CyberDragon wrote:Tempest went back to Quint, Rika, and Kolt. "How is he? If the pills don't work, I'm going to have to take him to our lead doctor."
Rika looked up at Tempest. "I'm sure that won't be nessasary." She said simply. "Unless his blood and immune system is extremely weak, the pill will work fine.."
Legotron123 wrote:Quint knew from when he and Kolt read her file that Rika’s pills were quick acting, but he didn’t expect it to work in under a minute. Nor did he expect it to taste so much like the Morbuzakh fruit from back on Concerto. But now wasn’t the time to focus on that, he had more important things to do. Kolt? Are you feeling any better now?
There was silence for just long enough that Quint started to get nervous, before Kolt responded. What happened? Did we slow down the ship enough?
Quint chuckled, which might seem a bit odd to anyone on the outside. Barely. You got a concussion from hitting your head on part of the ship when it hit the water. Fortunately, Rika’s pills are remarkably quick, and surprisingly effective. Doesn’t feel very effective. My head still hurts. Kolt mentally grumbled, sounding remarkably like a sick little kid. Considering you just got over a concussion, I’d say that’s to be expected. Do you mind if I control our body for a little bit while you try to recover?
Kolt grumbled again. Go ahead. Not like I’m in any shape to do anything.
Quint gave the mental equivalent of a nod before turning his attention back to the doctor kneeling next to him. ”Our arms and our legs feel perfectly fine. Kolt is complaining of a headache, but that is normal for his species to have immediately after a concussion, and he should be over it in a few minutes. We should probably get back to the matter at hand. Did we manage to find any survivors on the ship that crashed? He asked, unaware of the crab-like creature just a little ways down the beach.
Rika smiled. "Great! Don't get up too quickly, you may get a little dizzy. That's natural though, so don't worry." She packed up her pod and removed the latex gloves on her hands. "As for the ship.. Are there any survivors Tempest?" She asked, also unknowing of the new creature.
"Actually nothing uses those engines anymore. This is likely an electric vehicle." He circles the car, amused that with the eight foot tall alien life form, this car was what everyone was focused on. "Though this is a pretty high end car. It probably uses an internal micro-reactor. As for why it's metal, metal is easy to shape, it holds up well at high speeds, and folds instead of shattering when it hits something, cushioning the impact."
-------------------------------
"I... see." the Hive Droid said, the implications of what the alien said not lost on him. He didn't want to bring it up here where others could hear. "I will need to talk to you more later. For now, I need to scan you and make sure you don't have any contaminants on you that could pose a threat to the native population. Scan complete. You're clean." The droid completed his scan really quickly. "As for me, you can call me Hivemind. I am a single mind spread across countless bodies. Pleased to meet you." He held out his hand. Talya would see that ha has a compatible port on the back of his wrist.
-------------------------------
Tempest looked up at Rika. "Well, um, yeah. Why don't you take a look yourself..." She gestured behind her to where Hivemind was talking to the large alien.
-------------------------------
"None of us're the same as we used ta be." the janitor said, not phased at all by the wings, having seen much more incredible things in his life. "I don' care much what the philosophers say. If I ain't human, I ain't human. If I am, great. I'm too old to care anymore. I got the same mind as always, even if it is a bit broke from age an' experience. As fer you," He said. "I had a friend once. He's probably over 2850 years old by now. He was hot-headed an' angry, but he had plenty of humanity. Kept tryin' to drown his memories an' guilt. Couldn't though. Healin' factor."
"It's not my job to seek the truth.
It's not my job to pick a side.
It's not my job to judge your sins.
It's my job to save your life."
-Champion Motto
"Yeah," Jenny confirmed, "the old gas guzzler doesn't get made anymore. But the engine works the same in whatever form. Oh," she added, turning to the senior member, "you might get a call later from the Prime Ministers' office. As we've said the newcomer is non hostile the Chief put in a call to benefit his town. I can't see any Bahamanian Prime Minister turning down a chance to do an official first contact before the Americans or the Commonwealth put their noses in, can you? I mean it is his place that's been littered."
