Aberrant: Trans-Dimensional Explorations - Trans-Dimensional Explorations

[archer]

Whistling softly at Paul's invisible form, Brandt looks impressed as the sparring begins. Continuing to watch as Kevin goes against both Paul, then Ash, the former teacher raises his hand to volunteer when Kevin asks.

"I'll give it a shot."

Taking off the same hooded sweatshirt he'd worn the previous day to expose a simple white tank top underneath, he kicks off his shoes and steps onto the mat.

"Ready when you are." ::smile

OOC: Going for mostly dodges, but he'll try a Rapid Strike(pulling Strength) if he gets an opening.

[BlueNinja]

"Ready when you are." ::smile

Kevin lets Brandt take the offensive, and from the moment the fight begins it's a question of barely - every single attack, Kevin only barely fails to dodge or block. Yet despite the hits, including a finishing blur of karate kicks that pushes Kevin back a few steps, he's grinning and completely unfazed. His own attacks are even less effective, as every swing seems to only hit the blurred afterimage of Brandt as the speedster merely steps out of the way. "You're quick," he says, in a good imitation of Andre the Giant. Returning to his fake Texas twang, he adds, "Still, I don't think you'd last as well if I landed a single hit. But you'd be a terror in the Silver Ring, that's for sure."

[edit] (Every character is doing three attacks and three dodges, all with full dice pools. This is friendly sparring, not live combat. Good lord, I forgot the effect that 5 dots in a mega-attribute has.) [/edit]

[archer]

"You're quick," he says, in a good imitation of Andre the Giant.  Returning to his fake Texas twang, he adds, "Still, I don't think you'd last as well if I landed a single hit.  But you'd be a terror in the Silver Ring, that's for sure."

Smiling, Brandt appears equally unfazed, and certainly not tired. Accepting the compliment with a grin, he adds, "You're not so terrible yourself."

Stepping off the mat to allow the next person their chance, he resumes his seat cross-legged on the floor.

[Alex Green]

Kevin lets Brandt take the offensive... you'd be a terror in the Silver Ring, that's for sure."

Paul adds from his (now visible) spot next to one of the walls,

"I'd sure pay to see that." ::thumbup

[phoenix]

After Brandt finishes, Eli reluctantly steps onto the mat.

"I have to admit I don't see much point to this exercise, since I can't use any of my powers in here without demolishing the gym, and more than likely you. But I guess it can't hurt, so here goes.."

The engineer puts up his slight fists in a boxing stance. It seems a little less new to him than he said earlier, but he certainly seems outmatched against the martial arts expert.

[OOC: He'll refrain from using any powers (including Armor) and just try to land a punch while avoiding getting hurt too badly.]

[Alex Green]

After Brandt finishes, Eli reluctantly steps onto the mat.

"I have to admit I don't see much point to this exercise, since I can't use any of my powers in here without demolishing the gym, and more than likely you. ..."

Paul answers,

"It's a cheap, easy, and quick way to get us to jell somewhat as a team without doing things that outside observers could see. In theory he could send us to a deserted island somewhere for a couple of weeks and we'd really rip the landscape up, but that'd run pretty high security risks and be expensive.

From Paul's tone of voice he's done this before... maybe it's a DeVries thing.

[Bahamut810]

"You're actually pretty good there. If you're bored and don't mind a trip to the hospital wing, come back and I won't pull my punches."

"I may just take you up on that," Ash says, accepting the hand up and grinning. "After all, the best way to learn how to get out of the way of a semi-worthy punch is actual experience. Good fight." he gives the tester a thumbs up then heads to the side lines.

[Nullifier]

Pat, if anything, looks even less impressed after seeing the others spar. However, after watching Brandt an expression of concentration comes over his ugly face briefly as the memory replays in his mind and he attempts to clock the approximate speed the other nova was moving. Then the same bored, detached look comes back as Eli steps up to the mat.

