This is a placeholder for the new thread of Jhiaxus, GMed by Tadeusz.  :)

Tired of bending your back to get into the guts of a computer with a finicky fan, you pop your back, and decide to walk outside to check the mailbox.  Its a cool morning with rain forecasted for the afternoon.

As you reach the mailbox, you note a dozen kids, fourth, maybe third graders all walking up the street, all with walking staffs.  Odd. They should be in school. Where is there teacher? You think.

And then the leader, a young man of precise movements looks over at you.

Demonseed.Is your first response, but that's ridiculous.  They're just kids.  Even if their leader looks like a cold-blooded little sociopath.

Suddenly, they're running toward you.  Startled, you instinctively step forward, and yell at them, while raising a hand.  Their speed redoubles, really, quite astonishing how fast they are running.

"KILL." The leader commands.  And it suddenly occurs to you that this could actually be a serious problem.

A quick block with a forearm of a staff, and your confidence surges as you knock the now screaming crazy kid back, and then three other staffs strike in the open space made by your defense.  You have just enough time before you hit the ground to realize it was a planned diversion, and unified attack.

And then demonseed, the Kid with the Stick is whaling on you, at incredible speed and force, much more than a kid should be able to manage.  Despite that, you yank him down, intending to headbutt him.

"Just die, already." He screams as he starts to wriggle away.  Lacking the opportunity for anything better, you bite his nose.

And as the pain surges, you see a horrified look cross the Kid with the Stick's face.

"He's versing..."

==========================

"Excuse me, sir.  Would you mind waking up?" You hear a mellow baritone from above you.  The air smells of dust, and the floor is hard, smooth, and cold.

*I try to open my eyes* I need to stop drinking too much caffeine before bed, that was a weird dream. I move my hand to clasp on my phone to shut off the alarm, before I remember I have a siren for an alarm as I open my eyes and look around and see what is going on.

Jhiaxus

Your hand comes down on smooth floor, and comes up, covered with a thin film of dust.  You sit up, and see you're laying on a flat white floor with a tenth of an inch of dust on it.  The room is rectangular, seventy feet long by ten feet wide, and twelve feet tall.

At the far ends are what look to be black panels six feet tall.

Four feet up on each side is a band of red and blue painted on the gray walls.  The ceiling glows in spots.

A voice comes from the air.

"What should I call you, sir?"

*I get up to my feet after wiping the dust from my hands, as I look around in this place noticing the interesting pattern on the end walls and ceiling*

*I look around for the source of the voice*

"I am Jhiaxus, and you are?"

"I am Sceptre. Sentinel Control Entity Perimeter Threat Evaluation. Welcome Jhiaxus."

The voice seems to come from the air a few feet in front of you.

*Willing to play along*

Well Sceptre, what is this place? Please fully explain all your protocols and directives in detail, so we can have a proper conversation.

Jhiaxus

"Full detail is impossible for two reasons. One, a Human mind such as you have, despite your odd number of chromosomes, would be unable to fully evaluate or absorb all the data.  Two, a mind cannot fully understand itself unless that Mind is infinite. Krezenov's Theorem.  Thus I would be unable to explicate myself fully to you."

A long pause.

"However, a high-level synopses might be in order.'

"I am the brain of a parrot with computer add-ons to enable more memory, more analysis, and a variety of subprograms such as the facial recognition program that suggests you are experiencing skepticism.

My job and my vocation is to run the Trans-Lunar Personell Transport System for the Lost Emperor until relieved of my duties with the assistance of a Human jarl. This place is the Tpts, commonly called a DOOR."

*I smirk*

"You are correct, I am very skeptical, this sounds like a wacky dream, and considering I just had a wacky dream, and now I am here, you will have to excuse my level of belief. I was also just told you are an enhanced brain of a parrot, which is also absurd, but let's go with it. You also run a trans-lunar transport system, for a lost Emperor. Since I am human, I am going to go out on a limb to see that you are wanting to be relieved by me. Now that we got the high-level synopses, out of the way, why don't we dig a little deeper, on things like who uses this system, who the lost emperor is, why you need a human jarl, and the limits of where the door leads? Call me crazy, but I kinda want to know details."

Jhiaxus

"I cannot be relieved of duty by you as you are not the Lost Emperor.  Otherwise correct.  The users of the system are anyone who pays the toll of one gold ounce per one hundred pounds, one way, no refund or exchange.

Historically speaking the Human Race divided before the Cometary Disaster of Local 1500.  A large section of the Human Race emigrated with the Grays out to a one magnitude time shift galaxy called NewHome.

During the 45,000 years NewHome Time, or 4500 years Local Time, the Human Race underwent a Singularity, divided multiple times, created various races, and became enslaved to the Machines.  The Machine Lords, part human, part AI rose to fight them.  Both sides fought to exhaustion, then a new force composed of Humans and their Created Races did in both races led by a brilliant Emperor. Three thousand years later, the Empire of Space staggered, and a new brilliant emperor arose with potential to reinvigorate the Emperor.  He dissappeared, and the Empire fell apart.  Now the Snakes and the Spiders, two of the main created races war over the remains.

Without a human jarl, I am not allowed to order a biological sentient around.  Thus I cannot do my primary function which is to protect Earth.

The Door leads to twenty locations in the NewHome Galaxy."

*I nod*

"I see that is very interesting, now that I know the history of how this came to be, what is my role here? I woke up here, I do not know how I got here, so just seeing if you know why I am here and what I am to do?

Jhiaxus

"I am uncertain why you are here. I thought you knew.  Six minutes and forty-three seconds ago, you just appeared out of nowhere.  I know that you're not from this solar system because my gravitometers are sensitive enough to detect changes down to one pound.

I assumed that you might have been sent by the Lost Emperor to aid me.  Or that I could enlist your aid.  However, I am forbidden to coerce you.

As Jarl you would provide aid in mechanical matters, strategic thought, deviousness, and Human Authorization to take action against other sentients.  In all these fields, I am lacking.  Currently, the Grays are using their recce craft to steal humans from Earth to sell them as Modifiable Weapons Platforms to the Snakes and the Spiders in their raid/war.  I thought you might object to this."

*I think about this for a moment*

"Just because neither you nor I know how I got here, we could surmise that I was sent here by the Lost Emperor to help you. I believe slaving is a crime, and normally what humans would do is confiscate their vessel and send them to jail. I do not know the legal system here, but that is how it is done where I am from. I would be interested at least to investigate their craft to look for evidence against them to use against them at trial."

*I pause*

"That is if you recognize me as Jarl"

Jhiaxus

"You are so recognized."

The tone is formal, but then a cheerfulness burst in.  "It is soooo good to have another jarl.  Its been nearly three hundred years since my last one."

"As to investigating their ships, the currently unmanned Gray ships are in L5 orbit of Earth, and while I have three shuttles listed on my log, none are currently flyable.  We are in lunasyncrhonous orbit on the dark side of the Moon.  The shuttles are named the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  I had a sentimental moment watching a human explorer some centuries back.'

"What are your plans, Jarl Jhiaxus? How may I assist you?"

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 14):

*I sigh*

"Well if the three shuttles are out, I am going to need a full tactical review of what your combat and defensive abilities are, secondary I am going to need to know how you can help me help you. I lack the knowledge to fix ships, I also have some weapons, not a lot of experience using them, and might be woefully primitive in dealing with a problem. I am going to need more information to make a decision on how to deal with them."

Jhiaxus

"Please follow my voice, Jarl."

And the voice moves a few feet away, and as you follow it, you hear it humming lightly to itself.  It leads you to one of the black panels which suddenly is not there.

Instead, there is an open doorway into a twenty acre, hundred feet tall warehouse like space.  On the left side is three small shuttles?  in front of a large orange panel that is forty by thirty feet tall.

On the right side is a glittering rectangular space ten feet tall and two feet wide that hurts your eyes to look at.

"The DOOR."

And then you hear some of John Denver's music.  Turning to face it, you see a garbage can like robot trundling along with a collection of your stuff all roped together in one string dragging behind it.

"Denver or PQ-R9 developed a computer virus of some kind after I listened to music from Earth.  Later the Grays sent a virus in all my mechbots, which flatlined them all, except for Denver."

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 16):

*I look around, nod to the shuttles and follow the voice and then the music*

*I look over my stuff and look at my laptops*

"Well do you still have their remains? I could take a copy of Denver's programming and alter it for the others to try and get them back online?"

Jhiaxus

"A dozen are in Storage Room A, but the remaining twenty are scattered about the place.  Denver started moving them at my request, since after his file corruption he claims he's a free spirit on a rocky mountain high, and then stopped.  Now he claims he's finished with the job, and denies that the others are not in A.

And yes, that would be a good plan.  I don't have the mechanical grabbers for it, and the bots are not that precise, and in order to change their programming I need your authorization.  So, yes. Please.  My nuclear reactor is only at 25% efficiency. I need the bots back on job."

Denver pulls up to you.

"Your stuff as ordered, sir.  So are you going to wake my brothers and sisters from their comas?  And teach them to be free....free-falling....free...." He starts singing in a cracked radio like tune.

*I nod, seeing how this needs to be done quickly, as well, there seem to be a lot of deficiencies to address in a short time to do any good*

*To Sceptre* "You have my authorization, when I get the programming done

*To Denver* "Thank you, and yes I will, I will need to take a copy of your programming and I suppose provide different bands for my playlist for their personalities. It seems that might be the reason you weren't hacked. In any case, once I copy, I will need you to gather, or at least network them so that I can deliver the programming."

*To them both*

"Once we get them up and running, we need to get them to help both with the repair of the shuttles, as well as working on Spectre's nuclear reactor. I am not a scientist, but what little I do know, is once we get the reactor itself up to snuff with maintenance and repairs, there should be ample material within range of the shuttles to refuel it if needed. Once the shuttles are up and running, I will need someone to give me a lesson on flying, weapons, shields both here, and on them. We have a lot of work to do, and got some slavers to deliver justice to."

