Session 26

Date: October 22, 2011

Game date: October 15, EY217

Location: Providence, between Limbaugh and Hannity

Previous events: dumping Emily Varnsen and flying to Ingraham

It will take four days to get to Hannity and everyone waits out the flight. Volkova finds a smoking buddy in Shaila and the two of them smoke up a storm in engineering. Bishop wants to find out exactly what the Aiscapo team is up to and harrasses Seo about it, using his charm and enduring her jibes until he finds out that they really are going to look at recently-discovered putatively alien ruins on Ingraham. That's not as interesting to him as the fact that their ship is literally lost: Seo reluctantly admits that Jagadeep docked it at McNeely and it's now lost and even the station's administration can't find any indication of it.

Seo also gets information from Bishop, but it's not terribly useful. The spare parts from the People's Freedom? Salvage. The box that says "Danger: tomatoes" on the side? Just don't open it.

Having gotten her groove back -- such as it is -- Jillian spends the trip painting like mad.

As they approach Hannity on October 19th Jillian makes arrangements with Stillwater Mine, run by the Franken Termite Mining Cooperative, for fuel and life support. Bishop manages to knock 25% off of the price but it's still expensive: Providence's fuel issues thanks to the mess around Prager means that fuel is exorbitantly expensive and the remote location makes it all the more so. Jillian warns everyone about the high gravity on the planet (1.6g) and once Malcolm switches off the space drive everyone feels the planet's heavy pull. He avoids the worst of the dust and acidic clouds in the atmosphere and as he comes in for a landing everyone has a good look at the volcanoes erupting in the distance; Hannity is going through a period of heavy vulcanism that makes mining profitable.

Stillwater Mine is crowded and oppressively bland. While the ship is being supplied the university crew lie down to minimize the effects of the gravity while the ship's crew decide to lumber off to a bar. It's labelled "Bar" and the interior similarly lacks originality both in terms of decor and drinks -- "beer" and "vodka" being sample choices. The patrons have a ground-down look to them from mining or heavy gravity or more likely both. Both Malcolm and Volkova notice that they've been followed by a man currently lounging casually by the door, or at least as casually as one can in 1.6g. If nothing else the fact that he's standing when he doesn't have to makes him stand out. This isn't too surprising; Franken is a place known for keeping tabs on its people and enforcing conformity.

Everyone orders a drink and Malcolm gets two, stomping over to the man at the door and offering him one. He's surprised at Malcolm's invitation to join them at the table and does so. They talk for a while and it's obvious that he's trying to get information from them. His name is John and he's originally from Franken. Despite his questions he seems honestly friendly enough and Jillian invites him onto the ship.

Back in the dock John is literally stunned speechless by the visual cacophony of the Steel Hummingbird and has to be jostled into moving by Volkova. When he boards the ship his only comment is a quiet "Oh, it's like this on the inside, too."

Malcolm makes John some tea after John comes to grips with the idea that there are varieties of tea, not just "tea". Volkova recognizes John's amazement over the fecund creativity and variety of experiences as the same that she felt back in Walküren. Something snaps in him when he tastes the tea and he suddenly asks them if they'll take him with them when they leave! Franken isn't the sort of place where one can just leave without repercussions but Jillian agrees, though they'll have to wait until they come back to do so. John asks them if they have some information about the ship and their flight plans that he can bring to his superiors and make his trip aboard the Hummingbird more productive and less suspicious in their eyes. Jillian has no problems giving him their flight plans and Volkova gives him a couple of technical manuals that she has duplicates of.

Jillian wants to get some more information for plotting a path to Ingraham and John ploddingly takes her to the flight board while everyone else lies down and waits until it's time to escape the awful gravity. The flight board is a far cry from that found elsewhere; no jocular comments, no exclamation marks, no Sly Fox. Just data and an exhortation in large print above the board to optimize performance. Most of the information is about trips to the jump gate and to Limbaugh (where the ferry to Destiny docks) but Jillian gets some useful information nonetheless. John heavily leads Jillian back to the Hummingbird and she lies heavily on her bed, exhausted by the walking.

Everyone's happy to leave the oppressive atmosphere and gravity and it's a relief when Malcolm gets the ship far enough away to engage the space drive and produce a reasonable gravity. Jillian's extra trek in the high gravity was too much for her and it's a couple of days before she's feeling fully recovered. The information that she got from the flight board is enough to help her plot a great course, though, and the Hummingbird arrives in orbit around Ingraham on the 22nd, a full day ahead of schedule.

Ingraham is a small, cold planet, with a mere 0.4g and about one-eighth standard light from a distant Providence. At least the structure is in the northern hemisphere during the height of Ingraham's summer and the 32-hour day they'll have about as much heat and light as they could hope for this far from the sun. The atmosphere is toxic but only via the lungs, so a breather is enough to stay alive as long as one's air supply lasts. Most of its surface is covered desert with mountain ranges poking out of the sand. There was a handful of attempts to settle the planet but the sandworms put an end to that. Ranging in size from a few centimetres to dozens of metres in length they're known to be very attracted to pretty much any rhythm and very, very hungry.

The structure is exactly where it should be and Malcolm hovers a hundred metres above the surface as Jillian scans it with difficulty; whatever it's made of doesn't show up very well on her instruments. In shape it looks something like a cross between a beehive and stepped pyramid, with one large central peak and several smaller ones over about a city block of area. There's what looks like a large entrance at ground level on the lee side of the complex that Malcolm's sure he could fit the ship into but Jillian glares at him and insists that he land about 50 metres away. He sighs and does so.

