"It was an impulse!" Kylie tried to defend herself. "She looked human and if she wasn't freed quickly, she might have died!"

"I suppose I would have done the same if it had been one of these Dwarves, but it didn't come up. Tawaret... the one I released, hadn't been with the Dwarves long, so she didn't know a lot about them, but she was helpful."

"She said she was a Tok'ra, too, and was on an important mission, so we contacted SGC and they arranged to meet with the Tok'ra on a neutral site... in case she wasn't what she said she was."

"Anyway, we're here in the field, and a lot of that stuff you said isn't always possible. That doesn't mean we do nothing, though."

Sarah had been quiet but pipes up on request, "The runes are proto-norse - celtic of sorts.   Having looked at the writing, I'm pretty sure I can decipher future texts given an bit of time."  She hoped her interruption would distract from Kylie's babbling about the Tok'ra.

PM To GM

After a bit of thinking, Kianan cannot recall ever hearing the name Tawaret before.

"If Alynita did not confirm dis Tawaret had a symbiote, den you would not have forwarded her to the Tok'Ra council. Dat is very good news for you, as it almost certainly means dat you did not expose yourself to any padogens." Looking at Kylie, "If you had not gotten lucky, den you may well have killed her rader dan saved her. Doing someding does not mean doing de right ding." She shakes her head while speaking to nobody in particular, "De counsel is right, you Tau'Ri are very rash."
"Dat is true." Shrugging, she continues, "Meredy says dat not everyone gets the benefit of a millennia long lifespan and dat I should not judge you too harshly... Dat is not true, she told me not to be de ass of a horse just because I can expect to live a millenia."

"Sarah, can you see dis writing with one of your own tools or do you want to take a picture of it? We would like to get inside and check on de occupants of de remaining tubes and take a look at the chamber dat was opened."

"The adjusted light capture should be fine...."   She'll step forward to consider the writing after giving Lucky a smile and answering his earlier question with a quiet, "It does rather, doesn't it!"

None of the doors the team has encountered so far had any locks on them, and so weren't locked.

They were kept closed apparently for privacy and sound-proofing, and secured by magnets.

The only writing on the stone cylinders, located just above the glass plate, is just some sort of alphanumerical designation which is only visible with light adjustment. There is also one button and one 'spot' which is probably the signal light.

The only empty cylinder is in a section by itself. The other sections all hold dozens of cylinders.

Kianan-Meredy studies the 'stone' capsules containing the 'dwarves', first through the camera set to near-IR, then in thermal mode. "Dey do not appear to be using a cryogenic system. On de upside, you can see here and here, dere appears to be dermal lines in de material. Dose are probably whatever dey are using to transfer power. Here and here are much higher concentrations, probably de emitters for whatever dey are using for stasis. I don't want to make more invasive tests while it's occupied."

Setting the camera down on the pack, she adjusts the visor and raises her hand again."I agree, dey are too warm to be in cryogenic suspension."

Kianan: Check for stasis type(+9 Engineering, +12 Electronics, +13 mechanics)
 19:39, Today: Kianan-Meredy rolled 12 using 1d20 ((12)).

Meredy: Check for status of pod occupants First Aid +9:
 19:42, Today: Kianan-Meredy rolled 12 using 1d20+9 ((3)).

The interior of the cylinders does not show any signs of cold, so it's probably not any type of cryogenic suspension, though superior insulation could still make that possible.

It's also not any type of stasis, since stasis would mean no heat so it'd feel cold, not warm.

It may be some type of hibernation, with life support included, but given the length of time that it seems to have been going on, it pretty much has to be some type of suspended animation.

It also seems likely that the minds of the Dwarves are active... living in a virtual world... unless the suspension also applies to their minds, too.

Without opening up a cylinder and only looking through the glass window, Kianan-Meredy can't see any signs of deterioration of the bodies. On the other hand, she can't detect any respiration, either. That probably means it is incredibly shallow.

Once it is mentioned that the dwarves might be living lives in a virtual world she asks,  "I wonder.  Is it ethical to pull these individuals from their lives?   How long have they lived them - and we're do disrupt them?   Tawaret could very well have been lying to us - these people could have happy in their own little suspended animation world."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 09:57, Mon 11 Sept 2017.

"Do you really think that lying virtually comatose in a stone cylinder constitutes 'life'... as we know it?" Cormac responds.

