It was only then minutes by motorcycle to the base of the Knights-protected dam. Tasha had to cling to Katie for the duration, and keep her wings from creating drag. The Karnor speed-freak stopped near the base of the spillway - a huge artificial waterfall feeding the river. Several miles away, that river would end at a pumping station that raised it back up to join the canal again, the torrent creating an effective barrier in itself to any incursion from that end.
When the motorcycle stopped, it was hard to tell the difference. All of the noise and vibration were still there, but now provided by the falling water. Katie threw the kickstand, and waited for Tasha to climb off first.
Tasha slides off the motorcycle and walsk a few steps away, Karnor hand rubbing at her left arm anxiously as she sweeps her gaze across the landscape and searches for what to say. After a few seconds she decides on the simple truth.
"I'm sorry I didn't contact you," the hybrid apologizes, gaze still fixed on the landscape, away from Katie's upset face. "Been busy. It's been-" Should she mention the danger? Katie would find out eventually. What about Katha-hem, can it exert control? Will the starlet be upset Tasha put herself in danger at all? Her ears flatten. " ... It's been hard."
"You literally vanished off the face of the planet," Katie notes, her voice neutral. "You weren't on Bellerophon when she landed, and all hell was breaking loose on board. It scared me. You scared me. I know you have secret missions, but you could have at least had a note prepared for if you weren't going to be back in time."
The younger woman scratches her nose. A second later, her head lowers and she stares at the gound, nodding slowly. "Yeah," she agrees. "I could have. I'm sorry. I-" Repeating the apology strikes Tasha as lame, yet not knowing what else to say it's all she's got. Besides, it's the truth. "I'm sorry."
"I know you," Katie says, looking at Tasha with a bit more concern in her voice. "You want to handle all the dangerous stuff yourself. But you have to leave something for us in case.. you don't come back. Otherwise we'll just come after you, you know."
Tasha cranes her head back, staring off in to the sky now. She fishes around in her pocket until she finds what she's looking for: cigarillos and her lighter. The cigarillo goes in her muzzle, not yet lit. "It all seems so urgent at the time. I left the ship in seconds, made the decision in seconds. And then I was off. I've barely been anywhere more than a day, Katie," she explains around the smoke. "Except I took two days to be with my family. I guess I couldn't take anymore, you know?"
"Not really," Katie says. "I've never exactly been impulsive. The more important something was, the more planning I put into it. For real emergencies.. I have plans in place ahead of time."
Glancing back, the edge of Tasha's mouth curl in to a grin around the cigarillo as she clicks it to light. She then reaches in and pulls out another one, offering it to Katherine. "Planning's new to me. All this," she tilts her lighter towards the city, " ... is new to me. Besides, no time for plans anymore. Not for the long ones. It's not going to end is it? It's not."
Katie takes the cigarillo and a light. "Don't you have your own Mrs. Invention to keep you focused on this stuff?" she asks after a few puffs.
"Poor Liza's over her head. She helps me remember to eat and to talk to people, but she can't help me with the big stuff." The box and the lighter are stuffed back in Tasha's military style greatcoat and the young woman turns towards the waterfall, waving vaguely towards some rocks nearby which she starts towards, half-mumbling her words as she starts that way with her hands jammed in her pockets. "Gabriel's got his own problems, too. We were attacked. He had to do horrible things and I barely had time to spend with him. Everyone's got problems; everyone's got problems they don't even know about. The whole universe is a mess of problems. How did I ever get in to all this."
"Same way as everyone else," Katie says, following along. "You got born into it. We all did. Everyone. Try not to forget that. No matter how hard it seems to deal with on your own, you've got everybody else in the universe sharing the problem."
Tasha drops down against the rock, leaning back to watch the water fall, mouth moving around teh cigarillo as the smoke curls up and away. "Okay, so the world's with me too. So I'll drop it. The thing is, Katie, I'm not done. If you hadn't caught me, I'd be back out there. I'm supposed to depart in-- In whenever they have my reception ready, I guess. And then I'll be back, and busy, and then I'll be fighting again. Maybe dying again?" Her shoulders roll. "I think I'm getting used to it, Katie. Going to heaven one way or another, right? Might be a shortcut."
