Futuristic The Infinity Between (Closed for Tarmagon and _Sargotha_)

[Tarmagon]

-Initial Activation-
March 23, 2185 0600 hours
Station AC23741-25 (Icebox Station)
​

Ryan Sellers was in heaven. The sand was warm from a day of baking in the tropical sun, the sunset painted the horizon in a million different.... BEEP BEEP BEEP. Ryan frowned at the intrusion of the harsh noise upon the scene of tranquility... BEEP BEEP BEEP! This time the sound was louder, and something strange happened to the horizon. It seemed to ripple, the colors starting to bleed away as... BEEP BEEP BEEP!!

Ryan shot upright in his bunk, a string of profanity blistering the air as his dream of a tropical island vanished into the harsh reality of his quarters on the fittingly nicknamed Icebox Station. Instead of soft, warm sand, here his feet met cold metal as he swung his legs over the edge of his bunk and dropped lightly to the floor, causing him to wince. No matter how efficient the climate control units were, somehow the floors were always cold. The communicator set into the wall beside his door began to flash a red warning light, and he rushed over to it, slapping the 'acknowledge' button before the device could resume its infernal beeping.

"Sellers," he muttered into the unit, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice. A glance at the chrono showed he had only been asleep four of his allotted eight hours, and he glared at the comm, wondering who was calling him in the middle of his downtime.

"Ryan," a crisp soprano voice emerged from the comm, and Ryan immediately straightened. Why was? "I'm sorry to interrupt your downtime, but the scientists are starting to dither about something that I can't wrap my mind around. Grab your kit and meet me in Briefing Room Four. You have fifteen minutes."

The comm shut of with a click and Ryan was moving before he had fully processed the information. When the Captain gave an order, you obeyed. The end. You didn't ask, you did. A quick shower did wonders to clear the last of the sleep fog from his brain, and Ryan tried to think of what could have the scientists in an uproar this time as he pulled on his kit. Soon enough he was dressed in his armor, weapons slung at various points upon his person, and HUD displaying the quickest path to Briefing Four. Pausing to give himself a quick once over, Ryan nodded and knocked on the door. Two minutes early.

"Enter," the voice from his communicator called, and Ryan stepped in, finding Captain Reese, her long hair pulled up into a tight bun on the back of her head, and a disheveled looking man in a dirty lab coat with slightly wild eyes.

"Kellerman," Ryan groaned internally. "Why couldn't is have been Jackson, or even Hoskins?"

"Sir, and Sir," was what actually left his mouth, as he saluted his captain and nodded to the lead scientist of Project Bridge. "Sellers reporting as ordered. How can I be of assistance?"

"Mr. Kellerman is insisting we have to move up the Gate activation to today," Reese said, her voice conveying her irritation. "And that if we can achieve a stable link, that the initial penetration must happen no more than 48 hours from now. He keeps spouting on about an X-class solar storm, but I don't see..."

"Not just X-class," Kellerman interrupted, his arms swinging wildly. "The prediction is for an X-50. You know how serious that is Sellers, please make certain your commander does as well. Now, I have to go get things ready. We have just 72 hours until the storm crosses cis-lunar space."

Kellerman turned and rushed out of the room, leaving Reese looking at Ryan expectantly.

"Well?"

"An X-50 is no joke," Ryan said, his face serious and tone flat. "If it weren't for the hardening of all the orbital hardware in the last twenty years, we'd lose everything. As it is, I'd say half of the civilian platforms will drop as they divert power into their rad screens. Luna will be under deep cover protocol, which will mean shutting down everything but life-support in the deep bunkers and diverting all available power into the rad shields there as well. Between the shields and bunkers, there's no real danger to lunar personnel, but Project Bridge will be back to square one."

"It will interfere with the entanglement?" Reese asked, one eyebrow raised. "I though that entanglement was beyond things like a solar storm."

"True enough," Ryan replied. "But this is artificial entanglement. Created and maintained by the careful application of massive amounts of tightly controlled and directed energy. Energy which will be effectively shut off when the storm passes cis-lunar space. It took months to establish the first link and start the expansion process. Now that we have enough linked boson pairs to establish a full sized Gate... Well, I understand and for the first time in my tour, agree with Dr. Kellerman. This has to happen before the storm hits, or not at all."

"I'm going to trust you on this one Ryan," Reese said, shaking her head slowly. "That's why we brought you in on this little fiasco. You're officially on standby until they either get the Gate open, or it blows up in their faces. Dismissed."

Ryan tossed off a crisp salute that Captain Reese returned, then left the room. For a moment he considered returning to his quarters to resume his interrupted sleep, but a deep thrum that seemed to resonate through the entire base made him turn towards the lab. It sounded like the Polaris He3 reactors were spinning up to full power. Once they had charged the capacitor banks fully, things would be getting, interesting.

_Sargotha_ (And away we go)

 

[_Sargotha_]

On another world, in a different time...​

For decades the mammals had been pushing against their neighboring scaled residents and making life difficult from simple distrust of the various predatory species. Diplomats from both sides had been sent and tried to make peace with the nations, to stop the forthcoming conflict that was inevitable. The efforts turned to be for naught though as extremists pushed that the other side was evil and should be destroyed, while the other side to be the 'victims' did the same as to defend themselves from the growing violence. Multiple times, leaders had tried to show their sides that the other was not 'out to get them' but the conflicts only grew both in number and measures taken for a side to claim dominance.

In time, the results of the leaders' inability to unify the sides and make peace came to its expected end...full out war with only one way to end it...a clear victor. War had been ravaging the planet of Sca'lesi as the great serpents and hardened mammals fought for supremacy over the richest lands. That war had finally come to an end as the great Shamans had learned of a new magic that turned the odds to their favor and it was time for great celebration to their victory. As to who the winners of the war were, it had become the serpents as their natural psionic based powers had been amplified ten times fold and thus allowed them to overrun the inferior mammals.

The losers of the war were not only captured and caged to have their fates later determined but were also stripped of their weaponry at every possible angle. Those who would not willingly turn to servitude to their superiors were slain or sent to labor camps to live the rest of their days out with chance of being released to when they could not perform any longer. As for the oldest and youngest members of the mammals, they were appropriately sent to either areas of where they would be protected from the local wildlife and have some skill found for them or be educated so they would not become rabid animals.

At the moment, a powerful sorceress named Deicinta was casting a spell that would let the people see into a world that had strange hairless two-legged inhabitants as their dominant species. A glowing circle that rippled like disturbed water and allowed them to see what looked like heavily armored two-leggers, she quickly learned that the creatures called themselves humans. "I wonder what it would be like to meet one of these strange creatures?", she softly asked before looking to her mentor - a tall black and red cobra that stood beside her with a wide smile.

