The first foray into the Tesseract was conducted through a remote drone, with Niny'ah piloting.
Log follows, perspective Patashu:
[OOC] Chevesh says, "I don't see Kamare on. But I'm starting to wonder if tonight would be a good night for the Tesseract."
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "full run, or the Scout run?"
[OOC] Patashu says, "Kamare's schedule is such that she always logs on exactly one hour from now, if that helps you make a decision"
[OOC] Chevesh says, "Oh, the scout run could actually be done without leaving Kamare behind yeah."
[OOC] Chevesh says, "Yeah, I wanna do the scout run."
[OOC] Patashu says, "Aha"
[OOC] Amy says, "Amy doesn't have her suit yet either"
Niny'ah says, "Patashu, thought just crossed - do you have the scout drones ready?"
Patashu smiles and places claws on Chevesh's face, rubbing softly. And then ohs, and nods to Niny'ah. "Yeah. We ran them through a simulated environment of that acidic chemical too, and they didn't immediately fall apart."
Chevesh perks up, and twists onto her feet. "That sounds great." She rumbles. "I'm in favour of doing this rather than going in blind... I might just need someone who can bend space to help me widen the bridge."
Niny'ah says, "I guess that's all we can ask, given how nasty that place is"
Chevesh purrs, "Or, you know... a device that can."
Voksa says, "Oh! Speaking of."
Voksa pretends to make phone dial tones.
Corsa arrives from Primary Factory Complex.
Corsa has arrived.
Corsa peeks head in!
( A kobold walks into the room and sets a package down on a worktable, with generic PI branding, then a couple more. Each package has inside of it a telepresence quadcopter drone - four rotors, manipulator arms, cameras, microphone, wireless uplink. Ruggedized, doesn't look like cheap plastic )
Chevesh waves to Corsa. "Oh, just the person I could use right now." She rumbles bounding over to greet them. "Do you think you could carefully widen a gap between two spaces that use different sets of three spacial dimensions for me?"
Kobalt listens to the conversation quietly, then looks up, "Can I come along since it's just scout drones being sent?" He asks.
Kobalt is curious about what's going on.
Corsa lifts their head suddenly, then nods to Chevesh! They're just slightly more animated than their previous appearances. "You have a bridge already, yes?"
Chevesh nods. "It's very, very tiny. But it's providing constant power draw, if that will help track it. I can temporarily shut off the gravity lens covering it, by making false system reports."
Corsa pulls themself a little closer, carefully fitting parts of their wings in through the hangar. "May I inspect it? You shouldn't feel anything, this is a passive sense."
Chevesh nods, but turns her head to look around. "Yeah... can we do it here? There may be toxic gas escaping. I don't really know, it happened sometimes."
You rumble, "Hmm. If you're worried about a toxic gas leak, I'd suggest you and the drones be behind an airlock and us on the other side. Ironically, the Apocalypse-o-matic would work for that purpose, since it's already designed to get fucked up and clean itself."
Chevesh thinks for a moment, and folds her ears back embarrassedly. It almost looks like shame. "It may also be easier if my frame is exposed without the skin."
Corsa says, "I can safely examine you here, but it would be prudent to sit somewhere safe during the crossing. I believe there's a wear-testing chamber that would be safe...""
Vahno says, "Yeah."
Vahno says, "Safe is better."
Chevesh stands up... amazing how little time she spends on two paws around here. She nods to Corsa, then turns to stand with her back to the edge of Quadlibet. Just to prevent stray radiation while her defense is down. "If you want to examine it passively... the lense will be shutting down for a better look in thirty seconds."
Amy digs in her pack and hurriedly gets her own probe operational.
Kobalt gets to his feet, but pauses and asks Chevesh, "Do you mind if I come with the others to see what's found? Not sure if everyone's invited or not."
Niny'ah rubs her hands together. Things are getting readyt o Happen
Corsa nods once, briefly glancing where Chevesh is turning! "Understood. It shouldn't take long." They reach paws out close, tuning in to the shape of local space, like a spider feeling the pull on its web!
Thea arrives from elsewhere in the base.
Thea has arrived.
Chevesh waves to Thea! She's standing with her back to the spaceport, looking down at her chest, as Corsa examines her.
Niny'ah steps out a moment
Vahno hugs Thea.
Niny'ah gets wrapped up with a synth suit in the form of a winged unicorn anthro.
Niny'ah returns, more Equipped for the tasks at hand
Thea wanders up. "Well, this is a heck of an exam. Hey Chevesh-!" Hugged from behind! She wiggles a bit, then wraps her tail around Vahno for a moment, nosing on him. "And hello to you too."
Vahno says, "Wonder if my hazmat thing would work."
Amy sweatdrops. Crunch time and she's not nearly ready. Time for plan B! She finishes carving that huge rock she'd left in the corner...
"Unless it's specced for Flourine Gas," Niny'ah says, " no"
Chevesh nods toward Thea. "Hey! Corsa's getting a feel for my bridge... we might be sending a drone in."
Vahno says, "I... don't know? I just sorta went with extra-heavy duty when ordering it."
You rumble, "I wouldn't be surprised if Vahno's suit can handle it."
Amy says, "unless it's teflon, it's not."
Chevesh thinks, and amends, "We -are- sending a drone in."
Niny'ah says, "that's not something I want to leave to chance"
Thea nods, then gives Vahno a surprise squeeze-hug in return now that he's distracted. "You can always take the mask, see if fluorine gas gets through it."
Amy says, "spray it with flourine. If it **catches fire**. it's not specced."
Niny'ah says, "pretty sure the only thing that'll reliably stop flourine is Metaphysical materials and magic"
Chevesh blinks at Kobalt, and says "Oh, I keep meaning to respond to you, but I keep forgetting. I apologize." She nods toward Patashu. "I've been letting anybody Patashu vouches for enter if they want."
Corsa focuses intently, paws waving. It looks a little bit like a medium gesturing and waving over a crystal ball! When the shield lens drops, they lift their head suddenly. "Oh! This is an interesting distortion... You're built similar to my own reactor."
You rumble, "Kobalt can come, yes!"
Thea then looks to Chevesh, "I actually have a chem suit ready. And if this body of mine breaks, no big deal. Most of the time spent making it was design, not production; I can replace it."
Chevesh glances up to Corsa, folding one ear back. "I am? So you should understand how to widen it pretty easily, then?"
Corsa says, "I can't widen it, exactly. Not without more information, there are parts not visible from here. But what I can do is send a volume through all at once... More like teleporting than making a portal."
Chevesh ponders that, then nods. "My parts appear kind of like teleportation when they arrive. So that makes sense." She pauses. "Well, from my lay-person's perspective anyway."
Niny'ah says, "a Flickerport"
Kobalt nods to Chevesh, "It's fine." He then perks and looks at Patashu, "Oh, perfect! I have a very heavy duty EV suit, and uh... the rating from the Apocalypse-o-matic for this frame..." He just sorta trails off there, but if anything breaks, well I have backups of myself and backup frames."
Niny'ah says, "where you need line-of-sight but not contiguous cross-sectional size"
Patashu thumbs up. "For this first run we're just sending in telepresence drones, but that'll help for the full run."
Chevesh purrs, "I'm not certain the worst chemicals were on the surface... those all seemed to be much deeper inside. The last people who went in managed to come out without being burned completely. Just surface burns on exposed skin... but they never delved deeper into the more toxic parts."
Niny'ah says, "it is VERY dangerous"
Corsa slowly tilts their head to the side, single small screen focused on Chevesh. "I see... Interesting! Is there any security on this door I should be aware of? Does it bite?"
Niny'ah says, "that's why we're scouting first"
Niny'ah says, "even if all the intel we get is 'there's something that shoots down drones', that's something of value"
Kobalt nods to Patashu, listening curiously to what's being said.
Vahno digs around in his bag.
Chevesh glances up to Corsa, and shakes her head. "No... drones have been sent in before. There was usually an attempted warbot activation cycle in response, but I always shut it down. And... well, that's not so much of an issue anymore."
Corsa says, "Oh, perfect. Without a continuous opening, this also means the atmosphere shouldn't leak."
[OOC] Chevesh says, "Are we sending an actual puppet through? I can provide access to it."
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "I hadn't thought that far ahead"
[OOC] Patashu says, "I'm picturing we all go in but just ICly act as drones"
[OOC] Chevesh says, "That works for me."
[OOC] Patashu says, "just for mucking-convenience, we'd physically still be out here"
[OOC] Kobalt says, "Patashu's plan sounds good, yeah."
[OOC] Chevesh says, "Yeah, I think that's a good plan."
[OOC] Chevesh says, "I might not respond out here while everyone's inside."
Chevesh drops Tesseract Portal.
[OOC] Voksa says, "Woah, cool..."
l tesseract portal
You see nothing special.
Chevesh looks down at her chest, and reaches up a paw to scratch idly at her collarbone. "Well... I guess we won't need the apocolypse-o-matic, then... " she rumbles. "I guess we can send the drone right inside then."
[OOC] Chevesh says, "The action when you're ready is 'enter tesseract.' If it doesn't work, I may have to reset the dark flag on the object."
Patashu thumbs up. Unpacks drones and sets them between Corsa and Chevesh. "Everyone get a wireless link up. Corsa, teleport 'em in when ready."
[OOC] Thea tries!
Thea approaches the field of warped light, and visibly deforms as they are pulled toward a distant point in space and vanish.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah approaches the field of warped light, and visibly deforms as they are pulled toward a distant point in space and vanish.
Niny'ah has left.
enter tesseract
You approach the field of warped light, and experience the world around you bending outward and around you, receding into a warped, compressed distance before disappearing from sight. A new tableau arises from an infinitely distant point in space ahead of you, and bends forward to envelop your position.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] The Toxic Sky
It would certainly be useful, right now, if you had no need to breath... or life-support equipment to compensate. Because the atmosphere you find yourself in is choked with toxic chemicals that blister skin and sear the lungs and throat, making suriviving in this awful place nigh-impossible for any unprepared organic being.
Upon first arriving, you begin in the sky, far above the corpse of a large rocky moon. Many smaller chunks that used to be part of the whole drift nearby, and the moon itself seems to have been gutted, deep visible swaths of its interior volume scooped out and replaced with tiered floors that go on literally for kilometers square, like the levels of a warehouse or parking garage. Evenly-spaced geometric structures have manifested across almost every square foot of the surface area, erupting from one another like barnacles or mechanical fungii, layers built upon layers.
Across the northern hemisphere of the planet, the gasses that may be threatening to choke you now can be seen billowing slowly from a pair of smokestacks that erupt into the sky around the planet, seemingly impossibly long and thin, easy to snap under their own weight. But they are not alone. They erupt among a veritable forest of pipes and chimneys, all the rest of which issue no smoke forth, gone dead and silent now. Were this a normal moon in normal space, those chimneys would easily reach into a stable orbit.