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
"True enough, I've had enough experiance to know that what makes a man a man doesn't necessarily make them human. I doubt many in our... former profession really are any more." He happily fluttered his wings, feeling the breeze in them. He was glad to have the things out while not in movement. "I think I know the guy, but I've only met him briefly a couple dozen times. I mean, it's not like it's easy to always avoid meeting another immortal if your both around for over a thousand years."
Kol just looks at Lycan funny when he claims metal is easier to shape, quite certain it is much MUCH harder for alchemists to get the dissolved material to solidify into the right shapes without accidentally crystallizing it or introducing impurities, then it is for a bone carver to make ivory panels. Particularly since alchemy was her eldest's chosen profession and Ruk liked to rant about impatient customers...
Then again, this place was weird. maybe their metals were equally weird, and dwelling on family that weren't here would do no good. it would be better if she dropped the issu- wait... "WHAT IS THAT THING?!" She shouts, drawing her staff.
Oh hey, she spotted Kobor.
- - - - -
Unfolding both arms, the twins took the Hivedrone's hand, shaking it with one, and loosely grasping the wrist with the other. "Nice to meet you, too."
There's a split second shock between the port and and the hand covering it, as one of the ship-interface nodes connects.
- - - - -
[Network Intrusion Detected] > Maybe we can talk in here? ;)
> Ooooh, Nice system. ^.^ I'm kinda surprised, your interface feels more organic than synth...
> Didn't expect you to have a R7-L Jack on your arm either. Convenient.
Last edited by Buster on Wed Sep 27, 2017 5:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Most important thing I've learned from D&D?
No matter how tempting it may be, as a DM I can't both present a problem and solve it.
Every time a DMPC or NPC fixes something a payer couldn't i'm diminishing and undermining that player's contribution.
"I think that's the guy I was told is non-hostile," Jenny stated calmly. "Provided you're talking of the thing Hivemind is talking to and not any sharks I can't see."
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
The janitor let out a loud laugh. "Ya've got no idea." he said, referring to Alexander's comment about how many in their old job likely weren't human anymore.
"Yeah, Ya've probably met 'im before. Folks called him the 'Immortal Legionnaire' but I just called him Miles." He said. He thought for a moment. "Come ta think of it, I don' think he ever told me his real name. I don't think an ancient roman family would name their kid 'Miles.' I suspect he changed it at some point."
-------------------------------
"At ease, Kol." The Lycan said. "Hivemind has this handled."
-------------------------------
Upon connecting to Hivemind's mind, Talya would be bombarded by the full extent of his consciousness. She had touched the hive, and the swarm of tens of trillions of complex thoughts, calculations, senses, and emotions would flash before her exabytes at a time. If the great minds of the universe had a collective conscious, it would pale before the overwhelming complexity and quantity of the technopath's thoughts. Deep inside, there was something else Talya might see. A subtle light that, while faint, seemed to connect the mind to something else. Something very ancient and benevolent... but extremely powerful. So much so that even Solomon's great mind could not comprehend it, as many of the flashing thoughts would show.
Suddenly the thoughts went dark. Hivemind had cut Talya off from his inner thoughts.
>That is because it IS organic.
>And I do not believe I gave you permission to touch that port.
>Oh well. This can at least make things easier.
>I have questions that I do not wish to ask in front of the others.
>You said your brother is a nervous system. If so, then what is or was the body?
"It's not my job to seek the truth.
It's not my job to pick a side.
It's not my job to judge your sins.
It's my job to save your life."
-Champion Motto
> Perhaps, but it was the logical option. If your theory is right, We are the fist of our kind to reach Earth. Given we're hundreds of years late, we likely either got wiped out during the Exodus, or never existed to begin with. Not likely to get much privacy any time soon, are we?
why did you lock the arm servos? what are you up to? Nothing!
> As to my brother. His host body is a farm-bred Taningia danae, enlarged to adequately house his mass and mutated using tissue from Sepia bartletti, Serrasalmus geryi, and Ghrakkal.
The message is accompanied by an uploaded profile of the animals in question. all but the last of which are cultivated breeds of terrestrial fish species. Ghrakkal on the other hand, appears to be best described as a 'snakeman' and is shown wearing crude armor and holding some kind of rifle in the file photo...