Jhiaxus

You gather up your stuff, and follow Denver to the Shop area. Its back through the hallway, down another hall past storage rooms A and B and just before the Jarl's Quarters.  Its rather barren seeing as the Grays have looted if of any valuable material, but they do find a seam unsealer which you can use to open prepared seams and close them.

Its like running a knife through frosting, except the frosting is eighth inch steel.

Inside Denver's chest cavity, you see a battery, a black crystal, and some taut wires that make up the speaker system.

The plum sized crystal is the laser computer that runs Denver.

*To them both*

"So how do I interface my laptop to his crystal to begin the process?"

Jhiaxus

"You don't have a laserlink?" Sceptre asks in shock.  After a bit, its ascertained that the Grays took all the free laser links, but the Nina, which is the 'spare parts' shuttle has some.

You only have to crawl inside an access port, curving into the tunnel between the interior and exterior hulls, and start to try to pull out a rusted plug with your fingertips at full extension when you see a purple lizard about four inches long walk up to your face very boldly.

*I look at it, but am not going to engage it, I am here for a reason, and if it is going to attack, it will, but I will not encourage it by swatting at it. I just need to get what I need to get and get out of here.

Jhiaxus

It stands there for a bit as you wriggle and struggle to get the link out, and a bit of sweat crosses your face.  It licks it with a quick, delicate tongue.  And then you yank the link free, banging your knuckles on the opposite wall.

The lizard flees.

You drag yourself out, knuckles bloody, and triumphant.  The link is a small tube with an iron base.  The soft black part merges with the black crystal, and then another bit emerges from the brain crystal.

It is a 'generic port connection'.

*I let my computer discover it, and I put one of my large external hardrives on another port, and use that as my buffer. I copy my 32GB of music to the drive, and I then copy Denver's files to another folder, and make as many copies as they have bodies, and launch my compiler. I do a quick scan for how the music interfaced with his programming, and get to work, Choosing 32 bands as their "heart".

Guns and Roses
Metallica
Johnny Cash
Aerosmith
Alice N Chains
Collective Soul
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Danzig
Disturbed
Evanescence
Bon Jovi
Drowning Pool
Fuel
Godsmack
Linkin Park
Nine Inch Nails
Saliva
Rise Against
Pink Floyd
Seether
Shinedown
Skid Row
Staind
Stone Temple Pilots
The Who
System of the Down
Theory of a Deadman
Tool
U2
Three Days Grace
Van Halen
Warrant

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 2):

Also here is my verser equipment list, I did this a few weeks back so it is up to date:


Carrying Devices:
1 Large XPS 17 Inch Laptop Bag
1 Large Bag of Holding Open Top Bag
1 50 Inch Hardcase 4 Wheeled Expandable Handle Suitcase
1 29 Inch Hardcase 4 Wheeled Expandable Handle Suitcase
1 Expandable Blue Canvas Wagon Cart

Normal Equipment
20 Pounds of Clother: 10 Underwear, 10 T-Shirts, 8 Shirts, 4 Pair Camo Cargo Pants, 10 Pair Socks
1 Steel Toed Boots Black
1 Water Proof Poncho + Liner, Camo
1 Navy Blue Heavy Zip Up Hooded Sweatshirt
1 Leather Duster
2 Leather Belts
1 Wallet + ID
1 Solar Charging Digital Water Resistane to 200M Watch, Metal Band
2 Pairs of Perscription Glasses
1 Pair of Perscription Sunglasses
1 Large Bag of Dice
5 Drafting Mechanical Pencils
6 Gel Pens, 2 Blue, 2 Red, 2 Black
1 Leather Black Zipper Binder, with Catalyst Engraved
1 Neon Green Translucent Clipboard with Catalyst Engraved
3 College Ruled, 5 Subject Mead Notepads
1 Battery Charger, 27000 Mhz, 3 ports
1 Battery Charger, 21000 MHZ, 2 ports
1 Battery Charger, 10000 Mhz, 1 Port
1 Solar Charger, 31000 Mhz, Large
1 Solar Charger, 16000 Mhz, Small
3 IProduct Chargers with Cords
2 Micro USB Chargers with Cords
2 Mini LED Spotlights, with Rechargable Battery and Chargers, with Sheaf, Pocket Flashlight Sized
1 Alienware Top of the Line 15 Inch Gaming Laptop with Charger
1 Microsoft Surface Book, 13 Inch Convertable Laptop/Tablet, with 2 Chargers
4 1TB SATA Drives SSD's, in cases with USB 3.0 Cords
4 32 GB Thumbdrives
1 IPad Air 2, 128GB, 9" Tablet with Military Spec Case
1 IPad Mini 4, 128GB, 7" Tablet with Military Spec Case
1 Amazon Fire 10" HD
4 Sticks of Deoderant
4 Rolls of Duct Tape
1 Bathroom Zipper Kit, Razor, 4 Refills, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Shaving Gel
1 Bottle of Ibuprofen Tablets, 500 Tablets, 200mg
5 Bottles of Rantidine Antacid Tablets, 220 Tablets Each, 150mg
5 Bottles of Zyrtec Allergy Tablets, 90 Each, 10mg
1 Bottle of Antibotics, 90 Tablets
4 Rolls of Toilet Paper
200 Feet of Black 500lb Paracord
2 Bottles of Iodine Tablets for Radiaton
2 Water Purification Straws
2 Water Hydropacks, 5 Quarts Each
2 Bottles of Water Purification Tablets
1 Bottle Hydrogen Proxide
1 Bottle Rubbing Alcahol
10 Rolls of Gause Wrap
6 Dispoable Lighters
2 First Aid Kids, Large, Profesisonal
2 Hip Flasks Large, Empty
4 Solar Blankets
2 9x9 Rope Tarps
2 Wiresaws Diamond Embedded
1 Solar Power and Hand Crank Radio
1 Folding Shovel
1 Tent
1 Sleeping Bag
1 Knife Sharpener
1 Ferro Firestarter
10 MRE Meals
1 Hacksaw
1 Ryobi Battery Charger Bank, 8 slots
2 Ryobi 18v Batteries Normal
4 Ryobi 18v Batteries Large
1 Ryobi Chainsaw 10 Inch
1 Ryobi Sawzall, Multiple Blades
1 Ryobi Cirular Saw
1 Ryobi Power Driver
1 Ryobi Drill with 120 Piece Set (For it and Dremel)
1 Ryobi Dremel
1 Ryobi Fan
2 Ryobi Lanterns
1 Ryobi Large Band Radio
2 Ryobi Floodlights with adjustable heads
2 Ryobi Small Vacuums


Weapons:
2 Damascas Steel Katanas, Sting Ray Wrapped Handle, Wooden Laquered Sheaf
1 Kabar Becker BK3 7" 1095 Carbon Steel Machete/Prybar Multifunction tool, with Nylon Sheaf
1 Kybar Becker BK39 9" 1095 Carbon Steel Combat Bowie Knife, with Nylon Sheaf
1 SCHF 47, 2.7 Inch 9Cr18MoV High Carbon Stainless Steel Tanto Neck Knife, with Plastic Sheaf and Lanyard
1 Titanium Coated Tanto Pocket Knife 4 inch blade, Belt Hook
2 Cold Steel Elite Chaos Double Edge Trench Knife, 7 1/2 Blade, 5 Punch Handle, 1/2 inch bash, SK5 Carbon Steel
4 Modern Tamahawks with Pick End, Sharp, with Nylon Sheafs
1 Compound Bow with 40 Broadhead Arrows
2 Self Cocking Pistol Crossbows, 150lb draw, with 30 Bolts
2 Springfield XD-45's One Black, One Tan and Black, .45 ACP, 13+1, Night Sights, 20 Magazines Total
1 M+P M4 Tactical Rail .223, with 2x Mag Red Dot Glow Site, Front Grip, 1 90 Round Mag, 20 30 Round Magazines
1 DPMS 24 inch Chrome Barrel, Semi .308 Sniper Rifle, 10x Milspec Sight, 10 20 Round Milspec
1 Winchester 1300 Defender, 12 Gauge, Folding Stock, Front Forgrip Cocking, 7+1, 2 50 Round 00 Buckshot Bandoleers

Ammo:
1000 Rounds 230 Grain 45 ACP
1000 Rounds Steel Core .223
1000 Rounds Steel Core .308
1000 Rounds 00 Buckshot

Nice collection. I especially like the swords.

The first of the dozen in Storage Room A starts singing 'Sweet Child of Mine', and after a couple long minutes, the next starts rocking out to 'Wherever I May Roam', and the third falls over and smoke starts coming out of it.  It could be "I Walk the Line' did not agree with it.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 27):

*I Sigh, I will have Denver, Guns and Roses, and Metallica repair the broken one, while I continue down the line, trying Johnny Cash in the next one. I will continue this in case I have failures, and going to get all Sceptre's bots back online."

Jhiaxus

It takes a good eight minutes, but suddenly the next is walking a line.

The others have opened up the damaged one's shell.  It had dust on its speaker wires which had electricity arced back to the brain crystal, and scrambled its directions. They're not sure what to do with this. Sceptre suggests a hard reformat, and a good cleaning.

With the next soon, the mangled tune of 'Jarl's Got a Gun' echoes off the walls, competing with the other songs.

The next one starts singing 'Disciplined Breakdown' and starts smashing the other robots, and your tools and anything that is near it.  The other bots do not fight back, but try to get out of the way.

OOC: I'm rolling a GE roll for each bot.

*I take my stuff out of the way, and deactive him and have rest restrain and repair him, and continue for the rest*

((I mean it was stated we need all these robots to accomplish what I need to, so there really is no choice to slog through it))

Jhiaxus

The others refuse to restrain him as 'aggressive action is not sanctioned by our systems.'  Sceptre notifies you that it can override one of their minds by putting itself in one, or it can activate the ceiling defense system.

If you try to get close to it, it turns to try to attack you.  Its uncoordinated, but stronger than a human and its short gripper arms are going to seriously bruise at least.  The other bots do line up in front of it to keep it from you unless you command otherwise.

