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Destrado
Feb 9, 2001

I thought, What a nice little city, it suits me fine. It suited me fine so I started to change it.
An alarm klaxon in the small hours, a pre-dawn scrabble to load supplies and the first staff available into the experimental Mobile Action Lab (after some sleepy technicians swab the dust off the plane), and the first official ETCD Emergency Response Team in seven years* is headed from its remote base in Central Asia (or South Russia, it's difficult to say these days) in order to be the first boots (and probes and machines that go ping) on the ground.

The cramped flight (these things aren't built for seven people) takes a blistering 12 hours.

*A long story, but the last time a response team got called out to investigate glowing visitors the culprit ended up being a lot of gin and tonics and a blacklight rather than first contact with an alien intelligence. They don't send a lot of emergency response teams anymore.

Welcome to scenic Puerto Rico!



Well not that bit. More like this bit:


But welcome, all the same!

------

There's still a lot of smoke in the pre-dawn air as the MAL flies over the main dish, so it's hard to gauge the extent of the damage. With the limited data and abundant time of the flight over, you've managed ascertain the following:

  • At 2am Bugfuck Nowhere Base Standard Time (give or take a few minutes for the comms tech to wake up), ETCD received confirmation of an intelligible burst transmission received at Arecibo by Tesladyne techs consulting there. The source appeared to be extraterrestrial in origin, but no word on its content.
  • About ten minutes later, Arecibo went dark, and satellite imagery confirmed an explosion on site.
  • Thanks to the miracle of timezones, it is still 2am when you arrive (thank Sandford Fleming for that one).

As the MAL lands in a field nearby and you stretch some cramped limbs on the walk onto site, you can add a fourth datum to your list.

  • Pretty much every other organisation has a faster response time than the ETCD.

The site's crawling with suits and lab coats of all descriptions, as a gaggle of local and international agencies jostle around inside the Visitor's Centre, making jabbering calls, setting up equipment, packing up equipment, and generally elbowing each other in their haste to make sense of what's going on before anyone else does. Two sets of people in HAZMAT suits of different colours appear to be having an argument by the far door. The muffled drone of insults through breathing filters is hard to discern, but it seems like they're arguing about whose jurisdiction it is to enter the explosion site first.

As you approach, a blonde in a labcoat waves and works her way to the door, elbowing more than a few distracted scientists out of the way.


Dr. Sandra Abernathy
Tesladyne Field Liason, ???

"Oh. My. God. Finally. You're the ETCD team, right? Please God say yes. I've been calling base all... wait, where's Johnny and the regular Deep Survey team? Are you guys new?"

Hello and welcome! OOC thread over here, give me a summarised character sheet sans fluff in the first post, and lets punch some science!

Destrado fucked around with this message at 12:16 on Jun 19, 2014

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Destrado
Feb 9, 2001

I thought, What a nice little city, it suits me fine. It suited me fine so I started to change it.


Reserved for THINGS

Mitama
Feb 28, 2011

Rin Sirkku Fuyuyama

"On the contrary, you're looking at the best action scientist response team you've ever seen."



"Led by the prettiest and the smartest, of course. I'm Dr. Rin Fuyuyama, how you doing? Hold that thought, what are all these people doing here?"

Rin adjusts her glasses, visibly fuming at all these weirdos from their weirdo international agencies stomping all over her disaster. This isn't what she read in the report at all! Or at least as much of the report she bothered to read before she skipped to the line on "explosions" and became the first one on the MAL. She's bounding from place to place, giving each black suit and hazmat guy a glare to melt glaciers. Timezones and lack of sleep have done nothing to quell her steely eyes.

"Yeah, I got the impression this was Tesladyne's gig. What happened?"

quote:

· Aspects ·

Concept: Proving Herself The Strongest Smartest Cryogenicist!*
Science: Taking Japan To Space By Any Means
Banter: Puns Sharper Than Icicles
Action: Coulda Been A Guardian Blue
Omega:

· Skills ·
pre:
		Good (+3) Science	Fair (+2) Banter	Average (+1) Action

Specialized	Superb (+5): 					Good (+3):
		Cryogenics					Combat
										   

Focused		Great (+4):	  	Good (+3):  		Fair (+2): 	
		Will, Notice,  		Provoke, Rapport	Athletics
		Elec. Engineering
· Stunts ·

Signature Aspect: Proving Herself The Smartest Cryogenicist!

Chill-Inducing Ray Nodule Ordinancer: Rin can use Cryogenics to create an advantage when freezing the environment or moving targets; Weapon:2.
(a.k.a. the "Perfect Freeze" Ray)
Ice Queen: When Rin encounters an aspect (not from her) representing an obstacle based on cold weather or temperatures, she gets a free invoke on it.

Magnetocaloric Effect: +1 when using Cryogenics or Electrical Engineering during a brainstorm.

Brain Freeze: On a punful mental attack that succeeds with style, spend a fate point to prevent the target from checking a stress box to absorb harm.

