Original Archive - IAS Chapter 40

Chapter 40 (Original Archive)

Jamar Matahachi BBS 11/12/2006

OOC: The first half of this post happens before the mob arrived. In response to Bud's suggestions:

There aren't any cameras on the satellites, only a list of objects and dates of when to avoid them.

Percy connected to the Alaxandria's computer! He tried Bud's suggestion and was rewarded with remote access to the ship's systems. Percy cheered and examined some of the archives and functioning systems. There was a telescope pointing at the planet, global maps and a flight log. Only one of the hibernation chambers still functioned. It was occupied by the captain, Aralwith Pyr Jamar. His vital signs were nominal

OOC: Here are answers to Bud's questions after the mob arrived:

The Pandora can lift off in less than a minute if everyone is on board.

Horatio agrees to introduce the crew to whoever is approaching.

Horatio tells him: "The Prophet Benalidino died over 250 years ago in the year 47. The Great John Galt still walks among us."

OOC: Here are answers to Shlitzee's questions:

You found the equipment you were looking for in chests in the medbay. What's a humanachem partypack dispensor? :)

Besides the captain's quarters, there's no place on Pandora that Shlitzee can't go.

"passkey phrase used by Special Security to 'deputize' civilian use mechanoforms" -- Nice! Run with it. Shlitzee is not a 'normal' robot - she's entirely independant of human control. You can choose to respond however you wish.

OOC: Now back to our previously scheduled crisis...

Drake swallowed the last of the ship's food and gazed at the angry mob approaching. He said to Chelydra, "I know how you feel about me. I'm used to not being trusted. I want to earn your trust." He stretched out his wings and flew toward the mob. He hovered in the air above them, looking menacing. He wanted to scare them away.

The men cowered in terror for a moment. "Demons!" someone shouted. His voice was answered by others. "An abomination! A total abomination! Send it back to hell! A curse on it!" They threw their weapons at Drake. A pitchfork ripped the membrane of his wings. He fell and disappeared from sight in the mob as they fell upon him.

Horatio arrived with Bud, Nike, Percy and the rest of the crew from the bridge. Horatio recognized the men from the village of Sigai. He called for them to stop. They heard his voice and obeyed. Someone in the crowd asked why he was with demons. They tossed Drake's battered but breathing body onto the ground.

"These are not demons," Horatio replied, horrified. "They are men. Have you not heard that demons dissappear when you try and hurt them?"

-end transmission-

Elizabeth 11/12/2006

Irsa

Irsa gives serious thought to hiding with Alexei in her room on board ship. She also covers her folded wings with a cloak. "Don't worry Alexei. My friends know what they're doing." she says to the chimpanzee. Under her breathe she mutters "I hope they can handle this."

James Nickerson 11/12/2006

Alexei

Alexei is not very reassured by her words. He pokes around looking for something he can jury rig into a weapon or failing that, something that looks meanacingly like a BFG (Big Friggin Gun).

gglassdr 11/14/2006

THX-1492

THX observes the crew and human mob as it checks its systems for optimum efficiency should any unfortunate contingency arise.

mikejohnson_lordofdance 11/18/2006

Bud

[[Bud]] subvocal radio-on to Percy + Bailey "Percy, Bailey: can you see if any lander/lifters are operable on the Alexandria?

September 11, 2555: Mike has finished programming the ship's computer to monitor transmissions. Each sweep of the frequency spectrum will take several hours.)

still subvocal- "While I'm being demanding, what're the chances the transmission monitoring logs are accessable?"

(Horatio tells him) "The Prophet Benalidino died over 250 years ago in the year 47. The Great John Galt still walks among us."

Bud's eyebrow raises, subvocal "John Galt still walks among us...guys, can you pull any info from the Alexandria database about this guy?"

(as Shlitzee rendevous with the party, subvocal) "Hey there Shlitzee, not sure if you've been keeping up with THX's info-burps but there might be some non-human weirdness among the natives. I think it might be to our advantage to scan everyone, especially the non-Warden members of this fiesta. While we're at it, can you 'fix' me up with a dose of mid-grade speed, I might need a little boost in the next couple minutes."

