[Ooops] It was one of those days. One of those average....boring....weird days. The weirdness came in the midst of her having a bowl of cereal...not the good cereal either. Good cereal would have lots of sugar and awesome. Instead, she was having Honey Bunches of Oats...which at least was sweet and supposedly 'nutritious'. She was in the middle of the meal when her phone rang. The number was not a recognized one though it was a Chicago area code.
[Molly Quincannon] Molly is probably glad of the distraction from her cereal - which at least beats the almighty hell out of the sugar-free muesli crap Chuck has in the mornings, and which she keeps around for when he stays over. This 'healthy living' crap is for shit. How long do I have to experience this before I decide enough's enough?
And then her iPhone rings - or rather plays 'People Are Strange', which is her default for unidentified numbers. It's not a number she's ever dialled or read (she'd remember) and ... okay, this is vaguely suspicious. However, she now really wants to know who's on the other end of that line, so she accepts the call and says, "Welcome to breakfast! How may I help you?"
[Ooops] "Hello, I'm looking for Ms. Quincannon. My name is Doctor Yu, an associate of Dr. Mason."
The voice had a British tone to it, not ostentatious and prattish like Basil Gillingson, more urbane but still educated.
[Molly Quincannon] "This is she," is Molly's response. "But please, call me Molly. To what do I owe the phone call, Dr Yu? And ... I take it Dr Mason gave you this number?"
Inner dialogue: Doctor Who? Doctor You! Okay, this has awesome!
[Ooops] "Yes, Dr. Mason gave your number as well as others. But I wanted to contact you, Molly. I am part of the same society as Dr. Mason and he has offered his assistance with my Experiment I am conducting. I have finished a device called the DARCU recently and I'm running tests with it. So far I have used myself as well as Dr. Mason in the process but I need more data. So, I am inquiring...would you be interested?"
[Molly Quincannon] Molly listens, sipping her coffee (conscientiously away from the phone's mouthpiece) as she does. Of course she's interested, but there are questions to ask before she comes out and says so. Mostly out of curiosity, to be honest - if Atlas is in on it, then it's probably safe enough. That in mind, she asks, "Well, what's the DARCU? What's the process? Believe me, I understand the need for more data but it's useful to know more or less what's up before I know what kind of help I can be."
[Ooops] "Those are details I am not comfortable sharing over the phone given the other factions and residents within the city that I have already been made aware of before my arrival, Molly. Perhaps we could meet at my lab for further discussion?"
[Molly Quincannon] Oooooooooooh, labs. So thinking, she neglects to mention the fun and funky security precautions she's programmed into all her communications devices (being a total geek has its advantages, after all) and says, "Awesome; we can do that, sure, if you give me an address for at least a rendezvous point."
[Ooops] The Doctor lists off an address in a loft area of the city, likely a temporary bastion for her lab...which meant she was mobile and prepared to move if necessary. Smart woman.
[Molly Quincannon] Smart woman indeed. With a quick bit of mental calculation, she gives a time at which she'll arrive, then provides the requisite good-bye pleasantries, hangs up, swigs her coffee, grabs her laptop bag and heads out the door.
She rings the doorbell (or knocks, if there is no doorbell) exactly when she said she was going to, no earlier and no later. She allowed, in her mental calculation, time for average Chicago morning traffic and a quick stop at a pastry place she knows of from Israel, where she picked up a selection of mixed tea cakes as a sort of 'hello and welcome to the neighbourhood' thing for the good Doctor.
[Ooops] It turns out to be a buzzer instead. Reminiscent of the loft apartments of NYC, there's a buzz back with the Doctor merely confirming identity before saying she'll be right down. The Doctor, as Molly imagined her, was surprisingly Asiatic in appearance. Amusingly though her 'labcoat' consisted of a tweed brown pea coat, a black bowtie, and shaggy hair that has been dyed a soft brown almost reminiscent of a mixture between Toshiko and Adam Smith. A pair of tinted thin yellow glasses rested along the ridge of her nose as she gave a smile.
"Hello...I'm the Doctor. Please, step on the lift so I can show you DACRU."
[Molly Quincannon] It's entirely possible that 'the Doctor' sees Molly's car parked outside - the TARDISmobile. Now that it's relatively safe and there's nobody following her around anymore, her '62 VW Beetle showpiece can go back on the road again. The introduction gets a cheerful grin from Molly (currently resplendent in her usual black jeans, really battered leather jacket and a black T-shirt reading "I'm not slacking off. My code's compiling") and she steps on the lift, adjusting her own glasses as she says, "Molly Quincannon, as you probably guessed. Good to meet you. These are for you, by the way; welcome to the neighbourhood."
