Things progressed in an unexpected way for Tasha. After the kiss and drying off, Liza led her back to the bed.. and told her to lie back on it. The doe began to massage Tasha in a rather intimate way, not letting the hybrid do anything but breath (which Tasha actually had to be reminded of a few times). Like all massages, it was aimed at easing tension, and there were ways Tasha was tense that she hadn't realized. Sure, there was an explosive ending that would require cleaning the beddings, but after that she felt very relaxed. "I think that has loosened you up," Liza tells her. "You should start to notice a difference when you next lay with Gabriel. I need to wash my hands.."
Some time later, after recovery of a different sort, Tasha is clean and dressed. There's an awkward silence between the two, hybrid and doe, but the former can't get her hair quite right without the latter and eventually they sort their issues out. "Sorry," Tasha said. "I shouldn't have let it go that far. I appreciate what you did, but I misread you. I think for the future, we should keep to how we used to be." After that she gave her assistant the day off and the assurance she would get her act together.
From there it's just finding what to do with herself. Reflection leads to introspection, and introspection leads to more pressing matters -- like what she discussed with her AI in the cockpit. She never imagined the nature of the spirit and the souls would be a question she'd have to deal with and yet they've become all too real. With the alarming possibility she may have been in friendly dealinsgw ith several mythologies' soul-eating demons, and that she herself may have grown like them, along with the Hall of Souls and other matters such as Sifran spirits the nature of the soul has gone from existential quandry to immediate concern.
Lucky -- or perhaps not -- for Tasha, the Bellerophon is haunted by no less than a Sifran spirit projector. The projected spiritsd are friends and family, but their nature is nebulous -- and it always has been. She's been able to push it from mind, but now she can no longer avoid it if she hopes for answers. The Sifrans may ahve understood the soul, but more so, their once-masters who may have devoured the most quinessential element of being. In their fear they may have gone far; Tasha suspects this, and so she truns to their machine for answers even as she fears the Sifrans. The Sifrans, after all, devoured life and their works have tried to destroy her.
The Artifact Chamber isn't quite the same as Tasha remembers. One of the medbay beds has been hauled in and takes up almost half of the room, with the other half left free for the bizarre stack of interlocking crystals that make up the projector. It glows and scintillates in it's oddly random colors and lights, although the way the patterns flow makes it seem like the stack is now one solid piece, without any seams.
Tasha walks over to the bed and promptly has a seat, hands folded in her lap as she stares at the artifact. She hasn't a clue how it works; The Sifrans -- or Xilfirm -- are the oldest of the Old Ones and may possess technology and knowledge from before sentient life entered the universe or else gathered from the sum total of all previous civilizations through trade and conquest. Compared to what's infront of her, she's not even a blip on eternity's radar, let alone a lesser rival to their understanding. That it works at all -- and works the way they needed it -- continues to astound her even after all these months.
But even so, it stil makes Tasha nervous. The Sifran AI tried to destroy her, the Sifrans have annhiliated countless trillons of lives -- and that may well be an understatement she admits to herself. They do not care for her kind, that much seems apparent. Having one of their devices here, holding her friends and family in its hands, makes her itch. She can't be rid of it, she can't think it's safe, and it may well hate her -- but maybe it can give her answers. It spoke to her, once.
"Someone in there?" a familiar voice asks, and Nora opens the door and peeks inside. "That you, Tasha, or has PC Tasha finally figured a way to escape?"
"It's me," Tasha replies, slow to look away from the artifact. "Did you need this room, Nora?"
The Karnor woman comes in, and sits on the bed next to Tasha. Her weight actually pressed down the pad. "Finally off shift.. I come here to recharge, if that makes sense. I'm the most real in here, so I can actually rest or sleep, now that the bed's here. Put it in for.. rescuing.. Fallen-Star, but haven't bothered to move it out."