(assuming he's gotten the 'extra edge' from Shlitzee, Bud feels his heart start to race)

"These are not demons," Horatio replied, horrified. "They are men. Have you not heard that demons dissappear when you try and hurt them?"

(it is not lost on Bud that the crowd obeyed the priest)

"Well said friend Horatio!" Bud looks to him but addresses the crowd, "As Horatio says, the man at your feet is no demon."

-Bud walks slowly towards the group, raising his voice to be heard by all, gesturing for emphasis-

"ARE YOU THE FAITHFUL? DO YOU HEED THE WORDS OF THE PROPHET BENALDINO, FOR HE IS OF THE WARDEN!! THIS MIGHTY BIRD IS FROM THE WARDEN! MY COMPANIONS AND I ARE FROM THE WARDEN! WE ARE NOT THE SOURCE OF YOUR ANGER, WE HAVE HAVE COME TO AID THE FAITHFUL!!"

-Bud motions for Shlitzee to follow him towards the beaten body of Drake, subvocally indicating "can you scan these fellas on your way towards the wing-guy?" subvocal to Chel, "how many of these guys can you keep pinned down if I have to haul-ass back into the ship?" subvocal to Arkady, "Just thought I'd keep you in the loop, we're either gonna have some new friends or a bunch of compost for the compiler."

-Bud looks to Horatio, then back into the crowd hoping to spot non-verbal cues as to their leadership-

"WHAT MAN OF GOOD WILL SPEAKS FOR YOU?"

aeraxbob 11/19/2006

shlitzfarl

OOC: What's a humanachem partypack dispensor? :)

-good question, basically a travel kit of base materials that can be easily combined into human-effective agents. The term is "Shlitzee-ized" as she would draw a distinction between human and mechano affecting agents.

"passkey phrase used by Special Security to 'deputize' civilian use mechanoforms" -- Nice! Run with it. Shlitzee is not a 'normal' robot - she's entirely independant of human control. You can choose to respond however you wish.

-Good call, we'll play that one by ear...I wonder if it will work on the UWSC Alexandria?

[[Shlitzee]] Having slung the Plaser over her shoulder deploys a pneumo-dose of 'PEP' into Asuda's neck. With her other hand, she's using the mobile bioscanner on all within range in the hanger (collecting data + transmitting to Pandora findings). As per request, she'll continue scanning and transmitting. Upon seeing the Drake beating, she'll dispatch med units to the hangar, instructing them to bring bioscanners and continue the data collection. She informs the units to put priority scan on the Chimp and Hamster (clearly not standard Warden Crew bioforms).

As she walks into the crowd with Bud, she gives a robowink to THX. She tight-beams

"It isn't easy taking care of these sacks of mostly-water. "

>Bud motions for Shlitzee to follow him towards the beaten body of Drake, subvocally indicating "can you scan these fellas on your way towards the wing-guy?"

-Return transmission: "Aye-Aye, ready with the laser cover and plaser toss too."

supreme_arbiter 11/19/2006

Alexei finds no weapons besides his own knife and two spears.

any lander/lifters operable on the Alexandria?

Percy performed the search and replied, "Two dropships are listed. Both are missing. Location unknown."

are transmission monitoring logs accessable?

"Hmm," Percy replied after another search. "There's very little data here and it's all negative. No transmissions detected. There's two years of data, from 2555 to 2557, then the logs end abruptly."

any info from the Alexandria database about this guy?

A moment later, Percy replied over the comm, "Yeah, John Galt's on the Alexandria's manifest all right! He's listed as a cyber-geneticist from New Plymouth on Eridani. He was a volunteer on the rescue mission. He was thawed on November 24th, 2555."

...Shlitzee applied the syringe and Bud felt his heart start to race.

WE HAVE HAVE COME TO AID THE FAITHFUL!

A murmer ran through the crowd. They looked uncertain. Horatio said loudly, "What this good man says is true. They have come to aid us and we will aid them."

Drake was still alive but unconscious. Shlitzee applied medicines to stabilize him. Amanda and Bailey carried his body back to the medbay.