[Ooops] "Oh lovely...I just set a kettle down shortly ago. Splendid."
She smiles, not even slightly surprised by the coincidence as she takes the tea cakes in hand. She shuts the lift, hitting the button for the fourth floor.
"Now that we're a bit more secluded, I'll tell you the details. DACRU is a device that for the most part transports you to another plane of reality. One of my colleagues joking referred to as a Dimensional And Chronological Relocation Unit...I don't agree that it works precisely like that but the name stuck. It basically allows the person hooked up to it to enter another reality."
[Molly Quincannon] That gets a thoughtful Molly. "Okay ... so what kind of 'alternate reality'? Divergent timelines? Umbral pockets? Sounds like a Stargate to me. And your colleague was maybe trying to avoid a plagiarism rap, but ... how does it work, precisely, if it doesn't relocate you in dimensions and chronological phase? Anyway, is the person physically there, or is it a Quantum Leap thing?"
[Ooops] "Well...Doctor Mason described it as a portal for himself. I know for me it was merely a doorway. It could be something entirely different for yourself."
The elevator stops as she gestured for her to come inside. The room was spartan except for indeed a tea kettle on a table with a Bunsen burner letting the water boil. A few vials lie around on a chemical rack but primarily the thing that draws her eye is a comfortable leather chair with an incline. Next to it was a blue box with diodes and sensors running from it. A laptop was also interfaced with the device as she goes to take the kettle off the burner.
"For the most part, the realities seem dependent on the user involved but not always. I'm still researching it after all."
[Molly Quincannon] "Wow," is Molly's reaction to the place. "Spartan chic. Nice." But of course, her eyes go directly to the blue box and its diodes and sensors. She looks them over, then checks out the screen on the laptop. She does, at least, refrain from tapping keys for the moment.
"So ... yeah, I guess that would make sense, though it would depend on the algorithms you're using," she says, clearly keen to have an actual poke around the guts of this thing. "So ... how does this all work? Could I have a look at the schematics, maybe the code? Mostly out of curiosity, to be honest - most of this sounds out of my league so far but one day I'm bound to get to a level where I can actually use that code on more than an intermediary level and I'll admit I'm curious. I mean, the armchair suggests a need or want for comfort at least part of the time, but ... how does it look different to other people? I mean, is this mostly a Mind and Spirit thing, or is this physical transportation just ... translated by paradigm?"
[Ooops] Doctor Yu quietly poured two cups of tea before taking a small vial, shaking up the frothy white liquid inside for a moment before pouring it into her tea.
"Milk?"
Amusingly enough, she kept her tea additives in chemical vials...people thought Molly was eccentric.
"As far as the code and algorithms, I might allow you a peek. But after the experiment. I'm still collecting raw data and beyond that, this method is not patented amongst the Etherites or even been published in Eureka! So I don't want to reveal too much or show my hand quite yet."
She reached into her pocket before setting out a small grey pill.
"Also...before we do begin...I'll need you to take this. Its an insulator...a general bio-containment and vaccine to prevent any possible contaminants that may return with you."
She smiled after a moment as the Asian doctor sipped at her tea, sighing in enjoyment.
"..could use a little dash of honey I suppose."
[Molly Quincannon] "No thanks; sugar or honey would be nice, though, thank you." That's to the offer of milk ... and no, she doesn't bat an eye at the beakers for milk jugs and so forth. She would do similar, by choice, if her best friend would just stop buying her kitchenware.
The rest gets a nod, a smile and a slight roll of the eyes. "I swear my reputation precedes me. Don't mind me; I really am just curious. I poke my nose in everything, but anyway, I get the need for playing it close to the vest, so ... y'know, anything you're willing to show after the tests would be awesome."
She sips her tea, smiles and says, "That's is nice, thanks!" Then she eyes the pill. "Okay ... any side effects I ought to know about? And ... do I take it now? I mean, are we doing this now? Because while I realise I haven't said, I am definitely up for this whole guinea pig thing. Sounds really interesting."
[Ooops] "Yes, I did plan on doing it today if you agreed. And yes, it would be prudent to take it now. Side effects will include a slight sensation of drowsiness or a possible brief if not momentary blackout. There have been comments of a sensation of dry mouth or dehydration but those are generally from very unhealthy subjects. Beyond that, there are no side effects that I can think of. Some of the chemicals have a sedative effect, is all."