Tarmagon

 

[Tarmagon]

-Initial Activation-
March 23, 2185 1200 hours
Station AC23741-25 (Icebox Station)
​

Ryan stood carefully out of the way as he watched the barely controlled chaos of the Gate Control Center, or GCS. Normally one of the technicians or scientists would have questioned his need and right to be there, but whether or not it was the activation of the Gate or the fact that he was slated to be the first human to attempt Gate transit, his presence was accepted without question. Despite the close proximity to the Polaris generators, here the bone shaking thrum of the fusion plants was muted to a gentle hum by layer after layer of active and passive shielding. Looking down through the panoramic winders lining one entire wall, Ryan watched as men and women in shielded suits moved about in the actual Gate chamber. The Gate itself was a rather unprepossessing ring made up of ten or so segments of a dark alloy Ryan couldn't identify. Cables as thick as Ryan's torso snaked away from each segment, vanishing into the solid mass of machinery that surrounded the Gate itself. The only sign that the Gate was active, besides the distortion shimmer at the exact center of the ring, was a multi-segmented display on each segment of the ring. Currently four were displaying green triangles pointing towards the interior of the ring, while the other segments displayed yellow triangles, and in one case, a bright red circle. As Ryan watched, the red circle morphed into a yellow triangle, and one of the yellow triangles turned green, resulting in a cheer erupting from the assembled technicians.

"Fifty percent stabilized," a voice called happily over the chorus of cheers. "One hundred percent linked. Estimated six hours until complete stabilization."

"Best get yourself to medical Sellers," a voice said behind him, and Ryan turned to find Dr. Kellerman watching the bustle just as he was. The scientist was, smiling? "We need the establish your baseline, again, before you make penetration."

"Yes sir," Ryan said, reluctantly turning away from the growing Gate. "I'll head over now."

"It will still be here when you get back," Kellerman said, a note of sympathy in his voice. "And you're going to get the best possible look at it in just a few hours. I envy you, you know. This may be my brainchild, and I know, intellectually, why I can't be the first person through, but..."

"I understand sir," Ryan said. "But I'm going to be stuck on the Moon until you get the Gate opened again. Do you really want to have to wait up there until the next Transit?"

"No, not at all." Kellerman replied with a ghost of a smile. "In fact, I get free-fall sickness. The trip from Luna back to Terra would be pure torture for me. I don't even go up to the low orbitals. Despite what the other scientists say, I can feel the difference between Earth gravity and the synth-grav on the larger orbitals."

"Well, that won't be a problem once the Gate is proven," Ryan said with a grin. "Once I step through to Luna the Gate will go onto the vital list, and you won't have to worry about its power being taken for other reasons.. Now, I'm off to medical."

"See you in... hmm, six hours to stabilize, initial testing.... We'll set initial penetration for exactly twenty-four hours from now. That gives us an additional twenty-four in case something comes up that we didn't foresee."

"Yes sir," Ryan replied. "I'll be there with bells on."

_Sargotha_ Things are going to get, interesting soon enough.

 

[_Sargotha_]

Hours since the initial casting of the planar exploration spell...​

Deicinta consulted with the Council of Casters about the two-legged creatures that called themselves humans and most disregarded them as harmless beings. However, some did speak of the creatures having powerful weaponry in some of their differing timelines and others having primitive at best, while yet there were some in-between those two sides. It was also stated that humans varied in their culture from being rabid animals to being as intelligent as they, almost alien to a point and their worlds varied from being lush as their own to poisoned wastelands with nothing to offer. Yet still, there were differences to how they were self-sufficient that was determined by their actions of the past...some prosperous with no need of technology to having no recourse but to depend on it for everything.

Ultimately, she had been told that what path she chose to pursue was up to her and the Counsil would be present to advise as needed. Of course, they also had the power to overrule her decisions if they felt that the people were in danger from recklessness. She was no leader of the whole planet no, but she was one of influence that could gain favor or become an enemy if she made the wrong choice. There had been plenty of time for her to think about to what she wanted to do with this version of humans that she'd discovered and had come to the conclusion that speculation was not going to give them any information. Learning about the humans first-hand was going to be their best bet and that meant bringing the two-legged mammal through the portal, into their world.

Tarmagon

 

[Tarmagon]

-Initial Activation-
March 24, 2185 1200 hours
Station AC23741-25 (Icebox Station)
​

Ryan stood alone in the Gate room, facing a disk of distortion hanging a couple of inches off the ground. The last 24 hours had been a whirlwind of activity. Medical had gone over him with a fine toothed comb before augmenting his nano-suite with a hostile environment package and upgraded recording functions. Technicians had descended on his combat armor, attaching sensors and recording devices that he would never have carried in combat. Ryan was pretty skeptical that any of the items would actually function however. The Gate had been stable for 18 hours now, and the first thing the scientists had done was send an independent rover into the distortion. It turned out that radio waves didn't propagate through the Gate, and as soon as the rover had entered, contact had been lost. A video camera on the end of a pole had been successfully inserted and retrieved, but had stopped recording the instant it passed through the interface. A box with a small mouse inside had been attached to the same pole, and the box and mouse had made the trip into and out of the interface with no apparent effects whatsoever. In light of the failure of sophisticated electronics, one of the techs had suggested injecting the mouse with nano-recorders. The hapless rodent had made a second trip into the Gate, then the information the nanos had recorded from its optic nerve processed. Despite the size distortion, there was an obvious tunnel, for want of a better word, stretching off into the distance, made of rippling distortion. There was obviously something outside the distortion effect, but the mouse's vision had lacked the acuity to give any details.

One of the technicians had been an old-style photography buff, and had volunteered a truly ancient film camera to be sent into the Gate. After setting a purely mechanical timer and auto-winder to advance the film, the camera had replaced the mouse and been inserted into the Gate. This had resulted in a lot of discussion, since there appeared to be an, environment outside of the quantum tunnel. There were obvious plants of some kind, though the distortion of the tunnel made details blurry. There was no way to do a spectral analysis of the light bathing the vegetation, but everyone agreed that it appeared to be from a G class star. One of the shots had contained a large shadow in the plants, though between the distortion and the distance, no one could say anything meaningful about it.

"So, nano-augmentaions seem unaffected by conditions inside the Gate," Kellerman had said as they had gone over the data. "Basic mechanical systems and chemical reactions seem to occur normally. Exposure to the environment inside the Gate had no deleterious effects on our test subject. However, complex electronic systems outside of a living organism seem to suffer failure, the mechanism of said failure remaining unidentifiable to us without further study. Since we cannot send the rover through to the Luna interface due to system failure at the Gate interface point, will you be willing to make the scheduled penetration and attempt passage to the Luna interface?"

