" Well we can relax the F.B.I is here now." Rhic spoke as if there was a bit of professional rivalry involved and then watched as Nijahd began to experimetn on the cells." Do they want us alive?"

   "if they do I may have a plan." Rhic suggested as he watched to see how often a drone came shambling past his cell. He looked over to Nijahd. "One of you wouldn't happen to have a sonic screwdriver handy would you?" all I have is an old leatherman tool."

"The one who got me shouted that he wanted us alive," Malcolm said, vaguely in answer to the older man's comment, ignoring the first bit. "Right after that I got hit with something that induced the worst vertigo..." his voice trailed off as he remembered all the feelings.

"I'll be happy with vertigo, as long as we skip the anal probing and full course dinner d'Nijad."

Using his lockpicks he began to experiment with seeing if he could coax different tones from the glass, tugging his work light out of his pocket and unscrewing the battery cap with the other hand.

"What kind of current are we talking about here? Is their space man puppet thing electrochemically based too? I take it that it's fairly weak, since they have to sit on the people's shoulders to ensure a good signal? Like an STD..."

  " They want us alive. If they killed our parents or something they can't enslave us and take advantage of what ever it is they think we have of value." Rhic opened a pack of his cigarettes and began to unroll them discretely and eat the tobacco choking down the foul taste as he talked.
     " I don't feel so good, I forgot to take my medicine this morning. that last little job left me with some nasty infection I really should be taking my meds. the doc said it could flare up and put me in critical if I didn't take them on time."Rhic spoke casually and continued eating the tobacco. already looking sick to his stomach.

   Nijad does indeed manage to create slightly different tones from the transparent material by using the various different sizes of picks, but the hum, while clearly the result of vibration, it still appears sturdy enough and Nijad is unable to put so much as a scratch in it.

   Charlotte watches him for awhile, then shakes her head.  "It doesn't work quite that way, I'm afraid Nijad, although I will tell you a secret.  The reason I came to help you is because sometime in the future, I sent a message to myself warning me of this day.  Of course since I am around in the future, we must survive this somehow, so I'm not worried.  Unfortunately that doesn't necessarily mean you do."  Her smile faded at Nijad's bizarre plan.  "Oh please don't urinate in your cylinder, that's just vulgar, and I doubt it will help even a little, unless your intention is to electrocute yourself.  As far as their connection to their puppets, all I can tell you is that their psychic parasite ability is inborn in their vile species; the spinal implant they use simply amplifies their impressive, if rather loathsome talents.  Once they have control over someone, however, I do not believe they can be removed without permanent damage to their host's cerebral cortex."
   She turned quickly to look at Malcolm and then Rhic, her eyes alight with the intensity of her sudden revelation. "Malcolm, you're right, he does want you alive.  Rhic is right, he wants whatever you have that is special and valuable to  him...is it possible?  Its hard for me to believe he could have learned, but there is one thing you all share in common:  you are all neophytes!  Potential..."
   She looked at Rhic aghast.  "Whatever are you doing?  Stop that you'll..," She grimaced, watching him consume the tobacco.  "Oh my, well I suppose it is one way to get their attention!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:35, Fri 27 Jan 2012.

Malcolm looks at the wounded woman and says, "Yeah, I've had the Sight for about six months, and the guy that got me called me and the girl I was with Potentials..."

  " say that a little louder." rhic chuckled in spite of his growing nausea." I dont think they heard you..." He looked down and made a sour face." Yeah I see things too, and I've got a lot of memories I don't remember ever living through runing around in my head....like pulling this trick on some nazi's "
  He watched until one of the drones were in his vicenity and looking in his direction before he began to convusles and jerk violently and gave in to the urge to gag and wretch violently hoping it would cause the drones to believe he were in serious medical distress and come to see what was wrong with him.

Nijad's ear's twitched at the Fed's admission about Nazis and turned to look at him.

"I don't know... Maybe you vomited on Nazis a lot when you were younger, before you hit your head and started figuring out how to include pawn shop employees in your plans? You certainly look old enough. You're what...sixty? That's old enough for Hitler, isn't it?"

He turned to the redhead for a moment.

"Is this really glass, or is there a metallic component? Is it crystalline? I don't suppose you know its acoustic resonant frequency or anything like that?"

Pulling apart his flashlight, he used his lockpicks to carefully pry the wires out for Plan B.

