Purr
Kaerri's Man. =)
Hearing Muppet say this, Shirley straightened in her pilot chair, but the straps holding her in kept her from moving too far. "Crap," she whispered. Half her crew suddenly outside of communication? Shirley felt this was all she needed. She closed her eyes and tried to 'sense' them but came up with nothing. "Let me try," she said as much to herself as to Muppet.
"Bruce Leanne? Mario? Cera? Can you hear me?" But she was met with only quiet.
"Sonofagun... Any ideas of what's going on, Muppet?"
Toph scanned her ship's sensors, but there came no sign of approaching creatures, hostile or friendly. Not on radar (which was next to useless seeing as they were in a hallway and not out in open air), her microphones (which picked up no tromping of boots belonging to 40-foot tall destroyers or the like), and her optical sensors only told stories of crackling flame, burning debris, twisted metal, and the pieces of ship and Zentraedi corpses from the bay behind her and the blasted corridor they now inhabited.
However, an unmistakable feeling crept up and into Toph's psyche. The half-human knew it was only a matter of time before this all changed and probably not for the better.
(Game Master note: Time to get a little deep. Enjoy the ride, friends! =) )
The Traversers traveled. And in the travel, they learned.
Deep within the power of technopathy, the Wild Cards and Ura-Meltrandi moved swiftly across a great black plane of unknowable depth and incalculatable distance, held on only by each other's hands. In such a strange and otherworldly realm, their nearness was the only thing that felt remotely familiar. Their touch seemed to make their senses sharper. When Mario was alone, he was virtually in the dark, reaching out to nowhere. Now, they could see each other, or something that at least looked like each other. But they possessed nothing; it was as if they had left all of their earthly gear back on their persons.
Here, each of you wore nothing, and yet, there was no shame in it, for you could not tell details; Mario, Elinor, and Cera could see each other's faces, hair, and limbs, but their forms were luminescent things like glowing bodies made of star-stuff. You were energy. This sensation was all-encompassing and attention-keeping like being caught in the grasp of a deep dream.
They sped along, moving without moving their limbs. Traveling as if by will alone like gods soaring through the cosmos. They had not traveled long when they began to feel a touch of weariness. Elinor soon realized that their energy was not limitless, but finite. In contrast, Mario by now realized this all too well.
Mario set the pace. Not fast, not slow, but something in between. The three of them sped through the vast blackness with such alacrity that it boggled the mind, and yet, this was not as fast as they could go. They knew if they pushed themselves, they could definitely move faster and do this all in less time. Or if they slowed, they might conserve energy, but lose time in the process. In their current compromise of speed and energy, the three of them seemed to fly through the darkest of outer space.
For a moment, Mario felt himself reliving a moment of memory. He remembered being aboard the SDF-1 as it rushed back home from Pluto and oh, how space seemed to move and not move at the same time. This place, wherever it was, was similar to outer space in that regard.
As they traversed, they found themselves moving headlong toward a distant red light; a light that flashed angrily like a repeating, dangerous explosion, over and over again.
"There it is!" said Cera.
Cera's voice seemed to echo inside the Wild Card's ears, if indeed they were really using them. The 'infant' Ura-Meltrandi's voice sounded steadier and more resolved than they had ever heard it. It was as if she had been freed of all of her emotional troubles and nightmares, and like ghosts of the past, they could not touch her, at least for the moment.
Cera informed Mario and Elinor, "Dentalla, male Mario, please both of you trust me now! I will instruct you in traversing basics, at least as I have been taught it. There is much to learn!
"Whatever happens, do not let go or you will be on your own here. This will both weaken our chances of success and force you to find your way to the machine... or on your way back... alone.
"Most of the time, like with this door, there are but three steps in traversing. First, the Crossing - we have to reach the machine in order to interact with it. We are doing this now. Secondly, the Telling - we must have a transaction with the machine and convince it, in a way that makes reasonable sense to it, to do as we desire; this is the most delicate of the three processes. Finally, the Returning - we must go back to whence we came or risk being lost in this forever.
"Much of our success in each of these three events is dependent on the machine's disposition towards us. There are three stages of machine disposition: Threatened, Indifferent, and Compliant. Because of the fighting, the door has been alerted to enemy presence. In the outside world, it is locked and electronically prepared to fulfill its duty against intruders. And so, it reacts accordingly here. Among Traversers, this means the threatened machine will distance itself from us and be as difficult as it can be come the Telling. But we can only change the machine's disposition by first reaching it. Contact from afar is not possible.
"It is good, then, that we have each other, for our experience and natural abilities join together to a degree when we are linked. However, if we fail, we all suffer the consequences of brain-burn... or worse...
