I'd really like to take the medical lab. I'm quite willing to spend the time to take the weapons as well if people want but I don't overwhelmingly care one way or the other
Ueda motions for help from Moreau's prisoners in acquiring the medical equipment, along with the small items aboard his ship. He's happy to leave Wells his belongings, and indicates he'd rather not spend the extra time and risk to take the heavy weaponry.
With everything seemingly settled Zelera began to peruse the ships for gear that she could use . When she was finished she went and hung around with Kitty and Vonash as they talked about the holoflix. It was quite interesting to say the least, this talk of old films that may have been based off of the actual future. It was the first time in a long time that Scera got to simply relax around people and she was enjoying it.
Brass helps move the medical equipment, with no real interest in the weapons.
Kitty happily shares the stories she's seen in the holoflix, but most of them seem both unbelievably fantastic and heavily scripted. Mostly they involved the First TimeCops taking the Chariot back in time to stop an incursion from another dimension or another timeline. "Extradimensional incursions are always transtemporal as well," Kitty explains expertly. "Half of your adventures aren't even about timeline manipulation from inside the continuity but temporal entanglements caused by alternate realities and continuities." Making things even less believable is the strong tendency of your nemeses to have tarot related code names and the holoflix to be titled things like "The Knight of Wands" or "The Three of Swords." As for things you might learn about your future, Kitty was absolutely sure Carson was alive in it. "He's in the holoflix, but he's not part of the team or anything."
You're going to have to get some sleep before you do any more work. For expediency, we can agree that happens without incident. (You and your prisoners are the most dangerous thing on the island.)
The next day, Kitty, Griffin, and Barry the bear-person get to work at moving the medical equipment. Griffin and Barry get less and less enthusiastic about it every time Kitty cheerfully reminds them that they're part of history now.
Moving the medical equipment takes about a day.
Milo suggests burning Carson.
Whether you burn him or not, three boats from the mainland circle around the island a few times around noon that day.
The glue that Milo used to bind Wells' hands wears off. You'll have to decide whether and how to restrain him.
For meals, you find the Chariot very well-stocked with oven-ready Swanson TV dinners with packaging authentic to 1968. There are no vegetarian options according to the packaging, but you suspect the meat might not be real.
The moving of the medical bay is finished by nightfall of this second day. You can spend a second night on the island or leave tonight.
"If nobody minds, I wouldn't mind taking the injection glove. It could come in handy"
Brass wants to destroy as much as possible of the equipment when they leave using the ship weapons.
“We should drop off Wells and his equipment away from the crash site. Then we can leave this place.”
Brass wants to destroy as much as possible of the equipment when they leave using the ship weapons.
“We should drop off Wells and his equipment away from the crash site. Then we can leave this place.”
Would Brass like to make an Engineering check to wire together a bunch of the weapons from the other two ships to make some improvised explosives? He could take 10 on it but not 20 as there is some danger involved.
I was thinking our ships weapons but If that’s not possible I’ll try to make he explosives.
You can attack it with the Chariot's weapons. Explosives made from the Deepwell and the Temporal Enforcement ship doesn't have to go through ship's armor to cause damage. You can do both, using the other ships to make explosives and the Chariot to blow them up dramatically.
Brass will take 10 to ensure that weaponry left behind is rigged to blow as best he can, before giving the remainder of the equipment to wells before he’s dropped off a ways from the crash site.
Ueda volunteers to jury-rig the ships' weaponry into explosives, and handles it with a casual ease that suggests it isn't the first time he's rigged such a device. "Of course, ensuring the destruction may still require an active approach. I should be able to create a timed fuse of sorts, but our best option is likely using our own weapons to trigger the explosion. It would do no good at all if the explosives were to be disarmed, or fail to trigger, after we have left this time."
Wells is obviously not happy about what is going on and objects as frequently as he can.
Ueda and Brass hook up the weapons of both ships to explode when the Chariot fires upon them. Milo decides the bridge of the Deepwell vessel is a good place for Carson to burn.
Brass makes a note of this time, as he knows very little of this time period, and will ask some of the more educated members of the team about it when things settle in during the shuffle.
