| Logs |
2001 August 16
| NachtMusik |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
| Realms: NachtMusik Logs |
"Mystery"
It's very late at night -- well on into earliest morning, in fact -- and Wrench has left to get breakfast. The various few remaining mortals are finally asleep. Shateishael is in the hotel with his current companions, updating them on what happened the previous day. He describes accurately and concisely the meeting between him and Druiel at Enchanted Rock, and the meeting between Darius and Taygeta.
Once he's done he ruefully adds, "So I'm thinking if we manage to get Drew to actually sit down and ever talk with us like a rational entity, maybe one of y'all should do the talking, y'know? Like one of you two," he gestures at Rosenstern and Thessaloniki, "-and... actually, I'm thinking maybe Darius might talk to one of y'all too, where I'm thinking he won't to Tay any more." He pauses, then adds, "Hey... now there's an idea. Do you two want me to take you to meet Darius and see if he'll talk with you -- and Tay can stay here and watch over the band kids? That way too we can find out what the info is he was trying to give us?"
Rosenstern listens to Shateishael -- no, Davidson -- no, Slate -- Slate Davidson? Now that's rather fitting... -and nods slowly. "I think that's a good idea. I've certainly no problem with it."
The evening has been a pleasant one for Rosenstern. Marty seemed to enjoy talking and seemed to have a good time expounding on his views of life, the universe, and everything to Rosenstern. For his part, Rosen just enjoyed the talking, the conversation, speaking at length to someone about things. That was one of the bothersome things about more modern parties -- people got stoned and eventually unconscious. And it's hard to talk to someone who's zonked six ways to next week.
Rosenstern thinks for a moment, then glances in the general direction of the sleeping mortals, habitually letting his voice drop. "Will one be enough to protect all the band members if Druiel tries to do anything?"
Shateishael says, "If Druiel tries to do anything, we've no guarantee that all of us can stop him, Rose. I'm thinking, too, if this 'romantic death' thing is true, he'll want to catch the band members at the most public time... not early in the morning."
Thessaloniki says, "If we're going to go, now's as good a time as any. Otherwise, we wait two more days until we're done with the band."
Shateishael nods, "Got it." He rises, "'Kay, let's roll."
Rosenstern nods, "Sounds good. One thing first. Let me check the band members before we go..." He takes one quick round of the members' rooms, listening to see if their breathing shows they're still alive; a drug OD in the middle of the night would be a bad thing, and might happen without Druiel's 'assistance.'
Shateishael calls Darius' number on Aric's cell phone while Nick's driving them all over, hoping the guy's still willing to talk. The phone rings. Or more accurately rings one half time, then clicks. "Talk to me!"
Shateishael says, "Hey, Darius. This is Slate. You met me yesterday with that guy Taygeta -- I was his ride over. So... I couldn't help overhearing some of what y'all were talking about yesterday, and I'm thinking maybe you might want to talk to some folks that do want to help. You up for that?"
There's a long pause. There's a sound like... muted explosions or something, and keyboards clicking. "...ummmmm... right. The big guy."
Shateishael grins, "Yeh."
Darius continues, "Yeah, right. Look, I know I'm under orders to facilitate fellow Servitors under most circumstances and while this is an extenuating circumstance and does technically fall under the scope of my orders there's really no denying the overarching and indelible fact that guy's a tool."
Shateishael grins again, "Yeh. No argument there."
Darius hmms. "Anyway, what do you care about Lightning's objectives?"
Shateishael says, "Hey, I've got my orders too. I don't see any way that having something like that go kablooie under the city can benefit humanity... and true, I'm not Lightning, but I am sturdier than you. Can I help or not?"
Darius says, "It's not the kablooie we're worried about, actually, bro; if you breach it the magnetic bottle breaks down and it peters out. What we're worried about is what Whackula might need that much power for and what he might supe it up to do vis a vis extracurricular activities, you know what I mean? Anyway, yeah, c'mon back, if I turn you down Marius'll lecture me for days about strategic thinking."
Shateishael grins in relief, "Can't have that. We're there, guy."
Darius says, "Yeah, okay. Door's open." *click*
Shateishael will update everyone on the conversation as he directs Nick to the proper place to park. He leads them up to the right floor, then knocks once on the door and opens it, "'Lo?" Thessaloniki follows along, spinning his car keys cheerfully on the end of one finger.
The voice on the other side says, "Yeah, it's open!"
Shateishael steps in and nods quietly to Darius, shaking his hand again and gesturing towards his companions, "Thanks for being willing to see us, Darius. These are Rosenstern and Thessaloniki, but you can call 'em Rosen and Nick." He eyes the twitchy Lightning Ofanite, then grins ruefully, "Thought you might want someone that can maybe help -- and would listen. Wanna tell them about the Tokamak?"
He'll settle down out of the way, and cross his fingers that this group will hit it off -- he really doesn't want to have to deal with an angry and unhelpful angel as well as a nuclear problem, and he's damn sure Vapula doesn't have the benefit of humanity in mind.
Thessaloniki smiles and says, "Hey, Darius. Where do we find ourselves?"
Rosenstern considers as he listens to Slate's relating of the conversation. "Hrm... I wonder if this has any relation to what we found in the Morgue..." he murmurs. He looks up as they enter the room, and smiles, nodding pleasantly to Darius. "Hi, pleasure to meet you!"
Darius is sitting at his console wearing a Harp T-shirt and a pair of 'All Your Base' boxer shorts. The sight of a six-foot-six angel with the phrase "WHAT YOU SAY?" stenciled across his butt is disconcerting, to say the least. Given the images on the seven monitors, he appears to be playing Quake... against himself. He fidgets a little, "Dude, if you told me you were bringing company, I'd have like cleaned up a little. Or put some pants on. Or something."
Rosenstern says, "Hey, it's no problem at all. Sorry for the no warning..."
Thessaloniki grins, "Don't sweat it, man. How're things down at the university?" Shateishael just grins quietly.
Darius mmms, "Well, that depends on whether you mean corporeal things or celestial things, and what kind of things of the above types you're referring to, really. Corporeal things are just like you'd expect on a city campus; celestial things are a little more interesting, we just beta tested this thing designed to suck up Gremlins in the Financial Aid office."
