"All right, everyone. I'm either speaking to Panamax or some kind of machine inside the walls... and you know what? It's easier if I just go ahead and do this."
Anson opens the valves and steps back.
The panel opens again, and several people cry out in dismay as energy tendrils seek to investigate the taste of Anson's eyeballs.
However, the lean man anticipates the threat and avoids the damage, dodging to the side as the tendrils seek him out.
I'm just so hungry
The voice is in everyone's head. It's silky smooth, but sounds like it understands it can no longer fool people into opening the valves for it this way. A tendril lashes out at Jarris, who is standing very close by. He looks up, fear in his eyes, and disappears from the room as soon as a tendril touches him.
Let me taste one more of you, and I will tell you a secret
"Okay! That was my fault! Sorry everybody! Bad move there..." Anson lunges for the valves to shut them off.
Panamax's fingers twitch.
He turns to Nalo. "Maybe you could give him a little jolt?"
Screwdriver in her left hand (prying something from the wall) while she examines the text on the piece of metal held in her right, Nalo looks up at Jarris's calm yet freaked tone. Her grey eyes go wide and she drops both objects, slipping once on the metal floor as she scrambles to her feet while trying to run into the other room.
Anson holds up a finger. "Wait. Hold on." His head cocked, his fingers twitching, he approaches the pipes. "Where are you? C'mon now, where are you? Been looking for someone." As he gets to the valves, his hands play over the surfaces as though looking for something.
"Panamax?"
Nalo immediatelt stops the sparks that she was revving at Jarris's request, her grey eyes looking at the odd glowing tube.
The panel opens again, and several people cry out in dismay as energy tendrils seek to investigate the taste of Anson's eyeballs.
Nalo takes a step forward, the metal lash of her whip hitting the metal floor.
However, the lean man anticipates the threat and avoids the damage, dodging to the side as the tendrils seek him out.
Her shoulders relax but fingers tighten around the haft of her weapon.
I'm just so hungry
The voice is in everyone's head. It's silky smooth, but sounds like it understands it can no longer fool people into opening the valves for it this way. A tendril lashes out at Jarris, who is standing very close by. He looks up, fear in his eyes, and disappears from the room as soon as a tendril touches him.
Let me taste one more of you, and I will tell you a secret
Nalo moves towards the bulk of the light creature, cautious, but a hint of curousity. Until she sees Panamax. Then she just looks pissed and her whip glows white blue with crackling energy.
"Hunger doesn't give you the right to feed without permission."
Her quick eyes flash between the twitch of Panamax's hand to the point where Anson dodged it. "Did it take part of Panamax? Will I hurt him if I hurt it?"
Her quick eyes flash between the twitch of Panamax's hand to the point where Anson dodged it. "Did it take part of Panamax? Will I hurt him if I hurt it?"
"No idea!" Anson calls back. "Although I'm flattered you'd still ask for my opinion after my last colossally stupid move!"
A slithery laugh fills your minds.
Flesh, always the same
The valves are shut and the energy creature is of no immediate concern to anyone that you can currently see.
Ceri is at the other end of the tube, tapping on it with her finger. She's staying well clear of any valves.
"Stupid? Nah. How else do you reproduce an outcome?" Ceri quips. Tavene stares daggers at the back of her head.
"Don't be insensitive." She says firmly. "Jarris?" She calls out towards the hallway. She seems unsure of whether or not to stay with the group, or to see if she can find the disappeared Glint.
Panamax blinks his eyes and shakes his head. "Goggles," he says. "I understand now."
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"No idea!" Anson calls back. "Although I'm flattered you'd still ask for my opinion after my last colossally stupid move!"
"Stupid? I.."
"Stupid? Nah. How else do you reproduce an outcome?" Ceri quips.
And Nalo mumbles the rest of what she was going to say.
"Jarris?" She calls out towards the hallway. She seems unsure of whether or not to stay with the group, or to see if she can find the disappeared Glint.
A quick glance at the still not-really-moving Panamax, "Tavene? Can you go find him? If he is paralyzed by the attack then he can't defend himself."
"I solemnly promise to not let it out of the containment unit again unless everyone agrees."
"And we know what it did to Panamax." Nalo's voice is flat.
As she waits for word on Jarris, "I don't have a clue what it is, but I've read about predators made solely of energy. When they appeared in population centers, no one was able to figure a way to kill them, but containment devices were created." Her voice is matter of fact as she continues, "Once they were contained many of them were used in experiments or as a source of power for the community they hunted."
She kneels next to Panamax, about to check for a pulse. Then he speaks. So she doesn't. "You ok?"
