Re: First meeting

!Fox! Wed Oct 12, 2016 5:29 pm

"That's skirting around the edge of what invasive means Mint..." I stated, and paused, tilting my head to the left a bit. "There is an echo being made somewhere nearby. My bets on a cave system. Wanna go check it out?" I asked, surprising Dane with the information.

Blip Thu Oct 13, 2016 3:19 am

I too expressed surprise. "How do you pinpoint an echo?" I asked, straining to hear the telltale signs of a cave.

!Fox! Thu Oct 13, 2016 11:43 am

"We are enhanced, remember?" I asked, tapping the device on my wrist. "That, and we had a seismic scan done on the way down via a probe. If im right about where we are, then there is a cave nearby." I stated simply, shifting into a more stoic attitude. "If i had to take a wild guess, seeing as we couldn't see any city from above ground, perhaps there is one BELOW ground...."

Blip Fri Oct 14, 2016 2:19 am

"Well alright then! To find the opening to the underground!" I said, clasping my hands together, and took off in a random direction. "We don't know where to yet, you know," Dane said plainly- to which I stopped on my tracks- although he began studying a topographical display of the area, clearly searching for it. "We could've used that information beforehand, before landing the darts..."

!Fox! Fri Oct 14, 2016 2:53 am

"You all had the information and tech i did on the way down. Besides, the atmosphere was through off readings, so in reality, we couldn't have really gotten the data until we had a relay stationed down here, Via the darts." I stated, gesturing the direction we needed to go. "This way." I stated, slipping smoothly into step, a well practice movement that was quiet and quick. A sigh escaped me quietly, almost a whisper amongst the tree's as i passed beneath them. "Never thought these skills would be used like this... I feel like a god damn commando now..." I grunted, sliding from shadow to shadow easily. "Mint, i dont know about you, but this place gives me the creeps. It doesn't want me here...."

Blip Fri Oct 14, 2016 9:04 pm

Dane and I followed after him, noticing how haphazardly some of the vegetation seemed to grow in this particular area. I brushed my fingers against a particularly leafy plant. "I dont feel very put off by this place. But maybe I just lack the intuition," I answered meekly.

!Fox! Sat Oct 15, 2016 5:04 am

"Or, your heritage is sheltering you. It is possible that you arent affected as you have some Rayan DNA... The plants and this area dont threaten you, because to them, you belong. Thats why there are no animals..." I said quietly, pausing for a moment. "They are attuned with nature. This place... Its not natural..." I said simply, shivering as i passed into the cave.

Blip Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:21 pm

"Well thanks for creeping me out," I quipped, rolling my eyes, hoping that the plants here wouldn't suddenly gain sentience and that they hadn't been sentient at one point, eating the animals. I ran my hand against the wall in the cave, pulling it away quickly. "It's really smooth, like a tabletop..."

!Fox! Sun Oct 16, 2016 1:34 am

"Its not natural.... Id say we are on the right path then, wouldn't you?" I asked, shivering again, obviously unnerved and jumpy.

Blip Mon Oct 17, 2016 12:36 am

"Right now the right path is starting to creep me out a lot..." I said, hugging myself, looking around.

!Fox! Mon Oct 17, 2016 7:00 am

Reaching forward slowly, the rifle at my side, i took her hand gently, as not to scare her. With a sigh, i tugged us forward slowly, noting a pattern on the floor now that my eyes had adjusted more. "Mint... Do you see the pattern on the ground?" I asked curiously, looking around us to make sure nothing was creeping up on us, glancing up for good measure.

Blip Tue Oct 18, 2016 3:25 am

I blinked a few times as I focused on the pattern, before saying, "they sure had a lot of spare time to put all these little tiles in..."

"It isn't a Rayan emblem. It's Tsassidy. At least what is considered classic Tsassidy, this style is about 50 years out of date. Even so, why is this here, Tsassidy architecture wasn't exactly popular enough to leave it's isle set..." Dane explained, having spent less than a minute studying the floor work.

"But it looks... Recent, even with some of the over growth..." I added.

!Fox! Wed Oct 19, 2016 7:13 pm

"Forgive me, but Tsassidy? Im more on the technical side of things, not lore and history." I stated, obviously lost. Bending down in a crouch, i paused, putting my hand against the floor. Noting it had a strange warmth to it, i spoke up. "Does it have a special meaning? It could be a clue, something to guide us. Also, its slightly warm, despite being in a freezing cave." I said, standing back up and doing a slow turn about after releasing her hand. Something was still nagging at me, and i closed my eyes to focus on hearing. Gradually, a slight ringing sound could be heard to myself, barely noticeable with focus, and i slowly walked towards it with caution in my steps. Reaching what seemed to be the source, i did another turn around, noting i was some distance from the other two. "Mint." I stated, my tone indicating i might have found something.

