Aurora returns to where she remembers being. Soaring through the air, she gains a better layout of the city and finds a military sector where she thinks she was at one point.
Landing behind one of the warehouses, The gold eagle rests and wait, bag at its feet.
Jaq is up about an hour before anyone else. She hadn't slept well, and the others find her holding a cup of hot cider in her hands.
"Mornin'," she mutters to anyone entering the galley.
"Yeah, yeah. How'd your coding go?"
"Better, I think," she says with a small, painfully fake smile before taking another sip of her cider.
"I just hope Aurora's okay."
There are human and Avine military personnel on the ground amd building interior. Further more this seems more like a glorified recruitment center. Civilians occation enter through a front door to acquire information. Human and Avine are both wearing United States digital camo.
--------------------------
Jaq's eyes brighten at Flynn's spell. She still looks rough, but she doesn't seem as dog-tired.
"Thanks," she murmurs as she stretches her neck.
"Flynn, have you ever lost friends," she asks as she stares out the window.
"Everyone has," Flynn replies. "But my loss is a story that would give you nightmares if told properly. Perhaps we had best be going back, if it's already morning. Captain?"
Jaq chuckles darkly at Flynn's answer, "Try me."
Aurora attempts to blend in with the locals, changing shape when no one is looking so she appears to be different people. She will keep a shape for about 20 minutes or 1/2 hour before switching.
"Ever heard of a Parachronic mishap? It gets worse when you're traveling without a ship to protect you—quasidimensional predators closing in from all sides, interfering with the concept of space and time itself as the stars wink out around you. And no, it is not a story I would tell to someone I've just met."
Aurora begins looking over the inhabitants to get a feel for her next form, however, she does spot one of the white-hatted police officers approaching the military recruitment office's front door.
Sir Gavin appears, his hair slicked back and perfectly arranged, and the creases in his trousers sharp enough to cut.
"Bonjour à tous! Good Morning crewmates!" He greeted with a confident smile.
"Are we as ready as we are going to be?" He asked, sipping a cup of tea and savoring it.
"Almost. I'll want to draw some geometric runes, when we get there, to help focus my magic. But I'm ready to jump on your command."
Sir Gavin nodded.
"Very well then. The plan is set, and I wish us all good luck.
"Now then, let us go rescue our lost lamb. Make the jump!" He commanded.
Right on!
Jaq was about to respond when Gavin appears she just shakes her head and downs the rest of her cider before taking a seat and strapping in.
"Just hope this goes better than last time," she mutters. Somehow, it seems like she's not referring to their last visit to the world they had gone to.
"Right, then. Jaq, whatever you do, wait until we're somewhere we won't be immediately traced by some sort of GeoIP watchdog."
Flynn unfolds a piece of paper on which he's sketched out a crude diagram of a hold-out radio, and surrounds it with arcane physics symbols, reciting equations out loud as he does so.
Flynn stumbles in his focus, and starts over again.
"Also, Jaq, while I work on this spell, I've got an idea. If you can find a way to do so without breaking any rules, see if you can find some sort of free online public education/lecture database. I want to test at some point how the manabug responds to a description of this world's physics."
Easily enough, Flynn expertly sets the Conveyor back to it's previous location. In a flash the vessel vanishes the reappears in a familiar alleyway.
Using magic to locate their lost friends, and doing so with the aid of the illuminated Manabug, Aurora is detected 45 miles away to the south east.
It seems that the area is clear of any previously triggered authorities. The shopping area that the team has returned to is once again bustling with common people.
Observation (Default to PER-5)6:
Shadowing (Default to IQ-5)6:
Aurora keeps on the move, but seeing the white-hatted officer, her curiosity gets the better of her and she moves a little closer to see what is happening.
"Hmm. She's forty miles away. We may need to use some sort of transit."
"Do we have any cash," Jaq asks.
Watching out the viewports for threats, Sir Gavin shook his head.
"Non. We have no currency. But; if we happen to capture a sample, our fabricators should be able to reproduce some near perfect counterfeit bills."
He turned to the others and grinned.