Thessaloniki grins, and says, "Coolness. What about the reactor?"
Darius grins, gesticulating, "Marius had to stick the containment unit down his pants, man, it glowed when we retrieved it! Hmm? Oh, that. Well, what exactly you want to know? Hold on, while you're talking lemme get Marius online."
Shateishael laughs aloud at the mental image of an angel with glowing pants! Rosenstern boggles, himself. Glowing pants? That's... bizarre! He can't help but to snigger a little at the image, and waits patiently as Marius is called.
Darius gestures over his shoulder while he half-turns to work on one of the stations, "Go on, dude, go on, I'm listening." He types at a small text window. A response scrolls across the screen, and a smaller window snaps open; the image of a youngish man with straight black hair and thin steel wire-frame glasses. The speakers crackle a bit, "Darius, I'm facing your crotch. I told you about using the webcam for personal profit." Darius sniggers, adjusting the eyeball webcam.
Shateishael laughs aloud again. Darius maximizes the window to occupy the entire screen, and turns back to face the new angels. Marius says, "I understand you need some information?"
Thessaloniki grins at the glowing-pants, and then opens his mouth to say something. At Marius' reprimand, he stops, and has to swallow laughter. He finally says, "Hi there. Well, we got kind of an abbreviated set of information from Taygeta, and wondered what there really was to know. And if there's anything we can do to help."
Rosenstern coughs a little, and nods to Nick. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Rosenstern, by the way. Nick hit it on the head, really. We're concerned and curious, and felt we should get the information right from the ones who know the most and best about it."
Darius leans back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. One of the Quake screens shows a bot moving up toward the screen; without looking Darius taps a key and annihilates it with a rocket. He folds his hands again. "Cool. Well, Marius and I have been sort of tracking it for a few months now; unfortunately Crapula has been covering his tracks really well." Marius adds, "Yes. In this instance almost no trace can be discerned of the Tokamak after it leaves the Soviet Union. That leaves several years upon US soil unaccounted for. We only recently became aware of its existence, quite indirectly as it happens."
Thessaloniki nods, "I guess it's good that it's turned up again. How'd it show up?"
Rosenstern frowns, "How did they get it out of Russia? I mean... I don't know much about reactors, but it seems... like kind of a big thing to hide in your babushka."
Marius says, "An agent of Marc made our organization aware of certain items being shipped to a set of what were revealed to be front companies and blind drops. Scientific equipment related to rather specific applications in high-energy physics, the details of which I won't bore you with."
Darius grins, "I mean, unless you really wanna know what people do with low-temp superconductors in their spare time. They snuck the thing out of the Ukraine when we, uh, democratized the place, and it blew their country up. No records exist of how or when it got moved, only where it used to be, and that place doesn't even exist anymore, it's a landfill."
Thessaloniki smiles, "I trust your judgement in sparing me the details. I can imagine you'd be just as uninterested in how to rebuild the generator from a 1972 Renault." Shateishael grins at Nick's comment in regards to the car generator, rolling his eyes amusedly once. Thessaloniki adds, "Tay said you weren't sure where it is yet, but there was some guy called Vilson or something?"
Darius rolls his eyes. "That guy."
Marius on the screen nods. "Yes, we've thus far been unable to discern the exact location of the Tokamak reactor itself; however we have been able to locate a servant of Technology working in the Physics department as a minor lab assistant. His name is Vilson. He's made something of a name for himself among the local... mmm, let's say the younger element of the Austin hacker circles."
Darius tsks. "He's talking about script kiddies. Leet hax0rs. Vilson's trade is in pirate software, cheap virii, XXX passwords, you know; basically he's a crap wrangler."
Rosenstern nods slowly, catching... some of it. Not all... but absorbing what he can. His translation: bad news. "A landfill, huh? Yeesh." He shakes his head. "So, they have this... thing... sitting somewhere in Austin, and we don't know yet what they're going to do with it?" He nods, perking his ears at Nick's mention of Vilson.
Marius makes a small face at his associate's turn of phrase. "Er... yes."
Thessaloniki nods at Darius' sigh and eye roll, "Yeah, him. Thought we'd better come out, say 'hi' ourselves." He asks, "So, there's this hacker kid who's got a job in the labs. Think he'd spill the beans, or lead the way in?"
Marius continues, "We have been putting considerable pressure upon a Servitor of Destiny who holds a rather respectable position among the faculty. Thus far, however, he has been characteristically reticent in actually moving against Vilson in any official capacity. However, he was at least willing to give us access to the payroll data and we've thus learned where Vilson makes his residence."
Thessaloniki smiles, "That's good news."
Darius says, "He puts up in a derelict warehouse on the shitty side of downtown. We'd have busted him by now but there's kiddies coming at all hours looking for favors, and Marius says I'm not allowed to bust the guy's head while mortals watch."
Thessaloniki asks, "What was the plan with him?"
Marius sighs, "That was the plan. My friend isn't really tactically minded. Thus far we've been waging a small battle with him online; trying to quell flame wars, remove his pirate releases, and control the virii that he releases. Unfortunately he appears to have made at least two allies working under various names and aliases online... it's slow going."
Thessaloniki says, "So, he works at the lab? Would we be able to follow him in, and find where it is? We've got a Kyriotate handy... think we could snag him once there? Then we'd have someone in the lab. Would that be useful?"
Marius shakes his head. "Only if Vilson's kept the location written down somewhere. The Dominations don't gain access to their hosts' memories. Or at least, ours don't."
Thessaloniki says, "Have them follow him there as something fast, and take over inside the building, maybe, while he's distracted?"
Rosenstern taps his chin quietly. "I imagine that talking with him's proven singularly useless..."
Darius mmms, "Well, maybe. Unfortunately we don't know where it is, other than it's not in the Physics building itself... maybe underneath? If it were on the campus proper then the Professor could have provided us with the relevant data."
Marius says, "Pardon? Talking to Vilson, you mean?"
Rosenstern nods, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess that's... my first reaction to anything." He shakes his head. "Sorry for mentioning it, guys. But... maybe if we talked to someone who might work with him but isn't on the best of terms with him..."
Marius hmms. Darius looks at the webcam and shrugs. They both face the Novalite and say, "We're open to suggestions."