· Stress ·
Physical OO
Mental OOOOO

Mitama fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Jun 19, 2014

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo "Stone" Stanley

One thing has remained constant throughout the entire MAL trip:



That smug look on his face. "Finally, on the red line to success. We finally made it," he tells everyone at least once. "Just imagine what we'll find..."

After touching down and taking in the sights, Shilo makes first contact with the indigenous lifeform in front of him in a emphatically-halted manner. "Oh my God indeed." He clears his throat and adjusts his fedora. "Yes, we proved our worth is greater than... Johnny's, so we got the call to arms ahead of time. Now please, may we see your findings?"

Rather Watch Them posted:

Concept Aspect: Blue Barracuda Brother*
Good Mode Aspect: Actually Fit for Archaeology
Fair Mode Aspect: Chicks Dig Fedoras
Average Mode Aspect: Whip It Well
Omega Aspect: Constant Competition

Good Mode: Action Archaeology (Athletics, Burglary, Contacts, Notice, Physique, Suave (Rapport), Science (Archaeology, Cryptography, Linguistics, Sociology)) [8 + 3 improvements]
+5: Archaeology
+4: Athletics, Contacts, Notice, Physique, Suave
+3: Burglary, All Other Sciences

Fair Mode: Banter (Contacts, Deceive, Empathy, Provoke, Suave (Rapport), Will) [9]
+3: Provoke
+2: Deceive, Empathy, Will

Average Mode: Action (Athletics, Combat, Notice, Physique, Provoke, Vehicles) [9 + 1 improvements]
+2: Combat
+1: Vehicles

Physical Stress: [][][][]
Mental Stress: [][][]

Stunts and Mega-Stunts

Signature Aspect: Blue Barracuda Brother: Can invoke for free once per issue; Costs 2 FP for GM to compel, and 2 FP for me to refuse.

Bullwhip: Weapon:2, +1 to overcome a treacherous gap (like a Moat) with Athletics.

Let's Settle This Over Dinner: Once per issue, if I use Suave to create an advantage, I can shift a failure to a tie, a tie to a success, and a success to one with style.

Steps of Knowledge: When facing a man-made physical obstacle, +1 to overcome or create an advantage with Archaeology.

Temple Run: +2 to Overcome with Contacts when pursuing a potential artifact, and at the beginning of an issue I receive two Pendants of Life which can be used in place of a Mild Consequence, but with a cost; my successful findings leave a trail that alerts one of my rival factions. http://i.imgur.com/LjoaO9tl.png

GM's FP pool: +1

Double May Care fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jun 20, 2014

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Uriel Broussard

The Drummer eyes the woman in the labcoat, twirling one of his sticks and tapping the other in a syncopated beat.



"So, did you decide that you'd look better with a noose around your neck, or does your hairstylist just hate you?"

He grins cheerfully.

"You can call me Drums. Or Uriel. Or whatever, I don't give a poo poo. We're here to solve your problems."

He pauses, looking at her again.

"But I'm pretty sure even we can't do much about the hair. What other problems have you got?"

quote:

Concept: Abductee Turned Savant
Mode 1 (The Drummer): I See Everything -- No, Really, Everything
Mode 2 (Intrigue): Urban Survivor
Mode 3 (Backwoods Kid): Born And Bred In A Briar Patch
Omega: The Drumming Helps Me Focus

pre:
		The Drummer (+3)	Intrigue (+2)		Backwoods Kid (+1)
Superb (+5)	Datavision,
		Xenobiology
Great (+4)	Provoke, Will,		Burglary
		High-Energy Physics
Good (+3)	Other Sciences		Athletics, Stealth	
						
Fair (+2)				Contacts,		Combat
					Deceive
The Drummer: Datavision (Notice), Will, Sciences, Provoke (COST: 4)
Backwoods Kid: Notice, Combat, Athletics, Stealth (COST: 7)
Improvements: Specialized Xenobiology, Focused High-Energy Physics, Focused Provoke, Focused Will, Specialized Burglary, Focused Combat

Stunt: I Know Everything: Absolute Datavision. The Drummer sees every piece of information - digital, analog, it doesn't matter. It all sticks out to him. However, he is weak to overstimulation. (This is intended to allow tricks like reading information out of a book or folder by glancing at it, telling how hot to the tenth of a degree some coffee is at a glance and other stupid Drummer tricks. However, it is also important to note that information is not the same as answers or solutions - lots of raw data doesn't mean knowing why.)
Stunt: OH GOD BULLETS: +2 to defend with Athletics, but only against ranged attacks.
Stunt: They Help Me Focus: +2 to overcome with Will when in the prolonged presence of some steady, rhythmic noise - a steady drumstick beat, for example.
Stunt: Data Analysis: Spend a fate point and choose any Science skill. For the rest of the scene, you may use Datavision in place of that skill.
Stunt: Useless Trivia: When dealing with nerds or other people who respect useless knowledge of random trivia, use Will instead of Rapport.

Physical: ()()()
Mental: ()()()()

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo

"You say that, but you probably don't remember too much of the 80s, do you?"

