Aberrant: War Journal - War Journal: Trans-D

[phoenix]

Senior officers on the deck!

Faith salutes her superiors as they arrive in the room, and listens carefully to General Chimera's briefing. However, she quickly loses interest as a discussion breaks out, full of unfounded theorizing and the like.

Sheesh - how excitable can you get?

On the other hand - I guess not everyone can take a thought-week out of their life to match their clothes in the morning.

"Look, I'm not an expert on this. Not even a veteran. I'm just telling you that there aren't that many variables to worry about, and that there's been a lot of planning preceding this team being put together. In stead of assuming worst case scenarios, we should listen to the man with the plan."

With that he turns back to Gen. Chimera and straightens up to listen. After a second's silence he adds.

"Er... I meant woman, obviously."

"Good idea", Faith says brightly, in a way that puts a serious damper on all further conversation.

[Bahamut810]

Daredevil frowns and he ignores faiths comment. He puts out a hand and makes a chopping motion on it with his other hand. "Neither of us has any way of knowing what another dimention holds. I mean...how many do we have on file right now? I bet there are some pretty significantly different ones...and there are probably some really similar ones. There is no way of knowing *what* could be waiting for us on the other side of the wall. We may even go into a place where there is no *earth* because we destroyed the earth during the cold war. *All* of this is in the relm of possibility, and is a possible dimention we can go to. If we just *ignore* all these possibilities, or choose to not believe them, we will be seriously fecked when we get to them."

[Asbjørn]

Hood glances over at Faith, and rolls his eyes at Nick's rant. ::rolleyes

Realizing that Engall's clearly not listening he remains still, facing the generals and awaiting their further briefing.

[phoenix]

Hood glances over at Faith, and rolls his eyes at Nick's rant.

The pretty female nova shrugs sympathetically, and follows Hood's lead by directing her attention again to the officers present.

[Alex Green]

Daredevil frowns and he ignores Faiths comment.  He puts out a hand and makes a chopping motion on it with his other hand.  "Neither of us has any way of knowing what another dimention holds. ..."

Once again glancing at the onion, Paul answers absently,

“Sure there is. One of them is ice age cold and we are likely headed there."

[Heritage]

The perceptive (or Mega-Perceptive ::wink) will notice Chimera's chromatophoric scales slowly shifting from tan to deep crimson as the team exchanges words. General Ballard and General Hackney both start slowly backing up, Ballard shaking his head sadly, Hackney grinning like the Cheshire cat - this is his favorite part of the show.

Suddenly the beautiful nova commander looms thirty feet tall, her shapely figure now sheathed in gleaming, Satanic armor covered in spikes and skulls! Sooty-black bat wings spread from her shoulders, reaching to touch the walls on either side, and her eyes blaze like coals. (Activating Face of Terror)

Everyone shut...the fvck...up! ::nuclear

Seeing that she now has everyone's undivided attention, the Prime Threat Aberrant continues.

A quick show of hands - who here is an expert on temporal theory?

Dr. Winz feebly raises a chitinous limb.

Anyone else? I thought so.

The techs are all crumpled on the floor, weeping and clutching their ears - even Colonel Bledsoe is visibly shaking. The two generals stand wincing slightly, as though standing in front of a blast furnace. Chimera points a taloned finger at the new team far below.

Don't you ever embarrass me in front of company again!

As suddenly as her volcanic fury hits, it passes - Chimera returns to her normal size, twisting her neck to work out the tension. Shaking herself loose, the general turns to address the female Pandora agent at her side.

I'm sorry you had to see that, doctor-

Noticing that the woman is, in fact, on the ground having some sort of out-of-body experience, she sighs and asks of the room:

Uh, can we get Doctor Vanderlay some brandy and a defibrillator? I think she's going tachy...::unsure

[Heritage]

General Chimera, now more deeply embarrassed by her own behaviour ::blush, starts helping the poor techies off the ground, offering hugs and soft words of encouragement to the hapless Engineers. Once a few are up, one of them fishes a first aid kit out af a slit in the wall, and tends to Dr. Vanderlay and anyone else suffering from shock.

At length, Chimera looks about, shaking her head at her ridiculous theatrics - she motions for General Ballard, who lumbers over for a whispered conversation. In a few moments, she addresses the room.

I, uh...wish to apologize to everyone present. I've been under a lot of stress recently, not that it excuses my temper; it's something I've been working on with my therapist, actually. I feel at this time that General Ballard can fill you in on the details of your mission, while I...take a break.

With a tight smile, she heads for one of the wall slits, and is gone. A somewhat bemused Ballard swings his body around to face the team.

So, after that stunning display - any questions?

[Bahamut810]

Everyone shut...the fvck...up!

Nick barley takes a step back...but manages to keep his composure and snaps to attention (having just pissed off *Chimera* after all, using whatever WP I need to).

He is not quite sure what to do withhimself...untill...

So, after that stunning display - any questions?

