"Sweet, yeah that sounds fun! I realized the weakness when I was brainstorming a way to get around him being able to access the arrows, I realized that one option would just be to convert your system to mine, but it was pointed out that this would be a much less drastic option as I don't yet have a mapping or warding system available!" He smiles and nods "that was a right good point so we all agreed that this was a much better option!"

"Yes, that would have been an unfortunate choice," she said dryly. "With a lot of detention involved. In this case it is better to ask permission than forgiveness."

”a student by the name of Aton disrupts the metaphysical energy flows within a small radius around himself , most intensely at skin level, this renders him incapable of being noticed by the wards and also from using the navigational system. I aim to fix this by developing a proxy device that could interact with the wards and navigation in his stead! To do this I need programming level access to the nanite system and supplementary notes on the warding system. By the way did you know your system as it stands is vulnerable to attacks by nanite based systems?

"I was wondering when you were going to bring that up," she said, looking pleased. "It wasn't a problem at first because there wasn't really anyone else that had proper nanotech. Well, almost no one, but that's another story. I mean, the empire had some rudimentary stuff, but my security was designed to withstand that. But I have to assume that they've gotten access to at least some of your father's research, so I have been working on some upgrades. I haven't actually installed them yet. They need testing. You are the perfect person to help me test it...after you've finished your project of course," she added, quickly curbing her enthusiasm. Being a responsible adult really sucked sometimes. "Which is the topic at hand. Yes, I think I can give you limited access that will be enough to create an interface for this student. I'm happy to see you taking initiative to help another student in need," she added with a smile, pulling her holodisplay back up so she could more easily input commands into the security system.

Arthur looks around at the papers and screens,interested in it before shaking his head to clear it "sorry, I was distracted. Anyway, I need higher security clearance for an important project "

"Oh. Right," she said, shaking her head and motioning for him to take a seat on the chair next to the bed. "I'm still technically in charge of that until the replacement gets here. I'm supposed to be on medical leave," she said, wrinkling her nose. "All this resting gets on my nerves. I prefer to work. That's much more relaxing. Anyhow, what project are you working on?" she asked, perking up as she realized that this meant she got to talk shop at least a little bit.

Arthur doesn't seem to mind as he knocks on the door excitedly

"Er, come in," a voice called out tentatively.

Inside there was a fairly large living room full of comfortable looking well worn furniture that looked more utilitarian than decorative. At the far side was an open door.

"Through here," the voice called out. "Sorry, I can't get up just now. Doctors' orders."

Aananda tried to tidy the piles of paper around her and minimize at least a few of the screens she was projecting from her omnitool.

Aanandareavekki wrote:

Headmaster Ryo wrote:

I think that might actually be the name, just with Avalon instead of Charles Xavier.

Your memory is slipping, bro. Avalon Academy is the name. Although I'm pretty sure it says Avalon Academy for Gifted Youngsters on the plaque outside of the building. Geez. No wonder you needed time off! ;P

Hey, you try figuring out repercussions on the timeline because of [REDACTED], eventually figuring out that means [REDACTED] is in the school, and see how much time off you need. :p

Oh, please. I have two time traveling daughters. You can't impress me with your talk about repercussions to the timeline ;P

I think that might actually be the name, just with Avalon instead of Charles Xavier.

Your memory is slipping, bro. Avalon Academy is the name. Although I'm pretty sure it says Avalon Academy for Gifted Youngsters on the plaque outside of the building. Geez. No wonder you needed time off! ;P

Aananda shook her head. "No, she'll basically smother me with attention I don't want right now, much like I want to do to you. She's taking the whole bed rest thing way too seriously. Darn it, I hate being my own object lesson to have to examine my own hypocrisy," she said with a grimace. "Go on. I could use the time to rest anyhow."

She laid back in bed after Andromeda left and put one arm over her eyes while the other rested on her stomach. "I'm sorry, babies. This hasn't exactly been the most peaceful, happy start for you, has it? I'd promise to do a better job with you two, but I've got enough children already to know that that won't happen. Best I can do is promise to try and screw you two up in completely different ways than I did with your older siblings," she murmured.