He tilts his hat so his eyes are out of shadow. "I find the style rather catching, myself. Reminds me of the caduceus, though I assume you're not a medical doctor. I happen to have a doctorate as well--hey, I didn't introduce myself! Doctor Shilo Stanley, but my friends call me Stone Stanley. I'm... an archaeologist. Pleased to meet you, Doctor... ?" Shilo tries to eke her name out, twirling a hand as if he's holding a decantor.

Double May Care fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Jun 19, 2014

Staticpulse
Nov 1, 2010

Herein I have explained the operation of the sun.
Donald Birch

Donald rolls out of the plane, pistol in each hand and sunlight gleaming off his black shades. He wasn't planning on the doves, but it was a nice touch.



Now would be the time for a cool one-liner, something like 'stop right there alien scum!' Instead, all he saw were scientists and scientists in HAZMAT suits. And those guys in the business suits were probably part-time scientists too.

"Well, drat." Donald puts away his weapons before anyone gets the wrong impression. "You guys wake me up to go on a twelve hour plane ride and there aren't any aliens to bust? We better go to the beach or something after this. I could call a few people and-"

At that moment, a female in a lab coat approached the group and spoke with them. When there was a break in the introductions, Donald thrust his hand forward toward the doctor. "Donald Birch. And yes, I know what you're thinking. You may have my autograph later. And I really do work for ETCD."

Donald looks around for a moment. "Looks like you got a bit of a paparazzi problem. Need someone to take care of it? I think the investigation will go a bit smoother without all these gawkers crowding the place."

quote:

Concept: Disgraced Hollywood Star
Good Aspect: A Man of Many Personas
Fair Aspect: “I do all my own stunts”
Average Aspect: Always on the Guest List
Omega Aspect: Wine, Women, and Song

Skills
pre:
		Acting (+3)		Action (+2)		Banter (+1)
Superb (+5)     Provoke

Great (+4)	Athletics
		Contacts
                Deceive
		Empathy		
		Provoke
		Rapport

Good (+3)	          		Combat
                                        Physique

Fair (+2)				Vehicles
                                        Notice

Average (+1)							Will
Stunts

Trust Me, I've Played a Doctor: May use Deceive to substitute for a Science(Medicine) or Science(Biology) Create an Advantage check.

Glad you could join us.: +1 to Overcome with either Provoke or Rapport when pumping someone for information.

Free your mind.: +1 to Overcome or Defend using Athletics but only when unarmored and unencumbered.

Let's Kick some Ice!: Spend a Fate Point and choose any Action skill. You may use Provoke in place of that skill for the rest of the scene.

Duelies: Weapon: 2, +1 to Combat when Creating an Advantage when spraying bullets everywhere

Stress

Physical: [_] [_] {_}
Mental: [_] [_] {_} {_}

Staticpulse fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Jun 19, 2014

Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Dr. Sofia Liu

There's a crash as Sofia drops one of her cases of equipment on the transport ramp. She's carrying about six black hard sided cases, which was apparently one too many.

"We need to establish a cordon around the entire area!" She hops over and tries to pick up the dropped case, dropping two others. "Make sure we know everyone who might have come in contact with the infection vector!" Sofia tries to collect the two dropped cases, and this time ends up dropping all of them, sending them tumbling down the ramp. Well, at least they're out of the plane. "That'll do." She puts her hands on her hips, then points up, remembering what she was talking about.

She marches over to Dr Abernathy. "Computer viruses and weaponized memetics are highly efficient opening gambits in an interstellar invasion scenario! We need to isolate any people or systems who might have had unmediated contact before they escape into the general population. They'd be almost undetectable! Well, they'd be really socially inept but the kind of people who might be expect to staff such a facility..." She looks around at the rest of the team. "Well, I'm sure you can see the potential problem! Fortunately this scenario is covered with under Case 3, though we'll obviously have to impose the Green Protocol at the same time-"

Sofia pauses for a moment, taking in the incomprehension, and throws her hands up. "Doesn't anyone read my newsletter?!"

Comrade Gorbash posted:

Dr. Sofia Liu


Concept: Enthusiastic SETI Specialist
Science: Solving the Fermi Paradox
Action: UFO Defense
Banter: Filling the Great Silence
Omega: In a Cosmos Far, Far Away, Where No One Has Gone Before

Skills:
pre:
		Science (+3)		Action (+2)		Banter (+1)
Great (+4)	Anthropology,		Combat
		Astrobiology,
		Astrophysics,		
		Astronomy,
		Notice, Will

Good (+3)	Other Sciences		Provoke

Fair (+2)				Athletics, Physique	Contacts, Rapport
					Vehicles

Average (+1)							Deceive, Empathy
Improvements: Focused: Astronomy, Astrobiology, Anthropology, Contacts, Physics, and Rapport; Specialised: Combat

Stunts:

First Contact Protocols: When interacting with someone (or something!) for the first time, you can use a Science skill in place of Rapport to create advantages in a social situation.

Hazardous Environment Suit: Armor:1, +1 to Physique to defend against environmental hazards. Comes with a crowbar.