"Well...first we were told that this was *dimentional* and now we are being told that this is *temporal*. Thats one of the reasons I was haveing the discussion with Hood here...they are two totally different ball games. Could we have a tutorial about this from the expert? Im sure it will do a lot to quell some conserns that im sure we all have."

[ProfPotts]

Emerald (like most present) is caught with a 'bemused' look upon her face as Chimera's entrance is rapidly followed by what appears to be some sort of geek 'fish-slapping-dance' or other, then stunned as Chimera reveals her... um... feminine side...

::jaw

So, after that stunning display - any questions?

Still reeling somewhat from Chimera's display of power, Halle actually raises her hand in an uncounscious psychological retreat to childhood as she asks,

"Er... could we just back-up a bit here for the hyperbrain-impaired amongst us?"

"Well...first we were told that this was *dimentional* and now we are being told that this is *temporal*. Thats one of the reasons I was haveing the discussion with Hood here...they are two totally different ball games. Could we have a tutorial about this from the expert? Im sure it will do a lot to quell some conserns that im sure we all have."

Emerald shakes her head, the braid of dark hair down her back swinging with the gesture,

"Look - sorry guys, but can I just make-sure I'm somewhere near the right tracks here before we start getting 'tutorials'?"

After a brief sigh, a look of resolve & concentration passes across the black woman's features as she tries to sum-up what she understands of the situation,

"As I have it so far the good Doctor here," she winks & smiles at Winz, "has invented a 'What If?' machine, right? I'm guessing it's called a 'Temporal Holistic Resonator' 'cos it's something to do with looking at the entire of space-time & resonating with a specific... um... 'frequency' I guess you'd say... which corresponds to a particular alternate timeline; rather than being any sort of time-machine? That's pretty much as far as my Star Trekian goes I'm afraid, but then again, I'm also guessing that we," she casts an eye over the assembled team, "probably aren't gonna' need to know how the thing does what it does, correct?"

Presuming her fumbling thoughts are confirmed in some way, Emerald continues,

"So my question is: what are we here to do? I've heard mention of heading 'down the rabbit hole', & looking for escape routes from this damnable war & stuff like that. So just what is it that we're gonna' be doing once we get to Wonderland?"

Still trying to gather her thoughts & follow what's happening, it's pretty obvious that the huge implications which the THRONE represents haven't yet fully dawned on the green-clad Nova...

[Alex Green]

Largely distracted before Chimera’s outburst, Paul still falls to one knee and puts his hands over his ears.

Paul either decides not to comment... or can’t... as the General leaves.

[Heritage]

"So my question is: what are we here to do? I've heard mention of heading 'down the rabbit hole', & looking for escape routes from this damnable war & stuff like that. So just what is it that we're gonna' be doing once we get to Wonderland?"

General Ballard nods his head at Emerald's comments - when he speaks, his voice is rough yet pleasant, like the gentle rumbling of the earth. His tone and mode of speech suggest considerable formal schooling.

You're right, of course - Doctor Winz could go on and on about the theory, but what we need to focus on right now are the facts.

The Cobra begins counting off with his thick fingers.

Fact: We are standing inside a living, biomechanical device that allows us to travel between alternate Earths, worlds where history, for whatever reason, went down a different course.

Fact: This is, in fact, the second device of this kind the Greens have built - the original model, the Temporal Instability Generator, was destroyed when WS Charlie was bombarded, and was most likely the reason it was hit in the first place.

Fact: Prior to its destruction, the TIG was used to open portals into six alternate Earths, or 'AE's' as we call them; of the six, only five of the portals were stable.

Fact: At the time of the skystrike, we had personnel 'on the other side', whom we have been unable to reach for the last eighteen months.

Fact: Two of the members of this team are in fact 'paraworlders', visitors from two of the AE's, though I suppose you could say one is more of a 'survivor', since he's the only intelligent life we found there.

Ballard rubs his wide chin thoughtfully, his tail slowly twitching from side to side.

Have I forgotten anything? I think that pretty much covers it. Our long-term goal is colonization, or at least that's our hope; the logistics of such a plan are obviously staggering. Our short-term goal is to find our boys on the other side and get them home, as well as reuniting Hood here with his people at their end.

Dr. Winz hovers nearby, nodding in agreement. Seeing that Dr. Vanderlay is finally recovering from her severe shock, Ballard indicates her with a sweep of his large hand.

Doctor Katherine Vanderlay is our guest, part of an ongoing program initiated by General Chimera to build a co-operative and collaborative relationship between Project Pandora and the Green movement. Do you feel up to saying a few words, doctor?

The beautiful Pandora agent nods and steps forward, still a bit shaken; her accent suggests a privileged New England upbringing.

Thank you, general, I do. We at Project Pandora were initially quite stunned to receive word from General Chimera about her plans of alliance - members of both our organizations had encountered each other in the field, so to speak, and while there was not open hostility, there were admittedly no strong feelings of kinship. Both sides were cool and professional, ignoring each other most of the time, but occasionally they were forced to uneasily work together towards some common goal. Neither the Greens nor Pandora like to see lives threatened by the more unstable specimens of Homo sapiens novus, and from time to time this co-operation was quite successful, achieving results that neither side might have reached separately, or at least not is such a timely fashion.