"If you're dying, then you're doing it wrong," Katie claims. "And I forbid it. No unnecessary risks. You know how you avoid those? Planning ahead. Carefully. Thoroughly. Not just rushing in and trying to figure it all out in a panic. You have to plan for the panic as well."
"I don't even know how. How do you do any of that? I don't even know what I'm doing, I'm not Gabriel or Nora. Besides, who could teach me any of this?" The half-Vartan reaches over and picks up a rock, bouncing it in her hand a moment before hurling it at the water with all her strength. The rock skips once before vanishing in the haze and Tasha drops back, exhaling.
"I want to tell you everything. I don't want to tell you. I want you to come with me, I want you to stay here and be safe where everyone loves you. I don't know, what do you want?" She doesn't look back, instead Tasha turns to the sky. "Heaven or earth? Heaven's not what you think it is. Neither is earth, really. What do you want, Katie? Tell me like Nora did. Tell me."
"I want to not be stuck," Katie says after several moments of smoking. "To not just be what I've been made to be. I do have military intelligence training. I just never get to use it. I want.. to not see false mirrors in people's faces, if that makes sense."
"You want the truth. You want to be the truth," Tasha tries, glancing towards Katie again, ears perking. "Even if the truth hurts?"
"Life hurts, Tasha," Katie claims. "It's supposed to hurt. There's peace enough when you're dead, but life is pain and horror and struggle and failure and success. It's messy. I wouldn't mind a real life, instead of the fake one I've got now."
Are you at peace, Blackwings? "Okay Katie. A real life. I think I can help, because you know I can do a lot?" Tasha pulls up her legs and scootches arounf to face Katherine, leaning forward and peering up at her through the curling smoke of her cigarillo. "Want to join me? I'll tell you, it's going to be bad. Rough, scary. The whole universe in your hand, maybe. With me you can try and be a commander, a second, or if you want you could work with secrets. I have someone who does that. It's a one way trip though, Katie. Once you're in you're in, even if I let you go. There are secrets that won't let you go."
The Karnor grins. It's a very predatory grin. "Do I get to beat people up?" she asks.
"Well of course, you see how I do planning. Hitting people is a great answer to some of life's questions." Tasha leans a little closer. "I once cut a Khatta's head off with an axe." She winks, then leans back and spreads her arms. "Of course I felt bad about it later, but it was the right choice, I think? Last week I commited genocide. I bet you didn't know that. Oh, we do a lot of fighting and murder for explorers. It's gruesome. Still interested?"
"And do I get to tell you how to operate?" Katie asks next, arms crossed over her chest, with the cigarillo sticking out from between two fingers.
Tasha feigns injury, ears laying back and mouth curling in a pout. "I'm hurt, you did meet Liza didn't you? I try very hard to find people to push me around! I'm just very hard to work with. It's really kind of a problem." Her muzzle splits in to another grin and she pulls the cigarillo, tapping it off before sliding it in to the other side of her mouth. "Anyway, okay. Tell me what to do. You know I like when you do it anyway, don't you?" She peers, leaning in again. "Plans. Of course you know. I bet you set me all up when we met."
"It will make it easier for me to sleep, knowing that I can help look after you," Katie says with a half-grin. "Knowing where you're going and what you're up against. And making sure that you know where you're going and what you're up against."
"It'd make me sleep easier, too. I never really know where I'm going and what I'm up against." Tasha scratches her muzzle and hunches back down, propping her head up with a spare hand. "Well, last chance. If you do this it may ruin your career, turn you against people. Maybe we'll fight the Expedition, or maybe we'll never come back. Powerful people -- and things that aren't people as you know them -- will be your enemy. Last chance, last chance! I'll warn you because no one warned me, not that I'd have listened. Coming with me?"
"That depends," Katie says. "Let's start slow.. what's your next mission?"
