trans_9 | Lost. Again. [Open, before rebellion.]

Billy is hard at work on the teleporters, trying to ensure that they're all in working order. They'll have to move through the ship quickly if they're going to carry out these plans. He's walked through most of the common areas of the ship today, testing both by himself and with a backpack of items of various sizes. One of the items is his datapad, kept to ensure he always has something to work on during the cooldown periods.

So far, everything seems to be in working order. He's run a check at each station: he trusts Ronnae completely, but there's always the concern that the system could be tampered with. If it's malfunctioning, he needs to catch it early.

Unfortunately, his streak of good luck ends with a snag. Upon warping into the Hub, he finds that he no longer casts a shadow. A look down confirms that he's no longer visible. Oh well---it could be worse.

He shrugs and resumes his work in silence, the only visible sign of his presence being the tools floating in the air just beside the pad.

[Teleporter fun post! Any of the malfunctions listed here are fair game to play with.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At the motion of the string bumping into something invisible, Anwei curled back and up, her body turning from a straight line to a curve like the Locust pose of Earth yoga, as she tried to keep from running head-first into - Billy, apparently. She'd know that sigh anywhere. She couldn't actually move her center of gravity, but she could twist around it so that she went somewhat over the teleporter pad.

"I didn't know you could do that," she said, drifting back from a soft collision with one of Stacy's tree-trunk tentacles.

Billy shook his head. He stood, pulling Anwei back to her feet. Please forgive the touch of invisible hands, Anwei.

"I can't do it voluntarily---not without special equipment that's still in testing. This can happen when the teleportation system is used, and I'm trying to solve the problem."

Grabbing her feet was reasonably safe - that is, since she already knew who it was. Sort of.

(Not a good idea to try grabbing her head, though, or you may end up paying a finger-tax.)

"Yes," she said slowly to where she thought Billy was, "I can definitely see how that would be a problem...especially if someone we didn't want using the teleportation system was affected."

Imagine invisible Kessek being beamed into strategic positions in the ship - no, better not.

That was a problem. Billy lowered his voice and quickly released her once he'd regained his balance.

"That's why we require the omnicom system. I'm trying to keep the security on those as tight as possible, and I'm watching the system for signs of suspicious activity."

He reached up and pushed his hair out of the way. What a mess. "The effect should last no more than ten minutes, thankfully."

She pondered. "This is the same system that sometimes drops people into walls? Maybe you could write up a report on all the problems you're having. It would be unpleasant if someone used it who wasn't aware of the potential dangers."

And if their employers-cum-owners thought the teleport system was riddled with errors, they wouldn't trust themselves or their troops to it.

"Glad to hear we'll see you soon. I don't suppose there are any plans to analyze the effect and see if it can be manipulated? Making patients partially transparent could of great interest to the medical profession, I would think."

Anwei, ever the practical optimist.

"There is a report. Ronnae put it on the screen before selecting a destination. I'm working here to try to minimize the chances we'll run into one of the malfunctions while we're doing..."

Well. Anwei knew what they were going to do.

He tapped on the pad a few times, deep in thought. "That would be wonderful if we could. I should definitely place more people on research in that area. Is that something you'd be good at?"

Anwei gave a thumbs-up gesture, in imitation of the human style. "Good for Ronnae! That should work perfectly."

It was fascinating to watch the pad's display flicker and move at the touch of invisible fingers, and she almost missed Billy's next statement. When she did take it in, she looked a bit flustered.

"Oh no, I don't have any experience with that. I'm not a physicist, I wouldn't even know where to begin!"

And also, all this physics-defying magic and science made her scalp creep.

Billy nodded invisibly. "That's alright. You're great at what you do already, and I'm sure I can find someone to take up the project. But you're great for coming up with ideas like that."

Once everything was stored away for later use, he stood. A screwdriver marked his hand's approximate position. "I should probably wait until I appear again to do anything else. I don't want to risk compounding side effects after what's already happened today. So...how are you, Anwei?"

"I have the advantage of ignorance; I don't know what can't be done, and sometimes when I suggest something, it turns out that it can be done after all."

Of course there would be the minor issue of making semi-transparent patients visible again...well. Maybe she should just write up her thoughts and leave it for more experienced eyes to work on.

She kept one eye on the screwdriver and one eye above it and to the side, trying to track Billy as she replied. "I'm well, thank you. Getting settled back in at Med Bay and Computing. Oh, and Howard," her voice thickened for a few words before it went back to normal, "found a Ninth Empire storage box lying around in the City. Someone's loot, I imagine; I couldn't find any Living People buildings nearby. But it's proto-sentient and has a full thalience array, so with some work I hope to use it to scan the ship for more technology from my species."

Hopefully, only good technology.

Lost. Again. [Open, before rebellion.]

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