Game Date: August 24, EY217
Previous events: Fleeing a pirate ship that the crew has repaired
Making it to the gate on time is going to be iffy unless Malcolm pushes the engines, which he does. Volkova spends much of the day's trip checking the gauges that Jillian hasn't painted over, worrying about her engines the whole time. Jillian and Malcolm give each other worried looks; they remember their engineer Becca, who kept staring at the controls and ended up in a vegetative state. Then again, that may have resulted from staring at Jillian's artwork. No one was ever quite sure.
They do end up at the gate with some time to spare, docking at Callum Station early on August 25th. They dock just long enough to pay the gate fee and fill out the inevitable forms. Gate Control at Callum Station find it interesting that the Steel Hummingbird has no cargo and the Steel Hummingbird's crew finds it interesting that Callum Station is inexplicably overrun with cats.
When Jump Gate Alice opens Malcolm takes the ship through. Two other ships are also making the trip. He keeps the Hummingbird stable through the turbulence as she's pulled into the gate. Travelling through a jump gate feels much like a sudden drop down an elevator shaft, but with different parts of your body accelerating in different directions. On the other end everything feels like it comes together with a sudden jolt. Some people like the feeling but most find it uncomfortable to varying extents.
Popping out of Jump Gate Busan in the Aiscapo system, Jillian does a sensor scan to see if any suspicious ships are around. The gate is very close to the innermost gas giant Ungnyeo, and Ungnyeo's varying magnetic field and huge number of rings, moons, and smaller captured bodies make for an ideal hiding place for pirates, one that the Navy has never managed to properly deal with. Everything seems calm, though.
Media headquarters in the system are in the city of Wonju on the planet Daebak, the second planet in the system and about a two day trip sunward. Aiscapo University is also found there, so the crew will hopefully be able to make a lot of money in short order. On the way they pass reasonably close to Juche, the third planet. Juche is a habitable planet but its vulcanism makes it a difficult place to live and mine; there's not much point to reason to stop there unless one has to.
The Steel Hummingbird makes it to Daebak on August 27th. It's the capital planet of the capital system of the cluster, so there are a few security measures in place. The ship will have to land on Daebak's moon Eondeog and be inspected if they want to fly it down to the planet below. The moon is occupied not just by the Eondeog Naval Base but also by the civilian Osan Station. The ship lands at the latter and Volkova makes arrangements to have her refuelled and serviced. Jillian went through officer's training school at Eondeog Naval Base during her stint in the Navy and fondly remembers one of her teachers in particular, Lieutenant-Commander Jinjing Wei. While Bishop contacts a hotel in Wonju and books rooms there Volkova is arguing with the station's crew over the proper way to maintain the ship Jillian tries to contact her old teacher. Wei can't be located at the moment and Jillian has to settle for leaving a message with the hotel's number.
Landing your own ship on Daebak itself is prohibitively expensive and requires a permit. Since the Hummingbird's being looked after on Eondeog everyone packs some clothes and necessities into their luggage and they take an inexpensive shuttle down to Wonju. Weapons of any sort aren't legal on Daebak and everything, including knives, are left locked up on the Hummingbird. Volkova still brings Knuta along, naturally. She can easily prove that she's a mechanic and her wrench isn't *necessarily* a weapon, at least not in the way that Malcolm's Blingmaster 5000 pistol with its cigarette lighter attachment is.
Wonju is a city of about five million people, ten times more than the entire population of the Vishnu system! Compared to the dusty, often unpaved streets of Bhopuhr and the enclosed colonies that they've visited in the past little while Wonju is remarkably open and lush. Unlike most of the cities in the cluster it's been planned and designed to be a beautiful place with skyscrapers and wide, tree-lined avenues in abundance. The only real downside is that it's summer and the nearby Andong Lake makes the place humid. Bishop expresses his dislike of the artificiality of the city.
The hotel they're staying in, the Lettojin Hotel, is relatively central and not too fancy. They check in, unpack, and rest a bit. The first place they'll try to sell their goods will be the media. Newspapers are relatively local but there are two magazines based in Wonju that have a cluster-wide distribution, The Sun and The Star. The Sun is by far the trashier of the two. The photos that Volkova took are not the sort of titillating subject that The Sun tends to run and The Star, having a better reputation, will hopefully pay more. They decide to visit The Star's offices first, taking the negatives and a few photos along. After that they'll visit The Sun and finally Aiscapo University. The wire recordings of the sensor readings are more illegal than the photos -- everything regarding aliens should technically be given to the government -- specifically, the Homeworld Office for the Acquisition of Xenotechnology -- and are left at the hotel for now.
One of the plentiful electric trams takes them all downtown, where Malcolm breaks off from the group. He claims that he's going to visit the Air and Space Museum but his actual goal is to find a replacement for his copy of The Calendar that he lost on Kali back in the Vishnu system. He'll meet them at the university.