"Yes sir," Ryan had replied quickly, despite the worry on Reese's face.

"Good," Kellerman had said. "And it is good that you have a scientific background, because the environmental testing will have to be done old school. The fabs are assembling manual tests right now."

That had been hours ago, and now here he stood, festooned with recording devices, sensors, and carrying his pistol in one hand and a case containing old-fashioned, chemical testing equipment. Tiny film cameras and recorders whirred and clicked rhythmically as their internal springs drove them, old style chemical film drinking in the light and preserving the moment for future generations to ponder over. Ryan hoped the combination of trepidation and excitement didn't come across as fear, but he had other things to worry about.

"Gate stable. All boson entanglement pairs stable. Interface stable. Ready for transit."

"Sellers... Ryan," Kellerman's voice cut through the babble of the technicians. "We're ready. Go, make history. We'll be expecting your call from Luna."

"Yes sir," Ryan said, and keeping his gun hand low, he stepped into the rippling distortion of the Gate.

For a moment it felt as though he were falling, only years of training overriding the instinct to clench his hand shut keeping him from firing his pistol. Then, the ground, and it certainly appeared to be ground, was solid under his feet and he looked around in wonder. He appeared to be in a long tunnel made of what appeared to be intense heat-shimmer. Outside of the shimmering tunnel, there appeared to be part of a forest. Shapes flitted about around bushes he couldn't identify, and a star that seemed a little larger and whiter than the Sun he was used to filled the sky with light. Ahead, down the tunnel, Ryan could just make out another distortion disk. That must be the Luna interface. A tiny snap and flash of light made Ryan jump, his pistol rising, only to lower it as he saw the charred remains of, something, falling away from the outside of the tunnel. Apparently, a bug of some type had flown into the tunnel, and not survived the experience.

"Note to self," Ryan muttered. "Do not touch the walls of the tunnel."

Giving himself a firm shake, Ryan holstered his pistol, then shifted his rifle to a more comfortable position on his back. Squatting, he set down the case containing his testing gear and opened the top. He had a job to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Best get to work. He could sightsee later, once he was certain the air in here wasn't going to kill him. His little air bottle wouldn't last forever. Taking out various tubes and chemicals, Ryan set to work, humming under his mask as he mixed, exposed, and checked the results.

_Sargotha_ And he's in the tunnel. What will happen next?

 

[_Sargotha_]

Plante Sca'lesi​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

​

The interdimensional portal remained open but so far nothing had come through it but nor had their people sent anything, their people did keep tabs on it however for safety precaution. Precautions that turned out to be wise as something with a very long and skinny neck poked its single eye head through, no sound or smell came from the strange thing. It was not long after that to when a box with holes came on the same pole and a small squeak was heard from within, did this strange creature have multiple heads? Yet again, something else with a single eye came through the portal and this time it made noises...clicking, strange buzzing before finally a flash of light was done.

There was debate from the Council of whether the humans were attempting to communicate, offering gifts as a tease or were testing to see if they could even make it through the portal. Along with these discussions came debate of whether the humans were to be approached upon whomever they sent through or watched from a distance to see if their intentions would be revealed. More debates of whether the humans could be reasoned with or not came afterward, some arguing that they could understand their language if not with a bit of help and others saying that they couldn't. It took the sorceress to speak up for a decision to be agreed to, since she had been the one to discover these humans' world then it was up to her of how to deal with them. The serpent-dragoness had taken some time to think on her decision before stating to the Council that she would be the one to act as a diplomat between the two races, after observation was done.

Observation came sooner than she had imagined that it would, as she was notified that some movement was being done from behind the 'glass' of the portal and she should come see for herself. As some strange two-legged creature came through the interdimensional portal, Deicinta watched from a distance for now as it seemed the visitor was only interested in taking samples. 'I wonder if all humans do this when exploring new worlds?', she questioned to herself and remained low as to avoid being detected for now. Clearly the human did not feel safe in coming out of his suit and to approach it while it was likely in a high tensed mindset would be unwise, she had learned that humans generally are more fearful of the unknown or to what they don't understand.

Tarmagon

 

[Tarmagon]

-Inside a Quantum Tunnel-
Irrelevant
Unknown
​

Ryan noted the last of his test results with a nod. Conditions inside the tunnel were survivable. The oxygen content of the air was a trifle high, but nothing his nanos couldn't deal with. Ryan removed the oxygen mask with a sigh of relief. The first thing he noticed was the smell of ozone. Apparently it was a side effect of the tunnel boundary. The scientists had expected the outside of the tunnel to be formless, if the tunnel boundary could be seem through at all. No one had expected an entire ecosystem and a star that was definitely not Sol. Shrugging, Ryan turned his attention back to his testing kit. That would be for the eggheads to solve, for now. Moving quickly, Ryan stripped of several of the recording units and cameras from his harness. These went into the test kit, along with all of the completed samples. Closing and hefting the kit, Ryan moved back to the distortion he had entered the tunnel through and carefully pushed the kit through. It was fascinating watching the kit disappear inch by inch as he pushed it forward into nothingness. He felt a series of vibrations on the case, and he let go, watching it disappear into the distortion under its own power. He knew someone on the far side had grabbed the kit and was pulling it through, but it was so strange to watch. A pad of paper and a pen popped into existence, making Ryan grin. Humans always found a way.

"Conditions?" was scrawled on the top page. Ryan grinned as he imagined Kellerman waiting by the Gate. The scientist was probably dancing from foot to foot in anticipation.

"Conditions nominal," Ryan wrote. "Higher than Earth normal oxygen, but within nano tolerances. Local star is slightly hotter than Sol based on general spectrum. Gravity perhaps slightly less. Recorders are in the test kit. Leaving the immediate vicinity of the Gate and moving towards the Luna interface. The other interface appears to be a couple of hundred yards away. Interaction with tunnel boundary appears to be lethal to local insect analogs."

Ryan glanced over what he had written, the nodded and tossed the pad back through the Gate. Turning, he took a step towards the distant end of the tunnel.