OOC: Shlitzee can't do any detailed analysis of the humanoids yet. A mildly intrusive blood sample, saliva swab, etc. is required. An excellent idea that will be implemented soon!

Bud to Arkady: thought I'd keep you in the loop

Arkady replied blearily, "I was asleep, sorry. I'm on my way."

"What man of good will speaks for you?"

The men all shifted their feet uncomfortably. They clearly had no leader. They were a mob, but someone must have put them up to it. Someone finally said, "Cleetus suggested it."

Everyone stared at Cleetus. He looked guiltily at Horatio. He closed his slackened jaw before saying, "We got tired of these metal thingees spookin' our stock. We killed one of 'em last night in town!"

"If you came here to hurt these people, Cleetus, you need to beg for John Galt's forgiveness. "

Cleetus's jaw fell open again. He slowly fell to his knees and lay prostrate in the sand, mumbling his prayer of forgiveness. Those around him did likewise. When everyone in the crowd lay prostrate, the crew saw a strange sight over the horizon. A large, four-legged beast crested a nearby dune. On its back they saw several men hanging on.

-end transmission-

supreme_arbiter 11/19/2006

This weekend I updated all of the character pages on the archive site. I also modified the New Characters page.

Characters now have LUCK and EXPERIENCE points. Both can be spent to purchase bonuses to dice rolls. Experience can be spent to increase attributes. Clones can spend experience to "remember" new skills, sorta like, "Hey, I studied astro-physics at my university!" Note, anyone can "learn" new skills, for instance Irsa recently learned "Aircar Operation" as is indicated on her character page. Exp and Luck details are linked to from the character pages and the New Character page.

To avoid arbitrariness, I counted the number of player posts and multiplied by 2 to determine Experience. First place went to Percy, 208 exp. Second place was Nike, 174 exp.

I posted a simplified version of the MA4e robot rules on the New Characters page. All the robot character pages have been changed in accordance. One important point that I've been moving toward but haven't articulated yet is there are three kinds of robots: SECURITY, CIVILIAN and ROGUE. Any civilian robot that wields a weapon, tries to harm a human or uses an unauthorized passcard will be reported as rogue by other robots and computers. The only rogue in the game now is Shlitzee. This will affect her relationship with Pandora (if the compter AI is ever turned on again) and Hephaestus. Her character page Background has more details.

gammaben 11/23/2006

Percy

[[OOC: Holy rainbow trout! Ok I know I missed a lot but I'll try to catch up. First, I'll be playing Percy and Nike for the time being, if that's alright with the group. Stacy is a bit overwhelmed with her chemistry tutoring gig the past few weeks and asked if I could cover for her. Between the Supreme Arbiter and me, I hope we can keep her in the game and not too much of a Nuclear Powered Character (NPC). :) ]]

Logistics: Percy had been ordered to get a drink of coffee by the good captain Nike. Since later he appears back on the bridge looking up the Alexandria's computers, I assume he returned with said coffee (maybe after a "hello, hey are you eating the last of the food you doofus?" to Drake in the galley) and took his seat back (from Amanda?).

Before the mob arrived, and I leave it to the narrator/editor to flesh out the details, Percy would have had a bit of a computer eureka overload upon finding Alexandria. I'm not sure "Waaaaaiitaminute" works there but he would have verbalized something euphoric and reported it to the bridge crew. Nike would also have responded, probably with a "Hot damn, she's still out there," or something.

Also, Shlitzee is attempting communication with Pandora. I thought Pandora had gone silent?

If it is locked, she'll patch into the Pandora mainframe, "Yeah P, this is S. You hear the fleshie? Yeah. Yeah, this door. Thanks."

Perhaps as a robot she can tap into the system, whereas the human-Pandora interface is currently (or still) down?

THE PRESENT: Percy's on the bridge, hacking at Alexandria, and just found that the Captain of the Alexandria is still on ice.

"Captain, I've found the Captain!" he said, trying to decipher the feedback from Alexandria's computers.

"Margulis?" Nike said under her breath, almost reverently.

"No, Captain Jamar of the Alexandria!" He looked up at the captain of the Pandora. "He's alive... and in perfect hibernation! "

...

