003: On the Road to Aki

[terrymixon]

Roscoe will go with tingling in the spine and nerve endings and Metz with blinding headaches and temporary vision loss. What about you?

I suspect that this does not affect Arkar.

Arkar finds his stuff just aft of Garvin.

Arkar

So noted but look for a PM on the not affecting Arkar.

[Eris]

Let's wait for some of the others to get in on the action before proceeding.

Jaelah brings up the rear of the group while watching their back trail, and scanning with her eyes and her forensics unit.

Spicoli would also be near the rear, doing the same thing Jaelah is doing.

[Eris]

Garvin will enter and cycle the airlock.

He asks Metz "Doc, this dissassembled gear - should we steal it?"

"We're just looking for now," Jaelah says.

"A very good plan," Metz said. "It's impossible to know what these machines were for. It looks as if it's all been taken apart and some of it removed. Not junk, but not immediately useful. Rather than leaving any unexplored areas behind us, I suggest we look at the room on the left-hand branch and see what wonders it holds."

"We need to get good photographs of all this to show Treegarden." says Spicoli adding, "And to show Bilis as well. She may be able to tell us something about the statues, maybe even the machinery."

[terrymixon]

"We're just looking for now," Jaelah says.

"A very good plan," Metz said. "It's impossible to know what these machines were for. It looks as if it's all been taken apart and some of it removed. Not junk, but not immediately useful. Rather than leaving any unexplored areas behind us, I suggest we look at the room on the left-hand branch and see what wonders it holds."

"We need to get good photographs of all this to show Treegarden." says Spicoli adding, "And to show Bilis as well. She may be able to tell us something about the statues, maybe even the machinery."

“I have all the suits recording and the spybots as well,” a Roscoe said. “It is all high quality 360-degree video and audio. That should suffice.”

[Eris]

Garvin mutters "Ruddy violent old business Ancient civilization...".

He presses on exploring.

You're not examining the dead body? Okay. Are you going right or left? If left, which passage?

Spicoli certainly would if no one else does!

[Eris]

OOC: I rolled for it and got a 3 which translated to

Spicoli feels weakness, trembling hands and sudden loss of control over extremities: The Traveller’s musculature is being remodeled to be slightly more efficient. This translates as STR +1.

[terrymixon]

OOC: I rolled for it and got a 3 which translated to

Spicoli feels weakness, trembling hands and sudden loss of control over extremities: The Traveller’s musculature is being remodeled to be slightly more efficient. This translates as STR +1.

Look at the deck plans and pick a room. The bottom right went to Walt, so two left.

[terrymixon]

I won’t be able to finish updating the character sheets and such until I get home, but we can move this forward a bit.

The next day and a half are miscible. You have intermittent illness and side effects that keep you down. Thankfully, you seem secure in your ship and nothing comes to bother you.

Roscoe is also down—at least his android body is—but the ship’s computer side arranges a relay network to all him to use the engineering drones to explore the base and make sure it has nothing threatening. He also brings back some samples and even sends the Startek drones to retrieve the bodies.

Yes, bodies. Two more dead humans are found deep in the machinery level. Both died by weapons fire—one self inflected—but there is no sign of what caused the violence to the other.

Roscoe will get samples of things from around the base and store them in the brig and the breaching tube chamber for later examination when everyone is feeling better.

About the middle of the next day, the symptoms subside and you find yourselves famished. Everyone is hungry. Even more so than one would expect. There are also some food craving that might seem out of character, but the body wants what the body wants.

Roscoe will prepare whatever you like. He will even eat with you and he isn’t shy about stuffing his face either. He’ll admit that his is in his biological form because he feels the need to eat.

Once the meal is done and everything is put away, you are all in your new common room and there are probably things to discuss and learn.

Over to you.

[joertexas]

Once the meal is done and everything is put away, you are all in your new common room and there are probably things to discuss and learn.

Jaelah leans back in the sinfully comfortable chair and closes her eyes for a moment. "I've been crying on and off this whole time," she dabs at her eyes with her napkin. "When Henri, my late husband, and I were car bombed, my eyes were destroyed. When they replaced them, I couldn't produce tears. Now I can, and so this is the first time I've been able to actually cry over his death. It's been rough."