[AnonCastillo]

After Eli is done, Jonathan steps up and says "Somehow, I don't think I was hired for my fighting prowess, but I suppose this can't hurt too much."

[BlueNinja]

(Pat) attempts to clock the approximate speed the other nova was moving.

13.2 kmph, roughly, without powers turned on.

Kevin beckons to Eli, waiting for the other's attack, and Eli comes in swinging wildly. There's certainly not the fluid grace that the others have shown, but he still manages to connect with one good haymaker to Kevin's temple. Shaking it off, he gives Eli a quick thumbs up, then trades - him attacking, easily brushing past Eli's defenses to knock him on the mat several times. Still, by the end of it, Eli's at least blocking the jabs and kicks. "Not bad for an amateur," Kevin says. "Here's a good pointer - when you see your opponent winding up for a shot, make a feint or two and use it to move to his off-side. It'll help you stay out of the way." He looks between Pat, still floating silently, and Jonathan. "You next then, tree-hugger?" His tone is friendly and the grin ready.

When Jonathan steps onto the mat, Kevin starts out on the offensive right away. From the very beginning, it's a clearly out-matched fight. Nothing Jonathan can do will get him out of reach of Kevin's fists and feet, except for one lucky spin when Kevin slipped on a sweaty spot on the mat. And Jonathan's attacks are even worse, Kevin barely doing more than leaning out of the way like a bad scene from a kung-fu movie. "You, my friend, need more help that I can give you in an hour or two. I'd recommend trying to sign up for some karate classes whenever you get time off from this hush-hush job Michal hired you for but won't tell me about."

He looks back up at the floating Pat. "Well, shorty? Gonna come down here or what?"

[Nullifier]

He looks back up at the floating Pat. "Well, shorty? Gonna come down here or what?"

Pat, who's only floating at about eye level for the others, shrugs and floats over to the center of the mat with Kevin.

[Assuming Kevin's willing to spar with him, Pat uses his eufiber for both attack and defense respectively, forming a meter long tendril with a blunt end, the same color as his t-shirt. Activating Quickness on all his attack rounds, and defense rounds as well if necessary.]

[BlueNinja]

The moment Pat floats out onto the mat, Kevin starts his attacks. The first one is a throw, hard enough to bounce Pat off the mat, and the next few attacks are good enough to hit, but not enough to even affect Pat's forcefield. When Pat takes the offensive, his first hit with eufiber spiked knuckles is enough to raise a thin line of blood on Kevin's arm, which vanishes before Pat can even pull back his arm. The rest of Pat's attacks, even with his arms and legs stretching out abnormally, aren't enough to get past the former XWF man's blocks. At last Kevin steps back and raises a hand. "Alright, I suppose you're not too bad there yourself. Most of you can defend yourselves perfectly fine, and I bet," he says, looking at Eli and Jonathan, "that if you could bust out your full powers, you'd be holy terrors. Now go ahead and grab one weapon to do a bit of practice with. If you don't have specific experience with anything, I suggest knives." His hands moving almost as fast as Brandt's for a moment, Kevin is suddenly standing there holding eight throwing knives, one between each pair of fingers on his hands. "Easy to come by, easy to hide."

[Alex Green]

Paul walks over to the stand and picks up a 7 inch knife. He says,

"I suppose I might as well go first, and maybe I should point out I'm the guy supposed to patch up any accidents so be gentile."

Paul holds his knife and moves as though he's familiar with it, but that's all.

(OOC: Continue using eufiber in the same manner).

[AnonCastillo]

Jonathan takes two shinais off the wall and offers one to Eli. "Care to have a go at it?"

[Bahamut810]

Ash takes a few knives and starts juggleing them as he whistles.

[phoenix]

"Easy to come by, easy to hide."

Eli snorts. Talking mostly to himself, he remarks,

"Not easier to come by than electrons, o most esteemed colleague.." With that, he holds out his hand like for a "stop" gesture and appears to concentrate slightly. A loud crackling fills the air as a bright appendage extends from his palm that appears to be made entirely of electricity. It grows to be longer than Eli is tall, then viciously whips out before returning to coil lithely around his body, as the crackling briefly grows to a roar.

