"Lilibeth possesses knowledge of things called pathology, biology and chemistry. She was also a soldier healer called a medic. She says to Winter.

"So Holly doesn't like men? Perhaps I can speak with her, ask her to cooperate with us.

Lady Armageddon is staring at the wall, her mouth hanging open. Then she shakes her head and says, "you don't see that every day."
The wall of the ship has grown a display screen. The block text on the screen says,

Winter Herald also paused, as his delayed processors attempted to comprehend what he was reading. "I confess to being surprised as well, for several reasons. I was expecting... Lillibeth's impressive skill set to be absolutely essential and one of the most hands-on examples of divine intervention I had ever learned about."

"Also, this... simplifies things immensely. It seems my aid is not required." Winter Herald gave a slight courtesy, given the weight he was sharing with Runa. "So, may I search the bio-ship for paper files, and at least copy them? If nuclear war occurs, it will certainly affect even life in the ocean, fifty percent of the casualties are likely to be women and girls, and I would like to avert that if I have a say on the subject."

He got on the radio and spoke. (*See LESP radio for details*)

Shaking her head with amusement, Lady Armageddon responds to Winter Herald. "All of their ill-gotten gains were on the submarine."

Runa looks at Holly, "Please do not blame all men for the evils of some. All people are capable of evil and good, it is not limited to one gender. I believe these that are my compa ions, genuinely wish to do good in the world, as do I and my soul bonded." The priestess smiles at Holly, "Please help us and we will help you. Do you need any healing now? Or some other aid? I am a warrior priestess of Ishtar and have been blessed by her to aid those in need"

After another chuckle the former Holly Cook explains, "all of my betrayals were at the hands of men. I don't hate them but I can't trust them. I'm here to destroy, it's what I have to do to repay he that won't be named. As soon as we can make landfall you can go. It'll be more fun to take you down where it'll all be visible."

Runa nods gravely. "I see. You still wish to fight us but only with an audience. Very well, until then there will be peace between us."

Winter Herald did some brief calculations. Still slowed, still delayed. Audible communication wasn't something he was required to endure - it was at his speed.

"He that won't be named? Fascinating, and consistent with your beliefs." He kept his vision panning. "I require a few things before leaving. One, I need your team to leave my comrade here alone, one Chimp Man Z. I have no desire to harm your companions, but I will not accept harm to mine, and I have limited non-violent options if diplomacy is clearly failing."

"Second, what I am seeking isn't necessarily stolen. I am seeking Vitaly's financial and business records. His books. If he lives here, it will be accessible here. If even half of his profile is accurate, a great deal of information and funding passed through his hands. Major FORCE would require multiple investors, and the volume of money being moved to so many parties to fund his operations would certainly have the attention of one as prolific as Vitaly. I wish for a look at that data. At the worst, I eliminate a false-positive."

"Finally, when I speak to them, what do you want me to tell Holly Cook's loved ones? I do not take expect them to take news of her... 'death'... gracefully."

He was not concerned about the threat of her attack to come. There was only one way a high-profile attack on American soil by an unknown superbeing was going to end. Hopefully, Runa would make headway talking her out of it, and maybe Z might have a surprise to talk her down. He had limited faith in his own abilities at this point - he felt he was reaching his limits with her.

CMZ looks at Winter Herald.  Don't worry about me.  He turns to Lady Armageddon.  I'm probably the one man here who can understand what you have been through.  Look at me.  Famous circus performer.  Famous superhero.  Police officer.  Also Mutant.  Jew.  The son of immigrants.  Do you realize how much drek I get day after day?   I get insults painted on my door, bananas thrown at me.  I have had Neo-Nazis, Human Purists, anti-Immigrants, and Holocaust Deniers protest my shows and appearances.  Kike.  Mutie. Monkey Boy.  Jude.  I have had people try to keep me from joining the EMS, Fire and Rescue, and the police department.  I have had people try to keep me from moving into my apartment.  I have received death threats, even attempts on my life.  There are places I get treated like an animal.  I have had to prove my right to exist every step of the way, since middle school.
Then he smiles.  And, while we're at it, get it right.  It isn't Men you hate.  Men is plural for Man.  Man is short for HuMan.  HuMankind.  Which WoMan is just as much a part of.  You hate Males.  If you want to destroy all Males, you can start with me.  Because I have seen, dealt with, and survived the worst that Man can bring on a daily basis.  At least then someone will see me as a Man and not an animal.

The viewscreen on the wall enlarges. It appears to be some sort of biological liquid crystal display. This time, the letters are large enough to insure everyone sees them.
The block text on the screen says,

Seeing the screen, CMZ does not even wait for a response from Lady Armageddon to his speech.  He heads for the indicated location with all due haste.

"Another delay. Runa, please delay approach in the event of the worst. Call it a hunch. Z, I am programmed with EOD specialization. That said, I might need you to hug it." Winter Herald moved to the X indicated, almost in a flash, and was hoping it wasn't the red he needed to go to. He searched as quickly as his scanners would allow to locate and analyze the threat.

Something about this wasn't adding up, but he didn't have time to figure out what.

SENSORY SUITE
Amplified Hearing: 360 feet (?); 5x better than a human, same as Heightened Hearing
[74%] Estimate sound distance
[58%] Estimate speed and direction of approaching sound
Nightsight, infrared, thermal, and ultraviolet visions
Micro-radar: 1 mile; Can identify up to 15 targets and simultaneously track six. Rate of travel, direction, and location are indicated.
Motion Detector: 60 feet; Registers vibrations in the air indicating movement.
Radar Detector: 4 miles; Registers radar waves to indicate radar surveillance.
[84%] Track radar emission to source
Radiation Detector: 60 feet; Registers and pinpoints radioactivity.