"Pssh. I'm your mother. Worry is part of the job description, right after lack of sleep and nagging. I'm afraid of losing you. Again. It's not like I don't know that I have to let you go. As if I could stop you going anywhere you want with the amazing teleporting powers. I'm not stupid. But that doesn't make it easy. And I won't promise not to check up on you more than you would like, worry too much, and I will almost certainly embarrass you in front of your friends," she added. Andromeda laughed a little bit in spite of herself. "I'm grieving too, and sometimes that means that I will try to hang on too tight. I say this now, in a one time admission, so you know in the future that it doesn't mean that I don't have confidence in you. You're my baby. No matter how grown up you get. Now go, before we both start crying again," she said, giving Andromeda a tight hug. "and before I change my mind about being reasonable and decide to try my hand at inventing a better dimensional anchor."

Aananda sighed. "Master Quo used to tell me when you all were small that you were going to be my problem child. I didn't believe him. After all it was always James who ran straight towards trouble, and Taron who I worried about. You were so responsible and well-behaved. I totally took that for granted. Andromeda, you have no idea what it's like raising a child and knowing that she's going to die before she grows up and there's nothing you can do to change it. I always used to wish that you would lighten up and just live a little. Enjoy yourself a little more. But you never would. And now....now when I want more than anything to wrap you up and keep you safe because there's a second chance I never expected....now you want to take risks and rebel and cause trouble.....Sometimes you are so much like your father I wonder if there's anything we even have in common....and then you have to go and act like me when I was your age....it's absolutely maddening," she said, shaking her head and blinking back tears.

Aananda took the amulet and put it on. "Thank you, Andromeda. And do I want to know where it was you went shopping?" she asked, fear adding more of an edge to the question than she had intended.

Aananda hugged her daughter and rocked her slightly as she cried, rubbing her back and telling her over and over that it was going to be alright no matter how little she actually believed that herself. After a few moments she leaned back and put her hands on each side of An's face to make sure that her little girl was looking at her. "It's okay to grieve. It's okay to be sad. They were your friends. And you did meet them. I know, I know. It's messy. But I've listened to the story from both you and your sister and I think I have a pretty good handle on it. After the battle with the time demon, Ephebe was in bad shape emotionally. So you, as a ghost, basically possessed her body and brought her here. You're the one who made sure she would be a part of this family and you're the one who helped her by making friends and making sure she had a life here. And then you stepped back and let her take over because it was her body and her life. That doesn't make what happened not real. You were really there and you don't have to try to talk yourself out of your real feelings."

This was the cue for the real waterworks and she held Andromeda tighter as she sobbed so hard she couldn't even breathe. When the crying slowed down, she waited while An caught her breath and then offered her a box of tissues from the nightstand. Extra strength, super absorbent tissues, specially designed to deal with dragon snot.

Aananda sat up and sighed. So much for telling them altogether. "Come here," she said, patting the bed next to her, and waited for Andromeda to comply before she would say anything else. She reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Andromeda's ear, smoothing it away from her face. "Something did happen. I wanted to wait and tell you kids all at the same time. I should know by now that plans never hold together that well....Andromeda, Jim was on a mission with Enre and Asch and Amada. It wasn't supposed to be a high risk mission. Just a rescue operation. Things didn't go as planned. We don't have all the details yet. That's where your father is now. Sorting through the details and reports to figure out what happened."

"So....Jim is...." Andromeda couldn't bring herself to complete the question.

Aananda had to take a deep breath to keep from crying. "Jim Rivets is dead," she confirmed. "Honey....they all are. The whole team. Enre and Asch and Amada. They're gone. I'm sorry, baby. I wish it wasn't true. But it is. This is what happened."

"What? Oh, it's nothing, honey. Don't worry. I am cutting back. I already resigned as head of security. These are just lessons plans for the basic mechanics course," she said muzzily as she sat up and then realized with alarm that she'd said too much in her half asleep state.

After a whole night of fluids and mostly behaving herself, she finally convinced the hospital staff to discharge her. She stopped on her way out to check on Vai, and found that Vai was still asleep on a cot they had set up for her. She didn't disturb her, and instead quietly walked out of the room, heading back to her lab. She wasn't really sure how to handle to security situation until Ryo found a replacement for her. But after a whole night of actual rest she was beyond stir-crazy. Especially in light of recent events. She dreaded telling the kids about what had happened to their friends.

"You don't have to hover, you know. I'm resting. Really."