Sufficiently Advanced: When creating an invention with more than one mega-stunt, you can copy a stunt or mega-stunt from another device in your possession for free (without a catch). The stunt or mega-stunt has to be exactly the same as the one from the original device, and for every benefit beyond the first you must spend a fate point.

Transdisciplinarity: During brainstorms, you gain a bonus to Science skill rolls to establish a fact or hypothesis equal to the number of different Science skills you've used on previous rolls.

Mark II Phased Particle Beam Rifle
pre:
Function: Pew Pew Pew!
Flaw: Overheating Issues

Mega-Stunts (3 Benefits):
Ray Gun: Weapon:4, or Weapon:6 but at a cost.
Set to Kill: Ignores bulletproof but at a cost. When used to 
blast away physical obstacles, you may use Combat and gain a
+2 to overcome, but at a cost.
(Total benefits: 7 - 5 = 2 fate points to the GM’s reserve.)

Stress:
Physical OOO
Mental OOOO

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo

"I did! I... well, I skimmed it at least. Th-those drat Greens interfering with our protocol. Drives me mad."

Staticpulse
Nov 1, 2010

Herein I have explained the operation of the sun.
Donald

"I thought they were Greys?" Don quipped, seemingly misunderstanding what they were talking about. "And, er, newsletter? I thought that was just 'employee of the month' stuff, so I just threw it in the disposal bin."

Tempus Rimeblood
Sep 23, 2007

...Friendship? Again?
Jason Jarvik

He gets off the plane, eager and heavily caffeinated, rushing up to the group and eagerly cutting in.

"Hi, Doc! Jason Jarvik, yeah, like that Jarvik. I'll spare you the heart jokes. And contrary to popular belief, we're ALL pretty smart here. Anyhow, I'm Engineering and ETCD, I'd like to take a look at the hardware, see the structural damage, calibrations, maybe try to salvage or enhance the burst you guys found in the report? Unless these bunny-suit guys are gonna try to stop me," he says, jerking his head in the direction of the HAZMAT guys.

Tempus Rimeblood posted:





pre:
Jason Jarvik

Concept:  Gadgeteering Geek
Science Aspect: I Can Build That.  Or Fix It.  Or Break It.
Banter Aspect: Infectious Enthusiasm
Action Aspect: Twitch Reflexes
Omega Aspect: I Am All That Is Nerd

MODES:
Science! +3

Banter! +2

Action! +1

SKILLS:
+5: Engineering,
+4: Notice, Will, Provoke, Programming
+3: All Sciences, Vehicles
+2: Contacts, Deceive, Empathy, Rapport,
+1: Athletics, Combat, Physique

STUNTS:

 Hardware Mega-Stunt: Holo-Freddie 

Bicycle Races Are Coming Your Way:  When riding a 
bicycle or motorcycle, Jason gets +2 to overcome 
advantages with Vehicles.

Don't Stop Me Now: Jason is fear-proof, but 
vulnerable to being emotionally manipulated.

Who Wants To Live Forever?: Jason may voluntarily
take a Consequence on a roll to add that Consequence's
value to the roll.

So You Think You Can Stop Me And Spit In My Eye:
When Jason is Provoked by an opponent, he gains +2 to
his next roll against them.

Tempus Rimeblood fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jun 20, 2014

Ettin
Oct 2, 2010
Biff Pakowski


Biff hops off the plane last, and does warmup stretches while the others talk. Breathe in through the nose, out the mouth...

Once his day's off to the right start, Biff sticks his hands in the pockets of his track jacket and surveys the scene.

"Something excellent must have happened to get all these people here. Oh, good morning, ma'am. I'm Biff!"

Ettin posted:

Concept: Radical Action Scientist (Allegedly)
Science: If It Explodes Something, I'm There
Karate Kid: First Learn Balance
Action: Large And In Charge
Omega:

pre:
		Science (+3)		Karate Kid (+2)		Action (+1)
Superb (+5)	Notice, Rocket Science
Good (+3)	Science, Will		Athletics, Combat,
					Physique

Fair (+2)				Stealth			Provoke, Vehicles
Weird Mode: Karate Kid (Athletics, Combat, Notice, Physique, Stealth, Will)
Improvements: Focused Provoke & Vehicles, Specialised Rocket Science, 4 points left


Stunts

88 Miles Per Hour: +1 to overcome with Athletics or Vehicles when involved in a chase.

Bodacious Biff: Biff is really enthusiastic about science. It's just so rad! He can use Rocket Science to create an advantage in social situations if he can make it about science somehow.

It's Not Rocket Science: During a brainstorm, Biff may use Rocket Science instead of any other Science skill.

Wax On, Wax Off: Advantages Biff creates by directing other people can be invoked by them for +3 instead of +2.

Mitama
Feb 28, 2011

Rin Sirkku Fuyuyama

Rin watches everyone else make their dramatic entrance, ruin some part of the scene, and ask a question to the doctor all at once. She again beams towards Abernathy.

"The best team."

