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| Something Old, Something New; Story Thread | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 22 2009, 09:21 PM (1,476 Views) | |
| Zeth | Apr 22 2009, 09:21 PM Post #1 |
 
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Icarus sat cross legged atop the part-strewn table, its elbows resting on its knees, propping up its head on balled fists. It'd been thinking for the past half hour like that, just contemplating various possibilities. Before that, Icarus had been been on its back, from the hips up under a monolithic metallic mass holding all manner of electronics from all ages, ranging from fiber optics to copper wire to CDs to E-marbles. It was a new analysis matrix it'd been working on for a few months now, ever since the Weavers had made a blundering trip to early 21st century North America. When that mission had begun, Icarus had found itself particularly concerned by the state of the Alarm Room, a.k.a. the ramshackle outhouse about to fall over on top of a roof connected to another roof by a rickety bridge. Yeah, even just thinking about it afterwards had been enough to make Icarus cringe. They were still using a laptop from the 21st century, even though they could have easily lifted one from the 25th. In fact, much of what Icarus had already built here, in an abandoned factory of some sort, was scrounged from things about Midgard Below and previous expeditions, so there hadn't even been need for traveling and stealing. Hadn't been. Now there was. The analysis matrix's task was a simple one, detect interdimensional anomalies, gather what information it could about the anomaly and its location, and then check the gathered information against a database. This entire process, of course, was contingent upon the matrix having some sort of input, which naturally wouldn't occur if it was sitting isolated in a room in a dead universe on a planet inhabited by a handful of eccentrics. The previous solution to this was to simply create an artificial jump hole--a gate--for sensory information streams to travel through. They didn't have to be large at all, merely large enough for so many electromagnetic waves and elementary particles to squeeze through, barely even detectable, which was good considering how difficult it is to create technology driven gates. There was no way Icarus was going to use the gate generator the Weavers were already using though, not for this project. For one thing, the gate generator they used now was falling apart nearly beyond Icarus' ability to repair, and was painfully slow. Not to mention it was the size of a small car, protruding from the back of the current Alarm Room, and could barely handle the load. And the thing actually incorporated a satellite dish. that was simply shameful. Secondly, this was a project that nobody knew about. Icarus had made sure it would remain a surprise, even from Hasbro, who liked to stick his nose in everything. The factory wasn't that far from Icarus' own abode, so it was easy for it to look like he was headed for home and then sneak the 200 meters past its building to the small factory. A couple times it was a little harder, when he needed to be somewhere else, and actually had to impersonate Iggy one time while he was supposed to be working on some ventilation problems instead of rummaging through the Armoury (Icarus always called the large building where the Weavers stored their weapons and "souvenirs" the Armoury, even if it wasn't actually that). And finally, even if he wanted to use the one they currently had, it'd have to rip it apart, move it, and then reassemble it at the new location. That meant it would be out of commission for at the very least a week if Icarus worked on it and nothing else. That presented it's own set of problems, mostly because Wolfblade would tear it apart if it kept them from working during all that time, and the surprise would be ruined if both the generator, Icarus, and a pound of rice disappeared for a week. Icarus smiled for a moment at the thought of a pound of rice. That could keep it going for a whole month. In any case, it was clear to Icarus that a new generator was needed. They existed, already built, relatively small--in the 24th Century and beyond. Those, unfortunately, were out of the question, seeing as the inhabitants of those time periods had the technology to detect the Riftweavers readily available and firepower in one pistol enough to blow anything not wearing the pistol-polishers brand of armour. The alternative was to build their own, using parts that were available earlier in the timestream, when the technology was still being explored and experimented with and the security was considerably easier to bypass. One problem solved. But not the problem Icarus had been pondering for now 45 minutes. It wouldn't dare risk traveling alone to another universe, that was against every rule not written in the nonexistent book of unspoken Riftweaver rules--buddy system for the win. But if it didn't ruin the surprise for someone, then there wouldn't be any surprise to be had. It had thought about someone who could just help get it done fast, Hasbro; someone who could get it done and whom it'd still get the same reaction from, Iggy; or someone for whom it would be somewhat less of a meaningful surprise for, Ute, who hadn't been with them long enough to realize just how much better the new system would be. Wolf had been out of the question completely, Icarus wanted to surprise her most of all. Icarus let out a long moan. The obvious choice had been clear for a little while now, but it was still trying to figure a way around bringing anyone at all. "Screw it, I'm asking Ute." Edited by Zeth, May 18 2010, 05:20 PM.