She smiled a bit, taking a tea cake and dipping it lightly into her tea before having a nibble.
"Please excuse me..I forgot to eat yesterday...and this morning...and lunch."
She almost flushes a little at that confession.
[Molly Quincannon] Molly looks at the pill (there's one point - the one at which 'blackout' was mentioned - at which she stiffens a little, in fact) ... but then she shrugs. "Well, I'm usually so jacked on caffeine, it might end up just normalling me out; you never know." With that, she pops the pill into her mouth and swigs it down with a mouthful of tea.
...Which she nearly spits out when the admission comes about the forgetting to eat. "Okay. When we're done for the day or whatever? I'm taking you out to lunch. Tea cakes are awesome but if my friends get to nag me about eating ... y'know, food groups? I get to pass it on. I know a place that does great Thai food, if you like that kind of thing."
[Ooops] "Not a fan of Thai, I prefer Cantonese or Shanghai cuisine."
She smiled a bit before she sets her tea aside after having it. She brings out a fob watch, eyes glancing as she starts to time it...her eyes focused on the tick of the second hand as she speaks.
"..please...let's walk over to the chair. The medication can be fast acting dependent on metabolism and I'm not exactly capable of picking you up if you do fall over."
She briefly comments as she starts to walk to the device, eyes still counting down the seconds.
[Molly Quincannon] "Well, in that case, I know about four or five places for that. Still taking you. So there." Apparently, the woman is stubborn. "Chicago's Chinatown's not as good as New York's, but it's up there." Even as she speaks, she steps over to the chair and settles into it, anticipatory more than nervous. Exciting stuff, this.
[Ooops] The Doctor taps a few keys, likely jotting in time markers into the data pad as she then starts to ask mildly a few questions about her health...food habits...meanwhile she starts to place the diodes and sensors across her head...one along her wrist...another was a strap to check her blood pressure. She finally waits for a moment...Molly could feel a lethargy start to overtake her body...it had been maybe ten to fifteen minutes since had taken it and already the medicine was reacting with her. Yu studied her heart rate, tapping her wrist as she then looked to Molly, eyeing her.
"Are you alright so far?"
[Molly Quincannon] Molly answers the questions and does take care to mention "...What I guess counts as psychiatric history; there was a near-fatality and a couple of days of torture and I was a bit wigged for awhile. Mostly I'm better now, though".
At the last question, she turns her head to look at the Doctor and says, with a small grin, "Think so. You tell me; you're the one with my life signs on monitors."
[Ooops] "Just having to ask. Formalities, love. Now..."
She walks over, setting down in front of her for a moment..she takes a coin...a nice shiny Euro as she starts to roll it between her fingers as she begins to talk...the lethargic feeling is starting to seep into her brain...as if trying to get her to shut her eyes.
"...now Molly...I want you to focus on this. I want you to imagine a skyline alight with gold...copper towers and bright steel rods. Picture airships and monorails...telegraph lines and Tesla coils...machinery with life...dreams of Shelley and nightmares of Edison..."
She speaks in a calm, soothing tone...anyone with a bit of psychiatric knowledge would know she was deliberately having an almost hypnotic tinge to the way she was communicating to Molly as she continued to move the coin back and forth, rolling it over the bony knuckles of her right hand to have her eyes follow it.
"...just listen to my voice, Molly...think of cowboys and Indians...colonials and redcoats...history and non-history. ..."
[Molly Quincannon] This is possibly a part of the process that someone should have warned her about, particularly given recent, less gentle attempts to screw with her head. However, she did say she'd take part in this, and she's curious to know where this leads. (And she had, of course, left an email with a few of her friends to let them know where she was going and why; she's not a total reckless freak.) So, after a bit of a struggle, she stops fighting it and goes with the visualisation.
It's certainly familiar sorts of visualisation, in any case - Molly's a fan of steampunk novels and there's a definite impression forming, born of Gregory Keyes and Tim Powers and a little bit of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson.
[Ooops] She smiled as slowly Molly's eyes were starting to haze a little...she stood after a moment, continuing to speak of the monolith ideals of an almost Etherite utopia...meanwhile checking the monitor...for a moment Molly could see the figure of Doctor Yu behind the laptop...her eyes sinking lower...and lower before she felt herself drifting into darkness...