Destrado
Feb 9, 2001

I thought, What a nice little city, it suits me fine. It suited me fine so I started to change it.
Dr. Abernathy :words:

For a moment, Sandra finds her hand in Stanley's then shakes herself and takes a cautious step back.

"Right, okay, whatever, here's the deal: It is way too early for this. Also, I'm Dr. Sandra Abernathy. That's a doctorate in organic chemistry at bloody Cambridge mind you, but that's okay, I'm just in Puerto-bloody-Rico typing up reports on the MOP or HRMS or whatever other bloody acronym Tesladyne wants this quarter. This is way more exciting than pioneering research into alkaloid total synthesis."

Sandra and her monologue start drifting towards the Visitor's Centre, then hurries back a few steps when she realises no-one's following. "Come along then. Bring your little toy drum monkey with you."

"Basically, I don't do the whole 'ear to the speaker, eye on the stars' thing. A couple of your eggheads do that, squeezing in with whatever the berks from MIT and NASA or whatever are doing. Metzner and Quaid, they're in this knot of arseholes somewhere." She slams open the doors, letting out a torrent of yelling, dialtones, and the odd diagnostic ping. It looks like there's been a hurried command center strung up around the gift shop.


Arecibo Radio Observatory, Visitor's Center
Temporary Command Center, Knot of Arseholes, ???

Sandra raises her voice to keep herself heard.

"Anyway, it's all very communal here, linking arms on the frontiers of science, etcetera, which would be why there's a dozen different teams showing up as soon as there's a whiff of something. Plus local police, FBI, couple of spooky suit types who keep touching their earpieces. Oh, plus I think they were setting up to film some bloody Hollywood nonsense here, so you've got that mob on top of it all. Honestly, they're worse than the spooks." She pauses to snag a pot of coffee from a passing messenger. She looks around for a cup for a moment, shrugs, and starts drinking from the spout.

"SO," Abernathy continues, wiping her mouth, "...according to the eggheads about 2pm local we were picking up some odd bursts in the higher frequencies. They'd barely gotten the tape reels spinning before there was a bloody explosion in the receiver array that hangs over the dish. It looks like half of it's hit the dish like a dropped tart. Just listen to the hubbub floating around for a while, you'll hear anything from "unfortunately-timed equipment failure" to "unfortunately-timed micrometeorite impact". It's amazing what you get when you assemble so much raw scientific talent in one room. They've lost the local copies of the broadcast data, so they're hoping they can salvage something from the receiver itself. They're only just now fixing to send a team down to the debris site, but everyone's still arguing over who gets to go first."

"And now here you are. You want to quarantine them, you go explain it. Technically I think we have jurisdiction, but it's been hard to make a nuanced legal argument in all this."

She sips again from her pot of coffee and waves it at the general assemblage.

"Tally ho, then."

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Uriel

"Well, you can't have done too well at Cambridge or you wouldn't be here, would you?" Uriel grins happily as he is called a monkey. This is easy! He listens to the mass of information coming out of the room, staring into it for several seconds too long as he works out modem noise. His drumsticks start tapping the walls as he goes.

"I like this place! It's - oooooo!" He turns to stare at a printer for a few seconds, then back to the discussion. "What were we talking about? Oh right receiving. You want the data off that thing! That's easy. I can do that." He grins. "Really easy, just let me see it. And a quiet room or something or bigger drums. Or I might get distracted or something. Rin, did we bring my drums or a metronome? Fat Ninja, can you beatbox?"

He hasn't stopped tapping his drumsticks on things since they arrived in the room. Practically a metronome himself. It's most of what's keeping him lucid.

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo

For a very brief second Shilo's grin stretches to one ear as his eyebrow raises, containing his thrill. Then Dr. Sandra takes her hand away.

"Muh? Ha! Yes indeed, work to do. Perhaps later in the evening we can relax over a little indigenous cuisine and discuss the findings." He kicks off to the lab.

Or the makeshift center. "Ah. Paperwork. My, my favorite. I sha--" Shilo places his; ears a little too close to a wall Uriel has percussed upon and bites down on his tongue. "Agh! Thunuva--Yeth, wight. We'll ply--Mrrgh. I shall investigate the scene of the explosion. I part of archaeology is forensics, after all. I'll get to the root of the incident, and take the results directly to you, Doctor. A-after informing my team, of course."

Tempus Rimeblood
Sep 23, 2007

...Friendship? Again?
Jason

"...or we could cut the dick-waving contest and just do our jobs? Hey Drummer, I've got you. I packed Holo-Freddie along for a reason. Let's go get on salvaging that data, you parse the bursts and I'll work on the tech. Engineering's always useful in situations like this."

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo

"I would not use such vulgar terms. I am merely offering my service, as we have been sent here to do. As it so happens, I have just described my job to Dr. Abernathy before setting off to do said job. But thank you for allowing us to expedite matters. Dr., I shall be back in two hours with my preliminary results."

He fastens a headlamp onto his fedora, digs a magnifying glass and brush out of his satchel, and strides off down the hallway... turning back to tip his hat at the Dr.

