"....Assuming Theo isn't going to suddenly imploud from water pressure....yeah.." Despite the oddness, Zellgato does snag a shark chunk floatin in the goop; not the best one but why not.
+2 for biohack. 3 used currently
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Theo sees his vision set down in the ground near where the diving bell was. The T-rad sensor Zellgato wields show Theo is right on top of whatever is giving off that radiation.
You're out of combat and alone at the bottom of the sea.
The sharks have left.
The chanting, which had become constant background noise, stops as suddenly as the way the drums would suddenly stop in those old movies about islands full of cannibals.
☀️
Nissa tried to help, but is apparently shaken from the sudden cool-down of her photon charge.
The godling begins to dig through the sandy ocean floor, looking for the origin of the t-Rad readings.
In the silence left with the chant gone, you can barely make out a familiar voice over the comms: "You guys are awesome! ... The mecha-cams caught everything ... Can I upload this to the infosphere? 'BATTLE. FOR. ATLANTIS!',"
Kai breathes out in relief as the sharks scatter, although it seems that Charles and Theo are heavily injured. Kai starts organizing medical attention on the Starfish for when they get back.
Theo feels very certain he's where he is supposed to be, but he doesn't even know what he's looking for.
As Nissa continues to try moving the red ship, she replies, “Glad you enjoyed the show. Can ya hold out a bit on uploads? I love your enthusiasm, so maybe we can chat with Dr. Preston about giving you an official PR role. Um…” Does she already work here? Ain’t we violating child-labor and/or -endangerment laws if…? “…if you don’t already have one.”
Fearing she’ll forget EIG exists before that conversation can happen, she asks EIG, “Is there a way you can remind me, like through technology, to work around your power? Like, if you set up a meeting next Thursday at 11:00, so L.C.’s comm and mine play the reminder song at 10:50 and we know… well, you’d probably, from our perspective, just appear if you show ten minutes early.”
Nissa isn’t sure she understands EIG’s power as she was just thinking aloud. She half focuses on the task and half reminds herself EIG might reply. EIG might reply. EIG…
Zellgato and Nissa get to work on moving the ship. Kai has provided some chains and straps that would allow you to lift it without touching it directly.
Nissa is chatting with EIG while she sets this up. Mackie is confused and interrupting. Ian is promising to explain about EIG to Mackie. Other people are on the comms too.
And, then, the chains you both carry touch the ship and ...
I was afraid of this…
She doesn’t address the possibility that she is trapped in time and could wake up in the distant future, eons after everyone she loves has passed away.
Instead, Nissa talks to the man. “Are you the Child of Atlantis? Or… Grown-Up of Atlantis by now, I guess.”
She uses everything she knows about modeling in the hope that her poise and delivery comes off as irresistibly charming.
Hopefully, her alluring voice will get Zellgato’s attention as well.
Nissa smiles pleasantly. She’s not into guys, but can’t deny he’s handsome in the ways Theo is.
“Pleased to meet you, Your Highness. I don’t suppose you’re related to my friend and colleague, Theo, son of Zeus, and his half-sister Enyo?
“Also, are you aware that sharks were following a command to defend you?” She asks in part because of the weird temporal field. It might make the prince unaware of his surroundings, just as Nissa is herself at subatomic size.
And speaking of her shrinking power, Nissa says, “I’m starting to feel overdressed. Allow me to get out of this suit.”
Nissa’s diving suit and other gear become orange sparks. They fade until the only light is Nissa fluttering at eye-level in her stellar mote form.
"Uh-oh. What just happened out there?" Kai sends Legion to the mechas' last known position to investigate.
Charles, in spite of his bruises and his nervousness about the depth of the water, starts to follow after Theo. "So, umm... what did we do to stop the..."
Then the field surrounding the ship engulfs the mechs. He freezes for a moment, then tries the comms again. "Are you guys all right? What's going on in there?"
" I miss life when it was simple. Do the mission. Do the job. Find food. Save that person. Then body snatchers. Time travel. Cross Dimension.. I am going to be very annoyed if I'm stuck between worlds now." zellgato continues the litany of complaints before trying to reply to Nissa over the comms as well as checking the Mecha's blindsense...which probably doesn't work in between worlds [/b]
Nissa changes her body to its full size. She is wearing only the sundress from her goddess, but her eyes are blue. Just like they were before her powers filled them with light. Nissa has grown fond of her powers, glowing eyes and all. But to see herself in her simple mortal form…!
I’m not dead, am I?
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The man responds to Nissa's questions. He walks around her as he does, not hiding his admiration of her form.
"I am not his highness. I am a psychic projection of his highness's inestimable intelligence, left to protect him until it was time for him to be awakened."