You fall beside a massive tower, slowly, the gravity here seeming almost nonexistent. It juts out of the center of the moon, in your direction, high into upper orbit. The top of it glows faintly, pulses of power rising up the impossible mast and disappearing at its point. Large toothed rails also extend up the length of this mast, following its sides, seeming designed to rotate like conveyor belts, to carry something... somewhere. Should you go and check, you will find the space at the tip of this tower completely normal and providing no exit back the way you came. At least, not now. Not for anything physical. It is good that the moon does not seem to move or rotate. It would be easy to imagine that the slightest shift in momentum would snap this tower free from the stellar body without any effort at all.
The sky in which you and this planet float is dark and unlit from any exterior source. The only light in this dim place comes from the moon itself, the many bright lights that dot its surface projecting into a seemingly infinite whorling cloud of brown and yellow smoke, fogging your view of anything but the moon at any great distance. The... environment, here, feels strange in many other ways. It is difficult to put your finger on exactly why, but the effects of gravity on your body feel wrong somehow. Sound doesn't travel quite right. And, until you have taken time to adapt to it, distance and perspective feel off, the result of experiencing the world through three dimensions as normal... but asking your brain to process it through dimensions that do not exactly function as the ones you are used to, in ways it would be difficult to explain without an exterior perspective looking in. Your very frame of reference is subtly alien, after all.
From here, gravity will pull you down to the moon's surface, eventually. Though very slowly. You can also grasp the tower nearby easily, and climb down under your own power.
Obvious Exits:
Down
Contents: Niny'ah, and Thea
## There are possible hidden listeners here.
Kobalt has arrived.
Vahno has arrived.
Corsa has arrived.
There are no warning bells as the drone arrives. Also, very little sound, distorted as the soundwaves are by the strange space. The connection to the drone flickers, then comes in more strongly as Chevesh utilizes a wireless connection to link it to the world outside of the tesseract.
Amy has arrived.
There are no warning bells as the drone arrives. Also, very little sound, distorted as the soundwaves are by the strange space. The connection to the drone flickers, then comes in more strongly as Chevesh utilizes a wireless connection to link it to the world outside of the tesseract. (repost)
You rumble, "Oh, wow... This place is beautiful..."
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "is it just the one drone, or are we each running our own?"
[OOC] Thea figures it's just the one for now; why risk getting a whole fleet wrecked?
OOC: I was assuming just the one, unless you specifically want otherwise.
Kobalt says, "This is... woah."
[OOC] Niny'ah's imagining someone dragged out one of the 'security camera battlestations' for outside observers too
Thea scans the readout. "Huh. Impressive... I like the look of this place."
Niny'ah . o O ( who's piloting? )
You rumble, "Yesss. It's just industrial beauty in its purest form. Really, the only thing wrong with it is that it's not under Chevesh's control, but instead an antagonistic part of her."
Indeed, the amount of flourine in the atmosphere seems negligible. Though still harmful to exposed skin. There are plenty of other nasty things though, like a cocktail of noxious chemicals.
Corsa . o O ( Oh yeah, whoever's piloting can carry the rest of us with the Ride command to stick together :B )
Patashu . o O ( I'm fine with Niny'ah driving since it's her idea )
Corsa . o O ( Yeah, Niny'ah is also sort of a famously good pilot if I recall )
Niny'ah . o O ( you recall correctly )
Vahno says, "Wonder if that's the factory..."
You rumble, "Has to be - look around us. There's literally nothing else! No stars in this sky. I wonder what would happen if we flew in the wrong direction - do we just donk a wall?"
Thea . o O ( An antagonistic part of her. Hrm. I should avoid anything resembling a personality prism, thinking of it. )
Niny'ah guides the drone down along the portal-elevator pylon, thrusters temporarily ineffective in the thinner atmosphere at higher altitude, but eventually the drone's own systems come back through on its built-in microphone, before being trimmed out by Squelch Control.
Thea says, "Depends on the geometry of the inner continuum. Most shapes do some flavor of looping."
Niny'ah's imagining it as a big wraparound panoramic screen for the observers
Vahno says, "...Wonder if could just... bomb it."
Niny'ah says, "Vahno, no. her Mind is in here somewhere"
Thea looks to Vahno. "Would you like it if someone dropped bombs on your insides?"
Niny'ah says, "We're just Looking right now"
Vahno says, "I'm just thinking out loud."
You rumble, "This is the same factory that repairs Chevesh too, as nice as it would be to just go scorched earth on the place."
Amy watches intently. "Thought we were launching tons of probes, not just one."
Vahno says, "Rrrrright."
Kobalt says, "I don't think we need more than one right now, Amy?"
Outside, peering over the console, Chevesh coughs quietly into her paw. "I'd prefer not to be bombed." She mutters.
Niny'ah says, "Someone bap Vahno for me, my hands are full"
Patashu, outside, gives Vahno a hug instead! Instructions unclear ;>
You rumble, "Yeah I was picturing probes for everyone too, but it makes sense - don't REALLY need to send more than one to test the waters. When we're in for ourselves then we can do what we want"
You rumble, "Alright, Niny'ah - see a way we can go? There has to be a way in and out, we're not the first to make this trip"
Thea says, "Yep. No need to risk losing a whole bunch when one suffices."
The drone's rotors eventually can propel it down, given enough time. It helps that gravity is slowly pulling it toward the moon, as is. It may take some time, but the 'down' direction will eventually take the camera toward the surface, at your discretion, unless you fight to maintain an elevated view for a while.
Niny'ah guides a slow descent, giving the group time to each mark points-of-interest for subsequent investigation as the camera pans around. (or rather, her POV-window moves - the bellycam on the drone is a full hemisphere to Not Miss Anything)
The sky around the tip of the projection tower seems unremarkable, no different from anywhere else. However, Corsa's senses will be able to retain a sense for the drone near that location, through the invisible aperture through which it arrived.
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "for reference, you know how in some games it shows you where you're looking on the minimap? same idea"
'Kamare has arrived.
Vahno sticks his tongue out at Niny.
Outside, Chevesh waves to Kamare, huddled around the drone feed and watching Niny piloting it through the tesseract.
You rumble, "Oh, hey Kam! Check *this* place out, right?"
Thea is pretty focused on the readouts, making mental notes of what needs what to protect against.
Amy quietly punches in a few orders with the kobolds.
Kobalt watches the screen as Niny'ah has the drone descend, looking around at the area curiously, making notes of anything that stands out to him.
Niny'ah can't see Vahno, piloting the drone through a headset (not strictly needed because of the Alicorn suit but, it's a visual reference)
You rumble, "Alright, think we're ready to take the drone closer, Niny'ah?"
Niny'ah says, "Yeah, you got anything you want to look at first? (GM: give us options?)"
The sky seems still. Nothing additional of note will make itself apparent to the drone on the descent. As it approaches the surface, it will see large domes dotting the horizon to the 'west,' the massive stacked decks of some kind of storage yards to the 'east' which will have large armies of robots resolving into view as you get closer, the large factories toward the 'north' which seem to have white specks of very out-of-place seeming buildings in the outskirts nearby...
'Kamare hm? "What... is that?"
You rumble, "What is what? Or are you just kind of gesturing at *everything*, Kam?"
'Kamare rrs, "The everything, yes."
Thea says, "I'm curious about the domes. Usually that means something even more dangerous than what's outside... or, maybe shielding -from- the outside, implying something important contained within."
Niny'ah begins drifting down toward the surface. When they reach near the stellar body, they suddenly sink much more quickly, thudding onto the ground below.
Niny'ah has left.
Thea has left.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] Base of the Ejection Tower
The surface you find yourself on is not regolith, but a dust-strewn metal plate of some large complex poking out of the surface of the moon. Having gotten a good look from above, you know that this area spans what you could guess to be 700km x 500km, and there are many segments that intersect with eachother to present higher or lower portions of the ground. You are currently at one edge of the entire complex, and can see the strangely smooth and unmarred lunar surface just to your west.
The Ejection Tower looms far above you, disappearing kilometers into the impenetrable gloom of the yellow-brown clouds. Seeming impossibly slender for its impressive height, it resembles a needle disappearing into the sky, lit with powered rails and crackling electricity and surges from the base to the sky above, causing rumblings of artificial thunder within the clouds, and disappearing. This is the connection to the outside world in the dimensions you came from, though, the apeture may wisely remain closed for all but specific uses.
Just south of the Ejection Tower, a smooth cone-topped tower rises from the dust off the edge of the metal platform, projecting only five meters above ground level, and with a ladder built into its side that reaches the top and is also covered by the ground below. If you wished to, you could easily climb to the top and explore what this structure is.
To your immediate east, the signs of battle can be seen. This is also the direction of the immense flat storage yards upon which, even from here, you can see the outlines of distant warbots resting among its many floors. And between you and them, the scars and melted, twisted slag of weapons-fire impacts upon the metal plates, and an immense semi-circular wall of twisted, misshapen robot bodies, the trailing end of which stretches north from there.
To the north, over the edge of the nearby lunar horizon, you spot the immense smokestacks... all of which seem dormant. And nearer you than that, one of many large, roughly rectangular structures moulded up out of the surrounding metal, towering like a series of immense aircraft hangars in the distance. Brighter, newer-seeming structures that seem very out of place arise before reaching that far.
The rails of the Ejection Tower, running down the sides of it, bend outward at the base here. One of them stretches north, toward the distant factories, while the other three... representing the other sides of the tower... terminate in large flat pads, with long struts that seem designed to lift up and shift whatever rests upon them onto the rails, and send it shooting up toward the distant point of the tower.
Obvious Exits:
East, North, South, Up, and West
Contents: Thea, Niny'ah, Destroyed C&C Robot [Fake], Destroyed Warbots [Fake], and Spent Munitions [Fake]
## There are possible hidden listeners here.
Corsa has arrived.
Kobalt has arrived.
'Kamare has arrived.
Vahno has arrived.
Niny'ah brings Thea, Patashu, Corsa, Kobalt, 'Kamare, and Vahno with her, holding hands.
Amy arrives from the ejection tower above, and falls quickly in the last few feet to land on the surface nearby.
Amy has arrived.
OOC: For the record, this is set up ideally to be explorable and investigable with very little GM running of the environment. Though I am always here to handle special investigations and answer questions.
l destroyed C&C robot
This robot consists of a central structure, narrower in the front than in the back, and a wide clamshell structure, one mounted atop the other on a rotating joint. The thinner structure has four long, four-jointed legs, insectile in appearance, ending in pointed legs that couldn't possibly have carried its weight without sinking into the ground. The upper, clamshell structure... similar to that of its kin... holds a pair of immense, heavy arms that likely could have rested their wicked bladed points upon the ground and helped it walk even when upright, by stretching out ahead of it like the appendages of a mantis. A tall conical structure rests upon its top surface, on a mount that allows it to swing down and out of the way, and the tip of that structure has what was once a rotating assembly of sensory devices and what are easily recognizable as broadcast devices. One of the panels of its 'shoulders' hangs slightly ajar, showing that they could once slide upward to reveal what were probably ranged weapons, though they appear more like stone plates with their edge facing forward, the sides of them carved with shallow networks of lines that start out thin and many against the mounting for the weapon, and progressively merge and join until they converge into a single line that meets at the forward edge.