-Luna Base-
March 24, 2185 1245 hours
Sector Zulu-254 (Gateway Capacitor Bank 7)
​

The micro-meteor had been travelling along its path for uncounted billions of years. The gravity of planets had tried to sweep it from the cosmos, random bodies had flashed past, close enough that their own gravity fields had also tried to claim the mass of the meteor for themselves, but none had ever succeeded. Only the brilliant ball of nuclear fury at the heart of the solar system had forced the meteor to its will, preventing it from departing. Now however, its freedom had come to an end. It had not fallen into the nuclear core of the system, nor had it been fortunate enough to add its mass to one of the majestic gas giants. No, a small moon orbiting the third planet hard reached out with its meager gravity, tugging just so. The meteor was tiny, only about two grams or so, but it was moving very, very quickly. It hurtled towards the surface of the moon at speeds nothing man-made had every achieved, but rather than strike the regolith of the lunar surface, it plowed into a strangely shaped piece of metal. The meteor didn't care that it had struck one of the primary heat exchanger vanes for a massive capacitor bank, and neither did physics. Kinetic energy found itself rather violently converted into thermal energy in the form of a significant plasma plume. Some of the energy retained its original form, surging down the structure of the heat exchanger to radiate outward into the capacitors the exchanger served.

Capacitors are, on the whole, fairly stable. They are designed to hold massive amounts of energy and then to deliver that energy back in tremendous surges. The capacitors of Bank 7 were in the middle of their discharge cycle, dumping the energy that had been slowly fed into them into the massive power sink that was the Gate entanglement mechanism. This released huge amounts of heat that the heat exchangers suddenly found themselves unable to dissipate. The heat surge, coupled with the totally unexpected vibrations destabilizing the carefully calculated transfer of energy... Capacitor Bank 7 released all of its stored energy in an orgy of self-destruction.

-Inside a Quantum Tunnel-
Irrelevant
Unknown
​

Ryan estimated he had covered about half the distance to the Luna interface when the fabric of the tunnel, flexed. For an eternal instant, Ryan felt as though he was experiencing a halo drop, from the rush of freefall to the shock of chute opening, over and over and over, many times a second. Vertigo drove him to his knees, his vision blurring out. As his vision cleared, Ryan saw that one side of the tunnel no longer existed. The heat-shimmer wall was missing, and he could clearly see the flora making up the odd forest. Of much more immediate import however, was the fact that the calm shimmer of the Luna terminus had transformed into a maelstrom of seething energy that was rushing towards him like the herald of doom. Instinct threw Ryan's body to the side, through the opening in the tunnel wall as the terminus from Earth flashed past him. The two masses of energy met with a tremendous flash of light and crash of noise fit to rival a sonic boom, then... nothing. No distortions, no shimmers. No way home.

"Well shit," Ryan exclaimed as he slowly climbed to his feet, turning to take in his surroundings. "There goes my ride home."

_Sargotha_ (Well well. That certainly wasn't supposed to happen.)

 

[_Sargotha_]

Plante Sca'lesi​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

She watches the humanoid remove some things from a box and seem to be mixing chemicals for some unknown reason, she doubted that he was making a weapon. Her eyes watch his hands closely and though he was careful, he didn't act like anything that could explode in his face. A face that was covered by something in whole and it looked like there were tubes connected to it, maybe something on his back? 'I wonder if all the humans that this one hails from are like that.', a pondering thought that makes her grow more curious.

Her curiosity remains the same as it seemed that something else had been thrown towards the human and in turn, the human wrote back before returning it to where he had come from. Slowly, she stood from her hiding place but remained hidden as she used the cover of the forest to remain covered. She continues to watch the human visitor behind the 'glass' of the portal and is curious about it but does not want to frighten him or her away. 'It's almost like to what we Casters do to protect ourselves from the elements of an area unknown.', she thought in response to seeing the figure removing their head covering. Patience was the key, and it is soon rewarded to when there is a sudden boom with a flash of light, a moment after to the clear human exiting from the portal.

It seemed that her curiosity of this human could now be sated as he stated that his 'ride' was now gone. Perhaps, she could learn from this human until there was no more to gain in knowledge and then the Council of Casters would have to decide his fate. He was the first interdimensional visitor they had ever received like this and so she wanted to make a good impression. Slowly, the towering sorceress shifted to her Naga form as to be less imposing of a threat and began to approach the human with her staff held against her chest, and stomach so that it could not be used offensively. "Welcome, to Sca'lesi.", she smiles softly and slightly bows her head to him with hope that the human could speak the same language as her and if not, she had a translation spell at the ready.

Tarmagon (Hehehe, now they can meet. X3)

 

[Tarmagon]

An alien world (Sca’lesi)
Unknown
A strange forest in the presence of an alien
​

Ryan tried to keep his dismay in check, but his nanos were having to work hard to keep his adrenaline in check. He was now officially stuck on an alien world for at least several months. The air tests had shown he could breath here, and his nanos could probably keep anything in the water from killing him, but he had no idea if he could even metabolize anything on this planet. The testing kit that could have possibly had provided those answers was who knew how far away, if it was even still in the same universe, which was quite...

"Welcome, to Sca'lesi." a voice said, and Ryan whirled to face the speaker. His hand dropped to the butt of his pistol, but sheer force of will kept him from drawing it on the, figure standing? was it actually standing? There was a long, serpentine lower section that rose up and joined to a, well humanoid, upper torso. The figure held a staff across its body, almost in a defensive posture, at least to Ryan's rather incredulous gaze. It appeared to possibly be female, at least in as much as Ryan could guess with the odd anatomy and scaled body. He knew that this clinical detachment was being forced on him by the nanos in his bloodstream, but right now he was grateful for it. They had also identified what sounded like, of all things, a German accent to the creatures speech.

"Um, hello," Ryan replied cautiously, keeping his hand resting on the butt of his pistol. At least he switched his hand from the slug thrower to the stunner. Of course, he had no idea if the stunner would even work on this world, or whether the serpent being had a nervous system it could affect. But it, she, seemed to be going out of her way not to appear threatening, so he could at least do the same. "Ah, would that be the name of your land, your nation, or your world?"

_Sargotha_ Let the interactions commence. And forgive him, I think a little nervousness on his part is, warranted.

 

[_Sargotha_]

Planet Sca'lesi​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

Deicinta was correct in presuming that the human would react feeling threatened if she had not lowered her height and put her staff into a defensive stance, 'Glad I had thought ahead.' She could tell that he was armed, and it was to be expected when visiting a new world, just as she would have done the same with having supplies to cast protection spells if needed. For now, she kept her distance from him and continued to keep her voice from getting louder or softer...despite the nervousness and excitement that she felt in meeting a human for the first time. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask of him, and she knew that the Council would ask about what she had found from the portal, from either side if possible.

