Harmonia shakes her head slightly at the series of easily avoided mistakes but doesn't dwell on it as she reminds the now stopped and watching group.

”It won't be long now that they know we are here.
Remember not to antagonize anyone, if they choose to welcome us as guests we will play that game for whatever worth we can before we need to change strategies, but don't let them separate or accuse any of us for their own troubles.”

 "This is entirely in keeping with our intentions." Jak replies in full agreement, having watched the chain disaster develop and then - naturally enough - moving to sooth the fractured machine-spirits of the damaged vehicles, his associates fanning out to support his actions in a chattering stream of binaric - two of the apprentices proving to have modest chirurgical skills which they put to use performing methodical triage and stabilising those who seem to be most likely to receive economical repair.

 The two imposing guards don't assist of course, they're too busy watching.

The party, soaked to the skin from the fire suppressant which has now ceased, assists with the injured which are very few, the traffic speed was only around 30 mph and no one was seriously hurt.

Rescue and repair teams arrive very quickly, these are a mix of civilian and mechanicus personal who set to work without paying any attention to the party from the Lament, apart from the occasional "excuse me”, if someone is in the way. The flat bet is towed away, the other vehicles, where necessary, are quickly returned to operating condition and sent on their way and a pair of road sweeping vehicles turn up as the other rescue services begin to depart. Within about five minuets, things are back to normal.

Feel free to talk to any of these rescuers, or accident victims during the course of the above.
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 It more or less goes without saying that the moment someone in Mechanicus garb turns up with the rescue effort they are noted and observed... And once things look to be under control (but before they are completed), Jak sends out a string of high-level Binaric inquiring as to the hierarchy and status of those present, including his own fairly extensive checksum of authority and achievement as a tag-file to the stream. Most notable amongst the binaric is of course, a requirement for said highest-level local to attend him and a request for their identifier of choice.

 While he does this, he proposes to Harmonia "Perhaps you may wish to speak with the chirurgeons while I address my colleagues?"

Not wanting to interrupt their delicate process of rescue Harmonia waits until there is one of them standing around, taking a break, or about ready to leave in some capacity that won't risk anyone's life to interact with them.  Only then does she step free of the group, unseal her armored robe's face protection, and address them as if she was nothing more than another person.

”Excuse me, but we need to make our way to the central command area of this station, as quickly as possible would be best.  Is there any way you can help speed us on our way?”

The electro-priest in charge of this detail informs Jak that his immediate superior is 1138-2929-47315 Beryl whose fiction is overseeing damage response teams in section 315 of the manufactorum, she may be contacted on the communications network, and he provides the necessary details, but he does not know where she is physically.

Harmonia gets a similar, though more chatty response from the human workers, though in this case they do give directions to the office of their supervisor, John Michaels. They don’t offer transport but the location is within a mile.
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 "I have the communication codes for the local damage control priest. Escalating my efforts to interface with higher authority." Jak reports as he secures the information regarding 1138-2929-47315 Beryl, who he promptly attempts to contact, coding his response with an auspiciously numeric selection of priority canticles.

Harmonia leaves the obviously distracted locals to their work and returns to the group she came with.

”Their administration district seems to be close enough to walk, we should make our way there while you are conducting your search.”

 "This would seem to be an efficient use of our resources." Jak agrees, signalling for his associates to accompany him.

 ---

OOC: Is it just me, or do these folks seem distressingly blase about meeting folks from Outside? ^_^

The team move off following the directions given to Harmonia. The location turns out not to be an administration district but an office set in a service depot for emergency vehicles. As they arrive there are forty or so mechanicus personal and ten ley mechanics gathered around a fire suppression appliance mostly chanting the hymns of extraction and swinging smoking censors as the power unit is extracted using a hoist from an overhead gantry. A series of doors along the back of this vast garage space lead to store rooms and offices, one of these is clearly marked as ‘Administrator’.

The people you have met so far, mechanicus and ley, are not aware that you are from ‘outside’ and not particularly interested if you inform them as it makes no difference whatsoever to the drudgery of their day-to-day existence.

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Neither qualified, nor interested enough, to disrupt the workers from their task Harmonia simply looks around the place long enough to find the signs that point in the direction of offices or administration.  Some signs are written, others unwritten, the general trend for cleaner work spaces, less clutter, and brighter lights are just as clear.

Once she reaches the proper door she knocks on it politely and waits for some response for a few seconds while her companions do whatever it is they do.

 "Communications on the manufactorum appear to have been exclusively hard-wired, whether for purposes of security or clarity I could not currently ascertain. Psycho-conditioning, whether direct or environmental also appears to have erased the majority of the capacity for curiosity from the population we have encountered. These factors point to a response to extreme peril or challenge which may bear upon the construction of the solar shield." Jak explains as they walk, the other tech-priests joining in with his little procession, shadowed (as always) by the two hulking combat cyborgs.

 He spends a moment in appreciation of the ritual process being undertaken around the fire suppression system, and while the binaric he emits afterwards is gently chiding of the junior nature of those performing it, it is also complimentary of their diligence and attentiveness to their charge, a tagged binaric commendation linking itself to the ritemasters noosphere presence as a badge of merit.

 From there, he simply turns to see if the knocking has achieved anything.

While they wait Harmonia does a little bit of clarification, a little bit of thinking out loud, and a little bit of decision making.