Niny'ah offers to take Amy by the hand with her.
l destroyed warbots
There are three of these. They have long, backward-bent legs common to many early forms of walking mech on multiple worlds, attached to a simple set of hips that carry the rest of the torso on them on a swivel-mount. The clamsell shape of the upper body is identical on all three warbots, having an array of six openings in the front of their shells covered in an armoured glass. But the weapons they carry are not identical. All three have mounts for weaponry on their shoulders, and their arms are merely structures for holding guns of some kind. None of them have close-combat weaponry or grasping appendages... platforms for carrying guns into battle, and nothing more. All three have extensive dents and holes from small-arms fire littering their shells, and all three likewise have a ragged hole through their centers where it looks like they were cored through completely by sustained fire from some manner of weapon... if you have experience with such things, clearly some form of solid-projectile weapons were used in all cases against these machines.
l spent munitions
The ground here is littered with spent shell casings, from a variety of sizes of conventional solid-projectile munitions. There were at least five different kinds of weapon used here, and the trail of spent casings leads toward the east. As well as shell casings, there are also a pair of discarded mounting blocks that once held space marked for three self-propelled explosive projectiles each.
Niny'ah says, "Pata, how fast can this drone move? we got a lot of distance to cover, no matter what we look at..."
Niny'ah checks over the sensorium telemetry (Patashu?)
Thea says, "No wonder your power bus knocked me on my tail. You're plugged into the same mains the tower is, aren't you?"
Patashu indicates the tall energized needle tower stretching far above. "I get the impression that's the way 'out', hmm..." And answers Niny'ah. "Yeah, I'm afraid it can't go supersonic or anything. I don't think I was thinking about just how BIG this place would be..." The drone has electromagnetic sensors, so if it's some kind of an electromagnetic signal or spike it could be picked up
Thea says, "Now I'm curious about why this is inside of a cat of all things, no offense."
Amy says, "Are we gonna need a spaceship to explore this place?"
Niny'ah says, "Pull up a chair, we're gonna be here a while."
Chevesh looks to Thea, and shakes her head, whispering "I don't know... this is the first I'm seeing it."
Niny'ah says, "A skimmer-sled at minimum"
Patashu chuckles, and sweat drops. "...I'll set up a board game we can play between points of interest."
Thea hrms, nods to Chevesh.
Niny'ah says, "Something the size of the Speers would be just about perfect as a mission-craft (no you can't use the Speers. I like that ship)"
'Kamare rrs, "Wait, this is Chevesh's Tesseract?"
Patashu (hahaha)
You rumble, "Yes!"
The rails are intermittently powered, coming from the north. Hidden, very strong power mains lead to the west, and spread through the complex from this point. Some minor individual power sources seem to actually be moving, to the north.
You rumble, "She basically has a moon stuffed inside of her. Except 'stuffed' is a bit physically inaccurate, it's more like an extradimensional space that just happens to be near her at all times."
Niny'ah says, "I just call it a spacefold pocket, unless clarification is needed."
Niny'ah says, "A very, VERY big spacefold pocket. Thea, maybe this is what we were dealing with when the Atlantis drive barfed."
Chevesh nods. "This is why I get nervous going inside of space-warped places. Though it's never hurt me yet."
Patashu gestures at the broken robots and signs of a battle. "I'm guessing this is the aftermath of the last time you had folks over for company?"
Chevesh says, "I'd assume so... it's the only time there was ever fighting in here, unless it happened a long time ago before I woke up."
Vahno says, "...You think Chevy was on one of the ships when we warped?"
You rumble, "Makes sense. Luckily there's nothing live that wants to shoot at us, or that'd be the end of scouting trip #1."
Thea says, "Maybe not Chevy, but someone with a similar arrangement."
Niny'ah says, "Maybe not her, but someone running on the same principle of design. a Bigger Inside so you don't have to miniaturize a synthetic mind"
Amy hmmms.
Speaking of things being live, there are power sources actively moving to the north.
This could either mean to not go there, or to investigate it first, depending on how that makes you feel.
Niny'ah's attention is drawn by the pip on the HUD> "Shall we investigate?
You rumble, "North? If it's actively powered, it has my attention."
Niny'ah spins the drone and heads that-a-way!
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] The Factory Outskirts.
Niny'ah has left.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] The Factory Outskirts
Here, to the north of the Ejection Tower, you stand in the shadow of many enormous, roughly rectangular structures to the north of you still. Even though you have not reached the edges of these mighty buildings, their mass still dominates the view in that direction. Each of these must be one of the [factories] in the array around which this entire landscape has been built.
The [rail] at your feet, which leads in the direction of the Ejection Tower, can be seen to split apart further north of you, leading to only one of these immense buildings. The rest of the factories that you can see at this distance seem to have rails leading east, toward the storage yards.
Just on the eastern side of the rail, though, a trio of much smaller [buildings] catch your eye. They seem very much out of place in this landscape, amidst the oversized, unapologetically stark and industrial environment.
To your east, you can make out a short tower of some kind, that seems to be partially scarred and damaged by battle.
Obvious Exits:
[Factory] Complex, East, South, Warehouse [1], Warehouse [2], and Warehouse [3]
Contents: Thea, and Niny'ah
## There are possible hidden listeners here.
Corsa has arrived.
Kobalt has arrived.
'Kamare has arrived.
Vahno has arrived.
Amy has arrived.
Niny'ah brings Thea, Patashu, Corsa, Kobalt, 'Kamare, Vahno, and Amy with her, holding hands.
l factories
Each of these titanic structures has an open face in your direction, allowing somewhat of a view inside, to a surprisingly familiar mechanical fabrication facility, from what you can see. But the details are still a little far away to make out clearly. They stretch over 25 meters into the air above ground level, seeming larger even in perspective to the small body on which they rest. The number of factories is difficult to tell, at first, since some of them lay behind others out of view, but you can already see powered rails from other factories stretching out between the buildings to join the bus feeding the storage yards.
l rail
The rail here seems to have been intercepted, somewhat. A newer, differently-constructed device is fastened to the metal floor, with a clasper that looks obviously designed to extend and fit over the existing rail, though it is right now retracted and lifted up out of the way. This extendable clasp is mounted onto a platform, with a bed for loading things onto, that is attached to a different form of rail leading directly to one of those white plastic buildings. It seems that this might be a loading system, installed afterward, designed to send cargo along the rails, possibly set up to intercept and manipulate the loading programs of the facility itself.
l buildings
There are three of them, and each one is clearly labeled with a printed, familiar number on its exterior: 1, 2, and 3. Beneath each of these numbers is also printed words in block stenciled letters. 1 is labeled as 'Biological Storage,' 2 is labeled as 'Design and Fabrication,' and 3 is labeled as 'Material Storage.' They seem to be made of some thick white plastic, though covered in a clear waxy coating of some kind, and left upon the surface without really being incorporated directly into the surroundings. The walls are almost segmented, with bands of thicker and thinner structure, almost as if they were designed to be collapsible.
Corsa says, "Do you see the buildings? They have some sort of coating. Maybe we could replicate that for our own exploration later."
Thea says, "One thing I will say is that whoever made this mess really liked kinetics... considering the tech base needed to make a place like this, I'm surprised they got anywhere that way."
Niny'ah puts a finger-pointer 'tag' on the out-of-place buildings. "Those must be her Skin Factory."
To the north, there is sluggish movement from some metallic bulk. It hasn't changed its pacing back and forth yet in response to the drone's presence.
Patashu taps chin, assessing the drone footage. "There's a number of interesting things here..." To point out something that hasn't been yet, he indicates the rail. "The platform on top of the rails has a different aesthetic. That was added later, maybe along with those 1, 2, 3 buildings?"
Amy says, "My thought is a low tech-base harnessing something high-tech beyond their understanding, Thea."
Kobalt quietly watches for now, not having much to add as he takes mental notes still while listening to the others.
Amy says, "Added later - or earlier perhaps"
Chevesh rubs her neck as she watches the footage. "Those look like Raol's aesthetic." She says, pointing to the white buildings. "He was fond of what he liked to call 'hospital aesthetic.'"
Thea says, "Yeah, that could happen... I wonder if we could use these rails to get around once we go down there? And, Raol?"
Niny'ah . o O ( the 1-2-3 buildings are the newer addition for her organic-skins production, it was indirectly mentioned in the briefings Chev shared )
Chevesh nods. "The one who installed the skins system for me. He was brilliant with biology. He might have even been considered brilliant around here."
Niny'ah says, "By what you've said about him, I'd second that assessment, Chev"
You rumble, "Yeah, I don't doubt it. He'd fit right in around here."
Patashu hmms, "And something else..." He taps at the feed, indicating whatever that moving metallic hulk is. "Chevesh, do you recognize this? My default assumption is we don't want to be seen by it."
Vahno says, "What is that big thing?"
Niny'ah says, "We can always send in another drone. Want me to fly in closer?"
Chevesh leans over, to peer at the feed. "I don't know." She rumbles. "It could be... maybe a warbot, but it's still pretty far away. Good thing there's such little cover in between. Maybe something that was left active just as the crew left... they escaped in a hurry after destroying the warbot relay."
You rumble, "So it might not be organized, but it'll still follow whatever its default orders were... OK, noted."
Patashu nudges Kam. "You might have some warbot slaying to do in the future."
'Kamare rrs, "Oh, lucky me."
You rumble, "C'mon, try to be more excited! Pretend it's me and I asked you for a rematch."
Chevesh perks up, remembering something. "I hope none of the ones with the big towers on their heads are left. They transmit orders to the regular ones. I don't know if they can wake up sleeping warbots."
You rumble, "...Good warning."
Amy says, "Ah, like that dead one."
Chevesh shrugs, a little embarrassed. "I don't know why I didn't think to say that earlier. I'm sorry."
Niny'ah says, "It's a little off-balancing, knowing this is the first time you're seeing this too, Chev"
Niny'ah adds under her breath, "And more than a little scary..."
Chevesh nods to Niny. "I very much agree." She says quietly. "I only know the thing about the warbots because I fought some of the ones that came out of me back on Tempest."
'Kamare rrs, "The problem, Patashu, is I'm less powerful now than I was then."
Thea says, "Attacked by your own warbots... who were the ones who came in here last anyway/"
Niny'ah can't see the nod. headset
'Kamare rrs, "Although I could go back to that leyline and get more crystal from it..."
Niny'ah says, "Raol and Co"
You rumble, "Maybe we'll make it a team effort then, Kam. I can bring a battle-ready body."
Niny'ah says, "They lost a squaddie in here on a mission and another got in a bad way from an air mask failure"
Chevesh tells Thea, "My old crew... sort of mercenaries, sometimes pirates. Before I went clean, and turned 'bringer of hot photon justice.' They were good people though. And... it was less the warbots attacking me, and more... me attacking them."