Jonathan takes two shinais off the wall and offers one to Eli. "Care to have a go at it?"

The electron whip snakes back into its owner's hand like a tape measure recoiling itself, and Eli's expression of dark intensity vanishes with his concentration on the beam. He smiles and takes the wooden sword.

"Sure."

He takes a few playful swings at Jonathan, obviously having no experience with the weapon at all.

[BlueNinja]

Kevin watches as most of the group pick out weapons, and looks up at the ceiling as Ash starts juggling the knives. "Athena, can you bring out one of the targets?" Unlike the others you've dealt with, he doesn't seem quite comfortable with addressing the invisible computer program, but on one side, above the rack, comes out a target. It looks like the knives are just supposed to mark where they hit, rather than sticking. "If you don't mind, give Brandt a little advice on hitting the target, huh?"

Then Kevin moves further away from the target, and gestures to Paul as he takes down a staff. "Ok, take a couple of swings at me. You at least look like you know what you're doing." He raises the staff to a ready position, then gapes as Eli appears to electrocute himself. "Holy shit!" This, of course, allows Paul an easy hit, which just makes him grimace and return to a ready position. Paul manages to hit him again when Kevin is again looking over his shoulder at Eli, but shaking his head furiously, Kevin turns his full attention, keeping hte staff whirling dangerously enough to threaten to disarm Paul.

Once they're done with that, Kevin moves over to watch Jonathan and Eli sparring with the shinais. Neither of them are particularly skillful, but Jonathan's amateur experience allows him to get a few taps on the engineer, with Kevin calling out advice every so often, mostly "keep the sword up!" and "move your feet, don't just stand there!" After a few minutes of that, he stops them by stepping into the middle and easily grabbing one shinai in each hand. "Like I said to Jonathan earlier, if y'all have enough time to spend around whatever hush-hush project Michal hired y'all for, I'd recommend finding someone professional to teach you."

Ash is certainly good enough to hit the target, a standard bulls-eye, but he's certainly far from the center with all but one. Despite his physical prowess at the juggling tricks, throwing them at a target seems to be something he never actually tried practicing. Fortunately, Kevin is distracted with his own practice, and advising the other two, to notice that Ash isn't quite hacking it.

[Alex Green]

Then Kevin moves further away from the target, and gestures to Paul as he takes down a staff.  "Ok, take a couple of swings at me.  You at least look like you know what you're doing."  He raises the staff to a ready position, then gapes as Eli appears to electrocute himself.  "Holy shit!"  This, of course, allows Paul an easy hit, which just makes him grimace and return to a ready position.  Paul manages to hit him again when Kevin is again looking over his shoulder at Eli...

Paul mentally notes the difference between the XWF's training and DeVries' but doesn't comment. Kevin is more than tough enough to kick Paul's ass if it came to that. ::ohmy

After his 'trials' he moves to one side and watches everyone else, keeping alert in case there are any 'accidents' that require healing.

[archer]

Unlike the others you've dealt with, he doesn't seem quite comfortable with addressing the invisible computer program, but on one side, above the rack, comes out a target.  It looks like the knives are just supposed to mark where they hit, rather than sticking.  "If you don't mind, give Brandt a little advice on hitting the target, huh?"

Brandt rolls his eyes ostentatiously before getting to his feet. Walking over to the rack, he removes four throwing knives from their places. Tucking them into the back pocket of his jeans, he also pulls down a practice foil.

Moving over to a point where he can take aim at the target without the risk of hitting anyone that might be in the way, he sets down the foil next to him, and then casually slides the throwing knives from his pocket and into his hand.

One at a time, he aims for a brief second and hurls each knife at the target. Confirming his hits(or misses) with a glance, he shrugs at Kevin and picks up his foil.