"...'d have let it out if I thought Panamax were trapped with it in a heartbeat."
Despite the harsh tone and demeanor she takes when talking about the creature, when she mentions that it may have been diminished by experimentation - leaving it starving - she also looks looks sympathtic, just not enough to balance out the unprovoked attack when Panamax freed it.
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"Weak," Panamax says. He lifts his hand, shaking, and puts his finger alongside his nose.
He closes his eyes.
He opens his eyes. "A bit better."
Friend, friend, friend The voice is much more pleasant now. Take me with you?
Tavene hesitates when she looks over the group. "Yes, I'll try to find him. I trust you all to take care of yourselves, where Jarris' best defense is to flirt with whatever is trying to kill him."
Without further ado, she disappears into the hallway with her weapon drawn.
Ceri stands with her hands on a set of valves, eyes closed, for a few minutes. Then she nods, and wanders back towards Panamax.
She crouches down next to him, fishing around in her bag for something. "I'm not sure if this will help, but when I don't feel well, it makes me feel better."
She hands him an individually wrapped cookie. The wrapper is transparent with a shimmery logo on it that appears when whoever is holding it tilts it towards the light in the right way.
He opens his eyes. "A bit better."
"That's good. Plus it didn't eat your eyes which is always a good thing."
She moves a to the side when Ceri comes up to help giving the woman a smile.
"How stable does it seem?"
Once everyone has gathered together, minus Tavene and Jarris, exiting this chamber and heading left leads them down another few hallways and into another large room.
A metal cylinder 3 feet tall floats in midair, at the center of the room. A bubble at the top made of an amorphous substance inflates and deflates as though it is breathing. There's not much else in the room, and the glowing green tube doesn't pass through this section of the building.
This is the only room you've been in so far that has any sort of smell to it, and it smells oddly organic. Like decaying leaf matter in a forest.
After the first hallway where looking down doesn't reveal either Tavene or Jarris. Nalo stops. "F$#+."
"Was this the direction that Jarris ran? I didn't think he'd get so far away or I'd never asked Tavene to go alone." Looking down at the ground trying to see if there has been any recent disturbance in the dust.
Ceri's mouth makes a little 'o'. "Oh, Jarris didn't run. That energy thing touched him and he disappeared from the room." She makes an exploding gesture with her hands. "Poof. But hopefully it's just to another room in the building, or just outside it."
Do you know what sort of container you might fit in when we leave this place?
The person who disappeared when you touched him -- was that your doing or his?
Tavene hesitates when she looks over the group. "Yes, I'll try to find him. I trust you all to take care of yourselves, where Jarris' best defense is to flirt with whatever is trying to kill him."
"He is good at it," Panamax says to Tavene's retreating back.
He takes the cookie offered by Ceri. "A cookie always helps. Thank you."
Panamax takes a moment to stretch all of his muscle groups that are still from the stasis. He nibbles on the cookie as the group travels.
"I asked the energy creature if Jarris' disappearance was its doing or his."
Mutual consent, yes the creature's voice sounds more pleasant and relaxing the more excited it gets at the prospect of being freed. I will fit in a small place or a big place
The image of a container as long as his hand from the base of his palm to the tip of his middle finger, and about as wide around as his hand, appears in Panamax's mind.
Ideal space, space for me to move
After Panamax's last question, there's another long pause.
I was angry
I sent him out of this reality
He will be back soon
If it's possible for an energetic being to sound pouty, this one does.
"Hopefully." Nalo says. She still searches for signs of Tavene's passing.
I will look for a container of this size.
Panamax thinks of a meadow with the grass slowly rustling in the breeze on a warm day.
Thank you for not sending him away forever. I like him. Where did he go? What other really neat things can you do?
Panamax looks at the large floating thing in the middle of the room. "It doesn't smell bad," he says. "So I would guess it isn't dead."
A pause. "Energy being says it sent Jarris away, but he will return soon. We're negotiating."
A little shiver of pleasure rushes over Panamax after he imagines meadows. So kind, so kind
A pause.
A sequence of images flow through Panamax's mind. A brief glimpse at a bustling hallway filled with people, pointing at the tube, writing things on tablets.
A large machine with many tubes running along the surface, filled with the same green light.
A quick double-image of someone being touched by a tendril, and then the person disappearing a moment later.
I do not know where they go
I think they go home
I can freeze time, I can break time
After a few minutes, you all hear a shout from outside of the chamber you're in.
Your person has returned
I will guide him, and the other one
"Jarris?" Ceri calls out into the hallway.
After a few minutes more, Jarris arrives.