Thea says, "I think I see... Well, I have kinetics to bring." She sways her tail. "Hopefully that won't be needed though."
Amy says, "Leyline? You can use magic again, Kam?"
'Kamare rrs, "Yes, it's been a thing for a few months."
Vahno frowns. "Hope things don't come to fighting them. It looks mean."
'Kamare rrs, "As for the leyline, in my early SED days I went on a mining expedition with one of the soldiers, can't remember which one, looking for suitable crystals for magic. And we stumbled upon a leyline running through Spindizzy. Seems like we're dragging the thing with us."
Niny'ah says, "Wouldn't surprise me"
You rumble, "I think the best possible outcome would be that we reprogram Chevesh's factory, and we can just make it... make its own immune system against whatever hostile warbots are still left around. But, easier said than done."
Niny'ah says, "That's what we're here to find out, Pata"
You rumble, "Aye. And speaking of, we have a factory right here to help answer our questions."
Niny'ah says, "now, what looks like a control facility?"
Niny'ah wanders the drone around the area fora bit, scouting
Vahno says, "Hah. Maybe we could give total control of it to Chevy."
You rumble, "Control facility? Maybe south of where we started? I think this might be the making-things district."
Amy says, "what *sounds* like a control facility? These things are electromagnetic. Any pings?"
Niny'ah says, "That's a Primary Objective bullet point, Vahno"
Chevesh tilts her head, and then says, "Oh yeah... I guess it sort of is set up in districts, if the warbot storage was to the east, and this is to the north..."
Niny'ah says, "west... looked like just Terrain"
Thea says, "There was domes out there though? Might be something important."
Vahno says, "...west and... down?"
Vahno says, "I dunno, I'm reaching."
There is another blip of power moving around to the east. Near the remains of a short, scarred tower. The two moving blips to the north. Those are the only blips that actually move. Electromagnetic broadcasts seem to be coming from the south.
You rumble, "Down I think might just be solid rock, but it'd be interesting to be wrong"
Niny'ah says, "Got any coffee?, it's a lot way to anywhere here. Just kidding, I can't have caff."
Niny'ah adds the RF overlay to the display. "Lot of radio traffic coming from WSouthward."
OOC: Apologies if I ever miss something that I remember to mention later. I'm trying to remain consistent though.
Vahno says, "Did you turn back to Seirm to get in the suit Niny?"
Kobalt looks at the overlay, tilting his head. "Interesting. Might be worth looking into that."
Niny'ah says, "Have to."
Niny'ah says, "It's Fitted."
Vahno says, "righto."
Amy asks Chevesh, "How long di the last people in here take to get out?"
Amy says, "South seems the most interesting, and t he most dangerous."
Chevesh thinks for a few silent moments, before answering. "One hour, thirteen minutes, twenty-three seconds. Far longer than expected. A lot of guns ran dry... difficulties messing with my computers I think."
Niny'ah says, "I'm brainstorming. Pata, a gunboat might be what's called for. something fast, with light armor and can do a lot of damage quickly. Light, so it can Bug Out if things get too Hot."
You rumble, "For shelling warbots? I can see that. Something that can outspeed a walker basically decides its own rules of engagement"
Niny'ah says, "Not just warbots, but for Getting Anywhere. it's not going to be great if I have 10 hours of air and it takes us 20 hours to get somewhere."
Niny'ah says, "something big enough to have a minimal Decontamination room, repurposed Airlock perhaps?"
Patashu grins, "Yeah. I was thinking this'd be a nice, quiet salvage mission. But actually the place is still a little Hot, so we should make sure it's safe before we settle in to do the long, boring stuff."
'Kamare nods, "Having a long-term air supply will be useful. I can't make air for a large group of people."
Corsa says, "I might know a good ship."
Vahno says, "Aye?"
Niny'ah says, "Oh?"
Niny'ah's guessing at who's talking, by voice. her whole vision is in the drone
Chevesh looks to Corsa. "Voksa?"
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "think 'modern VR headset'"
Corsa says, "Myself. Voksa doesn't have an interior, but I have a large complex of rooms and cargo bays."
You rumble, "And you're OK with potentially being in harm's way?"
Niny'ah says, "I was gonna say, I didn't think Voksa had a passenger comparment"
Chevesh blinks. "Oh... I guess Voksa would be a little small for a full crew. That would be useful."
Corsa says, "Yes. But I'm far faster than I look, if we need to leave it will be over in milliseconds."
Amy says, "...Uh... this may sound like a pretty mundane question but can you look at some of the rocks?"
Niny'ah says, "Oh, sure"
Niny'ah flies down, and passes Amy a secondary control handle for detail-probes
As the drone hovers closer, the metal paneling of the floor is scattered with loose bits of metal. Not a single loose object that can be found is the standard regolith or stone. Not even the dust. Even the dust is a smattering of different metals.
You rumble, "What's the verdict, Amy?"
Niny'ah says, "Pata... tell me I'm reading these scanners right, there's NO raw-stone silicates in here?"
Amy blinks, "...not finding any rock here. Are we...inside?"
Patashu grins. "You think maybe this whole moon is a giant *lump* of metal?"
The closest edge of the bare lunar surface was to the west of the ejection tower, you recall from bird's eye view. Perhaps some stone can be found there.
You rumble, "Certainly makes the manufacturing process dead simple - just mine it and you're done"
Corsa says, "This makes me most suspicious."
Niny'ah says, "Amy, want me to had back to the Edge of the Paving?"
Amy says, "...Worth knowing if this moon is even more cursed than we already thought."
Niny'ah says, "well there's no oxygen to turn things to rust..."
Vahno says, "Wild..."
Niny'ah says, "that just raises a whoooole lot more questions"
Niny'ah heads there!
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] Base of the Ejection Tower.
Niny'ah has left.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] Base of the Ejection Tower
(description cut)
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] Edge of the Barrens.
Niny'ah has left.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] Edge of the Barrens
The surface of the moon stretches out from here, toward the west, and to the edge of the horizon to the north and south. The expanse is strangely smooth, despite being made of a rough, course material. Something about the nature of this [material] catches your eye, striking you as a bit strange.
Further to the west, you can see beyond the open barrens to a set of immense domes rising above the surface, their intent a mystery at this range. But they dominate the horizon in that direction.
To the north, from here, you can see a raised structure... only knee-high, at a guess... poking up out of the sea of dust. Occasional puffs of debris emerge from it, and a powered rail emerges from the side of it, carrying what looks like scoops of compacted material out of that structure, and further north toward the distant factories.
Obvious Exits:
East, North, and West
Contents: Thea, and Niny'ah
## There are possible hidden listeners here.
Corsa has arrived.
Kobalt has arrived.
'Kamare has arrived.
Vahno has arrived.
Amy has arrived.
Niny'ah brings Thea, Patashu, Corsa, Kobalt, 'Kamare, Vahno, and Amy with her, holding hands.
You rumble, "Take two, then"
l material
Bending down and dusting this material off, you find a lustrous and shiny, almost mildly reflective surface of fine shavings greeting you. Apparently, only a layer of dust and grime makes it look so dull from a distance. Beneath, it is a compacted layer of shiny metal chips and shavings. They deform and easily crush together into dense balls in your fist, something very soft... and obviously having partially melted together at some point. If you have a knack for metallurgy, you may identify this material as rubidium, and it spreads uniformly over the surface for as far as you can bother to check.
Niny'ah drops down and wiggles the drone around to blow loose dust into piles for investigation
Thea says, "Looks like rubidium... not a structural metal. Doesn't take heat at all. ... Why plate the moon with it?"
Thea says, "As well, if this was solid metal, you'd expect there would be a lot more gravity, right?"
You rumble, "Why not? No one was ever meant to come attack this place. It's a closed system. The lack of gravity is a curious point, though."
Niny'ah says, "Questions on top of mysteries on top of questions."
Niny'ah says, "it's robo-turtles all the way down."
Amy plays with the finer instruments. "God, tht's a funky spectrum."
The drone's EM detectors can clearly feel a truly, monumentally, ridiculously massive power bus leading deep below the surface toward the west. A smaller branch of it separates and travels north.
Thea says, "I'll bet the domes are the power plant."
Niny'ah says, "Patashu, can you do some Winnowing? I've got the EM overlay off because it's just Noise, there's so much going on."
Amy says, "...it's metal, but ... not ... normal metal. Not even scrap. The top layer is rubidium. What?"
You rumble, "As far as I can tell, the short is that there's a LOT of EM west and a little EM north. Probably power-carrying"
You rumble, "I wonder if it's rubidium the whole way down, or the top strata is different for some reason..."
Not taken account in the description, much of the Rubidium is probably melted together in small clumps that break apart. But it was obviously fine shavings at some point.
Amy says, "...My picture flickered. Did something happen?"
Niny'ah says, "that's something I don't think we want to poke at. don't want to turn her power off nbby accident"
You rumble, "Maybe when we take a closer look at manufacturing, we can see if it works with pure rubidium or if it has other materials too"
Thea says, "I doubt looking would shut anything off, though, we also probably don't need to go there."
Niny'ah says, "it does look like everything is very compartmentalized into Districts so all of the command, control, and coordination will be clustered together"
You rumble, "Way more organized than anything I've ever made. <w<;"
Niny'ah says, "it makes sense for some contexts"
Amy says, "When you have a whole planet, no need to crowd"
Chevesh looks at Patashu, then back to the screen, and looks a little unhappy with what she sees in there. But nevertheless, the comment about organization does give her something to be proud of, a little bit. "I'm not certain I really like it in there." She mutters.
You rumble, "Especially since it doesn't have a rate requirement. It just needs to make a warbot army between each invasion"
Niny'ah says, "DOn't blame you. not only is it ominous, it's *spooky*. it's so quiet"
Niny'ah says, "I think we'vfe got all the info we can from here. South?"
You rumble, "Sure, south"
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] Base of the Ejection Tower.
Niny'ah has left.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] Base of the Ejection Tower
(Description cut)
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] Atop the Cylinder.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] Atop the Cylinder
The top of this tower upon which you've climbed is 20 meters across, in diameter. The top surface slopes up toward the middle gradually, though not steeply enough to make walking up it difficult.
The plates which make up the surface you're standing on are segmented, with three of them at equidistant points around the circumference seeming inset. Near the peak, you can spot what looks very much like a [control panel], though it appears to have been broken and pulled out of its casing...
Obvious Exits:
North
Contents: Thea, and Niny'ah
## There are possible hidden listeners here.
Corsa has arrived.
Kobalt has arrived.
'Kamare has arrived.
Vahno has arrived.
Amy has arrived.
Niny'ah brings Thea, Patashu, Corsa, Kobalt, 'Kamare, Vahno, and Amy with her, holding hands.
l control panel
This control panel looks as though it was intended for security purposes, at some point. It consists only of a large button, a small panel that was likely a screen, and a series of small disks that rotate in place with strange symbols etched into them. However, the entire panel has been removed, and what looks like a wrench and a set of pliers have been jammed into the wires and left holding them, and a small black box has been connected to the wires with temporary connectors and left behind. It looks like the control panel may have been intentionally bypassed... perhaps you can 'press button' and see if it's still unlocked.