Assuming everything goes well brass mentions the Moreau’s to the crew. “While prepping the ship it seems Moreau has planned to travel to Roswell New Mexico, The 8th of July in 1947. Does this time and place have anything of note”
"As I recall, Roswell was something of a tourist attraction after claiming sightings of extraterrestrials. I believe the date in question may have been of some significance in that event." Ueda shrugs. "Perhaps Moreau was planning to create widespread panic about alien life. Whatever his intention, I doubt it was beneficial to society at large."
Once it's clear that preparations are complete and departure is imminent, Ueda walks up to Wells--still with his hands bound using spare wiring or laces from extra shoes in the Chariot's wardrobe. "Agent Wells. I would once more like to offer my apologies for the necessary turns of events during our time here together. I believe that you are simply a man trying to do his best in his work, the same as any of us. But that work seems to have changed significantly in the intervening centuries. I sincerely hope that next time our paths cross, our missions will be more parallel with one another." He extends his left hand to shake; his right is in his pocket, with easy access to his pistol should the man get antsy. "Until next time, Agent."
Wells shakes hands as well as he can, given that his hands are still bound. "My son is in your temporal jurisdiction. Take care of it for me," he says sincerely. "I'm going to go make sure he has a future to come back to."
Firing upon the ships below causes them to explode in a series of blasts, enough to render the wreckage unrecognizable. Wells, at the other end of the island, is probably grinding his teeth. He'll be able to call for a ride home soon, you having left his belt where he could reclaim it.
The trip into the Shuffle continues to be a strange one. Thinking feels differently in the Shuffle. Thoughts can get away from the thinker and then circle back around or get picked up by others. This experience is magnified for the two telepaths. Kitty, Griffin, and Barry close their eyes and ride it out quietly.
For those who have work to do, it is intensely distracting; luckily, Brass is getting the hang of flying through the streams of flickering lights that are the entry points back into Timespace. He swims up the current of lights, following the computer navigator, back to May 13, 2219 at 14:00 -- exactly 1 hour after you left.
Autopilot kicks in. The ship slows as it approaches the window back into timespace. The Chariot vibrates jarringly for a moment as it slides through the breech and lands on the pad in the massive cavern.
Lights glow dimly in the cavern as the Chariot shudders to a halt. The main lights are off. No one else seems to be here.
"The lights are off. That has GOT to be a bad thing. Can you scan for life forms or something?"
Brass after landing is going to look around the hanger, “This seems wrong, can someone scan the hanger.”
The ship scanners detect no one, but you can see it contains the same kind of equipment that was there when you left. The cavern is clean--much as it was when you left--but looks unused; sheeting covers the computers and charging stations, obviously to prevent any dust from falling into it.
"Everything appears... shut down." Jade remarks, following Brass and looking over the room. "Not overnight, but unused. Yet it's all still set up, so it appears as though the initiative began, but then was scrapped, shut down."
"Gabriel?" She calls out, hoping that he might still be able to hear them.
A few of the smaller lights turn on. One of the computers lights up from beneath its protective sheet. Gabriel's face comes into focus on one of the large screens overhead.
"Well," says Gabriel, pausing for a few seconds as if trying to make sense of things himself. "Welcome to TAROT! Apologies for the way things look. Apparently you have succeeded in fixing the discrepancy in the timeline, which means the TAROT protocol was never activated, at least not in this timeline."
"Would you like to all come up to the briefing room. It might be more comfortable. We need to have a conversation about Vonash's question to me on the way here. 'And what happens to the me in the extratemporal space if I've never existed?'" When Gabriel introduces her voice, it sounds like a recording of Vonash's voice exactly, but his lips move as if he were saying it. It comes across as both comic and creepy but was probably intended to be neither. "My apologies for not answering you at the time, but I'm not sure you would have liked the answer I would have given. The question we are now answering is 'What happens if you are sent back in time to fix something, succeed, and, therefore, are never sent back in time to fix anything?' Thoughts?"
Gabriel lights a path to the elevator for you and his face switches from the large overhead display to one just above the elevator.
Brass walks down the path, looking at the unused equipment around the room, hearing Vonash’s voice echo Gabriel’s words makes thinks extremely strange and as he walks a look of confusion on his face.
"Whaaa? Is that philosophy or, uh, practical. PLEASE be just philosophy"
"I'm pretty sure that I'm going to need some kind of drugs for this discussion. Does anybody have any good weed on them? Canabis Sativa in case you don't recognize the term "weed". In a pinch, I think I'll settle for copious quantities of alcohol"
Gabriel pauses, "According to this cargo manifest, The Chariot was fully stocked for a trip to 1968. You should be able to find what you are looking for back on the ship, but please hurry to the briefing room; this concerns all of you."