..only to jolt back as if she had just nodded off into a power nap. The room was the same, nothing seemed different except one thing. The Doctor was standing there still...still looking at the computer. But the box....the blue box was humming slightly, vibrating and a greenish hue glowing around it...mist seeming to generate. A small groove she didn't notice before loomed there...just the right size for a thumb to be placed...a thumb that was inviting her to touch it.
[Molly Quincannon] Well, far be it from Molly to pass up an invitation like that. Trusting that Dr Yu would actually stop her from doing anything she wasn't supposed to (not, in fact, entirely sure she's necessarily awake at all, but given how flexible reality itself can be, does it matter at this point? Probably not), she reaches out and places her thumb in the appropriate groove.
[Ooops] It lights up, almost powering as streams of energy roll across lines in the blue box. She could feel it powering from the connection she has bridged. It seemed to be her doorway. The Doctor glanced to her, holding out her hand...a blue pill in it.
"...take this with you. If you need an escape vector, this will mark you as not part of the reality and it will eject you back here. I'll be waiting."
She gives a smile...holding the pill out. Then another sound began to fill the room...a sound that Molly was familiar with...as she could hear the distorted siren of a machine meant to take you through time and space...
[Molly Quincannon] She takes the blue pill with a chuckle of "Huh; irony. I always figured our lives were about taking the red one..."
And then the noise - that 'vworp ... vworp' noise that her own car makes when she enables or disables the alarm - and all she can do is chuckle. And off she goes.
[Ooops] ...she feels herself suddenly molecularize...its tingly sensation, having your body broken down as particles, energy, and matter...flowing through a wormhole before feeling yourself suddenly back in the flesh. For a brief moment, she had felt all of time and space..oneness with the universe only to have it taken away like someone had snapped their fingers.
She found herself strangely enough sitting at a stone dais. The room was dimly lit, strange blue orbs hanging on the walls casting a halogen of light around the floor. Star patterns were etched into the walls, walls made of copper and mesh with runes that almost resembled computer algorithms. She could hear low chants echoing from outside the room.
Casting her eyes about, she noticed wires...thin taut wires stretched down and disappearing around her. It took a moment of comprehension as the Cultist realized something...the wires were in her. Looking at her arms, she could see them inserted like thin cables into the flesh...markings of dry blood as if they had been there for some time seemed to indicate that these were not fresh piercings. More, they didn't quite...hurt. She could feel them but it was like having acupuncture.
[Molly Quincannon] "...........Okaaaaaaaaay...?"
It vaguely occurs (now, of course, when it's far too late to do anything about it) that perhaps she should have contacted Atlas about this before she threw herself into this experiment. The runes get a close study first of all - to embed them into her memory, so she can sort out what they mean later.
Then, it's seeing what these wires are connected to, and whether or not it'd be safe to remove them from herself or, if it looks like there might be too much blood or mess, wherever they're plugged into. After all, not much exploration is going to get done if she can't move.
[Ooops] As she moves her neck, she feels a slight tug as something comes loose. As if automated, the rest of the wires begin to break free and slide from her limbs and backside. She can feel the pinpricks of where the cords had connected to skin and sinew...she had a feeling one might have even been along her spinal column. It was almost akin to the Cultists that would hang their bodies by meat hooks to project their minds beyond the flesh. She could see a little bit of blood leak from the holes in her arms but they were not gouges or chunks of flesh gone. At the same time, there was nothing like the Matrix that had little plug holes or wife sockets.
Her body felt...weak. As if lethargic once more...or as if her body had not moved in awhile. She could continue to hear the hums..almost akin to a multitude of generator fans blowing in vibration. But it had a human sing-song tone to it.
[Molly Quincannon] Matrix/Doctor Who/Difference Engine crossover fanfiction is going to have to wait until she has a computer to write it on. For the moment, it's all a matter of making sure she's got more or less everything she needs (the laptop bag wasn't on her when she sat down, but her sonic screwdriver and iPhone should still be in her pockets, she's making sure she's got the blue pill and everything else is in her head) ... and then trying to find a way out of the room, heading towards the humming sing-song whatever and hoping she won't end up as some human sacrifice or the leader figure of some messianic cult.