"This land is called Havanna and my people are known as Vipres, the planet you find yourself upon is called Sca'lesi.", now that she had answered his questions, it was her turn to ask, "Where do you hail from and what is your name? Do you come with intention to conquer or learn from our world?", this was important to know for if he were a threat then she would dispose of him here and now. Her large amber-like eyes with their vertical slits studied his face and body language closely, having to use the basic understanding to what most species shared as her guide. The strange device on his back didn't seem to be doing anything for now but that did not necessarily mean deem it harmless and the same went for himself.

Tarmagon (Oh absolutely...she's nervous too though her curiosity is keeping her from showing it.)

 

[Tarmagon]

An alien world (Sca’lesi)
Unknown
A strange forest in the presence of an alien​

Ryan couldn't help it. Havanna? Vipres? Sca'lesi? He started to chuckle as the absurdity of his situation settled fully into his mind. If he were writing a video game he couldn't possibly have made things more cliché. He tried, he really tried, but the chuckles gave way to slightly hysterical laughter that stole his breath away for several long moments. When he finally got himself under control, the most he could hope for was that this, being, didn't think he had totally lost his marbles.

"Thank you for that information," Ryan said as he regained control over himself. "You can call me Ryan. As for where I'm from, that would be the American Union on the planet Terra. My people refer to themselves as human, or homo-sapiens. As for coming to your world with any intentions... well, I didn't intend to come here at all. We were experimenting with a method of moving people and objects quickly from one place to another. Unfortunately, there seems to have been a problem, and now not only am I here, I am stuck here. I don't know if I can eat anything on this planet, I don't know how long I'll be stuck here, but the absolutely minimum is several months depending on the damage to our devices. The worst case... I live here as long as I can, then die."

The last statement sounded fatalistic, even to Ryan's own ears, but he couldn't help it. Despite the earlier humor brought on by the name of the people and world, the full magnitude of his situation finally hit Ryan like a ton of bricks. He WAS stuck here. For months at the very least. Possibly for the rest of his life. He had his stunner, if the thing even worked, his slug thrower with a hundred rounds of hypervelocity shells, and his rifle with another two hundred rounds. Three hundred rounds to defend himself from whatever wanted to eat him, attack him, or control him. All of his scientific knowledge lay in the realm of high energy physics, not true chemistry. He had a hostile environment nano loadout, which could enable him to survive a lot better than an unenhanced human, but the nanos required fuel, in the form of food.

"Sorry," he said, turning to his new acquaintance. "The full impact of my situation just hit me. But, that's no reason to be impolite. Thank you for your welcome. Might I inquire as to whom I am speaking?"

_Sargotha_ He's stuck... Well and truly stuck. If it weren't for his nanos keeping the adrenaline under control, he'd be a wreck.

 

[_Sargotha_]

Planet Sca'lesi​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

As the human began to express mirth at something, she cannot understand to what was so amusing to him and it is confusing to say the least. The laughter that came afterward implied that the man had lost his mind for some unknown reason, or at least had become unhinged in an unhealthy manner. While she had read some about humans' behavior or possibilities of them, given that she had first seen a humanoid shape through the portal and thus tried to prepare herself for an encounter with one. An encounter that left her wondering if meeting the strange race had been worth the anticipation of doing so worth 'stressing' herself over it.

When the human, Ryan being revealed as his name, states of his tribe and the planet that he came from, she smiles wider with interest of learning more. There is relief upon him telling her that he had no intention of coming to their world and yet, she had been a bit hopeful that he had wanted to come here to learn of their people. As he explains that his people had been trying to move things from one place to another with another means that travelling in a normal way, she nods her head to show she is listening. It made sense to try finding a faster and more efficient route to transport goods, to which in most cases the shortest distance was a straight line to follow.

As Ryan continues on to explain that he was likely stuck on their planet for at least a few months, if not longer and the 'worst' outcome is that he never returns to his people. She did not know if she could return him to his home as she had only tapped into whatever place he had been travelling in, not his home planet. There was more research to be done, about this planet called Terra and maybe then she could help him return to it...though she would have to consult with the Council. Something she would address at a later point as making the human feel welcome, even as a stranger, would have to take priority. Making him feel welcomed to their planet could be started by offering him food and drink, something she had back at her hut easily enough though she hoped he would not endure ill effects from what was native to them.

Finally, he asked of her name and expressed gratitude to being greeted instead of attacked first thing. "My name is Deicinta, I am a member of the Council of Casters.", she stands more upright with pride at this statement and the staff is held to be at her right side. The scaled sorceress transforms from her Naga state to that of her anthro form and smiles down to Ryan, "Do not be afraid, this is how I normally present myself, but I was concerned that it would startle you too much." The long snake body shrinks down only to split into two lower legs and positioned so that she is on her knees of digigrade legs, waiting for the transformation to finish before standing. Each foot has three toes with the middle ones extending out slightly from the others and each of those toes have a silver-white claw, the same to each of her three fingered hands: two main fingers and an opposable thumb. The rest of her remains the same, she still has vibrant green and yellow coloring with a slightly dark orange pin stripe running along her sides that begins at her jaw hinge only to end at the tip of her long tail. The two long and backward facing horns atop of her head are unchanged and as is her face, her eyes remaining their solid bright orange with slits at the pupils.

The leather and fur bustier also remain unchanged as to keep her womanly parts covered and her lower half is also kept from showing by the loincloth that once spread out around her snake half, now rests more like a skirt with the hem at her knees.

Tarmagon (In time he won't even need them. )

 

[Tarmagon]

An alien world (Sca’lesi)
Unknown
A strange forest in the presence of an alien​

Ryan had managed to maintain his outward calm thanks to the efforts of his nanos and his mostly laid back demeanor, but everyone has their limits.

"My name is Deicinta, I am a member of the Council of Casters.", the naga being said, then it began to change. The lower half shrank in on itself, splitting to form two long legs that appeared to have an extra joint in them. Three long toes ending in claws extruded from the feet, and Ryan suddenly found himself twenty feet away from the being that now stood at its full height, a height that enabled it to look down on Ryan. He was in a combat crouch, stunner up and humming with a ready charge as the thing spoke again.

"Do not be afraid, this is how I normally present myself, but I was concerned that it would startle you too much."

"What in the hell is going on here?" Ryan demanded as his gaze swept around, looking for the tell-tale ripples in the air that spoke of the presence of holo-projectors. "Is this some kind of damned stress test of the poor mercenary? Make him think he's on an alien world? Meet a naga-form alien? Sure, I'll buy that. Even that it speaks English. Sure. Maybe there's some kind of telepathic communication on an unconscious level. But you had to go for broke didn't you? A freaking magic shape shifter? Wearing furs and leather? What indie game did you pull this out of? And how.... oh shit. You hacked me! That hostile environment upgrade. You bastards hacked my nanos. No wonder everything feels so authentic.”