"You can't know the mission before joining! That's definitely cheating." Tasha lays her free hand over her heart. "Being an explorer is walking in to the unknown and then who knows what happens. That's what you're in for, a universe of 'what is that?!' and 'where are we' 'who are they' 'what is that' and my favorite, 'what does any of this MEAN'!" Her tongue is extended and her mouth settles in to a smirk. "But fine. I'm going to use EM to try and herd flying extradimensional snails. Then it's time to try and kill a god."
"So, you're taking your Gryphon back out to the Forbidden Zone?" Katie.. guesses? It's stuff she shouldn't know.. unless she was really in touch with Expedition Military Intelligence.
The half-Vartan peers intently. "Is everyone I know a spy? Am I a spy? I think I am and so are you. I've been wondering how you know where I am -- you even knew I vanished! Not even some governments knew that." Tasha shifts forward until her knees bump Katie's. "I'm on to you Miss Spy. Better spill the beans before I have to haul you down town, and then it'll be curtains."
"Did you not know what Military Intelligence stands for?" Katie asks with a blink. "I explained my role early on. As an entertainer, I get to go everywhere. So of course I'm a spy."
"I knew that! I know what military intelligence means, gods Katie." Tasha tries to poke the other woman in the tummy. "What I menat was, you don't exactly go to where I go. You weren't at Gateway and you didn't know about the Forbidden Zone, so they have to be telling you. You're a spy with spies!"
"Are you surprised?" Katie asks. "I'm a low level spy though - I tend to get more information than I produce. Lists of things or people to watch for. Persons of Interest. After I met you, of course I asked for your dossier. You're very interesting, and I want to make sure you don't get into too much trouble. And also to be ready if I have to cover up any of your activities, for whatever reason. Winged Gift Against Lightning Dragon had a dual purpose - one of which was to downplay the actual event. Because it's easier to make it seem impossible than to admit that there is a superweapon that can strike any target on the surface with massive destructive power."
Tasha leans back at all of this, eyes wide and ears perked. he thinks she knows people, knows a bit of the world, and then she pulls back the curtains and there's so much more. "Wow," she admits after a moment. She blinks, then throws her arms wide and shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know a thing, do I? I mean I suspect, but not all of that. At least I'm interesting. Uh." Her nose sort of wiggles and her ears twitch. "So ... Still want the job? You can work with the Terragens agent I, uh, kidnapped. She's nice?"
"I already have a mission for you," The hybrid adds a second later, hoping it'll sweeten things. "It's boring and safe and interesting. I can't do it, naturally."
"You mean one that's not Riddle Smith?" Katie asks, then shakes her head. "One step at a time. Planning! Your primary mission goal is to capture a space monster. What are the secondary and tertiary goals?"
The hands fall and Tasha resumes hunching, puffing away when she's not talking. "To use the components and techniques to try and develope further techniques, strategies, tactics, weapons and defenses to try and deal with a large threat. Very serious."
"Or did you mean, what else am I doing with them? Mostly I just wanted to bring them back so the real scientists could do all that. I was going to have Eli do it but he's busy," Tasha concludes.
"No," Katie says, shaking her head. "You're going out there. That's a significant use of assets, resources and time. You cannot assume the primary objective will be achieved. But you're there. So you need to have backup objectives so as not to have wasted it all. So, what other objectives can you do while in that area?"
"I could always try and force one back. Gather crystals, gather ... You know what?" Tasha pokes Katie's knee insistently. "Why don't you come with me and teach me? Point out everything I don't know and maybe you can see what it's all like, too. Help me plan. Come on, advisor! If you'll be a bit spontaneous I'll try planning better."
"I'll need access to your operational specs and limits," Katie warns. "That includes both the Titan and you. Along with everything you've already recorded on your previous visits."
"Now you sound like Mel," Tasha notes, ears canting out. She chews on her lip for a few seconds, then nods. "Well, Gabriel does wnat me to be safe and plan better and you're a canidate to join my crew, so why not? I'll have them forward to your datapad. Mel can supply the rest, he's nearby."
"I'll want to personally debrief you as well," Katie says with a smirk. "Now, how long do we have to get all of this sorted out?"
