A Rush and a Push (IC)

[tibbius]

Vee looks at Eyeless. "No, yeah, you're right. But ... I think your buddy's plan to track the thing sounds better. Course the Sheriff's deppeties have tried that, but none of em are proper tracker, right? I bet maybe y'all could do better. Yeah?"

[kalstone]

Violet

"Yeah, if we catch it sleepin' we won't need an ambush. That's a pretty big IF though."

[tibbius]

You step out into the early afternoon, the pain-squinting light of the white desert sun in its blue-white sky. Violet's face and Eyeless' chin feel the flame. Quicksilver notes the air temp is high out of limit. It's a shocking transition from the air conditioned machine shop.

Walking down to the fatal light, you look around. There are a couple of shopfronts, across from each other, each one shuttered with those roll-down metal gates over the windows and doors. Signs above the shutters tell you that these used to be competing liquor stores, that maybe drove each other and themselves from business. Either that, or they don't open up until it's cooler outside. On the other two corners are a parking lot that does not appear to serve any particular business, and across from that is a low brick building with black glass windows that looks like an abandoned strip joint. Scraggly yellow grass fails to thrive among the grey gravel that distinguishes its parking lot from the red clay earth.

The traffic light hangs steady, blinking RED and YELLOW.

You notice, under the traffic light, a pattern of gouges in the cracked and faded blacktop. Like claw marks. Among the gouges, tiny cubes of glass, like from a shattered car window, sparkle a deceivingly cool blue-green under the sun.

[kalstone]

Violet takes a look at the area to see if she can determine anything about the creature and what direction it headed.

[tibbius]

Clued in to the gouges in the pavement, Violet looks for more of the same. The gouges point toward the empty parking lot. When she goes there, she sees big scuffs in the gravel that reveal bare red clay with ... more gouges. There's little sprays of clay pointing back toward the street from the gouges. The gouges point toward a gap between two apparently abandoned houses. And beyond that? open country that appears to drop off abruptly, about a quarter to half a mile away.

The heat's getting to you all. Quicksilver has a persistent 446 Hz audio signal in one microphone that stays constant azimuth no matter how he twists his head. It's probably time to get back under cover.

[Lance]

Quicksilver heads back. "I miss the machine shop. Maybe I'll ask about additional heat sinks. Ride could use some too." He keeps talking while walking "You thinking an ambush in the houses? One on the roof, one in each house? To be frank, I doubt that marks this obvious escaped the notice of the sheriff."

[kalstone]

"I reckon that will do for an ambush. Eyeless is right though. What do we have to use for bait?"

[Lance]

Quicksilver ponders the options "I'd rather not wait for some civilian to end up in danger. Our other option is to put one of our own in harm's way. I don't mind being that bait." He shrugs in a practiced, mechanical way. "The creature might visit without bait though, and we could capture or dispose of it in that case. Tracking it back to it's hideout is also an option, though spending some time in the oppressive heat, I agree with it's inclination to be active at nighttime." He stops in his tracks to look at the others "Again, I have to emphasize that the tracks are obvious. We might need to ask the sheriff, all clandestine-like, why they didn't persue this angle."

[kalstone]

Violet

"Talkin' to the sheriff sounds good. We've got nothin' else to do until sundown anyway."

[tibbius]

Quicksilver ponders the options "I'd rather not wait for some civilian to end up in danger. Our other option is to put one of our own in harm's way. I don't mind being that bait." He shrugs in a practiced, mechanical way. "The creature might visit without bait though, and we could capture or dispose of it in that case. Tracking it back to it's hideout is also an option, though spending some time in the oppressive heat, I agree with it's inclination to be active at nighttime." He stops in his tracks to look at the others "Again, I have to emphasize that the tracks are obvious. We might need to ask the sheriff, all clandestine-like, why they didn't persue this angle."

Violet

"Talkin' to the sheriff sounds good. We've got nothin' else to do until sundown anyway."

Vee directs you to the Courthouse - "That building with the white dome up top, all bright and gleaming in the sun. Sheriff's up in there this time of day. Probably talkin with Judge Hawker."

[kalstone]

"Thanks. Guess we'll be heading that way."

[Lance]

"We shall head anywhere that's out of the sun!" Quicksilver adds, hurrying his steps towards the courthouse. "Thank you, Vee."

[tibbius]

Passing along the streets toward the courthouse, you briefly go under the shadow of a four story gleaming blue glass building. "S A L T I N C" in big dull white letters across its top floor. You also pass a Post Office, where a scrawny cat sprawls at the top of the brick steps and gazes at you. There's some kind of small rundown looking building a couple doors further from the Post Office, above its entrance (which is a couple steps down from the cracked sidewalk) is a silhouette in flickering purple neon:


Beyond the neon silhouette building is a wide expanse of what would be a grassy park if this town had rain enough for nice grass; instead, it's an acre of cracked and parched red clay with sprouty patches of yellow wiregrass, tumbleweeds, and little purplish green cacti (prickly pears).

At the far side of the "park" is the Courthouse. By this time you're dry and dusty.

[Lance]

By this time you're dry and dusty.

Noted as code names for later. Mr Dry and Mr Dusty.

Quicksilver adjusts his light green hood to keep as much of the sun and dust out of his sensors as possible. He adjusts his path to coincide with any shadows he can manage.

[seanfsmith]

Eyeless gingerly steps out from near the post office and communicates in SSL (service sign language):

Sorry. Overheated.

[tibbius]

Going up the shiny marble steps to the courthouse entrance, you notice that a few sets of boot prints mark the fine coating of pink dust. The multiple doors of the courthouse are a wide expanse of white plasteel with grey metal handles, all reverberating with the heat of the sun and mostly coated with a thin film of dust. The two left hand door handles are clean of dust. Faded paper signs, stuck onto the other doors, have faded greyish arrows pointing toward those two doors.

You operate the two working doors, and enter the impressive foyer of the courthouse. The room is about thirty feet high and about sixty feet across, with skylights surrounding a domed ceiling. In the back wall several large yellow doors seem likely to open into courtrooms. To the left are the bathrooms, to the right is a lobby desk staffed by a droid who appears to be in rest mode. Behind the lobby desk is a big glass panel wall, and through that wall you can see several people - one droid, four humans - sitting around a conference table. Three of the humans appear to be listening intently to the fourth one. It's hard to tell what the droid at the table is doing.

There is a door in the glass panel wall, but to get to it you would have to pass around the lobby desk and the resting droid.

[kalstone]

Violet

Violet calls out, "Hello? We're here to see the sheriff. Is he abouts?"

[tibbius]

The desk droid's oval face panel flickers and then lights up to show a smiling green female countenance. "Why are you here?" she asks. "You can use plain language to tell me why you are here. Are you here to file a police report? Do you need other assistance?" She waits with a blank but pleasant expression.

[Lance]

Quicksilver switches to SSL (service sign language)

Code: Select all

"Greetings, I am Mr Dry.
These are my associates Mr Dusty and Ms Desert.
We are looking into the midnight disappearances
and would like to sync our notes with the sheriff.
Is he present, and if so, available?"

[tibbius]

The pale green female face momentarily glitches. "You want to see the sheriff. He is ... in his office. He is ... in a meeting. May I take a message?"