Vanderlay pauses, asking one of the techs for something to drink - he hands her a hip flask, which she accepts gingerly. After a quick sip, she shudders and returns the flask with murmured thanks.

Mmm, pardon me. Well, all that is hopefully history - your General Chimera has invited us to take part in this enterprise, perhaps humanity's greatest adventure to date. So odd that this would come out of a world and a time when such horrors are being inflicted, on both our races! Still, we were amazed and delighted to be invited, as we are also not fans of the current powers entrenched in Washington and abroad; humanity of all kinds suffers at their hands, and we hope to see a peaceful end to this war as much as you do.

During this whole little speech, General Hackney can be seen to peer sidelong at the Pandoran, a look of barely concealed disgust on his face. Ballard stands wearing a look of polite interest, arms clasped behind his back; sensing that she has finished, he speaks to the team once more.

Doctor Vanderlay will be accompanying you into the field as an observer and consultant, working in an advisory capacity only. She is, I believe, what Pandora refers to as a 'psychomorph', which as I understand it is a bit like a nova, but without an M-R node and somewhat diminished power?

Vanderlay winces slightly at the comparison, but after a moment's thought she shrugs.

It will do for now, though there is very little actual-

Thank you, Doctor Vanderlay. Now, I'm sure you have more questions before Dr. Winz offers a simplified explanation of how THRONE works, so let's hear those now, shall we?

[Asbjørn]

Everyone shut...the fvck...up! ::nuclear

::blink ::wow

Staring at the monster rising before him Hood freezes in terror, like a deer caught in the headlights. His mind is racing, screaming at him to move!!!, but his nerves aren't listening. Do you want to die, fool? Move!! Unable to pull his eyes away, the only muscles moving are his hands reaching for the weapons on his belt, bloodless fingers fumbling over pouches before closing around well-worn hilts before the futility of it all hits him.

Abwoon, I'm dead.

::jaw

"Well...first we were told that this was *dimentional* and now we are being told that this is *temporal*.  Thats one of the reasons I was haveing the discussion with Hood here...they are two totally different ball games.  Could we have a tutorial about this from the expert?  Im sure it will do a lot to quell some conserns that im sure we all have."

*That you have. If you'd listen, maybe you'd feel better...* ::dry ::rolleyes

Thank you, Doctor Vanderlay. Now, I'm sure you have more questions before Dr. Winz offers a simplified explanation of how THRONE works, so let's hear those now, shall we?

Hood coughs once to clear his throat. His fingers slowly peel away from his knives, and there's still a slight tremble in his voice as he asks

"Exactly where are we going?"

[ProfPotts]

... Our short-term goal is to find our boys on the other side and get them home, as well as reuniting Hood here with his people at their end...

Emerald looks over at Hood with eyes wide when the General mentions that he's 'not from around these parts', but manages to wait until Ballard & Vanderlay have finished before blurting out,

"Wow - so, you're like an actual 'alien' or something? That's so... wow..." ::blink

Glancing once again over the rest of the team the black woman adds,

"... the General said two team members were from... er... 'elsewhere'. Who else is an alien? I mean... what's it like? Where you guys come from that is."

[phoenix]

Once again glancing at the onion, Paul answers absently,

“Sure there is. One of them is ice age cold and we are likely headed there."

Faith's eyes narrow as she wheels on the medic.

"Wait, how could you-"

Suddenly the beautiful nova commander looms thirty feet tall, her shapely figure now sheathed in gleaming, Satanic armor covered in spikes and skulls! Sooty-black bat wings spread from her shoulders, reaching to touch the walls on either side, and her eyes blaze like coals. (Activating Face of Terror)

Everyone shut...the fvck...up!

Faith's eyes widen in panic.

"Oh my-"

Unable to suppress her body's natural reaction to fear, the beautiful nova "steps back" and completes the obscenity in the safety of her own mind.

There's nothing to be afraid of. If she wanted to hurt us we'd be dead already. The general is obviously just trying to frighten that idiot Nick into being quiet. Just suck it up.

She takes a few deep, relaxing, and totally imaginary breaths in the mahogany elegance of her likewise imaginary "office".

I guess I'm calm enough now.

Faith "steps forward". The monstrous Chimera grows from a realistic image on a computer screen to a 3-dimensional terror, and Faith's confidence vanishes as she feels adrenaline flood her system. She "steps back" again to avoid actually giving in to her instinct to run away.

"Well, that was interesting. I guess-"

Suddenly, her mind's eye falls on the computer screen, displaying the last thing she happened to look at before stepping back: Nick Engall - standing his ground.

Faith's eyes narrow.

Anything someone like that can do, I can do better.

Stepping forward without hesitation, Faith takes the rest of the terrifying tirade like a woman, even forcing herself to look at the bellowing monstrosity.

OOC: Spending a Willpower point here.

Seeing that she now has everyone's undivided attention, the Prime Threat Aberrant continues.