[A Musing] Her first steps from the chair almost falter as her legs felt weak. Glancing down, she can see similar marks along her ankles that peeked out beneath a tunic gown made of blue cotton. Her feet were bare as well...the ground smooth but cool. She could hear the hum continue as she began to step from the room. Looking around, she felt like she was in a temple...the corridor forming a teardrop pattern with its ceiling disappearing into the shadows. Pillar supports diffused moments of bluish tinted light that basked across the ground, giving an almost bio luminescent glow to light her way.
[Molly Quincannon] Molly staggers, but she's been through this before in worse circumstances. What she doesn't like is being without her bits and pieces. Her sonic screwdriver, her iPhone, the blue pill ... those were in her pockets. She checks for bits and pieces - or at least pockets - and then pats her face, making doubly sure she's wearing her glasses. She's blind as a bat without them, so it shouldn't be an issue, but this kind of thing affects the vision as well, so whether the blur's from 'waking up' or from lack of corrective lenses is up for debate right now.
Either way, her ears still work, so whether she has her things or not, she heads for the source of the humming. How she feels about this depends on how many of her foci she still has.
[A Musing] ...strangely, she finds her tools are still on her, but its hanging from a small thong pouch around her neck. Her glasses also adorn her head as well. Her legs slowly start to regain strength. She can feel the pinpricks along her limbs and neck ache a little but they were starting to stop hurting, the blood probably stopping as well. The humming continues and as she listens, she hears an exquisite voice over the engine-like hum....it was almost like a siren song....the One Song that for a moment made her soul ache hearing it.
It cut like broken glass into the soul...nearing the corridor, she found herself stepping onto a stairwell overlooking a pit floor. Down within it, men and women with laid prostrate before rising their heads....the hum beginning again, their eyes glazed in fervor. Another figure in resplendent white stood at the front of the mass. Her gown shined in the darkness like a torchlight, her voice cutting through once again...she shimmered like a star and her voice was just as bright...Molly could feel something leaking down her face as she heard the woman sing...could hear the words in Yiddish. But the most startling thing to her was that she recognized this woman...it was Israel Cohen.
[Molly Quincannon] "Dubya ... tee ... eff?"
It's really all she can say, all hushed. She doesn't want to interrupt anything, but she wipes away the moisture on her face (presumably tears, but one never knows, and either way, the glasses are adjusted so that any salt water stains don't spot her glasses) and watches the pit floor and the scene within from the stairwell, wondering what's going on but not wanting to interrupt to ask, as sometimes one learns better by watching. Her eyes flit from the fervent men and women to (the woman who looks like) Israel and back again, taking it all in.
[A Musing] The song called to her, moved her without moving her. It was filled with faith, it was filled with love, compassion, but most of all...her voice reverberated as if she sang with the voices of ages...as if the shuddering mezzo-soprano carried the weight of the universe behind it. The mass sat there, their mouths opening but only a warbling hum was heard as if imitating the rhythmic hum of an engine...similar to the Om sound of Eastern temples speaking with the Primal voice.
The longer Molly stood there, the more it felt like the two of them were just there..just Israel and Molly standing there...her slightly above on the stairs, Israel standing down there like a fallen star of white, singing as if calling to Molly herself. The focus of the moment...the Cultist could see the eyes of the woman...they were refractive, strange, overly bright as if illuminated from an internal light. Finally the song ended as Israel let her voice fall down into a faltering hush. She bowed to the mass as they began to depart, shuffling around Molly. A few touched Molly's shoulder, almost akin to reverence in a way before they passed and disappeared beyond the arch. Israel stood fully, hands moving inside her robes as she seemed to wait.
[Molly Quincannon] Being touched by strangers ... well, she's a lot better at dealing with it now than she would have been a month ago, so she lets it happen and watches the people as they go by. And Israel (this place's Israel, anyway, and she might not even go by that name...) is downstairs, apparently waiting. After singing the Lakashim ... or whatever Israel of this or any world calls it.
When the pit is empty but for this place's Israel, Molly pads down the stairs, not making any effort to muffle her footsteps. It's her usual way of approaching Israel; make noise and, above all, begin talking before getting too close so she knows which way to look before her personal space is invaded. "Um ... that was beautiful," she says, starting with the most important thing. She's heard Israel sing magic before, but that was something else. Then, of course, the Curiosity, the questions ... with the all-purpose appetiser of "What's going on?"
[A Musing] Israel stares at her, now close Molly can see indeed that Israel's eyes are not quite right. There is a light behind them that make her pupils appear a bright blue as if her optics were a bulb. She looks her over before a smile crosses her features. There is warmth behind it but sadness as well.