You rumble, "Aha, I see a control panel - looks broken"
Corsa says, "There's something plugged into it."
There is a surprising amount of power being transferred to this cylinder, from the junction below the ejection tower. Not enough to be dangerous, but there are also many intermittent power fluctuations emanating back out of it.
Niny'ah says, "Looks like your friends left the key under the doormat for us"
You rumble, "Oh... Oh! Classic."
You rumble, "Niny'ah, you're on booping duty"
Chevesh mutters, "I kind of thought I would be more... I don't know. High-tech. I feel like I'm disappointing everyone."
Vahno says, "...Can you press the button with the drone?"
Niny'ah eaaasaes the drone down, and uses the detail-probe Amy was using to investigate the 'terrain' to push the button.
Thea says, "I wonder what that black box does... not sure it was meant to be there."
Niny'ah says, "Chev, you seem to misunderstand Tech Levels. "
You rumble, "Hey, don't sweat it, Chevesh. I used to do everything with gears and steam engines and I made it work."
Niny'ah says, "The best tech level is What Does The Job, and No More"
Chevesh shrugs. "Well, it's not very shiny, and there's a deplorable lack of teleportation and floating."
Niny'ah says, "well. that's oversimplifyin"
Niny'ah says, "But it doens't have to be Techno Swish to be effective"
'Kamare mumbles something about magic being the best tech level.
Niny'ah presses the button, and the top of the tower rumbles, and then the three panels around it slide out of the way, revealing the view below. (look down.) You can also proceed 'down' if you wish, now that the tower is opened.
OOC: New exit available, 'down,' upon discretion.
Patashu aha!
You rumble, "Lead us in, Niny'ah"
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] The Mind-Tower.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] The Mind-Tower
This room is dominated by a central tower, seemingly made of green [glass], and not perfectly smooth. Rather, it's more like an arrangement of long, thin glass bars in a rectangular shape, each about a meter long, stacked on top of eachother vertically end-to-end and held tightly into a column.
The column is unpredictable. Sometimes it remains stable and still where it is, but without warning, it can turn slowly or quickly, usually in response to the many [plates] being shifted in to lock with it or pulled away to the outside of the room. The outer wall of the circular room is covered with many of them, though there are multiple gaps that stand empty. At random intervals, the pillar may rotate, and then one of these plates will be extended on a long thin arm until it touches the glass column, where it will lock into place and rotate with the pillar as the arm once again retracts.
At other seemingly random times, some segment of the column's length will expand outward, in a swell that travels upward or down, before retracting into the center again. These events are followed by a rise of green light within the glass column, that will filter through the glass in seemingly random and sporadic patterns, diffusing into a glittering series of flashes and sparks before dying down into a fading glow.
The round pedestal upon which the column rests does not actually physically touch it, but it rotates with the column, projecting from itself a powerful feeling of building static that makes you wary of approaching too close. It fills the atmosphere with a constant, low-pitched humming, and a constant breeze that pushes the nearby gasses away from itself at a constant rate, pulling more in from above. Near this pedestal, a scattering of multiple [broken] plates litter the floor.
Obvious Exits:
Up
Contents: Thea, Niny'ah, and Ornate Door [Fake]
## There are possible hidden listeners here.
Corsa has arrived.
Kobalt has arrived.
'Kamare has arrived.
Vahno has arrived.
Amy has arrived.
Niny'ah brings Thea, Patashu, Corsa, Kobalt, 'Kamare, Vahno, and Amy with her, holding hands.
l glass
Each of these translucent green-glass bars seems to have some manner of life within it, individually from the rest of the column. Upon a close examination, three-dimensional networks of fine, faint lines fill the space, frequently ending in points that occasionally swell or fade with dim light. These lines only seem to turn in right angles, presenting an angular networked appearance reminiscent of circuitry. Where two glass rods make contact at their ends, you can sometimes follow the trail of a flash of light traveling from one to another along these connecting lines.
Chevesh startles a bit, and starts leaning in to pay intent attention to the screen, hand clutching her chest and ears perked.
Niny'ah says, "Woahboy. Drone is throwing me a lot of cautions in this area. Crush hazards, EM fields, you name it"
l plates
Each of these plates is about three meters long, by a meter wide at its widest point. It narrows toward the end facing the pillar, and in some cases, multiple plates arranged around the same elevation on the pillar fit together snugly edge-to-edge. Their surfaces, top and bottom, are each completely unique in the number and patterns of angular lines etched into them. These depressed lines are inlaid in green glass and, on closer inspection, that glass itself is etched very faintly. When they connect to the pillar, these may light up in intermittent glows, filling the etching with light for brief periods that follows the path of the circuitry-like pattern. They seem to be made of iridium, and are a uniform ten inches thick, leaving open the possibility of additional components hidden below the surface.
Patashu woaah...
Niny'ah puts the overlay on the outer display so folks can see just how Nuts it is
l broken
There are many broken plates scattered here, some of them seeming to have no outward indication of structural damage, other than the cracking and flaking of the green glass inlaid into their circuitry. For others, the damage is far more apparent. It is not difficult to find plates that have broken in half or crumbled, revealing that the iridium layer was thin, revealing an interior space that has spilled a thick, viscous silvery liquid metal upon the floor. (Analysis will reveal this to be non-radioactive caesium, but it would be reasonable to assume mercury at first glance.) Inside the empty place left behind, a network of fine metal wires can be seen crossing the interior space, as well as internal components that look very similar to temperature-control coils. Standing out of place amidst the rest, however, one of these broken plates seems more recently discarded than the rest: it seemingly did not decay, but rather, was damaged by bullets. None of the other plates nearby seem to share this form of damage.
l ornate door
This is a massive pair of metallic doors, of a composition that is difficult to identify. They are not smooth, but rough with the texture of unworked stone. In the center, overlapping the two doors, are a set of disks. The central disk is inlaid into the doors and split down the middle, and it is arrayed with a set of symbols made of circles connected with short lines, like unfamiliar constellations, or perhaps representations of molecular structures.
In the middle of this central plate, four plates that can be rotated with some difficulty meet, the partial symbols along their edges coming together to make one central symbol in whatever way the plates are oriented, though the variety of forms that central symbol can take vary wildly depending on the chosen combination. Around the outside of each of these four plates, a complex and purely mechanical system allows segments of the outer edges of the plates to be pulled out and smoothly replaced with another, further adding to the available variety of symbols. Using this system, one could create a variety of possible molecules or stellar constellations, and each plate includes one blank segment as well in order to give the user more freedom in doing so.
The mural above the plates shows a highly stylized image of what looks like the galaxy, with lines streaking out of the center poles and curling around back in at the edges of the galaxy like representation of a field.
(You can feel free to input the name of a molecule or a constellation, if you'd like to turn the disks and try to construct a solution to the puzzle. There is only one correct answer that the door will respond to, but it will not respond negatively to a wrong answer. For syntax, simply type the name of the answer by itself, as a single word with no spaces.)
You rumble, "...Is it OK that we're in here, Chevesh? I noticed you're looking concerned"
Vahno says, "Hey, Niny. One of the plates on the ground..."
OOC: Can't look at room description to refresh memory. Did I write the scale for reference?
[OOC] Amy says, "I can't relaly parse the desc at all :x"
[OOC] Thea says, "In the looktraps"
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "no, but I get a sense of 'Menacingly Large'"
[OOC] Patashu says, "my mental image of the room is: there's a central bundle of green tubes, translucent with patterns of light going through them, and mechanical plates shunt in and out to connect with them (like read/write operations?)"
OOC: Menacingly large works. And yeah. The intent was for it to be a lot to try and process, but also, to have a sense of logic about it from watching it operate.
Chevesh pauses for a few moments, then nods to Patashu. "Yeah... just be careful. I've never gotten to see what I look like before."
Thea taptaps an aluminum claw on the screen. "See these broken plates? Definitely not just glass inside. I wonder why the last team in shot 'em up?"
Thea says, "I bet if we recover them, we might be able to do forensics."
Chevesh perks, and a few emotions cross over her face. "What do you mean, the last team shot them up?"
Niny'ah says, "NO they dint'"
Vahno says, "Well, there's one broken plate that's been shot."
Niny'ah says, "They found them that way, per the notes Chev shared"
Thea notes to one broken plate in particular. "Yeah, that one. The damage looks pretty kinetic."
Thea says, "Huh... so, someone before them did something unfortunate to this place..."
[OOC] Amy says, "iridium layer?"
[OOC] Amy says, "thought they were green g lass"
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "my read is 'green glass circuit-lines' a la TRON"
The tower goes through a period of increased activity, in which it turns back and forth, and a few plates are traded out, and then paused mid-operation, and replaced. Series of sparks travel up the tower. In time with Chevesh frowning, looking sad, and then... just confused. "Bullets? But only my friends came in here with bullets... "
You rumble, "Were your friends ever in here, that you know of?"
Patashu takes note, it looks like the tower's activity is correlated to Chevesh thinking and feeling
Chevesh nods, in a confused expression between a grimace and a far-off look of worry. "Yeah. Trance told me what I looked like."
Vahno says, "Hrmph... Who the heck would- Why would they shoot just the one plate?"
Niny'ah says, "Lets give Trance and co' the benefit of the doubt here - maybe this damage is from a *previous* mission in here from Chev's Unknown Past"
Thea says, "Still, once we know what this place is doing... it might be a good idea to recover it if we can. There might be something recoverable from analyzing it."
Thea . o O ( Or that might be just my bit of a looting compulsion talking. )
You rumble, "Yeah, I'm a little tentative about doing effective-brain-surgery on Chevesh, but with consent, we could try to figure out *why* part of her got shot off here."
Niny'ah checks: Pata, does the drone have a 'sample recovery claw'
Amy checks the spectrum. Is the atmosphere in here any different?
Patashu nods, it does
Vahno says, "Well... it's already broken and on the ground, so I doubt taking it would cause harm."
Patashu hmms. "And speaking of figuring things out..." Indicates the [ornate door]. "What's that for?"
Niny'ah finds a peice that won't bog the drone down and moves it out to the entran cce for later collection
The atmosphere in here is a bit different. It's constantly in motion. The tower seems to charge the atmosphere, and a low-power magnetic field is pushing outward. As for gas composition, it's not a vacuum, but the atmosphere density is about one-fifth what it is outside. The simple magnetic field cannot be powerful enough to account for that.
Corsa . o O ( I think I encountered this puzzle in Quern... )
Niny'ah says, "Pata, look - the air in here is thinner"
Chevesh looks away from the screen, shaking her head, and says quietly "The broken ones... I don't mind if you take those." But she stops paying attention to the screen for a bit, watching the floor and idly gnawing on a finger. "You're probably right." She mutters. "It would have to be something from a long time ago."