"And that is why I prefer staying above ground." He says, hair a little wild and looking disgruntled. He smooths his hair back and pulls it into a tail. "I think whatever it was that sent me away was what guided me here. Unless there's two of them."
That is amazing, Panamax is truly impressed by the thought of freezing and breaking time.
Panamax gives Jarris a chance to groom himself appropriately before going over to him.
"It was the same one," Panamax says. "And it will guide Tavene to us as well. We have an understanding now, it and I."
Panamax still has some of Ceri's cookie left, and he now offers it to Jarris. "Cookie?"
I did it to the ones who angered me
Jarris looks like his (very fashionable and manly) panties unbunch at the offer of the cookie.
"Thank you! Perfect timing. I don't feel like I was gone long, but I'm starving now. Like I haven't eaten anything all day." He accepts the cookie with a smile. "I'm glad to see you mobile again. Unhurt, I hope?"
Another few minutes later, Tavene appears from the hallway outside.
"This is a big place," she grumbles. "Glad you're not dead."
"Nice to see you too, Lady Glaive." He bows his head.
"So it has managed to maintain its sanity after who knows how long in solitary?" Amazement touches her voice, "If you can use my help please me know."
Quietly to Jarris, "I thought you had just run to stay out of combat after it attacked you sorry."
Then to Panamax, "Lead the way. I owe Tavene an apology as well for sending her off on a pointless goose chase."
"I should keep my mouth shut when others are better leaders."
"There's no need to apologize! I would probably have run if it hadn't teleported me first." He says brightly. "And I appreciate that you sent someone to find me." He adds, more seriously.
"It was pointless," Tavene says from behind Nalo, "but that had nothing to do with you. Just with the nature of the thing in the tubes. No reason to think you're not a good leader." She pats Nalo on the shoulder in that awkward way that indicates she's not used to trying to comfort anyone.
Nalo touches Tavene's hand with a quick smile of thanks. "Not being able to handle when people are hurt when I make decisions is why I'm not a leader."
"I'm glad you are both OK." Her lips twist in what most definitely isn't a smile although it is pretending to be. "I'm just glad it teleported you instead of disintegrating you, I'd feel really stupid if I'd sent Tavene to join you in that fate."
As the group gets back on track, "Where did it take you?"
Before the group moves on to find Jarris and Tavene, Nalo stops to carefully wrap two small piles of things in a cloth and tuck it in the top of her bag.
Panamax looks at the large floating thing in the middle of the room. "It doesn't smell bad," he says. "So I would guess it isn't dead."
Nalo takes up a guard position, waiting.
As much as she tries though, her eyes pry over each angle of the biomechanical thing, trying to figure out the why.
Panamax blinks his eyes and shakes his head. "Goggles," he says. "I understand now."
Anson taps his temple.
"Sorry about that," Anson says to Jarris.
Anson approaches with interest, attempting to determine what it might be.
"So it has managed to maintain its sanity after who knows how long in solitary?" Amazement touches her voice, "If you can use my help please me know."
Panamax nods. "Of sorts. And if you find something that looks like it might hold an energy creature and is maybe as long and wide as the extent of my hand, that would be helpful. Thanks!"
Panamax makes a point of standing near (but not too near) Jarris. On the Tavene side.
Nalo touches Tavene's hand with a quick smile of thanks. "Not being able to handle when people are hurt when I make decisions is why I'm not a leader."
Tavene smiles. "I can understand that. It's the same reason I don't prefer to lead, either. I'm much more comfortable in back, to the side. Protecting others."
"I'm glad you are both OK." Her lips twist in what most definitely isn't a smile although it is pretending to be. "I'm just glad it teleported you instead of disintegrating you, I'd feel really stupid if I'd sent Tavene to join you in that fate."
As the group gets back on track, "Where did it take you?"
"I'm glad it just teleported me, also. Although, I guess if it had disintegrated me, I wouldn't know either way." He chuckles. "I"m really not sure where I was. It wasn't somewhere that humans belong, that's for sure. No points of reference, no horizons, no buildings, furniture, clothing. A lot of color, a sense of movement. At one point I looked down at my hands and saw nothing." He shivers. "No smell, either. Or rather, there was a smell, but there's absolutely nothing I could compare it to. Maybe... maybe like the smell outside right before it rains and hasn't for a while." He gets a faraway look as he tries to figure out his experience in another reality. "I heard something while I was there, at the very edge of my hearing. High pitched."
"Sorry about that," Anson says to Jarris.
Jarris waves the apology away. "It's okay, no harm done." His eyes go wide as he frantically starts patting down his pockets. He visibly relaxes as he pulls his fabulous hat from his pocket, unfolds it, and smooths the feather. "No harm done at all!" He winks.
