From the Deep Cosmos

[miokalia]

Introduction:

The exact nature of the phenomena hanging over Arx had a steadily growing cloud of scientists and researchers from all over interested inand involved with trying to figure it out. That is, ever since the severity of it was first observed by the Yillow Telephasic Workshop* when they recorded impossible conditions on their equipment.

The storm of pucostatic activity on Arx would occasionally produce tiny instances of Ultra-Haoroaffected space, that is space where the speed of light is quite profoundly different than usual without any material barrier. These are cloud-like in their observed effect and had been observed most elegantly as pockets of "decelerating light". A cloud of somewhat altered optics and intensified radiosity. In the more annoying manifestations, its a sudden, inexplicable disorientation that runs people into walls or doors because of the misjudgement of space that it imparts. The reason why these are not more pervasive in their effects is because these clouds last for only a short time. Spending only maybe 1/100th of a second at a magnitude of Haorocharge** that could actually be passively dangerous.

However, the existence of a momentarily self-sustaining Pucostatic storm was thought to be impossible before. In short: the reason being that the density and concentration of energy required to do so is far above the energy densities that matter can generally support. Basically: there's just too much empty space in matter for this kind of thing to happen. Or so was thought.

The main danger then, with a Pucostatic storm that was started by a major high-powered event that put converted a given amount of matter into a tremendous amount of Pucons and their component Harinos, is how and when that energy is converted or discharged from Haoroaffected particles to regular matter.
(E.g. Pucon Lightning hurling ribbons of reality through time and space every which way)

In this research, a team at Universitat Dorigan, along with several research fellows elsewhere, has begun looking at old data to see if they can find something or things, that were missed before when it was thought that these Pucostatic Storms were impossible.



*The Yillow Telephasic Workshop:
The laboratory was set up to detect and construct profiles for use in Axial Insterstellar Transit. These are profiles of the densities and charges of features at the remote destination, specifically the cross-section of Pucon threads (strands in Doron Nomenclature). This process of finding the "code" for a destination lightyears away is called "Telephasing"

**Haorocharge:
The measure of potential and magnitude of the Haorostochastic force which occours between two Polchronon particles of corresponding characteristics. Haorocharge is measured in Doron units (Dns). Where 0 Dns corresponds to the Haoroaffected speed of light being exactly theoretical C, 1 Dns is very slightly higher than C, 2 Dns is roughly high enough above C to cause significant changes in the behavior of many things. 3 Dns puts the speed of light far higher than baseline C, enough that the structure and behavior of matter is profoundly altered.
At 4 Dns, the speed of light is around tens of thousands of times faster than baseline. At 5 Dns it is millions.
Above 5 Dns, the speed of light becomes exponentially faster so that 6 Dns is equal to infinite C. Thus 6 Dns is a mathmatical idea and not an actually reachable value.

[miokalia]

A rusty old box sat on the table in a dimly lit room. It had been recovered just days ago when a couple of prospectors searching for valuable materials had stumbled upon it, and a recently collapsed mass of ground that revealed a crashed tank of some kind.
It was just a half mile away from the shipwreck ruins of the ASR Palomar, an active archaeological site.
A fairly tall and spindly wolf leaned over it, inspecting it.
"It's nice to think it could be something, but it really could be almost anything. There were thousands of Gordos tanks roaming around, getting blown up in spats all over the place back then. Too many conflicts to count. This could be literally anything, and not necessarily related to the Schumacher Account."

"But still, you're going to ask for allocation to research it extensively", said another figure near by.

"It's just protomalych data recorder, it's not going to take much to research it's contents anyway.", said a third figure walking around the room. A figure of somewhat lanky dragon-shape, with green glowing eyes,
"If it turns out be nothing significant, than it's not like it's that big of a deal anyway. There's no proposal to analyze here."

"Ok...", said the black wolf who then paused, in typical Malych response to an ambiguous response, then asked, "Clarify. I require a resolvable specific condition please."

"Do it. The allocations needed will be approved. See what happens. I've got other things going on, if you'll excuse me", said the dragon while leaving.

"Yes, Premier.", said the wolf with some relief.


-------


Yima was watching old reels procured from the Estroiya State Apparata of Antiquities. These were transfers of meticulously restored film, technically, Analogue Pixitape, from ages ago.
6000 lightyears from home, watching blurry, occasionally color, often black-and-white reels of ancient people and ancient things. Looking for something to piece the history together somewhere in there.
The Malych operate on a dual-day cycle, where their calendar "day" is equivalent to two of their actual astronomical days, which are 20 hours each. Noon is darkness, the sun rises and sets twice before the day is through. In the quest for devising the most alien-feeling day-cycles, Malychedar seems to be aiming for some kind of prize.
Yima was about to fall asleep. This current reel was nothing but some blue-faced military dictator screaming about heroic sacrifices in a culture which was no more philosophically developed than a box of pants. It was both ridiculous and unnerving that these people apparently built the foundations of the anatomy of those currently inhabiting this place.
She nodded off to sleep.


"How can people so completely unaware of ethics and themselves manage to maintain a civilization that can actually support sciences?"
She said aloud while digging through the bins somewhere in the basement of the Library she had taken up partial residence in. She did what ferrets are best known for and shimmied around through the bin, looking for new or interesting shoe-boxes of Pixitape transfer cassettes and reels. her feetpaws in the air, balancing this out.


"That's the same question that had probably plagued everyone who has come down here", said the librarian, "The question which I think only the ghosts know"

"This one box", Yima said as she returned to her pile, "This one box full of mostly stories and legends, so far, seems to have the only leads towards anything further with this. It's just unfortunate that the best thing we have for exploring any deeper into your world's history is the paranoid journal of a man who crashed here and basically went insane from lonliness. It doesn't help that he doesn't fit into the timeline too well."

"Oh yes, Midshipman Schumacher", said the librarian, "Over the course of his journal, he began to see things, increasingly as he went completely insane. We've found the remains of his deceased crewmate, "Charlotte" and the mess and remains of his shipwreck even, but obviously we never found any remains or evidence of any of the psychedelic things or people he saw later in his account. There's not really anything there. He's just another guy who made some contact with Protomalych and got marooned on this planet 2000 years ago.


--------


Xoto paused the playback, and in a flurry of excitement, he made 10 backups of the entire contents of the recovered black-box recorder.
Then he realized that the most significant portion was the one most at risk of being lost, and then made 20 backups of just the last couple minutes of the record.

He watched it again, there was something deeply unnerving that was going on there.
He stood completely still while watching it, his plastic whiskers remaining completely still and both of his metal canid ears folded back as though he were expecting what he was hearing to jump right out and attack him.

2000 years had rendered the recording fuzzy and had blurred the analogue Pixitape video, but the fear was perfectly clear.

16:32:03
"Unknown airborn structures detected. Auto sentry command in effect. Engaging target with conventional fire"

16:32:05
"Target has responded audibly to rounds fired, no physical effect observed! Switching to MASER.
Pulse status alert: Unusually high noise on closed system lines detected. May be faulty core bus component."

