[21:42] <> [21:42] * Illyana is not ready to talk x_x [21:43] (Ah, but are you ready to...RUMBLE?) [21:43] (Always. ^___^) [21:43] (cause Cham's gonna come after you.. ^_~) [21:44] ( Please to let us RP. Tomorrow is the office Christmas party and I have to be social. ) [21:44] ( You poor dear. :P ) [21:44] ( I don't think you understand. :P ) [21:45] (Cham's Keyboard is temporarily out of it.) [21:45] (He's changing the batteries now.) [21:48] <> [21:50] <> [21:53] <> [21:53] <> [21:54] <> [21:54] ( A mixed blessing. ) [21:56] <> [21:57] <> [21:57] (Is this card-cutting thing standard?) [21:57] (I should have used American Express.) [21:58] <> [21:58] * Tim pokes his steak with his fork idly, not really looking like he's about to eat just yet. [21:58] (ok, so they flashed their orders to cut our cards up.. got it) [21:59] * Vernon is already eating, although slowly, and looking fairly worried. [21:59] What *is* going on here.. Have you gotten any orders Chako? [21:59] * Illyana eats hartily. She seems unusually cheery. [22:00] ( We're going through all this and Illy's cheery? ...she's in on it. I just know it. She's one of... THEM. ) [22:00] * Chako puts a hunk of meet in her mouth, chews it, and swallows. "Hell no, Charlie. Fucking christ. I don't know whether this is good or bad. At least it'll be a couple days without suffering through this crap." [22:01] * Tim sighs and has as many green beans as he can impale on his fork. [22:01] Yeah.. It'll be nice to eat something real. *he stabs a few "beans" and looks at them* [22:01] * Charlie continues eating, however. [22:01] * Vernon stops eating for a second and looks up. "Whatever's going on, they're worried...obviously." [22:02] <> [22:04] * Isis is sipping tea. She hasn't been too hungry lately. [22:05] * Chako says angrily, "I'd be worried too, except if they're worried, why don't they let us do something?" She stuffs some more fuud in her mouth and chews angrily. [22:06] Do you think any of those guys are still at this base? [22:06] 'D make too much sense, I think. [22:07] <> [22:08] * Tim has some steak, finally. Chew, swallow. "Some of it is probably them looking over what happened and what we learned. But two weeks? It *can't* take that long. Er, right?" [22:08] Who can tell? [22:08] Sure it can...tech departments can afford to be a little crazy and unconventional, but bureaucracies? [22:09] They'll want to have auditors inspect everything in the report, including the punctuation. [22:09] <> [22:09] * Tim nods, frowning. "Okay, that's a point. But still. [22:09] (Their report/analysis, I mean.) [22:10] (*Nod*) [22:10] Should've spent mor time in English, then. *chew chew* [22:10] ( Have they asked us anything at all about what we went through on the mission? ) [22:11] <> [22:11] (I could make a very cheap punctuation joke here, but I'm not going to.) [22:11] (Just to differentiate this character a little, y'know. :P) [22:12] ( It's appreciated. :P ) [22:13] * Tim has more semisteak. Chew, swallow. "Crap. And if they really are looking into it, and I can't think of anything else they'd be doing, they're asking everyone but us." [22:13] * Vernon nods. "I'd imagine we're under suspicion by default, just because we're part of such a sensitive mission." [22:14] bureaucracy or not.. why haven't they talked to us about our mission? They're usually prompt about it. [22:15] I mean, they haven't even taken the key.. right? [22:15] No kidding. You'd figure you'd want to debrief us before we forgot something that might just be important. [22:15] Hmm, good point. [22:15] Nope. I've had the key. [22:15] * Tim sighs again. "For all the good it's done me." He has more steak. [22:15] Maybe they're scared. [22:16] * Chako