Tasha makes a show of checking her own datapad. "Between a second from now and who-know-how-long." She then looks up. "We'd better get started!"
Then Tasha pauses, blinking. "Debrief ... Wait do you mean?" The pad lowers and her eyes go wide again. "Really, today?"
"It means getting your first hand account of things," Katie says with a giggle. "How you felt, what stuck with you.. things that might not be in the objective data."
Tasha's ears flatten immediately. "Oh." She rubs her nose. "I can do that." After taking a deep breath she pushes to her feet, holding out a hand to help Katie up. "Welll, we'd better get going. Uhm," she turns, looks across the landscape, then points up towards the high ledge of the pit. "I'll request the basket intercept us, then we can fly back down and begin prep. I'm supposed to launch soon anyway, no one will be surprised. We'll land near the Citadel."
"Your Titan isn't here then?" Katie asks as she gets up. She snuff out her cigarillo and puts the unsmoked portion into a pocket on her jumpsuit. "Where do we need to be? The airfield is on the other side of the river.. we'll have to head back to the bridge."
"We should head outside the city, in to the wastes. That way the basket can pick us up. I had Mel with Harmonia, since normally I'd arrive with him but we had a lot of cargo and Remy to bring along and there wasn't enough room." Tasha then puts her own cigarillo out, following Katie's lead and walking with her back to the bike as she sends the delivery request signal. "We'll go where Remy and I landed, it's safe enough."
"Alright, but I'm still driving," Katie claims, putting on her helmet and getting the bike started. "Don't forget to contact your apprentice and the doctor first."
"I have an apprent- ...? Oh! Shojo. He'll be back in town by now, probably wondering if my 'boss' let me have it." The younger woman grins, waiting Katie to climb aboard first before siddling in behind her. "Remy has his datapad. I'll make the contacts along the way." After she gets comfortable, of course.
"Do it before we go," Katie says. "It's hard to concentrate on things when you're on a motorcycle, and you want to give them time to reply by the time we're at the bridge."
"Yes overseer." Tasha shifts to lean on katie back, punching up the contacts for a split communication. "Hi it's me, Katie's taken over and we're going to grab Mel and work together to plan the opertaion in the wastes. Shojo? If you want, you can join us at the airport to be in the loop. Remy, Katie wants all my secrets, so can you meet me at the airprot as well, to put me back together when she reads my medical history?"
"This is a lesson: Multitasking is a myth," Katie says. "It just means you're doing multiple things worse than if you did them one at a time."
"She's already lecturing me," Tasha adds to the message, glancing Katieward. "I like it, but still. It's very informati-- Don't push me off the bike!"
The engine revs up, shaking Tasha to the point where even she has trouble focusing on the screen of her data pad. "Hold on and remember to keep your wings folded. We can try flying over the river another time," Katie says.
"Uh-huh." Tasha puts her pad away, reminding herself to check for responses later in case anyone can't make it. That done she wraps her arms around Katie and tucks her wings, glad for once to let someone else do the driving -- figuratively and literally.
The motorcycle probably never tops 50 kilometers per hour, but on the rough roads and flood-plains it seems very fast, especially in the turns or the times it temporarily goes airborne. But it does get you where you need to go quickly enough. Within a half hour they're at the Titan hangar on the airfield. Plenty of the techs come out to see the bike.. and Katie.
Tasha remains on the bike, having remained on it a moment to watch the spectal with a grin and no small amount of jealousy. She consoles herself with the knowledge she gets to do more than look -- at least when katie wants her to. She decides she's probably wrapped around Katie's little finger as she eventually slides off the vehicle and walks towards her Titan.
There she looks up at Mel. Her metal god, her alter ego. She tries not to think about her embarasssing desperation move, but suspects it'll crop up in her records. "Stupid records," she mutters, sitting on Mel's foot and pulling out her pad.
There are messages from Remy and Shojo that they will meet at the hangar as soon as they can. Both had to go to the Council building - Shojo to settle in and Remiel to pick up some things. The sound of a ground car can be heard approaching as well.