"I called to the sharks and to the octopus in Aquan, the language of Atlanteans; it is the language I am speaking now. You understand me, only because of where we are."
"Would you need any help?"
The very handsome man is wearing black pants that seem like they are made from some kind of hide and a pair of tall green boots.
When Nissa wonders if she is dead, he hears Nissa's thought and thinks back to her "I doubt it; you seemed very much alive what seemed like a very short time ago. You are out of time. You are out of space. You are not out of mind."
He speaks now, "And now, I have two questions for you. Why did you hold back on your attacks against the sea creatures you fought with? Why did you come to what I assume is still the bottom of the ocean?"
"Uh-oh. What just happened out there?"
Theo is focused on his vision, not much else. "I don't know. Attempting to recover T-Rad source." The godling digs faster.
"Well that's good.. also body change? Like.. normal change or sprouting lizard parts? Also. I don't see you or anything. I'm stuck in between worlds I think. I am disinclined to "follow the light" as it were-but I don't know what to do. You? "
Zellgato floats a bit in his apparently private aurora borealis; not really sure what to make of it. No wand on him; so he can't really steer. Just ride the light he supposes.
“I didn’t want to kill them just because I can. I don’t particularly like sharks, but I kinda learned the hard way what it means to have power—whether it’s the divine gift of a sun goddess, or a machine that can tear through flesh and bone. That power comes with a price.
“I killed four men. I don’t just mean in my entire life, but also in a single moment. Like with the sharks just now, there were people dear to me in grave danger. One of them didn’t make it.”
She smiles. Nissa isn’t sure why, but somehow, she’s really glad the question came up.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I mean… I don’t even know your name. Mine’s Nissa, by the way.”
She might leave enough time for the Prince to chime in with his name before she gets back to the don’t-know-why-I’m-telling-you bit:
“It’s like I’ve been going out of my way not to talk about this.” If thoughts can be read, the Prince can probably see the memory playing in Nissa’s head. Everything from the battle, to the sound of Greer getting shot, to Nissa solving the bomb problem…
But if the Prince can’t read all that, she’s not about to dump that on him unless he asks. She simply says, “I guess the short answer’s that I’m glad you saw I was holding back. It means I thought it through before I resorted to killing, even against a mind-controlled shark.”
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** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
“I didn’t want to kill them just because I can. I don’t particularly like sharks, but I kinda learned the hard way what it means to have power—whether it’s the divine gift of a sun goddess, or a machine that can tear through flesh and bone. That power comes with a price.
“I killed four men. I don’t just mean in my entire life, but also in a single moment. Like with the sharks just now, there were people dear to me in grave danger. One of them didn’t make it.”
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I mean… I don’t even know your name. Mine’s Nissa, by the way.”
“It’s like I’ve been going out of my way not to talk about this.”
“I guess the short answer’s that I’m glad you saw I was holding back. It means I thought it through before I resorted to killing, even against a mind-controlled shark.”
“I didn’t want to kill them just because I can. I don’t particularly like sharks, but I kinda learned the hard way what it means to have power—whether it’s the divine gift of a sun goddess, or a machine that can tear through flesh and bone. That power comes with a price."
“I killed four men. I don’t just mean in my entire life, but also in a single moment. Like with the sharks just now, there were people dear to me in grave danger. One of them didn’t make it.”
The man replies "Mercy is a noble trait. A trait of Kings.... and Queens."
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I mean… I don’t even know your name. Mine’s Nissa, by the way.”
"I have no name. I am merely a psychic projection of his Greatness. When you wake him, should you learn to speak his tongue and should he deign to speak with you, you will call him, "Your highness" or "His Greatness" unless he decides to allow you greater intimacy."
“It’s like I’ve been going out of my way not to talk about this.”
The projection of the Prince reads Nissa's thoughts and answers with words, "I must have been here a long time. I sense much has changed since the last group came. This world has advanced greatly since Atlantis last came."
He seems afraid. It doesn't show on his handsome, leering face, but you feel it much as he feels you.
He shows you images now. He shows you the Prince being chased on a tropical beach by humans, the humans using some kinds of white-light energy weapon to attack some fishy-looking humanoids that seem to be allies of the Prince. It isn't until the Prince dives into the water that you see his gills and notice the webbing on his fingers; he is not human nor is he a merman. He is an Atlantean.
He swims to the vessel you found him in, which floats on the water not far from the beach where this fight is taking place. He climbs into the ship; before he can dive beneath the surfaces, the humans fire on his ship. They hit, but he escapes.
He jets in his vessel beneath the ocean, down, and several miles away, until he is over a merfolk outpost with anachronistically advanced technology--it looks much like the mounds the Thin Spot guys discovered. It has been destroyed. Dead merfolk float in the water. You can see his rage and sadness. He slows his ship and circles the outpost.