says, "They're probably just looking at the suits or something, and can't get over the how they ain't cooperatin'." She shovels some more food in. *chew chew* [22:16] of what?.. *he thinks for a minute* Do they even know how big a threat those "bugs" *he makes quote marks with his hands* are supposed to be? [22:17] Heh. I'd be scared, too. But of the bugs, not of... hm. [22:17] I vould doubt it. [22:18] They von't consider the bugs a threat until they get beaten badly by them. [22:18] Eh. Maybe they figure what happened to Masterson will happen to us, too. [22:19] But that's silly. I'd hope I'd notice if my eyes started glowing. [22:19] Yeah, you would. I'd have shot you already. [22:20] * Chako pops the last of her food in her mouth, with a slight smirk. [22:20] * Tim chuckles. [22:21] * Tim has more steak, brooding as he does so. [22:22] * Charlie .. After some eating, Charlie asks, "Does anybody remember what was supposed to be behind that locked door on the planet?" [22:24] Er? Which one? [22:24] Locked door? [22:24] Well, not a door, per say.. the thing the Key unlocks. [22:25] Eh? ...oh. [22:27] Masterson said something about an egg.. [22:27] The, uh, 'gate of ages' is what the Shanaa'na called it. [22:27] Egg? [22:27] I figured he was talking in metaphor? [22:28] yeah.. Gate of Ages. It sounded like this egg thing was behind the gate. [22:29] * Tim frowns. "That or the 'cube', maybe." [22:29] (Timecube!) [22:29] (Vernon is eaten by a Lurker.) [22:29] Or he could haff been speaking rubbish. [22:29] * Isis sips her tea. "Sounds like alchemy." [22:31] Alchemy, right. And to think I passed up the chance to take that in college. [22:31] I would like to not believe him.. but that was way too strange. [22:31] <> [22:32] * Isis shrugs. "'Key', 'egg'? A tincture that brings immortality, and the ability to change any substance into any other substance? It is not as if it is necessarily based in science, but the core concepts are similar to the legends of alchemy." [22:32] * Isis resumes sipping her tea. [22:33] * Tim chuckles. "I don't suppose a stone that magically cures any disease was among those legends?" [22:33] Vouldn't that haff been nice. [22:33] * Isis mms. "Alchemists weren't necessarily about turning lead into gold. They were early chemists and pharmacists. They were looking for the Philosopher's Stone, the perfect formula that granted immortality and immense power." [22:34] It was, in reality, ultimate knowledge distilled into a potion of some form. Godhood in a bottle. [22:34] * Chako hrms. Being done with her food, she looks all sorts of bored. [22:35] * Vernon nods. "Some of the techs have a huge amount of science fiction about it." [22:35] Sounds good to me. Maybe I'd get a raise if I drank some godhood. [22:35] * Tim frowns, thinking about the 'Philosopher's Stone' and the Key. He absently shakes his head. [22:36] Man, I don't like being restricted to the base like this.. [22:36] * Vernon nods. [22:36] * Isis sighs and goes back to her tea. "The Philosopher's Stone came from a 'Philosopher's Egg'. Perhaps it was the way around. But the two are related, as are a number of other miscellaneous terms." She sets her cup down. "I am rambling." [22:37] No one does, man. [22:37] Hey, rambling can be useful. [22:37] And no, Isis, gowan. (Unless the GM doesn't want you to, of course. ;P) [22:37] Anyone want to go get a drink with me later? *he winks* [22:38] * Chako grins. "If they hadn't taken our money, I'd say yeah." [22:38] * Tim blinks, then chuckles. [22:39] * Isis frowns into her cup. "The parallels bother me. Masterson talked about a 'Game'... and what the Sleythin technology offered -- the ability to change an object at the