With Immanuel now in, a fifth vehicle pulls up. Everybody is at the old church building, in the parking lot, together now.
The six of you have arrived at the church in five separate vehicles. In a sentence or two, what do the others see when they look at you?
"You're one to talk," Carson said as he followed, "If they're expecting a confession out of me, they'd better have some coffee ready. It'd be a loooooong night."
Adjusting he belt, Troubleshooter surveyed the surroundings, "Looks like the rest of the "team" is here."
Immanuel Ueda steps out of a sleek sports car, looking like he might actually be the owner. His clothing is tailored, stylish, in the slim and technical look that's become popular with white-collar types recently. His black hair is similarly styled, slicked back, accentuating his thin face and the bright blue-green eyes that quickly sweep his surroundings. In one hand he clutches a metal briefcase.
Upon seeing Jade, Ueda approaches her and extends a hand, smiling. "Doctor Essex. It's a pleasure to meet you, I've read your work. It's inspired. I'm Immanuel Ueda. Do you know why they've contacted us for this meeting?" He blinks and looks around. "I suppose that goes for everyone."
"I still want to know if we outrank the grunts in the car," M'ilo says. "They did call us 'sir.'"
M'ilo wears a bright yellow jacket and brown pants. A little flashy, the style is similar to the fashion found on the local university campus. Feeling a spark of inspiration, M'ilo runs a hand along his head, changing the short military cut to a more fashionable look. Pulling out a comb, he complains to Carson "Hair is the hardest thing to get right. You humans get to use dead cells and stuff, mine is still alive. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a good shampoo?"
"So, I just go into the church, then?"
The rest of you see a young Lashunta. Even though she is wearing mud streaked clothing with lots of bulging pockets, no makeup and has her hair and antenna held down with a bandana she is quite attractive. It looks like if she made the effort she could be very beautiful.
Other than what looks like a knife at her hip she appears to be unarmed. she calls out to the others
"Oh, hi there! Are you all here for Tattoo as well? Oh, I'm Vonash"
"Does it matter? We could probably take them in a fight."
"Shampoo? I just use soap. Seems to work just fine."
Turning to the Lashuta, "You mean TAROT?"
Brass is standing rifle at the low ready, he is bald with a grey eyes. He has a comm unit wrapped around his ear pointing towards his jaw. He’s a older style Android with less focus on the likeness of a human, with small lines along his head that are very faint that run down the back of his head and on his arms. He is wearing a black shirt with a small armor plate strapped to his chest over it. He has a backpack on and is wearing sleek jeans with a pair of running shoes on. As he sees everyone he says “So you are the other participants in this mobilization, I am Brass-4, I’m curious as to what abilities you all bring to the table.”
Jade steps out of the tank, eyeing the others for a moment, it not escaping her attention that two of the others are androids, including a model even older than herself. She wondered how many souls had passed through him. She wondered how many more would pass them through both.
As Immanuel approaches, Jade meets him with a smile, and shakes his hand. "The pleasure's mine, it's always a boon to meet a fellow scholar. Where does your own field of study lie?"
She nods, slowly. "I believe we are to fix a problem with the Timeline, though where or when, I am uncertain. I expect that Gabriel will tell us soon. Perhaps in the meantime we should introduce ourselves."
She pauses, looking towards the group as Brass-4 speaks, and nods an appreciation at him taking the initiative. "I am Dr Jade Essex, a researcher, professor, and physician."
To those looking at Jade, they see an android, not quite as old (either in model or appearance) as Brass-4, but one whose actual age is still indeterminate. Her appearance is that of a late 20's woman. She's wearing the same style of brown pants that M'ilo is wearing. but rather than his yellow jacket, hers is a sharp blue. Underneath she wears a simple while blouse. Her dark hair is in a loose ponytail, and she carries a satchel at her side, and a datapad in her left hand.
Brass listening to everyone talking, mentally notes multiple androids here, which greatly relieves him. He always preferred the company of synthetic life. He nods as Jade responds to his question. “From what it seems a majority of our group consists of researchers and academics. he looks around the group as he says this, “Realizing I did not mention my own abilities, I will summarize them; I am a mercenary, and as you can tell an Android, that was built for war giving me exceptional skill with weapons and incredible reflexes.”
Turning to the Lashuta, "You mean TAROT?"