Most important thing I've learned from D&D?
No matter how tempting it may be, as a DM I can't both present a problem and solve it.
Every time a DMPC or NPC fixes something a payer couldn't i'm diminishing and undermining that player's contribution.
Ulrich busied himself with moving some of the larger pieces of debris into piles for easy cleanup. He made sure to not touch it directly, just in case the government wanted to do DNA testing.
stopping, Kol looked back at Lycan momentarily before putting her staff away, returning to her previous spot,tail thumping against the ground in annoyance.
when jenny spoke up she chimed in with, "Wait... Wasn't there something we were supposed to be doing today?"
Most important thing I've learned from D&D?
No matter how tempting it may be, as a DM I can't both present a problem and solve it.
Every time a DMPC or NPC fixes something a payer couldn't i'm diminishing and undermining that player's contribution.
"Yeah," Jenny breezed, "but we got sidetracked. I'm beginning to suspect that'll be our team motto." She looked at Kol. "Have you looked around you yet, Kol? I bet you've never seen scenery like this?"
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
"I... er... the tall waving green and brown things are scary."
(trees)
Most important thing I've learned from D&D?
No matter how tempting it may be, as a DM I can't both present a problem and solve it.
Every time a DMPC or NPC fixes something a payer couldn't i'm diminishing and undermining that player's contribution.
"We are supposed to be looking for our friend. However..." He gestured to Rika, Kolt, and Tempest. "Until Kolt's on his feet again, We aren't going anywhere. In the meantime, I want all of you to see what you can do to help clean up." He walked over to Rika, Kolt, and Tempest. "Hey, how is he?"
"It's not my job to seek the truth.
It's not my job to pick a side.
It's not my job to judge your sins.
It's my job to save your life."
-Champion Motto
"The trees," Jenny asked. "Ah, don't worry about them. Trees won't harm a big fighter like you." She pulled a handheld radiation detector from her pouches, put her gloves back and resumed wearing her helmet before heading down to help the clean up.
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
"Yeaaaaaaaah, I remember him. I know I've met him in the last... hundred years or so? I think that was since he was using that name. Back when I was in my first couple hundreds he met me and I think he went by... miles? It was a long time ago." He shrugged and continued walking. "Went out for a couple of drinks and stuff... And by a couple I mean I'm sure that we've spent more time in bars together than you've been alive. But, well, it's hard not to do when your two of the only people who are around for over a thousand years. You meet for a couple weeks of drinks every decade or two."
Quint looked over to where Tempest was gesturing, and seemed more intrigued than anything by what he saw. ”Interesting. Kind of looks like a creature from an old Anjun sci-fi show Kolt is a fan of. Jumpgate, I believe was the name.” He said, before turning to look at the approaching Lycan. ”Well Kolt is currently suffering from a bit of a headache that happens when his species gets over a concussion, so he is not going to be of much use for at least a couple of minutes. His body on the other hand...” He put his hands behind his head before doing a kick up, bending his legs over his chest and suddenly kicking them straight out, while simultaneously pushing his hands against the ground, using the momentum to propel him into a standing position. It was something that Kolt couldn’t do on his own, but was rather easy with the enhanced coordination and reflexes that Quint granted him. ”Does that answer your question?”
Play The Hayseed Knight. This isn’t self promotion, I just really like the game.
—
You ever realize that the two longest pieces of literature in existence are both fanfics? Weird right?
"Hey! Careful!" Tempest yelled at Quint. "You could worsen Kolt's injuries."
"Morgan's right. You might feel fine, but there could still be damage. Hold off on the acrobatics until Kolt's headache goes away." The Lycan said as he checked his communicator. "Hivemind says we should get going. We still have a job to do after all. Champions, follow me." He led them off of the beach through the path in the trees and into town. There was a great deal of commotion in the streets as the citizens crowded around, curious and nervous about the crashing object that was in the sky moments ago. When the champions walked past, there were a mix of reactions. Some reacted fearfully at the strange group of alien creatures. Others recognized The Lycan and Tempest, and were happy to see them. Most though simply looked curious as they walked past, wondering who, and what, they were. "Keep close. Don't get lost in the crowd."
