The BT techs stop attempting to find the holochamber controls to shut off this 'simulation' and sit down with Theo. Nymphs slide over.
"I am here to deliver our thanks," says Dionysius. "You managed to prevent a war, which, while we would have won, would cost us dearly. For now, it is delayed. This is your reward."
He gestures to the wine, weed, and wood nymphs.
"Kill-code?" asks Genius, "Like an olly olly all-come-free?"The adults ignore her.
Henri meets her eye, winks, and touches the tip of his nose. He turns to Phade and Scarlett. ”I ingested nanites during our misadventures. Firefly, ah, the Bombshell wondered if some of those injected into one of these fellows might allow us to see inside him with a computer’s processing capabilities. That might allow us to find something in days that could evade a human telepath, no offense, for years.”
”I can use them to interface with the ship. We’ve done it before, not like this, but it’s possible. If we can extract some of them from my blood without destroying them, of course - we don’t know how well or if they would transfer to another host. Or if they would work too well with his biology… I’m talking myself out of the idea now…”
Nissa is glad that Henri likes her earlier suggestion. She offers, “I could easily become a percent of a micron tall and carry nanites as easily as a child carries Barbie dolls. I could bring them inside a Duhminion’s head and… if they can’t connect, I can simply return them to Henri.”
"I rather doubt potentially giving a hive mind information like that would be effective. If they have some method of knowing their own form, and somehow learn something from the nanite--their frequency of communication, or perhaps aspects of memory from Henri, or something else. The hive mind may well learn rapidly of it." Zellgato points out. "Not that I have a better idea at this time. Other than simulations."
Raising two fingers, and counting each idea as he goes. "We fool them mentally, or we fool them physically. The nodes may be activated by experience or by physical triggers. We could expose the one here to T-Rad and or simliar energies to see what occurs. Or, Scarlet can you impress upon others, or know someone who can? if so, could you impress a memory of one of our trips with Unity. Fool them into thinking they were one of us and we went through a portal together?"
The BT techs stop attempting to find the holochamber controls to shut off this 'simulation' and sit down with Theo. Nymphs slide over.
"I am here to deliver our thanks," says Dionysius. "You managed to prevent a war, which, while we would have won, would cost us dearly. For now, it is delayed. This is your reward."
He gestures to the wine, weed, and wood nymphs.
** spoiler omitted **
"I rather doubt potentially giving a hive mind information like that would be effective. If they have some method of knowing their own form, and somehow learn something from the nanite--their frequency of communication, or perhaps aspects of memory from Henri, or something else. The hive mind may well learn rapidly of it." Zellgato points out. "Not that I have a better idea at this time. Other than simulations."
Raising two fingers, and counting each idea as he goes. "We fool them mentally, or we fool them physically. The nodes may be activated by experience or by physical triggers. We could expose the one here to T-Rad and or simliar energies to see what occurs. Or, Scarlet can you impress upon others, or know someone who can? if so, could you impress a memory of one of our trips with Unity. Fool them into thinking they were one of us and we went through a portal together?"
"I could!" says Genius. "Let's go see my mom and dads and, when I come back, I'll make him think he was with you! We'll see what happens!!"
Genius does not try to hide that her main motivation is to get home.
Scarlett nods, "Genius could do it. I could do it. ... We don't have any other telepaths in the program capable of sustaining an implanted memory of any duration."
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"I rather doubt potentially giving a hive mind information like that would be effective. If they have some method of knowing their own form, and somehow learn something from the nanite--their frequency of communication, or perhaps aspects of memory from Henri, or something else. The hive mind may well learn rapidly of it." Zellgato points out. "Not that I have a better idea at this time. Other than simulations."
Raising two fingers, and counting each idea as he goes. "We fool them mentally, or we fool them physically. The nodes may be activated by experience or by physical triggers. We could expose the one here to T-Rad and or simliar energies to see what occurs. Or, Scarlet can you impress upon others, or know someone who can? if so, could you impress a memory of one of our trips with Unity. Fool them into thinking they were one of us and we went through a portal together?"
Phade shudders, "I lie awake at night frequently asking myself 'what if Zellgato is right?' about any number of things. I no longer read security briefings from him after 7. What could the PhDuhminions do with the nanites? Is he right?"
Three of the custodial staff--two humans and one android--are watching him. The android is making inappropriate comments and taking pictures. The others are looking at in horror as they don't want to get in trouble with HR.
"Hey, guys." Theo greets the custodial staff. The godling gets up and searches for his clothes, weapons, and armor.
"So? What day is it?"