A quick show of hands - who here is an expert on temporal theory?

Dr. Winz feebly raises a chitinous limb.

OOC: ::laugh

Anyone else? I thought so.

The techs are all crumpled on the floor, weeping and clutching their ears - even Colonel Bledsoe is visibly shaking. The two generals stand wincing slightly, as though standing in front of a blast furnace. Chimera points a taloned finger at the new team far below.

Don't you ever embarrass me in front of company again!

"I, uh...wish to apologize to everyone present. I've been under a lot of stress recently, not that it excuses my temper; it's something I've been working on with my therapist, actually. I feel at this time that General Ballard can fill you in on the details of your mission, while I...take a break."

With a tight smile, she heads for one of the wall slits, and is gone. A somewhat bemused Ballard swings his body around to face the team.

"So, after that stunning display - any questions?"

::blink

Faith listens very carefully as Ballard and Vanderlay give their briefing.

Hood coughs once to clear his throat. His fingers slowly peel away from his knives, and there's still a slight tremble in his voice as he asks

"Exactly where are we going?"

With a warm smile at Hood, Faith elaborates,

"That's what I was wondering. What's the "other side" like?"

[Alex Green]

Doctor Vanderlay will be accompanying you into the field as an observer and consultant, working in an advisory capacity only. She is, I believe, what Pandora refers to as a 'psychomorph', which as I understand it is a bit like a nova, but without an M-R node and somewhat diminished power?

OOC: Paul Node Pings Vanderlay.

Glancing once again over the rest of the team the black woman adds,

"... the General said two team members were from... er... 'elsewhere'. Who else is an alien? I mean... what's it like? Where you guys come from that is."

Paul reflects just for a moment and looks meaningfully at Teserat, but doesn’t say anything.

"That's what I was wondering.  What's the "other side" like?"

Paul responds, “The big guy says ‘Cold’”.

[phoenix]

Paul responds, “The big guy says ‘Cold’”.

Faith turns to Paul again.

"You said that before. What are you talking about?"

[Alex Green]

Faith turns to Paul again.

"You said that before. What are you talking about?"

Paul responds,

“Well, him, it, Thrown. He may be planted right over there but he’s really all around us.” Paul waves vaguely to the Onion. “He says it’s, like, ice age cold on one of the other sides, and that’s probably where we are headed.”

[Heritage]

"Exactly where are we going?"

←

Doctor Winz wobbles forward, his small wings beating furiously - either he's filled with pockets of helium, or his flight works more like psychokinesis.

An excellent question, my dear Hook (::huh) , one which I am more than happy to answer!

His voice is hard to describe, something like an old violin with a querulous tone; when he speaks, his mandibles twitch, but upon closer inspection he's actually forming the words by rubbing a set of vestigial limbs together, like an enormous cricket. ::blink He indicates Paul with a spindly claw.

As your teammate has indeed concurred, no doubt from chatting telepathically with our dear sweet THRONE, the AE we refer to as 'Permafrost' will most likely be your first destination.

He lays his claw on Hood's shoulder in a gentle manner.

I'm sorry that we cannot get you home immediately, but we need to determine if the team left behind on that wintery world has survived the harsh climate - they may well require immediate medical care, assuming they're alive at all! Now, if you will all follow me...

Winz flutters over to the 'onion', waving away the techs with his four primary limbs.

Step aside, please, step lively! Now, here is the central nexus of THRONE - from here, we tell him what to look for, and who to send or retrieve from said location in the alternate timestream.

He reaches into a cavity under the nexus, and pulls out two objects, one that looks like a wristwatch, the other like a pair of snow goggles combined with a headset radio; they appear to be superficially related to PATH biotechnology. Holding up the 'wristwatch', he continues.

All of you field agents will be given one of these recall devices - they are used to track both your geographical and temporal location in the timestream, as well as bring you back at the end of a mission. They can also be used as inter-personal communicators in the field, or to call for assistance or a recall back to Prime.

He then holds up the headgear.

These are our observer modules - they allow us to monitor your progress on the AE, but I cannot guarantee that you will be watched at all times! We have only so many Engineers to man the modules, so I cannot stress enough the importance of your recallers! One press of a button-

Holding the recaller close to one of his large compound eyes, he pushes the green dome-like 'face', which looks a little bit like a tortoise shell; at once, the floating red light globes overhead begin to flash green.

And we shall instantly know of your predicament! Are you all following so far? ::biggrin (At least, he sounds like he's smiling ::tongue)

[Nullifier]

Pat, having remained silent this whole time as he's tried to follow the conversation raises his hand after Dr. Winz stops 'talking.' "I'm sorry, " he slurs, "I can read human and mostly human lips pretty well, but not insect manidibles or limbs, so I'm afraid I missed what the good Dr. just said. What are those weird things he's playing with, and what's he said? "

[Asbjørn]

"Wow - so, you're like an actual 'alien' or something? That's so... wow..." ::blink

::biggrin

"Yeah... 'wow' kinda covers it, I guess."