"Delay approach? Approach of what?" Runa asks as Winter runs out of the room. Runa looks all around for some oncoming threat but only sees the room, which CMZ and Winter had just hastily left.

"And what is the danger? Is it poison or a bomb?" She asks Lilibeth. "I don't think it is an actual pill of poison. I think the ship just said that, you know, slang and stuff. It probably is a bomb. Hey, maybe we could just destroy it? Or if it does go off, hopefully we can heal any damage fast enough to matter," Lilibeth responds to Runa. "We should probably follow them though, we aren't doing much here and they might need us." Runa could feel the mental shrug of Lilibeth.

Before she dashes off, Runa spares a glance at Holly. "May the goddess protect us all," she says to the other woman and then, like her companions, is off, running through the corridors of the strange ship in the direction they went.

[Secret to not Chimp Man Z; not Runa; not Winter Herald: Lady Armageddon watches the heroes speed off, then nods to Chiroptera, "that should rid us of them, and it'll certainly be easier than flooding the place."
Chiroptera replies, "I guess so. But I really like Chimp Man Z, it's a richer flavor than I get from any of the others."]
Arriving at Dr. Phage's stateroom, the only thing seen that could be out of place is a solid box of the same biological substance that the walls are made of. It sits in the exact location the 'X' appeared on the screen. [Secret to Winter Herald:Although nothing can be seen to move, there is a rhythmic chirp that appears to tick off the seconds passed. The noise is so quiet, only some sort of advanced hearing would detect it.]
The box gives off no unusual odors, and has no markings, but is the ONLY unexpected item in the room. A screen appears in the wall above the box with a message from Aeaea (that's what the island-ship has decided to call itself).

"We are twenty miles from the nearest shoreline. If this is a CBN weapon, the wrong winds or currents could carry it to a populated area, and kill hundreds or far more." Winter Herald glanced behind him at the other two. "Runa - as long as you are here, I belief you should identify if it is that kind of danger. CMZ - I believe you should inflict the damage requested, just in case I cannot disable it, but it is not a CBN weapon. I am hoping disabling it is simple, and I am hoping this is simple to deal with."

He got to work studying it. Explosives, at least, were something he knew well.

01:43, Today: Winter Herald rolled 7 using 1d100.  Demolitions Disposal. TN 98 with a 2% overflow.

"CBN" means "Chemical Biological Nuclear". He's trying to make sure he's not about to hurl a nerve gas or even a high powered defoliant at the east coast of the USA.

Aeaea?  How do you pronounce that?
Jacob looks up after reading the message.  Do you have anyway of knowing when the device will go off?  I need to know if it is on a timer, or a pressure switch.
He looks about the room.  If I'm going to try move it, I will need everyone out in case it detonates.  When I try it, the room will need to be sealed, and vented directly to the outside.  Can you do that, Aeaea?

"It's on a timer, ticking by seconds. Old fashioned - I expected something digital. Can we study this first, please, so that we do not do something terrible we will live to regret? I am aware of our finite time."

Any idea how much time we have?

Runa nods her head and moves closer to the device. Lilibeth wishes that she was on the outside just then but experiencing it through the senses of Runa was almost as good. She just had to tell Runa what to do.

OOC
Lilibeth sees what she can see of the device without disturbing it.

Runa rolled 64 using 1d100.  Chemistry @55%. FAIL

Well shoot.

The device appears to be of entirely biological origins. The exterior of the device has a unique property, it adheres to anything that touches it. [Secret to Winter Herald:Although the internal ticks are slowly increasing in volume, there's no way of knowing how loud the final tick will be.]

Winter Herald force-closed consensus debate, as he drew a conclusion. "Z, how confident of surviving this and the ocean are you? Because we need to get rid of it now, and destroy it out there. If you are not confident of both, I will take it. I can be salvaged and repaired later, should it be as powerful as I fear, and if it is not, I can recover without aid."

He was annoyed at encountering an explosive he could not comprehend fully, as he began casually smashing with as much precision as he could the area surrounding the bomb.

"If it is poisonous and detonates in here, it will still leak out and cause the same problems."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:01, Thu 09 Feb 2023.

Lilibeth reports her limited findings to Runa, who shares it with the others. "I wonder if your ability to destroy things with a touch will work on this device?" Lilibeth asks Runa. "Its like...being smote by the divine right? If you use enough power, it might vaporize it entirely, like completely disintegrate it."

Runa could see how Lilibeth thought using her power to destroy might work but like her, wasn't sure if that is how it would transpire. "Lilibeth believes I can 'vaporize' the device. The goddess has given me the ability to smite her enemies as well as heal those in need. It is not something I have called upon." She looks around for something relatively small to demonstrate the power on.

I've taken direct hits from tank cannons and artillery, the mutant advises.  And I can hold my breath for about fifteen minutes or so.Think that will ne enough time for someone to come get me?
He does not even really take the time to think about it.  He reaches down and begins trying to pry up the flooring ipon which the device sits.
He looks to Runa.  That could prove useful.  But, might that set it off?  Like tampering could?
How heavy does it seem to be?  Could he carry it with his tail?  Or does he need to use his hands?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:20, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

"A demonstration is not needed. If the disintegration is instant or effectively so? I doubt the doctor anticipated that. The device should be destroyed with minimal harm to ourselves or the ship, especially if you start from the primer. And yes, I should be able to get you."

OOC: If Winter Herald knows the primer on this biological bomb, or can guess it out from having thousands of explosive designs in his head, he will point to it.