Destrado
Feb 9, 2001

I thought, What a nice little city, it suits me fine. It suited me fine so I started to change it.
Dr. Abernathy

"At last, a bloody gentleman." Sandra mouths under her breath.

She looks Uriel's rhythmic fidgeting up and down for a moment. "What are you going to do, Jazz Fusion everything into submission? The best team indeed. So are the real astrophysicists ill, or what?"

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Uriel

Uriel smiles, his eyes unfocusing a bit as he stares at Dr. Sandra.

"You are exactly 185.7151515 repeating centimeters tall. You weigh 81.1245123 kilograms exactly. I suggest you lay off the heavy foods - stress thing, right? Your heart rate is 92 beats per minute. It is slowly rising as your coffee starts to take effect. Your core body temperature is 98.715 degrees Fahrenheit."

He keeps up the tapping.

"Oh, yeah, and your left eye is exactly two millimeters lower than your right. Do you want me to keep going to your clothing sizes and what's written down on that paper you just looked at, or should we stop while you're ahead?"

Pause. He stops, then turns to Jason.

"Wait, Holo-Freddie? Awesome! I love that guy! Yeah, let's go do the thing, I can feel the trip coming on already."

He briefly stops, staring into space, then starts tapping again as his eyes refocus.

"Woo, this place is a headrush."

Tempus Rimeblood
Sep 23, 2007

...Friendship? Again?
Jason

"Hell yeah, let's get on that!"

Easing Holo-Freddie's projector out of the bag and pressing a couple of buttons to bring it out of dormancy, he begins to stride off toward his destination.

"Man, Drummer, they hire such PERSONABLE people to be Tesladyne liaisons. Can't imagine why she's stuck all the way out here in Arecibo, doing nothing related to her field with her peers."

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo

In the middle of his dramatic hat tip, he watches Jason passive-aggressively put down the good doctor. His hat hand twitches, a muscle spasm running down his arm into his right pectoral. His jacket unzips from the force, revealing a somewhat-tight official Blue Barracudas T-shirt.

He pushes past the team and transposes himself in front of Dr. Abernathy. "Doctor, I am terribly sorry for my colleagues' behavior. Please accept this as a token of apology." He takes a narrow red box out of his satchel and presents it to her. "Chilean Chocolate Truffles, 74% dark chocolate, drizzled with spiced caramel topping and lemon zest. I can only hope your day improves from here."

Time to break out the Suave. Let's find out Sandra's other aspect:

(Krysmbot) RatherPhony, +/+-+4 = 5


His cellular phone number is written on the bottom of the box in black marker.

Staticpulse
Nov 1, 2010

Herein I have explained the operation of the sun.
Donald

Everyone went to do their own thing without any hint of teamwork or cooperation. A gang without a leader, a pack without an alpha. Donald turns to Biff, Rin, and Sofia.

"Right, so..." Donald glances back at the fleeting forms of Uriel and Jason. "I guess they'll get the data for us. Is there anything left for us to do? I mean, other than hit on the Doctor." He jerks his thumb toward Dr. Abernathy.

Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Dr. Sofia Liu

Sofia immediately moved off to examine the printouts and peer over shoulders at computer screens. She comes back with an overflowing armful of dot matrix output. "There is a great deal to do! She might be a bit touchy, but Dr Abernathy has a point about these so-called hypotheses! It's highly improbable this is just a coincidence. However, we are most assuredly the best choice to go down to the receiver and retrieve the original data. So, let's do that!."

Mitama
Feb 28, 2011

Rin Sirkku Fuyuyama

Rin ignores most of the conversation so far, her eyes focusing on multiple tiny LCD screens with little buttons on it. So many prototype Tamagotchis, so little time to give them all the attenion they deserve during feeding time.

"Oh? Oh!" She pulls away from the pets when Donald pipes up. Right, it's Genius Time. "Joo, I absolutely concur with Dr. Sofia. These other, inferior teams are gonna be arguing all day on who's on first. By UN sanction, Tesladyne gets first dibs on the science. So let's science that reciever and shut them all up."

Besides, she really, really wants to pick apart a radio telescope today.

Staticpulse
Nov 1, 2010

Herein I have explained the operation of the sun.
Donald

"Alright, that's... great." Donald doesn't even try to argue that they already had people tasked with extracting the data. That, perhaps, their efforts were best spent doing something else. What, exactly, Donald didn't know. He wasn't a rocket scientist or anything like that. "I'll... uh..." Donald pauses to sniff the air. A delicious aroma wafted to his nose. The sweet smell of...

Coffee.

"Oh, hey. After that twelve hour plane ride, I bet everyone is itching for a cup of joe. You guys get on that data and I'll grab us a few cups. Bet they have doughnuts around here too... I'll just grab a bit of everything and we can split it up later." With a clap of the hands, Donald was off to the break room.

Sliding in the coffee room, Donald found himself surrounded by gibbering analysts and scientists. "Ah, morning, morning! Everyone having a good morning?" Donald gives one of the analysts a light slap on the back. "Hey, yeah, I know what you're going to say, but I really am with ETCD and... oh! Is that Folgers?" Donald moves to the coffee maker, picking up the can of grounds as he does. "Smells great, but that's all I can say for it. Better than nothing, right?"