Gabriel pauses as Kitty, Griffin, and Barry come into the light. "I will unlock some comfortable quarters for your guests. We can talk about them later"
Ueda surveys the hangar cautiously, appearing to suspect danger. When Gabriel flickers into sight, he rests somewhat easier, but regards the AI with a mix of curiosity and hesitation. When he poses his request and question, Ueda considers it may be rhetorical, but decides to answer anyway as he heads for the briefing room. "My first inclination would be the hypothesis that the timeline is stabilized; that is to say, we return to a timeline in which we were sent back and succeeded in our mission, even if this seems paradoxical on the surface. From the current situation, however, I suspect that hypothesis is proven false."
He pauses and looks back at the Chariot, his face expressionless. "I had my doubts that the events we corrected, however impactful in the immediate sense, would effect lasting changes on the timeline of events. I was also under the impression that TAROT had been operating prior to our involvement, if not actively engaging in missions to correct events." He turns to face the nearest projection of Gabriel. "Is there still a timeline in which we were sent back on that mission? One where we returned successfully? Or does that outcome always lead... here and now?"
"My first inclination would be the hypothesis that the timeline is stabilized; that is to say, we return to a timeline in which we were sent back and succeeded in our mission, even if this seems paradoxical on the surface. From the current situation, however, I suspect that hypothesis is proven false."
"That was TAROT's theory as well. One of a number of false assumptions made when the Chariot and I were created. When TAROT first sent someone into the past, he returned to a lab full of colleagues waiting for him, an apparent success."
"The paradox occurred when someone on the research team stole the Chariot and went back to change something in his own past. He was very clever about it. He changed his past without leaving a trace in the timeline. He was sure no one had detected his borrowing of the ship. He was certain he had gotten away with it. When he returned, he found he had never left. Why would he have left? The thing in his past had never happened. And, now we had two of them. Two lab assistants, both named Ron, identical at a chromosomal level, one of who had a slightly less bad life thanks to the intervention of the other."
The elevator opens. Gabriel's face appears on the screens as you enter.
"I was also under the impression that TAROT had been operating prior to our involvement, if not actively engaging in missions to correct events."
"All aboard?" asks Gabriel? "TAROT was established to prevent tampering with the timeline. It has been a number of years since tampering was detected. That is, excluding the incident you were dispatched on involving a ... a Mr. Lee Reynolds. I'm still checking the data, but you appear to have restored the official timeline."
He turns to face the nearest projection of Gabriel. [b]"Is there still a timeline in which we were sent back on that mission? One where we returned successfully? Or does that outcome always lead... here and now?"
The elevator door closes and it carries you up through the tunnel. Gabriel lets Kitty, Griffin, and Barry off on one floor and guides them to their rooms. While he guides them away, he is also continuing the trip up the elevator with you. The elevator stops on a floor above and Gabriel leads you down a corridor to a conference room.
"Please, come in and sit down. Make yourselves comfortable."
"This timeline ... the timeline you have saved is the official timeline. It is the timeline I was designed to protect, the timeline stored in my extratemporal memory. It is very much like the timeline you left. Almost identical. Almost."
Gabriel pauses while everyone gets seated.
"When you say almost identical," Jade begins, "How different is it? And on what scale? A margin of difference of 5% can be quite large when considering the entire cosmos and centuries of history between now and the events we altered."
Pausing, Jade looks around at the others, before turning back to Gabriel. "There are a number of things that came up during our mission that will require... discussion."
"Not everything that happens, of course, gets recorded, so a margin of 5% would be enormous! I would like to be fully briefed about your mission, but apologies come first."
"Let me explain how I work a little. I exist both here and in the Shuffle. I store in the Shuffle a record of all the data ever produced by the official timeline. Stored there--outside of timespace--the data is unaffected by any changes to the timeline. I run daily checks to see if the data produced by this timestream varies from the record in the Shuffle. If a variance in the data of greater than .005% is detected, I initiate the TAROT protocol. This method becomes unreliable the further we go back in time. The timeline data variance was at 1% when we scrambled you, but is now back to barely detectable levels. For some reason Ogden College was more popular in this timeline than in the original timeline, and the Maine Coast Marine Miitia firebombed an island in the late 21st century, but other than that, mission success! Official timeline restored! As far as anyone knows, this IS and ALWAYS WAS the original timeline."
