trans_9 | The Dead Bookworm [closed to volunteers]

Entry tags:

The Dead Bookworm [closed to volunteers]

Deadly phantoms are attacking the ship, nightmares are turning into daymares, and people are being caught by the Nightmare King's traps even when they're awake. The captain has put the ship on red alert and called together the Magical Department, the Security teams, and the bridge crew.

The Daligig have directed the crew towards two archives that have information that could help them--but will it be enough to stop the Nightmare King before it's full onslaught.

||These two Sensoriums have been configured to allow you visual navigation of my information archives. I have highlighted the path to the archives. However, navigation could be dangerous as in this state, safety protocols are not active due to security measures in my systems. Please take caution as you obtain the information.||

[ooc: One thread for each team, folks. After everyone has posted in, post in the same order to stay organized.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The archive looks like an empty hallway in some kind of alien building, with locked doors along the way, and a single door at the end, slightly ajar.

Lyle is wincing with every breath, but he's not going to let it prevent him from doing his job. He's doing the best he can to ignore it.

"Let me take a look around while invisible before going in."

If only he had a lot more (or any) sleep before doing this.

They've all been running low on sleep, unfortunately.

Sam nods, Ruby's knife in a leg holster and his own gun at the ready. There's really no telling what they might run into here. "Give us a hollar when you're ready."

For the most part, a little girl getting caught up in this mess is the worst thing they could do. Seeing as this little girl is the daughter of two powerful mages and a strong mage in her own right, there's probably little to worry here... except, like everyone else, she's running on sleep.

With Sacred Heart by her side, she nodded. "We're all ready..."

Ahava's ankle was slowing her down more than she liked, but they'd had enough time to get it properly strapped and she had something to help keep the weight off it. While she was in a little pain still, it was better than being too drugged to work properly and she could manage.

"Ready here," she said. Shooting Lyle a look, she added; "Be careful."

Lyle nods and disappears from view. He floats silently to the door at the end of the hallway. He peeks in, but it's not ajar enough for him to see anything.

He slowly pushes it open, as though it might just be a slight breeze or an unevenness of the construction that led it to swing open. He squeezes through as soon as possible, and floats just within the entrance, alert and looking for traps.

The room is unoccupied and doesn't appear to have any traps either. It's empty as well, or mostly empty -- opposite the door, there's something that looks like a computer console and a key pad. The floor seems to be mostly made of black glass, except for the edges which are made from the same greenish stone as the walls. The ceiling isn't visible, however.

The lack of ceiling isn't too strange, given that they're in one of the Sensoriums. Lyle gives the room the quickest examination for traps he feels he can, given that time is of the essence. He doesn't like not being able to be more careful, especially since these are strangers whose lives are in his hands, but he pushes that worry aside in favor of being professional.

It's not long after he's entered that he reappears, waits a moment for anything to attack him, and then calls out, "Clear!"

As the others enter they'll find him already at the console.

"Right!" Vivio said, racing in. As she and Sacred Heart entered, she noticed him at the console, but turned her attention to everything around her. "What a strange room..."

She looked up at the ceiling and its endless void. She had an odd feeling about it and kept her eye on it.

Sam isn't too sure about the kid being along with them, but given everything he's heard about her mothers, maybe it's okay. Either way, he'll keep an eye out for her, even as he approaches the console beside Lyle. "Any idea what we're looking at here?" Computer, sure. But he's got a feeling the guy knows more about this sort of stuff than he does.

With two sets of eyes already keeping an eye on the room, Ahava made her way over to Lyle and the console. "Need a hand with anything?" He likely had it covered already, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Lyle's already searching for anything on the Nightmare King.

"A very complex database," he tells Sam, "I think ... "

He trails off, preoccupied by what's in front of him. The whole setup is very foreign. He's reminded of the others again when Ahava speaks.

"Let me know if you see anything I miss. And keep an eye on everyone's backs."

That isn't just to Ahava, of course. Lyle doesn't exactly like having a child on the team, but there's no time to argue or send her back. Perhaps she's not even a child, but child-like? Vivio must be here for some reason, and she can keep watch if nothing else.

"I have a feeling my hacking abilities aren't anywhere near yours." Sam managed a quick smile before turning to check the area around them. And make sure he knows where Vivio is at all times.

She couldn't do anything while she was in her child self. Couldn't see the screen. Plus, she didn't want to seem useless in all this. Shifting into her adult form, Vivio leaned over to look at the screen.

"...try looking for something that looks out of place. I know it's all alien-ish, but that's what I've learned to find." Vivio said to Lyle.

As librarian for the Infinite Library, Vivio knew a thing or two about what to look for in terms of research.