16:32:10
"MASER almost charged, target is now moving closer.
It's very close, attempting to fire MASER. Inadequate charge!
OHAAHAHAH!"
"REACH WITHINWARDS ERASE UNIT DISTRACTION"
"HHAAUHHH!"
"IS DONE"

16:32:12
{{{SYSTEM DEVICE ERROR: ANDROID UNIT UNRESPONSIVE}}}

"UNIT ERASED"


16:32:13
{{{SYSTEM ERROR: FAILURE DATA RECORDER RESET FAIL: MEDIA PARTIALLY EJECTED. NO ACCESS.}}}

16:32:14
END OF RECORD



Xoto's feet were up in the seat of the chair, his tail frozen and basically all-around ready to leap from his seat and take off running.
The blurry video of the recording showed one or two, globular things approach the cockpit of the tank and literally melt right through the walls. Then appearing right inside. And then appear to vaporize the android unit piloting the tank.

There was no weapon known that did this, and the globular things seemed to be... acting quite deliberately, and even producing audible speech, acting as though they were intelligent. He had never seen anything like it.

[miokalia]

In the stuffy office in a 90 year-old building:

"Well, it's great that you could make it back, Doctor Kann. Where were you again, someone told me you were doing some kind of moon archaeology... um... on the moon. I didn't even know anyone in SOTO had sent anything to the moon, aside from the bottle of whiskey that Cal sent there in 1963.", said the feathery dromeosaurid professor.

"That's kinda weird.
I was at a archaeological site somewhere around Smead. Corona Beta.", said the fox.

"Oh wow, you were really way out there."

"Yeah, Smead is one of those enclave communities, it's all furries... and pretty much all nudists which was kinda... weird, actually.
You're in a town surrounded by robots and crap, and it's full of nudists. But I digress.
This site was originally a mineral surveying excavation. Actually, an illegal one apparently. It was being done under the cover of darkness at night, I guess they were looking for gold or something. Apparently the guys struck something quite different, and the underpaid folks doing the digging decided to turn the site over to the robots because that reward paid better than working on speculation (that is, basically without pay).
They actually found the remains of another 2000-year-old ship.
Since they haven't thought of anything particularly horrifying I guess, they've had the archaeological analysis open for a while now.
I've found a few items which are of course documented in my paper.
To summarize: a lot of them were pretty everyday things. Toilet paper, toothbrushes. Stuff which is fascinating but expected.
Then there are the diaries. But the last day I was there, before they closed down the site temporarily for supposed safety reasons... There was apparently a body."


------------------------------


(8 days ago, S. Celestica Dig Site, Malychedar)

Kann returned to the site to find a lot of yellow tape draped around.
A government transport, indiscernable from a military transport was parked nearby and a scaffold with tarps had been placed over the entire dig site itself.
"About time we got some weather protection", said the fox excidedly.

"Sorry.", said one of the security personell as he stepped in front of him, "But it seems that a safety issue has arisen, and we are temporarily closing the site"

"What the hell? did we hit a gas line or something? This is all very suspicious.", asked the fox.

"Because you're Doctor Kann, and you do have some official academic clearence, I can tell you this:
A high-durability refridgerant system was found inside the wreckage and it contains a cryogenically frozen body inside. We have moved the device and the body to controlled location to prevent damage and until the next course of action is determined."

"That's all I'm going to get out of you isn't it.", asked the fox.

"I have no idea what's going on here at all. But I do know that you aren't permitted to cross through the tape at this time.", said the security drone.


-----------------------
(back to the stuffy office)

"A body?", asked the professor.

"Yes, after they removed it and did some analysis, they have determined that it is has been cryogenically frozen in a stable state this whole time, and thus is considered to still be 'alive'. There is currently a debate on the ethics of the next obvious course of action though..."

"Thawing it and waking it up"

"Yes, precisely"

"What is it?"

"Badger, undetermined ethnicity, male, about 16 years old.
I guess the kicker is: they're pretty sure the icy kid is from somewhere in the federation. They just can't figure out where."

"Well, they haven't talked to him yet. Maybe if they thaw him out, they can narrow it down by what language he starts talking in, or recognizes."

"That is whenever they finish their debate. The malych really kinda feel bad that this guy has been frozen and if thawed-out, would basically be waking up to an unrecognizable world and environment. I mean everyone this person ever knew is long gone."

"True, but what are the other options? Keep him frozen, deferring the question for later. Or killing him so he doesn't have to ever experience the shock of waking up 2000 years later? Neither of those two options solve anything. I'd say the latter of the two is less ethically sound."

"Which is why it's only a matter of time until they thaw him out and wake him up."


--------------------------------


Apparat of Special Containment Protocol.
Estr. Metropolitan Facility
68D35E CARRADENE, MLCHDR

ITEM CODENAME "FROZEN BADGER BOY"
LOG



Reanimation of subject has been sucessful

Device contained automatic thawing/biomatic system which we analyzed and activated.

Subject is in catatonic state, body temperature slowly normalizing.
Breathing is shallow, heart rate is 40 bpm.


---------------------


Subject is not-directly responsive, in apparent REM sleep for last 10 hours. Subject occasionally produces sounds and tosses or turns.


----------------------


Subject awoke today, has been left alone in room. Subject was initially shocked and frightened for about 10 minutes, but quickly calmed down and began vocalizing.

The language appears to be Tinisian of unknown dialect. There exist some words or perhaps slang which there is no known record of in any known dialect.

Subject seems to also be fluent in both English and Kohtohkhan, and seems to be mixing them regularly.

Translations of subject vocalizations include:

"Dad?!"
"NOOOO!"
"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"
"Ronald? Phil? Al? Anybody?!"
"Hello?"
"Is anybody here?"
"How do I get out?"
"Rrrrnghhh... Nemir, where is this?!"
"Where the hell is everyone?"
"Hey LET ME OUT! I don't want any part of your stupid war. I just want to go home. Just let me go damn it!"


Subject did attempt to break out of containment quarter within expected behavioral patterns.
We have decided to make contact with subject initially through sound only.

"Hello there. Are you feeling okay?" was said by a trained professional interpreter.

The subject responded:
"Hey! Who is this?! Are you rescuing us! We're going back home?! Where's dad?!!!"

Interpreter replied,
"We have discovered your ship. Although I am afraid that the circumstances of the discovery are not ideal"

The subject responded:
"Please tell me my dad is alive! Where is he?!

Where are the others. Please tell me."

Interpreter replied,
"I am afraid you are the single survivor we discovered of this wreckage. It is difficult to explain. We will help you."

Suddenly, the subject responded differently, incredulous and angry:
"Is this a psychosymbiote?! This is isn't it! Get out of my head, I don't know anything about your stupid fucking war. Get out damn it! I just want to go home!!!"

Referrence: "Psychosymbiote", unknown. Assumed to be some kind of mind-control technology which subject is familiar with.