Once on the ground everyone gears up with respirators and warm bulky clothing. The Aiscapo crew load up their buggy and its trailer. Although the light gravity means that most of the equipment could be carried there's enough of it to make driving worthwhile. They also load up with shotguns that they seem passably familiar with.

The Hummingbird's crew digs into their stash of weapons and arms themselves. Bishop takes a .30-06 sniper rifle, Jillian her trusty shotgun, and Malcolm a 7.92mm heavy automatic rifle. Volkova opts for Knuta and a grenade launcher! It's the same one she's been carrying on the ship for the past while and she's had the time to paint it pink. Her experience with this sort of weapon has been limited to pointing it at people on the ship and dry-firing it for the satisfying "click" noise while grinning and Malcolm panics at the thought of Volkova using it inside any sort of structure. He insists on sitting everyone down and giving an impromptu weapons safety lecture. Convinced of the dangers of her weapon, Volkova decides to not bring the launcher loaded though she still dangerously carries three grenades for it in various pockets on her overalls.

Malcolm locks the ship and everyone (with the exception of Ghost, who stays on the ship) piles onto the buggy. There isn't enough room to fit more than the Aiscapo University team into it so the Hummingbird crew hang on the outside. Trying to avoid making any sort of rhythm and thus attracting worms Shaila drives in a lurching manner, gunning the engine and then letting it idle, braking randomly all the while. It makes for a nauseating ride, which is a real danger when wearing respirators in a toxic atmosphere! Malcolm takes a tumble during a particularly sharp stop and falls in front of the buggy but quickly clambers back on.

After what seems like a thousand stomach-churning lurches they're at the entrance and Malcolm says out loud that he could have fit the Hummingbird in there as everyone disembarks. Before they can unload the equipment they're set upon by two worms about a metre and a half long: Shaila apparently didn't drive arrhythmically enough! Malcolm quickly guns one down with a few well-placed shots but the second worm is missed by the others' fusillade and launches itself into the air, latching onto Bishop's leg with its tooth-filled circular maw and biting down! Things quickly go downhill for the worm, which is in short order bludgeoned by Knuta, stomped on by Malcolm, and booted off Bishop's leg by Jillian before Shaila clips it with another blast from her shotgun. Having had enough abuse it digs into the sand and is gone beneath the surface in a second.

Equipment is quickly lugged onto the entryway's solid floor while Bishop deals with his leg. It's not a terribly deep wound but it's painful despite the numbingly cold air pressing on it through the tear in his clothes. He patches himself up with some mysterious paste that he scoops out of a container in his satchel bag and is confident that he'll be well enough to no longer be hampered by the injury in a few hours.

Torches reveal the interior to be made of a single substance that looks like a slightly waxy olive green marble with reflective flecks inside. The researchers set up some lights, take several photographs, and set up equipment to take readings and carve out samples.

While this is going on Bishop remembers a Dream that had this place in it and feels like he vaguely knows the layout: a large central chamber with corridors radiating out from it. He also has the impression that something's missing from the structure, but he's uncertain what that is. Being so close to the tenuous line that he saw in a previous Dream lets him see its endpoint on this planet much more precisely: just outside the ruins on the other side from where the Hummingbird is. The rest of the crew believe him and they decide to explore the place while the scientists do their thing.

Jillian tells the scientists that they're going exploring. Seo absently gives them permission; she's distracted by the difficulty of getting readings on the substance and is convinced that this place is a deserted ruin. Malcolm takes the lead as they head down a corridor, with Bishop, Jillian, and Volkova bringing up the rear.

The corridor is slightly rounded and winds along as it goes, Bishop directing them towards what he thinks is the central chamber. The walls and floor start to show smooth indentations something like bubbles in a cast. At first the "bubbles" are small and infrequent but they get larger and more frequent as the crew keeps going; soon the bubbles have additional indentations inside them. Bishop's convinced that this is where the "missing" things were but Volkova can't determine if that's true. Since the holes have a larger interior diameter than the hole in the walls and floor it's difficult to determine how something would have been put in or removed.

After a fair bit of wandering down corridors and through rooms that continue to get larger and more pockmarked they come to what must be the central chamber. It's large enough that their torches don't reach the far side or up to the ceiling. Standing still and shining their lights about, everyone is silent for a moment. Bishop and Malcolm think they hear sounds from the other side. Cautiously walking across the floor towards the noise they come across larger and deeper holes until it's impassible without clambering down into the pits. They back off and explore until they find that it's just the centre of the room that is so heavily affected and they can skirt around that edge of the floor.

By the time they're on the other side of the room everyone can hear the noise and Volkova is convinced that it's machinery, though of a type that she doesn't recognize. Following the noise into another corridor Jillian tries to call the Aiscapo University team on her walkie talkie but there's no answer. Whether there's too much structure in the way or the scientists are unable to respond isn't clear, but the Hummingbird's crew decides to press on.

When they see light up ahead they quickly shut their torches and move as slowly and silently as possible. When the machine turns off they think about taking cover in the wall's depressions but they're too small to provide more than partial cover, so Malcolm keeps moving and the others follow. Without the machinery's noise they can now hear some high-pitched voices but not the details of what's being said.

Then two shapes step into sight, lit from whatever's up ahead. Less than a metre and a half tall, they're wearing what looks like thin streamlined EVA suits. Through the facemasks their flat-topped heads have grey skin, with wide slashes for mouths and dead white eyes. Aliens!

Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 12)

Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 1)