Putting in a new filter and filling the machine with coffee grounds, he flips it on. He turns around and rubs his hands together. "So... what's the haps?"

Attempting to discover the mystery aspect on the Visitor Center with Rapport.
Staticpulse, --++ +4 = 4

Ettin
Oct 2, 2010
Biff Pakowski

"Hollywood, huh?"

Biff has no desire to be in the movies right now, but maybe they've seen something. He wanders over to see if any of them are willing to talk to a smooth-looking scientist.

Notice to investigate the Hollywood nonsense: <Krysmbot> Ettin, ///++5 = 6

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo Stanley

"No, no need to thank me," Shilo tells the Doctor, in a genuine tone. "But please, if there's a development, I believe you know how to reach me, so..." He takes a few steps back. "Ciao."

He triumphantly strides out to the roof.

Destrado
Feb 9, 2001

I thought, What a nice little city, it suits me fine. It suited me fine so I started to change it.
Visitor's Center (Biff, Donald)

With keen eyes, firm handshakes and lukewarm coffee Biff and Donald get to talking their way through the crowd. Amidst the clumps of this research team and that agency, they eventually find two beleaguered ETCD techs huddled over their desk and snarling at anyone that approaches them. Fortunately they recognise you before anyone gets a pen to the neck. They accept Donald's coffee as tribute.

"I mean its awesome right? Catastrophic explosion aside, they were gonna let me be an extra and get shot up in the lab fight. I've been practicing dying all week." Quaid beams, dramatically clutching his heart and slumping over a console in demonstration. Donald would give it maybe half a star, if he was generous.

The haps, as they turn out, involve Quaid looping a soundbyte he's managed to snag from the screen test they were filming out on the receiver array. Turns out one of the boom mics were still recording during the explosion, and the pair have been trying to analyse it for any details they can find. He helpfully spools the tape backwards and plays it for Donald and Biff.

Tape Recording posted:

*kshk*
"For England, James?"

"No, for...wait, what the hell is that noise?"
*explodo*

And then the audio cuts out with a certain bang, that Metzner insists is decidedly ferrous and Quaid is saying is more characteristic of achondrite impacts. They've obviously been at this for twelve hours and are bored as poo poo guessing.

Biff and Donald reveal the third aspect on the visitor's centre: Star Struck, and an invoke each.

Metzner chimes in. "Well actually, we're projecting something more in line with a small meteorite, I mean an actual star wouldn't be feasibly..."

Like I said, Star Struck

Around the fourth or fifth time the tape gets rewound, though, Biff notices something. While every other group seems to have found some minor scrip of printout to wave around or screen to point at or phone to scream into, there's one guy just standing watching Donald intently. His jawline doesn't say much for his IQ, and his suit's far too expensive for spook work, so he's clearly neither scientist nor agency.

When he speaks, the voice that somehow manages to sound tanned seals it. He's Hollywood.



"Hot drat, the Donald Birch. I thought you'd turned up dead in a public bathroom. Or was that some other guy? Anyway, you here to audition for a fill-in role when we don't even know if the original leads are alive or dead? That's cold, man. I love it, total pro move. Who's repping you now?"

---

Dr. Abernathy

"I..."

"um..."

"Well, that is to say..."

She pokes at a chocolate cautiously, and mumbles somewhere in the the vicinity of her ridiculous neckbraid.

"just be careful out there, yeah?"

That was hilarious, so I'm just going to let Shilo declare the aspect and invoke it later. Sandra is now contactable and likely a lot more helpful in future.

---

Under The Dish (Rin, Sofia, Uriel, Jason, Shilo)
The hazmats at the door fall away at a more motivated team's approach with an ease that make you realise they were all arguing not to go first. Past some reams of lazily strung quarantine tape, a stairwell leads down and under the Arecibo dish itself, letting everyone merrily stroll down to where part of the receiver array has impacted the floor below.



There's no smoke or obvious danger, and any fire probably burned itself out hours ago. It's probably safe to inspect. So safe that someone seems to be inspecting it already.


???

She turns at your approach, glares, mumbles something incomprehensibly apologetic through her breathing filter, then bows her head and moves to walk past you and back to the stairwell.

Which would be suspicious enough even if she wasn't trying to discreetly hide something the size of a watermelon behind her back and failing miserably.



Your new friend is likely to actively resist any attempts to investigate or impede her. There's still the receiver data to consider. What now?

Destrado fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Jul 4, 2014

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Uriel

Uriel glances over the lady.

"Hazmat and gas mask, huh? Nice getup. Very frumpy-chic. Is that your beach ball?"

He shrugs and heads past, turning around towards the others and walking backwards.

"You guys might wanna stop her! Totally not my department, though! If you guys wanna let Queen of the Frog People walk out with that, that's your problem!"

He turns again, heading towards the array. Occasionally he glances back, but he's kept up a tempo of drumbeats, so he's managing to remember what his actual job is still.