Tasha connects with the Titan and checks the status of the diagnostic and also prepares mission records for distribution. She's nearly done when the sound of the vehicle stirs her to attention, the young woman looking up.
It stops somewhere outside the hangar, but soon after Katie is walking in along with Remiel, Shojo.. and Neesa. Commanding-Hand has taken over the motorcycle, walking it in while looking as if he wants to have a hand free to chide his crew about acting like teenagers.
The hybrid tries and fails to her hide smirk at the antics of the technicians; she knows if ever she has to do anything secretive around men Katie will be her trump card. She may have fallen for the starlet too, but in that fall is a certain freedom and understanding she can use even as it uses her. The universe won't know what hit it. The smirk becomes a grin, then a smile as she stands and meets everyone. "Hi everyone. Why don't we gather inside the hangar here, by the locker, and get started?"
Soon four data pads brought out and readied next to the towering weapons locker. Neesa doesn't have one, but isn't shocked by them after having been to outer space herself.
"Let's start with the original survey run," Katie requests.
"Alright, here we go." Tasha syncs and slaves the pads to her's and her own to the Melchior. Soon the machines are blinking away and bits and bytes coalesce in to forming histories and data. Once enough has been download she begins. "The operation is this: I'm to head in to the wastes and attempt to capture one of the snails. Hoversnails? Dimensio-snails? Whatever. The snails. While I'm there I'll be seeing what else can be done, like taking readings on the Zone and collecting samples from the big one. Here's the survey data ... Uh ... just a second ... come on-- There!"
Katie and Shojo read in silence. Finally Katie asks for the second survey, when Tasha was hunting the Phantom.
"That'll take a bit longer, starting that too. Here Shojo, I'll send it to everyone." Tasha fiddles and then the information flows through the air in to the machines.
Katie actually shows some expression while going through the second flight's data. "Is this the source of the weird looking crystal in the handle of the Picnic Basket?" she asks.
"That's it. Topgoric, folded space-time. It appears to be a window in to other realities, or, uh, possibilities. Maybe not an actual window." The hybrid's muzzle wrinkles. "Maybe. It can convert energies, such as electro-mag."
"And you use radio to control the movement of the crabs?" Katie asks. "What are they doing in the old lava tubes?"
Tasha glances at her old datapad, it'd been some time since she'd seen them. "The current idea is that they're attempting to do something with the eco system. Maybe stir ground water? Kath-, uhm, Abaddon said something about the planet coming back to life. They may have been called her by the Sifra to attempt to restart planet wide growth." She taps her pad, then speculates, "Maybe there are more of them around the planet."
"Or they are doing it for a self-serving purpose," Katie suggests. "They need some form of energy, chemical or otherwise. Before you can bring one back, it would be good to know how to keep it alive, wouldn't it?"
Tasha nods to this as she reads her pad. "That's why I wanted Eli to handle things. Remy was busy with his own life outside the JEF and I'm neitehr a scientist nor a doctor. Of course things are different now and we have to do what we can with who we can." She looks up. "We could always board Harmonia, all of us. With me on the bridge and all of you helping we could do a great deal more than Katie and I in Mel alone."
"Well, it would be Shojo with you in Melchior," Katie says. "He's best suited for any work outside of the vehicle, has a chance of returning to base should the Titan be damaged, and above all is immune to panic."
Tasha turns to study Shojo. "Is that true? Really true, or just what people assume?"
"Panic is an involuntary glandular response," Shojo says. "My condition means that even under stress I can still think clearly and maintain control."
"Using Harmonia as a mobile base would be ideal," Remiel says. "Both for long range observation and control. Her maser has a greater range. Understanding what these things are up to, if they're still active, will require on-site investigation though."
That'd be nice. "Okay." Tasha lowers her head, then points at Shojo. "Shojo with me. We'll get you suited up on Harmonia. Remy, did I give you partial command? If not I can grant it. Uh, Katie you and Neesa will remian on the bridge with Remy to help oversee things. Neesa, we might need your magic. Remy will be in command when I'm not on board and Katie will help see things run smoothly. Am I missing anything?" She looks up.