"Should I practice against you, Kevin? I can get a stick instead of a foil, if you prefer."

[BlueNinja]

Brandt rolls his eyes ostentatiously before getting to his feet. Walking over to the rack, he removes four throwing knives from their places. Tucking them into the back pocket of his jeans, he also pulls down a practice foil.

Moving over to a point where he can take aim at the target without the risk of hitting anyone that might be in the way, he sets down the foil next to him, and then casually slides the throwing knives from his pocket and into his hand.

One at a time, he aims for a brief second and hurls each knife at the target. Confirming his hits(or misses) with a glance, he shrugs at Kevin and picks up his foil.

"Should I practice against you, Kevin? I can get a stick instead of a foil, if you prefer."

←

Brandt is a little worse than Ash; he's barely managing to hit the edge of the target with the knives, though one gets lucky and lands as close as the 4 ring. Kevin glances at the target, and shakes his head, walking back over to the rack and picking up the knives where they fell. "Look, you gotta find the balance point on the knife, and throw it so it spins around it." He demonstrates with two knives, both of them smacking solidly in the 8 ring. "Besides, if you're as fast with a weapon as you are with your fists, I don't think it matters what you're holding!" He picks up his staff again, and gets into a ready position. "Pick whatever you want and come at me."

[BlueNinja]

In about two hours, all of the fighting is completed, and you all return to the rooms that Michal has provided for you. On the screen in every room is a small flashing message, directing those interested in the electronics to meet Richard in the conference room at 8am, and those not interested to follow the map to the medical clinic to be there at 10am.

At 8am, Richard is waiting in the conference room. Behind him a small cart with a number of electronic tools and a soldering station, and laid out on a pair of static-discharging mats are two things. The first is the small ETPH he showed you the day before, and the other is a larger box, about shoebox-sized, with a number of displays and button across the 'top' face. Once 'everyone' (however many people that is) is assembled in the room, he picks up the larger box. "This is the primary ETPH. It works just like the smaller one, but it has some bonuses. First off, it's got inertial sensors, so it can tell you how far and in what direction the spot where you arrived from. Since you have to be within a hundred miles of our gate location, this will help you ensure you're within range before you press the button. If, for some reason, the gate opens and it's not near you, it'll also point the way to where it opened. Just remember, since we can hold it open for only ten minutes, you'll all have to be ready to leave immediately." He glances around the table. "Any last questions before I open these up and bring up the schematics on the screen?"

[Nullifier]

Pat, who has be pretty quiet lately, finally speaks up at the 8am meeting, "Not that I can't memorize the specs easily enough, but I'd really like an electronic copy. I'd also like the specs for the portal generator device itself. If for some reason someone destroys the portal on this side, I'd like to be able to at least have some chance of getting home again. "

[Bahamut810]

"Nope...lets check this sucker out."

[AnonCastillo]

Jonathan sleeps in a bit and shows up at the medical clinic at 10:05.

[Alex Green]

"Any last questions before I open these up and bring up the schematics on the screen?"

Paul speaks up,

"Did you have any questions or decissions regarding a psi-link?"

[BlueNinja]

Pat, who has be pretty quiet lately, finally speaks up at the 8am meeting, "Not that I can't memorize the specs easily enough, but I'd really like an electronic copy. I'd also like the specs for the portal generator device itself. If for some reason someone destroys the portal on this side, I'd like to be able to at least have some chance of getting home again. "

Richard stares at Pat for a moment, then chuckles and shakes his head. "Good one," he says before turning to Paul. "I'm still thinking about it. Michal said that after today, he's going to give you all Labor Day weekend off to make sure you still want to go through - and him time to do one last maintenance cycle on the gate. If I decide to, I'll let you know before you head through."

He gestures at the screen, and a schematic pops up. "This is just the backup ETPH, because it's easier. I'll go over the 'extra' systems in the primary, too, but they're not actually neccessary for you to get home."