[The crowd arrives, Drake gets fragged, Bud booms diplomatic greetings... ]

Nike watched as the scene played out. She wanted to be in the thick of the front lines in case they had to switch to "aggressive negotiations" (negotiations with a plaser) but also realized if things got ugly, she would have to fly Pandora to a safe distance. Then things got ugly. She knew Drake was an unknown and smirked slightly that she'd been right about that. Still she hoped he was ok and remained calm as Horatio and Bud calmed the crowd.

"Percy, continue your search of Alexandria's logs. Download what you find in case we lose our link. Start pouring through those logs--quick scan it for anything that might be of importance." She held up a hand to fend off Percy's question. "Yes, I know the logs are quite historical at this point, but since Alexandria is out there now, I'd like to know WHY she's still out there and unless THX regurgitates any more recordings from Aralwith's Greatest Hits, our only answers may lie in those ship logs."

"Radio On. Irsa, Becka," Nike spoke, gazing at the viewscreen, "would you like to bring our latest Warden escapee to the bridge? I'm sure he has questions for us."

"Bud, nice work, keep that crowd under control. We are monitoring the situation."

Pondering the crew complement, she added, "THX, please secure the aircars."

It was a lot to juggle, but the ship had a good crew running about taking care of business on medical, ambassadorial, scientific and exploratory fronts, and she smiled at how the situation seemed under control despite the chaos of the mob, and given the frantic pace since waking up as a clone on the Warden only a short time ago.

Elizabeth 11/23/2006

Irsa

Irsa will ask Alexei the chimp to follow her to the bridge to talk to its captain.

James Nickerson 11/24/2006

Alexei

Alexei looked at Irsa and shrugged. He tucked his white board under his arm and followed her.

supreme_arbiter 11/26/2006

Sorry, no new post from me this week. I was away from home this weekend. I'll post turn 17.5 next Saturday.

gammaben 11/27/2006

Percy

Admit it, you were just so completely stunned about me finally posting that you couldn't get a new move written!

gglassdr 11/28/2006

THX-1492

THX-1138 responds on private channel to Shlitzee, "Organic life forms are inherently unstable and unreliable. Biological hydration status of these organisms is fragile with frequent breakdowns.

............ ......... .....clack. ......... ........bzzzzvvv vv....... ......... kkkkkllllwrrrrr. .........

November 5, 2555: We've left lunar orbit. The moon was full tonight, a spectacular send off.

November 8, 2555: We're half way between the moon and the planet. We'll begin our descent in a few hours. This old bird, the Alexandria, wasn't built to turn on a dime. She was built for speed but it takes a long time to build a full head of steam. Mike has kept himself busy studying the alien devices. The polymers and white fibers are electrically nonconductive, non-magnetic and unresponsive to heat and light. Marie is cataloging the animal species depicted in the murals and sequencing the genome of the mold found in the polymers. Amrit has compiled the satellite data and created a comprehensive map of the lunar surface.

November 9, 2555: It occurred to me this morning, that of the few things I can remember about my mother, I can't remember her face. Would I recognize her if I saw a picture of her? I don't know. The mnemo-genetic process the Alpha Sequence uses to record human memory and identity is imperfect. It only records the superficial parts of identity. The totality of a person's psyche is found in the complex interaction between individual neurons and the complex relationship between the brain and the somatic system that includes every cell in the body. The only way to make an accurate copy of a human mind is the destructive process of dismantling that person cell by cell. Even then, the process is unpredictable. A German cyberneticist once killed himself that way. The robot shell his personality adopted went insane. My own situation feels like insanity sometimes, too.

November 10, 2555: We've arrived in orbit around the planet. Marie has completed tests on the wood found at the first lunar site. As expected, they were too old for reliable carbon dating. Rubidium-strontium dating revealed the lunar soil was over six billion years old.

November 11, 2555: We are mapping the planet's surface. This place is pretty grim, unlike the murals in the 'Nursery'. It's in the middle of an ice age. Only a narrow band of land along the equator is temperate, but much of it is desert. I wonder what it looked like when the aliens lived here.

November 12, 2555: There is a small region of dense forest on the largest continent. We are preparing a dropship to make a landing there. Mike, Marie and I will go first.