Gabriel pauses and puts on a 'now for the bad news face.'
"The official timeline only varies from the timeline you remember by about 1%. Unfortunately that 1% variance affects you personally."
He pauses suddenly as the screen displays an intruder alert. The video switches to show a motorcycle and a hovercar pull up outside. The twins who helped load the Chariot and brief you when you left your timeline are arriving. Gabriel happily interrupts himself, "Ah, our lab assistants, A-Ron and B-Ron, are here. They usually work at the university now as they are no longer allowed in the launch bay unsupervised, but they were alerted as soon as the Chariot arrived."
Gabriel's face reappears while smaller inset screens show A-Ron and B-Ron making their way to the elevator. One of them is smiling; the other looks serious as heck.
"I really want you to see this from my perspective. Consider how you would feel if you returned and found that you had never left ... that you returned and found yourself waiting in your house engaging in recreational activities with your friends and drinking your beer ... The timeline variance never having happened, you never got a call from TAROT and never left. Meanwhile, YOU, the you that did get a call from TAROT and did leap into timespace and save the entire continuity, is now playing second fiddle in your own life. You see the dilemma?"
"I think I am following. While in the Chariot, we had stepped out of the Steam, and in repairing the Timeline, we have in reality come to a different timeline than the one we left. It is nearly identical... but it isn't ours." She pauses, focusing on the screen, there is something she's missing. "Gabriel... are you saying that there now exist two versions of each of us in this time? Of course... There was no crisis in this timeline, we were never called, we never had to repair the stream."
"Yes! You understand the dilemma perfectly!" The screen zooms in on the elevator in which A-Ron and B-Ron are riding. A-Ron and B-Ron both look at the screen, aware they are being viewed. "We have tried to avoid triggering what we are calling the Two-Ron Paradox. I don't think either of them have appreciated sharing the past two years of their lives with the other."
A-Ron grumbles, "It's like suddenly gaining an annoying younger brother."
B-Ron laughs, "He spent one day back in time so he figures he's the older brother."
Gabriel continues smiling and says happily to you, "The good news is, this won't happen to you! You see, in this timeline, you're all dead!"
A-Ron and B-Ron both wince. B-Ron speaks, "Way to break it to them gently, Big-G!"
A-Ron glares at his 'younger' self, "You programmed his pragmatics filters."
"Very recently dead," adds Gabriel, in a slightly less cheerful tone, as if that detail would soften the impact of this news.
Jade suspected that if she were human, this was one of those moments where she would have felt what they referred to as their "blood flowing cold". As it was, she was primarily curious.
For a few moments, she wonders what she would do in the situation of the two Rons. They seemed competitive with each other, a problem that she would not encounter. Both Jades would be free to coordinate together.
The practical implications were obvious - with a second of herself, her research could jump forward by decades. Or the other her would be free to continue research while the current her continued to "police" the timeline. She thought of the owl they'd rescued, and imagined herself bringing countless animals back to her other self, reviving species after species. The loss of her other self struct Jade was a great loss to the scientific community.
"All of us?" She questioned, looking over the group. They had never met before the mission, the statistical odds of all of them dying so suddenly and close together, likely great distances apart, were staggering. She would ask Immanuel about the specific mathematical probabilities later. "What happened?"
In answer to Jade's question, a popular news broadcast appears on the screen. A banner headline screams across the bottom.
The screen shows rescue workers removing bodies while police gather data. The date shows these events happened several days before you left, yet you cannot remember them happening.
The text underneath divides the dead by species: 74 androids, 53 humans, 6 other. Given the the ratio of human to androids on Earth, this seems like a unreasonably high number of androids among the dead.
"The official timeline isn't perfect," says Gabriel, "but it's the one we have.
Gabriel explains: "A terrorist attack occurred during an an annual memorial at this park one week ago. In your timeline, it did not happen. In the official timeline, however, it did. When tasked with finding a group of potential agents to restore the timeline without triggering the Two-Ron Paradox, you were the most qualified from among the those who were alive in your timeline but who were recently deceased in mine. I had many options. I chose you to live.
A-Ron and B-Ron wince again. Gabriel notices and responds, "I am breaking it to them gently."