molecular level, a drug that rewrites DNA and grants near-immortality, the 'Egg' and the 'Key'. It seems a little coincidental. As for our employers..." Her face takes on a very dark look. "It's just a matter of time before it's us against them." [22:39] (s/coincidental/too coincidental) [22:39] * Tim scowls. [22:40] * Chako pulls her laser pistol out of the holster, and looks at it somewhat idly. [22:41] * Vernon frowns. "I'm very much against that...but I don't see anything that I or we can do to change how that ends up." [22:41] * Isis shrugs. "I wish it were different, but I wish a great number of things about this situation were different than they are." [22:42] * Tim nods and has another bite of steak. [22:43] * Charlie frowns "I think.. I think it's already begun.." [22:43] <> [22:43] ( I cut them in half. ) [22:43] (They die! Yay!) [22:43] ( Nobody will miss them. ) [22:43] * Vernon idly listens to the background chatter. [22:44] <> [22:46] That would *ensure* an us-versus-them situation. [22:46] It is already like that. It vas from the time ve first vent to Europa. [22:47] The rest iz just pretend on both our parts. [22:48] THey've cut our cards. They've restricted us to the base. We're stuck sitting around until they feel like dealing with us somehow. [22:48] This is kind of selfish, but I have to wonder why they tossed me into this. [22:49] Ve could steal our suits back. [22:49] * Isis shrugs her shoulders. "There is nowhere to go. The Hippies are already in league with the 'bugs'. The rest of humanity has no idea what's going on." [22:50] Luck of the draw, Vernon. Sorry. [22:50] Hey, not your fault. I have to wonder, though. Internal guy, sure...tech, sure...but if they wanted to spy on the team, I'm just the person not to do it. [22:50] * Chako shrugs. "Maybe they just needed more suckers. We'll give 'em a little more before we scrap our spaceships. Maybe until dinner. Hunger makes for some good drive to do something." She stands. "I'll be in the Range 'till then, as always." She growls, and walks off. [22:51] ...ho boy. [22:51] * Tim sighs and nods. "This is true." [22:51] * Isis glances at Vernon. "There's a possibility they simply wanted you dead. They certainly consider the rest of us expendable." [22:51] Forget stealing the suits, I'll be stealing some food tonight, it looks like. [22:51] True enough...and I guess everyone's employer has a reason or two to want them dead. [22:52] * Illyana stands up and stretches. "Perhaps I vill go for a valk. Now that I can." She does. [22:53] * Isis also stands and collects her things. "Time for some practice, I think." [22:53] * Vernon remains seated, staring at his tray. [22:54] <> [22:54] * Tim eyes the remnants of his steak. "Last meal for a while." He stuffs it down. [22:55] << Gym, then home. The niceties of having a house. >> [22:56] * Tim finishes. (Remaining, for now.) [22:56] (Remaining...going to see if any techs happen to be having lunch up here.) [22:56] <> [22:57] * Charlie is apparently lost in thought. [22:58] <> [22:58] * Tim sighs. "Even if we wanted to, I don't think we could. We'd need help. Which we don't have." [22:59] Ugh... [22:59] Yup. [23:00] * Charlie stirs at the beans left on his plate. He mumbles "ATC was kinda a quick fix anyway." [23:00] Hm? [23:01] * Charlie looks up. "Long story, really.. but ATC needed people and I needed a job." [23:02] * Tim nods. [23:04] I've been with ATC a long time... [23:06] It's been.. 8 years? Wow. Longer than I thought. *he gets up* [23:06] * Tim shrugs. [23:06] I'll be in the rec room if anyone's lookin' for me. *he smiles and leaves.