Humans, again with Atlantean technology, hide in wait within the structures. They attempt to ambush the Prince.
He flees into the crevice, but the white light energy weapons broke something in the ship. Shards of crystal fall from the engine. The ship slows but lights flash across the gem-like control panel. The Prince is panicking. You can feel that the ship is about to explode.
"And, it is at that point, that he used his magic to set a guardian above his ship, me, and opened a temporal stasis field. I have waited until someone worthy came to wake him. The last humans who came seemed equally arrogant and violent as the ones who caused this situation, so I had them eaten."
He grins a toothy grin. His teeth shine as white as the necklace of shark's teeth that gleam on his chest. "It was a calculated risk. It may have delayed his Eminence's awakening for many centuries, I am guessing, but would it have been wise to allow these, ah, Nazis, to become familiar with superior Atlantean technology? I have waited for you."
"When you rescue him, you will have only a few blinks of a human eye to get him to safety before the ship will explode. This--what do YOU call it--TransD Radiation -- leaks through the stasis field and gives off occasional burst of transdimensional energy. I imagine it has been doing this for thousands of years."
The man turns to Nissa and lectures with a pointed finger.
"When you wake his Eminence, you must calm him. He will not remember this conversation with you. I will not rejoin him. He will not speak your vulgar tongue. He will be confused by your world and the changes in the technology. You must convince him, as you have convinced me, that you are not a threat and that humans are, despite their violent past, capable of respect and worthy of the same."
"Do you undertand?"
Easily Ignorable Girl isn't too bothered by Nissa getting quiet. She's used to people ignoring her. She decides to see if her luck at getting listened to continues though and initiates a conversation with Kai. "It was really fun helping you in the lab the other night, Kai. I'm kind of fascinated by the tech stuff."
As Theo sees his vision-self disappear, he gets more flustered. "Hey! I thought we had two incredibly powerful mechs down here. I need help getting our t-rad generator up and out of the ocean floor!!"
Nissa nods.
She then says, “I need to warn my friend of what we are about to do.”
She then turns her attention to “Zellgato,
“We’re leaving, and we’re taking the prince but not his ship. That’s about to explode. The temporal stasis field is preventing that.”
She then asks a question to the one Zellgato can’t see. “I’m ready.”
Kai is mostly focused on what is happening at the bottom of the crevasse, but still manages to pay attention to EIG, although Kai is not really sure who is talking. "Ah, good to hear, and thanks for the help! We could probably use it again, once we sort out this..."
Kai trails off as Theo's message comes through. "The mechas are no longer on comms it seems, can you see them, Theo? Charles, are you nearby? Can you assist Theo?"
Legion continues to make its way towards the last known position of the mechas.
"Uh. Fine with me, I don't care to be exploded, but I'm quite happy to rescue.... but you're going to have to lead. As I said. I am floating in nothing but flashy lights right now. Just tell me what to do and where to do it. Also-we should warn the crew-and maybe more. I'm guessing it isn't going to be a small explosion-also tsunami,tectonic plates, reactions. If its big enough-a lot of coastal cities need warning. Something similiar ended a few countries I've been told" Zellgato makes vague motions in space "Leady the way pretty shiny sun goddess supermodel person. I assume you're one of these lights....?
“We use our mechs to open the hatch, then give the red ship a shove downward. I think Charles can get the prince with two arms, and with the other two arms, hang onto a mech.
“We shove the red ship downward and head upward—fast!—speeding Charles and the prince away.”
Realizing the who-does-what part might take precious seconds.
“How about I ask Charles to grab my mech, and you use yours to get Theo?”
She then asks the ‘man’ that Zellgato cannot hear, “Does this sound like a solid enough rescue plan, Guardian?”
Sounds like a plan. Are we both shoving, or are we prioritizing getting the others away faster? I don't know where anyone is, prince or others mind you."
Nissa clarifies her plan, letting the Guardian see these thoughts. If she’s wrong about where the prince will be, better to know now. “I think the prince will be between us, and we’ll be in our mechs.
“We can talk about gods and goddesses another time… if you want to, I mean.”
Ponders for a moment, about how he's not been exploded yet-though he's seen that in his previous line of work, before shrugging briefly-then realziing its a void of light she probably can't see that. "Sounds fine. I'll shove, In the worst case we cover the fleshies with our mech and buffet the explosion for them. If the prince is in the ship; what was below the diving bell before then I wonder."
"Theo, Kai, the shield around the ship enveloped the mechs," Charles responds as he swims towards Theo. He keeps an eye out for the octopus or anything else as he does so. [b]"Seems like that ship isn't as passive as we thought.
With four clawed arms, he figures he can help dig pretty well, so as long as he reaches the bottom without being crushed by water or tentacles, he sets about digging in.