"Built for war? That sounds onimous. I'm quite peaceful myself. Never really been in a fight although I DID have to subdue that Moose once. But he was good once I talked him down.
I'm really not sure why they picked me. I'm very good with animals and living in the wilderness. Maybe they need a dinosaur wrangler?"
“I was built approximately 80 years ago, before the slavery of androids was illegal. But due to changes in robotics and the change in atmosphere about an army of android soldiers; the production line for my series was cut. I was put in storage and eventually forgot about. I was activated and gained consciousness some time later after the Android revolution. You could possibly serve as an animal expert , but it seems my reputation with my rifle has got me here.
"I can fit under a refrigerator," M'ilo offers. "It works great at parties, and you would not believe how many people don't clean down there."
Coughing, he rushes himself off. "It also works with couches."
The doors of the church opens and every device you own flashes an invitation--an aerial picture of the group of you in the parking lot of the church with the doors open. The words "Please come inside" displayed across the image isn't really necessary.
"By all means continue with the introductions," says Gabriel, "as you make your way inside."
Beyond the first set of doors and stained glass windows, there's little pretence as to this actually being a church. An elevator has been constructed in the lobby in a rather obtrusive way with little consideration to the building's original function and form. The elevator door is open.
Carson listened to the Android and tried to recall anything he might have heard.
Nothing came to mind.
"I'm usually called in when a problem needs Troubleshooting," He said emphasizing 'troubleshooting' to see if Brass had heard of him.
He hears Carson start speaking and he turns his head to him. “Ahhh so you’re apart of a cleanup crew.” his tone changes to a little more monotone speaking to the human.
"Nah, more like bounty hunters," M'ilo pipes up as he walks into the church. "So I guess you could say clean up crew. We clean up things that people pay us to clean up."
"I really am in the wrong place, aren't I? These people are SCARY"
Vonash tries to keep a bright smile on her face, as if she is enjoying the banter between the very, very tough and scary people here
As you enter the building and the elevator, a silvery face appears on the walls, which are probably coated with some kind of light conductive paint. The voice you have heard on your devices speaks again. The face smiles as it talks, but the voice remains flat.
"Welcome to TAROT. I'm very sorry to have rushed you like this. I hope those gentlemen weren't too rough, Mr. S'sdfortmr and Mr. Murdok. The rest of you, I hope the transportation was too your liking."
"My name is Gabriel. I am Director of TAROT. I am not physically present to greet you as I am stored on a titan-class datacrystal network in extra-temporal space."
The elevator descends rather quickly.
"My job is to continuously monitor every scrap of text in humanity's digitized historical archive and compare it to a back-up copy that I maintain in my little pocket dimension. I look for any discrepancies."
"I have found a discrepancy."
The elevator descends and the door opens into a large (100 ft. diameter) rough hewn cavern which, except for this elevator does not appear to have any entrances or exits. In the center of the cavern sits a sleek black spacecraft, which takes up much of the available space. Two almost identical young men with dark hair are scurrying around in cargo moving armor loading black crates onto the ship.
"This spacecraft has been adapted for the peculiarities of time travel. We call it the Chariot."
The face moves to several flat shiny surfaces around the cavern and the voice is omnidirectional.
"I know this is a lot to take in. I will explain the mission in details once you are aboard the Chariot, but we prefer to scramble a team immediately when an incursion happens before something changes in the past that threatens the existence of this agency in the present and future. If you are willing to take a leap of faith, 1968 is waiting. If not, the elevator goes up as well as down."
"1968? MLK Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassination, and the chance to purchase an original copy of the White Album? Count me in!" M'ilo says, rubbing his hands excitedly.
Brass Looks interested in all the technology moving around in the cavern, and upon seeing the ship and hearing about the time travel smiles looking very excited.. “How large a descrepency is it?”
"The first discrepancy was small, a security guard at a small New England college didn't go to the hospital with a broken finger, when, in the original timeline, he did. Most titan-class supercomputers running on extradimensional servers wouldn't even have noticed it, but I did and chose to keep an eye on it."
"Then, Lee Reynolds purchased a cottage and retired young when, in the original timeline, he worked for a few more years and died of kidney failure due to alcoholism," Gabriel continue. "This too didn't seem worth sending the Chariot back to rectify. Perhaps, a divine intervention occurred."