Thessaloniki asks, "Have you guys thought of anything that might be helpful to do? I mean, Vilson's really a pawn, right? We'd be better off to destroy the equipment, or sabotage it so it appeared it didn't work, and the research is dropped, wouldn't we?"
Shateishael points out quietly, "If we want to find out the location of the Tokamak, following him would work best only as long as he doesn't know he's being followed. Talking to him should happen only after we're sure he won't lead us there. Furthermore, I think Nick's idea's the least painful to all involved -- didn't you say something, Darius, about breaching magnetic bottles making things leak out harmlessly? So... how hard is it to replace those if they're broken by our side?"
Rosenstern listens quietly, letting the more technically minded hammer this out, absorbing what he can and ready to provide whatever he can. Why couldn't it have been the evil use of daisies? he thinks jokingly. At least that's something I can more directly deal with...
Marius nods. "The optimal outcome is that the reactor is shut down permanently. That is the outcome that Jean wishes. Eliminating Vilson would only delay the tending of the reactor while a suitable replacement is located. Also, we have two primary concerns: the local human population mustn't know... and the local Celestial community should be handled with minimal disturbance. Jean desires equilibrium for the time being."
Darius shrugs. "Doesn't matter who breaks it. Take a few days to a few weeks to get it back online, depending on how bad you thrash it."
Thessaloniki chuckles and says mildly, "I don't think it's actually a bottle, Slate. Breaking the equipment might do it though. A little EMP in the room with the generator might fry every chip in it. That'd take more than a couple weeks to fix, if possible."
Rosenstern considers, "Does it matter much what research the reactor is being used for?"
Shateishael says, "Okay, good point, Nick. Marius, what kinda things shut the reactor down? Permanently?"
"Longer," Darius adds, "-if someone trashes Vilson too."
Marius shakes his head, "I don't believe we have the means to generate an EMP of sufficient size. And... please explain your question, sir?" He looks at the Novalite.
Thessaloniki grins an evil grin, and says, "Truck bomb!" but then changes his mind, "Probably kill other people. Darn." Shateishael grins at Nick's cheerful desire to use a car for everything.
Darius grins, "Truck... YEAH! Hey, Marius, how about it?" He deflates a little at the look he gets from Marius.
Shateishael snickers. Thessaloniki scratches his head, then asks, "Guys. Do we know anybody on the University's engineering staff?"
Marius says, "Not personally. However I have several contacts among the computer science and electrical engineering faculty. You have a suggestion?"
Rosenstern coughs a little, "I'm sorry, it was... just a random thought. That the research being done with the reactor might have something to do with how to sabotage it or bring it down, or what we might expect around it, or something. We... ah, Slate and myself... ran into something Vapula was doing with technology capturing Essence, in a city in this hemisphere. I doubt the two are connected, though, to be honest, now that I think about it. He probably has multiple projects going on." He looks in horror upon Nick, his head swinging around to Darius, at the suggestion of a BOMB! By the Garden...!
Shateishael gives Rosenstern a sardonic grin, "He's kidding, Rose, don't get your panties in a bunch."
Darius mutters, "...the hell I was."
Rosenstern coughs a little, glancing to Shateishael and nodding... then blinks to Darius, and looks again to Slate with a mild 'You were saying?!' expression. Shateishael grins slyly at Darius, but doesn't say a word -- just gives Rosenstern an innocently inquiring look back.
Thessaloniki says, "Well, every nuclear reactor I've ever read about uses water to keep itself cool, or it'll overheat. Does this one? If so, if we could find a part of the university that suddenly used more water than normal, or maybe just more electricity than normal, maybe we'd find the reactor. And if it's online and you cut that water off... there's a pretty good chance it'll cook itself pretty quickly.
Shateishael blinks, then nods, "Hey, good one, Nick."
Thessaloniki mutters to Darius, "Just steal a garbage truck, load it up with gravel or concrete, then ram whatever the problem is -- presuming it's on the ground floor. Go celestial before impact. Kaboom!" He grins widely at the other Ofanite, saying, "Fun with inertia!" Shateishael grins and shakes his head amusedly. Rosenstern tries, very hard, not to freak out visibly. They're kidding, they've got to be, that's all there is to it... Shateishael grins, trying not to enjoy himself too obviously.
Thessaloniki shrugs, adding, "I just remembered what went wrong at Three Mile Island and what I've read in Scientific American, y'know?"
Darius sighs wistfully at the idea. Marius mms. "This isn't like a fission pile, which requires a great deal of water to cool itself. We have precious little data on this configuration, and we suspect that while it does require cooling, as Vapula has doubtless pushed it well past normal operating parameters, it doesn't suffer from a China Syndrome scenario." Shateishael sighs. Marius frowns. "The Tokamak is a remarkably stable design. The best way to cease its function would be manual shutdown or, less elegantly, damage to the torus itself."
Thessaloniki grins, "Shut off the electricity and look for lights that stay on?"
Marius says, "A sound idea, though I'm sure Physics has its own backup generation, as does Health Sciences."
Thessaloniki says, "We'd have to find all the backup power in the labs and break it ahead of time, or in short order, yep. Again, access to Engineering would be helpful. They might know. I'm just throwing ideas out there." He adds, "This is your gig, guys. I'm just trying to help think of things you might not have thought of yet. I'm probably full of bull, y'know?" He asks, "How big is the thing? How heavy? How much space are we looking at? A garage? A closet? A building? Will it have needed reinforced floors?"
Shateishael hms, studying his hands for a moment... then looks up, "So. Anyone here know how to manually shut one of these doctored-up babies down, if we found it?"
Marius nods. "Certainly. Darius and myself could do it, in a matter of minutes."
Shateishael nods, "Good. We still have that option. So... we need to find it first, then either figure out how to get to it... or just crush the area it's in, somehow."
Thessaloniki says, "Garbage truck." He adds, "They're great. It's like they're invisible. Nobody looks at them. They're almost as good as a UPS truck."
Shateishael grins at Nick, cheerfully snapping, "What IS it with you and the garbage trucks?!"
Darius says, "Looking at really big, really heavy. I can get you some specs on a typical torus if you want. Might not need reinforced floors but Jackula likes to keep his stuff in bunkers underground, he's got some fucked up Half-Life aesthetic going."