Blip Fri Oct 21, 2016 2:57 am

"Warm? It may be a particular stone, though considering the work of this place, they may have some way of keeping this place at a stable temperature, only malfunctioning at the moment, as for the symbol, it seems that they only mimicked the design, this symbol lacks meaning, in any form of Tsassidy symbolism," Dane continued, clearly trying to make sense of the symbol.

"Maybe it means something to whoever placed it here," I suggested, immediately turning my focus as soon as I heard my name, quickly making my way over. "What you find?" I asked.

!Fox! Sat Oct 22, 2016 5:08 am

"Call me crazy, but doesn't that little hand print look like an old biometric scanner? The ones covered in the training back on ship. They scan your DNA for dangerous pathogens, or used as security at checkpoints." I stated, placing my hand over the area I had noticed, seemingly no where on a rock, and my hand almost fit. "It is made for a human hand.... They disguised it as a rock though...." I stated, tapping the rock curiously with my knuckles. "Dane... Any chance that the Rayan's had enemies of some sort, or some reason to hide a scanner like this, it is even a scanner?" I called back, pausing.

"Come to think of it... Just random thought here, wasn't that device we were forced to make back on Earth designed by Rayan's? I seem to remember a similar pad on the console..." I asked, crossing my left arm to rub my shoulder as I thought. "Why would they build a device like that? It alters genes to enhance humans... Perhaps it wasn't built for humans, but for you or someone in your situation? It could have unlocked your dormant genes, but given how incomplete it was, it could have just been a delayed action, explaining why your abilities are different... If it truly did alter your genes, perhaps the scanner would work for you?" I speculated, staring at the device on my wrist. "~And if it was meant for just her... what the hell did it do to me, and what WILL it do to me?~" I thought to myself, my brow furrowing in worry.

Blip Tue Nov 01, 2016 12:00 am

(I feel... a little embarrassed for not trying this earlier. My 3ds doesn't have the same issue as my phone when it comes to this particular thread, apparently, so... here i am...)

My brow furrowed as he explained his theory. Considering the fact that maybe Rayans built that device, then tried to get rid of it, probably meant that yes, they did have enemies, and they either built it as a last ditch attempt or were forced to by a stronger group.

After mulling over this information for a few minutes, deciding my next course of action, I slid past him and placed my hand on the biometric scanner, holding it in place. Dane audibly protested before cutting himself short, noticing that nothing happened. I looked around in the room. "...I know I did this properly..."

!Fox! Tue Nov 01, 2016 12:52 am

(Lol No problem.)

"Quiet...." I hushed, waving my hand at Dane as i paused, closing my eyes and focusing on the seemingly random change. "There was a click, Mechanized..." I said, and after hesitating, i left the stone and continued forwards towards a rock wall roughly a stone throw away. "There is another one here, recessed in the wall. I think the stone shifted when you placed your hand on that one, like a panel..." I said, my mind latching onto the temporary distraction to keep me from panicking over my previous revelations.

Blip Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:24 pm

I was about to start heading towards the next panel, when a sudden female voice was heard overhead, in a familiar dialect. Unlike most other voices I had heard over intercoms, this one was clearly an aI, for two reasons: one, everything was clearly enunciated, two, it sounded extremely clear in general, without any distortion from the speaker, and three, no one could possibly speak for about 4 minutes without breathing. Everyone in the room remained silent as the ai spoke, until the voice cut out. After thinking for a bit, I said, "...Okay. So that was the startup sequence for a software program, I guess. It also said to wait for the hardware to.. . Actually start up, and that other panel will start up the sequence to return everything to its default state. Nothing extremely interesting. Wait what if this place is like the fortress of solitude or whatever it was called?"

!Fox! Wed Nov 02, 2016 2:02 am

"Forgive my lack of knowledge on that subject, I wasn't really a super hero movie guy... I know that's Superman home, but that's about it... You'll have to elaborate on that" I said quietly, noticeably on edge now. With a shudder, I rubbed my shoulder, wandering further out with my eyes closed. My left hand slowly went to my wrist as i walked, where the almost freezing metal was locked firmly around it. Sighing as I rubbed the skin around it, i rested my forehead against the wall in front of me, attempting to calm my thoughts using the cold to help. The feeling that i didn't belong here, that I was wrong in every fiber of my being, seemed to be getting stronger. "I can see why the animals stayed away from here..." I laughed coldly to myself "This place.... It doesn't like outsiders... Judging from how you two are reacting to all this... You two seem fine..." I stated quietly, just loud enough to be heard, but not understood.

Blip Tue Nov 08, 2016 3:15 am

"Well, one of the iterations of the fortress of solitude basically had an ask me anything AI about his home planet and culture... I think. Im more of a movie adaptation person, the only dc comic i read was when one of batmans exes took his plans to take out the entire justice league and made a crazy mess of things," I explained, not really understanding why he was getting a little uneasy, until he explained that he felt like it rejected him because he was an outsider, words i wouldve missed if it werent for the fact i hadnt removed my headgear which still had captions. I looked over at Dane. "He's right, you arent bothered at all, despite the fact youre not Rayan either."

