Expedition Stage 3: pt 1: The Rescue Team

Nolan wakes up slowly, in a softly padded cot, to the sounds of a husky dog chirping and voices, speaking English, but farther away; the room is bright and very warm for the Antarctic and he has a feeling he's not in one of the waxed canvas tents.   The current tent's fabric is some kind of white material he doesn't recognise, much bigger than the old tent, and seems to have more than one room.   He feels a bit groggy but otherwise all right.  A dark skinned woman with black braided hair is sitting beside him in fancy folding chair; she is wearing brightly coloured clothing that also seems to be reinforced for the cold, but it's not bulky like the furs.   She is looking at some kind of flat thing, like a piece of glass, where glowing numbers and symbols are flashing.  She glances over at him, and sets the flat screen thing into a pocket sewn onto the side of her chair, smiling at him.

"Good morning," she said, sounding quite refined and polite.  "My name is Phyllis Langmore.  You're Agent Christopher Nolan.  We met briefly at the Grey Building when you were hired, but I was only seventeen years old then.  I'm forty-three now.  You're recovering from hypothermia. You're safe and we are from the Temporal Agency."
The tent curtain was flipped aside by a husky's nose and the sled dog he'd been left with trotted in, tail wagging, to stick his wet nose onto Nolan's face and slurp a sloppy tongue along his cheek.  "Kiska saved your life," Phyllis Langmore told him, patting the dog affectionately.  "Kept you warm, and barked to tell us your location."  She turned a little in the chair, revealing that one of her ears was a ragged stump, and called into the next room of the tent. "Boss !"
"Salve !" came the reply.  A man flipped the curtain aside, someone that Nolan had seen before - and had seen recently.  Luke Macey, this time maybe forty years old, with a thick head of black hair peppered with some grey, the same merry grin, wearing a red, orange and white outfit similar to Phyllis Langmore's.   The fabric was sleek and odd, like the finest silk, but seemed designed for cold weather.
"There he is," said Macey, observing Nolan, nodding at Phyllis.  "And I meet Agent Nolan, for the first time in my life, at least, so far.  We are waiting for a signal to move in on the City.   That is how it will be recorded."
"Boss !"  yelped a voice from the next room in this strange tent, a gravelly male voice.
"Quid nunc ?" Macey called.
"I got incoming, ten clicks," the voice replied.
"Then tell Himself, and get ready," Macey called back, still grinning at Nolan. "Well ?  You want to see a prehistoric city made by interstellar monsters at the very bottom of the world, or do you want to lay in bed all day, Agent ?"

-------
-------
GM:  Actions, etc, for the next few minutes of game time, please respond by Saturday, 27 August, next post on Sunday.

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

"What?" asked Nolan, clearly confused, as he sat up on the side of the cot and scratched at his beard. Moving made his head swim so he gripped the sides of the bed with both hands and stayed still for a few moments, breathing deeply. What Macey, the man he had recognised, had said sounded both weird and intriguing.

"Did he say a prehistoric city made by interstellar monsters?" he asked the woman who had identified herself as Phyllis, receiving a nod in reply. "And did you say that we met many years ago when you were a teenager?" That question prompted another nod. Clearly she was used to conversations where she had to explain her age in relation to other people. It still perplexed Nolan so he just smiled back at her and focused on getting himself together. Scratching further at his beard he reached for a bottle of water that was sat on the floor beside him and took a swig. It helped so he drank some more, gulping down most of the bottle.

He was still confused but going to look at a prehistoric city sounded like something he wanted to do. "I'll get myself together and then come and join everyone," he said to Phyllis with a nod as he stood up. He didn't wobble so his legs were steady at least, it was just his head that felt like it was stuck in cotton wool. Finding a bowl of water in the corner of the tent he washed his face and then got dressed in the clothes someone had left out for him. It wasn't just clothing, there was a set of military webbing and a couple of firearms so he put all of that on as well.

Once dressed he went over to the curtain that Macey had disappeared back though to find out more about what was going on. And where exactly he was going.