Unity frown to themself. "What we would really need is to make him think he's *in* the Shuffle, since that seems to be the trigger to know where to 'return' to. If we can get that much, then we might be able to fake him having 'returned' to see what comes next," they say, thoughtfully.
Unity frown to themself. "What we would really need is to make him think he's *in* the Shuffle, since that seems to be the trigger to know where to 'return' to. If we can get that much, then we might be able to fake him having 'returned' to see what comes next," they say, thoughtfully.
"Right. I can do that," says Genius. "I can make people have my memories, but first I need to have them."
Genius and Scarlett could push a memory onto him. Or, you could try the nanite plan. It's getting late for now though and a return trip to BT could happen anytime.
Nissa asks Genius, “You mean we would need to take you into the Shuffle for real? And that could…?” She tries to connect the dots, and Nissa gets it… but no point trying to put it into words. “I mean, I can see both this and the nanite thing having risks.
“But Genius, you can control what part of the memory you give him, right? I mean… the hivemind should not know how we enter the Shuffle. And they probably should not know about all of us. A fairy made of sunshine is a red flag for villainous hiveminds. But Zellgatos are everywhere, so the only surprise seeing him in the Shuffle would be like… ‘only one?’”
(Nissa is fine with either plan.)
Phade shudders, "I lie awake at night frequently asking myself 'what if Zellgato is right?' about any number of things. I no longer read security briefings from him after 7. What could the PhDuhminions do with the nanites? Is he right?"
"7pm? That's barely evening coffee break Boss. I'll make a note to call you for elevated issues that should not wait overnight."
Patting Genius on the head, "Well regardless, we should take Genius to visit her home, and soon. However, if the choice is Scarlett or Genius, Scarlett is an adult and knows the risks associated with exposure to a potential hive mind or automated defense system. Adults risk their lives. Children see their family and eat treats."Zellgato has no opposition to calling it a day given the time.
"Convincing him we've taken him into the Shuffle seems like the best course to get what we need, given we don't know what 'Unity will reign' looks like," Unity state.
Three of the custodial staff--two humans and one android--are watching him. The android is making inappropriate comments and taking pictures. The others are looking at in horror as they don't want to get in trouble with HR."Hey, guys." Theo greets the custodial staff. The godling gets up and searches for his clothes, weapons, and armor.
"So? What day is it?" [dice=Diplomacy]1d20 + 17
The android snaps another photo and mumbles something about 'posting this in the group chat'.
"Berta, are your pragmatics filters set in 'work party' mode by any chance," asks one of the cleaning people.
"Ooops. Sorry," says the android after a pause.
The cleaning people shuffle along saying, "We'll come back."
Travel through the Shuffle by Wand is fairly quick, but not instantaneous. People experience time differently in the Shuffle though, so some people feel it is longer and some slower.
Phade shudders, "I lie awake at night frequently asking myself 'what if Zellgato is right?' about any number of things. I no longer read security briefings from him after 7. What could the PhDuhminions do with the nanites? Is he right?""7pm? That's barely evening coffee break Boss. I'll make a note to call you for elevated issues that should not wait overnight."
Patting Genius on the head, "Well regardless, we should take Genius to visit her home, and soon. However, if the choice is Scarlett or Genius, Scarlett is an adult and knows the risks associated with exposure to a potential hive mind or automated defense system. Adults risk their lives. Children see their family and eat treats."Zellgato has no opposition to calling it a day given the time.
"You should come back soon," says Scarlett to everyone. "And, I'd be ready to jump into the Shuffle with you again anytime."
The helicars whirr to life and some of the horses look skittish when they do.
The BT staff strap the drooling prisoner into the security vehicle. The TAROT crew are invited to get into the other, more comfortable vehicle.
"Tell Theo to visit too," says Scarlett.
Unity sigh. "Well, unless we have a better idea, we'll probably be back before long to help you form some new memories to share."
They get aboard the transport back to TAROT.
Phade checks her messages as the helicars take off.
"Something from HR about Theo ...," she mutters before going silent. Her eyes go wide. She sighs, "Oh well."
The helicars are back in the city before you have a chance to fully unwind.
Behind closed doors, Nissa prays a lot and cries a lot. She gets it all out of her system. She tries to see everything from L.C.’s point of view. Three years.
In front of the team, Nissa is in control and excited to go to Tarokh. “I want to stop by the dawnflowers on the way.” And that’s the very location in her mind when she waves her wand!
Nissa thinks of a specific place, a statue of the Dawnflower in a garden on Tarokh. The garden is inside the walls of the dark keep that houses TAROT's transdimensional organization, including the Marshall and many guests. It was quite empty when you have visited it before.