Interpreter:
"What is a psychosymbiote? Maybe it's best if you rest. We will send someone in to the quarters in a few hours. We have to be careful because of contamination risks"

Subject became substantially less distressed upon mention of concern of contamination risks. Subject appears to be familiar with decontamination period procedures such as those that would be for a craft travelling between planets.

Subject responded:
"At least we're away from those goddamn machines."

Important Note: There is indication that subject possibly had contact with Protomalych or Pre-Malych species, especially given the age of the shipwreck.

Interpreter asked:
"Which ones? What do you mean?"

Subject responded:
"You mean they didn't try to attack you when you got there?! The whole stupid place is crawling with them. They killed all the prisoners. And that one creep from the State that commandeered our ship and crashed us here, he turned out to be one that was made back home.
You have to listen to me, watch out, they will come out of nowhere. You really have to watch out for this one big red one that flies. Looks like a huge pointy dragon thing."

Interpreter asked:
"Well we are quite safe now. You need not worry about anything attacking you."

Subject said:
"Are you sure you didn't find anyone else? Can you go back and look?"

Interpreter replied:
"I'm sorry, there is no way we can go back. There wasn't even a trace of any other survivors."

Important Note: Subject very likely had contact with protomalych.

[miokalia]

Xoto watched the surveillance monitor, he had been appointed to this project because of his current research.
"The kids going to freak shit if any of us go in there", he said, "And he's going to want to see a real person soon here, or else he'll decide that this is all some mindgame apparently. I wonder what happened to him.

It seems to be that he was exposed to something which was mentally intrusive."

Xoto really wanted to go in there and see what all the badger had to say. Just fascinated by the opportunity, it was just unfortunate than apparently physiological matters were obstructive to this desire.

Doctor Gorman, a wolf (of the organic variety) went in instead, while Xoto watched intensely.

LOG

Doctor Gorman:
"Hey, I never got your name. You feeling any better?"

Subject:
"Eh sort of. Constant headache. You know."

Doctor Gorman:
"Well we did find you in some sort of cryostasis pod. I'd imagine that isn't a necessarily a pleasant experience.

I'm doctor Gorman by the way.

I guess now that you're more awake I need to tell you about some things."

Subject:
"yeah"

Gorman:
"A considerably long span of time has elapsed since that ship you were on had crashed.
Everything is likely completely different now than it was then."

Subject:
"I just find it really strange that the Tinisian you're using sounds like it came from like 1998 or something."

Gorman:
"I'm sorry, I must not be understanding something.
Uh... Let's try this:
What year was it when your ship crashed?"

Subject:
"2274, two weeks after my birthday."

Gorman put her paw up to her ear and pushed the headset radio and said, "Xoto, we got a problem. Advise... Are you sure. Ok... ok".

Gorman:
"Son, the current year is 2009. Based on the calendar Tinisians would be familiar with."

Subject:
"So you're an international rescue ship... wait a minute, 2009?!"

Gorman:
"Was your ship capable of discrete time travel?"

Subject:
"No it was just a... cargo ship.

How long was I frozen in that capsule?"

Gorman:
"The ship wreck is around 2000 years old. You were frozen for 2000 years there."

Subject:
"...
I can't beleive I'm still alive. I mean we crashed on a real dump. That planet was hot, and really really dry. You couldn't grow anything and we had to eat these lizard-rabbit things. They taste like salt.
I think Namir said something about the heavy elements in the planets core having gone critical. I practically expected this place to just blow up one day. I guess it didn't."

Gorman:
"You would not recognize it.
...
Which leads me to the next thing you need to know:

Right now we are at a secure government facility."

Subject:
"Oh great. The last thing that happened before we crashed was a ''secure and safe'' government redirection order."

Gorman:
"This is not a Union or Tinisian government facility. Although we have informed them that we have found a missing national."

Subject:
"I don't even know where to go if and when this is through."

Gorman:
"Well, let's just get through this one part at a time.
What was your name again?"

Subject:
"Gip Hallear"

Gorman:
"Good. Well nice to meet you, we should have you out of this stuffy old room shortly. There's a couple of professors who really want to meet you too, they're actually the ones that identified the ship as the Celestica. I think Kirtzig is actually overstars back in The Union or the Tajirates, but I did see Xoto earlier today. He's very shy.

But there's going to be a nurse coming in here to give you a check-up..."

Subject quickly interjected:
"Whoa. uh.. I'd rather not have a medical check up from... Sorry, it's just that this place in like 250 years in the past, and I don't want to be exposed to things... you know.
I'll be fine without the colloidal silver and irradiated water thank you."

Gorman:
"Both of those particular things we have actually debunked as well. He's just going to take a look at you and make sure there are no emminent threats to your health."


-----------------------------------



After the check up, Xoto finally broke and took a risk. He put on some heavy, covering clothing and a rubber-and-fur partial suit.


LOG

Xoto:
"Hi..."

Subject Gip:
"Hi, haven't seen you yet. Any idea when it is I can get out of this room."

Xoto:
"Shit yes. Really soon. We can go for a drive or something and get food."

Subject Gip:
"Do they still have Udi-Runzas ... or have them yet here in civilization?"

Xoto:
"Whoa. That's weird. They actually do. There is a place that has those. We will find it."

Subject Gip:
"Alright! Hey is it cold outside or something? Since you're wearing all that stuff."

Xoto:
"...
It's in a cultural, ethnic kind of thing. You know.
It's just fine out.
But you need to know some things.

This facility we are at... is actually on the same planet that you crashed on."

Subject Gip:
"What? So this is a colony? What about the robot monsters and radiation and stuff."

Xoto:
"We pieced it back together. It's fixed. It's a lot better now.
The robot monsters are not a problem now."

Subject Gip:
"But for how long? They're insatiable, eventually they'll find a way through the walls you all have put up! I saw them do it with my own eyes!"

Xoto:
"Gip calm the hell down.
When I said the robot monsters are not a problem, I'm sure of it in ways which I can't explain at this time.

Gip...
I cannot express how sorry I am. I'm so sorry for what happened to you and your family on that ship. "

Subject Gip:
"Oh.. uhm.. ok.

Xoto:
So.
I'm going to go see if we can't maybe get you some fresh air and normal food then. okay!"


---------------------



Xoto came back in from the room. Gorman asked, "What was that about, you got all misty there, although I don't think the kid could see that since you pretty much covered everything up."

Xoto replied, "I just... suddenly got overwhelmed. I've read the diaries of the crew, the protomalych were a constant threat to their survival once they crashed here. It was probably protomalych that killed the other crew, if the weather or sickness didn't kill them.

I just felt so horrible all of a sudden: it was my distant ancestors that mercilessly attacked him and the rest of the crew of that ship 2000 years ago."

"yeah, but they were mindless then", said Gorman.

"I don't think that would matter to him", said Xoto, "See if you can take him on a trip with a security escort to an organic enclave. Like take him to a Heinsch or TacoTime or something fun and fast food. Don't go through Astruya or Moon Cheese City on the way either. It's too much mixed organic/inorganic stuff. We have to ease him into this."