"I'm sorry you have to deal with this," Tasha tells her sister, turning to look at her more fully. "I know we've been working on the clones, but I've always been looking for other ways to get you a flesh-and-blood body. I just didn't want to mention it, because I wasn't sure anything like that was possible. Doubted, really." Her head shifts and she's staring at the artifact again. "But I've learned things, and maybe I'm closer to understanding? Something fundamental. It involves us, the Xilfirm and-" she pauses, tilting her head to eye the artifact as she watches for changes, " ... the Ogdoad. Maybe others."
"Who or what are the Xilfrim and Ogdoads?" Nora asks, watching Tasha closely. "You've been styling your hair finally, it looks like. Not using any weird chemicals I hope?"
"I have a personal assistant now," Tasha notes, quite distractedly and certainly like an afterthought. She's still eyeing the artifact, as if it migth leap out and bite her. "The Sifra and the Xilfirm are the same beings; Xilfirm is probably what they were called in the Age of the Old Ones. It amy be their original name. The way it sounds on the tongue, it sounds like the rigth sort of name. The Ogdoad are masters of the Harrowers, the Lloigor, the ebings from D-Level Hyperspace the Confederacy bargain with for travel. They are from outside our time, from the dark. The Harrower told me a story: That the Ogdoad created life. Then who created souls?"
Tasha scratches her nose, then says, "I think Harrowers may eat souls. The Xilfirm rebelled, did you know that? And cast their masters out. They were their angels, here in the island of light. Harrowers may eat souls, Xilfirm make spirits. Soul copies? Harrowers can eat spirits. Replacement food? Something else? Then where do souls come from, or does our island make them by its nature? And how are they copied?" By this point Nora sees that Tasha may well be tlaking to herself, staring somewhere pst the artifact in to her own thoughts.
"Does it matter?" Nora asks. "Where they come from. You'd have to know what they really are first, I mean. I don't recall anyone actively researching that back in my time. It was for religion to deal with, not science or engineering. I remember some weird quantum field theories.. but there's a lot of weirdness there, to the point that 'quantum weirdness' is actually a scientific phrase!"
"It matters to us. Or, at least to me. Without knowing it'll be hard to help you, to udnerstand what's going on between the great powers -- and I don't mean the Galactics -- and what they're fighting for. What they value. And what it means for me." Tasha leans forward, resting her head on her hands, ears back as she watches the lights. "I was able to talk to this artifact once, and you're here, so maybe you can help? It's dangerous, though. Maybe you shouldn't. The Sifra don't like us, and I don't want their attention, but their empire is in ruins and they may not even notice. And you're a spirit, which may be like a soul."
"Spirits aren't like souls," Nora claims, and pokes Tasha in the shoulder with her finger. "Souls can't touch things. Spirits are manifestations that can be given energy and mass though, even they don't involve physical matter. It's like the difference between the words in a book, and the book itself. I can hit you with a book. Not with words, really."
Tasha rubs her shoulder, even though the poke didn't hurt. She turns to look at her sister and frowns a moment -- then she decides to try something.
Reaching in to herself, to the echo she would never has noticed if Rushfighter hadn't sounded it, to the resonance that came with the connections. She tries to take hold of her own, as she did with the god machine -- The Soul Grinder as she thinks of it. She was able to project towards it, and felt the tug. She tries again, carefully, Nora-ward.
Nothing seems to be happening. It may be a matter of power or mass.
"Why are you looking at me funny?" Nora asks. "Did you get your brains scrambled again? Maybe it's not safe to be talking to these.. things.." she says, gesturing at the Sifran machine. "I'm glad for what it does, but I'll be happy to be free of it too."
Tasha face scrunches, she pushes harder. She isn't sure what power she has in relation to Harrowers and other such beings -- but suspects it's on the low side -- and she isn't massive whatever jokes she might hear. So, she only has effort. If a slight shift won't work, she tries harder, pushing more in what she thinks might be increments but lacks the scale and experience to udnerstand well.
"Do you.. need the toilet?" Nora asks, still apparently unaffected but looking concerned. "Are you trying to set me on fire with your mind or something? Because that never works. Otherwise I'd be a mass-murderer myself."