[terrymixon]

Once the meal is done and everything is put away, you are all in your new common room and there are probably things to discuss and learn.

Jaelah leans back in the sinfully comfortable chair and closes her eyes for a moment. "I've been crying on and off this whole time," she dabs at her eyes with her napkin. "When Henri, my late husband, and I were car bombed, my eyes were destroyed. When they replaced them, I couldn't produce tears. Now I can, and so this is the first time I've been able to actually cry over his death. It's been rough."

“I am both sorry for your pain and loss, and pleased that you have recovered what you had lost,” Roscoe said. “I have not cried yet, though I can. I hope it is a long time before I do.”

[Tiglath]

Once the meal is done and everything is put away, you are all in your new common room and there are probably things to discuss and learn.

Jaelah leans back in the sinfully comfortable chair and closes her eyes for a moment. "I've been crying on and off this whole time," she dabs at her eyes with her napkin. "When Henri, my late husband, and I were car bombed, my eyes were destroyed. When they replaced them, I couldn't produce tears. Now I can, and so this is the first time I've been able to actually cry over his death. It's been rough."

Garvin responds instinctively "Sorry to 'ear about that - I'm sorry for your loss Jaelah".

"As to the other I'll 'ave meself a recordin' of the report that we've been filled with gear we didn't ask for and will learn to like it. I'll play it every mornin' ".

[joertexas]

“I am both sorry for your pain and loss, and pleased that you have recovered what you had lost,” Roscoe said. “I have not cried yet, though I can. I hope it is a long time before I do.”

"Crying isn't a bad thing, Roscoe. It's part of what makes one human."

[Thumper]

Walt-
"Sorry to hear about that Jaelah. That has to be rough. I'm glad you can properly grieve now. How can we help?

Wow, that was a rough couple of days! Hope those symptoms don't return. Thanks to Roscoe's steward bot for the meal. That was delicious and much needed. I feel better now. Any idea what the extent of any personal changes are? I feel a bit of a physical change, and I can feel greater psi strength. Roscoe, how have you changed...corporeal body and ship-borne body?

Roscoe, did I hear that your bots returned some bodies and equipment back to the ship? Do we have autopsy reports or inventories of the gear? Shall we take a look?"

After that discussion, he'll go see Bilis.

"Bilis, how are you? What can you tell us of your experiences the past couple days. How have you been changed? By the way, we saw several external fabricators in the Ancients compound. Is that something you are also capable of, or are your capabilities internal? Just curious.

By the way, here's an Ancient's tech Vacc Suit I brought back. Would you like to make a pattern of it? Perhaps print some for us all in our sizes? Can you tell us what the suits' features are that are different than our own? And, would you be able to make a completed or repaired pattern of the combat suit with a hole in it? If not, I think there might be a Combat Suit still intact. I can check."

[terrymixon]

Once the meal is done and everything is put away, you are all in your new common room and there are probably things to discuss and learn.

Jaelah leans back in the sinfully comfortable chair and closes her eyes for a moment. "I've been crying on and off this whole time," she dabs at her eyes with her napkin. "When Henri, my late husband, and I were car bombed, my eyes were destroyed. When they replaced them, I couldn't produce tears. Now I can, and so this is the first time I've been able to actually cry over his death. It's been rough."

Garvin responds instinctively "Sorry to 'ear about that - I'm sorry for your loss Jaelah".

"As to the other I'll 'ave meself a recordin' of the report that we've been filled with gear we didn't ask for and will learn to like it. I'll play it every mornin' ".

“I am sorry,” Bills said. “Doctor Metz gave me a new descriptive word for the Ancients yesterday. Highhanded. They do what they will and others adapt. Or they don’t. In any case, is is done though you may continue to play your recording.”

“I’m almost certain he doesn’t have a recording,” Metz said. “Though he may sing it in the fresher. If I might ask, Bills, what did that thing to to our ship. For that matter, what was it?”

“I am uncertain. A high level digital intelligence is my best guess. If so, I am disturbed that it ended itself as it did. The base no longer has a guiding hand, though I know how to get us out of here when the time comes.