Edited 2010-02-27 04:04 (UTC)

"Alright," Ahava agreed. She glanced back at the others and jumped slightly as the girl shifted and suddenly wasn't a child anymore. "...well that was interesting," she commented. Shaking her head slightly she returned to looking over Lyle's shoulder at the screen.

Oh good. Hopefully she actually is an adult as well as looking like one. Lyle nods at Vivio's suggestion, typing as fast as he can. The alien-ness means it takes him longer to get familiar with the system, but he's confident they have enough heads together to work it out.

"Hello."

One of the Daligig stands behind them, wearing something that might be the equivalent of a lab coat and a pair of glasses for the species. For those who have experience reading non-human body language, this one appears to be a female, unsurprised by their presence, and in the mood to be helpful.

"I am Doctor Tah-pik. What are you looking for?"

There's a spot of light on the floor beneath her, but there's no light from above and she casts no shadow. If they look very closely, she's also slightly transparent.

Sam jumps a little, turning and bringing his gun to bear on the Daligig before realizing that it isn't going to attack and, furthermore, isn't even real. Given the lack of sleep over the past however many weeks, though, one couldn't blame him.

He takes a breath, then nods to the hologram. "We're looking for information," he says, glancing to the others. "Information on a creature that may be classified as a god in its home dimension. One that feeds from fear and insanity inspired through dreams and can even twist reality around the dreamer to create it in reality."

"A holographic representation of the file?" Ahava wondered under her breath. She didn't really pay any attention to Sam as he brought the weapon to bear on the image and asked the question they were likely all wondering; she was more interested in hearing what the hologram would say.

Dr Tah-pik considers for a moment.

"I believe I know what you're looking for. Would you care to sit?"

Four more spots of light bloom on the floor and egg-like chairs appear above them, hovering behind each of the crew members. "They are hard light holograms, they will support your weight."

Lyle doesn't especially want to drop his guard in this place, since the whole room could suddenly swallow them whole. But since the whole room could suddenly swallow them whole, it might not matter if he's sitting or standing.

He is tired, and this could be a long explanation. So he sits, somewhat tensely.

"We'd like you to be as thorough and quick about it as possible."

"Of course," Dr Tah-pik says. She looks thoughtful for a moment, as if mentally summarizing the information she's about to tell them. "I will do by best to be accurate, but the files are not entirely complete."

Once those who want to sit have done so, she begins.

"Three of our explorers investigated the cause of a recent event that had utterly destroyed all life on a single planet. They were able to piece together some scattered records of the people of the planet, all of which said roughly the same thing."

As she spoke, holographic images of news papers and mute television reports appear in the air around them. The pictures all show a dark-skinned human, and the papers contain stories of his mesmerizing abilities with electricity. There are also some articles about a world-wide wave of nightmares.

"Where ever the man in the records traveled, he gained followers. Our explorers were unable to determine if the people of the planet noticed that where ever that man seemed to go, nightmares swiftly followed."

"Probably not," Sam said, leaning forward from where he was sitting. The articles were interesting and he scanned what he could for the pertinent details. Old habits. "It's surprising the sorts of things that people never put together, no matter how long it's been happening."

A man with electric powers appearing at the same time nightmares spread? Odd.

Vivio blinked as she looked at the pictures herself. Her head tilted a bit as she thought.

"The dark-skinned man. Is... is there anything more about him? Beyond what we're seeing now?"

"Yes," Dr Tah-pik says. "There were more news reports of an alien being crashing to the planet in the state of New Jersey in the country of the United States of America, and the alien told them that the man with the electricity was evil and needed to be stopped. The alien was disbelieved by the general populace, from what we could determine. Our researchers found an alien corpse in a stone sarcophagus that was connected to a large black stone, which they were also able to determine contained a being of great chaos. We assume that the alien written of and the one in the sarcophagus are one and the same."

More holographic images appeared, showing a mummified being with wings. It looks almost exactly like what most humans picture angels as being.

"From what our researchers could determine, both creatures were similar in nature, possibly divine. Divine blood or energy seemed to be what kept the chaos being trapped in the stone."

Dr Tah-pik gives them a serious look. "Our researchers were also able to deduce that the battle between the being in the stone and the being in the sarcophagus that ultimately trapped the Nightmare being is what eliminated all life on the entire planet."

The archive looks like a tunnel underground, that leads to a wide open cavern ahead.

Daimon gazed down the tunnel. He frowned and rubbed his brow. The psychic vibrations had reached a frightening intensity. "Have we all assembled? Are we ready?"