Charles arrives to help Theo.
The handsome shirtless man looks sad. "When you will yourself to leave, time will begin again for you and end for me. I think that I feel something about that. A sense of ... self-preservation. You do not need to leave though ..."
He stops.
"You may find the temporal wave disorienting. The Prince will. The Banoo Atalas, must awaken, 'duragi'."
“I don’t know if there’s any way you’ll remember my words… or if what I say will even bring you comfort.” Well, it won’t if I start crying! Nissa recalls that she can simply project herself not crying. “You served your prince well, and as for what your words did for me…” Not wanting time drag out a goodbye, she simply says the only two words she must say before addressing the man by name: “Thank you, Guardian.”
“I don’t know if there’s any way you’ll remember my words… or if what I say will even bring you comfort. You served your prince well, and as for what your words did for me… Thank you, Guardian.”
As soon as she says that name—
—Nissa wills herself and Zellgato out of the temporal stasis.
Nissa and Zellgato snap out of the temporal field. While they were psychically immersed in the Shuffle for 10 or 15 minutes, only a 10 to 15 seconds passed in the 'real world.' During that time Charles has joined Theo in searching for whatever caused the T-Rad detector to ping. Also, during that time, Zellgato managed to inject himself with something helpful.
The temporal field engulfing the ship bursts, sending waves of concentrated Trans-Dimensional Radiation through all of you.
The temporal field protecting the ship is gone, it's energy passing through you.
While before you heard telepathic chanting, now you get a clear wave of certainty that you are in immanent danger. The ship is sending out a telepathic warning. A glowing orb of light starts to crackle from the underbelly of the ship.
Nissa sees a glimpse of the future!
Not noticing the sudden weight change as something new is suddenly part of his history-as the radiation wave crosses his multiple selves and timelines for a second's version of a quark.
Quickly toggling his open mic[b]"Bail. Now. Grab and go"[b] is all he states in a far too calm of a voice all things considered as he leaves Nissa to gather her protectee--as Zellgato throws his mech as hard as he can shoving it away from the group before turning and bailing to snag whoever Nissa hasn't by then.
Biobooster factored in.
Theo catches a glimpse of a version of himself from an alternate timeline. This Olympian made some different fashion choices than you would have. He appear with a flash and seem to see you too, clearly having the same kind of day you are; they are also under the sea dealing with a weird alien ship.
"Hey!" Theo shakes his head from the T-blast, pointing his finger at the temporeal doppleganger, who does the same.
Charles blinks as he sees... himself. Smeared out all over the area.
"Uh... you guys seeing this?" He asks over the comms.
[dice=T-Rad FX]d20
Nissa sees a glimpse of the future!
[dice=Augury %]d%
Nissa isn’t sure how to answer Charles. Her own vision is rather unclear. She looks at the prince’s ship. She intends to open the hatch, grab the prince and swim fast!
The mechas seem to be back on comms, but a lot of things are happening down there and Kai has trouble deciding which way to point Legion. The drone starts moving towards Theo, who was digging for the source of the T-Rad signal, and is now pointing fingers at something that neither Kai nor Legion can see.
Theo's temporal doppleganger looks panicked and gives Theo a 'get the hell out of here' sign, pointing away from the ship. "Swim!" he seems to be shouting.
Charles can see his future selves swimming like hell. The activity of swimming like hell, ripples back towards him, until he's doing it too. Your future selves seemed very certain this was a good idea.
Nissa and Zellgato see the Atlantean frozen in time within the ship. He was no 'sleeping beauty.' Handsome though he was, his face is contorted with panic as he presses the buttons on his ship. He just had enough time to set a psychic guardian to protect him before the ship's engine started to explode. He hid the temporal stasis field and trapped himself in time with an imminent explosion. He looks confused. He seems to be strapped into his seat.
Nissa uses the might of Big Red’s robotic arms to rip off the hatch to the prince’s ship and the straps as well.
If the prince doesn’t think to grab her mech’s arms, Nissa—noting Charles’ distance—says, “Zell—new plan—grab and go!”
Theo's temporal doppleganger looks panicked and gives Theo a 'get the hell out of here' sign, pointing away from the ship. "Swim!" he seems to be shouting.
Theo's eyes grown wide as he quickly swims out of the area.
along with use of Agile Feet (Su) Divine Trait power.
Charles has no clue what's going on. Why's he seeing multiple copies of himself, some of which seem to be doing what he'd just been doing? Why were some swimming away? And, er, when and why did he start swimming away? He hesitates in his strokes for just a moment, then sees he's not the only one. His brief hesitation costs him time, though.
"Does anyone know what's going on?" he asks as he tries to catch up to his other selves.