[The Union of Tinis]

From: State Department of the Union of Tinis, Missing Persons Department
Subject: Re: Missing National

Thank you for informing us of your discovery of a missing Tinisian citizen, if indeed they are such. To verify this individual as a citizen of Tinis however, we need more information. A name will do, as would any identifying belongings, features, or habits. Dental x-rays can be of use as well.

Once we verify their citizenship we will immediately book passage for their return.

-Mven Qom, Director of Retrievals

-----

From: State Department of the Union of Tinis, Missing Persons Department
Subject: Re: Missing National

Thank you for the updated information. We have searched our databases for a missing person with the name Gip Hallear, but have not found someone of that name missing. The Hallear families have been contacted but none have reported having a missing relative that was not reported to authorities. It may be possible that this person is using an alias. If they are available for such, we would be very interested in interviewing this person. Please note that if they are using an alias, they may be engaged in criminal enterprises.

Please let us know any more information that you may find about this person. Also, are they currently in legal trouble there? I'm CCing this to Detective Ele of our national police forces as they would be the point person if this person is up to no good.

-Mven Qom, Director of Retrievals

[miokalia]

[[[OOC: I'm going to rename this thread I think, since it is pretty much completely different than the first post]]]


-------------------------

From: State General Switching Automata
Subject: Reponse Received

The communication you sent through Union Postal InterGram has been forwarded to the appropriate entity.

Expected response time: 24 hours.
Expected delivery time: 53 hours*

*certain weather conditions or other more unlikely, but possible events may cause the delivery time via axial post between locations to vary.


--------------------------

From: Apparat of Antiquities
Subject: RE: Missing national.

Presently, the indicated individual, Gip Hallear is not in any legal trouble. Given the circumstances of his discovery, foul play on the part of the indicated individual is highly unlikely. However we have not yet ruled out the possibility that foul play may have been what placed him in the situation in which he was found.

He has not indicated any familiarity with his present surroundings, thus we are giving him some time to normalize. A trip to Tinis for interviewing as requested will organized very shortly.

-RCD #E86864 "Miranda"
Apparat of Antiquities Liason to Apparat of State - Displaced Persons Unit.


--------------------------------


"Why do the windows have to be blacked out like this?", asked Gip.
Gorman and a bear were driving him to a restaurant that apparently served what for Gip would at least hopefully be slightly familiar food. Although said restaurant was technically on the other side of the metropolitan area of Astruya from where the secure facility was in Carradene.
The only direct routes involved going through Malych urban areas which the Antiquities team, or mostly Xoto decided might be "mind-crushingly surreal or unsettling" to someone who has been frozen for 2000 years. The main concern was keeping Gip from seeing any of that urban area's residents. Once they reached the organic enclave on the other side of Astruya, then things would be fine.

"Because we don't want news reporters to harass you", said the bear.
It would take a total of 9 days from when this started for any reporters to show up, the information had to get to Earth first (2-3 days) and then they'd have to either get reporters out here, or respond to reporters on-world as to the newsworthiness of the find, which would take 6-7 days with the asymmetry of axial travel times.
Suffice it to say, there was no threat of media harassment.

"We're driving on a two-lane road outside of Carradene, there's nobody around at all. I think we can lower the shades.", Gorman said.
As the windows cleared up, Gip asked: "Why don't your cars hover. Why are you still using wheels? The cars back in Tinis hover"

"Because it's impractical. I'm sure somebody could devise a way to make that work, and probably has. But it's too impractical"

"Hardly", said Gip, "It's way more practical than impossibly massive-volume highway infrastructure, cost wise. Have you ever been around Arx?"

"Yes, but they... ehh.", started Gorman.

"That actually makes sense, if you can get the hovering to be efficient enough.", said the bear (who's name is now Stan)

"I guess the Tinis in this time has not reached that density yet", said Gorman.

"What city is that?", asked Gip as they crested a hill, and could see some of Astruya in the distance between them and the ocean.

"That's just Astruya.", said Gorman.

"Astruya? It was just a weird old, slighly delapidated city inside a dome thing when my father and I went through it. In fact, one of the androids took my father and tried to interrogate him or something there. They used the psychosymbiote.
And fuckin' Namir decided to run off to find something and then the security drones and then the wall thing and..."

"You okay?", asked Stan.

"I'm fine. It's just all really weird.

Especially... that I don't remember the sky ever being so normal-looking here.", he said.

"Normal? It's billowing overcast. This place is usually very dry.", said Gorman.

"The way I remember it: the sky was either pale or some reddish or yellow color. There was no vegetation at all like there is here.", said Gip.

He looked around the car some, looked out the back window of the car and saw another one crest the hill.

"That's a weird looking lizard. He's all black-and-grey stripey.", he said as the car approached.

Stan looked at Gorman really quickly and then Gorman said, "Hey look at that building there, it's really important." she pointed to a random tall building in the distance, "It's like the Arx tower of this place."
Gip looked around out the window, "Where is it?"
Stan turned the shades on the back window on.

"It's round... looks kinda like a canister capacitor.", she said.

"O.... k I guess I missed it", said Gip, "Hey what's with the back window?"

"Didn't want to be rude. Being polite to the guy behind us", said Stan.

"You guys have some bizzare customs here.", Gip said.


Then without much warning, the car behind them started to pass them. It was too late to black out the windows now.
Fortunately, he meant business and passed them quickly.

"Weird looking lizard there. Where do you think that guy is from?", asked Gip.

"Uhhhh...", Gorman searched for a plausible answer.

"Silendran. He's probably from Silendran", Stan said frantically, "He' definately not from here or um... Miokalia or Kaz... or something... I guess...."

"I don't know, what are the countries that occupy the Eledorian penninsula over in your universe?", Gorman said, somewhat mocking the frantic explanation by Stan.

"Uh.

There's a little country called Hneida. But they have feathers.", Gip thought it was an actual question directed towards him.

"I was.. nevermind. I was being silly.", said Gorman.

"Who's Namir, by the way", asked Stan, "We didn't find a Namir on any of the ship's crew logs. Was he or she a pet?"

"Oh no", said Gip, "Namir was actually the guy who saved us from the wreck at first, he showed us where to hide."

"So there was someone else marooned here too?", asked Gorman.

"Not really. He was from here he said. He wore some kind of protective suit because he had been injured somewhere.", said Gip.

"Really. What species, if you mind my asking?", asked Stan.

Gip said,
"Well... he didn't have any fur that I knew of, he was anthropoid, bipedal... He said he was Malychedaran. Specifically, he said that he was of the people that made those monster robots which were running rampant all over the place. And he went on and on and on and on about how much of a mistake that was to make them and how his civilization had destroyed itself. Really every freaking day at least four times daily."

"I thought they were all killed from the Herci-Zampoco Radiation Event.", asked Stan.

"In theory", said Gorman.

"The what event?", asked Gip.