Eventually they made it to the resort. It was massive and beautiful with two large elegant hotel buildings towering over everything, connected by an arching bridge between them on the sixteenth floor. All around there were pools and fountains and trees and shops. Themed water slides ten stories tall peaked over the tops of the palm trees. In the distance, a few smaller towers could be seen.
The Lycan whistled. "Wow. This place is huge! Where do we even begin to look?" There was a coughing laugh from behind the group. The Lycan spun around.
An old blind human man was standing there. He had a long, silver beard that was tied up haphazardly. He wore a long black cloak that obscured his face and covered his entire body save for his hands, which were gripping a stylized wooden staff-like cane. The skin on his hands was rough, dry, and scaly. "Who is it you are looking for? Maybe I can help."
---------------------------------
The janitor smiles slightly. "Yeah, that sounds like him alright. When was the last time you saw him?"
---------------------------------
>The last image you sent gives me pause.
>That is clearly a sentient, if primitive, creature.
>I need to know. What do you do with the Ghrakkal in order to mutate the others?
>And you were right about one thing...
[warning: Unauthorized download detected] >Until I know you are not a threat, you are not going to get much privacy.
Talya would feel the wrist port lock down on her, keeping her from pulling the connection while Hivemind mined for information.
"It's not my job to seek the truth.
It's not my job to pick a side.
It's not my job to judge your sins.
It's my job to save your life."
-Champion Motto
Jenny kept astride her motorbike as they headed through the town, smiling only to herself as she watched the crowd. "Maybe they'll get you to open something whilst you're here, Lycan," she said over the comms. "Nothing like a 'howling good deal' at the supermarket, after all." She stopped as they came to the blind man. "Is one of you going to reply," she asked.
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
Tatiana followed along Lycan and the others, not quite appreciating the stares she was receiving, contrary to her ever present smile, though was grateful that their path was unobstructed. As they reached the resort, she didn't mind the possibility of having to wander to find their target, as it reminded her of some previous merc jobs she did, just a pleasant stroll until the target appeared. She turned at the caughing laugh but didn't really react at all, instead responding to Jenny's question, "Personally no. Don't think my clearance level includes disclosing mission objectives to wizard hobos."
Ulrich shoved his last piece of debris into the pile he'd created before following along after the Lycan with the rest of the group. He stopped at the blind old man, "We are looking for someone named Gear. Do you know of someone who maybe looks like a machine man," he asked fairly bluntly.
"He may be using the name Luke, sir," Jenny added, carefully keeping a distance. "Luke Stephens? He's not in any trouble, we just need to ask his advice on something."
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
> we absorb the genetic material of all past hosts, and retain it indefinitely. All Kali who survived the Exodus, and all spawned by the survivors carry those sequences.
> wait... What are you...
Talya's voice stops the moment Hivemind gets into the suit.
The system Hivemind has just broken into, may be unlike any he's likely to have encountered before. Firstly, there's not a single scrap of actual circuitry for his abilities to latch onto. There is also no central processor, no singular point of control the rest are slaved to, no structural hierarchy like a computer or network would have, instead a quarter billion all-purpose biological processing nodes operate in parallel, each one roughly equivalent to a dumb ai or pre-sapient animal. And they're not passing instructions like a machine would so much as talking, albeit via bioelectric pathways. The noise coming from them as they talk to each other akin to trying to listen to a single voice on the other side of a stadium or convention center. Within a few microseconds they've noticed a new 'voice' among their number, and the noise quickly unifies into a single command: infection. Isolate. Purge. It's almost like hearing Talya when they do that...but as a collective voice not a singular one. (Ever heard the Borg talk?) Which brings up the second major difference, a conventional computer can't reorganize the shape of its physical circuit pathways and chips on the fly to isolate 'infected' components. Each node is only carrying a few hundred kilobytes of information, and without the interconnection to the others, it may as well be encrypted, as it's nothing but disjointed fragments, that the infected nodes themselves are actively fighting being read. Progress forward is painfully slow.
