Date: May 12, 2012
Game date: December 1st, EY217
Location: Providence system, Olberman
Previous events: Jumping with the Grob is too much for Jillian
Now that Jillian's conscious -- and smacking her mouth with a distasteful look on her face -- it's time to disengage the ships, contact the Grunewalds, and start the trip to Olberman. Malcolm handles patching through the call and Jillian is soon talking to Greta Grunewald. The 2AU distance between them makes for very slow communication given that the signal takes over 16 minutes either way. That's over half an hour before any response gets back! This makes the call necessarily simple, and Jillian tells Greta that they're about two days out with a couple of other ships and will call again when they're closer. Greta's happy to hear from Jillian even when she's late for Lise's birthday and will prepare for guests.
Fred Grunewald is the manager of the Colbert Nature Preserve, which explains how their home can be so isolated from anyone else. Greta is a chemist who is working on the strange chemistry of the Blight, mostly from her large study. Lise, at five years old, primarily has the job of learning things and roaming about in the woods but takes some time out of her busy schedule to help wounded animals that she finds.
The three ships are disentangled from each other and Bishop decides to make the trip on the Iof to keep on trying to learn the Grob language and teach them about humans. It will take the Steel Hummingbird something over two days to get to Olberman. The Iof can keep up but the Resplendent Dragon is slower and will take an extra day.
During the next couple of days Bishop continues to educate the Grob in human culture, Jillian works on a new sculpture to take up some of the empty space in the ship's hallways, Malcolm keeps the ship flying straight, and Volkova works on a gift for Lise's belated birthday. She's never met the five-year old but wants to make something special for her. She first starts to plan out a toy robot but quickly decides instead on a remote-control ducted-fan model of the Steel Hummingbird.
By the time Olberman is filling up the forward windows on December 3rd Volkova's done with the model, which is surprisingly accurate and amazingly functional. The Hummingbird and Iof stop and connect to each other to allow Bishop back on the former, accompanied by Vob. The idea is that it would probably be best to introduce the Grunewalds to a single alien before a shipful of them descends. Vob isn't crazy about coming on board the human ship again until Jillian convinces it that this won't be a repeat of Vob's last trip on the Hummingbird, almost all of which was spent in Jillian's room.
The plan is for the Hummingbird to land during the day and, assuming the introductions go well, let the Iof land in the night, hopefully avoiding being spotted. The Grob have been apparently been working on making their ship even stealthier and Jillian notices the difference when she's on sensors.
Olberman from space is a drastic difference from most of the planets that the Hummingbird's been visiting lately. Beck and Shiva were mostly deserts, Kali and Limbaugh were covered in toxic hazes of various origins, but Olberman is about one-third land, with lush blue-green plant life, and the majority blue oceans visible under the partial cloud cover. Everyone already feels more relaxed.
Final arrangements are made with the Grunewalds and the Hummingbird slips into atmosphere in late afternoon without obviously being noticed by the base on Olberman's moonlet Tellus. Down in the Colbert Nature Reserve and only a kilometre or so from the Grunewald home there is an amazingly flat stretch of rock that the forest has never managed to encroach upon. The Hummingbird lands there and everyone disembarks, taking along a travel bag. On the walk to meet the family Bishop and Vob lag behind so that some explanations can be made before an alien is suddenly revealed to the Grunewalds.
Exiting the trees the crew meets the family. There are warm hugs and a slightly awkward introduction of engineer du jour Volkova. Jillian soon brings up having an alien with them and although the Grunewalds are skeptical at first there's no denying that Jillian's told the truth when Bishop and Vob come into view. Lise screams and runs back towards the house and Greta gives Vob a brief scowl before running after her. Fred, on the other hand, takes it in stride. Vob is strange-looking to human eyes but friendly and Fred quickly warms to it. Everyone heads back to the house, Jillian explaining things in more detail to Fred on the way.
Back at the house Bishop talks to Lise and manages to convince her that Vob isn't anyone to be too frightened of. She's still nervous and shy and spends the rest of the day cleaved to her mother. Volkova's gift of the small Steel Hummingbird model goes over very well, and Lise plays with it for a good long while. The one spoiler, as far as the engineer is concerned, comes when Lise bluntly tells Volkova that she's never coming back. Although Volkova knows about the dismal survival rate of the Hummingbird's mechanics she's still taken aback by having it thrown in her face by a five-year old. She's quiet and contemplative for the rest of the night.
The Hummingbird has brought a bottle of very nice wine and Malcolm makes some spectacularly good tea out of the fresh leaves available in the kitchen. The adults rotate playing with Lise while the rest talk about what's been going on. Aliens, Hoax, an impending invasion... it's quite the story and takes a while to tell. Eventually Lise goes to bed and the conversation gets more frank. Greta's not terribly happy about a group of aliens coming and hanging out on her property for several weeks but she's not going to send them away, either. There definitely isn't enough room for them in her house though, she insists, spacious as it is. Given the Grob preference for more cramped quarters it's unlikely that she'll have to worry about that.