Thessaloniki ohs, "Sorry, distracted. They're just one of the toughest, easily obtained vehicles I know of. I tend to think around the vehicle."
Rosenstern blinks, looking over to Nick. "Hadn't thought of that, really. Can't say how many times I've just not looked at garbage trucks at all..."
Thessaloniki asks, "Any kind of machine we can build to detect it in operation?"
Shateishael grins, "Half-Life... hey, y'all had any steam tunnel crawler clubs at this university? They always manage to get their hands on maps of the underground tunnels."
Thessaloniki oohs! "Good thought, Slate. Or elevator surfers. Those guys sometimes know strange things about the buildings."
Shateishael gives Nick a curious glance, "Really? Them too? Cool."
Marius shakes his head, "Not that we know of."
Darius says, "No clubs that I know of, but the steam tunnels are really seriously under lockdown... every building on campus is connected by them. But if you could get into them you'd have access to the whole campus more or less unnoticed."
Shateishael nods, "'kay. Didn't you say you had contacts in Engineering? They'd have maps."
Thessaloniki says, "Some of the students must know how to get in." Shateishael nods again, with a grin.
Rosenstern murmurs, "Though it's not likely they're going to admit that to any strangers. Most colleges have an 'instant expel' rule for anyone caught in steam tunnels...
Shateishael chuckles, "The University can expel us if they want, sure. But they gotta catch us first."
Rosenstern says, "Well, true, but I was talking about whatever student we ask about the tunnels will have that on the forefront of their mind."
Marius says, "Darius' contacts lean toward that direction... Darius?"
The Ofanite grins. "Yeah. He's all respectable and shit. If anyone knows, I can find out."
Shateishael grins at the Ofanite's characterization of Marius. Thessaloniki nods. He says, "Well, guys, without knowing where it is, and without resorting to brute force, at this point I don't have much idea. Follow Vilson to work to find where it is, and try and sneak someone in to shut 'er down and then ruin or steal it."
Thessaloniki says, "If you get a really big UPS truck, you can have a forklift." He grins and says, "Sorry, Slate." Shateishael snorts amusedly at Nick.
Marius hmms. "Well. We've not explored this area of possibility. If you plan on pursuing this, then Darius and I will accompany you, of course."
Thessaloniki asks, "Any idea what kind of opposition might be at hand? Grumpy professors or something worse?"
Darius grins widely. "Sounds pretty cool." He leans back and looks up at the ceiling. "Getting in... that depends, I guess. If we try to slip in during the day there's maintenance to deal with; at night it's DPS. In the tunnels, anyone's guess."
Shateishael says, "'DPS'?"
Thessaloniki says, "Maintenance? Regular building maintenance? They're usually pretty easy to snow, at least long enough to get 'em out of harm's way."
Darius huhs. "Hey, that rhymes. DPS? Department of Public Safety, dude. They handle anything the U-cops call in, and handle shit like B&Es, which is what we'd be doing."
Shateishael nods, "All right, let's think. We need to find the thing by following Vilson -- Taygeta can do that. We need underground maps. Darius can do that, yeah? Once we know where this thing is we can actually make a decent plan, and not be just thinking pie in the sky, y'know?" Rosenstern nods quietly in agreement with Slate.
Thessaloniki says, "I'm more interested in the daytime guys. If they're regular maintenance guys, you can often pull up in a panel van or truck, and wander around with a clipboard and a radio and nobody'll stop you. If they do, there's a couple of ways to handle it. My favorite is a big wad of hundreds. Failing that, one of those taser things. The secret is to look like you know what you're doing, and that you belong there."
Shateishael grins at Nick, "Aw... cash again?! Man, you never let me have any fun!" Rosenstern glances to Slate, and... decides not to ask. Better for his sensibilities.
Thessaloniki grins, "Yeah, but, 'Hey man, here's a dollar. Go get a coke. You'll just be half an hour, right? Wait. Get me one, too,' and to hand 'em a couple hundred dollars works so very often."
Marius says, "It's possible that Vilson is using the tunnels as an ingress from the Physics building. However, it's also possible that modifications have been made to the tunnel system rendering any maps inaccurate, at least as far as the reactor itself is concerned."
Shateishael says, "Yeah, but we don't know yet, and it's a good way to see where there might be holes big enough to hold the damn thing, right?"
Thessaloniki nods, "Following Vilson would be best. Taygeta can probably handle that, even without shooting his mouth off." Shateishael grins wryly at Nick.
Marius nods, "Granted. Are we to understand then that you are committing yourselves to helping us complete this endeavor?"
Shateishael gives Marius a bemused look -- has he not realized this yet...? -then grins, "You don't waste our time, we won't waste yours. We got other stuff we're working on too, but yes." He pulls out the Nokia, studying it, "Here... lemme give you a number you can reach us at if anything new breaks, 'kay?"
Marius says, "No need. We'll contact you if the need arises."
Darius grins. "We got our ways."
Thessaloniki says, "That's why we came by, fellas. If the best way is sneaky, we can be sneaky. If the best way is through misdirection and invasion, we can do that." He adds, "Hey, yeah, we'll be really busy for a couple of days at least. After that, things should be easier." He adds, "Hope they'll be easier, anyway." Rosenstern can only imagine what the Lightning angels' 'ways' might be. He nods soberly to Nick.
Marius nods, "That is eminently acceptable. We will acquire the information we discussed and contact you this weekend."
Shateishael nods, "'kay. So, recap. Darius is looking for the underground university maps, we'll sic Tay on Vilson -- we'll need the kid's snail-mail address -- and we'll plan more from there." He looks around, "S'okay?"
Thessaloniki nods. "Once we can scope out where the thing is, we'll think of the best way to neutralize it, and then do it." Shateishael nods. Thessaloniki adds, "Before they have time to do anything really unpleasant." Shateishael nods again, a bit grimly.
Rosenstern says, "Definitely."
Darius nods. "We got files comin' out the yin-yang on Vilson, man. Hold on a sec." He turns and taps at one of his consoles. A printer at the end of the long table begins spooling out papers; the Ofanite dashes to catch them in a file folder.