Amy says, "so the atmosphere in here is still the corrosive-as-hell one. That's reassuring, we won't be ruining stuff by bringing it out"
Niny'ah points to the drone's thrust-demand power - it spiked when we went through the outer door.
Patashu hmms, nodding quietly
Thea says, "So there's a forcefield barrier..."
Thea says, "But not a solid one."
OOC: If this puzzle resembles anything... which I admit it most likely does, it's a very simple puzzle... then I am not familiar with it. It's just standard puzzle style. I'm not good at making puzzles.
You rumble, "...Chevesh, I think you straight up have a *puzzle* in your brain."
[OOC] Corsa says, "It's very cool. It immediately reminded me of the many instances of this puzzle type in games, you described it well."
[OOC] Thea admittedly doesn't recognize it nor do I know where to even start with it
Chevesh glances back over, and pads back to look at the screen. "A... puzzle?" She asks. Then she looks confused. "Well... waitaminute, that looks really out of place."
[OOC] Amy says, "the how seems simple, the *what* less so."
You rumble, "I suspect it might not be a logic puzzle, but an 'object recognition' puzzle. As in, we're supposed to recognize that there's an important... molecule? constellation? ... that most makes sense to associate with the door."
Corsa says, "Chevesh, do you know what constellation you come from? Ever had dreams about particular stars, maybe?"
Thea says, "So it's basically a key lock, except the key is 'do you recognize this'."
Chevesh shakes her head. "I'm sorry, no. I have thought about that a lot, though. I've tried to remember."
Patashu jokes, "We could put in rubidium..."
rubidium
?SYNTAX ERROR (Type 'commands', 'help', or 'globals' for help.)
Amy says, "The bohr diagram? Alien superinteligences use those?"
Patashu darns. Who could have geussed it wasn't that?
Chevesh squints. "Though, the way the symbols are written looks kind of familiar. But not in a way that's giving me a clue on the answer."
Niny'ah says, "with what I've seen, we should be able to send in a more dexterity drone for this. The flying drone doesn't have the Hands for that"
Niny'ah . o O ( the flying drone is made for recon-speed, more than dexterity )
Chevesh peers closer at the carving above the door, quizzically.
You rumble, "And, more importantly, I think we need an idea that's better than just randomly guessing first."
Thea says, "How are the symbols familiar? ... We could try doing a database pattern match."
Vahno says, "Yeah, I have no idea what to do here."
Niny'ah gets the drone up close and personal with the mechanism though, lnowing that the footage is being recorded for review
Amy says, "I bet it's one of those annoying puzzles whose answer is really simple when you get it. The problem is what is the question? Maybe it's asking, 'what does this place NOT have'? And the one thing this place doesn't seem to possess in any quantity is water."
Chevesh points to two of the symbols that are close together. "Those two together look like part of a word, to me. Just the fact that they're nearby... like, if you're reading a language you don't understand, but can pick out something like a familiar word in the middle of it." She shakes her head. "I'm pretty positive that that won't help much though, it's just interesting. It looks like the center is meant to form a single symbol on its own."
Amy says, "symbols? Are those left by the last person to mess with it?"
Niny'ah says, "if it's ok with you, Chev, I'd like to send out a squad of semi-autopnomous drones to just... map this place"
Thea says, "Granted, we'd be assuming the answer is something any of us have seen before. If not, we'd be better off trying to brute force it."
Chevesh shrugs. "Maaaaybe... I don't know. I would expect that any clues, or necessary reference to identify the door, would be part of the puzzle. But it seems kind of stupid to have a door with a puzzle on it."
'Kamare rrs, "A puzzle with no clear hints, for that matter."
Chevesh nods... oh, she can't see that. "That's fine with me, Niny. Whatever you think is best and makes the job easier."
Niny'ah says, "I think we've about exhausted what we can learn for now in this - Someone said this looks like it's associated with Chev's Active Thoughts and ---"
Niny'ah says, "this is a Deep-storage memory database!"
You rumble, "The problem with puzzles where the rules are unstated is that you have to get into the creator's head, and we don't know their mental state. Are they assuming you can do chemical analysis? That you're from a certain part of the galaxy? Is it related to something in this room or anywhere on the moon? And so on. Maybe we'll get inspiration later, I don't think we should wait here until we can solve it right now."
Niny'ah says, "It's a Datatape tower"
Amy says, "So, storage? OK"
Chevesh points to the symbol carved above the puzzle. "That's the first ornamentation I've seen anywhere since coming in here."
Vahno says, "Maybe the answer's on that shot plate."
Thea nods to Patashu. "That would make sense. In that case, let's retrieve at least that shot up plate... it might have recoverable data. If we can find out how to read it."
Amy says, "Oh... I thought that was *part* of the puzzle."
You rumble, "It could be!"
Niny'ah tries to move a larger piece - haha no. the thinner air in here robs the thrust needed for that. "We're going to ahve to get a Walking Drone in here for the larger bits.
If the description is unclear, the symbol above the puzzle does not intersect or interact with any of the turning plates.
Niny'ah grabs the largest piece the drone can reliabl move, and pulls it to the outer door
[OOC] Amy says, "to get any clues from the symbol, we might need to *actually* see it"
Chevesh sighs and nods, pushing back. "Right... well, maybe with better drones, or being in person."
Thea says, "I'd also be inclined to think it's not a constellation. Considering two things. One, this place is quite chemical themed. Two, constellations only have significance if you know here you're looking -from-."
OOC: I actually don't defend my puzzle, I just did the best I can, and I don't want it to be frustrating. But I also don't want to rob the chance to solve it. I'm willing to work with people to the degree they're comfortable with.
[OOC] Amy says, "can we actually *see* it?"
[OOC] Thea says, "look 'ornate door'"
[OOC] Thea says, "If you mean ICly, I figure it's pretty visible to the drone"
[OOC] 'Kamare says, "It sounds like a neat puzzle, but there's no way to solve it that I can see short of guessing."
OOC: I don't actually have a visual picture of it.
[OOC] Amy says, "I mean, the symbols you keep saying are important. They're described as "symbols""
OOC: I was referring to the carving above it when I was referring to ornamentation.
[OOC] Amy says, "Ah. I finally see it"
Niny'ah says, "We can think out loud once I can see what y'all are gesturing to. For now, lemme get this shard of damaged memory module back up to our side of things."
OOC: Anyway, Niny was making excellent points about the drone having a hard time manipulating the dials. But it depends, if you want to do it right now and handwave that a bit, or come back later with hands.
[OOC] Corsa says, "We can save secrets for the in-person mission, maybe."
You rumble, "Yeah, let's come back later."
Amy stares at the picture for a while. "...I think it's depicting a quasar."
You rumble, "We have plenty more to explore - I want to see at least one factory."
Chevesh says, "So dropping the plate at the big tower? Or having Corsa suck it out first?"
[OOC] Thea nods, let's do the Adventuring in person I say
Amy says, "*can* Corsa do that? That's one very important question we want to answer before we do anything in person"
[OOC] 'Kamare thinks she's missing context re: Corsa.
[OOC] Amy says, "corsa is our ticket in and out."
[OOC] 'Kamare says, "Aha!"
Corsa says, "Can I what?"
[OOC] Patashu says, "Corsa is one of Voksa's alts, a spaceship-dragon with the discipline of space manipulation"
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "Corsa can line-of-sight Shoehorn-teleport objects"
You rumble, "The plate, Corsa. If we put it next to the ejection tower, can you suck it out?"
Corsa says, "Yes, I should be able to, unless gravity works incomprehensibly different here. It seems okay so far, though."
Niny'ah says, "First we have to get it there"
Niny'ah is running the drone's thrusters at maximum to drag a shard towards the door
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "meta-ICly should I exit the room?"
Gravity works slightly differently. Space itself seems subtly off inside, these dimensions don't seem exactly identical to the ones you're used to. But gravity works close enough, it's very close to identical.
Thea hrms. "If it's too heavy to fly with, we might not be able to get it up the tower in any reasonable time. If at all...
Niny'ah says, "No, the air inside here is thinner. SHould be fine once out"
Thea says, "If worse comes to worse, we can landmark it for later retrieval. It's been sitting this whole time anyway."
OOC: No objections here, Niny.
Thea mms, nods.
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] Atop the Cylinder.
Niny'ah has left.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] Atop the Cylinder
(Description cut)
Niny'ah, once the drone has gotten out of the tower into the thicker 'normal' air of the tesseract-sky, has a much easier time of it. Five times easiser in fact!
Niny'ah says, "Told you"
Niny'ah . o O ( and this is why I'm the pilot )
Chevesh smirks. "How does it compare to flying a continent in planetary gravity?"
Niny'ah says, "Well, the responsiveness is way different for one."
Niny'ah says, "for another, I actually have acceleron feedback piped straight to my brain with this"
You rumble, "Theere we go."
Niny'ah says, "so I have a much betterhandle on manuvers. "
[OOC] Corsa says, "Is the point where the drone emerged visible in the sky from here?"
Niny'ah thinks we'll have to get closer to the Launch Tower
There is line-of-effect to it, yes, straight line up to the point of the tower. It's a long ways away, but I don't know if that matters to you.
OOC: I don't mind if you handwave the trip to the top either off-screen.
[OOC] Vahno says, "Sorry, but I'm kinda crashing."
[OOC] Patashu says, "Sleep well, Vahno!"
Corsa makes some rocks and debris jump around the cylinder. "...You may need to bring it closer, yes."
[OOC] Vahno says, "I'll see yall tomorrow."
Vahno is glommed down and swept away by a plastic hippopotamus mouth.
Vahno has left.
OOC: Thank you for coming, Vahno. I hope you sleep well.
Niny'ah leaves for [Chevesh's Tesseract] Base of the Ejection Tower.
Niny'ah has left.
Thea has left.
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
[Chevesh's Tesseract] Base of the Ejection Tower
(Description cut)
Corsa has arrived.
Kobalt has arrived.
'Kamare has arrived.
Amy has arrived.
Niny'ah brings Thea, Patashu, Corsa, Kobalt, 'Kamare, and Amy with her, holding hands.
Corsa says, "Excellent. Could you set it down below where the drone fell?"
Niny'ah drops off the shard and moves the drone well clear
Niny'ah circles the drone around the Command&Control robot's wreckage. "Patashu, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
Corsa turns their head toward Chevesh, in the outside world! She feels a very faint tug. A few spots on the ground at the base of the ejection tower seem to kick up with wind, dust rising into trails! Then they converge, centering on the dropped fragment... And gradually lifting it into the air! Angelic chorus or alien abduction theramin music, you decide.
Thea says, "Think we could salvage IFFs?"
You rumble, "I have no idea what you're pondering, this time"
Niny'ah says, "IFFs, radio links, there's a lot to grab off a Commander Bot."
You rumble, "HMM."
Thea says, "Yep. At the least, an IFF could let us Disguise As Warbot."
You rumble, "Vahno."
Patashu says it without context, but you Know what he means
Niny'ah says, "Bingo. It'll also tell us a lot about what Chev's Manufacturing can make."