"The closer we can get, the longer Melchior can operate in the field," Katie agrees. "We'll need supplies for at least a week. And you'll need to make arrangements regarding the break in communications and transportation between Tartarus and the Pit."
"Gabriel's not going to be thrilled, but I suppose it does need to be done. So much to do, so much in the way." Tasha' grumbling is cut off by a flashing light indicating the downloads have completed. She bites her lip a moment before opening communications with Harmonia. "Hi Harmonia, looks like Katie, Remy, Neesa, Sho and I are coming aboard for a real mission. Can you forward to Gabriel you'll be relocating to the Forbidden Zone vicinity to study the creatures? It's for he-knows-what preperation. I'd also like you to begin planning for the possibility of creating the Super Gryphon."
"How close do we want to get to Nora's invisible line of alien influence?" Remiel asks Tasha.
"Without knowing more deciding on range is all speculation," Tasha replies, frowning. "But we know what to look for and I brought defenes. I can shield Mel and Harmonia, if I know where to apply the 'shield.'"
"I'll have Mr. Invention arrange for the supplies," Katie says. "What do we need?"
"I usually just eat rations and canned goods with my camping stove. Beds are easy to supply, though, as is anything that's not expendable. We have some backups on board but I'd rather keep those packed for emergencies. So, food, water, a few changes of clothing, any medical equipment Remiel needs, and tools and research items, annnd ... I think that's it." Tasha lowers her pad and puts it aside, leaning back and kicking her feet out, letting them sway. "We can ignore transit time and supplies completely, at least."
"I'll take your word on that," Katie says, and starts making a list of consumables.
"I can cook," Neesa offers.
"I can't," Tasha doesn't offer.
Tasha gets a replie from Harmonia, that the basket can be ready to pick them up within two hours. There's also a note that reads: Magi Titans cannot be modified.
"Well, we have two hours. That'll hopefully give the local prep time to notify me before we leave, otherwise I'll have to leave a message with Mr. V." tasha then shakes her head. "Not modified? But Harmonia said ... Oh, well. Maybe she learned something new and found out they can't be. Well, that eliminates upgrades entirely then, except hand tools."
"Aren't they the same tech level though?" Remiel asks.
"I wonder about that." Tasha pushs off to standing, then turns to wave a hand at the Melchior, encompassing it. "I don't think that designation is even accurate. I think it's just another cover-up for the whole Magi Program. The Magi probably aren't conventional machines like the Themis-Skoll, they just look like our modern Titans and maybe the modern ones were somehow modeled after them. I think Mel's somehow an original, maybe reconstructed by Sir Heraphel's cult. he said they were built by AI and I think they pulled them from the Library."
"So.. First Ones or older technology?" Remiel asks, looking at the Gryphon. "That can't be accurate for the other two, though. They were modified to suit the technology of their pilot's civilizations."
"That's true. So why just this one?" Tasha frowns at her Titan, then she snaps her taloned fingers. "Heraphel! He's not in the other ones, maybe they couldn't find the records or only had partial design records. Either wya I think Mel was the one that was supposed to lead contact. Khattans are a shrew and clever bunch, he wouldn't have put himself in a spare. Mel's got to be the spearhead. It makes even more sense when you think that Apollyon was the original pilot and Apollyon worked for Ser Heraphel. All Vartans were and are clients, so there are many reasons. Maybe even the unknown 'power of Vartans' was involved."
"Or the others had different roles," Remiel says. "Roles that probably weren't revealed to the Celestials or Silent-Ones cultists. But it does make Melchior the only pure one, technologically. From a religious standpoint, that could mean he is uncorrupted. And that also may hint that the pilot has to be uncorrupted as well."
Tasha snorts a laugh, predicting further laughter by the others as she does. "Well so much for that then," she admits, throwing her arms wide and dropping back on Mel's foot, laying back. "Apollyon was a great hero, a leader. I'm just a lost girl sticking her nose in to things. But I know, I know. Old Yama said I'm fine. I think the corruption means using the power for your own ends, or needing gods, or, I don't know, something about using to against civilization or being weak and needing them to shore up that weakness. It's vague. Of course maybe I've failed by now, I've been weak too. I want the power, too."