Marius explains; "These are our collated observations of Vilson over the past several months. His address, habits, electrical usage... more statistical data than I'm sure you could possibly care about, however the surveillance is quite detailed and should come in handy for your friend."
Shateishael grins cheerfully, "Oh, I'm sure Taygeta will just love to read it all!"
Darius hands the folder to Nick. "He's still a tool, though."
Marius sighs, "Darius!"
Shateishael chuckles. Rosenstern says, "It might, at that. Thanks..."
Thessaloniki flips through it, and comments, "He can be, can't he?"
Marius hmms. "Be that as it may. We will discuss these developments with Jean. If he has additional advice or directives in the meantime, we will relay them."
Thessaloniki nods, "You betcha. Happy to help out, especially if it keeps Austin from going 'pop'. It seems an interesting place."
Shateishael says, "Got it." He looks around, looking pleased, then nods once, "Right... if we're done here, let's roll. We got places to be, and time's a-wasting."
Marius mms. "It isn't a pop so much as a general withering that we are concerned with... however, who knows what he could be doing with all that power. Also, there is one consideration that we feel you should be aware of."
Shateishael grins at the computer screen, "But wait, there's more!" Thessaloniki mmms?
Rosenstern nods, "Yes, we should be off. Thank you both for your help, and we'll do what we can." He blinks to Marius. "Er...?"
Marius' expression is carefully bland. "It is more than likely that if this conjecture is correct, that the tunnels will be heavily modified with security measures. I'm sure you had considered this. What you may not know is that discretion in the event of an infiltration must be of the utmost priority. While Vilson has exhibited no especially combative abilities, with a fully functioning Tokamak in proximity it would be relatively easy for him to attract the attention of the Prince." He says, simply, "We would like to avoid that at all costs."
Shateishael winces slightly, getting a faintly disgusted look as he remembers Tay's pigeon flying back and forth across the football field. Thessaloniki laughs, and says, "Yeah, me too. Sounds like our best bet is to shut it down as quickly as possible, which will lower that chance somewhat, yes?"
Shateishael says, "And shut it down before any of them know what's happening, so no one can call, yeah."
Marius says, "Provided that he is not monitoring its progress personally, which is unlikely, deactivating the reactor would greatly lower the chances of Vapula's attention being aroused."
Thessaloniki says, "So, once we get started, speed is of the essence. Surprise wouldn't hurt. Right." Shateishael nods again.
Marius nods. "Yes. I reserve judgement as to the specifics of the earlier meeting, as I was not privy thereto, but Darius seemed quite unimpressed with your associate's sense of tact. Again, I was absent from that exchange, but in the interests of safe redundancy, perhaps a small discussion concerning subtlety is in order."
Darius adds, "He's still a tool." Shateishael laughs aloud!
Marius sighs and says, "Be that as it may."
Shateishael grins, "You're welcome to talk to him if you think it'll help."
Thessaloniki nods, and says, "I'm happy to follow your lead, Marius. I realize I've made several cheerfully destructive suggestions, but I can do subtle. We'll try and make it clear to him to go along with the plan."
Marius says, "Destruction is desirable, properly applied. Stealth immediately proceeding, is an important concern."
Darius grins, "Don't you worry about the destruction... I got that covered."
Shateishael says, "Ah, got some info for you guys too, actually. That body he's using is one of Michael's... we may not want to take it along."
Marius says, "That is his concern and not ours."
Thessaloniki smiles, and says, "Stealth and subterfuge. UPS trucks are easy to get." He rolls his eyes and says, "Oh, yes, let's not have anything happen to that host. That would be bad."
Darius shrugs. "His own lookout, man. Do what you gotta."
Shateishael grins at Darius, "You're talking like you think he'll actually listen to us."
Thessaloniki mentions, "By the way, if you see that fellow past about, oh, the next week... he's probably not a tool. His name's Aric, and he's got a sweetie and such."
Shateishael smiles and shrugs, "But that's not important right now. Okay... we got the beginnings of a plan, we're meeting this weekend here. Anything else?"
Darius shrugs. "Hey, man, nothin' I can do about it. We're grateful for the help and all, but we can't corral the guy." He scratches his head a bit. "Yeah, we ain't faulting him for being ridden by a dork." He seems a little off-put by the use of the term 'sweetie,' but doesn't say anything. "Nah, we're good. We'll get your info before then."
Marius nods. "Very good. I'm glad that we were able to reach an accord. My friend can be somewhat rash at times."
"Cram it, Marius."
Shateishael grins. Thessaloniki comments quietly, "Right now, the only one who can really do much about Tay being underfoot would be your boss... if you felt like mentioning it to him. Other than that, we just have to try and cope with him."
Marius sighs. "We are simply going to leave that... out of our reports to Jean; we think that would be for the best." He adds, "If that's all, then, we will be in touch."
Thessaloniki gives his card to Darius, "Come on by my place some time, and I'll take you out in all the cars, eh?" He grins.
Shateishael nods, rising, "Got it, good. Nice meeting you guys."
Marius nods. "Yes. Good day." The window winks out and the screen resumes its display of Quake.
Having departed the Ofanite's apartment, Rosen decides to walk back towards the hotel, past some parks. Nick proceeds to take himself and Slate back towards the hotel in the DeLorean. Being in no great hurry, he takes a more circuitous route than normal, and happens past the Congress Street Bridge, home to Austin's bat population on their migration. It's early yet, and the majority of the bats seem to be taking up roost, but there's still an impressive number flitting in from the evening's predation. A very few people are standing around watching; the morning return isn't quite as interesting as the evening mass departure.
Thessaloniki slides the little car into a curb space and ignores the meter this early, leaning against it to watch the bats fly in, and enjoying the cool morning air. Shateishael steps out of the car, stretching a bit, then walking over to lean against the railing to watch the bats.
An older looking man in a dirty overcoat, with a lot of tangled gray hair, is leaning against the rail looking down at the gully beneath, and the few straggling homeless dragging in to the squats below. Shateishael curiously studies the bats, thinking, Tay'd love this..., then glances idly up at the homeless guy, wondering why he's not making his way under the bridge too. The bats trail in a few at a time, as do the homeless. The old man sighs a bit, mumbling, "...shouldn't oughta squat here. Poor Mickey. Poor old Mickey. 'S a bad place."