- - - - -
Kol had only just picked up one of the fragments when the change in orders came. Huffing, she dropped it back down, and followed the others. Like Tatiana she wasn't much appreciating the gawkers, trying her best not to actively snarl at them, and starting to appreciate the suit's polarized visor.
When the old man arrived though, she shifted slightly. In a place full of people in beach clothes, he looked wrong. Shifting the staff to her left side in her back arms, and bringing her left main arm back to hover less than a centimeter from it, ready to pass the weapon forward at a moment's notice.
Most important thing I've learned from D&D?
No matter how tempting it may be, as a DM I can't both present a problem and solve it.
Every time a DMPC or NPC fixes something a payer couldn't i'm diminishing and undermining that player's contribution.
Hivemind was concerned about what Talya said. It implies a history of taking over the bodies of sentient beings. This was serious if it was the case, and he couldn't risk anything. He needed to be POSITIVE that the creatures meant no harm. He couldn't simply trust Talya's word on this.
When Hivemind's thoughts entered the suit, he realized that he wouldn't be able to simply use his technopathy to find what he needed. That being said, he had another ability. Zero range telepathy, which does work on organic beings. While this doesn't normally extend through his mechanical bodies, there was a rare exception to this that he never really tried before. That exception was when the other person directly intruded on his mind and established thought-to-thought communication. This opened up a direct pathway between his biological thoughts and the nervous system of the other individual, much like his real body's peripheral nervous system did naturally. He wondered if that would work. It wasn't like the sheer number of the creatures in the collective dissuaded him. It was no different than the sheer number of thoughts in his own mind, except his own thoughts were far more complex. He downloaded what information he could from the nodes he was connected to and attempted to exert his will on the creatures in the node in order to establish a further connection.
The entire time, he tried to mentally calm the creatures. Please, I mean no harm. I wish to prevent it. This is the only way I can be sure.
------------------------------------------
"Ohohoho! Yes! Yes! I know who, and where, he is, Ms Miles." He laughed. His voice was warm and friendly and full of energy, much like a mischievous grandfather. "I'm afraid you landed on the wrong side of the island though. He's on the east beach. Come! Come! Follow the blind wizard hobo, or you might get lost!" With that, he turned around and walked off, gesturing for the others to follow. "This way, please!"
"It's not my job to seek the truth.
It's not my job to pick a side.
It's not my job to judge your sins.
It's my job to save your life."
-Champion Motto
Quint shrugged, oddly unconcerned with the health of his friend and host. ”As long as Rika does not run out of those pills, we should be fine.” He said, before turning to head with the others to the resort.
By the time they arrived, Kolt had recovered and was back in control. He was rather excited by the the water park, and looked at it rather longingly like a little kid looking at a toy through a shop window. ”We’re gonna be able to go there after we find this guy right?” He asked Lycan, acting much more childish than his age would suggest. That behavior stopped rather abruptly once he heard he heard the old man refer to Jenny as “Miss Miles.” He turned to look at the old man, his eyes fierce with a faint purple glow. ”She never mentioned her name, nor her marital status. How did you know her last name was Miles?”
Play The Hayseed Knight. This isn’t self promotion, I just really like the game.
—
You ever realize that the two longest pieces of literature in existence are both fanfics? Weird right?
Jenny had made the same connection to do with her name. Unlike Kolt - or whoever was speaking from Kolt's body - she'd been a little willing to play along - at least until they were out of range of civilians. "Ah, heck," she said, bringing her rifle to the front on stun setting six. "and it's a fair question, sir."
Last edited by Welsh Halfwit on Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
"Look at him, Kolt," Ulrich gestured to the man, "He is a blind, wizard, hobo. Knowing things that nobody tells him is probably his superpower. Or maybe, he is a mind reader and is able to read that information like a book because I think most people know their own name and marital status. Either way, I like him," he stated as he followed the wizard hobo.