"Sorry," Tasha says, relenting and leaning back against the wall. "The Harrowers touched me, I've been tryng to understand how and what it means. They said I shared their 'blood,' and if they're what I think they are and can do what I think they can, then I want to know what it all means -- and means for me. Someone I cared about said something; It made me wonder. Worry, if I'm being honest. But maybe I can use it. I can sense the resonance of some things; Probably dark matter or gravity." Turing, the younger of the two women fixes her gaze on the artifact and tries again.
If there's any affect.. there's no way to tell. The patterns of flashing light remain liquid and random.
"Dark Matter is gravity, sort of," Nora says. "At least that was the dominant theory in my day. Gravity can fold space in a way that seems like matter."
At this, tasha just throws her hands up in the air. "None of this makes any sense," she exclaims, exasperated. "I'm caught between all these monolithic powers, and the lesser ones too, and all their technology and all their magic and I'm supposed to make decisions and I speak to ancient beings and I have no idea how it all works." And with that she drops back again, arms folded in a way that only looks less petulant because of her uniform. After a long, sullen silence she admits, "My ship folds interior space to create pseudo-matter. Like that?"
"Interior space? Ah, that's probably just altering the ray tracing of the space," Nora claims. "I'm not sure that dark matter type folding can happen in our level of space. And dark matter is probably what's being used in the Khattan stators. That would make sense to me, since cracking them open and exposing the material to our reality should cause it to break up or 'sink' back to D-Space or something."
"The Harrowers I've encountered have either lived in local D-Space pockets -- I think -- or else are here, but that does something to them. I heard it described as 'trapped wihin your dimensions,' and 'somthing more than trapped.' I can feel a trapped Harrower, but I can't see one -- they don't like light, I think? Or maybe it was for my protection?" Tasha rolls her head over to look at her sister again. "I feel frusteratingly overwhelmed. Maybe I should leave it be? For now?"
"I don't think you're suddenly going to pop out of our dimension for getting Harrower goo or whatever on you," Nora assures. "And if you don't trust the sources, then why try to get information out of them? Who knows how much of what you've learned is just counter-intelligence?"
"I feel like a toy," Tasha admits, holdings her hands out to the side in an unrealized shrug. "Just when I feel like I have some understanding, or they're talking to me clearly, there's always more. More, or hidden things. It's not that I'm surprised -- I'm not -- but sometimes it gets to me." She scratches her nose again, then explains, "Harrowers might eat souls and spirits. I think I may have 'eaten' someone, either becaused magic made it so, or else because what they did to me made it linger. I'm been trying to figure out what. There was that incident with the plant-clone, too. A Titanian told me maybe it changed my gravitic resonance, my soul. Whatever happened, it's not an obvious change. Maybe it's just a slight one. I also ahve to worry if the ... "
Tasha eyes the artifact again, but then decides if it were spying it already has the information from the days before she knew to hide it. "Progenitors won't like it. It's the Hall of Souls. There may be actual souls, and the Progenitors may be just as aware of spirits and souls as anyone. I don't know. Did Gabriel tell you, we may be heading to Arcadia soon?"
"We've been running launch simulations for a week now," Nora notes. "So I have an idea, yeah. We're going to be testing the stators again soon. This time Fred will be monitoring for any subtle fluctuations we might be causing in the fields."
"I wonder if I can feel stators. They're bending space-time, and they may be dark matter. If they're, um, flaunting it they maybe I can feel them. I doubt it, but maybe. If Fred is ready, maybe we could run a early test now for one of them?" Tasha inquires, head cocking to the side in askance of her sister.
"Could try," Nora says. "But haven't the things you've felt been.. well.. alive?"
"Alive is hard to apply to them, because they're not from our universe. Our 'alive' might not be their alive. I know they said they sowed life in our universe, but they might mean what I think of as life -- and theirs is something else. The Titanians explained to me that there is dark time that is different from our light time. There is also dark space, and dark biology. It may be more like comparing the Melchior to me, than Gabriel to me. The Melchior is alive, I've had that confirmed, but maybe not our life," is Tasha's answer.