"The Mad One has not returned to us, it would seem. A traveler, instead, adorned in her skin and clothes. You bear the marks of one of my sisters as well, but I know you are not her. A traveler I expect, has many questions but I can tell you the answer to only a few. You wish to know what is going on? Do you mean what was this? It was the joining of the minds...the bridging of cultures and ideals into just one joyous voice to bring us altogether for one moment and allow our minds to move beyond here...beyond just the flesh and see we are but just a people of this time but there are many more splendid things that were, that would be, that will not, that could have been. It is the Mass...the Frozen Moment of Time. It is a peace to the minds of those that wonder if it was proper to allow the Etherium to become part of this world."
[Molly Quincannon] "The ... the Mad One? There's another me here?" That's the first bit - the fact that the Mad Maudlin carries over is a very strange one. But then she blinks and shakes her head. "I ... yes. I'm a traveller. I ... it's a long story. What is this place? Why ... how was I ... there were connectors and wires and what am I wearing? I mean, do you get travellers like this often? What's the Etherium? Why wouldn't it be proper to let it be part of this world? Is it part of other worlds? And what's up with your eyes? I mean, is that ... tech? Can you actually see?"
Then she chuckles, embarrassed. "Sorry," she says. "I'm just so curious. Where am I?"
[A Musing] Israel smiles before raising a hand, the palm soft. A wedding band adorned her ring finger as she spoke softly.
"Shhhhhhh. I will answer what I can. You are in the Temple of the Oracle. It is a temple that was built by the Seer of Kronos below Chicago. We keep our gatherings quiet though I am sure the Etherium Consortium are aware of the gatherings themselves."
She begins to step forward, passing Molly with barely a stir of to cloth, past her akin to a ghost.
"The Mad One is my sister in this temple. I am the Oracle of Chicago...I see the future and the past all at once. My eyes are locked forever in allowing me sight but also giving me visions without searching for them. I will always be the Oracle until my death. And then my eyes will be given to another. As far as to what is 'up' with my eyes...I imagine you mean 'what is wrong' with my eyes. They are a fusing of Etherium technology with Seer leanings...I have been told they are cameras in a way. They use light to both allow me to see but also to project light in turn."
She walked, expecting Molly to follow her as she continued to speak.
"We each have our way of being able to percieve beyond this plane of existence. The Mad One's way was the telegraph wires. She liked to be connected to this world..this reality...to see all that was past and present. The future, she left to me, as she often said."
She paused for a moment before she looked to her, cocking her head.
"...and for the most important question...the Etherium. The Etherium is the energy source the Etherium Consortium established for the Earth. Imperial Britain never stopped expanding and there are very few that can oppose her beyond the Luftwaffen, the Beijing Courts, and Russia. Etherium was their idea...their concept...and it has worked. But at great costs...great sacrifices...maybe greater still. Mad science has become the domain of this world...the fusing of magic and technology. It was their way of beating the Tower...the Society of Enlightened Minds to the punch. We had already determined that if we let them continue to push their technology...eventually our own magic would fail to work. So...we allowed the Etherium to come into this world...to be 'found'. It is nearly...an infinite power source."
[Molly Quincannon] Oh, Molly follows. Miss out on this? That'd be insane. She does, however, explain, "The slang 'up' doesn't necessarily mean 'wrong'; just means, 'going on'. Like, I might ask a friend of mine 'what's up?' just in general and that would mean ... 'what's going on; what's happening', not necessarily a something-bad. And that's a something awesome. I have contact lenses I can make do that. Well, with a little help."
The tale of the Mad One and the Oracle (Sisters? What was, what is, what will be - this world mine; hers the next ... it makes sense, but... Wow...) gets silent contemplation, as does the talk of the Etherium Consortium. Then she asks, "The ... Tower? The Society of Enlightened Minds? I ... the Enlightened are ... known, here? I mean, they don't hide?" Then she blinks as another question occurs. "Are there ... are the Enlightened the majority, here?"
[A Musing] "No..they hide. We are told they are losing but I cannot agree that is true. I think we are losing ourselves...for every step we gain in keeping them out or from having control, the more we become...like them. Even here.."
She reached over, touching a wall...the computer like runes began to glow, the wall soon alight with symbols that now on closer inspection were Kabballah notations etched next to numerological code. It formed some sort of text from a scripture but there were symbols more associated with math or coding that Molly was more familiar to than something meant to be a verse.