* [23:07] <> [23:08] < [23:08] * Tim blinks. [23:08] (How many d of explosion damage?) [23:08] * Chako is carrying bags, mostly containing clothing. "We're gettin' kicked out of our rooms. They don't think we're in there anymore. Y'all better get your stuff." [23:08] ( ...? ) [23:08] ( 10d6! ) [23:08] ( is not a valid number Tim. [23:08] ...! [23:08] ( And does he run into me, or Chako? ) [23:08] ...shit. [23:09] (Chako. Damn, I'm a fool.) [23:09] * Tim goes running to his room! [23:09] * Chako looks around. "Where's Illyana?" [23:09] * Vernon stands up quickly, and does likewise. [23:09] .. Did we miss a PCS order or something?? [23:10] (Permanent Change of Station) [23:11] * Chako looks at Charlie. "For all of us? I doubt it. We're meetin' at Isis' place. And where's Illyana?" [23:11] * Illyana finishes her walk and comes back. [23:11] You called? [23:11] Gotcha. I'll see you there. (assuming I know where it is) [23:12] *** MLINK (Mecha@simonmc.student.rose-hulman.edu) has joined #atc [23:12] (Pause.) [23:13] (Die Chako Die.) [23:13] *** Chako (Mecha@simonmc.student.rose-hulman.edu) Quit (Killed (Calculus (Who you gonna call?))) [23:13] *** MLINK is now known as Chako [23:13] (Unpause.) [23:13] * Chako says to Illy, "Yeah. We're gettin' kicked out of our rooms, 'cause they don't think we're in them at the moment. Ya better get your stuff before they burn it." [23:14] * Illyana frowns. She goes to do that. [23:14] * Chako , having caught everyone, will follow Illyana back. She adds, "We're meeting at Isis' house, so that we can plan our next move." [23:14] * Charlie goes to save his stuff. [23:15] Vouldn't they be vatching her, too? [23:15] <> "Dis dem?" he says to Chako. [23:16] * Chako says, "Of course," and turns to the men. "Yeah, I got 'em all." [23:16] * Tim blinks. [23:16] "Right. Youse can go in now." <> [23:16] "But hurry. Dese was supposed to be empty." [23:16] * Tim goes into his room. o_O [23:17] <> [23:17] * Charlie stuff-gathers! [23:17] * Illyana grabs her things. There's not terribly much. [23:17] * Vernon heads on in and grabs what little stuff is left in here. [23:18] * Tim packs what he can, putting the key in a pocket and zipping it shut. [23:20] * Tim blinks and checks his e-mail. *check* [23:20] * Chako sighs, and taps her foot. "This is so damn crazy." [23:21] * Charlie says to Chako. "You know what they've done with our suits yet?" [23:22] * Chako shakes her head. "No damn clue. Better not have scrapped em." [23:22] Do we have any contacts in ATC at all, right now? [23:23] I vould doubt it. [23:23] We always got the SigAspers, General Rohaus, or our favorite Bradley, if we can FIND them. [23:24] That's the kicker though, isn't it. [23:25] If we try to access SIG-ASP enough times, it'll trigger an alarm...but SIG-ASP doesn't respond to that. Security does, with guns. [23:25] * Tim frowns at his e-mail, deletes, puts it away. [23:25] * Tim pulls Charlie aside and whispers something to him. [23:25] Hmm, good idea. [23:25] * Vernon checks his e-mail as well. [23:25] * Chako grins. "No guns are better than mine." [23:25] <> [23:26] ( I predicted that. ) [23:26] (Well, we all knew it. Freakin' geek.) [23:27] ( Reminds me of Front Mission. What better to do when escaping an exploding sandcrawler than to check your e-mail? ) [23:28] ( Naturally. ) [23:30] ( The best part is the sending of wanzer parts by phone. ) [23:30] (Digikey!) [23:30] <> "ey, hurry it up." [23:30] * Vernon shrugs. "I'm set." [23:31] * Illyana comes out with two small bags. "Dis is all I need." [23:31] * Vernon heads on out. [23:31] * Tim resumes packing, making sure to get his tools and some spare parts. [23:32] * Charlie is done getting his stuff.. He gets the attention of Chacko and Illy. "Tim has some news.. let's talk. Come with me." [23:32] (Chacko! Like the