Stan explained,
"It's a name we gave to an apparent geological event discovered by some scientists of the same names. There is a section of the Malychedar soil strata which contained high levels of radioactive isotopes of Thorium and Strontium and various radioactive salts. It's probably why nothing grew here for a thousand years. Since then, the vast majority of the radiation has decayed. The event was beleived to have been possibly some kind of nuclear holocaust which we think the Malychedaran's engaged in, and it ended up wiping out nearly all organic life on the planet over the course of a few years. We know it was the Malychedarans because they actually documented it as it happened. Many had taken shelter in what was then, the dome city of Astruya. But eventually they all died of various illnesses or civil unrest or any number of post-apocalyptic threats."

"That pretty much matches the description that I had heard from Namir when we were in the dome, at least before we were attacked by things.", said Gip.

"That's where we got the information from. From materials inside the dome itself. It's nice to see we probably have the right idea.", said Stan.

"What did you do about the security drones?", asked Gip.

Stan said,
"Well, when the Malych actually reclaimed the Astruya dome in an organized manner, they shot all of the security drones down and shut down the system that was producing them. The place was an autonomous fortress, so it took a while to actually make it 'theirs'. That was like... what. Probably 600 years ago or so."

Gip then asked,
"Who are the Malych?"

Gorman punched Stan in the arm, "Now what", she said quietly.

Stan started,
"Well, they're the people who live here now. The um..

The natives, I guess."

Gorman said,
"The suns going down, it must be about an hour till noon.
Hope you didn't have your heart set on breakfast."

"Don't worry, I'm used to it. I lived with these stupid short-ass days for months.", said Gip, "So who are the older colonizers you mentioned?"

Stan looked at Gorman. Gorman paused for a bit and then said,
"Well...", he started, and then saw a passing truck with Kohtohkhan text on the side, and got an idea.
"You know the dinosaurs? The Hcotian ones?"

"yeah", Gip said.

Stan continued,
"Well, a long time ago, they made contact with some robots while on an exploration mission. The robots were not hostile, they were civil and with their situation at the time, they needed some help.
The Hcotians helped the robots because the very existence of an inorganic civilization, especially one which was not hostile to them, proved a major ideology of theirs correct. Within a hundred years, the robots adopted many aspects of the Kohtohkhan language because their own was just numbers. So in a way, you could say the Hcotians made these robots, in a cultural sense.

The "natives" of this place are those non-hostile robots which the Hcotians encountered."

Gip was somewhat not sure of what to make of this,
"So, the dinosaurs met peaceful robots and gave them a language and now they live here?
What about the robot monsters that were here when my ship crashed? There is no way they could have been the same robots."

Gorman pulled into the parking lot of the somewhat 50's-esque, googie-style drive-in diner. They were in the heart of the Enclave.
She said,
"They were different ones. The ones which were around when you crashed had already gone extinct. They were completely different."

She thought about what Xoto had said.
She wasn't lying. There was very little similarity between the image of a clearly uncomfortable and ashamed Xoto and the uncaring Gordos tank which just marches along remorselessly and joylessly shooting at anything that moves.

She called the spindly metal wolf,

"Yeah Xoh. Well Stan and I just found the right way to explain this place to him. Things just got pushed forward some. Notify the State Apparat Liaison so they can schedule an interview in Tinis.", she said into the phone



------------------------

[miokalia]

an hour ago, Gip bolted from the van, overcome with paranoia of these unusual surroundings and what as far as he could tell, were his captors.

He ran across open grassland for a short while, soon it turned into crackled and crunchy desert floor. A bit more akin to what he remembered of this place. Trying to stay away from the roads, but keeping them in sight. Since one thing he definately remembered of Corona Beta 5 was that it was very easy to get very far away from water very fast. Beyond the road he was now 2 miles or so from, there was evidence of some moisture. A shoreline of some kind.
He also remembered that Corona Beta 5's ocean water, while not particularly tasty, was not salt water. It was drinkable in limited amounts.

But those roads, while they were something familiar indicating civilization, there was no telling what might be along them.

He continued to run, he was good at it, although not as good as he remembered being. Probably had something to do with being frozen for a while.

He slowed down to a walking pace, there wasn't anything emminently chasing him out here, but if there were, he might as well conserve just in case, he thought.

After another hill, he started seeing some civilization in the distance. Unaware of the geography, Gip had run parallel to the highway running between the Enclave community of Hooker Heaven (people who live in enclave communities are very weird and like to name stuff bizzarely) and Astroiya.

Gip saw city and imagined what it was like back home in Tinis.


Astroiya didn't really have a gradual build up to it. And for the middle of the day, the street he just walked into was quiet. He stepped over the curb and paused a moment. It was a very rough transition between empty desert and sudden city. Uniformly, everything was 2 stories or three. Nothing was a single story. Buildings with metal siding and tall, narrow windows. "This is cute", he thought outloud. Deciding that it looked like a 2010's period-era neighborhood except more extreme.
There were few cars parked along the road, and until he reached the closest one, he didn't realize how strange they were.
By configuration, this vehicle looked like a 2-door coupe. An Udztar from back in Tinis. But it was about twice the size as it should be in scale. Tail-accomodating seats were not unheard of, especially in Federation nations. But these were outrageous. These were accomodating for a lot more.
He peeked through the window for a while trying to figure out the ergonomics of it.

Then the interior lights pulsed. He backed away, stumbling in surprize. Looking around he expected to see someone with the keys, and maybe whatever creature it was that owned this thing.
But there was none around in sight.

Only a door shutting in the distance.

"Hey!", he yelled, hoping there would be someone around. Maybe someone he could talk to who could give him some straight answers.

Nothing.



---------------------



A few blocks into town, things were disorientingly regular. At least the streets.. most of them.. had some identifying information.

"Assplug Ave?", he said as he passed one, "Is this for real?"

"Shitwad St? These people are insane. Whoever they are."

Still, so far he had only seen a few cars, all of them oddly proportioned like the one he saw before, but their windows were tinted so he never did get a good look at the occupants.
He turned the corner and found, much to his surprise and dismay, something which he had never seen before, but instinctively decided was quite threatening.

It was some kind of robot, the design of which he was unfamiliar. Digitigrade feet and a head of nondescript animal-shape, probably mammalian maybe. Hard to say if it was supposed be some kind of cat or a wolf or a fox. He didn't spend much time trying to figure it out. It's front side was mostly black, with white casings around various parts. Armor, he decided it was. He couldn't tell where it was looking, but it's eyes were small and orange.

He was already down a block and around the corner.
A close call, he assumed, since he didn't hear any gunfire or the rapid "Vorchik" sound of mechanical legs chasing him, as he remembered from before.

A trash can toppled as he backed around the corner, the sound nearly sending him into heart-attack shortly followed by relief.
Followed by another heart-attack-inducing moment as another robot thing leaped away from the trash can and took off running on all fours. This one was a bit harder to see in the shadow of the building, but it was a black and brown blur.
It ran down the street and then leapt through a doorway into a building. It ran a bit differentally than a large dog though. It acted like it knew the difference between sidewalk, road, and yard. It was a small subtlety.