"... the General said two team members were from... er... 'elsewhere'. Who else is an alien? I mean... what's it like? Where you guys come from that is."

Hood looks pointedly at Tesseract's somewhat absent form, before turning his weathered face towards Halle again.

"I'll tell you all about it over a drink later, if you want..."

"You too, obviously," he adds for the others' benefit, although he's looking at Faith as he says it.

An excellent question, my dear Hook (::huh) , one which I am more than happy to answer!

::rolleyes

Hood rolls his eyes at the fact that one of the most powerful novas and brilliant minds alive repeatedly fails to remember his name, but doesn't bother commenting on it.

As your teammate has indeed concurred, no doubt from chatting telepathically with our dear sweet THRONE, the AE we refer to as 'Permafrost' will most likely be your first destination.

*Sounds like fun... Well, anything's better than being locked up here.*

Pat, having remained silent this whole time as he's tried to follow the conversation raises his hand after Dr. Winz stops 'talking.' "I'm sorry, " he slurs, "I can read human and mostly human lips pretty well, but not insect manidibles or limbs, so I'm afraid I missed what the good Dr. just said. What are those weird things he's playing with, and what's he said? "

"Short version: We're going to Permafrost - 'the cold place'. The gizmos are communicators and recall devices. When we decide we don't like it on the other side we use them to click our heels and these guys bring us back. The goggles are monitoring devices for the techies here."

Looking at Pat to make sure the message got through, he frowns a bit, then adds

"But this isn't going to work. We can't rely on visual communication and relaying messages out there. How do we fix that?"

The question is addressed to both Pat himself and Dr Winz.

[phoenix]

Hood looks pointedly at Tesseract's somewhat absent form, before turning his weathered face towards Halle again.

"I'll tell you all about it over a drink later, if you want..."

"You too, obviously," he adds for the others' benefit, although he's looking at Faith as he says it.

Faith smiles.

"That sounds good."

"But this isn't going to work. We can't rely on visual communication and relaying messages out there. How do we fix that?"

The question is addressed to both Pat himself and Dr Winz.

"I'm a telepath; I can relay information to him, if necessary," Faith says, as though announcing that she had double-jointed thumbs or could play the harmonica.

[Asbjørn]

"I'm a telepath; I can relay information to him, if necessary," Faith says, as though announcing that she had double-jointed thumbs or could play the harmonica.

The 'alien' scout gives Faith a brief look before he shakes his head.

"You can't do that if you're dead, doll. Not good enough."

[Alex Green]

Faith smiles.

"I'm a telepath; I can relay information to him, if necessary," Faith says, as though announcing that she had double-jointed thumbs or could play the harmonica.

Paul smiles & thinks *Talented lady.*

The 'alien' scout gives Faith a brief look before he shakes his head.

"You can't do that if you're dead, doll. Not good enough."

Paul says, "It works for the next 10 minutes I would hope."

[Heritage]

Doctor Winz sets aside the pieces of biotech, and his wings seem to droop a little when Pat speaks.

Ah yes....deafness. No one spoke to me about this - a problem, to be sure.

He rotates slowly, his multiple limbs tracing figures in the air - at last, he turns to Turlow.

Merlot, can you fetch me a Path radio set, if you please?

The young tech, who looks like she's finally recovering from the whole 'giant shapeshifter' ordeal, smiles and salutes the insectile genius.

Not a problem, doctor.

She trots over to the wall, runs her hand down some invisible crease, and the wall splits, and Turlow steps through the slit. Meanwhile General Hackney takes up the thread of discussion, his somewhat nasal voice dripping with sarcasm and a hint of North London.

Whilst our Buzzy Beeman works out all the technical details of this operation, which continues to work like a well-oiled machine ::rolleyes, I shall fill you in on the rest of your mission. We know Permafrost is bleeding cold, due to heavy cloud cover that never seems to break - if you see a ray of sunshine, put it in a bottle with all your childhood dreams. The first team had time to set up a crude base camp before everything went tits up, but we have no way of knowing if they're still there or not.

He reaches under his coat and pulls out a 40 mm white phosphorus grenade.

We know there's a small human population on the other side, since we monitored their radio traffic; mostly short-wave transmissions, apparently between small isolated communities looking to trade something with their neighbors. The one thing they all seem to have a mad-on for are these little beauties - no idea why, but we figured if we wanted to impress the natives with our shiny glass beads, these might come in handy, so we've been stockpiling the little buggers in our storage area, where our darling Turlow is rummaging about as we speak.

He tosses the grenade to Pat to see if he's paying attention, then pulls out a box of smokes and lights up; by this time, Turlow has returned with a Path, which Dr. Winz holds firmly in two of his limbs while other two manipulators start to glow white-hot at the tips. There is an aroma of charred flesh as he neatly cuts open the radio's carapace, and mixed with the smell of Hackney's silk cut, it's pretty damn nasty.

(All telepaths also pick up on the Path's pain as well - it hurts, but the brave little radio trusts Winz, and is taking it like a man -er, crab)

Curling his lip, the British scoutmaster continues.