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| dinowoman | Apr 23 2009, 10:50 AM Post #2 |
Living Fossil
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Ute was feeling mildly irritated. She had just spent the last hour working out and had returned to her quarters in need of a good shower, only to find there was no hot water. Again. She didn't like imposing on Icarus, but this was the third time this week (and the umpteenth since she had been with the Riftweavers), and it was the only one who understood the vagaries of the heating system. Having braved the icy water and pulled on a simple blue t-shirt and jeans, she decided to bite the bullet and go and see it. A second later she was standing at the base of the spiral staircase leading up to the crashed ship it called home. She sprinted up the stairs and knocked on the hatch. "Icarus?" No answer. "Icarus, bist du zuhause?" She tried the hatch. It didn't surprise her to find it unlocked - who would want to steal anything around here? She poked her head through and called out again in English, "Anyone home?" Silence. She was surprised. She expected Icarus to be at home at this time of day. But then she knew it could get very engrossed in some of its projects, and it didn't appear to need a lot of sleep. She decided to look in the workshop, and in the blink of an eye that's where she was. But again, it was deserted. She tried the canteen. He wasn't there. That didn't surprise her. He didn't eat a lot. The only other possibility she could think of was that he was out foraging, but trying to search all over Midgard would be pointless. She decided to wait in the workshop for a while and see if he returned. If not, she'd go home. She was in the middle of a good book and was rather keen to get on with it. Once again she materialised in the workshop and stood around waiting. She was aware that a cold, clammy patch was developing on the back of her t-shirt from her still-wet hair. It didn't help her mood. She began examining some of the intriguing guns that lay around on the worktops. She really wished she could learn to use them. The other Riftweavers all seemed so much more knowledgable than her about just about everything. It made her feel like the weak link in the organisation. After standing around for 20 minutes, she decided to give up. I bet he's gone back to his home while I've been waiting here, she thought to herself. What a waste of time! I'll find him tomorrow. |
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| Zeth | Apr 25 2009, 09:41 PM Post #3 |
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Icarus, hanging from a pipe above the oblivious weaver, reached out to get Ute's attention as it saw her going to leave--missing her shoulder and instead overreaching and falling instead. It landed in a heap with a grunted "Oof!" So much for catching her unawares. "Uh, hey Ute. I, um, I know this looks like me about to attack you from above, but it was for a perfectly good reason, I swear!" |
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| dinowoman | Apr 26 2009, 08:54 AM Post #4 |
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Living Fossil
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Thud! "Oof!" Ute shot round at the sound of of someone hitting the ground immediately behind her. Her eyes widened at the sight of Icarus lying in a heap on the floor. "Ic....?," she began, but was interrupted as he spoke. She wasn't sure how to respond. After a moment of awkward silence she replied in a rather accusing tone, "I was looking for you. Have you been hiding here all the time? Why didn't you let me know you were here?" And then, more apologetically, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. What were you doing up there?" And finally, as an afterthought, "Are you ok? You don't look like you meant to land like that." |
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| Zeth | Apr 27 2009, 08:05 PM Post #5 |
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Icarus jumped up and patted itself off, kicking aside a hunk of spare whatever. "Heh, fancy that, looking for me, yeah..." Nervous giggle. "Um, no, just got here actually, looking for you actually. I was going to surprise you actually, but, uh, yeah, that didn't work just right. And I'm fine, thanks." Icarus slid quickly to Ute's other side, discreetly walking and leading her to the exit from the Armoury as it talked. "And here we are. But I found you first, so I win. Let's head over to my place and you can tell me what you wanted me fore on the way. Unless of course, you prefer to race--without teleporting the entire way." |
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| dinowoman | Apr 28 2009, 10:21 AM Post #6 |
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Living Fossil
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Ute laughed. "You want to race? I will agree to race you - without cheating - if you will agree to see if you can fix my heating again. That's why I was looking for you. I hate cold showers!" She hesitated, and then added, "But I know you are very busy." Actually, Ute was now more interested in what Icarus wanted than in getting her own problem sorted out. She was used to the officers seeking her out for mission-related things, but she couldn't imagine why Icarus would want to see her. Maybe Captain Wolfblade has remembered my request for weapons training, she suddenly thought to herself. No, that didn't make sense. If the captain had asked Icarus to oversee some training, that would be in the training room, or maybe the Armoury. Certainly not back at its quarters. To make it worth going back to its place, this had to be either something that would take quite a long time, or something private. Or both. Still musing, she let Icarus lead her out of the building. |