shotgun!) [23:32] * Illyana goes with Charlie. [23:32] * Charlie moves out of range of the grunts' hearing [23:33] * Chako says, "Alright," and follows! Hooray. [23:33] (possibly around a corner) [23:33] * Tim finishes packing, for real, this time, and goes with the others. [23:34] * Charlie whispers "That Bethany chick emailed Tim. She's got our suits in Bay 1, but they're gone." [23:34] "gone after tonight" [23:34] (It's good to finish sentances.) [23:34] Then ve'd better hurry. [23:34] * Chako curses. "And Isis is out of contact. Well, no time like the present. Is she offering help?" [23:35] * Tim keeps an eye out to make sure nobody's listening in. [23:35] Bethany? Not sure. Tim may know. She just saved the suits for us as far as I know. [23:36] This is her help, really. She was the one that was ordered to mothball them. [23:36] She got the paint off and they're waiting for us in bay one. *shrug* [23:36] * Chako punches Tim's arm. "Hey, never say a girlfriend ain't useful, eh?" [23:37] <> [23:37] I say we get out of here before they try and scrap us too.. [23:38] * Tim is punched. "Eheh." [23:38] * Chako says, "I'm all for that. Screw contacts. Let's go. If they wanted us to know shit, they'd have told us." [23:38] Sounds like a plan. We'll need Isis, too, unless someone wants to carry her suit along. [23:38] * Vernon sighs. "I don't like this, but it sounds better than waiting to starve." [23:39] * Illyana nods. [23:39] * Chako says, "I don't like it either. Dammit, I been here since high school. And mom n'Pop..." She shakes her head. "Let's go." [23:40] * Tim nods. [23:40] * Vernon shrugs. "Unless I get word from ATC, I guess I'm in." [23:40] We can worry about contacts afterwards. We might want to try stealing some supplies like food and water, but eh. [23:40] <> [23:41] * Chako says, "Do something, then ask for permission. Unless it's me you've gotta to ask." She grins. [23:41] * Illyana heads thataway [23:41] * Vernon follows along. [23:42] * Tim follows! [23:42] <> [23:43] * Tim reads the note; no doubt from Bethany. [23:43] <> [23:43] * Chako suits the hell up. [23:43] ( oh. ^_^ ) [23:44] <> [23:44] * Tim puts the note in a pocket and suits up! [23:44] * Illyana does the same, except the note part. [23:45] * Charlie suits up and changes the camo setting to urban colors (ah the benefits of a chameleon skin) [23:45] * Vernon checks a setting on his suit, and then suits up. [23:45] ( Chikinskin! ) [23:46] (Nice knowing ye.) [23:46] <> [23:46] (chamelaeon skin?) [23:47] <> [23:47] (Push the button, Frank.) [23:47] * Chako will hit the button! Damn, she's good. [23:48] ( How much CP/SP have we been given since the game started? ^_^ ) [23:48] <> [23:48] (What's 'Outside'? ) [23:49] * Chako will casually walk towards the gate. "Just be casual. We're takin' the suits out, is all. It might just work." [23:49] Sure. [23:49] * Vernon nods. [23:49] * Tim moseys along, then. [23:50] * Illyana follows along. [23:50] * Vernon follows. [23:51] <> [23:52] * Tim goes to beyond so he can chat with freedom. [23:52] * Chako will just keep on walking. Heck, she'll even wave at the guy! [23:52] * Illyana walks on! [23:52] * Charlie just walks. [23:52] * Vernon heads on. (suits only:) "Remind me to get that guard fired." [23:53] * Chako smiles faintly, "Good luck on that one, boyo." [23:53] ~heh..~ [23:53] ( Y'mean after we come back and take over the company? Sure. ) [23:53] <> [23:53] ( ER, change those to "" ) [23:55] * Chako says, "Someone wanna check for Isis Tsukitomi's address in the index? We still gotta meet up with her." [23:55] (Oh, make those ~, whatever. c.c;) [23:55] * Vernon looks it up. [23:56] <> [23:56] (God yes?) [23:56] (Y.) [23:57] ( God yes please abbreviates to G.Y.P. :P ) [23:57] ( Y ) [23:57] ~Y'know, Tim or someone should check the suits out.. make sure they're not watching us, y'know?