God, that smell is dreadful - any road, our original plan was for our lads to contact the nearest of these communities, posing at first as wandering natives interested in trade. According to our radio monitoring, there are several of these folk out in the wastes, dealing in salvaged parts and scraps of technology - no one exactly trusts them, but they appear to be a necessary evil, so they're allowed to survive. Lacking a better plan, we'll try the same with you, but be careful - as far as we can tell these frosty blokes are a bit clannish, if not downright medieval. They know how to use radios and they love grenades, but beyond that it's just guesswork as to how civilized they really are, which to be honest gives me a bit of a scare.

He shakes his head, then claps his hands in mock-enthusiasm.

So! Cold weather gear for all, even if you don't need it -

He waves a finger at Emerald.

Do something with the old bodystocking, luv - can't afford to give the frosties heart attacks, at least not on the first date. ::tongue Take whatever weapons and gear you wish, we've got piles of it in the storage room - Turlow can set you up in that area. Doctor, how goes it with your fascinating and revolting science project?

By this time, Winz has descended to the floor, and he has handfuls of thin, translucent nerve tissue spread out on a sheet before him - the morbidly curious can see right into the poor Path, where various glistening organs can be seen to twitch.

I'm nearly ready, General! Just give me a minute-

He draws out a length of thick tubing from the radio's body cavity, which slurps as it comes out - he then deftly stuffs the nervous tissue into the tube with nimble fingers, and affixes what looks like a sharp tooth at the end. With a sigh of satisfaction, he closes up the bioengineered creature, fusing the shell together, but leaving a little gap for the tube to remain outside. Then he takes up the recaller device, squints at it, and then drives the point of the 'tooth' just under its green dome.

(Another little mental twinge for the psi-sensitive.)

There!

Winz holds up the combined biotech in triumph.

Now the Path shall convert the recaller's signal, and all is well!

The giant insect offers the unit to Pat, and turns to Hood.

Hook, please explain to our aurally-impaired friend that he simply needs to wear the pack with the tubing running along his arm to the recaller; as long as he remains in mental contact with Enzo 4, he can communicate with the rest of you.

Grimly satisfied with the good doctor's results, Hackney rubs his hands together as he faces the team.

Any last requests?

[Bahamut810]

Any last requests?

"Nope, Lets just grab some grenades and go! Im ichin to see what this place is like!" He says as he suits up in the arctic gear provided.

"Oh yea. What language they speak? English?"

[phoenix]

(Another little mental twinge for the psi-sensitive.)

OOC: Which, since this is Aberrant, would be none of us but Dr. Vanderlay.. ::tongue

The 'alien' scout gives Faith a brief look before he shakes his head.

"You can't do that if you're dead, doll. Not good enough."

Faith looks irritated and indignant, and might be about to say something when Dr. Winz jumps in.

Ah yes....deafness. No one spoke to me about this - a problem, to be sure.

"There!"

Winz holds up the combined biotech in triumph.

"Now the Path shall convert the recaller's signal, and all is well!"

The giant insect offers the unit to Pat, and turns to Hood.

"Hook, please explain to our aurally-impaired friend that he simply needs to wear the pack with the tubing running along his arm to the recaller; as long as he remains in mental contact with Enzo 4, he can communicate with the rest of you."

Faith raises her eyebrows and drops the corners of her mouth slightly in a "how about that" gesture to Hood.

[Alex Green]

Paul watches the "adjustment" of the poor path with interest. While he could listen in on the animal's suffering he chooses not too.

…Hackney rubs his hands together as he faces the team.   Any last requests?

Paul says, “So we load up with phosphorus grenades, survival gear, weapons, and head out to find the other team. Presumably we should also give each other a brief description of relevant abilities as well.”

Paul shrugs, and continues, “An ice age sounds pretty good actually. Maybe we could move most of Green Society to Cuba or somewhere tropic and be pretty warm?”

[Damanor]

As your teammate has indeed concurred, no doubt from chatting telepathically with our dear sweet THRONE, the AE we refer to as 'Permafrost' will most likely be your first destination.

He lays his claw on Hood's shoulder in a gentle manner.

I'm sorry that we cannot get you home immediately, but we need to determine if the team left behind on that wintery world has survived the harsh climate - they may well require immediate medical care, assuming they're alive at all! Now, if you will all follow me...

"Permafrost, eh? Wonderful..." Brad says quietly. ::dry He preps himself for cold weather with the rest of the team.

He reaches under his coat and pulls out a 40 mm white phosphorus grenade.

We know there's a small human population on the other side, since we monitored their radio traffic; mostly short-wave transmissions, apparently between small isolated communities looking to trade something with their neighbors. The one thing they all seem to have a mad-on for are these little beauties - no idea why, but we figured if we wanted to impress the natives with our shiny glass beads, these might come in handy, so we've been stockpiling the little buggers in our storage area, where our darling Turlow is rummaging about as we speak.