"Still, they weren't inert, if they communicated, right?" Nora asks. "Which begs the question: if you sense the stators, what does that imply? That they're really using dark matter, or that they're living dark matter.. or that you can sense active dark matter whether it's living or not."
"There are some beings that live between, you might call them grey matter and I don't mena brains. Maelstrom creaturs, and Nephilim -- I only know the Ogdoad created Nephilim from Maelstrom beings as a kind of servant." Tasha sits up again, then runs her knees as she thinks. "First we should see if there's any sensing at all. Then, I can search of life. If the worst happens and we break one, I'll just have to figure out how to get a new one in Galactic space."
"Don't break any," Nora advises. "I'm pretty sure the warrantee is expired on them.."
A grin splits Tasha's muzzle. "It's alright, I'll find something. I always do, don't I?" She slides off the table and walks over to where she knows the intercom is -- from there it's a short matter of talking to Fred.
"This whole thing reminds me of The Teleporter's Dilemma thought problem," Fred notes through his hardsuit, as he works on an open panel on the curved side of the upper port wing stator.. which Tasha is sitting cross-legged atop the center of. The engineer is manually routing power just from the new reactor, in order to give it a bit of a live test.
Tasha cracks an eye open; She doesn't need to meditate quite yet but she's found that given her somewhat unsettled mood the earky effort has helped her calm down and focus some. "The what?" She asks.
"An old engineering mind game," Fred says as he works. "Someone invents a quantum teleporter. It scans the object on the transmitter and teleports the information to matter at the receiver, replicating the object. However, in order to get around uncertainty and the very nature of the scanning beam, the original object is vaporized. The one at the receiver is indistinguishable at an atomic level from the original though. So the dilemma is: would you step into it to be teleported yourself?"
"It sounds like you might just be disintergrating yourself nd making a copy. It all depends on what makes us, us, I think. Is an exact copy me? Was soemthing lost from the original that wasn't transfered? I know now there are beings made of materials that don't exist -- and maybe can't even be detected -- by our reality. Maybe some of those?" Tasha rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "The only way to answer the question would be to know what makes us, us. Space and time? Quantum events? Gravity? Exotic materials? I wish I knew."
"If we're just matter, then there's no dilemma, because the copy is exact, down to the thought it was having just at the teleportation process began," Fred says. "So the sum total of 'you' is still 1, nothing has changed except for the origin of some of your atoms. But you replace those all the time already. And it can't just be about consciousness, because that isn't persistent anyway. We don't 'die' when we go to sleep and wake up as someone new. So if there is a soul, and it's persistent, and generated by consciousness.. then it should just latch on to the new mind-body. That seems to be how it's working with us, anyway."
Tasha nods slowly as she listens, then says, "It does sound like how things work. I'e heard spirits may be replica souls, or something like them. That they might be used to fool the soul-eaters; Or not, it is just something I've put together and I might be wrong about it. I just can't help but feel there's an answer between all the facts, the hints, and the mythology. That there's something I'm missing or very close to." She resumes closing her eyes, mostly for the peace. It's dark, though, and that makes the restful gesture somewhat less restful once she considers it.
The stator begins to vibrate a bit. "Well, spirits could also be replacement bodies for a soul to latch onto," Fred offers. "Otherwise, why would Mariel have 'vanished' once her new body was forming?"
"But we have spirits on Sinai without bodies, even the undead which are monsters. We fought a number of them in the wreck of the Lucifer. What are those? A body without a soul, maybe? But Mariel ... That's a good thought." Tasha doesn't want to think too much on Mariel; Mariel hurts enough as a topic as it is. Talking about her in a clinical manner somehow helps, makes the hybrid woman a step or two distant. It provides perspective without as much involvement, something she feels she needs right now. "Abaddon may have been a spirit, but maybe he also had a soul. Or, he was just a different kind of AI, without one."