Theo needs to make a Fortitude save. Riding the Shuffle drunk is never a good idea.
Henri, any instructions for Gay before you leave her?
Zellgato, you could bring Genius this time or you could discuss it with World 12 TAROT when you get to Tarokh.
Someone else is in the garden ... a TAROT member from
Kneeling before the statue of the Dawnflower is a figure wearing a skyblue robe. Their hood is pulled up. They hold a staff in one hand, a bright crystal tops the staff.
Unity note the tug with concern. If they can feel this much, how much are they *truly* being affected by the madman's (madmen's?) genetic programming?
Though there's some argument that no living being is truly entirely free of genetic programming, when you think about it in a certain way... but they still think deliberate programming of living beings in such a way Should Not Be.
They make no attempt to follow the tug at present, but they note it is there.
When the godling was picked up, Phade quickly depart the craft and leads Theo to quiet corner that quickly stopped being quiet.
"..I said I'm sorry! Look! The Gods of Wine showed up unannounced! If you ask me, BT got off easy. It's not covered in grape vines, is it?!!.." The Olympian whispered to an exasperated Director.
Theo slapped his hands together in anticipation of event on this hub world. The godling had a lot of expectations he was hoping would come true.
The godling finds himself in a lush statuary, taking in the sights. Noticing the woman kneeling before the image of the Dawnflower. The Olympian waits for cue from Nissa to proceed.
Nissa is pleasantly surprised to see someone at her goddess’ statue. She sees her Dad is contemplating approaching this person. Nissa whispers, “I think I shouldn’t interrupt this person… but follow their example.”
Nissa finds a spot on the ground beside the kneeling person. If she can find a tall rock to kneel on, or a root or a stump, she does so… but she’s not worried about getting trampled. She came here to pray after all.
The figure in the blue robe hears Nissa and Theo respectfully approach. He uses his staff to help him stand quickly; he turns as he does. His other hand does not move towards his sword, but the robe parts to show he wears one. Beneath his robe he wears red and orange and yellow pants and shirts and scarves of silk. The man has copper skin, eyes of flame, and dark black hair. He looks almost human, but not fully human. Most humans don't have fire in their eyes.
He doesn't speak first.
Theo quietly nods at his daughter. The heavily armored warrior drops to one knee quietly in front of The Dawnflower statue.
Hey, hey Sarenrae, Theo prays. We got a good kid on our hands. Any sign of your favor would really make her day. She's had a hard time of it for a couple days. Also, when are we gonna meet?
Seeing Nissa and Theo pray, the man returns to his prayers.
"Your special abilities remain a secret from most, but the Director and the Marshall are aware of what you can do. Other than those, please continue to keep your special nature a secret."
"I have two requests of you. Please continue to monitor the dataverse for anything that might indicate that the PhDuhminions are once again building their forces. And second, we need to make some decisions about how to enhance you. Things could have been much worse in Greece - I think we need to consider outfitting you with some offensive and defensive gear. Give it some thought - you will be able to analyze the available materials faster than any technician and determine if they will be compatible with your designs."
Grinning because he's talking to a machine, he adds, "Get some rest, I'm sure we will be busy enough soon."
Henri stands at a respectful distance while the trio pray. He looks around at the other statues and is surprised to find that one of them actually seems familiar. Even if I had actually met one of those represented here, it's not like the statue really looks like they do. Right? Right?
The man with the blue robe covering other clothes of yellow and orange stands when he finishes praying. He stands and steps back from the statue and waits. While waiting, Henri sees him retrieve a black stick from a pouch on his belt and mark his hand with it.
Theo stands after his prayer, patiently waiting for Nissa to finish.
Nissa places her hand on Theo’s. She has no idea what he was praying for, but she’s certain it was sincere.
She turns to the stranger. “Thank you for letting us pray at your side, Sir. I’m Nissa van Donk, and this is my father, whom you may address as Theo.” She hopes he won’t call Theo ‘Mr. van Donk!’ She flashes a smile, but for congeniality’s sake. She doesn’t know whether the man is here for Serenrae the Sun Goddess or Sarenrae the Great Redeemer.
“I couldn’t help but notice the formality in your prayer. I’ve been devoted to the Dawnflower since my teens, but I never had any religious training really. My dad’s a good exemplar, but… that’s kind of a new thing for us.”
Zellgato does not opt to take Genius this time .
Zellgato remains near Henri, just waiting quietly while they pray. He notes the sword, and glances about to see how many others are armed. While also muttering to himself quietly, "I should get a sword, seems a theme.."