*We've been giving them grenades? I bet they like trading with us. Right up to the point where they turn on the guys who sell them.*

God, that smell is dreadful - any road, our original plan was for our lads to contact the nearest of these communities, posing at first as wandering natives interested in trade. According to our radio monitoring, there are several of these folk out in the wastes, dealing in salvaged parts and scraps of technology - no one exactly trusts them, but they appear to be a necessary evil, so they're allowed to survive. Lacking a better plan, we'll try the same with you, but be careful - as far as we can tell these frosty blokes are a bit clannish, if not downright medieval. They know how to use radios and they love grenades, but beyond that it's just guesswork as to how civilized they really are, which to be honest gives me a bit of a scare.

*You and me both.*

Hackney rubs his hands together as he faces the team.

Any last requests?

"Nope, Lets just grab some grenades and go! Im ichin to see what this place is like!" He says as he suits up in the arctic gear provided.

"Oh yea. What language they speak? English?"

"Yes, how well did our last team communicate with them? Do the natives assume we have funny accents, or what? Also, how well does our cold-weather gear match theirs; will we need to take some from the natives to blend in?"

[Bahamut810]

Also, how well does our cold-weather gear match theirs; will we need to take some from the natives to blend in?"

"Hey, no need to kill somea these guys. We can trade for them."

[Damanor]

"Hey, no need to kill somea these guys.  We can trade for them."

←

"I didn't say we had to kill anyone, just wanted to know if we had to get clothes from them to blend in. I admit I don't like trading hand grenades for clothes, though." Chameleon turns to Hackney, waiting for his response.

[Bahamut810]

"I didn't say we had to kill anyone, just wanted to know if we had to get clothes from them to blend in.  I admit I don't like trading hand grenades for clothes, though."  Chameleon turns to Hackney, waiting for his response.

←

Nick nods. "Lets hope they use them for heat and not for what everyone is thinking they are using them for"

[Alex Green]

Paul says, "Speaking of trading, everyone should bring some trade bait other than grenades. Look kind of funny if that's all we have. I'll get some medical supplies."

[Bahamut810]

Paul says, "Speaking of trading, everyone should bring some trade bait other than grenades.  Look kind of funny if that's all we have.  I'll get some medical supplies."

←

"Good idea. We should all take extra trading gear. Nothing too big...we dont want to use our best stuff yet. Do we have an signal flares?"

[phoenix]

"Good idea. We should all take extra trading gear. Nothing too big...we dont want to use our best stuff yet. Do we have an signal flares?"

Faith nods.

"I'm sort of curious about their penchant for the explosives. Why wouldn't they want guns or something that they could use more than once, and that would actually be useful for hunting?"

Faith frowns slightly and turns to General Hackney with a deferential air. She asks all of the following questions, with frequent pauses for answers if he has immediate ones to give.

"Hey, what's all this about blending in? Do the 'natives' basically have no idea who we are or where we're from? What kind of terms were they on with our team before we lost contact?

"Also, what kind of environment are the natives in to begin with? I had kind of assumed that their language wouldn't even be close to English, and that the wildlife would be completely different from ours. But I guess it would depend on when the 'break' was made from our reality?"

[Asbjørn]

Hook, please explain to our aurally-impaired friend that he simply needs to wear the pack with the tubing running along his arm to the recaller; as long as he remains in mental contact with Enzo 4, he can communicate with the rest of you.

Hood turns to Pat and explains

"As long as that thingamajig is connected to the whatchamacallit - and you're in mental contact with it - you can talk to any of us, no problem. It's called Enzo 4."

Paul says, "Speaking of trading, everyone should bring some trade bait other than grenades.  Look kind of funny if that's all we have.  I'll get some medical supplies."

"Good idea.  We should all take extra trading gear.  Nothing too big...we dont want to use our best stuff yet.  Do we have an signal flares?"

"Booze. Glass. Spices? Medicines are good, specially frost-bite stuff. No point in bringing warm clothing or underwear. Whatever they have is bound to be better than ours anyway. Unless we have some inflatable heated shelters or tents, or maybe some small portable heat sources or something. Reliable hi-tech is good, lo-tech is better."

"I'm sort of curious about their penchant for the explosives. Why wouldn't they want guns or something that they could use more than once, and that would actually be useful for hunting?"

"Maybe they are. Useful for hunting, that is. There could be creatures in their area that are particularly sensitive to heat or light, or maybe they're drawn to it. Those grenades could be useful as specialized weapons or even bait."

After offering that short comment, he too waits for the General's answers.

[Heritage]

"Oh yea. What language they speak? English?"

General Hackney grins.

Actually, I believe they speak 'American' - it's sort of a bastardized version of English, rather harsh on the ear. ::biggrin

Faith nods.

"I'm sort of curious about their penchant for the explosives. Why wouldn't they want guns or something that they could use more than once, and that would actually be useful for hunting?"

Faith frowns slightly and turns to General Hackney with a deferential air. She asks all of the following questions, with frequent pauses for answers if he has immediate ones to give.

"Hey, what's all this about blending in? Do the 'natives' basically have no idea who we are or where we're from? What kind of terms were they on with our team before we lost contact?