"Melchior is, physically, the weakest of the Magi," Remiel says. "The most.. uh.. humble. Balthasar was the opposite in terms of power, and Caspar the opposite in terms of demeanor."
"Balthasar was, um, I think the word is 'needy'. Or maybe greedy? She didn't want me to have Mel after I took control of her, she wanted me to herself. Tried to get me to destroy Mel. I'm still wondering why. Why would AI machines be jealous?" Tasha shakes her head, staring up at Mel's chin. "I never spoke to Caspar but I can guess based on Ahriman's people, statue, followers and his writings. Hey!" She sits up suddenly, pointing at Remiel. "Eli had the cultist's crystal being processed. I bet it's ready now!"
"You mean a data crystal?" Remiel asks.
"That," Tasha confims, nodding.
"Is it here in the Pit, or on Bellerophon?" Remiel asks, looking worried.
"It's in Eli's room connected to his computer." Tasha pushes off, sliding to the ground and standing straight. She dusst herself off a moment and adds, "He had it processing before we left, checking it for traps, integrity, that sort of thing. He just never got back, because we needd him in space."
"Good," Remiel says, and Neesa gives him a concerned look. "We can't have another incident with Belle's systems because of a data hack. Do you think this crystal belonged to Caspar's designated pilot?"
Tasha nods her head. "It's very possible. We don't know who it was but they thought it was important enough to defend with their lives. The ghosts guided me to it when they saw we had the Markers. Their head priest or leader hid it before he was killed. We really should see what's on it."
"We should," Remiel agrees. "It'll give us time to gather what we need as well."
"It will." With that said, Tasha turns to the others and gestures a hand at all of them. "Then we're settled. Katie, please coordinate with Mr. I. and read what you can. Shojo, escort Katie and help her with the supplies. You'll get your turn to prep on board. Fudg- uhm, Neesa, Remy and I will go look in to the data crystal and I'll ready a message for Mr. V. just in case. Lets get going."
Someone has cleaned up Eli's room, which is usually full of old dishes and laundry. The wall full of electronic equipment is undisturbed, however. One of the terminals flashes a 'Decryption Complete' message on an otherwise black display.
Tasha gingerly approaches the machine, fingers wiggling above the controls. "Oh, I so want to pusb the buttons, but you'd better do it Remy. I don't want to break anything and you're much more a scientist than I am." The fingers don't stop wiggling though. "Maybe answers though, Remy! And a look inside, from one of the people close to the project. It's exciting."
Remiel takes a seat before the terminal, and taps the control surface. An image forms, and moves in jerks and jumps. It shows the head of a black Naga - with subtle features that identify it as a female - while there are bright flashes in the background. The audio hisses as the figure speaks, and a running translation scrolls on one side. "I, Priestess Ereshkigal, Speaker for the Dead and Chosen Pilot of the Divine Magi, hereby curse the Khattans for their treachery unto the tenth generation." It becomes more clear that the recording is being made during the mutiny on the ship, but it isn't clear if it is before or after the crash.
It's immediately apparent what's happening to Tasha. She grits her teeth and slowly lowers herself back down on to the bed, hunching forward and dropping her head on her hands as she watches with flattened ears. She knew about the mutiny but had expected a manual, instructions, something calm not the last moments of one of a fellow Magi pilot. Though she's just an ad hoc pilot, Tasha still feels a kinship with the others -- especially when it comes to being used by secrets.
"Caspar has locked me out!" the woman hisses in anger. "It has betrayed us, like a dragon of legend. We are blind and deaf and falling to the world below. The crew has turned on us, blaming us for this fate. But it is the Khattans! They poisoned the Magi somehow! It should not act without me, but it is as if a demon has possessed it. How can one blessed with a Holy Seed turn on us, it's people? It is treachery! Planned ahead of time. It was..." Something strikes the Naga, and the view goes wild for a moment. When it stabilizes, it's on the floor, and the woman is coughing up blood. "I curse them all. Curse them to rot within their own flesh, to be denied oblivion.. I am Gatekeeper to the Dead, Ahriman.. smite them.." And then she's quiet and still, while chaos still goes on in the background.