"...we, the Seers, hang onto the past because it is part of us...but even here..our temple has changed to adapt to the ways of the Etherium. Our magic....our senses have fused with technology. And while some may say change is good....what good is so much change that you cannot remember what you were? So we try to grasp and hang onto small things...song..."
She reached over, much akin to a blind woman suddenly clutching at Molly's arm, finger rubbing over one of the wounds.
"...pain..."
She then gestured around her.
"...and countless other ways so we can tap into the vision of now, then, and soon. We are the Seers and we cannot forget the ways taught to us...for we have lost already so much."
[Molly Quincannon] When the Oracle touches Molly's arm, Molly's free hand rises to the area below her collarbone. That burn scar on her left upper arm was painful, yes, but nothing like the wounds resulting in the scars on her chest, and the days that followed. Though beyond that, a lot of her attention goes to the symbols, the computer-like design of it. She doesn't touch, but she analyses, she investigates, she tries to learn.
She does, however, ask, "So ... the Tower ... they're technomancers? And ... this has happened before. Elsewhere. My elsewhere. Some say we lost. I never believed it." She finally turns her head back towards the Oracle. "So long as even one of us believes, and remembers, we're not losing. You're not losing." She sounds so confident. This is what she believes, whether in her world or this other. "You remember. You adapt. You won't let yourself be lost. I ... sort of know you well enough to know that. The core of you, anyway."
She frowns. "Who else is here? I mean, these are the Seers, but ... beyond the Seers and the Tower ... what else is there here?"
[[Perc + Investigation, Analysis speciality, for kicks.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 4, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 6 at target 6) Re-rolls: 3
[A Musing] As she reads over it, her brain begins to decipher it...the number codes aren't hard....they list something called The Book of Lost Passions, but the rest is in the Kabbalic script so she's losing fragments here and there. But she has a feeling that each area of the temple has different scriptures etched into the wall...they were touched activated...or possibly had some sort of working that had to be activated by a known rote. Whatever it was, the Book of Lost Passions did not ring a bell.
Israel stared at her and gave a small smile.
"You say that, traveler, but there is much you do not know."
Israel lead her back to the room, gesturing for her to sit down at the chair.
"...there are no more answers I can give you though. I sense that you cannot linger any longer here...though you will return, I am sure. Just know this...where there should be 9...there are only 5. So many voices have been lost...so many absorbed. And some are no longer what they were intended to be...dreams do not talk, the Etherium controls both matter and space, the Cult of Mars influences energy of both this world and beyond...but most of all...we as the Seers have lost something more important to us than anything. I can see that from my visions...the Mad One said the same. While we have heart...we do not have the wisdom of the Meru to guide us...the East has been hushed, snuffed out by imperialism. So much was lost...so much is lost."
She smiled sadly as she touched Molly's forehead.
"Until we meet again traveler."
[Molly Quincannon] This is the kind of thing that makes Molly crazy. Riddles and people losing things and she wants to help ... but this woman speaks in a voice she trusts, and if she says Molly can't linger longer here ... well. Time to step back, take stock and...
"I'll be back," she says, even as she sits in the chair, as this Oracle touches her forehead. "I want to help." Okay, so it may be a universe-bending mistake, but ... she intends to come back, and to help if she can. "Once I work out half of what you just said..."
[A Musing] "...we shall see."
She gives that smile...the smile a parent gives a child saying they were going to help them fix an engine. A smile for the effort but knowing the futility at the same time. Israel reached up, touching the back of the chair as Molly hears the hiss of pressure building in the chair...likely a device to inject the wires back into her body. That would only give her a moment to swallow the blue pill that the Doctor had given her.
[Molly Quincannon] Molly just raises an eyebrow at the Oracle's comment, and her look. Her father used to tell her that she couldn't help him fix an engine. She builds them now. It's all just a matter of time and application of data.
For a very brief moment she ponders what would happen if she didn't swallow the blue pill. But she has things to talk about, things to do, before she can return, so she fumbles for the pill and swallows it dry, just in time.
[A Musing] There's a click and then snap as the wires dart out...for a moment Molly anticipates the pain...she even tenses, eyes closing like someone about to get hit by a car. It never comes. Instead, when her eyes peek open she finds that she is sitting in the leather chair, the Doctor staring down at her.
"Welcome back to the world, Molly. Would you like a bit of tea? The kettle is still warm."
[Molly Quincannon] "Gyah!"