Hivemind will find that he can convince individual nodes to reconnect to each other telepathically, but that just leads to other nodes viewing them as infected and disconnecting, and only the ones on hivemind's side of the 'breach' are listening to his attempts to calm them down. The rest are not just cutting access now, they're trying to brute-force retaking clusters of infected nodes, in an almost machinelike manner, and force Hivemind's influence out. Even with the use of telepathic abilities speeding up the process a lot, the fact that reconnecting nodes has to be done one by one is still making it a bit time consuming.
Well, time consuming by a machine's timescale anyway. Hooray for microprocessors and Kali Nodes having reaction times measured in nanoseconds.
A few more nodes and one of the files he been finding pieces of is readable. It's the crash, from the perspective of the ship itself.
The next one that can be deciphered is... a few days at some kind of academy? its incomplete.
Then there's another one, that looks like a memory of Kobors, not hers, an idea on how to circumvent...
Oh...
The pathways breaking is fragmenting her memories, all of them, And there's apparently a specific set that has an index of where everything is, if that set breaks the others cant be reconstructed. Everything has to restart from scratch.
By breaking the paths She is literally tearing chunks out of her own mind to stop the perceived infection, she's that scared of it...
Okay now the entire shell is powering down. What the heck is going on?! Hurts... Can't Stop it... Barely even slow it down... Tal?
Most important thing I've learned from D&D?
No matter how tempting it may be, as a DM I can't both present a problem and solve it.
Every time a DMPC or NPC fixes something a payer couldn't i'm diminishing and undermining that player's contribution.
Alexander shrugged, walking and fluttering his wings again cutely. "Oh, I don't know. Probably not since you last saw him, more then a... decade ago? I've been kind of inactive for a quarter century." He sighed and shook his head. "of course, I do remember going out to the bar with him during that time but... I don't think it was that recent. It's kind of hard to tell from my standpoint, you understand."
”You think because he’s blind he’s not a threat? My country was almost taken over by a blind supervillain!” Kolt said, never taking his eyes off the old mans. ”His power made it so that if he touched you, you practically became a double agent. Whenever he wanted, he could peek in on whatever you where seeing or hearing at the time, and you would never know.” The Concertian took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, trying to forget about what was clearly a stressful time in his life. ”So yeah, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m not so quick to dismiss this guy as just a harmless old wiseman.”
Play The Hayseed Knight. This isn’t self promotion, I just really like the game.
—
You ever realize that the two longest pieces of literature in existence are both fanfics? Weird right?
Tatiana couldn't help but chortle at Kolt's little speech, "Okay, I know you're going for a 'blind doesn't mean harmless' angle there, but it sorta made you sound prejudiced against bling people." Her tone shifted slightly, "Though there is truth to it. It's a wacky world out there, giant monster could be terrified softies and a little kid with a lollipop could be a mad killer. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst I say. Granted that means being prepared to hurl a bit of plasma at a little kid at a moments notice, but other than that... You make a good point there fox boy. " Her intermixing of light hearted and serous, as well as her modulated voice would prove it hard for most to discern if she was joking at all or not.
”Oh god, do not get me started on kid supervillains. Parts of Anju are STILL under quarantine due to some of Sawbones’ plagues.” Kolt said, forgetting that just because Sawbones was notorious on his world, didn’t mean that people from other worlds would know about her. ”But that’s off topic. Another question I have is why is a guy who looks like the mentor from a classic video game hanging out at what appears to be a pretty pricey water park? Unless he’s here for some sort of pop culture convention, he seems rather out of place.”
Play The Hayseed Knight. This isn’t self promotion, I just really like the game.
—
You ever realize that the two longest pieces of literature in existence are both fanfics? Weird right?
"Suggest those with strong defensive skills hang back to protect the civilians," Jenny muttered aloud as the seconds ticked by on the response. "Everyone else? Keep loose. We don't want pictures of us threatening a blind man on national television.". She faced the blind man again. "Please, sir, can you explain?"
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
Hivemind was growing frustrated with the level of resistance he was encountering. Then he felt Talya's pain and fear. Surprised, he pulled out of her files and reentered the chat, still keeping the port locked.
[download terminated] >I am sorry...
>I never meant to cause you pain.
>This is normally a painless process...
>but your biology is making it difficult to calm you.