"Then, some students from that same college assassinated presidential candidate Richard Nixon. You may recall that event from a recent holoplay in which the very sexy Tarr Broadly played Nixon. In the original timeline, Richard Nixon actually became president. This will differ from your own historical understandings."
"Someone is mucking with the timeline. While so far TAROT hasn't ceased to exist," says Gabriel. "I think it's time to find out why Mr. Lee Reynolds of Ogden, Maine didn't break his finger on April 20th. When I originally ignored that little event, I did not expect I would have to adjust my historical understandings to account for the presidency of Spiro Agnew and his crackdown on the 'hippies.'"
One of the young men who's been loading crates onto the ship with his cargo-lifting power suit thomps over. (Wearing the metal exoskeleton he stands about 10 feet tall, but he'd be about 5'6" without it.)
"One of them needs to carry the egg, Gabriel" says the boy in the armor bending over and holding out a gigantic clamp hand with a shiny silver egg in it--about the size of a robin's egg.
"Aron, I do wish you wouldn't carry delicate and irreplaceable equipment in those massive metal clamp hands!" says Gabriel with what almost sounds like emotion.
"Who wants the egg?" Aron asks smiling and ignoring Gabriel. "If you lose the ship, this will let us know to send back-up. Dr. Van Winkle over at FATE is dying for an excuse to take his ship out again. Don't give him one. Don't lose the Chariot."
Ueda nods in response to Jade's words. "My specialty is in chaos engineering, but I work in physics, mathematics, philosophy, and the computer sciences. I also keep aware of cultural studies, but I would not claim expertise in that area."
As the group begins introductions, Ueda turns his eyes to each in turn, fixing them with an unblinking stare as though keenly analyzing their every word and move. Once everyone has gone around and they begin moving inside, he looks at Brass-4. "It seems your first assessment was premature. Counting myself as an academic, our party appears to be an even split between scholars and soldiers, should we simplify the dataset into such categories. I would clarify, however, that at least some of my own talents are quite useful in the field, should danger arise. The products of a misspent youth, one might say." He gives another not-quite-comforting smile and turns his attention to their host.
Ueda listens quietly while aboard the elevator, and at the bottom, he almost immediately moves toward the ship, only pausing when the others ask questions and Gabriel responds. "Intriguing. I read an article about that play, although I did not attend. A sordid affair from my understanding. And to think it all starts with a man whose finger does not break when it should." He blinks and the fingers on his free hand twitch, ever so slightly. "This will be singularly eye-opening for my work, I believe."
The android looks at the egg, and then looks to the others. "Perhaps one of our hardier members is the correct choice to keep such an item in safekeeping."
Carson observed the others as everything happened, when the "egg" was offered he spoke up, "I'd recommend M'ilo here. He's pretty good and getting out of trouble should the need arise."
Brass looks at the such a small thing and then back at the group looking around to see who would be the best one to carry such a device, when Carson speaks up he stops looking at the others and looks to M’ilo. “That would be an acceptable choice, I agree.
Jade remains silent during the briefing, but looks up at the conclusion. "Most curious." She begins. "Gabriel, are you sure the events are connected? If someone is intentionally tweaking the timeline, they must be... intimately familiar with it to pinpoint such a minor adjustment having such an effect." She grins at Immanuel. "Perhaps a colleague of yours. " Turning her attention back to Gabriel she continues, "You also cited Divine Intervention as a likely culprit - does such a thing occur often?"
Jade remains silent during the briefing, but looks up at the conclusion. "Most curious." She begins. "Gabriel, are you sure the events are connected? If someone is intentionally tweaking the timeline, they must be... intimately familiar with it to pinpoint such a minor adjustment having such an effect." She grins at Immanuel. "Perhaps a colleague of yours. " Turning her attention back to Gabriel she continues, "You also cited Divine Intervention as a likely culprit - does such a thing occur often?"
Aron, the young man in the cargo mover, answers for Gabriel: "We know that changing things in the past requires time travel of either physical or magical means and that magic, both in its divine and arcane forms is sometimes able to breach chronological determinism."
"As for the relation between the events," says Gabriel, "We don't know. I'm not entirely sure that Lee Reynolds even met the students from his college that later attack Nixon, but, temporal equivocations happen rarely enough that this seems like more than a coincidence."
Vonash tries hard to look as if she completely understands what it being said.