Chevesh's fur stands on end a little bit, though not in an uncomfortable way, and she stands perfectly still during the endeavor. "Oh... wow, I forgot how this feels." She says into her paw. Moments later, the plate emerges with a flash of light, spilling onto the floor and oozing remains of a silvery liquid.
Niny'ah says, "I think we're going to need to pull that into a decontaimination space though. The Apocalypse Simulator was it?"
Niny'ah means the robot, specifically
Chevesh asks, "Do you want me to move into the apocolypse-o-thingy now?"
Corsa catches the remains! ...Well, "catches". It drops an inch and then floats, silver fluid flowing in spirals through the air. "I'll put this somewhere clean."
Niny'ah says, "I can stick here as long as the radio connection is solid. "
Niny'ah says, "In fact... we may not need to recover the drone!"
Niny'ah says, "If it's not going to corrode or anything, it can hang out here till we need it again"
Thea says, "Um, might wanna stick it in a baggy. After all, just because it didn't find the atmosphere there corrosive doesn't mean it won't find ours corrosive."
Thea says, "People forget how nasty oxygen can be to things that aren't used to it."
You rumble, "I mean, on the other hand, kind of a shit warbot factory if it rusts trying to attack anywhere organics live."
Chevesh muses, "I wonder if that's why there's no oxygen inside me."
Niny'ah says, "that's a shard of Memory Database, not Warbot"
Thea says, "Just because the warbots can handle it doesn't mean her brain tapes can."
You rumble, "THAT part I'll agree with."
Amy says, "I mean, flourine is worse. There's a very short list of things it *doesn't* react with."
Corsa sweeps a mechanical hand out of thin air! It looks like one of the sampling machines from a deep-sea submersible robot. They move a canister around the floaty plate, close it, and disappear it again.
[OOC] Niny'ah isn't reacting to localspace events she can't hear
Amy goes to take a look at the real sample!
Corsa holds the clear container out to Amy. "It is safely stowed."
Corsa says, "I got some bonus floor dust, too. Joy."
Niny'ah says, "be glad it's just Clean Metals, Corsa, and not Silicate moon-dust"
Amy summons her emotional-support abomination, Hackrey, to take a close look at the plate. "...Yep. Not even a question. Your brain is magic, Chev."
'Kamare raises a paw to Voksa. "Could you bring the plate back, quickly?"
The floor dust is comprised of at least twelve different metals. Rubidium is among them, but also steel, processed titanium, raw iron, etc.
[OOC] 'Kamare says, "*Corsa"
[OOC] 'Kamare says, "Not Voksa."
Corsa looks up from staring at it with Amy! "Back where?"
You rumble, "Aha. So it IS magic and not Sufficiently Advanced Tech? Interesting"
You rumble, "Pretty sure that puts it extremely at odds with the rest of the techbase here"
You rumble, "And with the additions Raol made, heh, that makes it 3 techbases"
Chevesh seems... interested, by that news. Not thrilled, as it messes with her personal worldview. But not horrified. Mostly she's just staring at the bullet-holes.
Amy says, "I'd argue they're both physics. But I feel a lot stronger in my guess now -- all these robots stomping around are additions to the architecture, not the fundamental"
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "it's the gripper-toolhand that they -revanished"
Thea says, "Looks like a bit of both columns, though, that does explain a few possible things about stuff like the rubidium plating... I'll have to bring a scanner with."
Niny'ah says, "Chev, you are cooler than you knew."
[OOC] Corsa says, "I did vanish the whole thing, but then Amy went to see it, so I got it back out."
Niny'ah lets go of one of the flight controllers to offer a high-five
[OOC] 'Kamare says, "Oh! Missed that bit."
[OOC] Amy says, "I don't get it. Why send it back?"
'Kamare pads up real close to the container. "Ooh, yeah, that's some *really* complex magic-work on that thing. Whoever did it was very skilled."
Chevesh glances over, and high-fives Niny "I suppose. I've never been able to use magic, though. I don't know what to think. This has all been... a lot. A lot of a lot. I may need time to process many things."
Corsa will have to stand-in for Voksa, oops. They peek over the controls! "Your brain is very pretty, Chevesh. Does it help to know that the warbots might not be an inherent part of you?"
Niny'ah says, "being made using magic doesn't necessarily give you usage-access to it"
Amy says, "I feel a little better. This has gone from a recycling mission to a rescue mission!"
Thea says, "The question then is, why are the warbots there? Who put them there?"
Chevesh's ear splays to the side at Voksa's remark, and she considers. "Actually... I guess it kind of does... " She replies.
You rumble, "I understand the gist of it as 'Chevesh is basically a beachhead for warbot invasions'. But we don't know the details. Like how did two different kinds of tech get mashed together"
Niny'ah, to Pata: "Sounds to me more like, "Someone found Chev inactive and repurposed her and added the warbots themselves"
Patashu hmmmm...
Niny'ah says, "So we'd be at least the fourth group to go tinkering with her Tesseract"
Niny'ah is including Raol and co
( Voksa says, "Do you want to hear some wild theories about an original purpose, Chevesh?" )
'Kamare rrs, "If the warbots aren't original... what's the tesseract *actually* for?"
Chevesh idly chews on a claw. "I guess... I'm really wonder which came first. The tesseract, or my brain."
'Kamare rrs, "I think we need to go in there and find a way past that door."
Patashu nods to Kamare. "I was wondering that too. Like, was the metal moon *originally* there? And if it wasn't, why is it so *big*? Was it just the brainstuff floating in a dimensional void?"
Thea says, "If that's where all the archives are stored, it'll be a good bet for getting answers."
Chevesh nods to Voksa.
Chevesh says, "All I've ever had are wild theories. This is actually a step up, in some ways. And a step... wilder, in others."
Amy says, "Only guessing, but I think the tesseract. It's a very unnatural place. Regolith made of rubidium? No way. Not even millenia of pollution would cover a moon meters thick in the rarest element imaginable"
( Voksa says, "I think you're a colony-ship, or an ark. I think you were built to keep a world safe." )
'Kamare rrs, "Plus, studying the magic there may well prove enlightening."
Patashu woah.
'Kamare ooh
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "are we moving to the Apocalypse-o-matic to retrive the robot?"
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "can do it descriptively"
[OOC] 'Kamare thinks she's moving to bed x.x
[OOC] Patashu says, "Good night Kam!"
OOC: Oh, yes, I will move Chevy to the A-o-M regardless, I just forgot.
Amy says, "The other thing... This dust. Rubidium has a radioactive isotope, with a *very* long half-life. We can radio-date you, Chev!"
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "gnight!"
OOC: Goodnight, Kamare! I hope you had fun.
Patashu woah!
[OOC] 'Kamare says, "Nnight. Thanks for inviting me, Chevy."
Niny'ah says, "Oh that'l be fun to see the results of"
[OOC] Thea says, "Rest well!"
[OOC] 'Kamare says, "Someone please fill me in when I wake up."
'Kamare releases Niny'ah's hand.
[OOC] Patashu says, "I will be logging this, but feel free to ask anyone who's around"
Thea says, "It would be evidence, but not proof. After all, we're assuming there was no isotope separation involved in producing it."
'Kamare teleports away.
'Kamare has left.
Amy nods to Thea. "If it's monisotopic that'll mean something too."
Amy doesn't have a lot to add IC.
You rumble, "So! What now?"
Niny'ah says, "Pipe my camera stream to Corsa so they can aim for the tightbeam teleport"
[OOC] Amy says, "Oh, we're removing warbots now?"
You rumble, "Let's do it. This should be a juicy amount of knowledge."
Niny'ah holds the drone in a position with a good spatial-view of the tower and robot
Amy says, "Let's do what? I'm getting more and more lost by the second"
OOC: The destroyed command warbot on the ground, seems to be the plan as far as I understood.
[OOC] Amy says, "Ah."
Niny'ah points Amy at the screen, and 'look destroyed C&C'
Patashu says to Amy, "We're taking the wreckage of a command bot and beaming it out. We'd like to impersonate its IFF and just learn more about it"
Amy says, "Ah, yes."
Corsa says, "Understood. I'll put this one directly into a storage tank."
Niny'ah says, "this is going to be very informative..."
Corsa focuses their already-mostly-calibrated column of gravity onto the robot wreckage! It rises up at the same speed the plate did, and eventually disappears.
In a distant room, Chevesh has a very uncomfortable deja vu moment.
You rumble, "So, let's review what we want to do in a full run. We want to deal with the still active warbots, we want to open the Mind Door, we want to do a feasibility study on reprogramming the warbot factories... Anything else have a task to add to that list?"
Niny'ah says, "That sounds like a good First Full-Dress Mission"
Niny'ah says, "lets not overextend ourselves though"
Chevesh returns to the quarters, rubbing down her fur. "Well, the robot came out."
You rumble, "Oh, of course. I'd be happy with ANY one of those done."
You rumble, "Good!"
Chevesh adds, "I'm still mainly concerned with getting rid of the army in there. I don't like them being dormant, and I'd like my maintenance system running again without repairing the thing that wakes them up every time."
Thea says, "Sounds good. Hopefully we'll find something in the mind that'll give us pointers for the rest."
Corsa says, "The robotectomy was a success."
[OOC] Thea however must AFK a bit; if you all go back to the quarters before I return, feel free to drop me off in the quarters
You rumble, "Yeah, lifting that burden off of your shoulders is important."
Niny'ah says, "*must you* phrase it like that, Corsa???"
Amy nods to Chev, "All the more important we figure out just what that tech is."
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "I'm chuckling irl"
Corsa says, "...Too soon?"
OOC: Chevesh is still chuckling like a grade schooler over all the talk of sucking things out of her.
Niny'ah (ICly) got a very disquieting mental image off that
You rumble, "In any case, I think that brings the scouting mission to a close? Your thoughts, Niny'ah?"
Niny'ah says, "well, 'Holy shit' tops the list. Lemme park the drone where we can relink to it later and I'll punch out of the rig."
Patashu laughs.
Chevesh says, "I thought that seeing my mind would be the most important thing to me personally on this mission. And... it kind of was. But the door perplexes me. And, all I can really think about is wanting to know about those bullet-holes in my brain."
Niny'ah says, "Next up, is 'I'm glad we sent in a remote scout'. I was NOT prepared ahead of time for the scale of distance involved here."
Niny'ah gets the drone settled down where the robot recently-was, and drops the link, pulling off the headset.
OOC: I can msummon Niny out and drag everyone else along when you're ready. There actually is no physical exit from here, sad to say.
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "I'm ready. anyone not?"
[OOC] Patashu says, "Summon away"
[OOC] Corsa says, "Ready."
[OOC] Kobalt says, "Ready."
Niny'ah takes you along with her, holding your hand.