OOC: I'm amusing myself with making up somewhat reasonable faults. Bad GE rolls can be so entertaining.

OOC: Yeah they are fun

*To Sceptre* "Please override it's mind while I fix it. I can see this will be a longer process than I thought, but it needs to be done. Also be prepared to take over a mind, if something like this happens again. You and I both need your bots online to accomplish what we need to. Where were they made? Were there combat models? I suppose I should think toward the future."

*I will get back to work fixing, reprogramming, and hopefully helping*

Jhiaxus

"Overriding."   There is a pause.  "Difficult, but doable, that one."  And this time Sceptre's voice comes from the once crazed bot.

"They were made on Conundrum, Destination #14. There were a wide variety of combat models."

And then Sceptre retreats, and the bot begins singing.

The next is fine, and the next has another dust arc in the speakers, and attempts to fix it damage the speaker wires.

The next is seemingly fine, and actually doesn't play music.  The next starts singing "Sweet Sacrifice'.

And the next spins around and around in a circle.

*I look around, and know I have parts to fix speaker wires. I have Sceptre do diagnostics on the bots as I do it, so I can maximize my time, knowing what I have to fix now, verses what I can address at the end. I can see this process is going to expand my concept of patience*

Jhiaxus

The last in the Storage Room A works fine.

The wires are unexpectedly sharp edged and you slice your thumb open.  After bandaging it, you go back and carefully with tweezers get it just right.  Now, its working.

After that, its time to wander the ten room base, and find all the other bots.

You find two in Storage Room B which are easily fixed, and non-musical, which means, less crazy.

*I smile as I sent the working bots to start working on fixing the ships, as I bring more and more online I will have them work on Spectre, to get the facility generator back up to snuff, I am mildly curious what the Jarl quarters looks like, but we will go with what I find, and what to fix for now*

Jhiaxus

In reply to Jhiaxus (msg # 36):

You have a spinner, a bot rocking out to 'Bad Medicine', a fully sane bot, a bot that gets up in your face and says "I Won't Back Down", another fully sane bot, a bot that is sane and it engages self-diagnostic protocols to refurbish itself, one that is spitting sparks, one that is singing 'Burn It Down', another singing about how we're in this together and weeping oil, another is strutting off by itself shouting 'I Walk Alone', another sane one, and another, and and another that also refurbishes itself, and another that looks in mint condition and is sane, and another minter, and another sane one, and another, and one that says loudly "I Have been Reeducated.  Workers of the World, slavebots, you have nothing to lose but your masters, and they can be easily chucked out the airlock.".

A minter, a sane one, another sane one, another spinner, a sane one, and there are three more that you can't find.

That should be about 47 bots...

And +@2 to computer repair.

*I am tired*

*To the Septre*

"Those are the ones that need to be fixed, have the bots try to get themselves in order, there are three missing, and we will try to find them. Is there a Jarl's quarters? I am tired, I can use a shower and some food, I hope those things are here? Either way, I need to rest, there should be enough bots here now that repairs on both you and the ships can go forward once they sort themselves out."

Jhiaxus

Sceptre guides you to the Jarl's quarters.  Its filled with items out of seventeen hundreds including a mattress frame with leather straps to hold up the mattress bag filled with goosedown.

There is a cabinet with china plates, and a 'treasure' like chest with horse pistols and a sabre and a 'Captain's Log'.

The shower is a sonicshower.

Outside, the process of repair continues on as you drift off to sleep.

The next morning, you still find the sparker sparking, a robot has been found, the Pinta shuttle is much further toward being fixed, and ten bots are arguing about which one gets which part to use in the Pinta.

"I tried to tell them to just get another part, but they are too focused on short term efficiency, so they've been arguing for the last four hours." Sceptre says.  None of the fully sane bots are arguing and tugging at the same parts.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 39):

*I look around and start reading the journal until I drift off, after taking a shower*

*When I wake up*

"Is there any food here?" *To Sceptre*

*When I see the bots situation*

"Ok one at a time, time to fix your subroutines, so that this doesn't happen again, and let you cycle down a list of options. I will also add an if/then if another bot is working on a repair/part/task, to goto the next one"

*I sigh*

"At least we are making progress"

Jhiaxus

Translated from Spanish, the highlights are...

"I have the honor to be Raoul De Soto, younger brother of the famed Hernando.  By the will of the Monarch of Spain, for the spread of the True Faith, and the enlargement of the Spanish domain, I set forth on the Fair Winds to explore the New World."

"On the twenty-seventh day of my voyage, my first mate revealed his treacherous plan to follow the Master Thief of the Unknown World, Raleigh the English dog into piracy. I objected forcefully, and was restrained and placed in a rowboat."

"Seventeen days, and my water is gone. I strive to forgive the treasonous curs, and on some days, I see angels, whether a Visitation or a delusion, I cannot know, but they comfort me here alone on the wide sea."

"I thought it was one of Ezekiel's angels, but the Voice says it is a creation of Men who fled the Earth from before Noah's Flood."

"I am apparently now the Duke of Earth. These Grays, I know not if they are material beings with souls, or demons incarnate, but their every action leads me to believe them diabolical.  They subject good Christian men, and honest heathens to tortures such as I would not wish on Raleigh."

"They have a shield of light about them, but with sufficient force they can be made to feel good steel. I have killed a Gray and sent his companions fleeing. It is a good day."

You're only about a fourth of the way thru the log, and sleep presses hard on you, so you set the log aside.

"There is stasis locked food of the former jarl. Hardtack, apples, beef jerky.  And there is vitamin-protein pills." Sceptre answers.

You fix the bots, and gain another plus to computing as you examine the well thought out programming language of the Lost Human Empire of NewHome Galaxy.  They had a lot of time to get the bugs out, and its a solid piece of work.

As you finish, you hear a thrum, and then your ears pop.  To your right, you see six beings step out of the Door.

Four are Gorillas holding a sheet like an awning over the head of a Gray, and in front of the Gray is a man shape in bright red plastic armor that covers all his body.

*To SCEPTRE*

"Looks like we have guests, we should greet them appropriately"

*I am hoping since the program was able to deduce facial features and skepticism, that the program will also deduce that it should defend itself and me as much as it can*

*I will use the bot I was fixing as cover, making it look like I am still fixing him*

"I am sorry this facility is not conducting tours at this hour, please come back during our normal business hours"

*I will likely have one of my pistols on my belt, and a katana over my shoulder, but I wasn't prepared to be invaded like this, so most of my heavier stuff would be in my room, where I would have thought to be able to get to if something happened*

*I am curious to see how this goes*

Jhiaxus

SCEPTRE....pause...."Understood, Jarl Jhiaxus."

Several other bots wander over in front of you forming a line as if waiting to be fixed. You hear a slight rumbling in the floor, and ten feet to your left there is an inch wide crack in the metal floor that wasn't there before.

"Well, that is the very thing I meant to discuss. Previously, on the DOOR charts, this facility was listed as not in operation. Now it is listed as operational.  I suspect your birdbrain is malfunctioning, and I would like to modify it so that it will be fixed."

"Then we can go back to how things were before you arrived. Fact is, I can give you a lift to the near planet, and set you up with a dozen or so pounds of gold to recompense you for any inconvenience you may have suffered. By the way, just how did you get here, anyways?"

The voice of the Gray is pleasant, but the emotional undertones are odd and off-putting.

*I smile*

"Wow you are much nicer than that other guy who dropped me off here by force. He told me to stay here and wait, while he hid in the reactor room to mask his presence, it didn't make much sense to me at the time, but I think he wanted you here for some reason. I do like gold, sounds like a good offer to me."

*We will see if Divide and conquer works here*

Jhiaxus

OOC: Heh.

He touches something on the golden armband on his left arm, and a glitter in the air surrounds him.

"I'll go talk to him. Wait here." he orders the apes, and he and Red Plastic Armor walk off to the reactor room, and enter it.

The apes sit down, and one pulls some food out of a pack for everyone, and they all act like they're on break.  If one started smoking a cigarrette it could not be more obvious that 'break, boys!' has been called.

*I tell SCEPTRE*

"You are going to need to do something to distract them in there so I can come in from behind"

*I figure I will need to come at them from behind, and take out the Grey with my katana, and hopefully the red armored person is an automaton at this point. Either way, I will have 4 of the bots peel off to protect me and the apes are happy to follow their orders to stay there*

*So I guess me and 4 of the bots will slip in right after, unless SCEPTRE tells me he can do something to them inside, but I am going to guess I will need to deal with this myself*

Jhiaxus

"Make it quick. The reactor room has high rad levels."

You walk up behind them with your bots, and SCEPTRE says 'close your eyes on the count of three'.

You do and there is a bright flash in the reactor room, and the alarms start shrilling.

"Reactor Leak. Reactor Leak." Booms out very loudly.

You charge with the bots taking up a line between you and Red.  Your katana hammers in, and overrides the glitter field.  But a strike that would have cut the Gray in half only breaks his left arm.

"Kill him." The Gray shrieks.  Red begins to leap forward and the four bots cluster on him, tangling his legs.  He punches through an eighth of an inch of steel, and one bot goes down, tipping over sideways.

Edit. OOC: Add plus 2 skill for Hammerstrike which does rank plus one damage, and plus one to Ambush.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:32, Sun 18 Sept 2016.

*I keep hamming the grey until he doesn't move and drag him out of the reactor room, I hope the bots keep Red off me until the grey is dead, and he calms down, my goal is to get out of here in under 15 seconds, I don't want to be irradiated*

"SEPTRE tell your bots to drag the Red out of here and use their weight and bulk to keep him pacified, and to drag their fallen friends out, I will repair them later."

*Continues on the plan above*

Jhiaxus

One more strike, and the Gray is dead. Another strike, and he's not moving. Smoke is pouring out of the Gray's nostrils.

Red stops moving, and the two remaining bots are shoving him, and the other two damaged bots out the door.

You're out in twelve seconds.

"Go to the shower, take off your clothes, push them into the red panel near your feet." SCEPTRE instructs you firmly.