He waited until about the mid-morning of the second half of the day (calendar day = 2 astronomical days on Corona Beta 5), and then started walking down the alley. Nothing had come after him in that 2 hours since his run-in with whatever that thing was.

He decided to follow the sound of what seemed like music. As he approached it, it became clear that it was music. The alley was very clean and it seemed like it was an inviting sort of place. Concrete on each side perhaps, but a floor up it was solid colored panels and windows. Every once in a while the music would stop, then there would be some other sounds and talking, and then an instrument here or there. Some laughter, some yelling, then some more laughter. There were multiple people.

He followed the sound of a bass and somebody speaking really fast and nasally. Then there was a softer voice that was a bit deeper. It was hard to place it the accent though. The sound took him through a doorway and down a hallway.

They began to play again, and he continued following the sound, but slowing down, since it was in a hallway and there weren't as many places to run.
He began to wonder what he was going to say when he did run into these people. Seeing as they didn't seem to be too alarmed, they must know what was going on around here. Hopefully something about the robots he saw earlier.

He heard the guitarist start playing some jangly riffs and the vocalist sang.

"As your face blows... through my window... sending pieces all around the room".

The room was down the hall, he slowed down, not knowing who was there, or what to say when he got there.

"And I want to, and I'll hold you... And shoot all the super heroes from your skies...", they were harmonizing.

The door to the room was slightly open. It occured to him, in his anxiety, that it could be a recording, and that anything could be in that room.

"Did I miss something in there, I swear I did.", they stopped playing for a bit, and started talking. The bassist hitting random chords idly while they spoke. It was impossible to tell who was whom.

The bassist began playing a regular beat and the rest of the players joined in. Then the vocalist and one of the others started.

"When the first and torrid picture..."

Gip pushed open the door timidly.

Much to his relief: he saw a fox at the drums, some kind of lizard still playing the bass even after the others had stopped at the arrival of the unexpected visitor, some kind of dog... or maybe a mouse... with a trombone next to him, he was holding an accoustic guitar with some kind of electrical pick up box on it.

And much to his initial horror, there was another one with a guitar.

Black front, light lavendar casing pieces. Some kind of robot.

Gip fell backwards muttering incoherently.

"Dude. Dude. Fuck.", one of them said.

The mouse was now standing above him, "You alive dude?"

"Dude I think the kid must have smoked something man", there was that nasal voice again, must be the lizard.

"Got an epi-pen?", said somebody else.

"No man this is serious, I think this kid might be having a seizure.", said the mouse.

Gip actually was having some involuntary movements, some slight complications from so much activity so close to having been thawed out. He blacked out as he slumped against the floor, convulsing some.

"Well get something between his teeth so he doesn't bite his tongue off.", said the softer voice.

The fox put a drumstick across Gip's mount as the EM49 pried it open enough to get it through.

In a few minutes, it subsided.

Gip awoke inside a car, it was a firm seat, a bit too firm for his liking. It was slowing down, parking.

He looked up out the window and saw a hospital parking lot.

Then two heads turned around from the front seats, one of them a mouse and the other one that boxy lavender robot thing with red eyes.
Gip screamed.

"What did you do with my dad?! Where's the crew?", he shouted.

"Kid, we need to know what it was you put in yourself before you stumbled into Stephan's garage. The doctor needs to know what you did so we can help you.", said the mouse.

"Where's my father. Please don't kill me I don't even know why I'm here!!!", Gip continued to shout in terror in the far corner of the car, pulling random levers to see if one of them opened the door. Just about everything except the door opening happened. The lights turned on and off, the windows tinted and untinted and the seat reclined and straightened a bit.

Jeoff, the EM49 (the lavender thing with red eyes) cut straight to the point, "You were, and still appear to be in an altered state and whatever it was that put you in that state may be an emminent threat to your survival. We're going to take you into the hospital."

Gip kicked and screamed as Jeoff practically dragged him into the hospital. This thing had only three fingers on it's horrible robot claws but they were locked down and it didn't take long for his wrists to really hurt from the constant struggle.



----------------------



Waking up in weird places seemed to be becomming a regular thing for Gip. This time though, it was one of the more normal of places.
A hospital. And it looked like a hospital. A normal hospital.
He was still in those weird green clothes that the strange people he escaped from a while ago gave him.

"Kid. You feeling better?", asked the doctor, a feathered lizard of some kind. He or she looked like one of the Kuho people he had seen in Union Geographic magazine.
All he could remember about it was that the men looked the same as the women, to the point where even they had a hard time telling the difference.
He acciendentally blurted out,
"Are you a guy or a girl", then realizing what he just said and how weird it was, he added, "I mean. Nevermind. I don't know why I just said that. It's.... I don't know where I am or what's going on here."

The doctor laughed a bit, "Well.
You're at Saint Krishna's General Hospital in Moon Baby."

"what?"

"Moon Baby. It's a town. About 10 minutes from Astroya"

"Oh.", Gip was hoping maybe this was anywhere but there.

"We weren't able to find any current identification or next of kin information on you, who are you currently living with? Where are your parents or guardians?", asked the doctor.

"My mother died a long time ago. I lived with my father for a long time."

"I'm sorry about that."

"She was driving and then was run off the road. My dad says it was a murder. That it was because of her former employer."

"Oh? Where did she work?"

"General Xenotek in Matabia"

"Wow. I didn't know that defense contractor was in Tinis"

"My dad said that they killed her because she knew about their plans to bring back... one of the robots here and reverse engineer it"

"Well, all that matters is your okay now. I'm not so much into conspiracy theories and stuff.

Jeoff, one of the guys that brought you here said that you could stay with them. I'm obligated to file a report with the police though because your parents can't be found. So they'll probably come by and ask some questions."



------------



Andy, (the mouse) came in and said, "What up dude."

"Sorry I yelled and was all crazy", said Gip

"Eh, you were going all drooly seizurey, it's a good excuse.", said Andy.

"I guess that robot of yours freaked me out.", said Gip.

"You're not really from around here at all are you.", asked Andy.

"I guess not"

"That's jeoff. He's actually very private. Very quiet."

"I'm sorry. Theres just some things that happened A long time ago I guess."

"Well, we can talk about it.", said Andy as Gip got up.

"What instument does it play in the band, or does it record?", asked Gip.

"It sings. Actually.", Andy said as he followed Gip.

"Sings?", Gip was surprized. The voice he heard singing was not something he would imagine coming out of something like that Lavender robot thing.

"Haven't you ever heard of Jeoff D'Magnus?

The lead singer from Neutrino Cream Hostel?", asked Andy.

"Sorry, Not really.", said Gip

"Eh. That's ok. A lot of people here don't. That's why he moved here.", said Andy.

"Oh.", said Gip.

"He's really a cool guy.", said Andy.