“As for the ship and what changed? Everything. This may look like your vessel writ large, but it is not. This base once built and upgraded ships and it took the overarching pattern—at my insistence—but absolutely nothing remains of what was, not even the hull. This ship looks like one built in the Third Imperium, but make no mistake, it is an Ancients vessel from the keel up.

“I told the intelligence that you had to blend in, and it agreed to a point and everything looks Imperial but if you scratch the surface, you will find something else. All the drives have been replace with far more capable versions. The hull is armored much more than is apparent. The sensors are better than anything seen by the Imperium before. The ship could—if you wished—change its shape. It is malleable. I recommend against that as it would instantly mark it as alien.

“The weapons were replaced with ones of far greater destructive power and protective screens that are unimagined by your people now stand ready to defend it. The destroyer here could not harm us. It is unlikely a fleet could harm us, assuming they could catch us.

“Things like the autodoc and low berths have been replaced with the versions used by the Ancients, but disguised as Imperial tech. The same is true in the robotics lab. I was upgraded and can now do things I never dreamed of, but I am concealed inside Doctor Metz’s deconstructor/fabricator. Anyone walking the ship will see nothing that does not belong.

“It wanted to change the ship’s appearance to match other Ancients ships at first. You wouldn’t believe how hard I had to fight against that. It was determined to make this ship the pinnacle of its shipbuilding prowess, and other than its appearance, I didn’t argue. It used almost all of its advanced materials to do so, and that is a good thing. What little was left is in engineering where it can be studied at our convenience. There will be no ships like this built here from now on.”

“What about how roomy it is?” Metz asked. “There seems to be too much space, honestly. We literally fill the hull. What about our fuel?”

“It is being provided remotely. There is a small teleportation portal to a vast supply of refined hydrogen attached to the drives where they once connected to the fuel tank. It removed the need, so the space was reclaimed and repurposed.”

“That’s going to be hard to explain,” Roscoe said. “In fact, as the Navy is supposed to do our annual maintenance, it will be discovered immediately. We have only that long to come up with a solution or flee. I’m not a fan of running, though. Are there any other major alterations?”

“There is a teleportation panel in the cargo bay. I do not know where it leads but was informed that it was added both as part of the gift and to address your complaints about not having enough cargo space.”

“Why do I feel nervous at that turn of phrase?” Roscoe looked at the rest. “With this added to what was done to us, I think we are in more peril than we can imagine. If anyone finds out the full scope of what we possess—or even some of it—we will be hunted across the width and breadth of Charted Space. I don’t even know the specifics of what was done and I can see that. What do we do?”

[joertexas]

Roscoe looked at the rest. “With this added to what was done to us, I think we are in more peril than we can imagine. If anyone finds out the full scope—or even some of it—we will be hunted across the width and breadth of Charted Space. I don’t even know the specifics of what was done and I can see that. What do we do?”

Jaelah puts her napkin in her lap and picks up her water glass. "We blend in, and we keep being bounty hunters. We can use false identifications for both the ship and ourselves." She looks toward Bills. "Would you be adverse to having a body like Roscoe's? Except as a female, of course. It's getting odd being the only woman in this group." Jaelah grins. "You may even get the pick of the litter." She grins at Roscoe. "Except for Roscoe."

[terrymixon]

Walt-
"Sorry to hear about that Jaelah. That has to be rough. I'm glad you can properly grieve now. How can we help?

Wow, that was a rough couple of days! Hope those symptoms don't return. Thanks to Roscoe's steward bot for the meal. That was delicious and much needed. I feel better now. Any idea what the extent of any personal changes are? I feel a bit of a physical change, and I can feel greater psi strength. Roscoe, how have you changed...corporeal body and ship-borne body?”

“I’m not sure. My ship based program has no changes like this, so it has to be related to the blast of light. The computer program was altered—and without destroying my personality—and in a way that Spicoli should approve of. The ship side program now has guardrails to compel obedience those safety protocols he worried about. No crazed, murderous computer will kill you with the ship’s systems.

“As for me, I feel as if my android self and my biological self as really different expressions of the same thing now. I can change between them and keep my computer level intelligence and skills. On the biological side, I think I have psionics. Or the start of it anyway. You might be able to use your powers to tell more.”