Ryan looked at the being, what had it said its name was? Deicinta? Part of him wanted to fire the stunner and see what happened to the robot, projection, whatever it was, but instead he carefully disarmed the stunner as he stood, returning it to his holster.

“I’m certain that you’re a very nice construct Deicinta,” Ryan said. “But I’d appreciate it if you could contact Kellerman or Reese and ask them, politely, to let me out of this simulation.”

_Sargotha_ He’s certain that she’s a simulation.

 

[_Sargotha_]

Planet Sca'lesi​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

Her head tilts with confusion as Ryan asks to what was going on as there was clearly no lack in communication comprehension and she had felt that her explanation had been right to the point. Could it be that this human's mind was unable to understand and take in that he was on a whole different world through the use of a portal? Travelling to different lands not of conventional means was something that her people understood well but it was not a common way to get around, as they did not want to drain the magic of their world for trivial uses.

While Ryan rattles off a series of questions and seems to be questioning someone that was not here, she now wonders if he had indeed lost his mind. Half of what he said did not make any sense to her, but she decided that she would ask him later, when he was more calmed down and maybe had some food with rest to recover from the journey to get here. "I am no figment of your imagination, I am as real as you are.", she responds before slowly approaching him and kneeling down to be at eye-level with him, allowing him to stare into her orange eyes if he wished.

Again, she looks at Ryan with confusion as he refers to someone or something called 'Kellerman', and another named 'Reese'. "I don't know who or what you are talking about...you are the first person not of my world that I have ever met.", she continues to try making herself look as non-threatening as possible before gesturing to where her people reside, "I can offer you food and shelter, staying out in the wilds unprepared is unwise.", she did not want to try in forcing him to go with her via the use of her power as it could taint his answers in the future but she was not unwilling if it was necessary.

Tarmagon (Understandable, one way for him to find out...though she won't take kindly to that.)

 

[Tarmagon]

Inside what he hopes is nothing more than an elaborate simulation
​

"Looks like I'm going to have to see this thing through to whatever end they have in mind," Ryan muttered under his breath as the construct spoke again, approaching and lowering itself to its knees, apparently in an attempt to be less threatening.

"I don't know who or what you are talking about...you are the first person not of my world that I have ever met. I can offer you food and shelter, staying out in the wilds unprepared is unwise."

"Someone spent a lot of time on the VI running this," Ryan thought as he watched the body language. "I wonder if it's a VI, or a full AI. Oh well, it's not like it'll answer, even if I ask."

"Sure, I'll play along... Deicinta was it?" he said aloud. "After all, it would be rude to just call you 'construct' or 'VI'. So, lead on. Show me what impossibilities have been concocted to test my mental stability. Oh, wait. You said Council of Casters. Don't tell me, they built magic into this world? Honest to god wave your hands, chant strange words and bend reality to your bidding magic? I swear when I get out of this, I'm going to file an Article 45 complaint."

Ryan gave his gear a quick pat down, muscle memory taking over as he confirmed each piece was where it should be. He slipped his rifle from his back to hang on its sling in the ready position. In a simulation this immersive, being mauled by whatever wild animals they had programmed wouldn't actually kill him, but his hacked nanos could make it hurt like he was actually dying. Best to be ready for whatever new surprised were in store for him.

"Ladies first," he said. "After all, I don't know which way we're going."

_Sargotha_ Ryan is polite, well mostly polite, even to what he thinks is a VI or AI construct.

 

[_Sargotha_]

The Village of Havanna​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

Again, she finds herself feeling confused to what Ryan is talking about when he mentions someone or something called 'VI', making a mental note to ask him about it later on. She had to prioritize her focus to getting him to the village and protecting him from the others that resided there.

Her head nods as he asks of her name and smiles down to the human again, "I appreciate that, Ryan.", his reference to the Council is of yet disbelief that he was really in her world and so she decides that she needed to show him proof that he was not imagining anything before him. Again, the human speaks of something that she had no idea of what it was and notes it as something else that would have to be asked about later, when the human has had food and rest.

She smiles a little more before heading towards the East of where they were, "My village is not far from here and the young ones will likely be quite curious about you, as you are the first human to visit.", she leads him past lush plant life and clean running rivers, the skies as blue as a bird's egg. The journey takes only a mile to travel and during that time, Ryan gets to see many different animals that are native to this world. Most of the fauna and flora look similar to Earth's own, only more elaborate in their designs with some differences from a distance.

As they come to the hill that overlooks her home, she gestures with her left forearm, "That is Havanna, where I call home.", in the center of the walled village is a tall building with slightly more ornate decorations on the outside to signify it was important. Around this central building are others that are not as tall but clearly have architect designs to indicate what they were and still around them, are the actual houses to where the villagers reside.

Tarmagon

 

[Tarmagon]

Inside what he hopes is nothing more than an elaborate simulation
​

The humanoid serpent expressed its appreciation before heading off. If they had been on Earth, Ryan would have guessed they were heading east based on the height of the sun and the direction the shadows were pointing. He had no idea what was actually happening to his body, so he hoped whoever was running this had taken the appropriate precautions. The snake woman's long legs ate up the ground, but Ryan was used to the easy trot he had to maintain to keep up.

"My village is not far from here and the young ones will likely be quite curious about you, as you are the first human to visit.", it said as they moved past plants that were just a bit off from what Ryan was used to. The animals he saw in the distance were also just a little off from what he expected. Some things looked just plain wrong, but hey, he'd play along. It couldn't have been more than an easy mile before they crested a low hill that overlooked a walled town. The tallest building near the center was elaborately decorated compared to the buildings around it, and past a section of less elaborate buildings, rings of small, unadorned buildings seemed to represent the actual homes of the inhabitants.

"That is Havanna, where I call home." Deicinta said with a gesture at the town. Ryan supposed he might as well use the constructs identity, even when thinking of it, her.

"Hmm," he said, one hand on the butt of his rifle and the other shading his eyes. "It appears, well defended. That leads one to wonder about hostile wildlife, or perhaps competition from other, people. You did seem rather, unsurprised at the differences in our appearances. Should I assume that there are other human shaped races on this world?"

_Sargotha_ He still thinks this is an elaborate sim, but something is starting to tickle his 'alert' sense.

 

[_Sargotha_]

The Village of Havanna​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

She was glad that Ryan could keep pace with her, despite the difference in leg length and that allowed them a relatively quick arrival to her home. The sight of the village was always one that brought relief and made her hopeful for the future for they had endured more than one attack. Even from this distance, she could see the faint movement of the people within her home and could hear bits of music that were likely coming from the fountain play area. A wide smile comes on her face before looking down to her new companion, "Come...we shouldn't keep them waiting.", a slight teasing tone of voice had been used.