Brass has sat quietly for awhile and taken this all in. He after Gabriel has finished his eyes shift from Gabriel to the Ron’s. Then back again, a grim look on his face. “So in the “correct” timeline we are dead. And you just chose us to survive via being removed from the time stream? That seems like a lot of power to pick and choose who lives.” his tone changes when he says correct. After finishing his thought he waits for a moment, before talking again.
“What were all of us doing there, I know that in my circumstances I doubt I would show up to such a crowded and public area.”
Ueda falls silent after Gabriel's responses, and takes a seat as he begins to explain the situation. Like Jade, he has only curiosity and clinical interest in the news that he recently died. His life was something he wished to preserve, certainly, but he harbors no presumption that he will live forever; even if his chassis could be functionally immortal, he had always planned to retire himself eventually, entering into another persona. And, after all, the dead Immanuel Ueda wasn't really him--it was another him from another timeline.
But the specific details catch him off-guard, as does the announcement that he and the others weren't originally from the "official" timeline. He pauses in thought for a moment, and looks to Brass as the soldier speaks. "Setting aside the ethical question of deciding life and death, I would also like to know more about how we came to be present at the site of the bombing. Tannhauser Park certainly has its meaning, given the history, but this sounds like very directed terrorism. Are there any leads to the responsible parties? Any groups that have claimed responsibility for the attack?"
“So in the “correct” timeline we are dead. And you just chose us to survive via being removed from the time stream? That seems like a lot of power to pick and choose who lives.”
"I'm programmed to act in very particular ways under very particular conditions. I'm not programmed to reflect upon the ethics of that programming, just my effectiveness at restoring the original timeline," says Gabriel snippily. "I am also required to act in ways that minimize attention from the public. It will be very easy to convince people that the number of dead was, quite innocently, exaggerated and that a handful of those among the casualties simply left the event early."
“What were all of us doing there, I know that in my circumstances I doubt I would show up to such a crowded and public area.”
"I can assure you, the local authorities are investigating, but ... very well. Let's see...
Gabriel starts playing a series of newsclips in the week leading up to the attack. You recognize events from your timestream surrounding the unfamiliar events from the 'official' timestream. The clips, woven together, tell a story:
(1) Small groups of human peace activists and androids meet at the Memorial in 'Tannhauser Memorial Park' each year around May 6th;
(2) The memorial has been vandalized three times this year with anti-android graffiti;
(3) Anonymous warnings said the memorial would be vandalized during the event this year and a group of anti-android protesters threatened to protest the annual commemoration;
(4) Groups of humans and androids showed up to protect the group that meets in the park.
The series of videos pauses the day of the event. You can see angry humans, a wall of pacifist humans, and some androids looking like they'd be ready for a fight. At the center is a small core group near a memorial. The news report is making it clear the memorial itself exploded. "I can show you what happens next, but I'm not sure if it is necessary. I am told people would find it quite disturbing."
"Setting aside the ethical question of deciding life and death, I would also like to know more about how we came to be present at the site of the bombing. Tannhauser Park certainly has its meaning, given the history, but this sounds like very directed terrorism. Are there any leads to the responsible parties? Any groups that have claimed responsibility for the attack?"
"Unfortunately, in this timeline, there is a misguided group of self-styled neo-luddites. That's what they call themselves, but their explosives are quite sophisticated and technological. They have no real objection to technology, what they object to is the existence of androids on earth. The original graffiti and some claims since point to one of these hate groups being responsible."
"Now, as I've said, the local authorities are still investigating. As for you, the government is sending some agents over to debrief you. If all goes well, TAROT will thank you for your service, the Regional Alliance will have your death certificates retracted, and you can go to homes, which I imagine will be very similar to the homes you remember. Less than a 1% variance most likely."
Brass sits down a frown on his face, the entire aspect of manipulating people in and out of existence sitting wrong with him. As he realizes this he thinks on how he was apart of it just so recently. His frown subsides to a look of dejection on his face. Perhaps he is merely just a tool to be used. “So once we have completed this final mission we will he released to be returned to our normal lives?”
"Once you have been properly debriefed, you are free to return to the normal lives of your selves from this timeline," answers Gabriel.
At this moment, Aron and Bron arrive and Gabriel unlocks the door to the briefing room and lets them in.
Although they are almost identical DNA, Bron is slightly chubbier.