"If I just sit here quietly, they'll forget that I'm here, not realize that they made a terrible mistake selecting me, and send me along."
"Not hardy, not a soldier. Definitely more along the lines of scholar, but no degree here. I do kill at trivia night though. They've banned several of my aliases from the neighborhood," M'ilo says, accepting the 'egg.'
"Just out of curiosity, how do we know we're changing the future? For all we know, we're just creating an alternate timeline, leaving this current timeline to suffer whatever repercussions it already has."
M'ilo peers at the egg. "What kind of egg is this?"
As the talk begins to shift to magic and the theories about time and space, along with the repercussions of it, brass starts to look less interested in all the theory. He opens up the type part of his personal comm unit. He searches for information on this Richard Nixon, who until now was of little note to him, he also sends a message to the chat room he used earlier saying “all clear, position still safe from enemies. More information will follow sometime later.”
"Generally speaking, the chaos engineering movement is conscientious enough not to engage in reckless temporal alteration. But the potential involvement of a theorist in the field is quite likely." Ueda nods at Jade and turns to look at no one in particular. "As for connections, I agree with the assessment that mere coincidence is unlikely. When dealing with an unknown number of potential variables, one must account for every possibility. Magic of any kind means an exponential increase in potential data points for a change to the origin, but they are still just data. With enough time and understanding, any problem can be solved. And as I understand it, time is a non-issue, in this case."
"Generally speaking, the chaos engineering movement is conscientious enough not to engage in reckless temporal alteration. But the potential involvement of a theorist in the field is quite likely." Ueda nods at Jade and turns to look at no one in particular. "As for connections, I agree with the assessment that mere coincidence is unlikely. When dealing with an unknown number of potential variables, one must account for every possibility. Magic of any kind means an exponential increase in potential data points for a change to the origin, but they are still just data. With enough time and understanding, any problem can be solved. And as I understand it, time is a non-issue, in this case."
"Since more than one variation from the Original Timeline has occurred and since it is unlikely to be a coincidence, we must assume that further changes could occur. Some of these further changes could eliminate the existence of TAROT and, thus, our ability to protect the timeline. For that reason, time is very much of the essence."
"I see Aron and Bron have almost finished loading all of our 1968 appropriate clothing and weapons. We would like to drop The Chariot into The Shuffle before any further timeline alterations occur. Once there, timeline changes can no longer affect you."
"We will be able to continue our discussion during the trip to the past."
M'ilo peers at the egg. "What kind of egg is this?"
"Aron calls it 'the egg' because of the shape. It is, in fact, a beacon. If you smash it, we will be able to locate you in time and space and send help."
"I don't know a lot about 1968, but do you have something to fit a nature loving non violent sort?"
Looking at the Lashuta, Carson said, "My knowledge of history isn't all that good, but, I do believe there were these people called Hippies that fit that description."
"Hippies were part of the counter-culture of the 1960's. It was a very popular movement, known for being anti-war, trying to live in harmony with the natural world, and for heavy psychedelic drug usage," M'ilo remarks as he pockets the egg. "Members of the movement were relatively common on most college campuses, so using that as a disguise should work quite well."
"That sounds perfect for me. Thanks!!"
Nodding at Immanuel's explanation, and listening as the final touches are prepared, Jade's mind whirrs. "New England college campus. Most of us should be able to blend in as professors or students, or prospectives of either... We will need to do something about your antennae, Ms. Vonash. Perhaps a hood or... " She searches her databanks. "...crown of flowers?"
Confirming her earlier sentiment that humanity is indeed a very strange species, she returns to their current situation. "Gabriel, do we have established aliases and official documentation or are we on our own for blending in beyond a cursory glance?"
"You'll be able to use the ship printers to print all the documents you need during the voyage. You'll find time quite flexible in the Shuffle. The voyage back in time, through the Shuffle, will last as long as you need it to last and could be longer or shorter for some than others. I will also give you files containing all the information I have about the changes to the timeline."
"I think it's best if we send you back to a couple days before the first variant event--April 20, 1968, the day Lee Reynolds did not break his finger. Gather as much information as you can and try not to do too much damage to the timeline. No procreation, for example."
"Agreed?"
M'ilo's hairstyle begins changing to one appropriate for the time period. "So, the worst case scenario for this instance is that we need to break this guys finger, right? Shouldn't be too hard," he comments.