~ (Y) [23:57] <> [23:57] ~Did a quick check, I think we're fine.~ [23:57] ~On it.~ [23:59] ( It's a house. It has a door, and a bay window in the living room 'cause I've always wanted one. ) [00:00] <> [00:00] ~ We're fine, as long as we don't enable out sensor suites. That's where the trackers are. I can prolly get 'em out later. ~ [00:00] * Chako clomps up near the door. "Yanno, maybe we shouldn't smash up Isis' house." [00:01] Okay. Who wants to get out of their suit to knock on the door? [00:01] (Detachable glove.) [00:02] * Isis saves you the trouble by actually opening the door. [00:02] Pizza delivery. [00:02] * Isis points to the left. "Put the suits in the garage." [00:02] Yeah. Someone here order a-- damn you, Vernon. [00:03] * Chako smirks, and says, "Geeks think alike." She goes to the garage! [00:03] * Vernon heads over there. [00:03] (Signal when you've wrapped up.) [00:03] * Tim goes to the garage, as well! [00:03] * Vernon desuits. [00:04] * Charlie desuits, stashes the suit in the garage and heads back to Isis. [00:04] * Illyana heads thataway and stows her suit in the garage. [00:04] ( My suit's in the garage as well, clearly. ) [00:04] So.. Did you know about any of this? [00:05] * Chako gets out of the damn suit too. "Aw, damn. I really hope they aren't angry at us." She walks back to Isis-land! [00:05] * Vernon walks back over as well. [00:07] * Tim heads back over, too. "Nice place." [00:07] * Illyana comes back as well. Natch [00:07] ( The inside is a bit like a modern japanese apartment. Just with nine times the space. She's set out coffee and tea. ) [00:07] Wow, very nice... [00:08] ( A modern Japanese apartment has space? c.c ) [00:08] ( Read the whole description again. ) [00:08] ( Yeah, but nine times zero is still zero. ^_~ ) [00:08] ( God, shut up. :P ) [00:09] ( ;_; ) [00:09] * Isis shakes her head. "My suit showed up parcel post. I'm guessing this 'Bethany' arranged for your suits to be sent to the facility." [00:09] Yup. [00:10] * Chako walks in too, and looks around. "Sounds about right. I wonder what the hell's up with ATC. Pretty sloppy if they just wanted to drop us." [00:11] * Isis sighs. "We've just ceased to be important and haven't done anything dangerous to warrant their attention. Once we do, they'll ramp up their efforts to get us out of the way, for sure." [00:12] Joy. So, what now? Use our exosuits to run a delivery biz? [00:13] Somebody's bound to come looking for that key, y'know.. [00:14] * Chako says, "Steal a ship, hang out with some Sleythins, hope ATC doesn't break their public image of being good guys." [00:14] If they decide to try, it might not be too hard to break it all over the news. [00:14] * Tim nods. [00:15] <> [00:15] ( Woo. ^_^ ) [00:16] * Chako looks doubtful. "6 people with stolen ATC suits breaking out news of evil alien invaders and a cure for every disease in existance. Sounds like front-page material, if it were believable." [00:16] * Isis purses her lips. "At this point it's every man for himself, isn't it?" She looks up. "I've been paid for a while, and I know I can find work elsewhere... or open a dojo. Something. Maybe get off Mars and out of the tactics field..." [00:16] Hmm, if we could break the suits' datafeeds open... [00:17] * Illyana shrugs. "I can easily get another job, now that I haff legs that verk." [00:21] * Tim grins. "Oh, I think I could manage that." [00:23] * Isis waves her hand. "I'm not sure I'm up for any more of being a pawn in someone's cosmic 'game'. I'd rather sieze the chance to retire." [00:23] <> [00:23] <>