounded fed up, angry even, "What does it matter who did it or how? Why can;t you just let it go man? Let it go before it all drives you mad or pushes you to do something you'll regret?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Doug replied, Gregory and Anna are mutating. Ergo the Earth's Q-field is still high. Finding whatever gadget did it is a big step towards reversing the field. That would prevent us from mutating. It might even help KB and the others.And before you say it can't be done, Goodwood was ground zero. Someone built the intensifier by studying or adapting the nullification field. They're related effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 Fine. Whatever. You've got a bug in your arse to see if you can't maybe understand this thing. What do you want from me? Or is it a matter of transportation? Yeah, we need to get back to Goodwood.Fine. Done. There's a portal by that fountain, the one with the corpse. Anything else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 *Thank you my friend.*Doug said, "Adam has a portal near the fountain. Let's go." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 The three left the studio and made their way back to the city center. It took just over five minutes to walk there and standing near the fountain was a portal of tormented space. The edges were like nuclear fire, writhing as the "where" of two places that had no business being adjacent were now in fact forced to co-exist. Co-existing did not mean they were playing nice, and the portal veritably seethed with quantum energy at the edges as space-time was forced to Adam's will. Clean white stone gave way to fire and then to black scorched earth; it was oddly fitting and in another time and place may have been worth commenting on. The three passed through to what remained of Goodwood. The town was as they had left it, a shattered and charred blight on the land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fox Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Raider looked to find Adam but he was nowhere to be found.His next act was to send out a node ping to see if there were any other quantum signatures in the area. It almost made his skin crawl to know this was the place that had originated the wave of death and destruction that had claimed nearly all the remaining human lives on Earth and had in fact claimed all of the novas and potential novas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Doug walked through the portal and immediately took to the air. *The burned area was just where that nova went nuclear, it's not the taint bomb itself. 'That' might have gone off a distance away from here and if it did presumably it would have been in a structure.**I'm going to look for it.* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 18, 2009 Author Share Posted December 18, 2009 The portal remained open behind them after they had stepped through, the tortured edges of reality burning in quantum fire as they were forced to intersect unnaturally. Of Adam there was no sign and Raider's immediate attempt to locate other novas (or aberrants, the line was looking more blurry by the day of late) resulted in only two, the same two he'd stepped through the warp with. Doug took to the air immediately and once more he beheld the blackened scar carved into the forest floor. Littered with the charred skeletons of buildings, reaching upward like obscene hands at the sky, and seemingly perfectly circular; the devastation was so obviously caused by an Aberrant or a Nova, the precision was too great to be anything else. He circled the area in an ever expanding spiral but aside for a few boat houses and piers on the water there were no buildings within miles of the former town, within dozens of miles Courier counted perhaps a handful of lone cabins, many well on their way to returning to the earth. None showed signs of life and none showed any external indication of explosion or similar damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Doug zoomed back and sent, *No likely prospects for housing a taint-bomb-lab. He/they probably built it inside the 'village' anyway, maybe even inside John's null field.**Actually that's a point. I'm going to search the grounds of John's building.*Doug landed and got to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fox Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Raider accompanied Doug on his inspection tour looking for any possible place that would make sense. The place would need a power source of some kind, that was a clue to look for although it was possible they had some small advanced reactor thanks to moonie technology. It also might not be above ground. If the main search didn't find anything Raider would check underground for hidden tunnels or labs. As they moved around the village he also reached out with his mind trying to find electronic/technology devices with his Cyberkinesis.Click to reveal.. (17:41:32) ChatBot: (Raider) logs into the Chat.(17:41:37) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 8d10 and gets 6,10,3,3,3,10,10,6.(17:41:40) ChatBot: (Raider) rolls 1d10 and gets 4.3 successes to detect technology Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameson (ST) Posted December 19, 2009 Author Share Posted December 19, 2009 A thorough search of the area, above and below ground turns up nothing except a root cellar with some vegetables that escaped immolation. They spent nearly three hours searching no little avail, whatever caused the incident was either gone or destroyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courier Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Doug sent, *Either it was above ground and destroyed in the fire, or it was removed afterwards. I suspect the former. This whole situation doesn't play out well as one guy in a hidden bunker.**So... we know what we know. I say it's enough to get ready and go back to the moon. If you want to give them a chance to defend their actions and do the right thing, I'm good with that.**But have no illusions, as far as we can tell, from their world view they haven't done anything wrong.* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fox Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 "Well, this time around we need to confront them on their lies and dig deeper. The problem is we are basically the last living novas at least on Earth. If we die they win completely and have the Earth to themselves. What prevents them from just killing us and being done?"He thought for a second then asked, "Can your lie detecting power work over radio or video or only via direct interaction? I'm wondering if we could call them using the City's systems?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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