Ryleh snorted. "I'm your mother. Of course I have to hover. And don't bother telling me to leave. Vai is keeping watch over Phaezeriel. He is in some sort of cocoon again. I won't pretend that I am not concerned, especially considering the freedom he has been granted to the hatchery, but I will not jump to conclusions. I admit that I am paranoid."

"Well, with good reason. So you're basically going to stay in the infirmary all night?"

"Yes. If only to make sure you don't have a fit of trying to do everything the moment you start to feel better."

Aananda laughed, her arm over her eyes, hiding the tears. "I'm nothing if not predictable, huh?"

After finally convincing her mother that she was alright and sending her back to check on Via, Aananda laid back on her bed. She hated being in the infirmary at the best of times, but it was difficult to properly grieve when someone might walk in on you at any moment. She sighed and pulled out her datapad, composing a note for Ryo.

Aananda wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I need you to not tell the kids any of this yet. We want to wait and tell them when we have more information. Asch, Amada, Jim, and Enre were out on a rescue mission tonight. It went badly. They're all dead. They were barely more than children," she said, dissolving into tears again.

Ryleh hugged her and patted her back until she was able to calm down again. She didn't say anything. There weren't any words that would help with this.

Eventually Aananda pulled back, blew her nose, and mostly got control of herself. "I'm going to have to figure out what to do without Jim. I need to find someone to teach his classes."

"Aananda," Ryleh started to say, before Aananda interrupted her.

"Don't bother. I already know. I can't do it. I can't keep up with the security job. It's not good for the babies," she said dully. "I already know that. And without Jim Rivets to help with the extra work it's even more impossible. I'm not at my best and I can't protect the children the way I should. I'm failing at my job."

Aanandareavekki wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

[sopiler="Tamrin"]She could feel the pressure of unshed tears in her eyes as she tried to process the news. And then she pulled up her command center, heading to the staff section, selecting Jim Rivets. He had a constant connection to the system. Had being the operative word. He was gone. ::Jim Rivets is gone too,:: she said dully. ::I can't imagine anything that could take out all three of them left any other survivors. But we should probably wait to tell the kids until you have more information. I'm....going to have to make plans for what to do about his classes.:: She was focusing on the mundane aspects of what had to be organized, what had to happen next in order to avoid the emotional weight of what had happened. They were just children, for crying out loud. But that's what happened in war. ::I love you too, Tam. Always. Take the time you need. I'm here for you.::

"Oh, thank goodness," Aananda said with relief when she saw Melody was safe. "Okay, now I'll go back to bed," she said to the nurse who had brought her the chair. "They can sort out the details themselves."

Aananda looked concerned. "All right. I can do better than that."

::Vai, there's an emergency in the infirmary. Phaezeriel is asking for you. I'm told that it is a very urgent request. As in teleport, don't walk,:: she sent telepathically to her youngest daughter.

"I've contacted her telepathically. I made sure to tell her it was urgent."

The infirmary is somewhat silent for a bit then suddenly the lights start to flicker, then several small electrical arcs and explosions.

then an odd sound

materializing in the center of the infirmary out of thin air, a metal cylinder about 5 feet diameter and about 6 feet high.

there is a sudden surge in artron radiation emanating from the cylinder.

there also appears to be several scorch marks on the sides of it, that look a lot like reside from energy weapons.

give some a chance to respond first here

"I have no idea what that is. Some kind of life pod perhaps? It's definitely got lots of artron energy around it. Is there any kind of door or anything visible?" she asked.

Aanandareavekki wrote:

Arthur Barren wrote:

Arthur looks confused as he picks up the object as his nanomachines attempt to ascertain it's function1d20+42basically he's casting science identify, that's a know(engineering) check

"Please tell me it worked and we're not back to square one," she said wearily.

"this is at minimum a step forward, and hopefully one taken in the right direction..." should I roll another know(engineering) check to represent him spending another six seconds analyzing the thing?

"Make yourself useful and get me a chair instead of harping at me," she snapped at the disapproving nurse. She collapsed more than sat down in the chair when it was hastily pushed over to her. "I'm scanning the school for artron radiation and/or any signs of Melody. I don't think there's anything more I can do."

