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Azara braces himself for impact then realizes how foolish he looks when Maverick brings them in for a landing much smoother than many of the commercial flights he's taken.
"Well, I don't know how that could have gone any better. The right team can achieve any dream," he says to the group.
Once the analysis of the atmosphere is done and it becomes evident it's not going to eat the flesh right off his bones, he goes to the airlock, activates his environmental shields and leads the way off the ship.
"I don't see any reason not to check the nearest anomaly first then move to the next?"
Spoon's ears twitch as he takes a moment to listen. "Wait... There's a strange pattern in the noises around us. The sounds of the animals and the rustling of the leaves all sound unnaturally harmonious, like a song performed by the collective life forms on the Drift beacon, and certainly not a natural occurrence. This level of synchronicity, right down to the basic movements of the smallest flora and fauna, likely means that life forms living on the Drift beacon are all an important piece of the Drift beacon’s function, like a part of the code within the Drift beacon’s operating system."
Then he smiles. "This reminds me of the glory of a finely blended pot of Poshkettle Tea!" Then he drains his cup, and puts it in his pack. "Let's do this!'
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"That's...interesting. We're obviously a small influence compared to the billions or trillions of life forms here but is there a possibility that enough life forms not in harmony..."
"Or in a DIFFERENT harmony, could alter the code? What if that's what these Fourthers are trying to do?"
Despite the serious nature of the revelation and what they're here to do, Azara can't help but try a slightly more whimsical experiment.
"Spoons, when you've got a moment, can you tell me how a raven is like a pot of Poshkettle Tea?"
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Neroo confirms Spoon's theory.
Quite interesting indeed! A living code! May be this "Fourth" is something to consider after all? A life form hybrid between machine and plant? I any way, this exploration will be interesting!
Neroo, in front of such enigma, almost forgot what the cultist have done to the crew
Whiskers twitching, Spoons rises to the challenge.
'How is a raven like a pot
Of our Poshkettle tea?'
(Asks Azara, amusedly)
To which I answer, 'How's it not?'
Come now, let's take stock:
Each has served many kings;
Both the bird and pot can sing,
Bringing joy to all the flock.
Both bird and pot are often black
Both have been where trouble brews
Or where folks gather to hear the news;
Both are better with a snack.
Both are majestic, make no mistake.
My heart flutters in their wake.
Heading outside the ship you can begin moving in the direction of the anomalies. Nainiimii flies along just behind you, looking around in awe. "I've seen Drift Beacon's before, but never one so...elaborate." she says. "It's a marvel."
The priest isn't wrong. Traversing through the jungle ecosystem you pass a series of flowers with tiny strips of computer code written in the veins in their petals. Birds above you fly in complex yet perfect formations, while a nearby pack of monkeys shriek at each other with tones that sound suspiciously like '0's, and '1's.
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"All life part of a grand code
Plants and animals
Slaves or as free as any?"
Azara watches this place in plain awe, Truths about the nature of life, fate and free will nibbling at the edge of his consciousness in ways that make him uncomfortable. All the more uncomfortable since he can't tell whether the revelations suggested are grand and unifying, terrible and homogenizing or a combination of them all.
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Rani falls back from Azara to Yith.
Yeah. And I was thinking all the other beacons were like that one. But, this ... either it's some sort of organic computer acting as a beacon, and there might be more of them out there, or this is some Truinite experimental thing.
Heck - build one big enough and you might be able to figure out the answer to the ultimate question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.
She ponders a bit. I guess we're invaders so we'd better keep an eye open for the anti-virus code. I just hope we don't mess stuff up
She is also taking several recordings. She is sure Celita would find this really interesting, probably even more interesting than those strange equations that were discovered on Enereth-7.
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Charli smiles in delight. "I also thought that all Drift Beacons would be alike... But maybe it's like tea varieties, each one cultivated to a different purpose."
At Azara's comment about the towel, Charli raises an eyebrow. "What about your suit's environmental protections? You can always activate them."