November 13, 2555: We've seen many wild animals and exotic plants. None resembled those in the murals. From the dropship we scanned the jungles and discovered dense, rectangular anomalies deep beneath the soil. We set the dropship down in a nearby clearing. The air here smells terrific after four months of recycled air. Water began falling from the sky shortly after we landed. Despite the wind and being completely drenched, I let it fall on my face for several minutes. I'd never been so happy in all my life. I'd heard of rain before, but I'd only seen it fall from sprinklers on the Warden. The robots are clearing vegetation and soil from the site while we collect samples of alien flora and fauna.

November 21, 2555: We've returned to the ship. The robots are still excavating the rectangular anomalies. Ken and Amrit are taking the other dropship to explore more of the planet's surface. Marie is cataloging and sequencing the plant and animal samples we brought back with us. We killed a medium sized mammal and brought the carcass back with us. If Marie gives it the go ahead, we'll be eating fresh meat! Otherwise, we'll decompile it for its carbon.

November 24, 2555: Mike is completely stumped by the alien devices. He's asked for help. The crew roster shows we have a cyber-geneticist frozen on board by the name of John Galt. He's thawing now. Marie OK-ed the meat we have on board. We cooked it tonight and ate it with a bottle of wine I'd been saving for just such an occasion. It was delicious; tasted a bit like chicken.

November 25, 2555: John is awake. He's a remarkable man. When I gave him the news from Earth, he barely acknowledged it. He acted as if he had already known. Instead of asking for details, he simply asked what his orders were. I showed him the maps and images we had of the ruins on the moon then showed him the artifacts and asked him to find out what they were. He's working with Mike now.

December 3, 2555: John is continuing his work with Mike. Amrit, Marie and I are planetside. This time we've explored a mountain range surrounded by desert. Even in this hard scrabble terrain there were many new specimens to be found. We've just received word from our robot corps at the excavation that they've exposed stones with intricate carvings.

December 4, 2555: We returned and surveyed the site. The robots have exposed several large slabs of basalt, but mindlessly destroyed a portion of the carvings in the process of removing the dense topsoil. At least they stopped when they did. Now that the ruins are exposed, we need better programming for fine detail work. I've activated our Veribot, THX-1492, and loaded it with archeological excavation software. It's reprogramming our general purpose robots now.

-end transmission-

............ ......wwwhrrrr. ......... ....bzzzzz. ......... .....CLANK. ....CLANK. .....CRUNCH. ........

A strange scratching comes from within the Veribot and it shudders a bit. Its delicate mechanical arm twists inside its lower torso chassis as if scratching itself.

"Anomaly detected and neutralized. Information downloaded to system memory. Anomalous recordings overrided."

As she walks into the crowd with Bud, she gives a robowink to THX. She tight-beams "It isn't easy taking care of these sacks of mostly-water. "

supreme_arbiter 11/28/2006

Admit it, you were just so completely stunned about me finally posting that you couldn't get a new move written!

It may not seem like it, but you've posted more often than any other IAS player! However, yes, I was stunned by your email. Now I need to deliver on the rest of the log from the Alexandria ;)

I might not be ready to post the rest of the Alexandria log this weekend, but I will post the results of what's going on outside the Pandora. BTW, it seems to me the crew broke into two groups when the mob arrived: Nike, Percy, Bailey and Caleb stayed on the bridge. Bud, Shlitzee and Horatio went to greet the mob and met THX-1492, Irsa, Alexei and Becka as they arrived from the excavation. Are those assumptions correct? I think Amanda will join the team outside, since she now has a penchant for deadly firearms she may want to parade her new toy!

mikejohnson_lordofdance 12/1/2006

Bud

lame excuse: work

I'm trying not to hold up the game (we're at a pretty cool juncture, I think). I'll fight for some 'me time' and get a post out saturday.

mikejohnson_lordofdance 12/2/2006

Bud

OOC: {Bud, Shlitzee and Horatio went to greet the mob and met THX- 1492, Irsa, Alexei and Becka as they arrived from the excavation. Are those assumptions correct?}

[Mike] - makes sense to me

IC:

[BUD] {Bud is both pleased and concerned with how reverent the mob is. His background in counter-insurgency has taught him a few lessons with regards to zealots and 'true believers'}

-seeing the beast approaching, Bud assumes a neutral pose in close proximity to Horatio-

"What manner of men ride such creatures?"