"My experience is just with the projector, but if you think about it.. it could provide a form of immortality, or just storage like we're using it. Keep things going until a new body is ready," Fred muses, then the shallow dome under Tasha's butt begins to glow, and other features of the stator light us well to indicate activity. "We're up to neutral now," Fred explains. "Just idling with no field projection yet."
"My bones are vibrating," Tasha notes as she feels the hum from stem to stern. "And there lights are pretty, but that's all so far." She then scratches at her left ear a moment and adds, "Immortality sounds nice. I've nearly been killed a number of times since we started all of this, and every time it haunts me. Having a 'backup plan' would be a relief, but we don't know how it works or even if the system is working correctly. It is better than the alternative though." She decids not to mention the Sifran device and its countless dead Tashas.
"Feeling vibration is normal," Fred says, and starts fiddling with the manual controls. This time, Tasha feels lighter. And keeps on getting lighter. But there isn't any definitive sensation beyond the physical one.
Tasha slow and carefully lifts a hand from her laps, opening her eyes and watching as she wve sit infront of her face. It feels different, but more that she lacks the proper sense of its weight than some inner, possibly spiritual feeling. "Just the usual stator effect," she reports a moment later, letting her hand fall. It's not comfortable, but it's no unusual either.
"There's a failsafe to prevent tighter focus," Fred says. "There've been 'accidents' with hyperspace shunts doing weird things to brains. Like projecting thoughts so others can see them, or emptying out someone's mind."
"Does that mean the test is complete then?" Tasha asks as she cracks an eye open again. "I didn't know Terran hyperspace shunts could have that side effect, though. I have heard that smoothing space-time can erase memories. There is a god-machine in the Titanic, the oldest Titanian ship which made planetfall on Sinai, that they think smoothes space-time. It tugged at some part of me, and Lore -- the Titanian engineer -- said if it had pulled completely it would have eaten my memories."
"Sounds about right," Fred says. "The shunts are massive devices that are actually built on the surface of a planet - it needs the planetary mass apparently. It works a bit like a Silent-Ones star gate. But you can use them to instantly broadcast things across the galaxy, since the receivers are simpler and smaller. Mainly reserved for really big events though, since they're expensive to run."
More twiddling brings Tasha back to feeling normal.. then heavier. It stops when she's about twice as heavy as normal, and the colors of the hangar bay are shifting slightly - an inertial effect. Fred looks like he's moving slower as well.
"Erf," goes Tasha, having wondered what it would be like to gain weight in the past, and fearing it, and now gettingto experience the weight if not the size first hand. She tries not to move, either; The additional weight could be hard on any number of her body's systems, as she's been told, and as the test isn't about weight and mass so much as something deeper, she decides there's no need for additional risk. And rather than comment, she just waits, knowing it'll sound peculiar anyway.
At least this time there's a sense of rhythm. A pulse from the stator. This fades as she is returned to 'normal' time instead of the inertially distorted version as the machine winds down.
Tasha learned not so long ago that time is mutable, but it's always a bit discomcerting for her when she sees that notice in action. Her old life had time as a fixed thing, attached to the sun, and of horglasses and harvests, or shipping scheduals and the opening of doors. How strange her life has become, she considers as she opens her eyes again. "All done, then?" She asks, blinking a little in the light. "Other than the wind-down pulses I haven't felt more than the usual effects."
"So.. inconclusive then," Fred notes. "Either you aren't sensitive to all forms of dark matter, or the stator isn't using captive dark matter."
"Rush said something similiar, that maybe I can only detect certain aspects. I wasn't sure and wanted to test it more. The only elements I know I can sesne are ... something and my ship.I can probably sense the two Harrowers I interacted with, too, but I know where one is and the other left our reality so it's never been needed," Tasha says in agreement. She then pushes herself to her feet and stands, strentching against all the weight manipulation. "Well, thanks for helping. I should probably get back to travel prep and make sure Tomorrow's-Mooch hasn't fallen in love with the Reaper."