The Star's offices are in a skyscraper all its own with its steadily shining logo on top. Inside the lobby the receptionist asks the group if they have an appointment with someone. They don't, this being a cold call, but Bishop tries his best to schmooze his way past the receptionist. Unfortunately, the receptionist works in the capital city on the capital planet of the capital system of the cluster, and for the second-biggest magazine in the cluster at that, and has a hardened shell that refuses Bishop's charm any purchase. The best that can be done is to leave one photo for the Space Editor, Yee-un Yoon, along with their contact information at the hotel.
Everyone decides that they'll wait to hear back from The Star before going to The Sun and trying their luck there. They take one of the plentiful trams to Aiscapo Univeristy. The campus is near Andong Lake, the artificial water body whose dam provides the city of Wonju with electricity. It's a very nice campus; being at the edge of the city it has enough room to allow the buildings to be of small and medium sizes with a fair bit of room between many of them and still allow for lush green quads here and there.
All visitors must get a pass at the Welcome Centre. Flanking the doors to the Centre are two large metal sculptures. They're smooth, shiny, sleek, and very accomplished works. Jillian's eyes narrow upon seeing the artwork. She spits on the plaque of one without even reading it, kicks the sculpture ineffectively, and stalks off to (she claims) the hotel, muttering darkly about "soullessness" and "dolphins". Bishop, Malcolm, and Volkova are confused by her actions but let her go. The artist for both pieces is one Alexei Rusanov, a former student at the University according to the plaques. The sculpture on the left is untitled, the one on the right "Slow Surge". Bishop finds them a waste of materials that could be better used. Malcolm likes the clean lines and flashiness. Volkova is confused by why one would not name such a piece of work, not even a perfectly utilitarian name like "Gas Station 13".
Collectively shrugging their shoulders at their captain's behaviour the rest get their passes and use a map to find the Department of Xenobiology and Xenotechnology. It's got its own building that has a slightly "spacey" feel compared to the rest of the University's mostly classical architecture. Rolf Fisher, the professor that Tapan Markesh told Bishop about on the Gurg, is indeed here and in his office. He's a tall, rangy man in his sixties with eyes a little too wide and smile a little too toothy to not be a little off-putting. Bishop introduces himself as a friend of Tapan Markesh and Professor Fisher is suddenly treating them in an even more friendly and off-putting way, making tea for them and leaning into everyone's personal space just a little too much; it turns out that Tapan did his PhD with Fisher. He's very interested in the crew's story and possible data. The crew is interested to know that although he may not have the largest grant he does have a fair bit of leeway in how he spends it. Everyone agrees to meet in the restaurant of the Lettojin Hotel the next morning at eight and discuss this over breakfast.
Pleased with the outcome of the meeting Bishop, Malcolm, and Volkova are leaving the building when they see a small sign pointing the way to the Museum of Xenotechnology in the department. It's in a medium-sized room with several alien devices in cases and lots of expository text. The text talks about the classification of devices that have been found. It seems that some alien species were more far-ranged than others based on where similar devices have been found. Interestingly, there is nothing that looks at all similar to the tentacled ship they saw. Bishop has had dreams about a few of these devices and is convinced that he knows how to actually use one of them, an ornate cube. If this is true it's the first time that someone has managed to figure out how to work a device since the first ones found on Homeworld! The cases don't look too sturdy and Bishop is extremely tempted to steal something. The cases are fragile and security seems to be absent, after all. Volkova tells him that Professor Fisher may give them a guided tour once he has the data, and he decides to wait.
Heading towards the main gate of the university they pass by the Welcome Centre. There's a slight difference to the sculptures from the last time they were here: someone has spray painted "Alexei Rusanov is a fucking bastard" on one of them in pink spray paint and the other has something illegible scrawled on it in the same paint. Everyone immediately knows that it's Jillian who did this. Volkova sighs and decides to head back to the hotel to see if she's there while Bishop and Malcolm consult their map to find where university security is on campus.
Bishop and Malcolm are on the right track: she is being held by security on campus. Bishop talks to the receptionist and finds from her that the police won't be called until Jillian's been talked to. He tells her that Jillian in an ex-student and did what she did because Alexei Rusanov did something... terrible to her while they were both attending Aiscapo University and that if they don't let Jillian go the possible legal ramifications and negative publicity that he would bring to bear would be extremely damaging to the University. He's convincing as always and the receptionist decides to punt this and call both the university administration and Alexei Rusanov himself. Bishop is pleased with this result and talks his way back to the questioning room to see Jillian. She's obviously extremely drunk, slurring her words and unsteady even when sitting down. Hoping to convince her that everything will be well he tells her what he told the receptionist. Her eyes shoot open in horror. She calls him names and punches him sloppily before slumping down and refusing to interact with him any more. Bishop, confused, leaves and tells Malcolm that he's heading back to the hotel to get Volkova. Malcolm also gets some time with Jillian in the back room. She's extremely upset and tries to tell him something, but in her inebriated and panicked state she's largely incoherent and he's not entirely sure what's going on. He returns to the waiting room and gets a cup of tea from the vending machine. Sipping the horrid brew he waits for this Alexei Rusanov to show up.
Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: Zero. (running total: 6)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: Zero (running total: 1)