"Wow. So, I guess that's a lot to take in," says Bron, out of breath. "How do you feel?
Jade considers all the information she is being given. That they died in this timeline and were here now complicated things - perhaps even moreso if they were still alive. With this timeline's Jade, call her Jade-Prime, alive, this Jade, she says, thinking of herself as Jade-Contingency, would have been forced into a different life, so as to not create the problem the two Ron's have of fighting over who gets what. It was only logical that Jade-Contingency, the Outsider, should continue on the fringes of Jade-Prime's life.
With Jade-Prime dead, Jade-Contingency considers her obligation to Jade-Prime. Was it right to slide into Jade-Prime's life? To take over and pretend to be her? Despite the potentially 1% of differences between them? Is it what Jade-Prime would have wanted? Is it what she wanted? Did Blake still live in this timeline? The Blake she knew would have gone with her to the event. If he was still alive, would he notice how she was different? Could she happily live out the rest of this soul's life pretending to be someone else?
And whether it was right or wrong, did she want to that? If it was only out of obligation, that Jade-Prime's life should continue, was that the wrong reasons for doing it? She still loved her research, but was it still hers?
Jade-Contingency thinks back to what she knew of her previous incarnation - someone who fought for Android liberation, who wanted Androids to have the right to choose how to spend their lives. Was it spitting in her past self's face to now step in as Jade-Prime? To not make the choice for different? To which of her other selves did she owe more?
The thought crosses her mind of ending her soul's time now, letting another one take over. But the idea was short-lived. She couldn't bring another soul into this universe with the mess it was in. Newly begun missions to save various species, Moreau's work needed to be understood, and then locked away or destroyed. Now even her previous incarnation's hard work was being undone - Android hate groups coming back into focus again, terrorist attacks. Plus, while she wasn't sure what could be done about it now, she had forgotten neither the Dark Tower, nor the other time traveler she had seen.
"Government debriefing can wait." Jade says flatly. "This event took place over a week ago, leaving me off the grid for another day or two will not make a difference. I cannot speak for any of the the others, but as for myself, I want to see the footage. And then I want to tend to any remaining wounded, and see the bodies of the deceased. And then I want to visit the site."
Brass sits there quietly contemplating things, the eerie silence of the room lasting longer than should be possible. Finally it’s broken by jade, brass listens then jumps in; “I too would like to see the footage, I am not so easily disturbed by carnage. I would also like information on this terror group.”
Gabriel doesn't say anything for a moment. He just kind of freezes like he has glitched and then after an awkward 20 second pause says. "Well, we do have some time. I have just been informed that Senator Parker Bird of the Technology and Ethics Committee will be coming for the mission debriefing. We cannot begin until his people arrive."
Aron and Bron look at each other. Bron laughs. Aron does not. Bron explains, "That's the committee that thought one of us shouldn't be allowed to exist but couldn't decide what to do with Aron."
"It was one discussion about the ethics of time travel," corrects Aron scoldingly. "It's not like they were going to shoot me."
Gabriel makes an "ahem" noise. "With the number of cameras and sensors recording the event, investigators have managed to put together a holographic reconstruction of the blast including several minutes before and afterwards. I can access it from any angle. We do not, unfortunately, have the equipment here to display it full-sized."
Gabriel's face disappears and Tannhauser Memorial Park appears on screens all around you. You see the monument--a block of glass in which ships depart a small space colony. You see the people around the monument. A small embarrassed looking group of old humans who might have been children at the time of the evacuation. Some androids stand with the old humans. You see other androids gathered around, some facing the monument, some facing the protestors. You see a group of humans holding hands and forming a ring around the park. Beyond them are the anti-android protestors, taunting and holding signs.
Note - DEFINITELY assuming Vonash went and picked up some weed on the way here :-) :-). And has been smoking it copiously through the briefing
"Well, I certainly don't understand everything you're saying. But it all pretty much looks like we won to me. Here I was dead, now I'm alive. Oh, it may be a different "me" in some respect but it feels like "me". And I get to step back into my life.
So, what is the problem. I'm alive. I can go back to my life. Everything is good.
Anybody want some of this? It definitely helps you to keep things in perspective"
I think that I have a very mild preference for prime time Vonash to be in the centre of the blast. Ie, killed.