{Radio On, subvocal to all Wardeneers} "Did anyone else catch that bit about John Galt's downright unnatural lifespan? Seeing how much juice he has around here could be a double-edger. The way I read this, we've got a minimum of 4 possibilities: 1) he's stranded here and duped the locals. 2) He's not stranded, but on some kind of power trip. 3) He's totally insane. 4) Some combination of the first 3. Any way you cut it, we're gonna have to be careful how we handle him and his followers. P.S. anyway we could track down the other dropship from the Alexandria. P.P.S. sounds like a Warden pod just crashed on the yokels village, we should check it out...and maybe see if we can start tracking (and backward-trajectory plotting) any more."

Elizabeth 12/2/2006

Irsa

Irsa leads Alexei up to the bridge. She doesn't want to be mistaken for a demon. And will leave dealing with the crowd to the human crew people.

James Nickerson 12/2/2006

Alexei

Alexei contemplates locking the door behind them, but doesn't want to strand the others from getting into the ship. He positions himself defensively so he can watch the goings on and be near the door mechanism incase the others come running.

supreme_arbiter 12/2/2006

OOC: Pandora is silent. The Pandora's computers work, but her AI is not functioning. She suffered some sort of damage before the crash and hasn't been repaired since. The crew, including Shlitzee, can use all of Pandora's functions, but there's no AI to respond to verbal commands.

There's no room in the Pandora for the second aircar. It is parked in the sand near the gangplank. THX's aircar is secure in the garage. The lift is closed. The only open access is the gangplank.

A quick recap: Shlitzee has just taken Drake to the medbay. Bud, THX, Amanda, Arkady and Horatio are outside with the villagers. Irsa, Alexei and Becka are hiding in the gangplank watching what's going on outside.The rest of the characters are on the Pandora's bridge watching them on the ship's monitors.

IC: "I'll start keeping an eye on the radar for more escape pods," Bailey replied to Bud. "Regarding the other dropship, if we knew roughly where to look we could use a metal detector to find it."

"I'd like to know where that other dropship is too," Nike said, "but where do we start looking for it?"

Horatio looked at the beast moving toward them. "That's a leviathan. They're expensive to train. The Spragni can't afford them. It could be Hithari from Eden or it could be Rota." He frowned at the last conjecture.

Arkady came down the gangplank. He held his 9mm Savalette Guardian pistol by his side. He saw the crowd of villagers lying prostate in the sand before Bud and put the pistol back in his belt holster. Arkady stood next to Chelydra and quietly said into the comm, "Nice one Bud. Are you their new Sky Father or are you the Lizard King?"

"Where have you been Arkady?" Nike asked over the comm.

"Sorry, I fell asleep in my room."

"We're all exhausted," Nike replied. "But since you're rested you can help organize the DNA test. Shlitzee needs to get samples from the villagers and our crew." Arkady grimaced.

Shlitzee returned from the medbay. Bud, Chelydra and Amanda kept an eye on the crowd while Arkady spoke to Horatio. He told him Shilitzee wanted to "greet" everyone.

"Is this a custom with your people?" Horatio asked.

"Yeah, it's a sort of custom. It's how we get to know our friends better."

-end transmission-

mikejohnson_lordofdance 12/6/2006

Bud

{subvocal} "Roger that Bailey, maybe we'll pick up some clues from the natives...like a holy shrine or something?"

[he remembers a comment Horatio made earlier] "At the seminary in Eden, there are many books: histories, documents, maps, scriptures, all precious and rare. They are jealously guarded, but the priests will probably let you see them. They'll be eager to talk to you."

{subvocal} "I think we need to make a little 'pilgrimage' to Eden and check out a few relics."

(several thoughts swim through Bud's brain: what if Galt has been replaced with a shapeshifter; is 'Galt' is just some title now, passed like the Lamas of Earth; is he an android; or is there some stash of advanced technology sustaining his life, either with medical techniques or memgenning new bodies and discarding the aged husks...maybe in a dropship?)