"It sounds like your sensitivity is entity-specific," Fred says, as he finishes reconfiguring the stator back to general power use. "Like memorizing a person's scent. Or 'resonance' in your case."
"And it doesn't seem to be something I can change myself," Tasha agrees as she lowers herself down the side of the stator, having to climb down as she doens't have enough room to glide or take to the air from atop the device. She drops, then turns. "And it seems like beings closer -- stronger -- to dark matter and gravity have to set it themselves."
"I also, um," here the young woman scratches her head, looking off a ways, "I can be tracked by my own resonance, which didn't exist before. I can't say how, but I can."
"That also makes sense," Fred says, closing the panel and standing. "If they can manipulate 'souls' then should be able to imprint things on yours."
"I heard that too. That's what Lore said," agrees the red woman. "I'm not sure I like having my soul written on like parchment, but I don't seem any different otherwise, so ,aybe they juste ... added to it rather than rearranged things."
"You can't chide Tomorrow's-Hope for falling in love with a Titan, now can you?" Fred notes, wagging a mechanical finger at Tasha. "Alterations to your spirit seem to have noticeable effects on your person.. but souls may not be.. active. Just information in some form. There are always places to hide information in other data."
"So my soul is metadata?" Tsha cocks her head to the side, then sticks her tongue out. "Speaking of other bodies and souls, The Niss told me my existence transfers to Mel in certain modes. So, techically, I'd be in love with myself."
"Well, you wouldn't want to hate yourself," Fred notes. The suit can't grin, but the impression is still there.
"Oh, wouldn't I?" Tasha walks over and gives the suit's faceplate a good verticle slap. "Don't tease me. I need to go get ready. I'll be gone for a while, including the raid. Don't get in too much trouble while I'm away."
Tomorrow's-Hope spent almost every waking hour he had working on the Reaper. At least he was able to walk it through to the opposite hangar, with Melchior behind and ready to catch if the big Titan lost balance. But it went without incident, and the Silent-Ones pilot was even able to get it down on its hands and knees to get into the Picnic Basket. Primarily so that he could continue to work on it during the flight back to the pit. And there wasn't much time to rest once they arrived. The Reaper and Melchior where stood at attention next to one another, and a stage was erected in front of them. Preparations were hectic, and even the marching band (the Pit one, not the better known Expedition one) was practicing in the middle of it all.
And then Katie and Hakeber arrived on the train.
With everyone else tied up in planning, it was left to Tasha to pick up the two women from the depot. She would have volunteered anyway, but her skillset meant she wasn't of much use after the Titans had been moved and planning was underway. Of course, pricking the two up came with other difficulties.
For one, Tasha wasn't sure how to meet them. In the past she's men and women hold signs, and she had planned to write two names and be done with it -- but what if putting one name before the other made someone jealous? Katherine is a star, too, she can't exactly call out her presence without attractinga huge crowd and cameras -- which would also make Hakeber feel left out. The whole affair left Tasha with scarely any time to actually arrive, which she did by getting one of the truck drivers and his vehicle loaned to her for the purpose.
Its only been a few minutes since Tasha arrived before the deopt, and already people are coming off. She holds two signs of equal size, shape, and name placement: "Hakeber," "Katie."
The signs probably aren't needed, since Tasha herself is unmistakable. Also since the two women disembark together from the same car - followed Mr. Invention and Ms. Necessity, along with several porters carrying luggage. Katherine's effort at being inconspicuous involves a hat and dark glasses with a rather plain looking overcoat. Hakeber is dressed like Hakeber - a Knights Templar Scholar, with the bound star-and-anchor symbol taking up most of the back of her own cloak. Katie waves to Tasha when she's spotted.
And Tasha waves back, feeling a little silly for the signs except she forgives herself because Katie is involved. Souls flattening machines are one thing and Katie is quite another sort of mind-erasing situation. "Hi you two!" Enthuses Tasha when the group approaches. "And you, Mr. I, Necessity, everyone. If you don't have your own vehicle prepared, I brough one of the trucks." She thumbs back at it, her other arm stuffing the signs under the thumbing one. "The nicer ones are being taken by the otehr VIPs, same with the trucks. The Reaper is on the airfield."