As you sped through these strange and vast reaches, Cera looked to both Wild Cards. "Do you understand me thus far?"
"Bruce Leanne? Mario? Cera? Can you hear me?" But she was met with only quiet.
"Sonofagun... Any ideas of what's going on, Muppet?"
Toph scanned her ship's sensors, but there came no sign of approaching creatures, hostile or friendly. Not on radar (which was next to useless seeing as they were in a hallway and not out in open air), her microphones (which picked up no tromping of boots belonging to 40-foot tall destroyers or the like), and her optical sensors only told stories of crackling flame, burning debris, twisted metal, and the pieces of ship and Zentraedi corpses from the bay behind her and the blasted corridor they now inhabited.
However, an unmistakable feeling crept up and into Toph's psyche. The half-human knew it was only a matter of time before this all changed and probably not for the better.
* * *
(Game Master note: Time to get a little deep. Enjoy the ride, friends! =) )
"Flying in a Blue Dream" by Joe Satriani. =)
The Traversers traveled. And in the travel, they learned.
Deep within the power of technopathy, the Wild Cards and Ura-Meltrandi moved swiftly across a great black plane of unknowable depth and incalculatable distance, held on only by each other's hands. In such a strange and otherworldly realm, their nearness was the only thing that felt remotely familiar. Their touch seemed to make their senses sharper. When Mario was alone, he was virtually in the dark, reaching out to nowhere. Now, they could see each other, or something that at least looked like each other. But they possessed nothing; it was as if they had left all of their earthly gear back on their persons.
Here, each of you wore nothing, and yet, there was no shame in it, for you could not tell details; Mario, Elinor, and Cera could see each other's faces, hair, and limbs, but their forms were luminescent things like glowing bodies made of star-stuff. You were energy. This sensation was all-encompassing and attention-keeping like being caught in the grasp of a deep dream.
They sped along, moving without moving their limbs. Traveling as if by will alone like gods soaring through the cosmos. They had not traveled long when they began to feel a touch of weariness. Elinor soon realized that their energy was not limitless, but finite. In contrast, Mario by now realized this all too well.
Mario set the pace. Not fast, not slow, but something in between. The three of them sped through the vast blackness with such alacrity that it boggled the mind, and yet, this was not as fast as they could go. They knew if they pushed themselves, they could definitely move faster and do this all in less time. Or if they slowed, they might conserve energy, but lose time in the process. In their current compromise of speed and energy, the three of them seemed to fly through the darkest of outer space.
For a moment, Mario felt himself reliving a moment of memory. He remembered being aboard the SDF-1 as it rushed back home from Pluto and oh, how space seemed to move and not move at the same time. This place, wherever it was, was similar to outer space in that regard.
As they traversed, they found themselves moving headlong toward a distant red light; a light that flashed angrily like a repeating, dangerous explosion, over and over again.
"There it is!" said Cera.
Cera's voice seemed to echo inside the Wild Card's ears, if indeed they were really using them. The 'infant' Ura-Meltrandi's voice sounded steadier and more resolved than they had ever heard it. It was as if she had been freed of all of her emotional troubles and nightmares, and like ghosts of the past, they could not touch her, at least for the moment.
Cera informed Mario and Elinor, "Dentalla, male Mario, please both of you trust me now! I will instruct you in traversing basics, at least as I have been taught it. There is much to learn!
"Whatever happens, do not let go or you will be on your own here. This will both weaken our chances of success and force you to find your way to the machine... or on your way back... alone.
"Most of the time, like with this door, there are but three steps in traversing. First, the Crossing - we have to reach the machine in order to interact with it. We are doing this now. Secondly, the Telling - we must have a transaction with the machine and convince it, in a way that makes reasonable sense to it, to do as we desire; this is the most delicate of the three processes. Finally, the Returning - we must go back to whence we came or risk being lost in this forever.
"Much of our success in each of these three events is dependent on the machine's disposition towards us. There are three stages of machine disposition: Threatened, Indifferent, and Compliant. Because of the fighting, the door has been alerted to enemy presence. In the outside world, it is locked and electronically prepared to fulfill its duty against intruders. And so, it reacts accordingly here. Among Traversers, this means the threatened machine will distance itself from us and be as difficult as it can be come the Telling. But we can only change the machine's disposition by first reaching it. Contact from afar is not possible.
"It is good, then, that we have each other, for our experience and natural abilities join together to a degree when we are linked. However, if we fail, we all suffer the consequences of brain-burn... or worse...
As you sped through these strange and vast reaches, Cera looked to both Wild Cards. "Do you understand me thus far?"