"I guess her curse came true," Remiel says.
"Gods, poor Ereshkigal." Tasha pulls in a breath, turning to stare at the floor so that she doesn't have to see the empty eyes of the dead pilot. "And it was all Yama. And Yama was probably acting on behalf of Ahriman or even Adam. Maybe it's better she never knew that, I don't know, but ... Poor Ereshkigal." Her feet shuffle, all the energy spent from her. Watching one of her fellow pilots cursing hidden enemies, gods and mysteries they barely understand is too close to home. It could easily be her future. "Was there anything of use?"
Remiel searches through the decrypted data. "I think there's a set of coordinates," he says. "I can't understand them, but.. I think it has a time on it as well."
"Provide them to Harmonia and to Bellerophon, maybe someone knows what they mean. What's the time, anything we can work with?" Tasha inquires, still looking down. Not wanting to see, excitement gone.
More digging brings up an image obviously taken from high orbit or further. It is blurry, but looks like a complex multicolored flower on a green background.
Having been bidden to do so, Tasha forces herself to looka t the screen. "It's pretty," she observes in a quiet voice. "What is it?"
"It's a mandala," Neesa says, sounding a bit surprised.
"Who is a man dala? Something to do with men, or maybe humans?" Tasha scootches forward, leaning in even though she doesn't need to. "It looks like a flower."
"Well.. I mean it looks like a mandala to me," Neesa explains. "It's a circular geometric pattern that's supposed to represent some metaphysical definition of the cosmos. Some Light Mages use them for meditation or as part of their magic circles. I always thought they were pretty."
"It is pretty, but I'm not sure what it means. It seems very sketchy that the cosmos can be described by a drawing of a flower." Tasha stands then, walking back and forth to look at the image at different angles, clearly trying to figure how such a thing could describe the universe. "If it's an answer I don't know what it means. But, it's somewhere isn't it? Forward that image as well, maybe it's in the planetary archives. I don't think it's from the Primus Systm."
"It's a flyby picture from one of the planets," Remiel says. "Which means that thing is an object visible on the surface. That could be Arcadia, but I imagine it's what the coordinates are referring to."
"Really?" Tasha certainly never heard of it and she doesn't recall it from the archives. "Arcadia is constantly changing though, isn't it? What's the time frame?"
"It'd have to be during the initial survey after the fleet arrived," Remiel says, but sounds uncertain. "It should be a lot clearer. Unless it's obscuring itself, and this is the best they could do. Fortunatis is the planet with the constantly shifting surface, Arcadia is like a big colorful jungle."
"And there's the rainbow ring," Neesa adds. "Like the Procession.. but it's a rainbow that goes all the way around."
"I'm ashamed I don't know these things," admits the hybrid. She sits herself back down, resting her head back on her hands as she stares at the image. "But the jungle changes, at least. Well, we know the Hall of Souls is on Arcadia, maybe this is it? Or some sort of spectrography of it? An aura it creates? But what spectrography and if it's connected, where is the Hall?" She glances over and nods to Neesa, agreeing with her observation.
"The natives might know more," Remiel says. "Hookas, I think. And there's a Silent-Ones colony. Or is it a Savanite colony? Also a beachhead of the Off World Legion."
"You can supposedly talk to some of the trees too," Neesa adds.
"Well, we'll bring copies of this when we depart. For now we have snails to shoot beams at." Tasha pushes up again and then glances between Neesa and Remiel. "Why don't we get some food and then pack what we're bringing? We still have time."
Remiel stretches as he shuts down the system after copying the data. "Food sounds good. I never unpacked, so I'm ready."
"I have my travel pack ready as well," Neesa says, and grins. "Mages travel light and need to be ready to go at a moment's notice after all."
"And I never returned to my quarters, so I'm set. Looks like it's food and food alone. Come on Fudgy, time to eat." And with that Tasha heads out with the others, trying to put the video behind her.