[Nullifier]

Pat looks angry when Richard blows him off, "I wasn't f**king joking, a**hole. If you think I'm stupid enough to travel to another world and take the chance that you'll still be here when I want to come back, I've got bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. Before I go through that thing, I want to know that I'm coming home eventually. The only way I can know that for sure is if I have the specs to build a portal. The only thing that kept me sane at all inside that star was knowing I had the means, if not the directions, to make it home. It's not that I don't trust you folks, but by our very existence novas can change the course of events on this mudball so quickly we might not even have any warning before we're permanently cut off. Just because I won't understand the specs right away doesn't mean that I won't be able to figure them out eventually if the worst happens. We've all signed the non-disclosure agreements, so what's the f**king problem with asking for something we, as the ones who will be far away from home, need to have to ensure our eventual return!?"

[BlueNinja]

Richard leans back as Pat explodes, then scowls and leans forward again. "You know what it took to build the one downstairs that you'll be using? Two years, and over half a billion dollars. The prototype gate Michal first built took him five years, and almost a full billion, with twenty other people helping him. Even if you had all the specs - which is somewhere around three hundred thousand pages - if you end up stuck on a world with no civilization, then quite simply, you're ****ed, because you'd have to build up the infrastructure to start building the gate, and that's a task that would take centuries. Even if you're on a world that does have decent human civilization, you're still talking about a task that, at best, is going to take you half a decade and more money than all of you put together have."

He pauses with his mouth open, as though a sudden thought came to him mid-rant, and he leans back in his chair. "There's also the minor problem that several of the circuit cards, and the programming to run them, only exist inside Michal's head - there's absolutely nothing written down anywhere for you to memorize." He shrugs.

(OOCly, you should all know that you will never be 'stranded' on a world for more than a few weeks, at the very worst. The best way for you to get stranded is to lose both of the ETPHs.)

[Alex Green]

Paul speaks up,

“Pat, you can make gates between worlds, right? Do you think it would work between dimensions as well?”

Mentally he thinks,

*5 years or centuries indeed. The 'infrastructure' we currently have took hundreds of Mega-Int novas to create.*

[Bahamut810]

Ash puts up his hands. "Calm down guys. I would think that the brains in charge aren't going to strand us anywhere if they can help it...if nothing else they will want to know what we learned. And I don't know about you, but I don't think I could understand the entire thing from what our teacher has said none of us would. If we were smart enough to understand it, then we would be more useful doung research then exploring. So...lets get to the lesson." he says. (spending Q for persuader).

[phoenix]

"Calm down guys. I would think that the brains in charge aren't going to strand us anywhere if they can help it...if nothing else they will want to know what we learned. And I don't know about you, but I don't think I could understand the entire thing from what our teacher has said none of us would. If we were smart enough to understand it, then we would be more useful doung research then exploring. So...lets get to the lesson." he says. (spending Q for persuader).

As he considers it, Eli realizes that believing Ash's statement and backing him up somehow seems more important even than breathing. With outrage fueled by years of scientific training and thinking, he defeats the impulse with an effort of will. Think.

We can lose nothing by having them.

He turns his attention back to Richard.

"Just give him everything you can electronically copy. If the unthinkable happens, we can collaborate to rewrite the rest of it. It's not like we'll have a whole lot else to do."

[OOC: He'll spend a Willpower here to disagree with Ash and side with Pat.]

[Nullifier]

Pat, his voice dripping with scorn and anger, replies, "You stupid f**king shmucks. None of you understand. There's no way of knowing that this facility and everyone in it will be here to retrieve us. Sure, they'll try as best they can, but there's always a chance that something happens and we end up stranded. Now, I don't really give a shit how long it would take me to build a portal back or how difficult it would be, and I'm a telepath so I can copy the designs from Michal's mind. All I care about is ensuring that if everything else goes pear-shaped, at least I'll have a chance to get home. If you can't guarantee me that, I walk, right now. No hard feelings, but it's a chance I just can't, and won't take. And I won't be convinced otherwise, so don't even F**KING TRY! I'm going to leave now. I'll be in my room. Either I get the specs within the next hour, or I'm gone. Any attempt to communicate with me anything other than those specs will result in me leaving immediately. I hope that's clear enough for you."