"I can't wait to see it!" Katie says, grabbing Tasha's shoulders for a moment, while Ms. Necessity has the luggage loaded into the waiting truck. The star is rather excited, obviously. Hakeber is looking.. well.. sober. At least she isn't slouching. She and Mr. Invention seem to be the only ones to react to Tasha's new look - Katie may simply think Tasha always looks this way, but then she hasn't traveled with her as much.
Tasha does look rather wide-eyed when Katie focuses all her attention on her; This leaves her a little agape as well, which does not facilitate talking until her brain reboots. "I, um, well, I ... we ... we should go look at it!" She offers, simply going along with the Kaboom Avalanche. "Truck? I mean, the truck. Lets ... truck. To the truck, lets going. Go." The hybrid woman turns, walking several steps before she remembers the truck is the other way, turns, and heads back to the vehicle.
There's a lot of traffic, which means long wait times at the elevator. This provides a chance to point out other things, like the big pumping derrick in the Confederate quarter and some of the reclaimed farmlands. The airfield is also visible, even if the Titans look tiny at this distance. By the time they reach the bottom, Mr. Invention suggests checking into the hotel first before hauling off across the dusty airfield.
Tasha accepts the request, even contacting Liza via her datapad long before they head in to the city proper. And although the cadet isn't driving, she is in the front seat in order to provide directions and appear in an official capacity during the transport of the VIPs.
The trip in to town also allows for another kind of show-and-tell, which also comes with a give. "For you and you," she says suddenly during a lull in the trip, handing two boxes (which are labeled with their names) over her shoulder to each one simultaneously -- something else she planned for. And practiced.
There's only one 'luxury' hotel in Elamoore, which at least makes it easy to find. It's also crowded, since everyone else is heading there as well. But Tasha can see a small, long-eared figure waving down from one of the high balconies. "Gifts?" Katie asks, and starts opening her box immediately. Hakeber sniffs and shakes her's slightly before opening it with a bit of excitement.
Tasha just grins, but of course the two can't see it with her in the front seat. "Who knows," she offers instead quite mysteriously. Once she spots the waving, she also returns it, then points down towards the ground and waves her assistant to join her before finally turning around to watch the excitement.
The packages don't rattle and mostly they smell like Tasha, making it obvious who wrapped them. The wrapping itself, being an Expedition tradition, Tasha had to ask about. Inside each are two different sorts of containers, each made of unfamiliar -- but clearly advanced -- material tha might be metal or it might be a composite. Hakeber's case is larger, and it has numbers, symbols, and strange Khattan script across it. The case is also gold. Katie's is a more business-like silver, and along with its own numbers and symbols, has Terran script.
Of course, the script has been largely covered in tape for both boxes. Tasha knows it'd ruin the surprise.
Containers get opened, and what's inside? For Katie, a sleek and stylish datapad that looks new, and yet it also looks foreign like nothing she'd seen built locally. Strange metal, a too-glossy screen, buttons and pads and other things. Hakeber's is gold, and complex, with multiple screens that all fold out elegantly. A keyboard-style interface is present, but quite large, with its own pads.
"Researcher's edition field datapad suite and a personal assistant expert system with pseudo-AI," Tasha finally explains, grinning like mad.
For this, Tasha gets hugged from behind and kissed on the back of the head by Katie! Hakeber gapes for a bit, then says, "I wonder if I can scan all my books into this thing.. Thank's Tasha! I can't wait to try it out once I get to the Citadel!"
Minutes later, Liza emerges with some hotel porters she must have reserved, somehow, and starts unloading the truck. "I've gotten you all checked in," she says, "so you can go straight up to your rooms. There's a service elevator being held for us."