"You say I could get electrocuted? So the floor carries a current of some sort? And the locks are magnetic?"

Using his teeth, he began to strip wires down to copper, keeping a careful eye out for the guards who were sure to show up and give Mr. Copper his futile beating. Planning on guards being idiots rather than brutal never seemed to work out. Civilians never understood that, and it seemed that Feds had a rosy picture of life as a prisoner too.

   Charlotte nods to Malcolm. "Potentials...yes that makes a lot of sense.  Somehow he's found out what a neophyte is and he means to possess all of you, since he knows he can use your 'potential' to further his own power, and stop you all at the same time."
   She smiled weakly to Nijad.  "I would guess these chambers are actually made of crystal lined with vibranium, which means attempts to physically break them will not have much effect.  The accoustic resonance frequency needed to shatter cheap crystal is about 80-100 decibels, pure crystal is probably closer to 150 or so.  And yes I would surmise that those conduits which link these cylinders to the central computer are supplying some sort of energy to the locking mechanism (which I'm guessing is magnetic, from the look of them), along with various motion sensors and the like, electricity is cheap and easily generated, so its the most likely candidate in my mind, but I cannot be certain of it of course, unless I test the theory, and I'm not entirely sure I want to do that just yet."

   As Rhic began to convulse, warning alarms began to sound throughout the cavern complex and ten drones began to rush towards John's prison tube...

  rhic watched the drones coming toward his cell. He tried to avoid looking like he was watching them concentrating on not wretching his guts out. He looked for weapons he could grab, tools that might work as a weapon and tried to guage how wary the puppet masters guiding the drones were. If they were to wary he'd have to wait for them to moe him to a medical facility. hospitials were easier to break out of than jail cells.

"Are you all right?" Malcolm shouted at the older man, in a really weak way. "Oh my god! Sir, are you ok?" He started banging on the test tube in what appeared to be a panicky way, making as much noise as he could to add to the confusion as the Puppet Masters came closer.

"Oh my god! You need help! Oh my god! Oh my god!"

Nijad contemplated selling the Fed out. After all, he hadn't said so but suits didn't walk into places like Nijad worked for good reasons. Even if they were in the same boat now, it stood to reason the man had initially come in to hang something Nijad hadn't done on him. Maybe Guantanamo sorts of stuff, Nijad hadn't ever dealt with Feds before.

He wasn't sure that space alien puppet masters worked the whole weasel angle right though. You couldn't hang a plan on unknowns, like the Fed was doing right now. For all they knew the man was just putting himself into the cooking pot right now. Better to just wait and see what they did to him, stay low and out of sight.

Nijad straightened and slid his hands full of gear back into his pockets as nonchalantly as he could. He'd see what the aliens did, to see if he could recognize anything about how they were doing things and improve upon them to his benefit.

   The human puppets made their way over to Rhic's incarceration chamber, while a readout suddenly appeared on the front, showing his vital signs.  They examined the stats and then looked at the convulsing man, clearly puzzled.  Suddenly another figure loomed up from behind the crowd of drones and spoke in a commanding female voice:

  "I do believe our dear John Rhictor is trying some trickery to escape.  Still, I cannot have him dying on me, his body and abilities are far to valuable.  Take him to the infirmary and secure him there.  I want him guarded at all times, triple the normal guards. Then run a thorough examination.  I want him checked completely, and I do mean, everything!  Don't be concerned with his discomfort, he can handle it I assure you.  Can't you Rhic?"  Said the voice in a familiar Irish accent (which seemed very odd paired with the second deeper voice behind it).  She comes forward, smirking as she scans each of their faces in turn, then zeros in on Rhic.  Amazingly, the lady who steps forward looks like a mirror image of the girl imprisoned with you, Charlotte!
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:46, Mon 30 Jan 2012.

  "_damn...." Yeah I can take it, question is what the hell do you want us for." Rhic asked as he fought off another wave of nausea. He was asving that one for something special." You can't just grab people...urk...off the street ya know...they'll call the cops and this place will be knee deep in black pajamas"

PM Alex and Luke

Black pjs? What was the guy talking about - the Vietcong? Ninjas? Maybe he wasn't a cop after all. Nutcases often had strange trips. Still, he needed a play, and maybe the aliens were off balance enough to buy something right now. He spoke up.