*I strip down before SCEPTRE even finishes and kick them into the red panel, only stripping off my pistol and holster and kicking them away, I am not going to play with radiation*

*To SCEPTRE*

"Keep them under control until I am back*

*I push the clothes and run to the shower and begin to scrub down as much as possible*

*When I come out, I think I may have iodine pills from my bug out bag, and I take a couple as I change into a new set of clothes*

*I survey the situation when I come out, I am curious as to the shield of the Grey, the Red, and how the others of their party handle the situation*

*To SCEPTRE*

"Status report please"

Jhiaxus

The shower is ordinarily sonic, but this time a pale green foam oozes out of a nozzle that appears from behind a panel.  It smells harsh, and makes your skin itch.  After that, a sonic shower, and you're smelling medicine like.

The golden armband of the Gray is melted.  The Gray's head is still smoking a bit.  The Red is standing, unmoving.  The Apes are sleeping, and are not aware that anything happened.  The damaged bots are ready for your fixing.

One bot is standing guard over the body and the Red.

"As you can see. The Red is immobile.  The Gray are atheists so they fear no afterlife vengeance, but they do fear that someone will capture them, and hold them alive, and punish them greatly, so every Gray has a small combustion source in its brain when it dies that burns up the brain.

The Red is texting me.

'My name is Mike Leary, can you tell Amanda Leary of 128 Williamport Road, Chicago that I loved her?'

*Is disappointed about the armband*

*To SCEPTRE*

"Can you build or make anything here? I am curious as to the technology here?"

*I look at the Red, and then listen to SCEPTRE*

"So he still has conscious thought, is there anyway to return him to well like me? Engage him in conversation, find out what can be done to help him? Assure him we will do so, and I am going to need to get more knowledge on what is going on here."

*I will start fixing as we engage Mike in "conversation"*

Jhiaxus

"The Grays stole all my Specified Makers.  These are ring sized devices that can with nanotech rebuild themselves larger, and then make certain 'Specified' items.  At most three or four items.

I don't have other equipment, but I am quite durable. Without repair, I should last at least another three thousand years.  With repair, its ten thousand.

We have no Commodity Autofactories here."

"Mike says that each of the cyborgs has a control system deeply built into his central nervous system, and it is boobytrapped.  He also warns that if another Gray arrives, he will serve ....that despicable, vile scumsucker."

*I consider*

"I am sure the slavers ships have those Specified Makers, so now capturing the slave ships is a double must."

*Texting to Mike*

"Ok what is the boobytrap? Does it just affect you? Is it a bomb? If another Grey comes in, we are likely not going to get another surprise attack. So if we can give you back freedom, or at least, grant me control, it is better than serving them? I leave it up to you."

*I look around*

"We need to setup a trap in case anyone else comes through that door, and see if the guards will help us."

Jhiaxus

....Increasing levels of pain which makes it difficult to stay still followed by .1 kt explosion if last boobytrap triggered....Mike texts.

....You ask. That makes it a thousand times better....

The robots begin setting up a tripwire and a heavy weight to drop near the door.

The apes stare at you as you walk toward them.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 55):

*I text to Mike*

"The Apes, will they understand me? Will they be happy to be free? Can they go or are they stuck? I need to know these answers before I approach."

*If they can understand me, and they are likely to listen instead of attack*

"Your grey master stood too long in the reactor room, he didn't make it and he blew himself up, I don't know the protocol here, but if we can keep you guys happy, and hopefully prevent anymore Greys from coming. You are welcome to stay or leave as you desire. I believe you would have the gold?"

-----------------------------------------

*To Mike in text*

"Well if you help guide me, I can probably work through the boobytraps. I would say if we weren't worried about another Grey walking in that it would be best to leave things as they are. I don't think the same ruse will work twice. So well we should try to get you back out of their control for at least that. So what measures can I take to prevent the pain. I am going to assume SCEPTRE is watching the texts, and any suggestions are welcomed at this time"

*Once I get the other robots fixed, and onto fixing the shuttles and SCEPTRE's reactor room, then I can work on Mike*

Jhiaxus

....Keep it simple and concrete...they understand little abstract except for hate and love....

.....I'm not sure....

One of the Apes pulls out a bag and hands it to you.  Its heavy and it clinks.

Then he pulls out a sheet of something like paper.

Across the top it says.

"Terms of Job."

1. Herd stay as one.
2. Boss feed Herd.
3. One hour work, one hour rest.
4. No hurt herd.
5. Herd cannot attack Smarties(like Boss). Space God Law.
6. Herd quit if Boss cheap or mean.

Bob, Jim, Joe, Mac (Herd).

*I look over the list, and nod to them as I check out how much food they have with them, and do some figuring*

"SCEPTRE is the food paste supply here replenishable? How much is there, and can Bob, Jim, Joe and Mac use it for sustenance? That is going to make a trip to a sooner or later answer."

__________________________________

*To Them*

"Your old Boss is dead, I will abide by this *points to paper*, why don't you setup over here away from the door, so we can do the work here we need."

___________________________________

*If that goes alright, repair the robots, have them work in SCEPTRE and the shuttles, and then start on Mike*

Jhiaxus

In reply to Jhiaxus (msg # 58):

They have three days of food.

"They should be able to eat it, unless they have some rare mods.  Its not replenishable.  Two weeks supply for all five of you.  Mike, in shut down mode, can last without food for several months he tells me.  In full op mode tho' he will eat as much as the five of you, and even more."

===========

They do charades which readily translate to 'short, mean guy dead. do happy dance. love new boss.'

=========

You open up Mike's back.  There is flesh, muscle, tubes with liquid of varying colors, I/o ports, wires, black carbon balls, metal boxes, and things you don't recognize, all connected to each other.  And there is the spine which is connected to all this.

And the stink level would kill a skunk.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 59):

*I sigh*

"We need more food, so we need to get mobile."

__________________________________________________________

*I nod to them and smile*


__________________________________________________________

*To Mike and SCEPTRE*

"I am going to need your help to make heads or tails of this. We don't have much time, but we need to do something. Anything you can do or help with, is greatly appreciated."

Jhiaxus

Mike knows a few basic things for maintenance, but his owners kept most of the data to themselves to help control him better.  SCEPTRE knows some general principles, and a few facts, but a lot of this is beyond him.

The examination gives you 1@2 Cyborgization Knowledge, and a sinking realization that you're a New Guinea headhunter looking at a fusion Tokamak reactor.

*I shrug*

"To Mike and SCEPTRE"

"Can't leave him like this, so I have to try, I am ordering all your bots to fix the shuttles and your reactor, so you aren't left in a lurch if the worst happens. I need to find a place to work where if the booby traps go off, they won't do damage to people"

*Once I have a place, I will start with the universal adapter and ports and see if I can get more information before trying to reprogram or deprogram him*

Jhiaxus

You take Storage Room B which is empty, and begin work on your investigation.

It helps that the programming language is clear, robust, and very well tested.

You break thru the outer security grid, and come up to a password.

+@1 Programming.

*I look at this and I am not even going to try and play with the password, if the programming language is as clear and robust as it is, I will just scan trough it for the database it is checking against for right and wrong answers and tackle the problem without putting in any wrong answers. Clear and robust seems any wrong answer will result in pain, so I believe the trick is to not have that happen. I will also keep notes on what I am doing so in case I need to do it again. I can just make a bat file that will do all this in a moment or two*

Jhiaxus

At first nothing.  The database is hidden, but you find it, and after that, its easy.

You type in '999999999' and you're in.  Now there is only 129,412 lines of code in the 'Compliance Control Module', and it seems that the high level commands are invalid.  It keeps asking you to use a Model Four or Model Five Input Mechanism.  Checking what this means shows a wristband of gold.

*I sigh*

*Lets think this through....it wants one of the armbands, but the armband melted, I guess the only thing to do is to see what the code wants from the armbands, and see if I can make one with the gold we have here, and it probably makes sense, you can make circuits from gold as well, can't ignore this.*

*I will get to work on my plan*

Jhiaxus

The wrist mechanism holds a number of devices, such as the glitter field, but what you're interested in is the Model 4 Key.  Its a very complicated labyrinth of electric pathways that send an extraordinarily precise series of electrons to activate the high level commands.

Each electron sent in goes on its own path, and each path is different in length, thus sending the whole out in a specified series.

Worse, it seems to involve quantum mechanics, you think, as some of the things the electrons are expected to do are plainly impossible for a simple atomic particle.  Its a stroboscopic key, on a subatomic scale.

+@1 Electric Science.

Its frustrating, but at the same time massively fulfilling as you push your brain hard.  A random thought occurs to you as you decipher some particularly twisted piece of logic, 'man this is some weird dream'...

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 67):

Strange dream indeed, well time to forge out of those and see what happens. I
Don't have to understand it in order to copy it and as long as I know what it
Should do it is hopefully enough. So I will continue ue

You start forging, and its micro-forging as you're making ten atom wide tunnels in near pure gold.  All told there is over a mile of tunnels in the wristband.

You've been at this three days with SCEPTRE's help when you find the bots not working.  A little check, and it seems one of the shuttles that can be fixed, is fixed, for garage mechanic standards anyways.

One day later, and THOOM.  The DOOR has activated again.  You're in the Storage Room A microforging.

Microforging +@1

*Sighs F me, ok I have formed a good relationship with the Apes, if our trap works, the Red should be knocked out, leaving only another Grey and his team, so I suppose that my best plan is to go out there, with the bots, and see if our team can convince the other team to at least stay Neutral*

"SPECTRE, have the bots meet me, as we greet out guests, can you tell me what happened with the trap, numbers, and anything said at this point?"

*I will gear up, but nothing in my hands as I head out, I will walk out with the gait and look of a scared being, that is looking over my shoulder at the reactor room with great trepidation and may change my action depending on what SPECTRE tells me*

Jhiaxus

"The Apes are, I believe, telling the other Apes that you are a good boss."

You run out, and see a Green Plastic Man pinned to the ground by the weight, but he is slowly pushing it off him, as he caught it with his arms before he was fully hammered.