“Roscoe, did I hear that your bots returned some bodies and equipment back to the ship? Do we have autopsy reports or inventories of the gear? Shall we take a look?"

“Yes. Three human bodies. All dead by violence, which one suspected suicide. They perished at least 15,000 years ago. Their equipment—including what I think might be battledress—is in the brig. There are a lot of things that we’ve collected while we were disabled. Honestly, I think we need to focus on the ship and ourselves first. The rest will be there later.”

After that discussion, he'll go see Bilis.

She is in Lucius’ new robotics lab, cleverly disguised as a larger version of the deconstructor/fabricator that he has before. The lab is…spacious.

"Bilis, how are you? What can you tell us of your experiences the past couple days. How have you been changed? By the way, we saw several external fabricators in the Ancients compound. Is that something you are also capable of, or are your capabilities internal? Just curious.

“I am mostly unchanged. I was upgraded with new capabilities but I am still me. I have been collecting patterns as things are brought in. This pleases me. I also have plans to recreate everything aboard the ship, including some of the bridge technologies. That will prove useful if repairs are needed. If we can gain access to the fabricators, possibly. I would like to see some of the output. I wish I could be there, but I cannot.”

“By the way, here's an Ancient's tech Vacc Suit I brought back. Would you like to make a pattern of it? Perhaps print some for us all in our sizes? Can you tell us what the suits' features are that are different than our own? And, would you be able to make a completed or repaired pattern of the combat suit with a hole in it? If not, I think there might be a Combat Suit still intact. I can check."

“I will be happy to try.”

[terrymixon]

Roscoe looked at the rest. “With this added to what was done to us, I think we are in more peril than we can imagine. If anyone finds out the full scope—or even some of it—we will be hunted across the width and breadth of Charted Space. I don’t even know the specifics of what was done and I can see that. What do we do?”

Jaelah puts her napkin in her lap and picks up her water glass. "We blend in, and we keep being bounty hunters. We can use false identifications for both the ship and ourselves." She looks toward Bills. "Would you be adverse to having a body like Roscoe's? Except as a female, of course. It's getting odd being the only woman in this group." Jaelah grins. "You may even get the pick of the litter." She grins at Roscoe. "Except for Roscoe."

“Regretfully, I am not designed that way. My place is in the hardware and I cannot split my persona as Roscoe can. Roscoe is safe from my wiles.”

[Thumper]

Walt-

"What do we do?”

First thing's first, we don't EVER let ANYONE on board the Lost and Found that has seen it up close before. And nobody gets to nose around anywhere sensitive without an escort.

Second, we leverage the location of this Ancient site for leeway for us to get annual maintenance or any repairs any place we choose. We don't need money. We have some and can make plenty more. We need freedom of movement...free from Shrubgarden's contstraints. We need to own the ship outright without interference.

Third, nobody can learn of our psi powers or the extent of our augments. Any apparent changes to our physical bodies must be explained by this station, conditioning enroute, or Metz' genius.

Fourth, we build contingency plans in case we need to run. Been doing that my whole life. Welcome to the trade...not fun!!"

[terrymixon]

Walt-

"What do we do?”

First thing's first, we don't EVER let ANYONE on board the Lost and Found that has seen it up close before. And nobody gets to nose around anywhere sensitive without an escort.

Second, we leverage the location of this Ancient site for leeway for us to get annual maintenance or any repairs any place we choose. We don't need money. We have some and can make plenty more. We need freedom of movement...free from Shrubgarden's contstraints. We need to own the ship outright without interference.

Third, nobody can learn of our psi powers or the extent of our augments. Any apparent changes to our physical bodies must be explained by this station, conditioning enroute, or Metz' genius.

Fourth, we build contingency plans in case we need to run. Been doing that my whole life. Welcome to the trade...not fun!!"

“Running in and of itself should not prove difficult,” Bilis said. “The new drive can easily outrun word of us. Coming back when word has spread would be problematic.”

[Thumper]

Walt-
”Then maybe we trade this site for freedom and go leave the sector for a while? There’s lots of cool places out there.”