"Because we just entered a Rayan facility with obvious safeguards and we're not in life threatening danger. All this place is conveying is that we're screwed if we threaten the rayan in the room," he shrugged.

Oh.

/OH./

!Fox! Tue Nov 08, 2016 8:07 am

"No Dane, that isnt it, or at least isnt the only thing. Your HUMAN. The system probably recognizes you as such, as did Mint to the life support system on our ship did when we first showed up. She has became progressively more Rayan in DNA as time went on, the machine unlocking her dormant genes. The ship AI recognized her change, but doesnt know how to classify mine. As such, humans aren't affected much about this place from what im guessing. They wanted things to, in the event she somehow showed up WITHOUT the modifications, to have her be willing to enter if anything, but only be apprehensive. My guesses so far have been right..." I stated irritably, looking outside. "It probably doesn't know what the fuck i am. I didn't have any specific gene set for the machine to unlock. For all we know im turning into a monster, or more of one i could say..." I sighed, looking back to them.

"I feel physically ILL to be here, as in, being close to that wall now that the power is on, makes me want to throw up. We all know that i mean Mint no danger, but the AI doesn't know for sure. Hell, the modifications could be blindly unlocking everything on me and i could go apeshit any minute here, or die in the next 10 minutes." I stated tiredly, sitting down against the cold wall. "Here's the thing about plans and safeguards Dane, something im sure even you know. They NEVER go according to plan, they always have a hiccup. I am that hiccup here. She had the skills to do everything on her own with that machine, i was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time." I spat, crossing my arms. "This place makes me want to run screaming back the ship... makes me want to claw myself out of my own skin for standing here..." I stated, clearly not okay.

"Call me when things are done or the AI figures out what to do with me. Ill stand guard... Lord knows we dont need an emotionally compromised engineer causing problems..." I huffed, getting up and heading towards the entrance, obviously needing some time to myself at the moment to attempt to calm down.

Blip Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:30 pm

"....I'm not human," Dane mumbled, as we watched him leave the room after the minor freak out. "I can gain a humanoid form, but strictly a human as you grew up surrounded by is not what I am. But there are many flaws to his theory, I suppose. You were always Rayan, but you can register as human. If something is attempting to classify a Rayan, they are mostly classified as whatever species they've been surrounded by the most. They were trying to hide you, so you were placed somewhere where it would be easy to blend in with the crowd. But the device apparently forced whatever biological identifiers kept your true heritage under wraps to simply not function. However, judging by the fact he only felt extreme unease when he entered this particular area it may simply be some reaction to something in this place."

"We're gonna have to look for it, huh?"

!Fox! Thu Nov 10, 2016 6:22 am

I sighed as i reached the entrance where we had come in, rubbing my eyes tiredly as i looked outside while leaning against the cave wall at the entrance, shaking with emotion as i attempted to calm down. "So, i finally snapped... Could have been worse.,.." I sighed to myself, closing my eyes as i sat down. Glancing over at them, i saw they were talking, but didn't bother focusing on what they were saying. "Damn experiments and machines... Couldn't have been born in an earlier time period... Couldn't have had a normal dad... Cant have a normal life..." I sighed, pressing my eyes against my palms roughly, attempting to steady my hands with the process. "Why the hell is this place affecting me so badly?"

Blip Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:02 pm

I began to ask if the machine was operational, interrupted by an error message. "I guess somethings broken. Well, I'll go look for the broken part, I'll be back in a moment," I said, seeming to be partly distracted, walking over to a different part of the room, gently patting the wall in certain places, then after a moment, walking through the wall. Dane stared at the area, as it seemed I had phased through it, but didn't approach it, worried about any safeguard that could be set off.

!Fox! Sun Nov 13, 2016 10:17 am

I sighed, crossing my arms as i closed my eyes for a moment, sure that my sense of hearing would keep me notified of anything coming near. pinching the bridge of my nose, i recorded a small audio log required for the mission. "Log 3. We found what we believe to be ruins. There were strange, out of place and out of date symbols on the floor. Check video feed to see. Wildlife giving this place wide birth. Personal note. I dont think this place wants me here. I understand why they are afraid, they stay away. This feels like im being... hunted. Log end." I said, opening my eyes as i looked around, suddenly on edge again. Backing slowly towards Dane, i kept my eyes on the entrance, my progress slow. Gradually, i spoke up once i neared him. "Dane. Something's not right. Like, i dont like it here, but... I get the feeling something is out there. That something may be whats setting me on edge..." I said, my gun sighted on the entrance. "Maybe im being jumpy. But... It feels like we are being watched, studied, or hunted..." I stated, glancing around with a worried glance. "Mint okay?"

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