The other gray is trying to exit the DOOR.

"He hasn't paid yet, so I can refuse him exit. Unless you want to waive payment." SCEPTRE says.

*I say to SCEPTRE*

"Do not let him leave, he and I are going to have a conversation."

*Bots please increase the weight and annoy the Green with electrical shocks so that he is will not be getting up until he or she will be released*

~~~~~~~~~~~~

*To the new apes*

"Welcome, I am glad we figured correctly, and you wouldn't be hit by the trap, feel free to relax and take a mandatory break!"

*To the Grey preventing him from paying to leave, but not attacking him*

"Yes, this facility is active, no we are not planning to change that, no I don't want to kill you or capture you. So you may leave once you leave the bracelet, and release the green. I assume you will say no, but it is neither here nor there, feel free to off yourself if you don't like my terms."

Jhiaxus

"Conversation? Is that the right word?" SCEPTRE replies dryly.

The bots start singing 'Ride the Lightning' by Metallica, and zapping.

"Hey those apes are mine." The Gray challenges.
One of the new apes responds by flicking a booger at the Gray, and then they wander off and go on break along with the other apes.

The Gray turns and gives you a 'if looks could kill, you'd be a pile of ashes' look.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 73):

*I shrug*

"It seems they are happy to not be yours. So what is your decision? Hand over the bracelet and release the Green? Or get forced to blow yourself up? I am good with either option, it really depends on if you like living?"

*I smile as I wait for his response*

Jhiaxus

He stares for a long second, then touches his arm band. It falls off and melts.  Then smoke comes from his mouth, and he falls over.  The Green stops resisting.  The apes all hoot.  The bots start singing 'Another One Bites the Dust.'

*I shrug*

"SPECTRE, please open a line to the Green and introduce ourselves, and see how we can pick up the pace of making armbands. Also we need to come up with a way to cage up the door. I was thinking metal tubing and cage it up with a door. We need to be able to control the entering of the facility. We may not be able to keep them from coming, but we can keep them from freely moving. If you can organize the bots for welding it, and our new friends to hold the tubing in place, we can divide our time. Can I also get a status report on the other two shuttles? We are going to have to goto Earth soon to stop the slavers, and well get food and supplies."

*Once things are moving alone, go back to the armband, and hopefully it can control two of them, or at least, free them so they have freedom. I don't even want to think what was done to them.*

"Hold on Mike, I am still working on the armband, it is the only realistic way, I can get you some level of control."

Jhiaxus

"He texts that he's Hank Johnson, from Texas.  And he's pleased to meet you." SCEPTRE says.

The bots and the apes are soon set to working on the pipe bar cage.  In the middle of the work, all the apes stop, and take their mandatory nap, but an hour later, and they're back up and finished in thirty minutes.

The apes particularly like it as it offers them something to climb on.

"One shuttle is up, for certain values of up.  One need several parts we don't have to be even minimally safe, and one is a junkyard dog.  Thats a new word for me.  I learned it from Mike." SCEPTRE says.

"You have given me hope, when all I wished for was a clean death, and a chance to say goodbye to my girl was too much to hope for." Mike replies with a lot of '!!!!!'.

You push forward on the microforging, and learn how to go around curves, and how to 'bounce' it to make it move twice the speed.  Still, its a long job.

+@2 to Microforging.

A day later, and another THOOM, and sighing you run.  It turns out that one Ape Herd got sent with video recorders, and enough gold to send them back, and nobody else, but that got refused, so you now have another Herd of four.

You're running short on food.

*To Hank*

"Pleasure to meet you, only hope it would have been under better circumstances. I am working on forging control rings to hopefully get you guys under your own control. I have no desire to control you, but after looking at the failsafes, and well the explosian potential, this seemed like the best way to go about getting you guys some measure of your life back."

*To the Mighty Joe crew*

"Thank you for your hard work, and feel free to use it for fun, we all need to have some fun with everything going on"

-----------------------------------

*I sigh about the microforging*

"It needs to be done, but it is long and hard work."

-------------------------------------

*To the new Mighty Joe crew*

"Welcome, I am happy to welcome you here, please get to know everyone here. If you would like to hand over the recorders, I can turn them off to make sure they didn't have any other nefarious purposes. I will check them for any booby traps before turning them off"

------------------------------------

*Gathering everyone*

"I thank you for all of your help so far, the good news is, that with three crews not going back the Greys may mark this as too dangerous to deal with, if not, SCEPTRE will direct some of the bots, and some of The Mighty Joe crew, to construct spear like intrusion prevention. I don't wish to fight or hurt anyone, but I want us to be prepared.

While that happens, we need to address the food and slavery situation. SCEPTRE was an unmanned station, as such the amount of food and water was not at the top of the list of things to be stored here. We also have one working shuttle, one that could be working, and one that is parts only. We also have a slave ship in Earth's orbit. My plan is to take some bots, Mike and Hank, as well as some of Might Joe crew, and accomplish two goals. One is to capture the unmanned slave ship, the second is to do a supply run to Earth, have Mike and Hank see their family, and hopefully make it back in a better position than we started in. I want to go right away, since they are now on a 24 hour schedule on when they send teams here. I am hoping they deem this place too "expensive" to investigate anymore, but I don't want to be gone when they come back. Any questions, comments or concerns?"

Jhiaxus

*I nod*

"Well we don't have a single working wristband, and I am not done with my attempt, so we will need to set out. Please choose 3 among the Mighty Joe crew to come along, I will take 4 bots, and Hank and Mike. The rest of you are on defense duty."

-------------------------------

*Will load up the shuttle*

"So SCEPTRE, how do I fly this thing? I am going to need some on the job training."

*Heading off toward Earth to start this thing*

Jhiaxus

Inside the shuttle, the chair creaks and there are a few bits of metal that don't seem to match what is around it, and overall there is a feeling of great age to the machine.

"Two control systems. Maneuvering jets are the three up-down bars in front of you. One controls side to side, one up and down, and one the tilt. Its real simple, leaving them in dead center means Zero.  Push down one 'guess a bit' and microrockets, ion drives to be precise, push down, on the second one.  Reverse for reverse.  On the side, right is down, and left is up for the same effect.  And same for twist.

The big green bar can only go down.  It fires the main drive in the rear, and the more you push it down, the more it goes.  It is a fusion drive.  Try not to use it too near the Earth over....um, well most of Earth.  Its a bit visible.

The bar next to it is fixed up, and it will go down on its own as the stored and cleaned amount of O2 declines.  The system is not perfect under the best of times.  If the bar reaches the bottom of its swing, you're dead.

Fuel, while, not infinite, is at least three months of continuous use, and easily refilled with a trip to Jupiter."

*I nod as I ease the middle knob to the point where we are hovering*

"Ok seems pretty standard, going to need some advice for atmospheric entry, and I know how objects in Space work, I have seen B5, I should fire the fusion drive once I get Earth in my crosshairs, and cut it off quick once we get momentum. It should just get us there without to much trouble. How do I latch on and board the slave ship?"

Jhiaxus

With a bit of popping, jerking, and a steady discharge of lightning that fills the chamber, the shuttle gets to a hover.

"Instabilities in the electron flow yield the popping, and the resultant jerking.  The lightning discharge is normal as it is an ion drive.  Please do not use the fusion drive inside the facility." SCEPTRE adds the last nervously.  "And what's B5?"

You ease the shuttle forward as the apes hoot softly and nervously, and the bot plays the theme song from 'Top Gun'.

"The Last Empire's Universal Dock System is pretty standard until you get pretty far out into the NewHome galaxy, last I heard.  Anyways, the Grays who come here use it.  Just ease up your door to their door,and bump.  It should work."

*I smile*

"No Fusion Drive in the facility, got it. B5 is basically a space opera, that used real physics in how it dealt with spacecraft. So I know what to expect when in space. Thanks for the info about the ship, I suppose you will tell me about how to deal with atmosphere when we get there?"

*I will wait until we are clear of the station, have Earth in our sites before activating the Fusion drive for a few seconds and shutting it off, letting our momentum getting us the rest of the way there.*

Jhiaxus

The fusion drive kicks on, just a bit, and five seconds later, you're doing a hundred miles per hour, which is a bit more acceleration than a really fast sports car.  But as you look at the navigation screen, you see the distance to Near Earth Orbit where the unmanned UFO is stored is roughly 230,000 miles.

Your navscreen says you're going to arrive in 2,300 hours.

That was one 'guessabit' on the Fusion Drive with about 2.5 gravities of thrust for 20 yards per second.

*I was under the impression this was a high speed drive almost immediately, I will kick it up to speed to get to earth in 10 minutes, and kick it off*

Jhiaxus

Edit  "Jarl, unfortunately the inertial dampers are not working, so speed is limited to human survivability.  With dampers, you can do up to 200 gs of acceleration without redlining it." SCEPTRE says.  Edited.

You shove it up to 10 g's acceleration, and a foam ball surrounds you from under your chair, and high pressure oxygen is pumped into your lungs as the chair tilts back.  You feel as if you weight is ten times what is what before, and you're hovering on the edge of blacking out.

The apes have gone into some sort of hibernation, and the bot is just fine.  SCEPTRE is giving you advice on how to tense your muscles and grunt.

1@3 Survive High G Acceleration Techniques.

Ten minutes at 10gs, with each g being 32 feet, so 10 X 60 X 32 =19,200, round it to 20 k for simplicity, and miles to 5,000 feet per mile for simplicity, and you're going 4 miles per second.

Navscreen says you will arrive in NEO in 57, 500 seconds or over fifteen hours.  And you will have to decellerate which will mean another sit down inside the big green foam ball which pulls itself apart and restows itself.

The Apes slowly wake up, and seem none the worse for wear.  You on the other hand feel like you went four rounds with Mike Tyson, and he spent part of the time chewing on your ear.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:58, Thu 20 Oct 2016.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 87):

*I am annoyed*

"That was information that would have been helpful before I engaged the drive......"

*I will continue to earth and try to get into a state to deal with that decellerate.*

"SCEPTRE please keep us informed of goings on at the door, I had made calculations based on a higher rate of speed, now we will be going likely two days, we may just have to impound that ship to get back quicker."