"Ignorance, of course, is bliss. If... and I emphasize the if... they are in such a dream state, I don't think that it was intended to last for more than a few years. Something may have malfunctioned in the equipment... or possibly, the event that was supposed to end it never happened."

"Ideally, of course, we should ask them before we bring them out. In any case, we have no idea what condition their minds are in within this dream state. They could be experiencing Ground Hog day over and over and over again, endlessly."

"In other words, without more data, we're pretty much damned if we do and damned if we don't. I suppose, in a way, I'm glad it's not my decision to make, since I'd have woken them up already."

"We agree that we need more data. Fortunately, we have an already opened one from which we can gain more insight." Moving to the opened pod, she stripped off the visor and the glove. Packing them away she opened the engineering pack.

"Let's see what we have here." Taking care to prop the glass plate open with the P90, she began carefully examining the pod.

Rolling for Investigation: (Mechanics +13, Electronics +12, Engineering +9)
21:28, Today: Kianan-Meredy rolled 15 using 1d20 ((15)).
Totals for Investigation: (Mechanics +28, Electronics +27, Engineering +24)

The glass plate doesn't open; it's just a viewport into the cylinder's interior.

This stone cylinder is still open; it was never closed after Tawaret was released.


It's a hollow stone cylinder which Kianan-Meredy is slightly baffled by. It is clearly made of stone, but she can detect no signs of stone-carving, no tool marks. Yet, it does not appear to be made of some type of concrete. It's almost as if the cylinder was made from a mold into which 'liquid stone' was poured. Although the seams are very tight, it would appear that a metal pin is used for the hinge, unless there is a way to reinforce the stone so that stone pins wouldn't break.

The interior surfaces of the cylinder are perfectly smooth, and the interior is lined with a soft pliant material... perhaps some sort of foam rubber. As can be observed in the other cylinders, the occupants are all dressed in what appear to be normal clothes.

With a magnetic probe, electrical circuitry can be detected and traced within the stone. The majority seems to be in the lid. For the most part, it resembles solid state circuitry. Somehow, the builders of the cylinders were able to duplicate ordinary components within the stone.

Kianan-Meredy can't really determine what the circuitry does, however, since it's like trying to lift herself off the ground. Without knowing what the components do, she can't tell what the cylinder's function is. Likewise, without knowing what the cylinder's specific function is, she can't deduce what the components do.

Reduced to watching, Lucky stayed by the door since the CO gave him no directions. The entire room gave him the creeps as much now as it did when they had first found it, so waiting near the entrance appealed to him anyways.

Now that they are looking more closely at the pod, Sarah will remain close at hand should she be needed and will consider what she can see of the pod for any writing she may have missed earlier.

   Kianan-Meredy rested one hand on the pod while drumming her other fingers against it. "We can't tell what type of stasis dey are using. Upside, we know dey are using essentially standard power transfer systems." Squatting down, she rummaged through the engineering pack & pulled out a grease pencil. "Dese are the main power conduits for the system," she said while drawing lines across the exterior of the pod along the magnetic anomalies she found earlier. "But oder dan de fact dat dey exist, we can't say what dey are doing. Dere are more lines in de floor, but I can't be exact enough to say wheder dey are connecting to de pod or simply passing under it."

   "We can rule out a few types of long term hibernation - dey have been in de pods too long for anything dat does not essentially halt metabolic activity. De clothing dey are wearing and de pods demselves are not conducive to adding biologicals - water, nutrients, or oxygenation - or removing waste products." She begins packing all of her gear back in it's bags, "Having examined the pod, I am confident dat eider dey were constructed wid some form of molecular assembly system or de active components were assembled den encased in de rock matrix. Widout de proper equipment to be more conclusive, my best guess is eider a carbon or TiO2 crystal matrix wid a stone dust 'filler' to give it a rock like appearance."

   "We dink it's odd dat dere is no oder instrumentation here. Perhaps dere is a control room on one of de floors dat we have not examined yet." Picking up the P90 & her pack she turns to the Major, "Unless Sarah has finished translating de runes at de door, I don't dink dat dere is anyding more I can find out from dis floor."

Lucky listened, unable to hide the blank look on his face as Kianan spoke. Once she finished, he could not help uttering, "I hope I wasn't supposed to understand any of that." He cleared his throat as he realized he had said it out loud, and resumed his keeping watch.