>You admitted that your species has a history of taking over the bodies of sentient creatures.
>I need to make sure it is exactly that; history.
>To do that, I need to access your memories.
>As many as I can.
>I cannot simply trust you to tell me the truth...
>and I need to know the unaltered truth so I can inform the world leaders that you are not a threat.
>If they deem you are potentially hostile, and I cannot confirm otherwise...
>There is no telling what they will do.
>I need to access your memories, and I don't have much choice in that.
>I need you to remain calm.
>I don't want you getting hurt.
>I realize that you cannot trust me either, especially after what I just tried.
>So I will send you a file of my own memories, condensed so you can see what I am and what I stand for.
[File Attachment Detected: Open? y|n]
Should she open the file, Talya would get a video stream of the history of the Champions. Ever since the founders fended off the attack on Earth. She would see the construction of the Beacon of Hope and it's attachment to the hive. She would see it diving through the invading fleets. She would see it flying through the stars and visiting planets that burned with the suffering of their people, only leaving when that suffering was alleviated. She would see the construction of the Hive Drones, like the one she was connected to, and how they kept the peace. She would see each of the champions to have ever graced the ship. Many showed they were still active, but many showed they had lost their lives. All of the champions who had died had a lovingly constructed biography attached as well as what they died for. This one lost his life ensuring civilians were evacuated from a battleground. That one sacrificed her life to end a thousand year war between two factions. Each one was honored and honorable, and each one inspired even more heroes to action. This was what he was about. The protection of life across the galaxy.
-----------------------------------
The old man sighed. "My my. Such hostility over me knowing your name! After all, how did you know my name is wizard hobo? I should be interrogating you! Hee!" He gave them a gentle smile. "I'm just an old man, here watching over his kids and grandkids as they play. Metaphorically, of course! Ha!" He waves a hand in front of his face. He was blind, so technically he wasn't watching anything. "I'm here to make sure they are safe. Now come along! We're almost there."
They continued walking down the path, The Lycan noting how the man didn't seem to be using his cane much to navigate. Pretty soon, the trail started getting sandy and they came upon the beach. Two men stood in the distance, talking. The old man urged the others ahead. "There he is. Go on and talk to him. Oh, and Kolt? To answer your first question, I'm sure Randy and Morgan will let you visit whatever store, ride, attraction, or whatever you want in a couple hours when you find you are all stuck here until morning. Have a nice day!"
"Wait, what?!" The Lycan spun around at that to look at the old man, but it was too late. He was nowhere to be seen. "I don't like the sound of that... We better move."
-----------------------------------
"I see... " The mutilated, half-robot janitor said. "I admit, I was hopin' ya'd seen him more recen...!" He turned and saw the group of Champions walking through the path in the trees. "Nah, it can' be... Randy? Morgan?" He held his mechanical arm up to shield his eyes from the sun to see better. "It IS them! What are they doin' here?!" He waved at the newcomers.
"It's not my job to seek the truth.
It's not my job to pick a side.
It's not my job to judge your sins.
It's my job to save your life."
-Champion Motto
Ulrich put a hand to his mouth to stifle a laugh.
He swept his gaze over the group, "I do not know about you, but I like him. He seems like a good person.
Though I must agree, maybe you should not have been so hostile though." He gave a wave but the man was already gone, so he waved at the air.
It's nearly a full second before Talya reacts. Indirectly, Hivemind can feel she's repairing the lingering damage and rebooting the Shell's systems that power and computation were diverted away from in the interim.
{Checking file structure: No anomalies found.}
{Checking file content: No anomalies found.}
{Checking file metadata: No anomalies found.}
{Checking for embeded code: None found.}
[Download Accepted] {playing file}
When Talya starts talking again, she sounds different. Tired.
> No one has ever taken part of the colony away from me before...
> The last one who tried started screaming about making the noise stop as soon as he could 'see' us...
>You Feel like one of our own. Replacing our hivelink with yours. Spreading like an infection...
> You are more than you think you are.
With that cryptic comment she backs out of the interface, but leaves the connection open.
Her defenses are down, she's not fighting you now.