With that, a warp to his room opens, he quickly zips through, and it snaps closed behind him.

[OOC: If necessary (and I don't think so since Ash didn't even try to address Pat's main concern), Pat spends a willpower to resist. ]

[Bahamut810]

"So...anyone else gonna throw a hissy fit before we can get to the lesson on the parts of this sucker we can understand and replicate to try to get the propiatary knowledge about this device that we *can't* understand nor replicate?

[BlueNinja]

Richard sighs and puts his face in his hands for a moment, then looks up at Eli. "Look, I could give you everything, and have Michal hand you the schematics for the cards, and all of the programming, and it wouldn't matter. Because if something happens to take out our gate, and all of us, then you don't want to return. It'll mean that Utopia, or the US Government, managed to get past a dozen pissed off novas, and all of Michal's planning and nova-tech, to get the gate. Coming back would just earn you a one-way trip to Bahrain or someplace like that." He looks up at the ceiling. "Athena, tell Michal what's going on with Ugly Smurf, he can deal with it, it's why he pays himself the big bucks."

He glances around the table one last time. "Does anyone other than Ash actually want to learn how to fix these?"

[Alex Green]

Paul says,

"Yeah." (and pays a willpower point for autosucc on his Engineering roll).

[Nullifier]

In his room, Pat floats back and forth, pacing as it were, while muttering curses under his breath.

[BlueNinja]

In his room, Pat floats back and forth, pacing as it were, while muttering curses under his breath.

Michal's voice comes through the door as Pat paces. "Bottom line - I have someone trying to break in here on a monthly basis from Utopia, some para-governmental group called the Directive, Kuro-Tec, the Church of ****ing Michael, and occasionally the Teragen and Medellin drug cartel. Only one working copy of the most important pieces exist in my head because I know for a fact that I can kill myself before I give them any way to operate that gate. You really want to see the inside of Bahrain? Or the complementary facility run by the Teragen, or Kuro-Tec? Just by coming to work for me, you'll all be targets for all of those folks. Handing you the schematics to the biggest and most complicated piece of machinery that I've ever built is begging Murphy to come up and stab you in the back."

He pauses for a moment. "If, for some reason, you get stranded and can't get a return gate home for more than a week, you don't want to come back. It's signing your own death warrant. Unless you're planning to return to this earth and then go hide out in the sun for another two years."

[Nullifier]

At the sound of someone talking to him, contrary to his explicit instructions, Pat begins to concentrate. Several seconds later, a warp showing only stars opens, and Pat zips through, leaving Michal talking to an empty room...

[OOC: Well, it was fun while it lasted. I really had hoped to get to play this character a bit longer. Ah well, c'est la guerre. Full explaination to follow on the OOC thread.]

[BlueNinja]

Michal steps into the conference room, interrupting Richard as he starts to point out the components on the backup ETPH. "Pat left the building. Stubborn little asshole didn't even wait for me to finish one sentance before he warped out. I'm glad I hadn't finished showing him all of the really important stuff, but I am going to point out to you - and him, assuming I can get ahold of him - one small thing in your contracts that might have been overlooked." The viewscreen changes to showing the text of the agreements, in specific one sentance about 'revealing any of the sensitive equipment will be dealt with quickly and severly.'

Michal smiles coldly. "I know exactly how much it costs to hire Totentanz." With that, he steps back out, and the viewscreen switches back to the schematic.

Richard stares at the door for several moments, blinking rapidly, then clears his throat nervously. "Um, yes, as I was saying, these resistors and diodes here form the bridge that draws on ambient quantum energy to power the signal ... "

[Bahamut810]

Ash cocks an eyebrow after Michal leaves, then shrugs glad he isen't Pat.