That's a good question.   Given Sarah's familiarity with the script and her ability (now) to see the text, did it include anything of interest?

The markings on the door, now that Sarah can see them, seem to indicate not so much who is in here, but where they were from. There is an arrow pointing left and designations that coincide with the elevator markings. There is a similar arrow and different designations to the right.

With Kianan-Meredy's little dissertation, she, as well as anyone else that has a science skill, realizes that the reason certain metals conduct electricity is because of the alignment of the molecules. The better and tighter that alignment, the more conductive the metal is. The molecules form a crystalline structure called a lattice that allows the electrons to transfer energy across the individual molecules.

Somehow, these people have learned how to force such a lattice in elements--at least in stone--that don't normally form them.

"You can't fool me, Lucky!" Kylie says as she lightly jabs Lucky in the side with her elbow.

"You're not as dumb as you look! You're just pretending you don't know what she was talking about. We call that the O'Neill Syndrome."

"Yeah, you are right, Kianan... Meredy... oh, whoever I'm talking to! The controls are on the level above us. It's a room a lot like this one, but not as deep, with large control panels that appeared to be directly above each section of cylinders down here."

"I don't know if there were names on the controls or not. Hmmmm. Now that you mention it, it does seem rather strange, doesn't it? I mean, if it was just a... um, room number, wouldn't you need some sort of index to locate a specific person?"

"Of course, that's assuming that there was ever any intent to be able to revise just one person. Tawaret was an anomaly... as far as we've found so far. Perhaps it was her different anatomy that caused her cylinder to... run out of power earlier? Or maybe it was a malfunction."

In reply to Kylie Nova (msg # 792):

Kianan-Meredy looked at Kylie for a moment before responding, "We will answer to eider name and will try to respond appropriately. However, be aware dat if we are working on someding, you may get a relayed answer - as only one of us can control Meredy's body at a time. Alternately, Meredy prefers 'Kianan-Meredy' if you are speaking to bod of us - as she feels it acknowledges bod host and symbiote."

"We are not certain of Tau'Ri culture, but if you are concerned about offending us by using de incorrect form of address, we assure you dat neider of us will take offence to honest attempts at communication. We only ask dat you do not forget dat bod of us are here."

"As to de matter at hand, we are not certain if dis Tawaret is an anomaly or not. De elevator appears to show 4 floors wid dis designation. If der is anoder control and occupant floor, der may be anoder chamber wid a single pod - making her part of a larger pattern rader dan an anomaly."

"Major, if Sarah is finished, we would like to see dis control floor."

"O'Neill syndrome? Sounds like some sort of Irish diagnosis, like a fear of leaving the pub." Lucky replied with a slight smirk. All right, would you believe I understand just enough to get us in trouble if I had to apply it?"

"Or maybe she somehow manipulated it..." Sarah was still not convinced about Tawaret.  That said, she does explain the markings.

"It looks like they are showing where the individuals are from rather than who they were.  Oddly that would seem to me to imply that this place was more of a specimen container rather than a prison - if you know what I mean?   Prisons personalise crimes while science depersonalises." 
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:52, Sat 30 Sept 2017.

"Oops! I got the sequence a bit mixed up," Kylie explains.

"The way the indicators in the elevator are arranged are kind of confusing. I suppose it makes sense to the Dwarves, but... well, I've rearranged them in a way that makes more sense... at least to me."

"So, the levels are grouped into blocks. There are 48 blocks. Each block has sub-blocks consisting of 12 levels. They have a different designation for each level within a sub-block, but we don't yet know what they mean."

"Then there are over-blocks. There are only four of them. Each sub-block appears to have 2 hibernation levels, and each over-block has one hibernation control level for all the hibernation levels in the over-block... located at the bottom of the block."

"We went up from the bottom, so encountered the lowest hibernation control level, indicated as J4. Then we went up another level to the lowest hibernation level, designated as H24. That's the level we are on right now."

"It made more sense to me to have the control level above the hibernation cylinders, but that's not the way it's set up. The control level is one level down."

"Anyway, I've rearranged the indicators on my computer... so it makes more sense to me, and will, hopefully, keep me from getting confused again!"


The two versions have now been uploaded to Map E! Enjoy!

ooc: Has everyone posted who's interested in posting at this point?