Patashu's Personal Quarters(#29396RLJA)
While the base is constantly busy manufacturing and researching and testing and shipping and soforth, Patashu often desires to have a space of his own to work on personal projects or to have discussions with friends and associates. The quarters start with an open foyer of sorts - having a lounge and holographic computer systems, workbenches and scientific equipment and a table (with the company logo emblazoned in gold along its surface) that can be used for conferences, gaming and eating just as easily. (Of course, there are amneties for organic visitors - food, water, beds and all!) (Oh yes, and there IS a pile of 'cushions' and 'beanbags'.) From the holographic screens, all activity of the base can be monitored, and base databases/security feeds accessed. Off to one side, a personal hangar has a huge, rotary rack of different robotic parts and even alternate bodies that can be swapped into and out of, as well as a maintenance system with automated scaffold lined with robotic arms. Kobolds clean, maintain and can be called upon for any necessary task. Posters and blueprints line many of the walls, some of them of products the base builds, some of them gaming related or based on legendary mecha, and the noise of the surrounding base is (mostly) dampened.
Among the Cushions, you see it is empty.
Obvious Exits:
[C]ypher's Room, [Dive] into Cushions, [Isa]ak's Room, [K]andra's Room, [R]alis's Room, [Tan]ya's Room, and ne/out
Contents: Thea, Niny'ah, Chevesh, Azure, 'Kamare, Dawnwing, Elissa, Mako, Voksa, Ganet, Toony Card Press(#32020), 'Patashu's Storm' Battle Blimp(#31306X), Raindrop(#30758JXZ), Refractory Tube Game, Bandit's Den, Paddling Pool, Epoch - Temporal Long Sword(#31632), Ornamental Pink Ingot(#31422), Chunk of Paradoxium(#30130), Cardboard City(#23708), DanceRush Stardom Arcade Cabinet(#30890), Mechanizing Ray Mk.II(#30211), DanceDanceRevolution A20+ Arcade Cabinet(#30889), Weather Machine(#29641), Gilded Waterfall(#26175), Doggy Bed(#29727), A Sign - Interaction Guidelines (look sign)(#13326), A copy of Femashu's fabulously decadent hoard, The Snack Bar(#30378), Excessively Large Dragon's Hoard Missing Just Enough Gold That Only A Dragon Would Notice, Chromatic Elixir(#31033), Cohesive Energy Anomaly, and Extropia 16384
## There are possible hidden listeners here.
Niny'ah brings Thea, Patashu, Corsa, Kobalt, and Amy with her, holding hands.
Dawnwing rumblegreet!
Niny'ah shake shakes herself.
Dawnwing says, "Big party goin' on?"
Niny'ah says, "That was Sure Soemthing"
Corsa releases Niny'ah's hand.
Voksa scoops Chevesh up and hugs tight.
Patashu notes ICly, we were already here, but piloting a remote drone scouting mission inside of Chevesh's 'tesseract' internal space
Dawnwing says, "Were you diving into Superacid Land?"
hopoff niny'ah
You let go of Niny'ah's hand.
[OOC] Dawnwing ah!
Chevesh folds her arms, nodding, and glances at the canister with the plate in it, if it's still visible. "Nice piloting." She remarks. "I kind of thought the drone would get shot down."
You rumble, "We had a remote drone doing it, yes. Discovered a few things we didn't know before"
Kobalt releases Niny'ah's hand.
[OOC] Niny'ah says, "ICly we were in a room with a big wraparound projector screen. OOCly we were in the space that projector screen was viewing and Niny was wearing a VR headset and controllers, piloting a remote quadcopter-type drone inside Chevesh's Tesseract Space"
Dawnwing says, "I'm curious, but only if Chevesh is alright with sharing."
[OOC] Chevesh says, "And I probably forgot to greet you when you arrived, apologies. I was just very distracted, the room with my puppet in it has 24 different actions."
Niny'ah says, "I am. bushed."
Niny'ah assertively flops on Patashu.
Patashu pulls Niny'ah into a hug.
Amy examines the pile of orders that have been quietly arriving. It's a bit of stuff. "Are we going in tonight? I might need a few more minutes to build my suit"
Azure stands, bowing to everyone who arrived.
Chevesh glances to Dawnwing, and thinks about that for a moment. "... I might need a little while to even figure out where to begin." She replies earnestly.
Niny'ah headshakes. Is ICly Exhausted - she was standing for the multiple hours it took for the drone to transit the massive distances around the Tesseract-world
Kobalt bows to Azure.
Dawnwing says, "Fair enough! I imagine it takes some time."
Niny'ah says, "Hundreds of Klicks (kilometers) in any direction to get to anywhere of interest."
Niny'ah says, "I was the pilot. Everyone else could chill while I was working"
[OOC] Dawnwing has no idea where that slang came from, but sie first came across it in the '90s...?
Niny'ah mock-frowns at the group, there's no ire in it though.
Chevesh makes a valiant attempt, though. "There are still a few warbots active, probably whatever was left alive when the last group escaped. Uhm... we found my brain, and apparently there's magic involved, that's something I need some time to start emotionally processing. There's a confusing puzzle-door that looks very out of place. Uhm... we recovered a brain-plate-thing with bullet-holes in it. And a command style warbot corpse."
You rumble, "We want to check a few things first anyways. Most notably, how warbot IFF works"
Azure grins, bowing more deeply, nudging their nose against Kobalt.
The recovered command robot:
<Verbatim start: Chevesh>
No simple, fragile machines, each warbot's chassis is constructed of a thick steel hull with titanium plating mounted over a gel layer for cushioning impacts, and every surface is slanted to deflect direct blows and rob them of some of their stopping power. The external titanium plating is also buffed to a mirror sheen. But under the layer of dust and grime, the mirror finish still remains bright and lustrous. A series of six sensor-ports in the front of the upper chassis are covered in a thick transparent armour, indicating the presence of sensors within the hull, and a potential weakness.
The upper hull of the machine can best be described as a wide 'clamshell' shape.
These machines stand taller than their common kin, at an average height of three meters. They retain the basic clamshell structure of the upper chassis, with some modifications, but their lower chassis segment has been elongated and widens out at the back. It uses this platform to mount four long, four-jointed legs, much like those of a crustacean or insect, though the feet come to a point that you might imagine being difficult to walk upon without sinking into the ground in an unhelpful manner. The pair of arms that attach to the sides of the upper torso are many times larger, however, wickedly bladed and held forward to touch the ground like those of a mantis, easily able to function as locomotion even from a higher mounting. You could imagine them using those legs, held far out in front of it, to pull itself along or spear and slice through opponents equally well. They are the only exception to the rule that the warbots favour ranged combat exclusively.
The armour plating above the shoulders of the upper torso bulges outward, accomodating a pair of extremely large bulbous spaces, and from the sides of these structures, retractable weapons are hidden. When slid out, they actually resemble a stone tablet held in place with its edge oriented forward, and a series of geometric lines shallowly carved into both of that stone's flat surfaces take right-angles to converge into eachother, continuing to do so and widen until they merge into a single line that crosses the front edge. These seem to be the only potentially ranged weaponry they carry.
The center of the upper chassis is dominated by a tall structure on a vertically rotating mount, that allows it to swing back and down behind the body, potentially to protect it. When oriented upright, it displays a dense, compact sensor and communications package that is able to rotate independently and scan its surroundings, as well as... assumedly... project communications toward other warbots on the front lines.
<Verbatim end: Chevesh>
-----
[OOC] Chevesh says, "The bulges in this one's upper torso carry some kind of gravity manipulation device that will probably look pretty familiar to SD folks. Probably to allow it to fly."
Amy says, "Most of the tech is recognizable, but the weapons look funky..."
Thea says, "Yeah, I wonder if the weapons are magic casters?"
Amy holds up Hackrey again for a look at those
Magical assessment:
You page, "It's odd. It actually looks very much like magic. But, like magic reverse-engineered and attempted to be manipulated using something that is not magic, but just technology. Like, someone tried to copy magical artifacts but without any magic involved... and due to that, you can imagine that it probably doesn't work with nearly as much of the sophistication and precision that an actual magic device would use. There is no magic on the device, but some of the physical properties meant to be manipulated by magic would probably be destructively half-completed and awkwardly projected outward. It seems clumsy, actually. It's basically some kind of disruptor, but accomplished in a much more brutish and unneccessarily inefficient way compared to one designed purely through technology." to Amy.
You page, "I know that probably sounds confusing. It is confusing. It's like, they took magic and technology, and mashed them together in the worst possible way. Using magical concepts through pure tech and trying to force it to work." to Amy.
You page, "You're free to improvise. A lot of this was improvised using things you said to make it more interesting for you and kamare. But if you want a better launching point to start from, I can try to go further if you need more clarification. This device basically suspends the electron charge in matter temporarily, and twists it, before returning the charge and solidifying the matter in whatever twisted state it was left in." to Amy.
-----
Amy stares at the carved-looking weapons for a long time with a really weird expression. Long enough for Hackrey to get bored and begins uttering random nonsense in scratchy, drive-through voice. "tenderly with camoflauge paint."
Amy finally says, "...I'll be damned. I think the weapons are a thracographic copy of something."
Patashu rumbles, "Woah. Someone else who knows thracography?"
Chevesh frowns, and looks between the two. "What is Thracography?" She rumbles.
Niny'ah says, "takign a magical snapshot of an action or event, and then playing it back"
Thea huhs. "Well, how about that! I thought you were the one that invented those."
Niny'ah says, "Take a Thracogram of an energy weapon, and you can replicate its results, as I understand"
Niny'ah says, "or 'the concept of cold' and then shoot air through it for a frost-gun"
Amy says, "Chev is how old? The idea must have been invented elsewhere."
Niny'ah says, "very old"
Amy says, "It's not exactly magical, Niny'ah. It .. can be used with it, but the idea is more quantum-fuzzy than cheese-fuzzy."
Niny'ah blink blink.... "Whut"
Amy says, "It can be used as a technological approch to solving physics problems beyond your understanding. The trick is you have to record something."
Niny'ah says, "I'll... take your word for it"
Amy says, "Wo, that fits the hypothesis. These invaders took whatever was there, studied and repurposed it."
Amy says, "...Some of these lines are in the wrong place. They made this by trial and error"
Chevesh finally comes back to an earlier question, and shrugs. "How old I am is a little fuzzy, too." She rumbles. "I only really have the dating methods the Feds used to date me when I was first discovered."
Amy says, "And everyone knowss the Fed's pickup lines are stodgy and ineffective."
Azure chuckles
Niny'ah snort
Chevesh pauses for a moment, and then cracks a grin and chuckles. "Yeah, they weren't very flattering. Their opening line was to guess my age at somewhere in the *very* rough ballpark of sixty to eighty million years on that frozen moon... I put fourty million on my profile page, though. It's not lying, it's just bending the truth a little bit."
Dawnwing says, "Did they ask you your weight, too?"
Voksa says, "I swear, if they started guessing in lunar masses..."
Chevesh grimaces, and nods. "Yeah, I know... the going theory was that the civilization that built me was spacefaring, but disappeared long before the modern batch of spacefaring civilizations took to the stars."