The information you want isn't hard to find. Her kind achieved sentience a few hundred years ago, when a species whom they had previously been unable to infect due to competing pathogens, cured said diseases. in the process of mimicking that species nervous system they passed a sort of critical-mass threshold they hadn't been able to reach with their previous host species. Their new hosts didn't like that, but they couldn't exactly apologize and give the bodies back, infection and infestation are a one-way process. leaving the host kills it. it sparked a war. a global scale guerrilla war that lasted a century, both sides committing acts of mass genocide and worse to try and ensure their own survival. one attempting to eliminate their parasitic foe at any cost and by any means necessary, the other because hiding among civilian populations via mass-infection was the most effective form of defense.
their world was devastated in the end, a population of 70 billion reduced to thousands, with the last hundred or so infected who were still alive escaping into space on a crude colony ship they had stolen, vowing never to return, and that the life of any Kali stupid enough to repeat the mistake that had started the war (taking an already sapient host) and nearly wiped their kind out, was forfeit.
That was 830-something years ago, and as far as Talya knows, it's only been broken 12 times, 11 of which were promptly caught and executed. (#12 is a Human-Kali who's a reoccurring villain in something I'm working on elsewhere, don't expect any mention of him here)
Also the strain of being a host apparently shortens the lifespan of even the most enduring, heavily augmented, bodies to 15-20 years.
- - - - -
Kol, being much more concerned about the single very odd person who knew things he couldn't than the two normal-ish (compared to the team anyway) people up ahead, had kept her eyes trained on him. So when he spontaneously disappeared she might have kind of freaked out and charged the spot where he had been, before glancing around frantically looking for tracks, movement, something...
"How..." was pretty much her limit for coherent conversation at the moment.
Last edited by Buster on Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Most important thing I've learned from D&D?
No matter how tempting it may be, as a DM I can't both present a problem and solve it.
Every time a DMPC or NPC fixes something a payer couldn't i'm diminishing and undermining that player's contribution.
Jenny sighed. "There's a saying on Earth, Kol," she explained, "for when the unexplainable happens.. We might be using it a few times over the coming days. A wizard - that's a magic user - A wizard did it. Come on," she added, nodding towards the beach, "let's go meet a retired hero, eh?"
Commander Hawle. U.S.C.Loper. By the talented DDeer. Kilo - 2-8-3-9-10-2-5 Kilo Leslie – 4-6-4-5-6-9-7 Leslie David Campbell - 7 – 8 – 9 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 6 Corp Davidstow 6 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 6 - 6 - 5 (reactions 7 Combat 9)
Hivemind finished downloading the files and looked through them. He could see everything about the people before him. He could see their bond with each other. He could see what they loved, what they feared, everything. Eventually he came across the files detailing the history of their species. He was admittedly disturbed by the brutal beginning they had as a sentient species, but his concerns were somewhat eased by the knowledge that they do not infect sentient beings and have not done so for hundreds of years.
He unlocked the port and pulled the connection.
"I'm sorry. It's easy for me to forget my own strength. I didn't mean to cause harm." He said to the twins. "The good news is that I do not believe you are a threat. The bad news is I cannot speak for the rest of the world leaders. However, I know one way we can keep them off of your back. I run a ship. Rather, I am the ship. It's the one you saw in those files. I offer you asylum on the Beacon of Hope. In exchange, I would like you to consider joining the Champions. We are a special group of individuals dedicated to helping everyone we can, as you saw in those files as well. As a Champion, you can build your reputations as heroes yourselves, and no government will touch you without going through me first." He mimicked a smile with his metallic face the best he could. "Please consider my offer. For now though, I suggest you follow me. We need to regroup with the rest of the team. Are you feeling well enough to go?"
"It's not my job to seek the truth.
It's not my job to pick a side.
It's not my job to judge your sins.
It's my job to save your life."
-Champion Motto
Alexander, startled by the newcomers, suddenly flapped his wings and kept his hand at his gun... but he didn't draw it, re-assured by the clear combat vet trusting these others. "Yes, hello." He said,fluttering down, his feathers still a bit ruffled. "Hello... So, I see... I asume your heroes then? what ARE you doing here?"