"Are we allowed to purchase souvenirs?"
Brass nods hearing about all the tools and the access to information they will have for their mission. Upon hearing about damage to the timeline he says “Yes agreed, unintentional collateral damage could possibly lead to even bigger changes than the ones that have already happened, especially with so many differences between our time and their time.”
His outfit packed for him is similar to what he wears now but allows him to hide his gear and himself in 1968. He wears faded blue jeans with, with a white t shirt, a black leather jacket, with brown boots. His tactical backpack is replaced with a light brown cloth one.
Very visible tattooes disguising her markings, lots of hair and a bandana (not shown) hiding her attenna. The top is the top of a peasant dress.
She is VERY attractive and so hopefully distracting somewhat
And note she DOES actually have a disguise skill and kit so its a bit better than just covering the antenna :-)
Jade is nodding at Gabriel's instructions, pleased that he has thought so many things through - although such a program wouldn't have made it so long otherwise. When he mentions not procreating, she laughs. "Most of us lack the necessary equipment."
Ueda likewise shows amusement at Gabriel's comment, although his is a more restrained smile. "An amusing jest. I can assure you I will do my utmost to refrain from potential alterations to the timeline. Our mere presence, however, presents an alteration itself, does it not? Try as we might to manage our temporal footprint, a slight change to the organic conditions of the original events is inevitable." The android pauses as he enters the ship. "Of course, I have theorized that due to the very nature of reality, time seeks to maintain its course. Without directed manipulation, I doubt actions would influence events from their original state to a statistically significant margin."
That musing spoken, Ueda enters the shuttle. Not long after "departure," he finds an appropriate change of clothing, fashionable but formal enough, and transfers his most important equipment into a leather satchel. As he changes clothing, the others note the thin underlayer Ueda wears--the second skin almost seamlessly blending with his own synthetic skin, nearly invisible while providing protection. Once clothed again, the armor is essentially undetectable.
Carson took a looked at the selection of clothing. Let's see, University Campus. Who would go the most unnoticed? He thought for a while, then glanced at Mask. "Well, looks like I'm going to take that janitorial job after all buddy."
Taking the clothing of someone that looks like a maintenance man, Troubleshooter stripped his modern wear, exposing his skin tight armor. With his new duds, the Mercenary was sure to go mostly unnoticed.
"I knew you could do it," M'ilo replies. Pulling his jacket on over his new shirt, M'ilo makes a few touch ups to his face and looks in a mirror. "Damn, I got the wrong eye colors again," he mutters. As adjustments are made, M'ilo comments "We'll keep Carson from spending too much time with women of ill repute."
Satisfied with his appearance, M'ilo asks "Do we have an allowance for this trip? Like if we need to pay for a cab or something?"
One of the twin young men--Bron, if you've been watching them closely and are able to tell them apart--brings over 6 bags stamped with "North American Regional Authority DUTY FREE."
"Sorry, but, in terms of items you return with you're limited to what you can fit in this bag. I wish I could say that it's because of mass or weight, but it's a tax issue with the government. Oh, and there's $200 cash each in your bags. Try not to change anyone's lives with it."
"Oh, and, if you have room in your bag, I would appreciate one of those comic books with the animal men--spiderhero, batperson, etcetera."
"M'ilo, you know I never partake while on the job," Carson retorted.
"Hmm. I wonder if I can smuggle back a couple of cats in there? Together with the DNA of many more, of course"
Those of you familiar with spacecraft will recognize that alterations have been made to this ship; a boxy external compartment has been added to the underside and seems to be connected to the shield generator, although it isn't clear what purpose that would serve.
The ship is fairly large with a bridge that seats four, a small galley, a couple of rooms with bunks, and a locked armory. It contains pistols appropriate for the era and room for you to stow any weapons you want.
You've probably travelled in more uncomfortable ways. Cargo space is limited, and much of what's there is filled with trunks.
Gabriel's image appears on the screens on the bridge: "There are seats for a pilot and a co-pilot/gunner. Normally, there isn't much need for a gunner in the Shuffle. Carson? Brass?"
"The computer has all the information on Lee Reynolds and about the other variations in the timeline. It has information about the town of Ogden. You'll be able to access it while you travel. Any last minute questions before you fall into the past?" asks Gabriel.