As she leads him to the village's outer walls that were indeed for defense from other people and the larger animals that roamed these lands, she nods her head as he comments to how they were protecting themselves. "We have dangerous predators at night, and they were targeting the young ones that didn't know any better, so far it has stopped them from preying on our people.", they didn't gouge the land for its resources and made sure to replenish what was harvested, but the sick or old predators will find any easy meal worth the effort. Her head turns slightly to look at the human before responding, "We have been casting portals for some time and you are not the first one that we have witnessed, but the first to interact with.", she could remember the successful portal creations from before her own easily enough. "I was surprised to see you wear something over your head though and wondered if perhaps it was something like a protection spell that we use when going into a new land."

When they come to the walls of Havanna, there are two guards standing at the ready...one on either side of it...both of them are dragon-taurs with large swords having hands resting on their handles. She puts a hand up to them as they immediately tense and are ready to attack the strange two-legger near to her, "Easy...he is a visitor, we are going to the Counsil...after I get him something to eat and a place to rest.", the guards are reluctant to stand down, but they understood that Deicinta had an influential position to the village and so had to take her word. Their reptilian eyes stare at Ryan though, watching his every move and continuing to do so as the sorceress leads him past the wooden entrance, "Stay close to me...I wouldn't want you to get lost."

Tarmagon [Hehe, he'll figure it out sooner or later.]

 

[Tarmagon]

In what he hopes, but is starting to suspect isn't, a complex simulation​

Ryan kept his features neutral as Deicinta confirmed that there were indeed predators. He found it interesting that she claimed to have 'been casting portals' and observing other beings. Damn, but the detail in this sim was incredible. Someone had spent hundreds of subjective hours on this. He absorbed the comment about his oxygen mask without comment for the moment, instead focusing on the words 'protection spell'. They were really pushing the magic angle... As they approached the gate Ryan shifted his focus to the two, creatures standing guard outside it. Heavily built centauroid beings, but rather than equine, they appeared more reptilian. Each carried a massive blade, and the pair tensed as they saw him. Ryan's hand tightened on the butt of his rifle as one finger tapped on the fire selector, switching from single shot to three round burst mode. Wireframe overlays appeared on the guards, areas of their bodies lit with orange to indicate probable kill shots. With nothing to use as a base, his combat routines were presenting their best guesses, but most thinking beings kept their brains in their skulls,.

"Easy...he is a visitor, we are going to the Counsil...after I get him something to eat and a place to rest.", his companion said. The guards accepted the serpent woman's words with obvious ill grace, cold eyes following Ryan as she led him past them and into the walled village. "Stay close to me...I wouldn't want you to get lost."

"That's fine," Ryan replied, tagging the guards as hostile, not an immediate threat. "I'd hate to get into a, disagreement, with the locals. I'd rather not have to do anything drastic to ensure my safety. As for your earlier question, we had no idea if the air was going to be capable of supporting my needs, so until I could properly test it, I brought my own supply."

He reached down to tap the mask where it hung from his belt, then pointed to the slim tubes running away from it to his pack.

"This provides me with air from my world. I can only carry so much, so I was pleased to find that while your atmosphere is different from mine, my nano suite can easily compensate for the differences."

_Sargotha_ H really, really doesn't want to have to shoot anyone, even if he still thinks this is a sim. If threatened though...

 

[_Sargotha_]

The Village of Havanna​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

"Indeed.", she nods her head as she wanted their first non-native visitor to leave a good impression as well, "As long as you stay with me, there shouldn't be a problem." She is reminded of him not being from their world by mention to his head covering and the explanation he gives sounded reasonable enough, "That makes sense, it's like when we take special protection spells if we are going in a very dangerous land." As he further explains to what the rest of the device was and used for, she nods her head again, "I'm glad that it seems you won't need it now, for however long you are here for."

As they enter the village and the sorceress walks with confidence, along with a bit of pride to her success, there are indeed young ones that come from all sides. There is a mixture of what can be presumed to be boys and girls from the children, each of them excited and a few a bit scared to get close to the stranger. A small chuckle of amusement comes from her before gesturing to the human, "Children, this is Ryan...he is a human that has come to visit our world and learn about it. He speaks the same language as we do, don't be shy or frightened now." Most of them are of silent curiosity to the new being and kind of stare at him, some of the children are confused to what they are seeing in front of them. It comes as no surprise to her that the young ones are reacting in this way as he was the first other worldly being they had ever met in person and she kneels down to point at his mask, "He's not going to eat any of our faces, that was just to help him adjust to our air."

Two of the children come closer to the human visitor, one of them a lizard species of some sort to while the other was a snake.

"Are all humans like you, Mr. Ryan?", the young female lizard asks.

"What do you humans eat, if not our faces?", the male snake asks while fidgeting with his hands a bit.

Tarmagon [I don't plan on that happening but if it does, then it does. ]

 

[Tarmagon]

A simulated village?
Morning?
​

The towering serpent-woman seemed very certain of her standing within the construct, so Ryan decided there was no reason to belabor the point. His first response would always be negotiation, followed by less lethal options if possible, but in the face of an overwhelming threat, he would defend himself. HIs musings were distracted by the approach of a group of what could only be the young of various species. Apparently snake was not the only base species programmed here, though all were reptilian. Whoever programmed this had some serious issues bouncing around in their head. They had the curiosity of youth down to a 't' however as the two bravest approached him after Deicinta explained his presence.

"Are all humans like you, Mr. Ryan?"

"What do you humans eat, if not our faces?"

"No, not all humans are like me," Ryan replied, smiling despite himself. They were just so well done. "Some of them are female. And we come in different skin shades, heights, weights, the usual. As for eating faces, don't you think that would make it really hard to tell who is who? After all, if you didn't have a face, how would your friends know you? Besides, have you ever really felt your face? Not a whole lot there to actually eat is there? I'll stick to certain vegetable matter and non-sentient animal proteins."

As they continued to move towards Deicinta's unknown destination, the group of youngsters slowly drifted away, talking among themselves, speculating about Ryan's other possible habits, appetites, and general differences.

"It seems that young are the same, no matter the world," Ryan commented. "And I find myself wondering... are all reptile species on this planet intelligent? And are there any mammalian intelligences?"

_Sargotha_ Ryan is starting to wonder about the evolution on this world. Seems like his certainty this is a sim is being chipped away.