Eventually, quite late, the Iof can be heard overhead and it's time to meet the rest of the Grob. Bishop and Jillian represent the Hummingbird and Fred and Vob go as well. Back at the house Greta invites Malcolm and Volkova to sit on the veranda in the warm night air, rocking on chairs and listening to the nocturnal wildlife. Out of the blue she asks them if they've ever dropped acid. Malcolm's not interested and Volkova interprets the question as one about industrial accidents. Greta doesn't pursue the matter. Malcolm's not surprised that Greta asked; he noticed a tattoo on the back of her neck a few years ago and worked out that it's a ball-and-stick molecular model for LSD; she is a chemist, after all.
At the Iof Chig, Fos, and Ensig disembark and talk to their welcome party, more to say hello than to really make plans. The Grob have no real interest in staying in the Grunewalds' house -- perhaps they're concerned about being stuck in a room for the duration of their stay, as Vob was on the Hummingbird -- and Vob stays with the ship while the humans head back to the house. On the way back Fred mentions that Tim Jackson, an employee who does odd conservation and maintenance jobs in the reserve, will be coming by in the morning to talk to Fred. The ships are far out of sight and Fred will keep Tim far from them. The Hummingbird's crew, on the other hand, are legitimate house guests and have nothing to worry about.
Jillian and Volkova wake early the next day to go for a jog in the woods. Jillian's still not entirely recovered from the incident on Ingraham, apparently, and almost passes out. As she puts her head between her knees Volkova offers her some "water" from an unlabelled plastic bottle. Jillian's suspicious about the actual contents but Volkova's telling the truth; she does seem to be on a health kick recently.
While Jillian and Volkova are off being healthy Malcolm borrows an ATV from Fred and tears around the Reserve's paths with his usual style. Bishop stays behind and talks to Lise some more, working on convincing her that the aliens are friendly. With ten of them nearby it's best if she's ok with the situation!
After the morning's activities the crew decide to relax in a river that runs very near the house. Bishop's nervous about an actual body of water: back on uBuntu they were completely absent, after all, but he risks it and finds the experience mostly enjoyable. Jillian swims, Malcolm floats in an inflatable chair that's tied to the shore while sipping tea under a parasol, and Volkova leaves an oil slick where she moves in the water: everyone insists that she stay downstream from them. When she gets out the water beads off of her and she's almost instantaneously dry without having to towel. Disturbing.
Feeling refreshed, the crew head to see the Iof. The Grob have moved the ship from last night to nestle it right next to the tree line by a section of dying trees. Malcolm frowns for a second, then heads off to the Hummingbird without an explanation while the rest go to talk to the Grob.
The Grob have the Iof's doors and hatches open and are obviously tweaking and fiddling with it, as they always do. While they talk with the humans the Hummingbird lifts off with only Malcolm knowing what he's up to. Everyone else shrugs and discusses plans. The Hummingbird's crew wants to:
-install the green sheeting and give the Hummingbird a more stealthy profile, which the Grob are willing to help with;
-work on learning how better to communicate with the Grob, which the Grob are likewise happy to do;
-modify their space drive and look into what's going on with those ships disappearing out of the elliptical, which the Grobs are very unhappy about. It's dangerous and is why Tigd and Clegman are dead.
Wait, what? Clegman? Maurice Clegman? Yes, say the Grob. Malcolm should know about this but he's off in the Hummingbird, slowly flying it over the forest with the bow steeply pointed down for some reason. Well, at least he's not drinking abusively while flying anymore. Jillian draws a quick sketch of Clegman to clarify the situation but it doesn't help clarify anything; it could be a drawing of anyone with severe facial deformation.
Malcolm soon lands the ship and comes over. Instead of asking him what he was doing Jillian asks him if he has a copy of Clegman's book on the ship. He does, but he's also got a copy of "Clegman's Basics" on him. It has a photo of Clegman on the back cover and the Grob confirm that yes, this is the dead Clegman they were talking about. He has been dead two years now.
When they're informed that the Hummingbird saw Clegman four months ago the Grob are suddenly insistent that they go to meet him now. If he's alive Tigd might be alive as well. Bishop manages to convince them that after all this time another few weeks won't make any difference. Besides, being better able to communicate and having the Hummingbird be stealthy will help in pretty much everything they plant to do. The Grob reluctantly agree but definitely want to meet Clegman again as soon as possible. So does the Hummingbird's crew, for that matter!
With no more progress on the Clegman front possible until they meet him in person, Malcolm brings up the dying trees adjacent to the Iof. On his brief flight he didn't see any other such clumps. It turns out that the Iof automatically replenishes her life support when in a life-rich environment by pretty much "eating" things around her and converting that into food for her crew. She can also take up hydrogen for fuel, making her extremely independent. She's been mostly unnoticed in the cluster for five years without any infrastructure support, after all.