"Okay, come to Papa, baby. Gonna make you sing sweet, sweet music."

Staticpulse
Nov 1, 2010

Herein I have explained the operation of the sun.
Donald

"Yep." Donald takes a sip of his coffee. "That is certainly an earth-shattering kaboom."

The audio log wasn't very useful, but if the nerds wanted to argue over it he wasn't going to stop them. Before he could suggest to Biff that they catch up with the others, a familiar voice sounded off. It was the sweet, sweet sound of a Hollywood rear end in a top hat.

"Ah, hell. The women I work with now are all too smart to do coke in a public bathroom with me." Donald turned to face the suit, a cheesy grin on his face. He holds out a hand for a shake. "But nah, I'm not here to take anyone's job. I'm with ETCD, here to investigate the meteor wreck."

Donald took a quick look at Biff. "Biff here is one of the co-workers. Rocket scientist and not half-bad at karate either." He turns back to Mr. Hollywood. "So... shooting the new Bond movie here, I take it? And the leads are missing? Man, I would've thought they'd have sent in some doctors to see if they were alive or not." It would be a shame if the movie were delayed; he was so looking forward to Goldeneye! "Hey, my guys are in there right now, so we'll find them one way or another. I'll let you know what we turn up."

Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Dr. Sofia Liu

Sofia steps in the hazmat suited woman's way, arms outstretched. "Hey! What's that you're holding? You shouldn't be disturbing the accident site! Tesladyne has first crack at it, AND that could be a extraterrestrial message buoy or the external shell of a condensed quantum shell brain! I insist you put that down and explain yourself!"

Comrade Gorbash fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Jul 6, 2014

Mitama
Feb 28, 2011

Rin Sirkku Fuyuyama

"Though if you want to do this the hard way, I'm cool with that too."

Rin flicks a switch in her handheld freeze ray and it blinks blue and make this ominous whirr.

"I don't think you're supposed to be here."

Rolling to Provoke, I assume this can go wrong because she might choose to bolt instead of listen:
+--/ +3 = 2, invoking puns to make it 4.

Mitama fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jul 6, 2014

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo Stanley

As he regroups with the field team out of Sandra's ear shot, he explains himself. "I heard your groaning earlier. Now let me tell you, after what she's been going through how could I, as a gentleman, let her slump off without a kind word? She is a Tesladyne associate, and thus our coworker. We should be respecting her. Why, underneath that lab coat is a human heart just like yours and mine."

He has stopped in his tracks by this point, in the middle of the staircase.

"We are all put on this earth to love and understand one another, but when the love is gone, what's left? Just obligations and burdens. A little love can go a long way, but only if we let love in! So--"

He counts the heads passing by and looks behind him for stragglers. "Right, work to do. Can't have passion on the clock, I see."

Dr. Sandra has a no-nonsense exterior, but deep down she's Longing For Chemistry of any sort.

Now caught up with the group, he plants a hand on his coiled whip and scopes out the situation. "It seems we've reached an impasse. Be warned...," he peers into the hazmat visor. "Madam. If I sense resistance, I shall not hesitate to--" He cracks his whip in the air. "Restrain you."

Provoking with a snappy remark:
(Krysmbot) RatherPhony, /++/+3 = 5

Double May Care fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Jul 7, 2014

Mitama
Feb 28, 2011

Rin Sirkku Fuyuyama

"Ohmigod, please leave the witty stuff to the professionals."

Rin sticks her tongue out at Shilo!

Ettin
Oct 2, 2010
Biff Pakowski

Biff listens intently. This is an explosion noise. That's, like, his bag.

"It could be both. Or some new element. Space doesn't always have to make sense. Let's see..."


Rocket science! Ferrous or achondrite? <Krysmbot> Ettin, -///+5 = 4

Tempus Rimeblood
Sep 23, 2007

...Friendship? Again?
Jason

"Guys, let's just get moving. Shilo, why don't you just hit on this one too so the rest of us can do the actual work?"

Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo

"I will!



"Do no such thing! What do you think I am, some sort of heart-breaking casanova? I do not manipulate emotions for my own selfish gain. I am a professional!"

He cracks the whip once more.

"So, stranger, how about you drop what you're doing and show us what's under that suit?

"... This proves nothing."

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Uriel

"I didn't realize you were a professional. Do the subs pay you a lot?"

Uriel shrugs, turning back but walking backwards towards the array.

"I mean, I don't really get into that poo poo. Are you gonna make her call you Master?"

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Double May Care
Mar 28, 2012

We need Dragon-type Pokemon to help us prepare our food before we cook it. We're not sure why!

Shilo

"D-D-D..." Shilo fumes.

"Depends! What does Duran Duran pay you? Y-y-yy-ya bongo-bangin' chimp!"

He catches his breath, hunched over and holding a hand up to try and keep people away.

"I don't have to take this, you know... I don't have to take any of this, but I do. Because I value our relationship. And that..."

He brushes off his knees and stands back up. "Is what ya mama said last night." He celebrates his punchline with a whip crack.

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