Arthur looks confused as he picks up the object as his nanomachines attempt to ascertain it's function1d20+42basically he's casting science identify, that's a know(engineering) check

"Please tell me it worked and we're not back to square one," she said wearily.

The Holo-Mel seems to have no sense that anyone is there. its like she is in in her own little world. (or maybe in this case another dimension all together.)

The barriers get set up as required, and almost as if on cue, Holo-Mel stops playing her guitar and wanders over to where the barriers are in place.

she sits on the floor nearby and starts to doodle on small chalkboard. she then sets it down on the ground so it can be seen. and she backs away a few paces and sits on the floor again, she is playing with her sonic device hoping that they get the idea.

the chalkboard has pictures of stick figures that seem to represent everyone there. it shows the one that looks like Arthur pointing something at the set-up and the numbers 6784 are written over his head.

it appears that she knows that the barriers are in place but is unable to communicate anything else.

"Arthur, please tell me that that makes sense to you. Because I'm not sure we can handle another long-term mystery to solve to make this work," she said wearily.

"Yeah yeah. Less excuses more results" he says with a joking grin as he sets up his own set of barriers,

He then looks over at the silent melody image before turning to the teacher, his voice lacking any of it's previous mirth "can... Can she see us.. Or uh hear us?"

"There's no indication of it so far, but really I have no idea. I'm just hoping that this works."

Aanandareavekki wrote:

Vickory West wrote:

"Weird stuff. Looks like we are in the right place." Vickory wanders around the point as her most recently modified flying ball warbles gently.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're here," she said staggering up, leaning on a pole with an IV bag hanging from it. She looks very pale and a beleaguered nurse is dogging along behind her trying to convince her to go back to bed. "Place the device. And don't forget to put up the shields."

"What shields? How would they help?" Vickory seems more perplexed by what she said than by the her state of appearance, then again, maybe she just doesn't recognize the signs of a human needing bed rest. Their coloration is already an unnatural pinkish pale color, what difference is few shades paler, right? :)

Aananda gives the nurse a glare, like see? this is why I need to be here. "Andromeda gave you a box. There are a series of little tripods inside. Set them around the area where you're placing the device. They'll shield the rest of the infirmary from any excess radiation. Not sure why my daughter had them in her pocket, but that's not currently pertinent to what's going on."

"Weird stuff. Looks like we are in the right place." Vickory wanders around the point as her most recently modified flying ball warbles gently.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're here," she said staggering up, leaning on a pole with an IV bag hanging from it. She looks very pale and a beleaguered nurse is dogging along behind her trying to convince her to go back to bed. "Place the device. And don't forget to put up the shields."

Aanandareavekki wrote:

Infirmary

"Professor Sunwake, I must insist that you get back into bed this instant!"

"Don't be silly, I'm fine. I'm not even taking my IV out, see? I won't go far. I won't even leave the infirmary," she said in as reasonable a tone as she could manage. She wasn't micromanaging everything. She wasn't. She didn't have control issues. She just wanted to make sure that things went smoothly with rescuing Melody. It was only a few steps after all.

Jessa stops in front of Aananda, mostly blocking the door to the infirmary. Her face is a set mask of worry and chagrin. When she looks up at Aananda, there is a total lack of recognition on her face, but her brows come together slightly in concern, "Excuse me, miss? You don't look too good, maybe you shouldn't leave just now? Sorry. Not trying to be a pest, but you really look like you should lay down and sleep for about .. um .. maybe a week."

"I'm fine," Aananda insists, although her color is definitely not good. "I'm not trying to leave the infirmary. Just my room. And just for a couple of minutes. It's just a little morning sickness. I'll be fine," she said, leaning on the doorframe for support.

The nurse gave an exasperated sigh. "What you need is to go back to bed this instant," she said firmly. "And to be put on indefinite administrative leave," she muttered. "Thank you for your help miss," she added to Jessa. "Professor Sunwake needs to stay in bed. Not that she's listening to medical advice," she said grimly.

"You're making a fuss over nothing," Aananda insisted.

Infirmary
"Professor Sunwake, I must insist that you get back into bed this instant!"

"Don't be silly, I'm fine. I'm not even taking my IV out, see? I won't go far. I won't even leave the infirmary," she said in as reasonable a tone as she could manage. She wasn't micromanaging everything. She wasn't. She didn't have control issues. She just wanted to make sure that things went smoothly with rescuing Melody. It was only a few steps after all.