"Unless, of course, they don't use paper money. We may have to set up false bank accounts, or whatever internet credit system is in use."
"Or maybe their society's advanced to the point of free public transportation. It should be easy to find out."
"Sorry if I don't share your optimism. God may be merciful, but Murphy's a right cruel one," Jaq says as she stands up, "Well, Should we all go, or should one of us stay behind."
As Aurora hopes near the ledge of the building to see the entry way where the "white hatted" officer went, there suddenly seems to be a giant lack of traffic. As a matter of fact, the area that had been bustling with military units civilians suddenly seems silent and void. There is a population a few blocks away, but in a weird sense, people have all left the building... save for the one officer.
Aurora attempts to get closer by floating down from the building roof and touching down gently to the ground. She now stands before the door of recruitment building. It's tinted windows making it difficult to see within. A digital mesh also blocks a variety of visual senses.
Getting a bad feeling about the lack of people, Aurora begins to move out of this district swiftly, trying to make it back to an area where people are.
Flynn's tracking methods reveals that Aurora has begun to move, and rather quickly, from her previous location to a spot more west. middle of down town, it seems.
"Right... and she's on the move. We should head out. What tech do we take?"
"A pistol and a usb stick with the virus just in case," Jaq suggests with a yawn, "hopefully we won't have to use either, but we'll have to hide the pistol on our person."
She looks at Flynn and blushes a little.
"Do you think we'd attract less suspicion if you and I acted like we were a couple?"
"Yeah... probably not a good idea. We'll just be regular people, riding the subway. And I don't know what kind of metal detectors they'll have—so if you bring any sort of weapon, you might need to be prepared to ditch it somewhere, which could be problematic."
"What do the pictures of people just walking around the street look like? We can set our clothing to match. Do they have backpacks, briefcases, fanny packs we can keep things in?" Inquired Sir Gavin.
"Well then," Jaq dons a khaki patrol cap and looks down at her clothing before looking at Flynn and Gavin, "I guess I'm ready."
Right. If possible, Flynn will try to shoo the bug and trap it in a sunglasses case. He'll take his staff, encased in the fiberglass that makes it look like an ordinary plastic waking stick, the contact lenses and Holdout radio, but leave the heavy equipment and helmet behind, going with his heavy patchwork jacket.
Jaq only carries a radio and a USB drive with the virus as she follows Flynn out.
"So what's our story if we get stopped," she asks quietly.
"What story could we possibly have?" Said Sir Gavin as he tugged his sharp business suit into perfect creases.
"None of us have any records, paper or electronic, anywhere in this world."
He started arranging a number of innocuous looking items in a common briefcase.
"Drifters, maybe, passing through? Why would we be running into cops who ask for ID?"
"Less asking for ID than asking what we're doing, besides, a man in a nice suit isn't likely to be a drifter, though the two of us could be," Jaq answers, "like I said, you and I could act like we're a couple, but we'd still need to figure out some way to explain the CO's presence."
Jaq looks at Gavin for a second before a shudder runs down her spine.
"Or, we could," Jaq says, obviously having to force each word out, "both dress to match the CO. If we all look like we belong together, we'll arouse less suspicion. We'd have to change into something more businesslike, since patchwork coats and army surplus don't exactly make for good business dress."
The bug, once freed of the jar is seemingly shocked. nudging it into a small case, is not difficult task, though it does take some budging to do.
Sir Gavin nodded.
"Well then, perhaps you could act as students accompanying a professor? You could dress more informally than I, and you could have a backpack or book bag to store things in.
"Or, you could go as homeless and I stay here monitoring you.
"Each plan has its strengths and weaknesses.
"How say you?" He asked, looking at his crew.
"I think the professor plan would work better," Jaq says, "we just need to figure out what university we're from and what you teach, sir."
"Yes, but I didn't bring a change of clothing. So I guess I'll be a graduate student, or something. Then again, if anyone on the street tries to talk to us, we should ignore them and say nothing—that seems much safer than making things up."
"That's why we get it straight now, and keep it simple. Gavin can be an instructor at..."
Aurora, trying to blend in, starts window shopping. While she may look relaxed, she is becoming more and more worried.