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| Zeth | Apr 28 2009, 05:33 PM Post #7 |
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"Oh, ha, the heating, right. Thought I fixed that." It shook its head to clear the locks of yellow hair that had fallen into its eyes as they exited the building and turned onto the street. "I'll take another look at it ASAP, that stuff's always breaking down. First though, race to the corner of the park!" Icarus didn't bother to wait for an equal start, immediately breaking into a full run, casually dropping to run on all fours, the wind blowing back its hair as it kicked up dust and dead grass. Too easy! |
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| dinowoman | Apr 29 2009, 09:57 AM Post #8 |
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Living Fossil
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"Hey!!" Ute yelled, as Icarus took off without warning. She set off after it. She was quite fit, and her longish legs could carry her at a fair pace, but once Icarus dropped on to all fours, she didn't stand a chance against its animal-like gallop. Icarus beat her to the park corner by quite a few metres but Ute, determined not to be humiliated more than necessary, refused to slow down and came in at a flat-out sprint, cannoning into the now stationary Icarus and falling, panting and laughing, to the ground. "You cheated!" she accused in mock annoyance. |
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| Zeth | Apr 29 2009, 06:19 PM Post #9 |
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Icarus rolled over as Ute toppled over it, laughing despite of the wind getting knocked out of it at the sudden collision. It pushed her off of it playfully. "Cheating is...so subjective," it said, "'Creative Advantage' sounds better, don't you think?" Icarus tilted its head from side to side playfully before jumping to its feet. "Besides, I won!" it said, sticking its tongue out at Ute childishly. The slightly winded pair were now at the northeast corner of a barren wasteland that at one time, longer ago than any of the Riftweavers cared to imagine, must have been a park. They weren't too far now from Icarus' "roost" as it liked to call it, and the tail end of the ship that made up part of it could be seen projecting from a building straight ahead. Slightly to their right lay the beginning of what was once an administrative center of the city, even farther in that direction lay the skeletal remains of long-rusted skyscrapers. Icarus took a few steps forward before spinning on a heel to face Ute again. "Say Ute, can you keep a secret?" |
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| dinowoman | Apr 30 2009, 10:13 AM Post #10 |
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"Of course," Ute replied, getting up off the ground. "I had to keep a lot of secrets in my old life." She waited to see what Icarus was about to say. This was rather exciting. She was used to feeling like the outsider, the newcomer, not quite fully part of the close-knit group of established 'Weavers. And yet Icarus apparently wanted to let her in on a secret, something that it wanted kept from the others. |
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| Zeth | May 2 2009, 07:18 PM Post #11 |
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"Awesome! In that case," Icarus ducked exaggeratedly and looked to either side before making its fingers into a gun and pointing it up in front of its face, secret agent style, "I have someplace a little better to go than my place. Follow me," it said in a shady, secretive tone, "And don't fall behind." Icarus ran forwards at a slower pace than before and in hunch, still clutching its "handmade" gun. Icarus crossed the street and onto a walkway that led through a few towering sculptures to the doors of the once-upon-a-time-factory. The spiry, geometric sculptures were composed of rusted metal beams, and stood like skeletons, the products of some generic, industry-employed post-modern abstract artist long dead, much like the factory itself. For now. Icarus turned around and put its back to the large double doors leading into the factory, again looking left and right through squinted eyes before pushing them open and motioning for Ute to enter. "Willkommen zu mein heimliches Projekt, Fräulein." The first room they entered had a few chairs and empty plant pots to the immediate left and right, and a semi-circular receptionist's desk immediately ahead. To the left and right of the desk were hallways with offices branching of them. Icarus ignored the hallways and headed to one of the sets of double doors behind the desk, again holding one open for Ute, and then following her into the corridor behind it. This corridor had one wall, the one behind them, connecting to some of the office rooms that the previous two hallways had, but the entire wall before them was glass, and looked out to the assembly area. A single large conveyor belt ran through the center of the assembly room, parallel to the observation corridor they stood in, with pairs of dead robotic limbs arching over it at regular intervals along its length. On the far side of the room were storage areas whose purpose still alluded Icarus, as they weren't enclosed by walls and doors but by bars and grates, like pens or jail cells. Corroded piping snaked along the ceiling above and somewhat less on the walls, which inside the corridor looked as if it may have been painted white at one point in time. The pane of glass directly of the doors through which Icarus and Ute had entered had been removed (courtesy Icarus), and stacked wooden and metal crates (again courtesy the small gray impish character with the yellow hair) formed a crude stairway to the floor 6 or 7 meters below. "Watch your step. Head to your left and I'll show you what I've been working on. Neat place by the way, huh? I'm surprised Wolfy and them weren't using it before I got here." |