”Our understanding of the situation has the planet traveling through the warp for some unknown period of time, it may have taken this structure with it or this structure may be a replacement for one left behind.  In either case there is no reason to speculate about events we had no hand in, nor can influence.

We just need to figure out what is going on here now and what the construction project is for.  If we can determine a way to reorient the production to be more effective for the planet's recovery we may do that as well.”

Knocking on the door produces a rather delayed response, ”Who’s that? What do you want?” The man who opens it is bleary eyed and blinking, obviously just having woken up. He peers at the party for a short while and then asks, ”what?”

The office behind him is in disarray, the desk holds huge piles of untidily stacked papers, some of which have succumbed to the artificial gravity and cascaded onto the floor. Metal filling cabinets around the room are overflowing from half open draws and papers on the floors are soiled from being walked on over an extended period of time. On the desk the cogitator screen is flickering as data spools passed unheeded and in front of it a cushion, still flattened by the weight of this mans head.
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With the long wait over, or at least moving on to its next stage, Harmonia looks up at the man who's office it is after a quick scan of the office itself as visible behind him and addresses him directly.  As she does so she gestures to direct Jak's attention to the scrolling terminal.

”I see you are a busy man, so I will be as direct as I can.  We need to speak to the person, or people, in charge of this facility, we are here to sort out the situation in this system and we don't intend to take any more time doing it than is absolutly required.”

 "To the contrary, I am possessed of significant cognitive capacity which is not utilised in the normal course of social interaction. Speculative modelling of possible situations present in this system which approach a balance of predictive accuracy may later prove to be useful as they are compared to discovered information and refined further." Jak states, almost entirely missing the point of the assessment (although to be fair, it hardly applies to a mind as inhuman as his has become).

 When the door does open, he visibly recoils with a small gesture of anathema, looking - in so far as much as a Tech-priest can be said to look like anything - appalled at the sight, his own background as a copyist (and later archivist) causing him to be horrified at the state of record-keeping in the office.

 What he doesn't do is speak up however, since Harmonia has that well in-hand and he's not entirely certain that he wouldn't find himself bisecting the man before they got too far into the conversation.

For a long while the man’s expression is totally blank as he looks at Harmonia then, after a slow nod he says, ”oh, area supervisor McMartin, level three, block 18/27, green, I think, never actually been there,” and he closes the door.

Several knocks and similar interrogations latter, Jak and Harmonia have direction to a location about fifteen minuets walk away and coms details for area supervisor McMartin and very little else.
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Unsurprised by the lack of interest Harmonia takes what she can get and just heads off down the path once they have it.

”Let me know when you figure out the overall layout of this place, but until then we follow what clues we can find and try to cause a minimum of disruption until we get somewhere it will matter.”

 "The design of a facility the size of this Manufactorum is unquestionably STC-compliant, but unfortunately without access to the original schematic or, at the very least an understanding of the parameters which caused it to be devised, speculation as to its greater structure is impractical at this time." Jak answers as the little procession sets out once more, following the breadcrumb-trail up the chain of command with every intention of continuing to do so until they achieve a greater degree of access to whatever is going on here.

Following directions back to the main thorofare, Jak and Harmonia see some sort of disturbance in the distance to the right, at the same time an cherubim approaches from the other direction and sings out a question in in a high pitched male soprano voice, “who are you and why are you not working?”

As the disturbance nears it is seen to be a large crowd of a hundred or more people running this way, shouting and waving sticks and other implements in a distinctly hostile manor.
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 Threading his reply with paeans of binaric authority and digital chants of authentication, the Tech-priest answers simply "We are. I am Explorator Tesla, Engineseer Prime of the Pious Lament and we are seeking communion with higher authority upon the Manufactorum. Please explain this civil unrest." while hastily recalling the most recent Large Useful Door they've encountered on the route to get there and whether it's close enough to reach before the mob arrives at the intersection.

Harmonia once again lets Jak manage the techpriest side of things, while that takes place in one direction she pulls the advancing group over to one side of the wide passage where they can close up ranks and steps up to the outer layer herself to be visible to the crowd when they get close enough to make out individual details.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Mon 31 July 2023.

There is a long pause before the cherubim produces another impossibly high-pitched song in reply, “what? You are not from this manufactorum? What civil disturbance? What is going on down there?”

During this time the crowd draws nearer and can now be heard shouting and screaming, it seems to be an angry mob chasing someone.”
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 "This is correct, are your source codes corrupted? My credentials are an integral part of this communication." Jak answers, perhaps a little testily while the two hulking cyber-warriors move into place at the point of the wedge facing the mob, Jak takes up a position on their flank and the other six more to support them, power weapons and sigils of authority at the ready.

 Said wedge then starts to move back down the passage they came up from, looking for a door they can form up on the other side of, just in case things should get out of hand.

As the mob draws closer the subject of their ire becomes more obvious, robes clutched up in both hands and pail, skinny legs pumping like a runaway train, Saul, the missionary comes steaming down the walk way, not even slowing as he passes the party. Those who give chase are an unwholesome bunch, pale and thin as Saul himself but these are pock marked, scared and dirty, malnutrition is evident and they are dressed in dirty rags, like their quarry they pay no heed to the party and unless intercepted, will just carry on passed.

The cherubim meanwhile sings out ”no need to be ruder, I’ll send someone to get you,” although the last word is extended for some time, rising in falling through the upper registers until finally fading away.
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