Thessaloniki moves over to Slate and nudges him, then looks at the old man, wondering if he heard, or if he understands. Shateishael hears the quiet mumble, and leans a bit more to see if there's some obvious reason why one shouldn't 'squat' here... bat guano, maybe? Are there really that many bats? He nods to his friend, then pats a pocket, murmuring quietly, "Wanna get him a cuppa or something, Nick?" He grins lazily at the old guy, leaning on his elbows, "Why shouldn't you squat here, old timer?"
Thessaloniki stops what he was going to say, and thinks, Well, that's one way. The old man glances up and eyes the biker. "...people goin' down there ain't comin' back. They bit off Mickey's leg."
Shateishael shifts slightly, straightening warily, "What? Who's they?"
The old man coughs wetly. "Them as lives under the bridge... Mickey gone down below to get outta the rain... came back screamin' an' bloody..."
Shateishael gives Nick a startled look, then glances back at the old guy, "Got it... thanks, old timer." He says quietly to Nick, "Maybe we should take a l..? Damn... gotta get back to the hotel..." He falls silent, thinking, then says, "All right. Nick, why don't you wait out away from the bridge, and I'll take a peek under there?"
Thessaloniki asks, "Want a flashlight?"
Shateishael nods, "One of those Maglights, if you got one, Nick. And your knife, I think." He mutters under his breath, "Shoulda bought the spelunking gear first..." as he follows Nick towards the car.
Thessaloniki grins, "C'mon." In the back of the car, amidst the bottle of oil, a couple of rags, jumper cables, and tire iron, is a big maglight. The big knife is there, too. He says, "Want me to stay up here, or come down and keep an eye on you?" He also makes a point to bring his gun, loaded.
Shateishael eyes the gun with a faintly disgusted grin, "Man, you still using that piece of crap gun?"
Thessaloniki says mildly, as if he were expecting a comment, "Yep. If the choice is watch my friend be eaten, or to blow something away, it's an easy choice." He adds, "And it's not a piece of crap. It's a nice gun. When do I ever use crappy equipment?" He grins.
Shateishael is thoughtfully silent as he slides the knife onto his belt and gathers up the flashlight, thinking, Well... it does soften up charges nicely... He glances out over the bridge with a faint grin, and mutters quietly, "Chickenshit..."
Thessaloniki merely grins. He asks, "Should I stay up here, or come down?"
Shateishael laughs, then collects up the coil of rope he'd tucked into the DeLorean's trunk, "C'mon down if you want, but stay back out away from the bridge, 'kay? If you want I can tie off the rope to me too, like climbing?"
Thessaloniki nods, "That'll work. Let's go, 'fore someone gets eaten."
Shateishael nods, losing his cheerful grin, "Yeah." He heads on down cautiously, careful not to let his feet slide out from under him down the hill.
Beneath the Congress Street Bridge is a large and faintly rank collection of squats and boxes, and a certain amount of equally rank guano. However, near where the bridge meets the northern face of the gully, there is a very small crack in the stone. An application of the flashlight shows it to be quite deep, if narrow. Warm air seems to be flowing out of this hole; it would explain the proximity of squats.
Shateishael smiles slowly, "Well, well, well... what have we here." He looks up at Nick, "Whatcha think? Look now, or try jamming it until we have time to really explore?"
Thessaloniki says, "We'd better have a look."
Shateishael nods and takes a moment to review... knife, maglight, rope. Gun on Nick, good, he's not unarmed. "'kay. We can rope together like a climb, so we don't get separated."
Thessaloniki nods, "Let's go see," and grins. Shateishael takes a moment to prepare... then the two of them slip quietly and carefully into the crack in the stone. He clicks on the maglight in his left hand, shining it slowly around to see what there is to see.
The crack remains narrow for several dozen yards, and then abruptly begins to widen. The tunnel is very warm indeed, and the walls are slicked with something foul and moist. There is a very slight breeze, warm and fetid smelling, blowing up from deeper in.
Shateishael frowns, wondering what the scent is. Thessaloniki has his gun out and at the ready. He pauses to look at the walls, and tries to sniff the air, to see if he knows the smell. Shateishael looks around slowly, then murmurs to Nick, "Seems like the native rock, and fetid water... nothing really unusual there." He uses the right hand rule, sticking to the right wall as they walk slowly and quietly. He quietly continues, "Water-carved rock, I think... except the entry. That was probably due to the stresses of the bridge anchor."
Thessaloniki nods, murmuring quietly, "Sounds pretty innocuous. That's good. The smell, and eating of people is not, though." Shateishael nods grimly, still keeping a slow, wary sweep with the flashlight as they progress.
The cave widens and forks a few times, turning back in on itself like an entrail. It gets warmer and more rank as the angels progress. Shateishael wrinkles his nose at the ghastly smell, but continues to keep firmly to the right hand... so the two of them can securely find their way out later. He mutters under his breath, "Gonna need a shower and a change of clothes after this..."
A largish chamber seems to be coming up. Thessaloniki chuckles softly, "Wrench'll be jealous." He quiets before the big chamber. Shateishael grins at Nick's comment as he slows down cautiously, peeking in.
This is a relatively large domed chamber in the rock, and the source of the smell as well. Dotted throughout the floor are small craters or cauldrons with some kind of thick, horrendous-smelling brown resin bubbling up from below. Shateishael waits as Nick comes up next to him, murmuring quietly, "What d'you think this crap is?"
Thessaloniki murmurs, "Ick. Dunno what it is from here. Some kind of resin. Have to look closer to tell anything else."
Shateishael steps forward cautiously, leaving Nick in the tunnel and sweeping the maglight across the room more thoroughly. If he doesn't see anything living or undead, he'll roll into the room and scan the wall above and around the tunnel entrance. He's not letting Nick in until he's sure nothing's waiting in ambush for them. The room is quiet and empty, except for the occasional rancid blurp from the pools. Shateishael nods once he's satisfied, and beckons Nick in.