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| dinowoman | May 3 2009, 10:26 AM Post #12 |
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Ute copied Icarus' example and ran along behind it, keeping a low profile, though she was sure it wasn't necessary. There was no-one else in sight. As soon as Icarus began leading her between the sculptures she suspected they might be heading for the old factory. She had explored this part of the city soon after arriving and was aware of the building's existence but couldn't think why they needed to come here to talk. She was even more nonplussed when Icarus beckoned her in and welcomed her to its secret project. It appeared to be an empty reception area. But it soon became apparent that they were just passing through; they hadn't yet reached the "secret project". She walked along behind her yellow-haired associate, staring around her in fascination. She had never done more than peer through the windows before and the building looked completely different from the inside. As they passed through the double doors at the end, she was amazed at the size of the room that opened out before them. And she was surprised that the captain hadn't chosen this for the workshop instead of the old warehouse. For that matter, she was surprised that Icarus hadn't found a use for the huge robotic arms that hung over the conveyor belt. Or maybe he had. What was his secret project, she wondered. Without saying a word, and still gazing at every detail around her, she carefully descended the makeshift staircase that Icarus indicated, and headed off to her left, as she had been instructed. The sight that greeted her made her gasp. |
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| Zeth | May 3 2009, 03:43 PM Post #13 |
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"Obviously it's still kinda sloppy, but I'll get around to fixing it up and looking all pretty when it's closer to being done," Icarus said, gesturing around at the mess of metal and plastics. Where the conveyor belt ended, about 10 meters from the wall with a ramp coming down from the 3 meter wide conveyor belt to the floor, there were gutted computers and machine parts strewn about. A large circle constructed of corrugated iron sheets stood against the center of the wall, the conveyor pointing straight to it. Wires and ribbons and cables snaked across its surface and wound about it like so much silicon, metal, and plastic ivy. To the left of the circular behemoth was a 3 meter tall by 1 meter wide rectangular prism of steel and lights: the analysis matrix. And finally, to the right of the circle was a similar but smaller construction with a mounted flat screen and shelf holding a keyboard and rolling-ball mouse: the interface and command console. "Anyways, you know what this is Ute?" |
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| dinowoman | May 3 2009, 05:38 PM Post #14 |
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Ute hadn't the slightest idea. But she didn't want to appear a complete ignoramus. She studied the huge construction, trying to find some clue as to its purpose. There was a monitor, so it must be something that provided information. And there was the prism structure. It had initially reminded her of a mini Eiffel Tower. She had seen it once on a visit to Paris with her boss. That too had been a four-sided steel structure, rising to a point, but far, far higher. A bit like the Fernsehturm in Berlin. The Fernsehturm? Was this a transmitter? Or an aerial? The shape was very similar to the centre of a satellite dish. Like the one on the back of the Alarm Room! "Is this something to do with a gate generator, or an analysis matrix?" she eventually asked tentatively. |
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| Zeth | May 3 2009, 06:33 PM Post #15 |
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Icarus slapped the large circular structure. "Bingo! Well, mostly bingo. Ya see, I'm building a brand new Alarm to use, since the one we're using now is crap. The analysis matrix is working fine, and the interface is just a spiffied up copy of our old one, so it's fine. But problem is, I do have to make a gate generator. A better one. This," it slapped the circular structure again, "is what I have so far. Eh, that's a bit misleading; what's slapped on the side of this is what I have so far. I need the generator to be smaller and faster than the one we have now, and I'm going to build it into this so that we can create bigger gates if we want to. For now though, I just need to make the equal of what we already have." Icarus bent at the knees and jumped, grabbing onto the edge of the circular gate and pulling itself up to the top. It crouched on the top like it was about to jump off again, holding onto the edge of the gate with its hands. "Now all a generator really is a bunch of fancy metal parts slapped together with a bunch of phlebotinum flowing through it run by computer. Problem is, we're short a whole bunch of those fancy metal parts." Icarus let itself fall backwards while still holding on so that it was hanging upside down, "So I need to go get some. But I can't go alone. Are you game to help out and not tattle?" |
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