It's not fear so much as startlement, and she doesn't answer the question at first. Instead, she pats herself down, looking for her iPhone, her sonic screwdriver and, most important, her laptop bag, which she left sitting by the chair. "I ... have to do something. Do you mind if I do a bit of non-invasive Enlightened I dunno what you wanna call it in here?"
[A Musing] "...do a what?"
She arched a brow at her now, having typed something into a notepad program of her laptop.
[Molly Quincannon] "Magic." She already has her laptop out, open and booting, and her iPhone is out and open to ForceFeed. She's twisting bits of her sonic screwdriver as well - it's preparatory, nothing more. "I mean, I can wait, but if you want to actually see what I saw instead of relying on me telling you, that's if you want to know, but you're a scientist so I imagine you'd want some data factors on the whole thing? Anyway, if you want to see it, I can get it transferred from neurochemical impulses to stored digital audiovisual media so you can watch it? Then I'm going to need to throw some hoodoo at it."
[A Musing] "Ah...very well."
The Doctor smiles, letting her go about her thing.
[Molly Quincannon] [[First thing's first - Alertness roll.]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 8 (Failure at target 8)
[Molly Quincannon] WIth a nod, Molly finishes her calibrations and checks the readings on her sonic screwdriver before turning it on, then switching on the new bit of ForceFeed she's been practicing of late.
ForceFeed
NeuroLoad
Accessing SS Feed...
[[Mind + Forces = memory download. Diff 6 (Vulgar, no witnesses) -1 foci, -1 time taken, -1 practiced, diff now 3]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 5 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Molly Quincannon] [[Extending, diff up to 4]]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 4)
[Molly Quincannon] [[Perc + Alertness again...]]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 7)
[A Musing] Indeed, loading up the .avi file showed a good hour of roaming the temple, her conversation with Israel, as well as the code ciphers along the wall. Everything looked good. Then her eyes noticed something...the corner of the laptop showed it was 10:02...she had gotten here at 9:35. She had gone under maybe 15 to 20 minutes after that. Hovering her mouse over the date would reveal it was still the same night as well.
How did she have an hour of compressed memories when she had been under...five or ten minutes at most?
[Molly Quincannon] That, oddly, does not faze Molly. She's a Cultist; their relationship with time is fluid and flexible at the best of times. It doesn't confuse her, but it does get a reaction of, "Whoa, wicked! The spirits have done it all in one night! Maybe time moves differently there than here, or something. Anyway."
She makes a copy of her .avi file, digs a flash drive out of her laptop bag and plugs it into her laptop. "I'm making you a copy of the file so you can go over it at your leisure, and I can give you a rundown of what I got from investigation of the ... I guess computer things. I'm going to have to talk to some friends to solidify what I understand about some of the symbols. Can I go back at some point? Like, soon?"
[A Musing] "I'll contact you soon. My research itself is not done..but I'm still gathering data from multiple subjects so you'll have to give me a little bit of time before I can release further information to correspond with whatever findings you come across."
She holds out her hand for the flash drive.'
"But thank you for making it easier on me."
[Molly Quincannon] "No problem," she says, handing over the flash drive. "I've been wanting to use that in the field since I figured out how to do it. How did you do that? I mean, I was ... there was a me! And I was ... riding the other me's body around! Or so the Oracle said. Do you ... is there another you organising the ... how does this even work?"
[A Musing] The Doctor smiled and wagged her finger.
"No spoilers. The DACRU is still in development stages and I haven't patented it so I can't share that information quite yet. But time will reveal all things I'm sure."
[Molly Quincannon] "That's my line!" She's teasing, mostly, though it's a line that's been attributed to her a time or twenty. "And I'm hoping time will also reveal those schematics you said I could have when you'd got a bit more data." No, she has not forgotten.
Then she shuts her laptop, rotates her shoulders and sighs. "Okay, so do you have any questions for me? Oh, and one thing I should probably say. I went with it? The whole preparatory thing? But for a lot of us, there's ... justifiable paranoia so you might want to go over exactly what's going to be involved - with the sedatives and the induction and all that - before you try it on them. Some aren't so trusting and I figure resistance will screw up your data as well as maybe get some kind of angry mages on your case. Which is never fun."
[A Musing] "Very well. And I have no questions at this time...I'll get back to you if nothing else comes up. Thanks again."
She offered her hand, helping her up after removing sensors and the diodes. She then escorted Molly to the exit.
0 comments:
Post a Comment