Jamie looked strung-out and apprehensive as he peered into the tunnel. He shrugged uneasily, flicking a glance in Daimon's direction. "Ready as I'm gonna be."

Indigo stares down the tunnel. "All of my systems are within acceptable parameters." She glances at Daimon and the others. "I will go in first. I'm an android, after all. It would be easier to repair me than it would one of you."

She doesn't seem to be particularly bothered by the situation. Indigo's keeping a tight bottle on her emotions, now more than ever. Besides, she's never been claustrophobic.

Rei peered down the tunnel, more then a little apprehensive. His back (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_9/294819.html) hurt whenever he breathed, the scratches still not fully healed, and he was pretty shaken up, emotionally. He'd begun to realize just how dangerous the ship was, and it actually scared him.

He sighed, and said, as casually as he could in his current mental state "Well, we might as well do this thing." He could only hope that his visions would warn him of any danger.

"No," Daimon said to Indigo. "I will go first. I have a sixth sense of sorts, for these matters, furthermore I heal faster than most. I will lead."

"Makes sense to me," Jamie murmured, glancing to the rest of the group for their opinion.

"Fine," She says, walking down first anyway. "However, I'm more durable. And I have highly advanced sensors and force shields." Indigo purposefully places herself in the middle of the tunnel as she walks, to make it that much harder to shove past her. "And, finally, I am more expendable. If you are concerned about attacks, take up the rear and make sure nothing is sneaking up on us."

"We do not have time for this. None of us are expendable. Step aside." Grasping his trident firmly, Daimon lifted himself into the air to barrel past Indigo.

Indigo glares and, with a frustrated wave of her hand, creates a glowing, pink force shield in front of Daimon as she continues to walk, faster now, down the hall. "We are when we're androids and can be repaired with ease. Watch the back."

She's not going to take 'no' for an answer on this, it seems.

And he collided with that shield.

"We have no time for your self absorbed bravado. FINE! Go first, android, but I will be behind you. And if I seize you and pull you aside or shout you WILL listen to me."

Edited 2010-02-27 23:00 (UTC)

Indigo comments not on the Daimoncakes she may or may not have just made.

"Fine. Be more concerned about those behind us, however." She glances back. "They are not as durable."

Jamie lets out a quiet sigh as he starts forward, trying hard to rein in the irritation he feels welling up. With everything that's going on right now he is, for lack of a better word, cranky, but he still has sense enough to know that snapping at people - especially these people - won't accomplish anything useful. "Okay, so 'f that's all settled...should we get going now?" he asks, gesturing down the tunnel ahead of them.

"He's right," Rei said, nodding at Jamie. "We've got a job to do, let's not turn it into a pissing contest." His voice had an edge to it that he rarely used. His back was hurt, he was confused, and the arguing was annoying him. He wanted to get this over with.

The tunnel is devoid of any traps or anything that would have made Daimon and Indigo's arguing worth it. Possibly, it had done so on purpose.

The cavern at the other end is vaguely circular, with faintly glowing archways evenly spaced around the outside. Their tunnel connects to the cavern under one of those archways, but all of the others seem to be blocked off. Wide shallow stairs, edged with the same faintly glowing stone, lead down from the archways toward the center of the room. To either side of each of those sets of stairs are platforms surfaced with a substance that resembles the fleshy couches on the Obs Deck.

In the center of the room, there is a circular platform of white stone that reaches to about the mid-thigh of an adult human male and is about twenty-five feet across. A light -- the only one in the room, aside from the glowing stones -- shines down on the platform.

Other than that, the room appears empty.

"Fascinating." That's all Indigo has to say. The concerns of her 'team' are ignored, further conversation would just incite more arguments. She heads down the stairs and examines the stone, ignoring the platforms for now. She opens up her hand, then really opens it, separating several sections of her hand and fore-arm and expanding it to reveal sensors and other odd objects.

"At first glance, I would guess that this would be how we access Stacy's archives. Interesting, that she'd display it like this." She holds her hand close to the stone. "I do not yet know how to access it, however."

"Allow me."

The voice belongs to the Daligig now standing on the raised platform in the center of the room, wearing something that might be the equivalent of a lab coat and a pair of glasses for the species. For those who have experience reading non-human body language, this one appears to be a female, unsurprised by their presence, and in the mood to be helpful.

She is also slightly transparent, like a hologram.

"I am Dr. Tah-pik. What are you looking for?"

"...Intriguing."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Dead Bookworm [closed to volunteers]

spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_44657.lil [Ahava, Lyle Norg, Sam Winchester, Vivio]

spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]

Re: spec_proj_obsidian_783435.lil [Daimon, Indigo, Jamie Hemeros, Rei]