Nolan and the Temps

Nolan geared up, noting the webbed harness was made of some unfamiliar material, lighter in weight than cotton and more durable.  The weapons were recognisable as a standard sidearm, a M1911a .45 caliber, and a Thompson gun with a drum of ammo, but it felt a lot lighter than a standard Thompson.   He followed Phyllis and Macey into the next room, and blinked a few times.  Black rectangles filled with pictures were flashing and moving, set onto a U-shaped desk; a larger picture of what looked like the outside was projected somehow into the air, showing something small and black moving closer; some unknown resolution was identifying it as 'Falcon' and 'probable shapeshifter, analysis ongoing'.  Seated in a fancy chair was a tall, fit young man in the same odd clothes - and this man bore a strong resemblance to Spider Mallory.  A big heap of gear was next to him on the floor of the tent, what looked like a flamethrower, more portable than any of the type Nolan had ever seen before.  Macey was tapping at a screen, producing more pictures on the projection, and Phyllis was calmly loading up a weapons harness with ammo clips.

"Ah, that's the Djinni," Macey said, looking at the big picture of the 'Falcon'. "Note identification in the log.  Paradox levels rising, so I don't know if all us of will be able to make it.  Where's Himself, Dave ?"
"Snowmobiles," the young man, his voice oddly rough.  He glanced over his shoulder at Nolan, showing a ugly-looking scar that circled his neck.  "Bossing around the backup."
"Begin recording: Agents, make sure you have your return keylocks ready in case of paradox cascade.  Let the record show that Lucius Macer has given the order.  Stop recording."   Macey said, and faced Nolan.  "Agent Nolan, since you are from this time, you have no keylock; you will be riding with Agent Trachenberg.  Hold onto the frame and wear a harness, he will not be driving slowly.  There's a harness for Kiska too.  All three of you have to get to the city and we will do all we can to assist in this matter."
"I got incoming from satellite two; from the North, across the ice, high flier, 100 clicks out," said the young man Dave.   "We'll need the camo sheets, I think it's DOD.  Looks like a Curtiss NC-4 seaplane."  He tapped some places on the desk and an action picture of crystal clarity showed a flying seaplane bearing a US marking, shown from above.  It was moving over one of the Antarctic plateaus and showed that it was headed South.

"Nolan, follow any orders Trachenberg gives you, he's acquainted with all the mission protocols.   He also knows the way to the city.   Phyllis, Dave, let's go; the cleanup crew will take down the tent.  Maybe ask the Djinni to decoy them."  Macey then wrapped a scarf around his neck, flipped his coat's hood up and put on a pair of shaded goggles; Phyllis handed Nolan a pair as she tossed another pair to Dave.  Dave caught them without looking and stood up, picking up what had to be fifty pounds of flamethrower with one hand.  Macey strode out towards a section of tent that immediately pulled back from him, revealing the cold outside.  Standing by five strange vehicles, like big motorcycles on skiis, were another seven people.  One of them Nolan recognised immediately; Fritz Trachenberg.  Some of the people were in furs, some in the odd clothes.    All of them were heavily armed.  One of the vehicles had a BAR mounted to its front, on a swivel mount.   Phyllis walked to that one, tucking her braids into a grey fur hat, with one of the men in furs carrying a box of belt ammo behind her.   A couple of the people seemed familiar; with goggles, face wraps and heavy clothing it was hard to note much of anything in particular.  Kiska trotted towards the machines, tail wagging, and climbed onto the one in front.  All at once, the rest of the people headed towards machines, two apiece.  A small black bird was winging towards them, skimming over the ice; it suddenly flared up and became a woman, dressed in furs, running towards them.  "Help !"  Ginny yelled.  "Thorne and the others need help !"


------
------
GM:  Actions, etc, for the next minute of game time, please respond by Saturday, 17 September, next post Sunday
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nolan pulled on the goggles he had been handed, wrapped a scarf over his nose and mouth and then pulled his hood up to ensure that as much of his skin was covered as possible. The last item of clothing he put on though were his gloves, a final piece of preparation as he trotted over to Fritz.

"Trachenberg," he said as he approached the motorcycle style vehicle, his voice muffled to some extent by the scarf he'd just wrapped around his face, giving the man he knew a nod as he spoke. "OK, I guess that I sit behind you on this contraption but where does the husky go? Macy said something about a harness. And good to see you by the way. You'll have to tell me more about what's going on when we get a chance. Now doesn't seem to be the right time though!" His grin was hidden by the improvised mask that he wore.

Clambering onto the vehicle, Nolan followed Trachenberg's directions on where to sit and where to hold on as well as his instructions on how to get Kiska into the harness. He had never ridden a motorcycle before, but he had seen them in the movies, though he needed a lot of guidance from Fritz. Truth be told, Nolan wasn't really much for driving a car either.