"Good. I think Tryko'Sam went to the lab to fetch the parts needed. Arthur knows how to assemble them since he helped with the first one. And if not, the schematics are available to consult. At a quick glance I noticed that there were several minor changes in the schematics Melody provided within this SIM from the original, so I would recommend going with her version. She's had more time to work on tweaks to reduce the chance of error."

"I told you about this one. Other-Vai set off a bomb in there last week."

"I'm fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Just a little trouble with the anti-nausea potion having the opposite effect. I just need rest. Don't you start. I'm getting enough nagging from the infirmary staff as it is."

Actually, per our last series of posts, the parts necessary were being manufactured in the nanite tanks in Aananda's lab. She started the program remotely since it was still in memory.

"I think there's a glitch in the interface of this SIM," Aananda said from the view screen. "She just forgot a large portion of the conversation."

SIM Mel Room

"So," he says with a grin, "permission to use the PA as asked for earlier? Lots faster than going out to find 'em when we might need them in here, right? Just looking to be efficient."

He smiles a bit smugly at that, folding his arms on his chest with a hint of pride.

After a second though, he gets a thoughtful look on his face as he dwells on the topics just discussed further-- he's apparently easily distracted on his own.

"Sorry, no. The PA is just for school wide emergencies. Folks are nervous enough already after last weekend. But it shouldn't take you long with the arrows and there are three of you there that I can see, so one of you can go and find Ephebe or Andromeda and the other two can get started on building the device. That seems efficient enough to me. With the added benefit of not starting a panic."

SIM Mel Room

After listening to the Professor's quick sharing of the Universal issue-- and space between, Tryko'Sam asks, "Couldn't we modify the device specs she gave, so we can induce a doorway sized portal into that space, whip open a portal to her specific location via your device mentioned or planar travel ability-- pluck her out, and voila, seal things up with a reversal of same energies? LIkely that can be made to happen to it's less than an instant event."

He seems to pick up on the universe distinction rather quickly.

"That's probably the general idea, yes, but it's not my area of expertise. That's what you need to get one of the girls to help you with. Figuring out exactly how to make that happen. I can help with designing or altering devices, but it would take me months to figure out how to open a door into the place between universes. They already know how to do it."

"If your daughter does it all the time can't we just send her? Or at least ask her for advice?"

"Yes, of course you can. I'm not sure which one of them you should ask. Ephebe and Andromeda are both experts in all this time related stuff. Find one of them. I'm sure they'll help."

Listens to Tryko'Sam's ramblings and then gives him the that made no sense look that was usually reserved for small children talking about invisible rainbow striped dinosaurs eating their breakfast. "You're talking about interplanar travel, Tryko'Sam. Anyone can do that. We have devices that can do that. You...really don't have a grasp on the whole idea of magic yet, do you? Look, a universe consists of not just lots of worlds, but also all of the attached planes. We live in what's called the Prime Material plane. There are also elemental planes, Air, Earth, Fire, Water. And there's Celestia, where you get angels and so on. And the lower plane where the demons and devils and so forth live. There are more, but those are the ones you're most likely to encounter. Travel between planes is easy. But we're talking about travel between universes. Each universe has all of those places within it. Parallel universes exist side by side. At some point they diverged from each other and the girls can explain that bit better than I can, but the point is that there are subtle differences. There was a rift between this universe and the universe right next to it. It had to be sealed because leaving it open would have destroyed both universes. So we sealed it. But Melody wasn't able to get out in time. We thought that she was trapped in the other universe, which was bad enough, but according to the notes you forwarded me, she's actually trapped in a sort of dead zone in between universes. That's why she needs the modified bomb, to make a new door. I presume that she intends it to be a only briefly open self-sealing sort of door or we'll just have this whole problem all over again. Anyhow, that's why this has been such a complicated problem. It's very uncommon, thank goodness, and it's not the sort of thing that lots of people can just deal with easily."

SIM Mel Room

Tryko'Sam smiles at the monitor the moment Aanandareavekki speaks, and when she finishes.