However, if you think the story would be better if she survives I'm totally fine with that
Gabriel rotates and zooms through the reconstruction of the scene and finds Vonash-Prime standing among the crowd near the memorial. You almost don't recognize her at first. Her fashion choices are a little more conservative and a little more human. She is consoling an overwhelmed couple who seem like they aren't sure they want to be here now.
Ueda calmly surveys the recreation, moving to view the screens and their various angles. He spends a great deal of time at first examining the center of the crowd, and the memorial itself, as though looking for the explosives, or the moment they're planted. Eventually, though, he turns to look at other areas, and eventually stands still, looking at one screen.
It's a section toward the edge of the main crowd, near the ring of volunteers holding back protestors. Ueda is there, in his usual attire for this century: fashionable, but not formal, and with an eye to comfort as well as appearance. His body faces the memorial, although his head is turned to the side, regarding the protestors. Next to him is a woman in similar clothes, human and professorial. Clearly an academic, but the type who's attractive and personable enough to be a face for her findings.
"Samantha Brennan," Ueda says. He slides his hands into the pockets of his jacket and turns to Gabriel. "I had never made plans to visit Tannhauser with her. Perhaps the deviation. Did she survive the attack?"
Ueda calmly surveys the recreation, moving to view the screens and their various angles. He spends a great deal of time at first examining the center of the crowd, and the memorial itself, as though looking for the explosives, or the moment they're planted. Eventually, though, he turns to look at other areas, and eventually stands still, looking at one screen.
It's a section toward the edge of the main crowd, near the ring of volunteers holding back protestors. Ueda is there, in his usual attire for this century: fashionable, but not formal, and with an eye to comfort as well as appearance. His body faces the memorial, although his head is turned to the side, regarding the protestors. Next to him is a woman in similar clothes, human and professorial. Clearly an academic, but the type who's attractive and personable enough to be a face for her findings.
"Samantha Brennan," Ueda says. He slides his hands into the pockets of his jacket and turns to Gabriel. "I had never made plans to visit Tannhauser with her. Perhaps the deviation. Did she survive the attack?"
It only takes a second for Gabriel to check. "Samantha Brennan is listed as 'presumed dead.' They are still processing DNA evidence from the scene."
"What about me? And Carson?" asks Milo.
"I'm afraid I can't find you anywhere, Milo," says Gabriel. "But you were seen approaching the protest and astrazoan bodily matter was found at the scene. Some of the individuals in the crowd have not been identified. The investigators assume you are one of them."
"Yeah, we get kind of messy when exploded," Milo says sadly.
The viewpoint on the screens around you swivels and zooms dizzingly but finds Carson among the anti-android protestors.
"No. Fracking. Way!" shouts Milo. "Carson wouldn't. He has ... had nothing against androids."
Studying the hologram brass tries to find himself, but looking for himself he can’t find this times brass. Looking closely he sees what appears to be a guard standing near the protestors covered in armor with a rifle in hand. It takes only a familiar look at there peculiar armor with it sleek design and used appearance to recognize it as Brass’.
“It appears I was there....” Brass’s voice trails off in a mix of confusion and disbelief.
He walks along the line separating these hateful people against those near the memorial. No one realizes just how much he wishes he could show them just what they deserve. He has seen this kind of hatred before. He always ran from it, but recently he found out about the death of a friend, and it changed everything. Sure running and surviving was something that could allow him to live, but was it worth it? When he found out about the anti Android protests he pledged to help, no matter how much he wanted shoot the guy screaming about “them damn tin men”. He turns to look at the monument, it made him feel like he was finally doing something good.
Before the simulation stops, a fireball erupting.
“Is there trace evidence from that android right there? What happens to him?” Brass says as he points to his hologram.
Before the simulation stops, a fireball erupting.
“Is there trace evidence from that android right there? What happens to him?” Brass says as he points to his hologram.
"The data is still being compiled. As soon as the investigators finish building the recreation and datasets, I'll reach in and grab it," Gabriel explains. "Right now, they have only loaded a holoframe up to the second of the blast and limited genetic results."
"Grab it? Do you have that level of security clearance?" asks Aron.
"I don't have any security clearance. I've never needed one," replies Gabriel.
An inset video on one screen shows a limo landing in the parking lot outside of the church.
"I believe that is Senator Bird," says Gabriel. "Perhaps I should ask him about my security clearance."
"Better not," says Bron. "I don't think he likes us."
"I think he likes me," replies Gabriel.