 

[_Sargotha_]

The Village of Havanna​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

She couldn't help but to chuckle as the children asked their questions and it seemed that Ryan was even enjoying their curiosity. Her head nods as the human explains that eating faces would not only make recognizing someone impossible but it wouldn't taste very good either.

The sorceress continues guiding the human to a guest hut resided and opens the cloth doorway for him to enter, "Come...this is where you will be staying during your visit for now.", the hut is as typical to what one would expect to be within it. At the center there is a vented roof to allow smoke to come out from a firepit, that currently was still and cold, there is a primitive bed made of a wooden frame with what looked like a mattress stuffed with something. Atop of the mattress was a large pelt to some animal and what looked like a pillow made of tanned hide stuffed with the same material as the bed. To the side there is a wood stand and hanging on the walls are framed artworks that were of flowers to give a welcomed atmosphere.

When Ryan questions of other species that had intelligence, she frowns in remembering the mammalians that they had conquered from the war. "There are, our cause of celebration as to find other worlds to learn about was from victory of defeating our enemies.", she pauses a little before continuing on, "We did not kill our enemies unless we had to and the young were sent to be educated, while the elderly were placed to retirement villages." Presuming he would question to those that did not fit in either category, she nods her head before adding, "Those that could work and were willing to surrender were brought here to work on farms...those who did not were slain in battle or they escaped from us."

A smile comes to her face before she continues with explaining more of their world, "There are some non-sentient reptilians, just as there are other species, but they generally stay to their natural habitats."

Tarmagon [As we knew in time that it would. ]

 

[Tarmagon]

An alien village
Local morning
​

Ryan kept his face neutral as he was shown into a primitive hut. By local standards of the sim, this was probably considered luxurious. His perusal of the hut's interior came to an abrupt end as the serpent-woman continued speaking. Her casual reference to 'educating' the young, 'retiring' the old, and 'allowing' the fit to serve, those that weren't killed or 'escaped'. Ryan felt his blood run cold. It was like he had stepped into some of the darkest periods of humanities past mistakes. The realization hit Ryan like a slap across the face. This was no sim. No programmer, no VI, no AI, would resurrect those parts of the past.

"I see," he said, trying to keep his voice level and not let the arctic chill invade his tone. "So there are humanoid mammals on this world as well. You fought, and now you keep the survivors of the war as labor, remove the children from their parents to be 'educated' and then retire those too old to be of use to segregated villages? Any able bodied who, object to this wind up slain or fled?"

Ryan shook his head, still managing to keep his face neutral.

"I had hoped that such things were in my past, especially after the price my world paid because of differences in race, religion, general life beliefs. But rather than be a quirk of humanity, it seems that some things are a function of so called intelligence."

_Sargotha_ apologies for the brevity, but she needs a chance to respond to this.

 

[_Sargotha_]

The Village of Havanna​

Time: Morning​

Season: Spring​

She can tell that Ryan did not approve of the results to their war and it seemed that his people were more of peaceful nature, coexisting with others like them or different appearances. Perhaps his world was plenty rich of resources for all that lived within it and there was no need to fight over them, but what would happen to when those resourced depleted further down the line? Or maybe, they had a means to restore what was used or maybe even reuse the leftovers of whatever they created for something else?

Her head nods as Ryan responds to the statement that there were intelligent mammals on their world and that was who they had fought with, "Yes." However, what comes next is not what she had meant to give the impression of and realizes that she may have worded things in a bad way.

When the human seemed to think that children were removed from their parents in whole, her eyes widen in shock before responding to the 'accusation', "Oh no...no, of course not, that would be barbaric!" The sorceress decides to be more specific, "The children are educated in general studies just like normal but taught by one of our members of the tribe.", the Vipres understood that children needed their parents to raise them and to rip them away would make the reptilians seem like monsters and be reason to have uprising. She pauses a little before responding, "There is another village not far from here and to give the mammals comfort, as to not feel suppressed, they live among each other and have a gated door but that is for their protection at night.", she smiles before thinking of how their village speaks with the mammal one, "They have a leader among themselves that comes to us when they need something or wish to make a barter of sorts."

In response to the 'forced labor' implication, she shakes her head before responding, "They are not made to work, they are given the choice of doing so or go live in the wilds. Those that choose to stay and perform labor are compensated fairly, making sure their needs are seen to as per their species."

Lastly, the reference to the old being of no use to them and thus retired makes her frown, "They aren't slain, if that is what you are referring to...they are genuinely placed in villages that are of others their age and our people look after them. They can have their families visit to whenever they wish, we just have a curfew before sunset for their safety and our own."

Tarmagon [It's fine.]

 

[Tarmagon]

Ryan listened impassively as Deicinta clarified and defended her people's decisions about the treatment of this worlds humans, mammals, whatever. When she made the 'species' comment he decided that humanoid was going to be as close to human as things got. It had taken his home planet centuries, and a genetically engineered disaster to, not fully erase, but to cover over the divisive cracks in beliefs with a united desire to never walk down that destructive path again. Conflicts these days stemmed more from corporate espionage that over territory or resources. The advent of workable fusion power and space mining, not to mention to death over over 75% of the world's population, tended to make fighting over a piece of land rather silly.

"So," he said as the serpentess wound down. "It's not quite as bad as your initial explanation sounded, though it still remains far from equitable. I suppose however, that it works, for now, on this world, with this societal matrix. I will admit that I hope to be long gone before the indoctrination breaks down. The time periods in my planets history that bear some resemblance to what you just described tended to end in prolonged periods of conflict and, less than civilized behavior by the combatants."

Ryan wasn't adept by any means at reading the serpentine body language, but he was fairly certain that she didn't agree with him. After all, by her own admission they had conquered the mammals. Ryan didn't know who, or why the conflict had started, he just was quite, quite certain about where the current situation would end. And he didn't want to be around to see it happen.

"I am curious about the cause of conflict between your kind and the mammalian life forms. On my planet, serpentine biology is completely carnivorous. Only certain species of lizards are omnivores, consuming both animal and plant materials. Then there is the whole..."

Ryan's voice trailed off as a possible evolutionary cusp rocketed to the forefront of his mind.

"This world never experienced glaciation," he whispered to himself. "There was never a dinosaur killer event, no ice age. The star is too hot. The endothermic life forms were never at a disadvantage. Slightly lower gravity field made increased size... it makes sense."

Ryan became aware that he was talking to himself and gave himself a shake. He could ponder evolutionary pathways later. He was really more of a physics type anyway. Biology hadn't been his specialty.

"Your pardon," he said. "My mind tends to drift along different pathways when presented with new information."

_Sargotha_ He's still very unhappy with the societal matrix here, but as long as no one tries to force him into it, he'll keep quiet.