"Hey now-- I didn't forget, brain was moving onto other things once I stepped outside. If this rift is nearby, I can probably help deploy where ever this 'bomb'," he says with fingers quoting the air, "needs to go-- honestly was going to wait for that. Guessing the assembly part is going to be left to someone besides me. Just to make sure it's not built wrong, I suppose?" He shrugs once, appearing not too attached to that result.

Looking back at Arthur, he adds, "So, give a hollar when you've assembled this, mang, and then point to a map -- I'll get it there, if it's fairly close and not too big when assembled."

He glances briefly at SIM Mel and adds, "You'll be ...uh, blown up? soon. Irradiated, I suppose, or bombarded. Then again, for all we know, we already did this and you're aware-- just not /here/ yet."

"No, no, no. The rift is already closed. That's why Melody is trapped. You're not usually able to travel between parallel universes. I think. Except my daughter does it all the time. But I think that's more of an exception that proves the rule kind of thing. It was all there in the info you sent me. Did you actually read the notes on those schematics?" she asked, dubiously. "The point is, I have no idea how to send something between universes. You are going to have to work that out in order to send the bomb to Melody as she's asking. The notes on the rift might help understand how it might be done."

Hallway

narrator wrote:

Red arrows (not the usual green) light up in front of Tryko'Sam and Vickory. They appear to be leading back into the SIM room.

Glancing at the arrows and then back to Vickory as if to confirm he's not imagining things, he says, "Guessing the SIM Mel might need more? But -- that's odd for a program to interact out here. Warrants a look see."

With that, he'll head back to the SIM Room and knock once before pulling the door open to walk back in.

Seeing the addition of a new face on the screens, he says while walking in, "Hey Prof, what's the haps? Something we -- oh, yeah, right." A slight smile forms on his face.

"Tryko'Sam, you called me. I think we might need to lock you out of the SIM rooms for a while every night so you can get some sleep if you forgot that so quickly," she said, looking a little exasperated. "I was just explaining to Arthur that I won't be able to help with this project in person at this time. I'm currently confined to the infirmary," she said with a frustrated sigh. "But I can make changes to the nanite tanks' programs remotely and I've already got them started working on the parts you're going to need to build this device. You are going to need to assemble it yourselves, but I don't think that this will be a problem. Between you, you have the technical expertise necessary to do this. How you're supposed to get it to Melody once you've done so is beyond me. But you have access to all of the data we collected from the first rift on the computers in the advanced mechanics lab. I'm here to advise, presuming that they don't confiscate my equipment. I am resting," she snapped at someone off screen. "This is restful for me. No, I am not being uncooperative. But it's not realistic to expect me to just...nap... Sorry about that," she said, bringing her attention back to the group in the SIM room. "We're having some differences of opinions on what bed rest means exactly."

"Uh well that Sam guy just ran out I think it was to get you. He seems not entirely stable" he pauses realizing something "and yes I gather what that sounds like coming from me lately"

"He's been through a lot, I gather. And is maybe not always coping so great with it. It's a common problem around here and I wish I were better at knowing how to help with it, but I'm not. I'm reallly just a glorified mechanic. Which is not addressing the point exactly. I'm looking at the schematics here, and I can make changes to the already programmed instructions to the nanite tanks in the advanced mechanics classroom to allow for these modifications, but someone is going to have to do the physical assembly. I'm afraid I can't help in person. They won't release me from the infirmary. You faint while vomiting one time and everyone freaks out and starts throwing around words like bed rest and medical leave," she said, rolling her eyes. "So I'm not going to be able to do more than advise this time."

And now you know why Aananda didn't freak out about the unidentified dragons flying over the school...she was a bit busy. :P

Inside Melody's special SIM, a screen lights up and Aananda's face appears. Not sure who is still in the room. Arthur? Well, obviously SIM Mel.

"Hello? Anyone here? Come on, you can't flag me for an emergency and then not be here," she said a trifle impatiently, waving someone away in the distance. "I told you, I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere. It's not going to hurt me to work as long as I stay in bed," she said testily to someone just out of the frame.

"Yes, alright, I'm sending that information to you now," Aananda says, pulling up the holo display from her wrist unit and inputting commands. "If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask. You know we will help you however we can."

And with that she slips back into the lab to comfort a now crying Vai.

::Indeed, Lady Aananda. I'll see you later, Vai; we will need to get the wyrmling re-bonded to you.:: Phaezeriel leaves the lab with Aananda, his thoughts directed solely at her.