Thessaloniki nods, and steps carefully in, looking around, and then finding a fairly quiescent little pocket of resin to look at. Shateishael stays by Nick, continuing to scan warily as his friend studies the resin. Thessaloniki rummages in his pockets for a pencil or something disposable he can stir the glop with. To Slate he says, "Think I'm going to give this little one a stir. Want to keep an eye on it and stuff?" He leans back, so it won't splash on him if it bubbles, and asks, "Ready?"
Shateishael says, "Yeah. I'll Sing Corporeal Shield if we need it, but that'd be messy right this minute... so go on." He quietly unsnaps the knife's peace-bond, then puts a hand on Nick, so he can yank him back easily if necessary. Thessaloniki nods, and reaches forward, to give the pool a stir, with the point of the pencil.
As soon as the pool is disturbed, a huge gout of resin blows out of it, as if a gas pocket had exploded underneath it. Something swings out of the column of rank fluid, and swipes savagely at the older angel. Shateishael yanks Nick back instantly, slamming the heavy metal butt of the flashlight at the something. Thessaloniki tries to roll out of the way and is only slightly successful. He is hit with... something, and says quite uncomplicatedly, "Ouch."
In the glare of the Mag-Lite, whatever just came out of the pool resembles nothing more than a human torso, lacking both head and legs; the arms are long and distended, three fingers ending in ugly claws. The entire thing gleams wetly in the light; it appears to be coated with some kind of lacquer, similar in color to the pools of rancid liquid here.
Shateishael steps back lightly, staying between Nick and the thing. His attempted smash against the creature seems to have cracked the lacquer-like substance covering it a bit... the lacquer shines wetly still, as if it's not completely hardened. He mutters under his breath, "Whoa..." glancing swiftly around the room -- how many of these things are there? And if these are the non-mature ones... "Nick. Time to go, man."
Thessaloniki says, "Right," and steps aside a little, aiming carefully at the horrible thing and squeezing the trigger. His big .45 goes off, and the bullet slams into the encrusted thing. The lacquer surrounding it cracks and bursts off, the body slumping over, lifeless. He backs slowly towards the exit, panting, "I'm really glad I'm a chickenshit, you know that," grinning maniacally at his friend. Shateishael laughs! -then glances around warily once more -- anything else moving here?
As the angels begin to back away, another of the pools disgorges a torso. This one appears to be female; it scrabbles along the floor toward the larger angel, the stomach making a wet smacking sound on the floor. Shateishael gets a disgusted look, turning the maglight on it and reaching for his knife. The slithering thing is faster than expected -- it slashes at Slate before the knife is free of the sheathe. He jerks back, the extremely sharp claws slicing swiftly across him.
Shateishael snarls gutturally under his breath and draws the knife, stabbing down viciously at the slimy thing. The force shoves the knife entirely through it -- the thing flails around wildly, causing Slate to swear again and try to stamp it to death. Thessaloniki decides to try and finish this thing off before its agitated flailing does anyone any more damage. He sidles around to one side, and fires at it. In its thrashing it moves, and his bullet implants itself harmlessly in the stone.
The torso rears up, lashing out at the closest warm body; this happens to be Slate's. It rakes his midsection again, and is stomped by the larger angel. This does little through the lacquer, except to cause the already-embedded knife to slide higher by several inches. A few rancid lumps ooze from the wound, and the torso flops inert to the ground.
Shateishael looks around, bleeding and panting slightly as he checks carefully for any other disgusting denizens of this hole in the ground. Not seeing any, he looks to be sure Nick's okay... then unceremoniously yanks the knife free of the corpse. "That was... disgusting! Want to take a body back for someone to examine?"
Thessaloniki says, "Who?" and then, "I really don't want to be leaving a body in my car all weekend."
Shateishael grins ruefully at the older looking angel, "Yeah, but..." He looks back with a sudden frown, "-no, good point. Who would we give it to?" He sighs, scanning the room, "Wonder if this is where the disappeared bodies go?"
Thessaloniki asks, "What disappeared bodies? Just in general?" and then, "Who could we tell about this who can handle it? Dominic's folks at that church?"
Shateishael says, "Disappeared -- the homeless that guy was mumbling abou- hey! Yeah, they're the local authorities -- let's give them the body and the location." He hastily unties himself, slipping the rope around the two legless torsos and tying them together, trying not to touch them as much as possible. "Man they stink! Okay, let's get out of here."
Thessaloniki follows Slate out, saying, "All right, but those can wait by the entrance. I don't want them in my car. Not considering the smell -- which is enough! -what if someone asks what they are? Let's leave 'em by the door here."
Shateishael nods ruefully as he trots quickly down the tunnel, dragging the bodies behind, "Uh, good point -- dunno how we'd explain these to the local cops either." He leaves the bodies just inside the exit hole, slipping out after Nick does.
Outside, Shateishael looks down at his rather slashed clothing, "Um... think we need to stop by Zara's for a change of clothes, Nick..." He hastily yanks off his jacket, then his shirt, using it to wipe the blood off his torso as he follows Nick back up the hill.
Thessaloniki says, "Bleh," walking around by the car to try and let himself air out. "Let's go tell someone, and then we should hightail it back to the hotel before the band wakes up." He sighs and adds, "Yes. And a shower."
Shateishael grins cheerfully at Nick, "Aw, c'mon... it was a nice early morning tussle! What's to not like about that?" He chuckles, sliding swiftly into the car, "C'mon... let's get you patched up too."
Thessaloniki says, "Maybe Zara has some ideas on who can cope with this muck." He adds, "Let's go," starts his little sports car, and heads that way posthaste.
Zara is a little bit surprised to see the two angels arrive at six AM and bloody, but in true Novalite fashion doesn't ask questions and ushers them into the house. Zara's house is a trendy little cottage nestled in residential Hyde Park, and while it appears quite old -- Depression-era perhaps -- it's quite comfortable. Very homey, as one would expect. She sits both angels down in the kitchen and eyes each, wearing a blue terry robe and an expression that hovers somewhere between skepticism and concern. "Now," she says, "-let's have a look at you. What on earth happened to you two? You look like you tried to wrestle a bear."
Shateishael grins cheerfully, "Sorry to bother you so early, Ms. Zara. Uh... we're not exactly sure what they were, actually...?" He looks hopefully at Nick, as the more articulate of the pair.