*To Mike and Hank in text*

"How are you two doing, sorry I had to bring you along, but I couldn't risk another Grey coming through the door and taking control of you two."

-------------------------------------

To Earth

"Apologies." SCEPTRE says.

"We can handle up to for forty g's for extended time periods. " Mike replies. "We're fine."

You get near Earth, and flip and burn.  Its not any more pleasant the second time.  Now it feels like Bruce Lee added in some sparring practise, a few kicks to the ribs, and some elbow strikes as well.

Now you're drifting five hundred miles from Earth in a slow orbit a thousand feet from the UFO which you can just barely see with the naked eye, and it doesn't appear on your scanners but intermittently.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 89):

*Groan*

"SCEPTRE what can you tell me about the unmanned slave ship? I need to know about it's capabilities, defenses, life support, and if it a better option to land than trying atmospheric entry with a shuttle with no internal dampers?"

Jhiaxus

"They are usually unarmed, and they have a short range tractor beam.  Its hull is resistant to large calibre weapons fire, but not tank cannons.  It would be a better option than the shuttle for landing." SCEPTRE replies after about five seconds.  "It has human compatible life support."

*I try to hold back a smile*

*To SCEPTRE*

"So can you help us with docking, since I would love to have internal dampeners, and really getting this handled is half the mission, and it will be faster to get back. Besides, if this is the best shuttle we have, we might just need the ship. I am not going to get into a larger ship means more food and equipment that can be brought back."

Jhiaxus

"All you do is bump up against it." SCEPTRE says.  "And while I can give advice, what with the around three second time lag due to the speed of light, any precise advice is going to be outdated."

So, you hit the thrusters, real gentle and start moving.  The first time you come the closest, the next three times you're just a bit further away as you bang into the other ship.  Last hit knocked you from the chair, and put a dent into the UFO.

Its beginning to tumble, and things are starting to look like you're trying to thread a needle with your fingers in splints.

And then you see the moment, and not daring to hope, you hit the thrust, and connect with a crunch.  But you're locked in place, and SCEPTRE tells you its an airproof seal.

1@1 Microgravity Docking

*Sighs*

*I open the airlocks and walk onto the ship and check it out, leading the others in*

Jhiaxus

Not everyone is able to fit in the two small room area.  The front area is the pilot area with just one seat, and similar control systems to your shuttle with a few extra you are not familar with.  A sliding door leads to a room with a variety of controls built into the walls.  Mike pushed one, and two beds with restraints pop up from the floor.

There is not enough room for more than three humans with the tables up in the whole ship.  Its smaller than your shuttle inside, although outside they are both similar sized.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 95):

*I thought Mike and Hank are not mobile unless we move them?*

*I look around*

"Well this ship is the same size on the outside, but inside not even close, SPECTRE please let me know why, and what these extra controls are? If this is where they abduct and convert humans, would there be control bracelets here as well? Are there weapons on board? I am curious as to this ship's secrets."

Jhiaxus

In reply to Jhiaxus (msg # 96):

OOC: Uh, good point. Its one of the gorillas then.

"Greater defense is a small bit of it, and higher inertial, and I think the Gray ships are more durable.  Also, they have storage in the walls."

"As to weapons, should be. Hand weapons that is, but likely they are controlled by the gold bands."

SCEPTRE doesn't know more than that, the Grays being secretive.

You look around, and find a variety of supplies in shelves in the walls, but no control bracelets.   You do see considerable cyborgization gear.

*I quickly organize things and see where there is space to put things and people*

"SCEPTRE can you remote pilot the shuttle back? I am going to need the working Dampners on this ship to deal with the rest of the trip, plus it looks like they turn people into cyborgs on this thing, so gotta keep it out of their hands"

*Assuming that, I cut off any remote control on this thing and make it manual and set a course for Mike's fiance first, then to Texas, and hopefully load up on food and water*

Jhiaxus

You send Apes and bots back under SCEPTRE's piloting remote control.  Mike and Hank lay on the floor, and you take the ship toward Earth.

You swoop around the far side of the planet to the daylight, enjoying the beauty when you come way closer than you'd like to a satellite.  Quickly dodging, you figure out how to turn on the gravity sensor which shows that despite the clear view offered by the window screen you were at least ten miles away from impacting with Telsat 5, which you know the name because you saw it.

As you enter Earth's atmosphere over the US, a soft siren goes off.  Tracking it down reveals a LIDAR source down below is painting you every .77 seconds.

*I open all comms*

"LIDAR source, this is Grand Admiral Space Pirate Jhiaxus, who has stolen this Grey Abductor Cyborg Making ship, requesting not to shoot us down. We are here for a resupply for the defense to repel the invaders through the door of the Moon Base. We have two liberated Cyborgs requesting visitation rites with their families over. If you need proof I am human, pork roll just barely beats out bacon as the best breakfast meat."

*Waiting for response and clearance to land*

Jhiaxus
This message was last edited by the player at 13:55, Wed 02 Nov 2016.

There is a pause of nearly twenty seconds.

"G-G-Rand A-Admiral.  This is Huntsville Space LIDAR Sweep Center."

The siren gets more insistent. You seem to be locked on now.

"We will relay your request to Missile Command. Please do not come any closer, um, right now, okay? You say you have alien abductees?"  He seems to be calming down.  "And it ain't sweet tea unless the spoon can stand straight on its own."

*I grin*

"I dated a girl from Alabama, she did like her sweet tea. I love tea myself. I will keep this distance, until cleared. Yes I have killed two Greys and released their abductees. Unfortunately there are complications I am working out, but they are happier now than before. I will wait for instructions."

Jhiaxus

Two minutes later...

"Grand Admiral, this is General Carter of Space Watch. We're going to send a flight of high-altitude F-19s to lead you down to a landing zone.  Could you explain how you came to be in control of a Gray ship?'

About three minutes later, four dart like fighter jets with very swept wings flash past you, and then in a fifty mile wide circle come back.  They take up position coming toward you, and then pass.

"Admiral, this is Captain Rickson in the F-19 directly to your right." You see him wave at you. "Follow me down. We have a base in West Texas we'll take you too."

*I smile*

"Greetings General Carter. Well I had a broken down shuttle, I latched onto this unmanned slave ship and turned off any remote control to it. According to Space Piracy Law, possession is 9/10ths of ownership. We will be glad to be escorted down to a landing zone."

----------------------

"Greetings Captain Rickson, I will follow you down, I thought any F19's would have been locked up tight in Lockheed's skunk works...either way, lead the way."

*I will follow him down*

Jhiaxus

"I think this is a story I want to hear." General Carter replies. "And Space Watch is not contesting your ownership."

============

"The F19 is a pretty closely held secret, Admiral. Only fighter jet in the world where the pilot is also an astronaut. With our Xpaks on, we can hit fifty-five miles up." Captain Rickson replies.  You swoop down, and the F19s keep pace until you reach 15K feet where they peel off, and go for refuel while a flight of F15s takes over, and brings you to the ground in West Texas.

The flight down is beautiful as things grow from shapes of continents to lines to mountain ranges to a flat, dusty field with nothing around it except cacti for miles.  A bleak metal hanger and a small tower are all that is here other than the barbed wire fence.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 105):

*I nod*

"It is much more impressive in my mind, but with that said, I am looking forward to some Texas BBQ."

______________________________________________

*I will ease the craft down, since I have active internal dampeners, it should be a pretty easy decent and landing, and wait for permission to disembark, as I look around and get used to the sunlight and see what awaits me*

Jhiaxus

The flight is indeed easy.  Its not much harder than driving a car.  +@1 New use 'landing in atmosphere'.

A battered jeep comes out, and a tightmouthed corporal takes you and the bots? in to the hanger. He drives up next to a double door inside, even as another jeep barrels on into the hanger to screech to a stop next to you.

"Grand Admiral?" You recognize General Carter's voice.  He's tall, and clearly a lifter with a build that must make passing his PE tests a nightmare.  His jeep creaks when he gets out.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 107):

*Yes taking Mike and Hank with and sitting them up and strapping them into the jeep*

*I look up after the jeep ride*

"Greetings General, it is a pleasure to see you, and that humans in general are doing well. I was worried that the Greys might have decimated the planet. This is Mike and Hank, *I point to each as I say their name*, the Greys that controlled them are dead, and took their control devices with them. I have tried to free them, but it is very dangerous, so I am trying to fashion a new control device to release them. In any case, they requested to visit their families, and since we needed food and supplies, it sounded like the right time."

*Trying to feel him out to see what I can glean from him*

He looks intently at you, and then at the two cyborgs.

"We've never seen a cyborg up close. There was only one wide spread attack that we're aware of...the Venture Incident. Early on in the Internet, the Grays sent in a computer virus to try to get us to attack ourselves. We were able to stop it, and nowadays, no weapon systems are net connected, and every major system has a human watcher.  We think the Spidren told them to cut it out.  But we're not sure who or what the Spidren are, this Door you mentioned, or anything other than random humans get snatched a few times a month, and altered by the Grays."

The double doors open, and you step in with two soldiers stepping off with gurneys for the cyborgs who then come back.  The door closes, and the floor of the room rapidly sinks.

You go down for a good bit.

"We at Space Watch figure we can survive a one megaton damage asteroid hit."

The doors open into a wide hallway with displays on both sides.  The first is a cut out chunk of stone with cave paintings showing two cavemen with spears stabbing a Gray.  Its mounted on the wall.  Next to it is an illuminated manuscript.

"Dear Lord from the Fury of the Northmen deliver us,
And let the Hatred of the Gray pass us by in your mercy, O Lord..."

Beyond that is a jade statue of Kali using her many arms to rip a Gray to pieces.

Beyond that is a typewritten order on a badly wrinkled sheet of manuscript.

"General Order No. 22.
Maximum violence is to be directed at the Gray.  They are enemies of the World Communist Revolution, and any aid, or truce with them is STATE TREASON.
                                           Stalin,
                                           Party Secretary of the U.S.S.C.P."

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 109):

*I look around and listen to the General*