The Rescue Team pt 2

Fritz nodded, strapping on a helmet that definitely was not from 1925.  "I will tell you the whole story later," the German said, sounding all business. "Kiska, load up."  The husky hopped to the front of the sled and patiently waited for Fritz to strap on a harness that was clipped to the machine.   The dog seemed to know what was going on and was already sticking his nose up in the air, sniffing; Fritz sat down on the padded seat in front and took the handlebars, Kiska practically in his lap.  "First, we have to rescue Ben, Jack and Tom.  Sit down behind me.  This harness will keep you anchored to the snowmobile.  Hold onto the grips.   Lean into turns as if you were on a motorcycle."   At the revelation that Nolan had no motorcycle experience, Fritz sighed.  "Just hold on."  He shouted in German, as the rest of the people were boarding their own snowmobiles and stowing weapons, and a riffle of laughter came back.  "OK, we try slow; hold on."
The machine's engine didn't seem loud; in fact, it was almost silent, but the tracks under it began to turn, sliding it forward, the runners in front gliding over the snow smoothly.  Then they turned, with Fritz leaning into the turn, and accelerated.   Even crouched behind Fritz, the wind pulled at Nolan, and the white landscape streamed by fast.  It made the dog sleds seem very slow indeed.  Fritz eased off on the speed and coasted to a stop, in front of the Djinni, who was jumping up and down impatiently.  "We have to hurry !"
"Get on the front and point the way," Fritz told her, pointing to the windscreen.  The woman morphed into a black falcon and flitted to the spot, like a hood ornament.
"We have company coming, from the North," Macey said, gliding up towards them.  "Navy aeroplane, it will have cameras.  It must not find us."
"Ginny - I know the way, his tracker is active.  Go to the plane and scare the hell out of the pilot," Fritz ordered the falcon.  "You will do this, and then you will fly after us, and we will save him."  The black falcon gave him a hostile look, but winged away.  Fritz raised his right arm and flicked his hand forward, signaling them to move out, then sent the snowmobile off into the vast snowscape, towards the black spikes of the Mountains of Madness.  Behind him, in a spaced line, the rest of the snowmobiles followed.   The closest was the large one bearing Dave and a slim person behind him, the flamethrower stowed on the back.

Soon Nolan had a death grip on the grips, which surprisingly were warm, radiating heat into his gloved hands, and the snowmobile was going much, much faster.  Fritz had ducked down behind the windscreen and was following some kind of unseen path, winding over the long plateau and hillocks of the frozen landscape.   The speed was harrowing.
------
------
GM: Actions, etc., for the next few minutes of game time, please respond by Saturday 24 September, next post Sunday

Nolan had climbed on behind Fritz, rapidly gathering that holding on was the key thing to be doing. He started scanning around, taking in things as they developed.

"What the hell," he muttered to himself as a woman suddenly changed shape and became a bird of some kind. Yes another thing that seemed fantastic and unbelievable to him. Part of him thought that he must be in the middle of some kind of dream, but the rest of him, the bit that found riding the snowmobile exhilarating, was just running with it, implicitly trusting the people he was with.

Whenever they slowed Nolan checked the sub machine gun that he had been given, making sure that it was in easy reach. With the amount of military weaponry they were carrying it was clear that there was something dangerous ahead. He wondered what would require a flamethrower though.

---Nolan----
The snowmobiles rushed over the ice; Nolan made sure his nice new Thompson was secured.  Fritz was clearly driven to get to the Mountains and Nolan heard a few exclamations behind them as the rest of the pack lagged behind.   Nolan would never see snow again without recalling the hellacious race towards the ominous black basalt peaks, with the wind whistling a cadence of notes that set his nerves on edge.  It could not have been very long - maybe an hour - and the German finally cleared the last ice field, swinging along the rough glacier to the edge of the Mountains, where thickly cut rock could be seen, hundreds of meters high.   The kame, the gravel from the glacier's edge, grated roughly on the snowmobile's front blades as Fritz at last slowed down and let the machine drift to a stop.  "Here," Fritz said, unclipping Kiska.  The husky had been the only one enjoying the trip.  Kiska scrambled down off the sled as Fritz slung his rifle and pulled a small black rectangle out of his jacket.  "This way," he said, looking from the glowing lights on the rectangle and into the shadows of the Mountains.  The second arrival was Macey, with a shotgun-toting man in furs riding in back; they practically fell off their snowmobile, then were scrambling for gear.    Kiska, tail wagging happily, howled.  And was answered, by at least a dozen other howls; a pair of huskies came bounding from the Mountains, from an entranceway into the City; both of them were familiar.  There were runner tracks in the snow, footprints and pawprints - it was clearly the way the Agents had taken.    The huskies greeted each other with yips and chirps.