"Yeah! He's trying to trick you! Before we were captured he tried to give me something - I didn't know what it was, but he said it was something from a time ship! I think he and woman are working with someone... I think they said it was the Mersian Empire? He's not who you think he is! He's an agent of the Terran Empire from the future! He only looks like the guy you're looking for!"

He spinned further into the reality of the con.

"He said he couldn't be forced to talk though. Said he'd undergone telepathic interrogation resistance training, something like that. Wanted me to work with him and betray you... I don't cross the guys with the guns though! I know the score."

"You just try to break him, he'll lead you into a trap! I... I could...HELP though. If you let me go! Let me go and I'll find out everything he knows! You guys have the guns, but I know people. I know liars - look me up. I know how they think. I just don't want to die here! I'll do anything you want if you let me live!"

   She sat up, her back against her prison tube and blinked at the OTHER Charlotte.  Hand around her chest, she struggled to her knees and gave her double an appraising look.

   "Ah, well....that does explain a lot, actually," she finally replied.  "Its a shame though, I definitely wear it better."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:29, Mon 30 Jan 2012.

Malcolm grew silent as his mind was slowly blown open by all he was witnessing. The dual-woman thing just another was weird.

He was living in a science fiction movie, and he hadn't brought any LSD. He longed for the days when he was only dealing with human evil... you could kill that.

Luke's perceptions returned as he bounced of the wall of what appeared to be a natural cavern corridor, lit by some kind of artificial lighting.  There is a large, well lit room ahead and he could hear voices. 

What got his attention, though, was the two tall men in long coats standing just outside that room. They looked like young street punks, but with the same odd expression as the other possessed people that had been chasing him just now.   

These two blinked in surprise as they saw Luke and Alexander appear; a brief moment of confusion.

Adrenaline still coursed through Luke, and again he reacted without thinking.  This time, however, fear and anger combined to flip his adrenaline switch from flight to fight.
Two minutes ago, it had been a flight from a dozen assailants: not good odds.  But right here and now, Luke's primeval mind saw a two on two confrontation; and it was sick of running.

Planting on solid foot into the floor, Luke propelled himself forward towards the Men-in-Black {well, the nearest one, anyway} in a bodyslam that would have made The Undertaker proud.

Attack:  rolled 5 using 1d20.

   Luke barrels into the nearest guard, smashing him against the cavern wall so suddenly that it crushes the air from his lungs...

   Nearby the second guard's eyes flick towards a panel inset in the cavern wall to his left.  Looks like some sort of softly glowing touch plate...

OOC: Luke roll me some damage my friend.  Unarmed attack 1-3 I believe, plus your Damage mod of +2 AND your Unarmed attack skill which is another +1.

Alex I need movement/actions my friend.

    As the prisoners try to sort out what is going on, a large drone walks up, bringing yet another prisoner, a young, 5'7" slender western European male.
He has short bark brown hair and brown eyes.  He dressed in loose clothes that look little like from days of wild west.  He has black hat which down most of time but used block out mid-day sun.  His skin is bronzed colour as though  tanned well in the sun.  He has backpack which carries everywhere.  Out of it stick 2 wooden objects.  He has belt with knife and third wooden object on it.
   The drone removes Simon's backpack and weapons.  He touches the glass like substance and an oval section simply seems to vanish.  The drone  dumps his charge unceremoniously into the empty capture tube, releasing him from the mass of black tangle cords, then closes it up once again by placing a palm on the front as before.  It bows to the False Charlotte, then stalks wordlessly away.
   The Pseudo-Charlotte's lips curl in a dark and self satisfied smile.  "Only two left to retrieve, your comrades Alex and Moon Child, and then you shall all be prepped for the Joining.  And at last, after so many defeats at your accursed alien hands your abilities shall be MINE!"
   She watches as four large human puppets, and the aliens attached to their backs, lift the still retching Rhic and haul him out of the room.  Then her strangely luminous emerald eyes fall upon Nijad. "I have never heard of a Mersian Empire, human called Nijad, but I do know you.  An agent of the Terran Empire?  In the future I know that to be true.  However Rhic cannot be one now, for he has not yet been to the Empire of the Terrans.  And the only way any of you will see it now, will be as my slave!  Yes Nijad, I know YOU only too well.  You are the trickster here!  Nevertheless, I would be a fool to disregard your warning."  He turns towards another puppet-soldier.  "Tell Onira to be certain the human's guards are heavily armed."
   Her intense gaze falls next on Malcolm. "I shall very much enjoy making you my slave, human called Malcolm.  I have a personal score to balance with YOU!  It was you who cost us our beloved Homeworld of MARI. YOU TOOK MY WORLD FROM ME! I shall enjoy stripping you of all you love and making you the very instrument of it!  I shall join to you first, that I may wreak my vengeance in your own form; your body becoming a tool of destruction at MY command!  You will watch as with your own hands I destroy everything you hold dear, and I shall enjoy every moment as I feel your spirit suffer, ebb and die inside of you!"
   Her face twists into a mask of hate, her voice almost fades as the deeper one comes to the fore, growing louder as she rants, until it echoes from the walls.  She visibly trembles now with anger, then swiftly pivots to Charlotte, who is sitting quietly, arms still protectively around her chest.
   "Yes, Charlotte," says the False Charlotte, eyes still burning angrily, voice trembling as she struggles with her composure.  Finally, by a herculean feat of will, she manages to subdue the inferno of her rage, though not entirely.  "I learned YOUR secrets when I took this body from your future self!  Ironic isn't it?  Your greatest allies are now my prisoner, and it is YOU they have to thank for it.  For I would never have known what a Potential was without your knowledge!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:26, Wed 01 Feb 2012.