----------------------------------




Gip had heard something about these kinds of houses before. They were urban tribes of a sort. Several unrelated people and couples living in the same house. As a common or defacto social arrangement.

Gip walked down the hall, there was a couch on the second floor which was offered to him.
Kurt was in the garage with jamming with Jeoff, it was the same hall where he had his freak-out.

They were occasionally harmonizing and then talking.

"You're prettiness is seeping through, out from the dress I took from you. So pretty.
My emptiness is swollen shut, always a wreck, I have become, so empty. Please... please don't leave me here..."
they sang. Then Kurt (the nasal voice) said, "Sorry, I think we just went different directions there. I went up you went down."

"Oh it's character thats all.", said Jeoff, the soft lower voice.

Gip finally had a good conversation starter for the robot.
"What's it about?", he said from the doorway.


"A friend of mine back in KZ. He likes to wear used dresses even though he can't fit into them very well because he's an RM30.", said Jeoff.

"A what?"

"Gunsniper"

"He's a sniper?"

"No. It's just a name. Nevermind.
What are up to Dr. Spazindorf?", asked Jeoff.

"I'm sorry, I've just never seen anything like you before so I freaked out.", said Gip.

"I think we pathologically forgive that. It happens.", said Jeoff.



------------------------------

[miokalia]

"Well, he's 16, he can take care of himself", said Xoto although he was visibly worried that the kid had ran away and escaped from them. It was more of a professional worry. His immediate supervisors weren't happy about it, but at the same time, there wasn't much they could necessarily do. Taking the kid out to get him into a bit more of a normal state of mind was a necessary step to normalization.
Although: Xoto did indeed feel like an asshole for being concerned with the professional aspects of this first and then the interests of the subject later. But then again, that was his job. It is what he's supposed to do.


----------------------------

KURT'S BLOG:

So I took Gip, the stoner kid who stumbled into our jam practice, with me to the grocery store. It took a lot of convincing to get him to, he was still very aprehensive about going outside at all. He would refer to monsters and dangers which didn't make sense.
I think the kid must have survived what would probably normally be a lethal amount of ayahuasca or PCP. In theory, he's just coming down really slow.
I wonder how long he wandered around between towns totally tripping out.
There's no telling what he did, it's not difficult to come by these things here.


--------------------------------


The grocery store was oddly organized. The front of the store was exclusively regular household items, then towards the back, one side of the store, about 2/3rds of it, was dedicated to regular groceries.
"Why's the cheese so expensive?", asked Gip as he poked a wheel of cheddar in the fridge bin, "I assume it's expensive because everything is three times the price of the Feta. And why's the Feta so cheap?"

"I actually haven't the faintest idea why Feta is so cheap here.
It really defies explanation.", said Kurt.

"Well, it's something familiar at least.", Gip turned his attention to the frozen entres section next to the cheese.
He then stopped and exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding me."

"What, Yeah. Kid's Cuisine and their silly talking animals", Kurt said while holding a brick of frozen edamame with his claws and tail swishing to accencuate the sheer irony. "Whatever happened to the polar bear. I loved the polar bear."

"No, this one with the chibi dude eating like bolts and stuff", said Gip.

"Oh yeah. That is, I shit you not, that's super-cheap 'hybrid' frozenmeal foodstuff. You don't want to eat that.", said Kurt, "That's frozen, microwavable ramen."

"Haha yuck.", Gip said, "So why's the chibi dude eating hardware?"

"Because it's frozen, microwavable ramen oriented towards Malych", said Kurt moving the case of malt vinegar over to make room for the box of Grasshopper Chodes, a brand of minced protein stuff.
"It's ramen noodles in frozen broth which contains Deoxycalcium Thorium-Nitrate instead of salt. It is actually a salt-free ramen. Weird huh?"

"Impossible. Ramen without salt? I've never heard of this DTN salt-substitute.", said Gip.

"It's not a salt substitute. Deoxycalcium Thorium-Nitrate is Deochalcham.", said Kurt who thought that maybe Gip would recognize that name, since it was a common substance and item on this planet.
"... The stuff the robots use.", he said.

"Oh", Gip said in surprize and backed away from the box, "It's not radioactive is it?"

"Not unless you expose it to some kind of UV light I think. It wouldn't be in a freezer like this if it were on it's own", said Kurt as he put a bottle of low-odor fish-oil into the cart.

The robots Gip was familiar with in the distant past did not use any sort of solid fuel of any kind. They had massive induction coils, batteries and some kind of system where they were powered by large mushroom-shaped antennas strewn about all over the planet.

During storms, those towers were so charged that lighting crackled off of them up into the clouds almost constantly.
He recalled Namir explaning something about how this system was powered by some kind of unusual geothermal reaction. Which made the ground more positively charged.
And that these antennas were actually "powered ground" points for the robots.

"Gip, are you still with us", asked Kurt and Gip was lost in remembering these things.

"Yeah. Uh. I just had some weird... space-out thing.", he said.



-----------------------------


While reading something else, Andy noticed a news post about a missing person. A 16 year-old Wolf, name is Gip Hallear, speaks Tinisian and Kohtohkhan, likely scared of inorganics, in a temporarily mentally unstable state.

"Jeoff. There's a missing persons bulletin on the news, and they pretty much described Gip, to the name.", said Andy.

Jeoff was on the other side of the room and asked, "Did they say where he came from?"

"Not really. But I suppose we should call the police. At least so they know the kid has been found. I suppose it's really up to him if he's going to go or stay though.", said Andy, "I mean his parents might actually be total fuckmunches for all we know".

Gip meanwhile was sleeping on the couch, and had been for a few hours. He started shifting around some fitfully.

Jeoff picked up the phone and was about to call the police when Gip shrieked.

Gip sat straight up and started yelling:

"LINE 540 POKE 43,78,983, "837F2"
LINE 550 POKE 42,93,281, "332B3"
LINE 560 IF OPERAND$ 65E2A IS GREATER THAN 40,100 N THAN GOTO SUB LBL 0K08
LI... Laaa.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD, GODFUCKIT!!!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!"
He screamed while holding his head.

"Now what?", asked Jeoff.

"I tried pushing him and talking to him, but he can't see or hear anything.", said Andy, "He's in his own world."

Jeoff sat down next to him and took him by the shoulders,
"GIP. LISTEN TO ME. YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON A SINGLE THING RIGHT NOW AND TRY TO RELAX. IT'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE.", he said and then indicated to Andy, "Get something to put in his mouth, he might be having another seizure."

Gip almost responded to Jeoff,
"VAR INPUT UPDATE.
DEFINE NEW ITEM?"

Jeoff was as totally in the dark about what the kid was babbling about as everyone else. He said, "I Don't need the computerspeak. Gip, you need to stay with us here. You have to relax."

Andy came back with a drum stick wrapped in a washcloth.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE I'M GIP DAMNIT GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

DEFINE NEW ITEM? DEFINE NEW ITEM?
ITEMS: RONALD, PHIL, DREW UNITS ELIMINATED.