** spoiler omitted **

Jiminy, Prankster of the Future wrote:

After a while, Andromeda and Jiminy left the lab.

"Hey, you go ahead, I'll catch up in a minute," he said, catching sight of someone else waiting in the hallway.

Once Andromeda was out of sight he walked over to Fei. "Hey. Vai's okay now. You can go in if you want to talk to her. Just go easy on her. After Mom's lecture and Phaeze's freak out, she's drowning in guilt right about now. But she insists that she wasn't in on the plan to kill her. And I'm pretty sure that she would have cracked by now if that wasn't true. Mom totally went ballistic on the girls."

Fei, who had his head bowed in some quiet contemplation, looks up at the sound of James' voice.

"I...am not sure I wish to know what you are referring to, James" the young monk says begins cautiously. "As long as Vai is back and free of Lumos, that is all that matters."

He bows thankfully to James, and then walks purposefully back to the laboratory.

"I will, however, do my best to not bring her any more undue stress," he adds, looking back to him with a smile as he reaches the door.

He enters the room as Aananda is talking to Vai.

The first thing that Fei notices when he sees Vai is that her champion aura is still active. Lumos has not given up his control over her at all it would seem.

Aananda looks up and notices Fei standing there. "I think there's someone else who wants to talk to you, sweetie. Come on, Phaezeriel, let's let these two have a minute of privacy," she says, ushering the healer out the door, and shutting it behind them, but not going far. Just in case the conversation ended in tears and Vai needed her mom to be there.

Aananda nodded, still hanging onto Andromeda with one arm as she tried to hastily wipe away the tears.

"She's waited long enough," she agreed with Tamrin.

Aananda had been standing there absolutely frozen since Andromeda appeared, totally stunned. Tamrin can tell that in spite of her lack of outward reaction she is experiencing a veritable tsunami of emotions.

Krays's question jerks her out of her stunned state. "Yes. Yes, of course. We need to bring Vai back," she said, nodding.

And then she lunged forward and grabbed Andromeda in a tight hug, sobbing.

"Mom.....can't.....breathe," Andromeda gasped, hiding her face against Aananda's shoulder so the others wouldn't see how much she was crying too.

"We got the breach closed, but Melody was trapped inside," Aananda said, tersely, wincing at the psychic whine Arthur was producing.

Aanandareavekki wrote:

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no.....there has to be something we can do! Some way to bring her back...." Aananda is frantically pressing keys looking for any sign of the now closed rift, but there is no longer anything there to find. Just lingering traces of artron energy that are quickly dispersing. "This isn't what was supposed to happen!"

Fei quickly redirects the extra power he was funneling into the communications array to the sensors in an attempt to boost their reception and keep track of the dwindling energy signatures.

"Is there any way to direct power to these energy traces and force the breach open again?"

"There's nothing to open," she said, her voice breaking as she fought back tears. "There's no trace of the breach. If I didn't know where it used to be, I wouldn't even be able to find evidence of it, but that's almost gone too. The device did exactly what it was supposed to do. It just was supposed to do it after Melody was out of the breach, not while she was inside. Ephebe would know how to open another breach, but it would take me too long to figure out how to reverse engineer it from what we did to close it. And there's no way to know if that breach would connect with wherever Melody is now. I can't even understand the maps that Raelle made for Melody. I was too busy building the device to learn their mathematical language."

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no.....there has to be something we can do! Some way to bring her back...." Aananda is frantically pressing keys looking for any sign of the now closed rift, but there is no longer anything there to find. Just lingering traces of artron energy that are quickly dispersing. "This isn't what was supposed to happen!"

After a cursory glance to ensure the hallway is empty, Fei teleports back to Professor Sunwake's laboratory, appearing at a close (but still respectful) distance from his instructor.

"I have spoken with James, sabumnim," the young monk intones, sounding at least a bit more like himself again.

"Is there anything else I can do to help expedite Melody's task?"

"We've lost contact with Melody," Aananda said, working with urgency. "I'm trying to reestablish the signal but we need to boost the frequency. If you can add more power to the system that would help immensely."

"Arthur, I need you to help program in signal modifications. It's probable that where she is operates on different frequencies than we do, so we need to be able to do a broad signal sweep to try and find her."