"By all the gods," Macey was saying, as Dave and his passenger drew up and stopped.
"Yes, Sir," the passenger said, in a cheerful feminine voice.  "That ruled !"
"Take the explosives, Ruby Rae," Dave said.  The girl picked up a satchel and loaded it onto her back with one smooth move.  Dave took up the flamethrower, settling the strap over his shoulder, as if the thing weighed nothing at all, and put an extra tank on his back.
"Ben put the huskies in a pen, close by the entrance, since they would not go into the corridor," Fritz said, looking at the black rectangle.   "They should be past the main chamber on the first level and into the corridors that lead into the City's heart.  There was a Shoggoth and the albino penguins, and then - things."  He slipped the rectangle back into a pocket and moved quickly into the entrance, almost at a run.   Macey was still putting on weapons belts, but the silent man in furs nodded to Dave.
"Got it," Dave said, and they followed Fritz.
"Jupiter's Balls," Macey said, with an expansive gesture of frustration.  "We lost an agent on the ice, Paradox Incident - will you at least try to be careful ?"
"Opa's in front, Boss," Ruby Rae said over her shoulder as she trotted after the others, the huskies trotting along with her.

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

GM:  Actions, etc, for the next minute of game time, please respond by Saturday, 1 October, next post Sunday

When they arrived Nolan took a few moments to stretch his arms and legs, getting rid of the tension in them from gripping tightly to Fritz and the snow bike for something like an hour. Feeling returning he checked his Thompson, making sure that the drum was still clicked in securely before cocking the submachinegun and making it safe.

Turning to Fritz, he quietly asked, "Where do you want me? Walking point with Opa or somewhere else?" He had no idea who Opa was though. Whatever Fritz's instructions were, it seemed to be him and Macey in charge, Nolan follow them, taking up the position they instructed.

------
---Nolan----
"He's Opa, she's his granddaughter," Luke Macey told Nolan, meaning Fritz.  "You better hurry or you'll miss all the fun.  Time travellers have specific genetic codes, so nepotism is how we hire.  Hey, Phyllis," he greeted the woman as she parked her snowmobile.
"I lost Stan, Halima and Rachel on the ice," she said.  "Covered their Polaris with a camo sheet.  Help me with the BAR."
"Always happy to serve," Luke Macey said, grinning, and fetched her ammo boxes. "Go ahead, Agent Nolan, we're the rear guard; making sure you will get out safely."

Nolan headed into the tunnel, noting that the man in furs moved with a military efficiency, weapon leading his way, and said something to the girl in what sounded like German, "Bleiben Sie bereit."

"Ja, ich bin bereit," Ruby Rae replied.  "Agent Nolan, we may encounter large white penguins, they are not aggressive but they can panic and stampede us.  My grandfather said that the Agents split up and are in two different tunnels; Dave went to find his father.  I need to find Director Weintraub and Agents Sterling and Thorne.  Agent Trachenberg has the tracker."  The cadence of her accent was exactly like Thorne's, but she spoke faster.  The huskies trotted with her, completely happy.  The passageway opened up, though one part of it had been blocked off with tent poles, canvas and the three large sleds.  The rest of the huskies were in this enclosure, but seemed easily able to get out if they wanted to.  "Go on, back in your pen," Ruby Rae told the dogs at her feet, and pulled a bag of something from her jacket pocket, and tossed the contents into the impromptu pen.   The huskies went mad, scrabbling in the snow for whatever it was.  "Bacon, speck," she said, grinning, and then hurried into the tunnel after Fritz, the German keeping pace with her.  They moved swiftly, but far ahead of them was Fritz Trachenberg, moving at a run.  Ruby Rae turned on some kind of lantern, palm-sized but able to emit diffuse light for a good distance, though there was some kind of glowing light along the top of the tunnel they were moving along.   There was a distant hooting sound, and a rumble, as of many feet on stone, getting louder.