[Horatio] looked at the beast moving toward them. "That's a leviathan. They're expensive to train. The Spragni can't afford them. It could be Hithari from Eden or it could be Rota." He frowned at the last conjecture.

(Bud notes Horatio's frown at the mention of Rota)

Arkady stood next to Chelydra and quietly said into the comm, "Nice one Bud. Are you their new Sky Father or are you the Lizard King?"

{subvocal to Arkady} "Probably a bit of both..."

Horatio: "Is this a custom with your people?" Horatio asked.

"Yeah, it's a sort of custom. It's how we get to know our friends better."

[Bud, to Horatio but projecting for all to hear] "And how we find ways to help, as we have with your gehti, David."

he turns slightly, to more directly address the crowd

"Who among you suffer malady of body or thought? Each in your turn, stand and approach our healer."

he gestures to Shlitzee and Arkady

"Cleetus, you seem to be a man with shame in your heart. You shall be first!"

{subvocal to Shlitzee} "Can you throw in mild anti-anxiety agents into the mix? Maybe we can calm them down as we gather medical intel?"

Bud continues to watch as the Leviathan approaches, he speaks to Horatio

"How would you greet Hithari from Eden?...(more quietly)And how would greet the Rota?"

gammaben 12/10/2006

Percy

"If the second air car can't come with us, maybe for our next jaunt, one of us should fly it along side," Percy offered the obvious. "It'd be kind of like Voyager and the Delta Flyer!" Percy trekked to himself. While he gabbed, Percy made a quick check of the security systems. Something was bothering him about Arkady's unannounced absence and quick explanation thereof. Sure, they were all tired, but in the middle of all the goings-on, much less with Nike running the ship, he thought it odd no one knew where he was. If he couldn't get any information (such as time of access to Arkady's chosen crew quarters) on the security system, he would consider hacking it...later.

"Or, we could could take it apart and feed the recycler!" Percy suggested sarcastically, inconspicuously continuing his train of speech. Percy awaited the arrival of their new Warden fellow-escapee.

supreme_arbiter 12/10/2006

IAS 18 - The Lizard King

Percy made a quick check of the security systems and saw Arkady had entered his quarters almost 6 hours ago, around the time THX first landed at the excavation site. Arkady had not left his room since. There was no record of what he'd done during that time. None of the quarters had any surveillance, except for the computer terminal. Arkady had not used his terminal in those 6 hours.

Percy noted the current time. The Pandora's computer said 23:20 was the current time. He looked up at the sun and felt it was closer to 2:00 in the afternoon.

[...]

Horatio interrupted the villagers' grovelling and said, "Galt will forgive you as long as you remain humble. Pray for the recovery of the fallen one known as Drake. His friends wish to greet and get to know us so we may all be friends."

Horatio and the natives looked at the crew expectantly. Arkady stepped up to Shlitzee and showed the robot his bare arm. The robot held Arkady's arm and withdrew a small tissue sample.

Cleetus nervously approached Shlitzee. The robot took a tissue sample from his arm. Cleetus bowed apologetically and ran to hide in the back of the crowd. The next villager stepped forward.

Bud kept an eye on the crowd and watch as the Leviathan continued to approach. He considered what Horatio had told him about the Leviathan and quietly asked him, "How would you greet Hithari from Eden?"

"It would probably be a high ranking priest of Galt. They spend their lives in the seminary. They know much more than me about John Galt, the Warden and the world. They will know what to do."

"And how would you greet the Rota?" Bud asked more quietly.

"They are deceivers. Do not trust them. They care only for power over other men."

OOC: Shlitzee applies a mild anti-anxiety agent with the sampling. She gives Arkady a mild caffeine dose. When I converted Shlitzee's character to MA4e I gave her a few new devices, chief among them was the Pharmaceutical Nano-Factory that her role-play craved ;)

Also, I've made a mistake in the Alexandria's logs... None of the Alexandria's crew were Alpha Clones. I'm slowly removing those references but I've only gotten as far as the entries included up to Chapter 36. The rest of the log will soon follow. It'll change everything you know about the island, er I mean planet! (a little Lost joke there)

-end transmission-

publius1024 12/10/2006

Arkady

IAS Chapter 36: Derelict Duty

Irsa and THX-1492 explore the lower level of the ruined dropship.