Thessaloniki says, "A bear wouldn't have smelled as bad. I don't really know what these were. Torsos, coated in some sort of lacquer, with big grasping claws. Fast, too."
Shateishael nods, "Yeah. Human-like torsos. Um... could we ask you to patch Nick up some, please?" He explains what happened concisely to the Novalite, while she takes care of Nick.
Thessaloniki adds, "Crawled out of some kind of crater or pot full of resin." He heys, "You're the one that got hit worst, Slate."
Shateishael grins, ending with, "So... we were wondering if you could tell us who'd be best to report this to in Austin?"
To that final question Nick nods and says, "There's a couple of bodies, and it looked like it might make more. We're not really set up to resolve it well."
Zara says, "...torsos." She sighs, busying herself in the kitchen. She bends down a bit, smearing something cool and quite soothing around the periphery of the wounds. "Mmm. Dirty. This will help the pain."
Thessaloniki sighs, then says, "That's very nice, ma'am, thank you."
Shateishael glances around, realizing there are no mortals present, and casually shucks his clothing so the thigh slashes can be taken care of too. "Yup. Well... sorta. Thanks, ma'am. Uh, should I be using soap and water on these for now?"
Thessaloniki also removes any clothing in the way of his wounds; probably only his shirt. He says, "I've a change of clothes in the car that I picked up at the Ranch for both of us, Slate. Didn't know we'd need 'em so soon."
The Novalite straightens up and murmurs a soft melody under her breath. The wounds begin to close quickly. "No," she says, "The oil will take care of that." She yawns softly and leans back against the sink. "I don't know, to be honest with you, child. It's nothing that I've ever heard of. There are all kind of rumors that float in about the catacombs. You're a Stone angel, aren't you? If you don't know about what's beneath the ground, child, I certainly don't."
Thessaloniki says, "Catacombs?"
Shateishael holds up the jeans, eyeing them critically, "Thanks, Nick... knew you'd be prepared. I think these'll be okay still... probably 'hip' or something. Shirt's a goner though." He looks up at the Novalite curiously, waiting for her answer.
Zara nods. "The caves out in Hill Country. No idea they came so far beneath the city though."
Shateishael grins interestedly, "More caves? Cool! Think I'm gonna like it here!" He mutters under his breath, "Swords and spelunking equipment next time, though..."
Zara mmms. "You're welcome to them, then. Bad stories about the catacombs. My work is what grows on top."
Shateishael nods quietly, "That is my job, ma'am, yes. So... there really isn't anyone better equipped to deal with this here, then? Like is there anyone who can tell us what -- or who -- the crawlie things are? Through examination or something?"
Zara mms. "You might ask Mitrah. She would know best about what goes on beneath Austin."
Thessaloniki asks, "Is there any of the Light in town who'll be interested in trying to seal up or clean up this little place, or do we keep feeding 'em transients?"
Shateishael gives Nick a repulsed look, even though he knows the Ofanite's not serious... what a hideous thought! He nods to Zara, "I'll do that, ma'am. I'm heading back out that way after the festival anyway."
Zara nods. "Of course. You know how to find me if you get hurt again... but do me a favor, child," she smiles, "-and try to avoid it."
Thessaloniki smiles, "Thank you, Zara. I'll try to keep him out of trouble."
Zara smiles, "I know you will."
Shateishael grins cheerfully, "Ma'am, is it my fault trouble likes me?" His eyes dance with mischief for a second -- then he pauses... then says slowly, "Ms. Zara... do you know any way to gently calm Druiel down, that we could use? He's convinced himself that he's gotta have one or more of the group we're watching over for Wrench... I really don't want to see him get hurt by accident."
Zara blinks, startled. "Is that where that boy has been?"
Shateishael says, "Er... when? Yesterday day he was out at Enchanted Rock with a girl... later last night he was at the Pit."
Thessaloniki mmms, and adds, "He seemed sure that one of or more of the four of us would be killed if we tried to help them, in fact. Quite determined and a little irrational."
Shateishael nods at Nick's comment, then looks pleased as the Song heals his slashes. He slides his jeans and boots back on, then grins, tossing the shredded shirt into a nearby garbage can. He settles comfortably in a chair, shirtless, legs stretched out and one arm relaxedly across the back, "We'd sure like to help with him... if we can."
Zara says, "Oh, my... perhaps I ought to come with you. If he really is as bad as you say... who knows what he might do."
Shateishael tilts his head thoughtfully, eyeing the yawning angel, "Um... pardon me, but are you... sleepy?"
Zara hmms? "It's a habit, child. I've been here a long time."
Shateishael smiles, "Wasn't trying to be rude, ma'am... just wanted to say that if you're sleepy there's no need to hustle. We're guessing he'll want to do something public. Like during the festival... or maybe the night before."
Zara nods. "I will come with you, if you don't mind... where are you keeping the band?"
Thessaloniki says, "We don't mind at all, Zara. I doubt anyone there will either, least of all Wrench. They're staying in a hotel downtown."
Shateishael nods and grins to Nick, "Which we should get back to soon."
Zara nods. "Go on, then... I need to make some arrangements here. I'll meet you at the hotel in an hour or so."
Shateishael nods, "Yes'm." He rises, tossing his leather jacket across one bare shoulder and saluting her with casual politeness, with an index finger, "We're in your debt, ma'am. Thanks for the assist."
The Novalite shakes her head, "It's nothing, child. It's what I'm here for."
Thessaloniki says, "All right. We'll see you there. Thank you for your help. I hope we can convince Druiel not to do anything foolish. I'd hate to see anyone get hurt."
Zara sighs a bit. "Least of all Druiel." Thessaloniki smiles and nods wordlessly.
Shateishael says gently (and hopefully reassuringly), "Ma'am, I already told him I wouldn't fight with him... that it was wrong for us to fight. I may grab him and hang on real tight... but I won't be attacking him."
Zara frowns a bit. "It's not you I'm worried about." Shateishael is silent for a moment, Ah. Wrench, of course... then just nods quietly and paces out silently on Nick's heels. She brightens up a bit and shoos the angels off, though. "Never mind that now, though... On your way. I'll meet you in an hour."
Shateishael grins over his shoulder at the Novalite, "Doughnuts are on us when you get there, ma'am!"
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