"Also, what kind of environment are the natives in to begin with? I had kind of assumed that their language wouldn't even be close to English, and that the wildlife would be completely different from ours. But I guess it would depend on when the 'break' was made from our reality?"

←

The senior Scout shrugs as he blows out smoke, idly watching Winz fret over the nexus.

There's an awful lot we're not sure of at this point - our team was only in radio contact with the locals at the time of the attack on Charlie. We monitored the local radio traffic for several days before we made contact, posing as one of these wandering trader packs, and the response we had was guarded but friendly. They had yet to send directions to their outpost last we'd heard, and for the sake of our team's survival, I hope they finally came to terms.

As far as their culture and language, our big brains are fairly sure, based upon cultural references and semantic drift, that whatever happened over there happened near the end of the 20th century; from time to time, someone broadcasts music, apparently out of sheer boredom, and that's given us some clues. Some of it's absolutely dreadful. You're too young to remember the horror that was Celine Dion, who held the world in her grip of fear; personally, I'm not ruling out some form of psychological warfare. But some of the stuff is really good; takes me back to my school days, actually.

So another trade item I might suggest is culture - these poor wankers most likely haven't seen any telly in quite some time, or heard the latest sounds. God only knows what formats they can play, so I'd suggest some kind of portable media player, like a decent chip player. There is no mention of novas or super people of any kind, so older stuff might be safest, at least initially - show them an Alejandra vid now, and they might well be doomed.

They have no idea who we are, or they didn't prior to the portals being closed, so walk softly and all that; Chimera's hope is that by offering them assistance, we might be able to win their hearts and minds, so be on your best behaviour.

He turns to go, then stops himself.

Oh there is one last thing - they do seem to have gotten rather superstitious in the intervening years, though I can't say I blame them. Lots of talk of ghosts on the radio. So, watch out for ghosts! ::laugh

Hackney heads for one of the wall slits, waving farewell over his shoulder; General Ballard makes to follow, but pauses.

I know you're all eager to head out into the field, but I think you should all take a little time to get to know each other better; gear up, but maybe grab a bite to eat, rest a while, whatever.

He makes a sweeping bow.

Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Vanderlay, I now leave you in Turlow's capable hands. Good luck out there. ::wink

He lumbers off and Spec. Turlow eagerly steps over.

So, what can I get you? ::smile

[Alex Green]

Paul thinks for a moment and says, “Old stuff I think. Winter gear, provisions, old style antibiotics, pre-1990’s porn mags if you have them, hand guns with ammo, IR goggles, and how heavy are those grenades?”

Paul divides his gear into two bundles, a small one for flying around (within his attune limits) and a larger one for carrying around.

{Paul also makes it a point to touch Pat's "path" and give it a shot of healing if appropriate.}

[Bahamut810]

So, what can I get you?

"Thermal Grenades of course. Some flares, a couple books if ya got em. Any obscure media types would be welcome...like VHS or Audio tapes. At least one field medical kit. That'll do me."

Nick will pack whatever he can (which is impressive by baseline standards, but not a good nova amount. Then he will get something to eat in the relm of Hamburgers.

[Asbjørn]

So, what can I get you? ::smile

"I'll get back to you on that. Gotta check my own pack and gear first."

Paul divides his gear into two bundles, a small one for flying around (within his attune limits) and a larger one for carrying around.

Hood nods as he sees what Paul is doing.

"We should all pack what we need for survival in a separate pack and keep it with us at all times. Anything beyond that goes in the big pack."

Looking around at the others he says

"So... who here has been in an arctic environment before? That's probably part of the first 'getting to know each other' stuff we need to cover. What can we all do, and what can't we do?"

Looking around to see who's attention he's got and not, he continues

"I have been through a few blizzards, and unless they've got insanely cold weather on the other side I'm sure we'll manage. Even those of us who aren't super-tough. With all the equipment we've got Mother Nature's hardly a challenge anymore..." ::wink He shrugs with the air of an experienced outdoorsman who knows exactly how wrong that statement can be, but also that it could have been a lot worse.

"Apart from that, we're all superhuman in some way or another. My main thing is time. I can slow it down, speed it up, stop it... And if I'm late for an appointment, at least I know..."

Suddenly he stops, as if he remembers something, and asks

"By the way, what's VA-chess?" ::huh

[phoenix]

Suddenly he stops, as if he remembers something, and asks

"By the way, what's VA-chess?"

"You know, video- Oh!"

Realizing that her otherworldly teammate actually has no idea what a VHS tape is, Faith briefly and efficiently summarizes the information.

"It's basically a small plastic box that holds a magnetic recording that you can play back with a television screen and and a VCR, which is a machine designed to read them. They're mostly extinct now that the OpNet is here, because it kind of defeats the purpose.

"Anyway - I'm mostly your garden-variety telepath, to be completely honest. I think my eruption changed me mentally, too, though. It's hard to quantify, but becoming a nova was like being deaf, dumb and blind your whole life, then turning into - well, a pinball wizard."

She smiles nostalgically at the comparison, then looks around for reactions.