At the base of the cylinder that hovers in midair, there are ports for plugging things into, but no other indication that the machine functioned in tandem with anything else that used to be in the room. The machine doesn't float so far above the ground that people couldn't touch the bubble, if they wanted to.
From far away, the bubble appeared to be silver, but up close, you get glimpses of something else that breaks up the color in the amorphous substance.
Panamax makes a point of standing near (but not too near) Jarris. On the Tavene side.
Jarris does not close the distance to make things weird. But he does seem more relaxed to be between the two.
Ceri wanders around to the other side of the machine from where Nalo and Anson are. "I wonder what that stuff tastes like," she makes a face. "Probably not as good as it looks."
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"So what do you do in open spaces like this, when there are no walls to converse with?"
Her head slightly cocked to one side, Nalo watched Anson and the biomachine her breathing slowing just a bit, the rhythm matching the inhalations of the jelly goop.
Jarris waves the apology away. "It's okay, no harm done." His eyes go wide as he frantically starts patting down his pockets. He visibly relaxes as he pulls his fabulous hat from his pocket, unfolds it, and smooths the feather. "No harm done at all!" He winks.
Anson chuckles, shaking his head.
Anson approaches it, head cocked, breathing deeply. This time, the words he mutters are "In. Out. In. Out." His hands are out, fingers twitching, but they don't touch anything. He closes with the object, searching it for... an access point? Interface?
In.
The color shifts ever so slightly.
Out.
There's no one else in the room.
In.
You think you see something glinting in the center of the bubble.
Out.
It was beautiful.
"Oh, that's sneaky. That's real sneaky. Don't think I can sniff you out, do you?" Anson's finger's wiggle as he stares at the cylinder.
Also, in theory, is this something I could turn off?
The bubble breathes, you sometimes catch a glimpse of something inside, when the bubble is at its most deflated.
In theory, yes, you could turn the machine off, but the best chance you have of doing that would be to find a needle in a haystack - something in the piles of debris? Another machine somewhere else? A piece of this machine that disappeared ages ago?
There are no buttons to push here, or panels to open.
"Okay, time to be stupid. Let's be dumb. Let's be lucky. Luckyluckylucky..."
Anson takes a deep breath and touches the bubble.
Anson reaches out to touch the bubble.
As his fingers slip through the substance, the bubble pops. An invisible force washes over everyone in the room, disorienting everyone slightly.
You are all clearly in a different room, with all of your body parts in tact. The cylinder teleported with you, and the substance has resumed it's strange breathing.
There's nothing of note in this chamber, and it's not a room you recognize, but it's definitely within the same building.
"Woo!" Ceri yells, shaking her head to clear it of the residual disorientation. "Gods, but I love teleporting numenera." Then she turns around and throws up in the corner of the room. Her vomit is bright pink. "Ugh, sorry." Her cheeks darken as she takes a swig of water from her hip flask.
Anson pulls the cube out.
"Sorry," he says to the room. "Or possibly you're welcome."
He looks to Ceri. "You all right?"
Nalo stumbles against the wall she was leaning against sparks from her hands grounding, flowing into the metal as she reorients herself. Cheeks dark, "Do you think it would work in reverse too?"
"Just fine, thanks! That last vial of whatever I drank probably used to have a label on it that said 'do not teleport up to an hour after consumption' or something." She holds a thumbs up and grins.
In response to Nalo's question, Ceri runs up to touch the bubble again.
And again.
The entire room teleports back and forth, confirming that the cylinder bounces between the same two rooms.
"Huh, there must have been..." she turns around and throws up again, a bright blue liquid splashing all over where the pink went. "Huh. Berries." Another swig of water. "There must have been something in this room that required quick transportation."
"You're the worst." Tavene says, averting her eyes from Ceri's colorful liquid expulsion, looking a little nauseous herself.
Each time the group transports back and forth, Nalo sinks a little lower on the wall, her body releasing shock of electricity. "Technically me asking should have been warning, I guess." Looking pale brown under the green of her skin.
It's Jarris' turn to offer his hand to Nalo to help stabilize and support her. "Apparently my trip to wherever I went earlier helped warm me up for this trip. I've got my teleportation legs." He smiles.
Anson tosses the cube into the air and snatches it out of the air. "And here's me being paranoid just because some energy monster tried to eat my brain." He holds up the cube, inspecting it like a jeweler with a fresh-cut sapphire, then he drops it into his breast pocket.
"Let's go. This place isn't going to explore itself."