The ecosystem you travel through doesn't seem to be wet . But as you continue your trek and the minutes pass to lush and majestic environemnt begins to noticeably change. Some of the flying birds above begin to move with poor coordination and you notice a few crash into each other as they fly in their patterns. The plants you walk by begin to look withered, while other flora appears partially crystallized. The background environmental soundscape of oddly harmonic animal calls gets more and more disrocdant. Fluttering along with you, Nainiimii turns her head back and forth and ther wings flutter nervously. "Something seems to be wrong here. The beacon, it seems to be degrading. We should hurry!"
Heading onwards you stumble across a stone pathway that while slightly overgrown makes for much smoother travel than the difficult terrain of the jungle around it. Following the path for a few more minutes in the direction of the scanned energy anomalies, come across several worn-down and broken stone walls. At the ruin's center, a shattered crystal pillar pulses with light and emits a discordant thrum. The pillar is visibly damaged, and spread around it you notice three large knocked-loose fragments of the pillar around the ruin's fringes. One shard rests on an overgrown stone path , another has sunk to the bottom of a 10-foot-deep pool , and the final shard is tangled in the boughs of a tree. Each of the pieces pulses with light in time with the flashing light from the damaged pillar's base.
A bit to the north of the pillar, you notice two figures. Each an android with that four-dotted symbol around their necks, they look up and one calls out towards you as you approach. "Who are you? What's your purpose here?" While they seem to have a pistol at their sides, it is currently holstered and neither's arm is drifting down towards it.
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"Hello, I'm Charli Poshkettle, and this is the cross-galaxy Poshkettle Tea all-celebrity Taste Test Tour!" Charli poses with a dashing smile in full view of the camera drone. "We're interviewing random citizens about their thoughts on Poshkettle Tea, and their tips for a better life! The good news is you've both won a chance for a year's supply of tea, and free cash prizes. But Poshkettle Tea wants to be associated with changemakers." Charli continues smiling. "So... tell us what you have done to make the Universe a better place, and you can be a big winner!"
Over a telepathic link to her allies, she thinks, Restoring this beacon will be easier if they tell us what they've done to disrupt it. If this fake marketing statement doesn't fly, we can still fight them...
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You surely recognize me! I'm Neroo from Absalom Idol! I've made second a few years back and I have my own holoTV show now.
I'm here to record you're reaction she shows her camera drone and add some fun to the program. Especially after the Crash... people need some happiness.
This place is amazing, but this crystal seems broken, can we help in any way?
"A...a tea survey?" the android that called out repeats in surprise. "Some corporate puff piece?"
Look the other android says. This place is dangerous. Really dangerous. You should get out of here. In fact, tell you what: we can help guide you out in case things go worse. All leave together, how about that?
Seeing Neroo look towards and ask about the crystals, the first android raises their hands in alarm. "Be careful with those! They're glitching something bad!" True to their word, just after they says this you see all three of the shards go dark. For several meters around each small sticks, rocks, and other objects seem to float and violently surge towards the shard as if gravity is being shifted. The the shards lighten a bit again, still pulsing along with the pillar base.
They broke it and its going to be broken worse! the second android says. We all need to leave NOW, before its next ritual breaks something bigger!
He starts to move towards you, but the first android grabs his arm "Oderil, maybe they can help. Stop Fragement and fix whatever madness it's unleashing..." but the other shakes it off and starts moving towards your group. Tri-Vector they're a tea company and a celeb spokesman - but they have a ship that can get all of us out and to safety!
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Your reputation grows to the point that your name is ubiquitous. The DC of Culture checks to recognize you is reduced to 5 (or 10 to recognize you out of context from your appearance alone) and it takes only 1d4 hours to find a fan who meets a generic description. In addition, fans give you a 10% discount on purchased goods.
I can assure you that I'm more than capable to repair anything and my friends have also some abilities that will come handy in any situation.
Look I know yo - the second android's eyes widen. Wait a minute: weren't you one of those Spacefarer's?