"Sieh dich vor!" The German in the furs hissed, backing against a wall and bracing himself.
"Up against the wall !"  Ruby Rae told Nolan, just about pasting herself onto a wall.   She pulled out a small black round machine, put in on the wall where it stuck, and began pressing keys.  Rushing down the corridor towards them were huge, albino penguins - their heads misshapen by tentacles, gaping toothed beaks, and other ugly growths.

------
------
GM: Actions, etc, for the next minute of game time, please respond by Saturday, 8 October, next post Sunday
------------------------
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:12, Mon 03 Oct 2022.

Nolan was slightly shocked by the matter of factness with which the woman, Phyliss he thought that she was called, reported the loss of three people on the ice. Almost like it was expected and didn't really matter. She seemed devoid of emotion as she reported the news, like she was reporting a lack of fresh vegetables at the grocery store. Actually, less than that as fresh produce being unavailable would annoy you at least. Clearly these people were as used to death as he was, though his experiences had mostly come in the trenches of the Great War and not the horrors these people had experienced.

He followed Ruby and the man in furs into the tunnel, moving as quickly after Fritz as was possible, though Trachenberg was running and they were being a little more cautious as the progressed forward, moving tactically in a proper military manner. The comment about the penguins was yet another strange one but when, shortly later, he saw the misshapen creatures rushing past them as he hugged the wall of the passageway, the warning about their panic make sense. Nolan still stared at them though as they were a very disturbing sight, almost unnatural in their appearance.

Once the stampede of albino penguins had passed Nolan gathered his wits together and pushed forward again, trying to pick up the pace to catch up Fritz. Being separated and on your own in this strange place seemed like a bad idea to him and Fritz rushing off on his own was therefore probably a mistake. Nolan hoped to be able to catch up to the German to ensure that it didn't prove to be a very bad one.

--Nolan-----

Nolan followed the others, seeing Ruby Rae hauling a coil of something onto her shoulder as she hurried along.  Someone else was coming along behind Nolan, one of the masked time agents, lugging a bag of gear.  The German mercenary in the furs was barely keeping up with the girl.  They turned into a tunnel from a five-sided room and went down a tunnel, finding a stone slab very quickly.  "Stone dust, this is it,"  Fritz said, crouched by the floor and looking carefully at the stone with a flashlight.  The German took the coil from Ruby Rae and began unwinding it, as she put some kind of grey putty onto the stone, sticking the coil to it every foot or so.   "We'll give them a warning, Opa -" Ruby Rae said.
"They're running out of air." Fritz said, his accent worsening under stress.
There was a tap on the stone, from the other side.
Ruby Rae immediately tapped back, with some kind of metal multi-use tool rather more advanced than a Swiss Army knife.
More tapping followed, but Nolan knew Morse. "HELP WE ARE TRAPPED".
Fritz tapped code back, as the girl continued to slap paste on the stone and attach cord to it, in a criss-cross pattern.  She then tapped a quick message using code Nolan was less familiar with, and stepped back, taking a small black rectangle from her pocket.  "We better get back to the outside and take cover, TJ you better get ready, Hans, kommen sie," she said, as Fritz tapped a last message.  "Back to the entrance !"
The agents wasted no time hurrying back towards the entrance.  "Detonation - sprengung, drei,  zwei, eins !"  The girl tapped the black device, pointing it towards the corridor and tunnels
BOOM.  With the explosion, a rush of stone debris and dust came from the tunnel, with a deeper cracking sound; the stone underfoot shook and tilted slightly.


-----------
-----------
GM:  Actions, please, for the next minute of game time, by Saturday, 15 October, next post Sunday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nolan had seen plastic explosives used once before in the trenches but that had been a much more complex and considered operation, taking hours to place the explosives and to then rig them to detonate. Clearly the explosives Ruby Rae had brought along with her were much more advanced and quick and simple to emplace, yet another item of superior military kit that he could only marvel at.

Once the explosives had been detonated, and the blockage presumably breached, Nolan started to make his way back up the tunnel towards where they had been planted. "We need to be careful of secondary falls," he commented to those around him. "There is a risk that something could have been shaken free in one of the tunnels by the blast." Finely powdered rock streamed down from a crevice above it as it to reiterate his point.

He still made a good pace back along the tunnel however, conscious that they still needed to balance caution with speed to get to his trapped companions as soon as possible. There was always the risk that the explosion had caused the roof above his companions to collapse, the rescue attempt inflicting more damage than anticipated.