hexarchate_rpg | Chapter 3.4: Breaking down the base

As the meeting ends, the team members move to their assigned tasks.

Dar, Deyna, Seyli and Sulen collect some heavy-duty servitors and begin transferring supplies to the Cantata.

Alaric, Reshad, Shess, and the Cantata's drone prepare to remove the harness from Ankat's moth, The Sedulous Eel.

Back on the Cantata, Sasha goes to her office and starts remotely wiping memory nodes on the base's grid. Jedao is in the Communications/Gunnery room, controlling the weapons. Xiulan acts as his backup. Remi has been instructed to look for patterns or causes of the missing interstellar signals.

Meanwhile, Hana and Eddox look after the mothlings, perhaps joined by Mafyyil, who for some reason has not received clear instructions. Gerae and Ione divide their attention between the mothlings and the nest of pseudo-dragons.

[Welcome to a new move!

I know that things are stressful and uncertain for all of us right now. Please don't fret if you suddenly find yourself with less or more free time than usual--we will adjust! If you would like to give your character a node of peace where they drink tea and admire baby aliens for the next while, this can be arranged. Conversely, if you want a plotty distraction, we will bring you one!

My own focus is unreliable of late, but I'll work on a recap of the previous move as I can.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Grid message sent to everyone who’s been chatting about Remi’s disappearance, whether to augments or other comms tools they’re using. ]

We’ve got a timeline where there’s been no sign of other sentient beings yet and now Remi’s disappeared abruptly. Could be related?

[Langoliers! *g* Or something.]

"It wouldn't explain the lack of radio," Sasha observes, appearing in the doorway of Communications. "Though I'm not sure whether astronomical radiation sources have been affected. I was meaning to ask Remi, before the Houseless bastard went exploring."

She offers Xiulan a clear container that appears to contain four or five bugs; she has been experimenting with Virmad's boyfriend's model. "Could you take these to Sulen? There is one to flit through the rift and back again, and others to report at intervals, if the oscillation is consistent on the other side. If the flicker keeps repeating every couple of hours, we should have time for several observations."

[Awesome new picture!]

Xiulan turns when the door chimes and so is facing Sasha when the latter steps into the room.

“From something Remi said last night, it sounded like one of of the mothlings detected a pulsar. Assuming that was referring to the here and now—“ For all she knows, the moths could have a non-linear perception of time. It wouldn’t even be surprising. “—there’s one example of a radiation source.”

‘Houseless’ is one of those references that goes onto a mental list to look into later, but for now, she’s more interested in the current topic. “How much is known about what the rifts are? What sort of emissions do they show? And are they known to absorb anything?” A half smile. “You know, aside from people and moths.”

There’s a brief flicker to her gaze as the bug box is extended. Xiulan takes it and eyes the contents. “Kaliyan is on the Typhoon,” she says she does so. “And able to coordinate fire control for the moment, though that may change.”

“I’ll be back shortly - or will let you know if that changes,” she says to Jedao. “Provided I don’t walk into a rift,” comes drifting in as an afterthought in her wake.

[Yoon, how much does Sasha know about rift emissions, and should I make something up?]

[I mean, in real life you know way more physics than I do, although I have access to a gravitational astrophysicist who happens to think the h*archate is nonsense. Feel free to make something up!]

[Just don't ask me to do anything involving experiments or specific numbers!]

[If real numbers are involved, things are waaaaaaaay too granular anyway. I really don't want to be trying to run a fucking physics sim. "Certain quantities" or vague descriptors should work fine!]

[Ha, no, I am well aware that any numbers I use are due to my own poor life choices! I think the most complicated ones so far have involved refrigerator volumes. ;) ]

[I was in a game once featuring multiple dimensions and determined the PCs were basically in one that was based on a torus attractor, by reading some paper about chaos theory at 1am...ahh, for the days when I was in college and had time for that *L* ...that was a seriously complicated game and my brain is full of other things these days:p]

[If I have to wrassle attractors 20 years after leaving college there will be BLOOD. :p ]

[The hilarious (or terrible? both?) thing was, my PC was a port of a Shadowrun character who was really good with guns. But for background reasons, she knew a lot about physics and such. I had no idea it would ever be relevant, but then it turned out the key to 'figuring out' the puzzle of the overall game was heavily based on quantum physics. Cue me doing homework for a game, because I as player was NOT a physics major. *L*]

[also, I know I'm behind on responses--sorry about that, will try to get to it tomorrow, slammed at work right now :/ ]

[Thanks! It's by

manualmonster.]

"Fair point!" Sasha's smile is decidedly lopsided. "Remi was our expert on the rifts. Alaric might be able to make a guess, if you can raise him on the comms. The rifts do emit a bit of radiation, but much less than you'd expect from a hole between universes. The dose you get from walking through a rift is a couple of orders of magnitude less than what you'd get from spending a year on this base without an atmosphere to protect you, just as an example. Even with the shielding in place."

She's stalling, a little bit. Radiation is an easy risk assessment, one she hasn't fucked up.

Chapter 3.4: Breaking down the base

Grid Message re: Remi (Paging everyone chatting about this)

bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan

Re: bugs in Comms - paging Xiulan