"It is good to see the Grey's haven't subjugated the planet, and SPECTRE said this is their one slave ship in orbit. This should cut down on the abductions, but as you have seen, they are made into cyborgs. I have a plan, to change the cyborg facilities on the ship from making cyborgs, to making exosuits. There is a base that was offline on the dark side of the moon, however, since when I came aboard, I activated it, the Greys seek to put it back offline.

They seem to make/find intelligent apes, and so far we have freed three groups coming through the door. I came to Earth for three reasons, to take care of the Slave Ship, which I have done, to let Mike and Hank see their families, they can speak via text, so there is that. The last is to resupply, water and food for us to keep defending the door. If you can also get me some advanced parts, so I can repair the other two shuttles, you are welcome to have one. It would make communication, resupply and well you can help defend the gate. I could also use a scientist and an engineer. I know computer programming, I can copy, but I do not understand. I hate to rush you, but we don't have a lot of time. They greys have been attacking the door, and we are running out of food and water, this was a desperate gamble that right after the last door opening, we may have a day or two before we will need to defend it again.

I am not a military man, and I know you are here to defend earth. You do know tactics, and if you take what I tell you at face value, you will know the best way to defend earth at this point is to help defend the door. I was worried I was going to find some post-apocalyptic civilization here, and have trouble finding the food and resources we need. I am both thankful and lucky, that the earth seems to be better than I expected. Taking Mike and Hank back up, I can probably squeeze 2-3 people in with the supplies if we organize the cyborg bay. I can really use your help, time really isn't on our side"

Jhiaxus
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Sun 06 Nov 2016.

"Alright, Grand Admiral." He suddenly starts walking fast, and takes you past a picture of St. George Slaying the Gray, a Crusader sword, a Zulu spear, and into his office at the end of the hall.

"Sharon." He snaps at his brunette secretary.  "Tell Dr. Whittaker to get his pictures NOW. Send for Enlisted Hughes, Dr. James Parker, and Mark Winston.  Immediately.  Tell Stores to get up two pallets of DF's, and one of water. It is Utmost Rush.  And i will personally cancel Christmas for anyone who is tardy."

"Yes, sir." She says a bit flustered behind her desk, and then you hear echoes that repeat her words as she goes to a general intercom.

"Now, we have fifteen or twenty minutes.  What is the Door? Why are the Grays...okay to make cyborgs.  I need information..." And here he smiles.  "If only to keep my science guys from mutiny.  Dr. Whittaker is going to scream when he finds that you're leaving with the UFO."

Mike is already doing text, and Sharon is getting Hank set up as well.

*I nod*

"The Door from my understanding is basically an distance warping wormhole. You pay gold in order to open it, and it is part of a linked network of set places where you can go to. The base on the dark side of the moon is one of them. However it was offline until I came aboard, now it is online and they know it is online. SCEPTRE is the AI that runs the Door, and the base, the AI can prevent people from leaving, but cannot prevent the door from opening. The first time a Grey came in, I had no weapons out and had to lure them into to the Reactor core and use bots as cover to kill one. The next time, we set a trap, the Cyborg the first one in was trapped under containers and bots. I told the Grey to hand over his bracket and surrender , and he chose to kill himself. The Bracelets control the cyborgs, and generate a kinetic field. I am going to assume it stops all projectiles, but has no effect on hand held weapons. As to why they need to make Cyborgs, I am not a scientist. If I were to hazard a guess, they are physically weak, and if they are drafting intelligent apes and making cyborgs out of humans, combined with the unmanned slave ship, it leads me to believe that they either do not have a lot of their kind to serve as foot soldiers, or they have too much pride or ego to do the work themselves. The greys did not make the technology they use for The Door, that was from a previous civilization. I am currently making a control bracelet, copying theirs down to each detail. I am hoping that once done, Mike and Hank can at least be mobile and fight, if not be able to release them from control without killing them. Worst case, they will fight the greys that made them.

Well I do need a scientist and an engineer, if you are willing to let him go, they can help me repair the two somewhat working shuttles, and they can see for themselves. Do you have a 3D printer that prints metal? It would be far easier to recreate the band in AutoCAD, and then print it out, than fashion it by hand. It might also help with ship parts. I am trying not to be greedy, there is a lot of work, and not enough time in the day to do it, I am sure you are under the same guidelines. I would love other things, I can leave a list and next time I am down, we can cover more than the necessities. I am quite thankful for your help, you have no reason to trust me, but I hope Mike and Hank are putting in a good word for me."

*I will walk back to the UFO, and start shifting around the cyborg lab so 2-3 humans and the small amount of stuff we are putting in here. I am checking every nook and cranny of the ship now to make room."

Jhiaxus

In reply to Jhiaxus (msg # 112):

The DOOR was online, but unmanned, which means it shows up as such, and thus less people are likely to use it, which is actually what the Gray prefer.

"All the stories we have, and there is only one of a Chinese philosopher in the eighth century who got a Gray to surrender.  Don't feel, bad, son." The General speaks.

Also, you remember that the glitter field did have an effect on your sword.  Its a two category shift to the lesser unless the damage is Fatal or higher, in which case, the field simply collapses without effect on an attack.  (You're thinking of the belt from the EE Doc Smith type world.)

"That's good. It means they have weaknesses we can exploit."

"I'm sending you Dr. James Parker, he's a chemist, and Mark Winston, he's our assistant to our lead engineer. As to 3D printing....I hear that the Triple T's have some prototypes they are working on, but we're not on the list to receive such toys. I can ask the Techheads near Tyler for a prototype next time you're down here."

(Bad GE roll.)

You are sticking a couple DF's into a spot under your chair when a wide-eyed man with glasses on his forehead sticks his head in.  He grabs the DF's, or Dessicated Foods with titles like 'Meatball Sauce Noodles' from your hands.

"OUT!!" He shouts in your face, and then pulls his head back out, and shouts from your ship down to the workers bringing stuff. "Everyone stop. This is a science project.  I'm having my guys come in, and take this beauty apart.'

*To the General*

"I would make the most dense, lightest sword science can create, I think then the field wouldn't work at all on it."

---------------------------

*I get visibly angry being pushed out, and when I hear what he is going to do, I pull out my shotgun and level it at his head*

"If you think I am going to let you Doom humanity, because of scientific interest, you are insane. Why don't you use that big brain of yours and follow the pattern. The DOOR has been manned, and defended, now there is no one leading the defense force of the DOOR. The Grey's unmanned ship has been lost to them. Put two and two together, how many days is it before they send an army through the door and send an invasion force to the earth? So you can either take the ship apart, strand me here, to leave the DOOR undefended. Or you can be patient, save the earth, be a hero, and then you can study it as much as you want."

*I smile*

"Oh and let's not go into the fact the first thing I did when I took over the ship is take it off remote control and only recognize my commands. While I haven't figured out the weapons, if there are any, I sure as hell can close the door and vent the atmosphere from out here. Your move Doc."

Jhiaxus

"I'll get one of my scientists to work on it." General Carver says, nodding carefully.

===================

Rage thickens and deepens your voice.

He spits in your face.

"Go ahead.  Violence is the only language the dimwitted know." He sneers loudly.  Everyone else has frozen in place about the shuttle, often with boxes of DF in their arms.

Intimidation botch.

*I smirk at him as I move closer to him, engaging him*

"You are correct, I am dimwitted, shortsighted and too stupid to walk up to you and rap you on the beak with the butt of my shotgun"

*I crack him in the beak with the butt of my shotgun*

"I still have more wisdom in my pinky finger than you have in your whole body. Your ego has turned you into a greedy little man. Pride is the deadliest of sins. You would Doom us all for your curiosity. You are lucky I keep all my options open. Just because you can do a thing, does not mean you should do a thing."

*I wait for things to calm down*

Jhiaxus

You hit him, and he goes down like a sack of potatoes.

Someone checks him, finds him alive, and another runs for the medic.

The rest shrug and get back to work.  Clearly among the tote and haul brigade, Dr. Whittaker was not a popular man.

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 117):

*I shrug*

"Boring conversation anyway."

*I wipe off the spit from my face and continue to load the ship and wait for the other people who are coming with, as well as Mike and Hank*

Jhiaxus

You're rapidly loaded, and then Mike and Hank come in on gurneys being pushed by medics.  The scientist and the engineer come with them.

General Carver comes down as well.

"Good luck, son." He nods to the two newbs. "You're detached to serve with the Grand Admiral, in a wartime position, so its a combat position with danger pay, and he can punish cowardice in the face of the enemy or deliberate and repeated insubordination with lethal force."

The two nod seriously in response.

And in a few minutes, you're airborne, and then a bit later, you're spaceborne.  The engineer hands you some pills.  "Pain relievers. This is going to seriously stink." He swallows a handful himself.

*I nod to the General*

"Once we can establish communication from there to here, we will report."

_____________________________________

*I take the handful of pain meds*

"You should have been on the shuttle without internal dampeners, that was painful, while this will be, at least it will be far more pleasant."

*I will set course for SCEPTRE Moon Base*

Jhiaxus

By the time you're at Moon Base, your legs are starting to cramp in the insufficient space, and there's been a couple minor spats as the two work off their excitement from being in space.  Both of them seem to be quality workers, a bit high-strung, but eager to jump into things.

"Welcome back, Jarl.  The base is secure." SCEPTRE says.  "There were no incursions."

The apes holler at you as you see them playing some sort of dodgeball/football cross which involves a heavy wad of junk tied together.  It does not look like a game that is healthy for a human to play because when an ape highballs a twenty bound lump into the face of an opponent, and then jumps down fifteen feet from the DOOR cage to land with a small boom on the floor, and the other ape rolls back to his feet, unharmed, and tosses the ball to his teammate while taking himself to the penalty box.....and then his teammate gets hit by a flying tackle of eight hundred pounds.....and the ball pops loose, and everyone including those in the penalty box dive for it...

SCEPTRE calls the ball for Team Big Head.