I've gotten a bit behind. I believe the current game play is in Chapter 39.

supreme_arbiter 12/16/2006

OOC: Does anyone use the current chapter (37) on the IAS archive site to prepare their next post? I've been updating it once a week or sometimes every other week. If anyone needs it to be current, I can do so regularly. Send me a private email if you would like. Thanks :)

IAS 18 - end transmission

From the shelter of the gangplank, Alexei, Irsa and Becka watched Shlitzee take DNA samples from the villagers. "Hey," they heard Percy address the crew over the private comm, "I found the rest of captain Jamar's log from the Alexandria! Here it is."

December 11, 2555: The robots are diligently removing the grime from the ancient stones. They've uncovered a few artifacts, badly corroded metal work and a few statues that resemble the humanoids we saw in the lunar murals. The stones have a curious language carved into them that bears little resemblance to the one we found on the moon.

December 12, 2555: We've returned to the Alexandria. John and Mike have made a breakthrough. They've applied specific frequencies of light to the white fibers with remarkable results. When certain frequencies are passed through them, the ceramic trees and polymers move, give off heat or emit light of varying frequencies. They haven't yet figured out the purpose of the devices or all the frequency combinations they'll react to. John believes they may also react to specific sequences of alien DNA. Marie is looking into the possibilities, but we have little to go on as we have no DNA samples from the race that built them.

December 13, 2555: John has taken an interest in the images taken from the moon. He mentioned to me there's a linguist on board by the name of Dwayne Spragni. Mr. Spragni didn't mention on his resume that he had experience with linguistics, but John said he heard him say on the passage to the Alexandria that he'd studied linguistics at the University of New Alexandria. I've authorized Marie to thaw Dwayne immediately.

December 14, 2555: Dwayne took the news well. His eyes lit up when I showed him the alien script. He's studying it now. He hopes to soon be able to tell us more about the aliens.

December 19, 2555: The robots have exposed a large portion of three buildings. The artifacts they've uncovered are packed away in the dropship. Amrit has completed his estimation of the age of the lunar sites. His findings have made those ruins even more amazing. Based on the crater patterns, the rate of new impacts and the number of large meteors detected by the lunar probe array, Amrit estimates the lunar ruins were abandoned between 30 and 40 million years ago! After so much time, it's amazing there's anything left at all! I wonder what happened to the people that built those ruins.

December 25, 2555: John and Mike have the alien devices bending, rolling and flashing like brightly colored toys, but Dwayne, on the other hand, disappoints me. He has nothing to show after 11 days of study. He hasn't taken a single note! John, by contrast, seems to have found the key to unlocking the mysteries behind the alien's technology. I have been repeatedly impressed by John's intellect and his ability to grasp patterns. I wonder how he could have been fooled into thinking Dwayne knew more than he did about linguistics. I'm sending Dwayne down with the next landing crew. Maybe seeing the alien script in person will start his muse. I'll definitely think twice before thawing another crewmember.

December 27, 2555: Dwayne, Ken and Mike have landed near the excavation site. Marie has finished sequencing the genome of several more species. Their genetic makeup is similar to ours. The basic building blocks are the same. Convergent evolution? Is the bag of survival tricks essentially universal?

-end transmission-

"End transmission, " Nike repeated. "Where's the rest of it?"

"That's all there is," Percy replied apologetically. "The captain's last entry is dated December 27. The ship's log says the other dropship left the Alexandria on December 28 after the ship's systems started breaking. Captain Jamar's hibernation chamber activated on December 29. That looks like the last time anything happened on the Alexandria. That happened 235 years ago. By the way, in case no one's looked at a calendar recently, the year is now 2790."

Elizabeth 12/16/2006

Irsa

"Do you suppose these humans are the descendants of the people on the other dropship?" Irsa asks. "Oh, is that why Shlitzee is taking skin samples?"

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