  Rhic was glad he was carried out of the room before the rant got into full swing. He'd love to hear it just for any information she would spew. But he was already ready to puke. Her megalomaniacal bilge would make it hard to avoid laughing at her which might ruin the act.
  He let the guards carry him. jerking and twitching at odd times testing their strength and reactions. He needed to know how fast they could react to a sudden jerk, or spasm, if he wanted to get free without them pulling his arms off and beating him with them.
  If he felt one stumble or lose it's grip the plan A was simple twist, pull free and run. His plan B was less refined. Lose his lunch right in front of one guards foot, hope he slipped and then go back to plan A.

Malcolm continues to absorb the unreal information that's hitting him as the creature rants. None of it makes sense... yet, he's accustomed to that. Because he's used to living in a world that rarely has obvious, direct answers, he knows to open his talented mind to the insanity of his situation and drink in the information without working to sort it.

He's present in the moment, and for now observing is the only thing he has the power to do.

{Aww, crap}
This message was last edited by the player at 21:00, Tue 31 Jan 2012.

You rolled 5 using 1d3+3 ((2)).

Nijad rolled his eyes.

"Lady, if you know me then you should know I play for the winning team. You got us, fair and square. What chance do I have, except to be as useful to you as I can. And right now I'm going to be useful to you by pointing out that there are deeper and more things unknown to you in time and space than you probably imagine. These Mersaians, what if you don't know about them because they come from your own future? A timeline where they joined together with the Empire and destroyed you and your people? What if they're plotting against you right now as we speak?"

"You're right, I've got a twisty mind, but it would appear to me that your mind isn't twisty enough. This time travel crap, you've got it in your head wrong and even my primitive mind can grasp that. What if your base here was never unknown to the Mersaians? A matter of archeological record, a whisper from the past, or even from the future in the form of transtemporal prophecies handed down by The Dreamers? You'd have to ask yourself, not 'what am I going to do with these prisoners?' but 'why was I allowed to take these people prisoner?' "

"You probably think you're beyond infiltration too. But I imagine with the right prosthetics and psionic enhancers an intent spy could be walking around this base even now, placing some sort of bio weapon explosives designed to attack that nerve link you guys have between your hosts or something. At that point you wouldn't be the savior of your people, you'd be the death of it."

Nijad frowned.

"And all of that's just off the top of my head, mistress. Given enough access and education I could probably root out ALL of your enemies. I don't think you're equipped to let me do that after this 'joining' though, because the other Charlotte was trying to convince me that none of these things were possible just before you entered. Why would she do that, if it were not only possible, but actually going on at this very second?"

"If I were you, mistress; I'd prepare for an attack. Do an audit of all of my drones. Prepare a fast attack craft, and pay close attention to the least important seeming of details. You've missed something. Something that's going to get you killed... Honestly that's fine with me, if you'll pardon me saying so. But I don't want to take the bullet meant for you. "
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Tue 31 Jan 2012.