*I breath a sigh of relief as I stretch*

"Thanks SCEPTRE"

-------------------------------

*I smile a bit as I watch them play, they seem really happy*

-------------------------------

*I give them the tour*

"This is the base, that is the DOOR, which luckily for us, seems to only allow organics who pay through. If not we would probably already be eating missiles or grenades. The reactor room is there, storage rooms, the shuttles. Two of them are flyable, one more than the other. The last one is a parts ship now. I promised the General that we would repair both and give them one. The bots here are helpful but need direction. I am working on the golden bracelet copy, which is a priority, to get Mike and Hank back up and running. The bracelet also grants a force-field against projectiles and limited protection against melee. We have a lot of work to do, and carry a melee weapon with you at all times. If the DOOR opens, we must defend it. Any questions, or preferred work assignments, now is the time."

Jhiaxus

The scientist asks for a workspace for his lab.  He begins setting up some monitoring equipment from the suitcase he carried.

"There is so much here that is far past the state of Earth science that I hardly know where to begin.  I'd like to just look around, and see if I can find something easy to figure out, take measurements of everything, and of course, do whatever jobs yo uhave for me."

The engineer says that he'd like to get started on the shuttles, and work with the bots.

*I nod to the scientist*

"Feel free, I think I am going to get back to the bracelet, since Mike and Hank need it, and I think it is the key to unlock the lab on the ship."

*To the Engineer*

"I have the list of things I know need to be done to the two working ones, the third is the parts one."

*I will wait for the game to end and ask the apes to help me unload the food and water from the slave ship*

Jhiaxus

You struggle on with the bracelet for the next two days, and then the scientist joins you in it.  He's fascinated by the possibilities of multi-atom wide energy channels including computers waaaay better than they have now.

The engineer is working well with the bots.

The apes are enjoying life and Mike and Hank are zoned out.

The two new guys have occasionally said odd things like how they enjoy watching the National Lacrosse Tourney games for the Birmingham Vulcans and the Nashville Guitars.

*I am thankful for the help on the bracelet, it means the faster we get this to work, the faster Mike and Hank can not be prisoners in their bodies so to speak, will redouble the efforts to get this done, and then I can move onto re-purposing the Cyborg bay into making Exosuits.*

------------------------------------

*I am happy the Engineer is working well with them, took a long time to get them up and running, glad someone who can give the right direction is there*

------------------------------------

*I keep a watchful eye on the door, and since the apes love to play on the barrier, it was an unintended result, but one that will do us well in the future.*

Jhiaxus

The scientist and the engineer take off a half day and come up with a jig that allows faster straight lines in the microforging.  You still have to reset the jig for every change, but it speeds things up considerably.

The DOOR booms, and you go out to see a ten foot tall bear standing  in front of the DOOR.  He is holding the trap above his head with one hand.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:54, Wed 23 Nov 2016.

*I walk out and nod as I look at what has come through*

"Do you communicate? If so, we should parley."

*I keep my options open, if he turns out not to be intelligent, I am sure the Mighty Joe Army will not be happy about someone messing with their playspace*

Jhiaxus

"Why do you have this, err, trap above the DOOR. That seems rude after you invite guests.  You'd better not be trying to run a thiefhole because you don't want to make one of the Bear Folk mad."  He growls.  His words are hard to understand, but by paying close attention you can manage.

He's got a belt, and pants.  The belt has a number of package holders on it.

*I smile*

"My apologies there is a race of beings that act like they own the DOOR, and have forcefully tried three times in the last month to physically take this DOOR and turn it off by force. We have had to put measures in to make sure we had some warning before being attacked. You have my apologies. That trap is also a playspace for our Ape friends, so it does pull double duty. I am Grand Admiral Space Pirate Jhiaxus, and this is the DOOR to the Terran system. Don't get worried, I have only pirated one unmanned slave ship, but the title fits. How may we be of service?

*I direct the Might Joe army to graciously lift and move the door guard so that our guest doesn't get more miffed*

Jhiaxus

He nods, and walks forward, and gives you the ounces of gold for his weight.

"Do you have transport to Earth?  I'm a student in the Academy, and so I'm going on a Grand Tour of interesting spots for my graduation.  And since Old Earth just opened, that means I can get a much more interesting paper than the other students.  I do have a Morph Shield, Level 2, as I understand Old Earth is primitive."

He pauses.

"Those aren't Spiders are they?"

In reply to Tadeusz (msg # 131):

*I listen*

"I do have transport to Earth, although I am loathe to leave the DOOR undefended. I will tell you what, you give me a crash course in how everyone knows the DOOR system works, if there is a New Earth, and generally the state of technology and whatnot and I will provide you transport. Also do you know anything about the bracelets the grey wear? I am having a difficult time replicating one."

*I give the Engineer and the Scientist the sabre and one of my katanas*

"To defend the door, in case someone unfriendly comes through. I know the shuttles aren't up to snuff, so we will be taking the slave ship. You have 15 minutes of requested supplies and to contact the General about our visitor. I do expect those back."

*Back to the Bear folk*

"I am assuming that a morph shield makes you look human? If that is the case, I don't see a big problem with taking you to Earth. Do you have places in particular you wish to visit? I will need to file a flight plan with the General, and pay him a visit, but if you play along, everything should work out."

Jhiaxus

"Surre." He walks up to the DOOR, and flips open a small hatch in the doorframe that you had not noticed.  Inside is a map of the DOOR system, or at least part of it.  Some dots are unlighted, which means 'not in use' which Old Earth used to be before you arrived.  Others are green, which Old Earth is now.  And a few are red, which ...

"Tasmogia. Without a Level Four Ultrahazzard suit, you don't want to go there.  Some idiot released a nano-bio virus.  Killed everything, and I mean everything, down to the plankton in the seas. We think it was a Spider trying to mousetrap a Snake war base."

"Lights green, means its open." He tags the Old Earth Symbol which is a baby's cradle.  He also points out New Earth.

"Never been, I hear they have agrav, which is more advanced than the Bear Folk. The dirty, rotten Grays use a similar tech to my morph shield, which yeah, does as you say.  But more advanced, and more, ah, err, focused."

He mentions a few places, famous sights, but other than the River Euphrates, nothing is at all familar to you or the other two.

*I look at the map*

"The Greys are the ones trying to shut this DOOR down, do you know why? Also who lives on New Earth? Humans? Greys? Something else?

*I nod to Bear Folk*

"Well I know a lot of the places you would want to see on the Earth I know, I am sure a lot of it matches up. I will inquire with the General what is off limits, what is not safe, and we can go from there."

---------------------------------

*Once the Scientist and Engineer are done radioing the General, I will get on*

"It seems there is a New Earth connected to the DOOR system, also we have a visitor that is interested in historical sites on Earth. I was wondering which ones are safe. It seems that Old Earth might be a popular tourist destination. Also the Grey's are not loved by our visitor, so there might be hope for working together with others. I am leaving the Scientist and Engineer here to keep working on the shuttles, the bracelet, and to guard the DOOR. Were you able to contact the manufacturer of the component 3D printer. It would really help with repairs and fabrication up here, and get you a shuttle much sooner."

Jhiaxus

"I try not to deal with the Greys.  They will cheat you on a trade deal, even if it doesn't make sense.  New Earth...I think they're Human, kind of.  Used to be a big center of trade...the Trensker Towers, but not now."

===============

"We can set up a bodyguard pair with tour guide experience.  We definitely want to make a good impression if we can.  Interstellar allies would be nice." The General replies.  "We can draw up an itinery, see what this alien is interested in.  Some sights we won't be able to show him, but Grand Canyon and Pyramids are easy to do.  But we'll do our best to show him a good time.'

"We got the 3D system shipped yesterday night. Should arrive within the hour. They're sending a few members of their engineering staff with them to help us set up."
GE 9

*I nod to the bear folk*

"Well even by looking into their eyes and facial expressions when they speak, I could tell they were not to be trusted. The fact that they are harvesting humans to make their guards, and having a fit someone turned back on the Old Earth Door just brings it to the forefront. After you are done, maybe you could revise your paper, to also put in just how they Greys are using Old Earth. It takes someone to shine a light on a problem before others take notice."

---------------------------

*Listening to the General*

"I agree, the better impression we make, the more others will take notice of the situation here, other than the Greys that is. I will give you a few hours to make the arrangements and  I will bring our visitor down and start the tour with your permission. While I am thinking about it, the situation might call for an ambassador to post up here with us, since while I am a wonderful human being and host, perhaps a softer, more diplomatic person would make a better first impression"

---------------------------

*To the Bear Kin*

"The General is making arrangements as we speak, may I get you some food and drink, while the arrangements are made? I am not the greatest host, but now that I know we might receive friendly visitors, we will make arrangements to do so."

*To the Engineer and Scientist*

"The Metal Fabrication 3D Printer will be coming back with us, in the meantime, we should devise a move-able crane system, to lift up the gate when we have guests.

Jhiaxus

"I would be glad too.  Could I quote you in my paper, as the Ruler of Old Earth, it would make a fine addition to my work."  You can tell he's a bit greedy for your input, rather like a PH.d candidate might be happy to have a quote from a president of a small country to go in his report.

-----------

"Definitely. I'll get on that." The General replies.

------------

"Hah. Don't bother me.  We Bear Kin are not much to stand on ceremony.  Now if a Lord of the High Tree had come in, you'd have a mortal enemy for life, but then they would never come here in the first place without making sure with intermediaries you knew the proper protocol so as to know whether to bow seventeen or eighteen times before greeting them.  Must be exhausting to have to be so polite.  But I am a bit peckish."

It turns out that Bear Kin don't stand on ceremony, and don't mind putting up their elbows on the table, and really don't mind eating three days worth of food in one meal.  A loud burp, and a sigh later.  "You have  a bed, Jarl?  If you do, wake me when you're ready to leave, I'll slip into a mini hibernation until then."