"Starfinders. They're called Starfinders Tri-Vector"
Whatever their name is they're a real deal. Able to fight a whole war and everything. They might actually-
That android moves towards your group, with a mixture of excitement, hope, and panic splayed across their face. That pillar used to be one of the terminals to access this beacon. Fragment, he tried to use it to upload themselves to the Drift. They said it would fix it, fix Triune, get the Crisis to stop and get Them to be whole and speak to us again. But the method... the android looks down in shame. They used Trinuite priest for the focus of the ritual. Some shirren. But it went wrong - the priest died, badly, and the whole terminal shattered. And Fragment didn't even seem to care! He said that the priest's essence just wasn't strong enough of something and that to channel the 4th's power they just needed someone stronger.
The other android approaches as well. "Tri and I were both Tirunites once. But our God has stopped talking. To us, to anyone. And right after Their creation caused... he pauses, closing his eyes, before continuing. The heads of the Church had no answers either. But then Tri-Vector and I were met by a group who said they understood what had happened. that a 4th had been the missing piece that caused the flaw and that with this Fragment - some sort o piece of it or herald - everything could be set right as it should have been from the start. But their ritual isn't working and they're showing no sign of stopping. And then we herd from others they just slaughtered some ship to grab another priest to try again. We don't know if there's a malice at work or insanity or what, but this doesn't seem to be for the benefit of any '4th' anymore even if it exists. It's just more killing and pain."
Behind you, Nainiimii flutters in agitation as the androids speak. Slaughtered ship. Kidnapped priest. That's got to be Accordant-Contemplator-16! But if they broke this terminal - that could damage and destabilize the whole beacon if its not fixed soon!
While all this talk is happening, the crystal shards around glow again, a bright hot white this time, before falling back into their flashing pattern.
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"Sounds like we have a plan for the hard ones. I'll grab the easy one," Azara says.
He pulls out his titanium alloy cable and makes a big loop, big enough to fit around the fragment on the ground.
He pauses before he starts to move, though.
"Hey...should we do these one at a time? We don't want to gather all the fragments in one spot where they'll all be emanating dangerous energy in one spot."
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"Sounds like we have a plan for the hard ones. I'll grab the easy one," Azara says.
He pulls out his titanium alloy cable and makes a big loop, big enough to fit around the fragment on the ground.
He pauses before he starts to move, though.
"Hey...should we do these one at a time? We don't want to gather all the fragments in one spot where they'll all be emanating dangerous energy in one spot."
"Good thought. We should do one at a time. The easy one first then?"
Azara waits for the crystals to glow - this time accompanied by a loud droning thrum - and then begins to pull the cable tight around it the moment the glow dims. The lashunta yanks the shard closer, where Yith is waiting to grab and hustle it the rest of the way down the path. As the vesk holds the shard in place against one of the major damage-points on the pillar, Neroo quickly tries to re-fuse and synchonize it to the main temrinal as the shard begins to ominously glow and shake once more...
Working fast, Neroo is able to skillfully adjust the shard into place. Lines of code pulse through both the fragment and the pillar, but using her tools the lashunta is able to harmonize them into a single flowing stream of data. You wince to brace for a gravitational explosion, but while the crystal in the tree and pool as engulfed in a short-lived gravity well, the third fragment seems mended!
You are able to repeat this twice more - Maverick boosts up and quickly jumps the second shard into position for repair, then a diving Rani brings up the last to be sprinted back over by Yith and reattached. The crystal pillar terminal glows brighter again, and Nainiimii claps "That's so much better! It will probably need a full diagnostic, but it should hold for quite a while!"
The two androids have observed all of this with surprised and awed expressions as they witness your swift and well-oiled competence and teamwork. Well, you Starfinders are something. But Fragment's just going to try doing this again and again. I think he's prepping another ritual right now. If you're here to stop him, he's that way! the android points in an easterly direction But be careful - he's some sort of divine thing. Huge, but he's got some kind of weird mental sway. Saw a few resistors seem almost compelled to approach even when they tried to fight back, and those who didn't seemed pained.
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"Fragment has fragmented code
Starfinders repair
Stop Fragment from fragmenting."
Azara gives a nod when the pillar is fully repaired. "And that is how a group of Starfinders is supposed to work. It doesn't matter the problems that come at us, we can solve them with teamwork."
He gives a thumbs up in response to Charli's question.