"Then lets take that, I can't field all these 'how does it work' questions in the lobby," Tasha tells her personaln assistant, then begisn following the Lapi before even introducing her just to avoid the massive crowds. Once they're inside, she makes sure evenrone is presnet and hits the button. "By the way," she says as the elevator rises, "this is my new personal assistant, Liza. Liza, Katherine Vesuivius, Scholar Hakeber, Mr. Invention, Necessity ... " Introductions take nearly the whole ascent.
There's a slight nod of professional recognition between Liza and Mr. Invention when they're introduced. Once the elevator opens again and the luggage is removed, Liza tells Tasha, "I've gotten you reservations for the VIP lounge at The Overlook for dinner. There will be plenty of others there as well."
Hakeber also whispers to Tasha, "Assistant or bodyguard?" Her own experiences with Lapis have been with the scarier sort, after all.
"You're the best," Tasha tells Liza as they walk down the hall. "And you'll have the night off after we head out." The walk down the corridor is familair; Tasha hs been here before, if not to the rooms they're headed to. "I should also mention the datapads come with a transciever, so you can contact the JEF if you need to. The datapads both instruct on their use, so, once powered tell them what they need to know and they'll help you. They can even be upgraded." Then, in a lower voice she replis, "Assistant, no knives this time."
"I hope they aren't a problem to recharge," Hakeber says, still looking for a charging port. "Induction probably. Should work with the standard plates.."
"What a lovely hotel!" Katie says, eager to get out of her 'disguise' once in the room. It's a pretty impressive suite, although smaller than what Katie has in Expedition City. The furniture is probably original, from Elamoore. The amount of wood on display is a sign of opulence on Abaddon, after all. "And your assistant is so adorable!"
"The cases contain their chargers. They're smart. It's complicated," Tasha notes. The first door is Katie's, because even with her effort to be even with both women, she can't foot the bill for a luxury suite for Hakaber -- especially with this many VIPs in town. As it is, she didn't pay for her own either, as it was arranged for her as one of the PHTO reps. Katie paid for her own suite, as she always does. "Thanks, we in the JEF try to be adorable." She opens the door for everyone and holds it open, letting the porters and others inside. "I'll stay once they're done to arrange things properly."
"Do you need to be taken to the Winged Citadel immediately, Scholar Hakeber, or can it wait until after dinner?" Liza asks the other Karnor woman. "I'm sure we can find you something formal to wear if your uniform isn't enough."
Hakeber, checks her boots for dust. "I could probably use a bath first if there's time," she admits. "I can do that at your place, right Tasha?"
"Liza is amazing with formal clothing," Tasha notes, freeing a hand from the door to pluck at the collar of her military-style jacket. She otherwise waits for the cavalcade of porters to drop everything off, but certainly has time to answer, "Of course! I have a very small room downstairs to help facilitate things and be present for Q and A sessions, but if that's not enough you can use my suite in the PHTO HQ."
"As long as it's secure," Hakeber says. After all, the real reason she's here is to provide information for the raid planning.
At least that's the reason hakeber suspects -- and it's correct to a point. Tasha has them both here for her own reasons, which involve recruiting and space travel. "It is," she notes, suspecting Hakeber already knew the answer.
"A bath sounds wonderful," Katie admits. "Train travel can really.. get into your fur."
"I'll prepare your bath," Mr. Invention says to Katie, and asks Liza, "Will transportation to the restaurant be ready when we are?" To which the doe nods in answer. "I was told a limousine would be provided. But they called it a 'lobstousine' for some reason."
"It sure can." When the last of the porters has dropped off Katie's things, Tasha closes the door behind them and then spreads her hands. "So, lets get you both a shower. I'll take Hake down stairs. If you need me, the pad is powered and I amde sure it already had an easy-to-use connecton method -- they both do. You can reach me that way. We may not have time to gather again before dinner, so lets plan our scheduals when we can."
"I'll coordinate with Mr. Invention on that," Liza promises. "I'll take you to the backup room.."
"Lead on," Tasha says, but just before she leaves she turns and leans in to Katie's room just long enough to mouth, 'CALL ME LATER' complete with a phone-like gesture with a hand -- and then she's off!