NO GODDAMNIT NO GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!"

Jeoff asked, "GIP, I NEED YOU TO FOCUS ON NOW. I NEED YOU TO TRY TO RELAX AND FOCUS ON NOW."

Gip said, "KEY REQUIRED FOR ZG01 DEVICE ACCESS. KEY ENTRY?"

Kurt came downstairs and said, "Hold on a minute"
He got next to Gip and said, "R0Q Eight. One. Exec?"

Gip's yelling faded into some mumbling and then he fell backwards onto the couch, asleep.

"What the fuck was that?", asked Andy.
"Yeah, seriously what?", asked Jeoff.

"I read a lot.", said Kurt, "And I'm just as surprized as you."



"I heard the commotion, and then I heard what he was saying. I remember reading a thing about how one of the problems with porting Malych into organic bodies, has always been that the hardware is different, so to speak. So the software doesn't know where to put different types of information.", said Kurt.

"So he's like Jeoff shoved into an organic body?", asked Andy.

"I don't know. Nothing he was saying made any sense to me.", said Jeoff, "So Kurt, putting that inorganic biology degree to use I see."

"Yeah. huh.
I would say that I think Gip here is some kind of run-away experiment of some kind, but that's fairly preposterous.

I think he might have some kind of prostetic somewhere which has dumped something into his nervous system. Which would explain his altered state. And could possibly inspire the 'experience' he just had.", said Kurt.

"So you just talked to the prostetic?", said Andy

"I guess. But I'm surprized anything even happened. It was a totally remote possibility.", said Kurt, "But. I want to know what this kid preceived of that, in theory, he could tell us what that was."

Kurt went over to Gip and shook and pushed him awake.

"Uh.... what huh? Who are you?", Gip said.

"Who was in your head? Did you just have a dream?"

"No. What?", Gip said at first. Then he stopped for a moment.
"Oh yeah. Those.

Yeah, I have these weird recurring dreams. I'm trying to block it out, but it's not working.

It's really silly and hard to describe. You'll think I'm insane."

"Well you already got that base covered.", said Jeoff.

"You know what was weird, through that whole dream, You of all things. You were actually in it, and you were trying to talk reason through it too.", Gip said to Jeoff, then he continued,
"It's. something that happened while the crew and I were trying to shut down part of the robot's network stuff around where we crashed. We figured that would keep them from attack us for a while. I commandeered or highjacked one of the larger ones and ever since I used that thing, I guess it had some kind of neurological interface.
I've had these really intense dreams where I am the thing. And it's maddening. Because it's everywhere I go. And it's always killing the people I love. I can't stop it. Ever since I got in that thing."

Kurt and Jeoff almost asked at the same time, "What was it?!" Neither knowing of any such thing that did this.

"Namir said it was a model ZR1-ZG. Big huge, kinda lumbery Kaiju-like thing. Like an T-Rex from an old movie with it's tail on the ground.", said Gip.

"I know of a GZG", said Andy.

"All the ZG's around today are my size, you couldn't climb into their heads, and I don't think they'd let you.

Maybe it's the full-size RM01-ZG.
Which is pretty weird. Also: who did you commandeer that from?

No wonder the police are after you.", said Jeoff.

"They are?!", asked Gip, "Oh, well I did run away from that van."

"Fuck the van. If you don't mind my asking, when did you jack the Gojulas? That's like, GTA kinda epic skills there.", Andy was kind of impressed by this.

"That was before all of this. Before they found me frozen. Like 2000 years ago.", he said.

Jeoff was incredulous, "You jacked a Gojulas 2000 years ago?
Holy shit that's complete poppycock."

"It probably is. I don't even know anymore.", said Gip.

"Yeah, but something wild sure happened though.", said Kurt, "I think that's the police at the door."

The police had arrived along with two of the people from the antiquities department. Since the kid had been found and appeared to be in no emminent danger, they were fairly calm when Kurt opened the door.

Xoto was there, in his weird heavy wrapped clothes.
"Hey. You feeling any better?", he asked.



------------------------------



Xoto's log:

Gip was located finally, he was staying with a mixed-species urban tribe and seemed to be starting to come to grips with his new surroundings. I made the decision that he should continue to stay in normal surroundings like that because it seems he is able to think and remember things with greater clarity, and is thus of more scientific value. This arrangement is also more ethically sound, because it is better for the subject and also affords him more freedom.
I've set up an arrangement with Jeoff and Andy, who seem to be in charge of the place, for Gip to stay there in exchange for rent of a nearby flex space for expanding their studio.

I've suggested that Kurt, who has a degree in inorganic biology, apply to the project as a consultant, since he has some observation and theories into some of the things which are afflicting the Subject's sanity and obstructing the subject's memory.




---------------------------------

[miokalia]

Kurt and Gip drove in to the older section of town.

"Xoto suggested that we go around and look at stuff", he said, "So I figure, since this cost is on them, why not look at some of the places you say you're familiar with way back at least."

"Do you know when they're going to send me back to Tinis?", Gip asked.

"Well, probably not for a while. It takes a while to get that kind of a flight. And a lot of it depends on various weather conditions.", Kurt replied.

"Weather conditions? It's fuckin' space.", said Gip.

"There's a lot of weird pecularities with the system used here for that.
And this isn't a very good time of year for it Earthside.", he said,
"Well, I guess we'll start with the Astroiya dome."

The dome was in the middle of a large roundabout. Though it wasn't a particularly crowded spot.

"It's more important than it looks. The Malych consider their taking of this structure to be the first victory they had in establishing order. I guess it was pretty savage around 2000 years ago here.", said Kurt.

"I'll say.
It really was.", said Gip, "Namir said this was originally built by the organic civilization which created the monsters, well protomalych, I suppose you call them.
It was the seat of their imperial senate. And it was the last stronghold of theirs to fall."

"Yes, supposedly they nuked themselves.", said Kurt.

"Yeah, that actually about matches what Namir said.", said Gip, "Apparently the protomalych or whatever have just been more-or-less following the same instructions they last received."

"Do you wanna do the tour? It's guided.", asked Kurt.

"Oh well, um. Last time I was in there, some bad things happened. Involving my father being kidnapped by some crazy android thing and these floating sentinel bugs which shoot at you unless you give them the right code.", said Gip.

"eh. There's cooler things to see anyway.", said Kurt, "There's a town to the east of here called "Hooker Heaven". It's an organic enclave, so it's got normal stuff in it. They've got a Target and a Heinzch, and decent alcohol."

"Oh yeah, that's where I ran away from the van.", said Gip.

"And you, someone who was at the time terrified of these guys, ran towards the inorganic population center, why?", asked Kurt.

"Well I didn't know. It looked like civilization and I thought it was more furs.", said Gip.

"Well obviously it was for the best I guess.", said Kurt,
"So what do you say about heading over to a good old fashioned, organic Target store and sitting on all of their uncomfortable, boxy, trendy couches?"

"Allright!", said Gip.


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