Jillian asks if the Iof can directly jump to Aiscapo, which is on the other end of the galaxy, roughly a hundred thousand light years away. Unfortunately, her jump drives can manage a hundred light years at most per jump, so the jump gates will be necessary after all. There's some talk about the differences between jump drives, jump gates, and the "dangerous tunnels" that seem to lie above and below the elliptical. They all seem to be completely different phenomena but more details will only be available when interspecies communications are easier.
The Grob offer to help install the green stealth plating. They had cut it to fit the Hummingbird before she was modified, so there will have to be some additional cutting and creative insertion, and Volkova happily accepts their aid. One positive point is that the stealth plating can fit underneath the regular plating, so the painting on the ship's exterior doesn't need to be redone. Volkova watches while the Grob start to modify some of their spider walkers for the task, pulling some parts out of the ship, and notices that the Iof and her subunits are extremely modifiable and modular.
Later that day the Resplendent Dragon lands and her crew are in turn introduced to the Grunewalds. While her parents seem to like them all, Lise takes an obvious shine to Xao, possibly on account of his fashion sense. Olivia, on the other hand, seems to scare her a bit with her pistol and sword and Neet plainly bores her.
Over the next three days the stealth plating is installed. Volkova and Olivia take the lead in planning it out and Padb and Vob assist; they're apparently the engineers on the Iof and the insect-like modified walkers make a disturbing sight as they clamber over the Hummingbird. Xao uses the salvage equipment to lift the heavier pieces in place. The Iof is moved into the trees to provide some more cover from prying eyes.
Installing the plating is only part of the job here; the plan is to stay for another couple of weeks until everyone has at least the basics of the other species' language. It's a beautiful location to do it in, and while not talking to the Grob Jillian spends a fair amount of time just wandering in the woods. She also spends a few nights dropping acid with Greta. Volkova joins in and enjoys her first acid trip. Much to Jillian's relief Xao doesn't pull anything, at least at first.
Bishop keeps working on learning the Grob language and trying to inform them about human culture. There is a horrifying moment when, as language barriers slowly begin to fall, everyone realizes that Bishop's been teaching them extensively about his particular take on the world, one dominated by the pursuit of "hotness" and the obvious superiority of young over old. It looks like the Grob will have to be deprogrammed...
Volkova also works on learning Grob but focuses on technical vocabulary in lieu of trying to impose any ideology on them.
Malcolm continues to ride the ATV around more than is necessary and starts to spend some time in the hamlet of Colbert. It's a bit of a tourist destination for people who want to visit the nature reserve and so it has a larger diner ("The Cornucopia"), bed and breakfast ("Bombadil's"), and bar ("PGA") than one might expect. He's more than a little taken aback when his ex from back in Piccadilly, Lilith Farthington, is working as a waitress at the restaurant! Lilith, who cheated on him, stole from him, and made him crash his father's vintage biplane. He slips out of the place without her seeing him, heads straight to the PGA bar, and gets drunk enough that he needs to get a room at Bombadil's for the night. Well, at least he's not drinking abusively while flying anymore.
When he blearily gets back to the Grunewalds' the next day Jillian notices that something is wrong but he stonewalls her when she asks him about it. He tries some LSD that night with Jillian, Volkova, and Greta. Everyone enjoys their experience.
A few days later Malcolm is back at The Cornucopia, asking Lilith's coworkers about her when she's not there. He coworkers refer to her as "Hanna" and find his manner creepy and off-putting, refusing to give him any details. Fred thinks that she's been working at the restaurant for about a year but hasn't noticed anything special about her.
Malcolm comes clean with Jillian and asks her to find out more about Lilith. Jillian goes into town and strikes up a conversation with Lilith/Hanna. Revealing herself as the captain of the ship that saved Lise's life is a good way to make a good impression; everyone here's heard that story. There's nothing suspicious or spectacular about Lilith's story. She came here from Piccadilly for a new start, she claims. When Jillian brings up Malcolm Devereaux as her former pilot Lilith does claim to have dated him, but found him needy and broke up with him. Unable to get much more without seeming too prying Jillian finishes her meal -- tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat, a slice of cherry pie, and a cup of coffee -- and heads back to the house. Running through the conversation in her head Jillian realizes that Lilith was unexpectedly good at deflecting the more probing questions...
Olivia somehow finds out that there are "hunting parties" who go out to find and destroy native wildlife that's been deformed and driven mad by the Blight and decides to join up. Hanging out in the woods is all well and fine but there are better ways to spend one's time! The openings are for patrols in the ocean but, given that Xao doesn't want his ship used for this sort of thing and Neet is unwilling to fly Olivia on her "death from above" mission, she heads off on her own to get some space on someone's aircraft or ship. She's got the credentials to snag pretty much any murderous job opening, after all.
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Bishop's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 13)
Volkova's Bedpost Notch Count: 0 (running total: 2)