<> <> (Hooray.) <> <> <> ( Should we be in another channel? ) <> * Demetreia quietly repeats her new temporary designation to herself. "Deianeira Nikodemos...Deianeira Nikodemos..." * Ian considers. "I'm wondering if I should call ahead, or just wing it." Are our false credentials already in order? They certainly are. Then it would do no harm. * Katherine makes sure her pad is connected to her TSM jack. "Even if they are, the more prep time we give them, the more time they'll have to check us out. That being said..." she eyes her pad. "... perhaps you're right. Nobody drops in unannounced nowadays." Well, I trust Roy's skills...would you like to call, or shall I? It would enhance your standing if one of your assistants made calls for you, I believe. * Katherine nods. "That'd probably be a good idea." She presses her glasses up her nose. Do we have a contact number/person? * Ian picks up his pad and fires off a quick message to Roy. "Not just yet." * Katherine taps places on her pad with her clawtips, carefully. "Do it soon. The later we do it, the less realistic it seems, if we are going to do it at all." Yeah, I'd rather not wait around forever for an appointment. * Demetreia nods quietly. <> <> * Katherine smirks at the size of the town. "... I don't think we'll have that hard a time squeezing into their busy schedule, but those ATC people might get paranoid if we don't call soon.' * Ian nods, and watches his pad for messages. Got it. "Marion:3375-03", and whichever guard is on duty. * Katherine starts the call, and says harshly, "I'm probably going to need our ID, make sure I have it soon." * Ian taps in a quick reply, and hands one of his chips over to Katherine. <> * Katherine slots it, and waits for the guard to pick up. * Katherine also clears her throat. ( Kat's a thug. o.o ) (You get what you pay for. Claws and a muscular/toned body send a message.) * Guard picks up the phone! "Yes?" * Katherine smiles. "Hello! I'm Tabitha Mariko, calling on behalf of Dr. Arch Holdridge of the Red Boston Historical Society. We are coming in towards Red Marion for a look at an artifact in your town. Is it OK if we land?" "Sure, go ahead. You'll probably have to leave the artifact where it is, though." * Katherine pouts a little. "Dr. Holdridge was hoping to talk about acquiring it for a short period of time, for study and showing and all that fun stuff." She starts smiling again. "Is there anyone who we can talk to about that?" ( ...now she's a perky thug? ) (Perkiest damn thug this side of Gwenville.) ( Scaryscary. x.x ) ( She's just faking it. Don't be fooled! ) "Yeah. The Captain of the Guard'll be able to give you clearance for that, probably. You can find him near the town hall." * Katherine nods. "Okay! Thakns a lot, mister..." She trails off, in the 'nameseeking' sense. "Samuel." * Katherine taps her pad a few times. "Samuel. Thank you again, on behalf of Dr. Holdridge and the RBHS. We will be there shortly." She smiles one last time, and cuts the connection. * Guard is cut off before he can give a pleasant farewell that he probably doesn't really mean. * Katherine goes says dryly, "Right. Like he said. Captain of the guard. Probably gonna be a hard sell." * Ian nods. "Nicely done - thanks! Hopefully not too hard." Not necessarily... * Katherine leans back. "Well, there's two ways it can go. Either he doesn't give a damn, and it'll be easy, or he's gonna pull rank, and it's gonna be bitchy." * Ian nods. Depends how bored he is today. Ya can probably get real bored out here in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, that can turn people nasty... <> <> * Ian lands a bit over-carefully. Alright, Deianeria Nikodemos, Dr. Holdridge. Are we ready? * Demetreia looks a little nervous-ish. "I suppose so." <> I think we are, Ms. Mariko. * Katherine nods, and steps out of the ship, looking around. * Ian parks the skimmer and steps out, holding his bag and looking around. (WE LOOK LIKE LOOKERS.) * Demetreia steps out and turns to Ian. "Er, would it perhaps look better if I were to carry that bag for you?" <> * Ian hands her the bag. "Thank you, Ms. Nikodemos." * Demetreia nods. * Katherine nods with satisfaction. She's still plugged in, and looks very secretarial. "I think we should go over to the hall. Dr. Holdridge. That's where Samuel said we could find the Captain." Ah, very well. Off we go, then. * Katherine goes! Well, as soon as Ian starts. 'Cause he's the boss. * Ian starts walking on over towards the hall, looking for anything interesting on the way. * Demetreia follows, flanking Ian slightly. * Ian nods briefly but politely to the guards when he gets there, and starts looking over the artifact, assuming the guards don't interrupt. <> "You must be the college-types," he says with a drawl.>> * Katherine smiles brightly, and nods. Then she frowns and looks like she's trying to pick something out of her hair. Stupid desert. * Demetreia looks at them and grins a little, looking kind of absent-minded and confused. * Ian nods, and holds out his hand. "Arch Holdridge, and these are my assistants Ms. Mariko and Ms. Nikodemos. It's a pleasure to meet you." <> "Nice to meet you, Dr. Holdridge. Colonel Calvin Nivers. My guard on duty told me you wanted to talk to me about an artifact, or somethin'?" <> * Katherine comes back from rescuing her hair, and nods. She notices the other guard, and smiles at him when he sneaks his next glance. Yes indeed, Colonel. I understand that there's an antique statue in town that's a rather rare work from the early 1900s, and I would certainly like to look at it. The Historical Society was also wondering if we might borrow it for a few days, so that I could show it to our real art experts, and perhaps some of our members. ( We could go on tour. ) ( We could be celebrities! ) ( We could make a fortune and become rock stars!! ) <> "Well." (Or we could just get the watermelon.) * Ian nods calmly, and encouragingly. ( Mmm. Watermelon. ) <> "Dunno what the hell it is, town hall just thought it looked good. Suppose I could put it in as a request for ya..." 2d6-2 * Atom rolls for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets 4. * Katherine stops mooning at the seemingly unresponsive other soldier, and quirks her head, looking at her pad. "How long will that take?" "Couple days, I suppose. City council don't meet till next Tuesday." * Ian nods. "Hmm...Ms. Mariko, is there time for us to return here next week?" * Katherine taps her pad a buncha times, and smiles apoligetically. "Aw, it's actin' up again, You guys can chat while I make it work." She looks down at it with a pouty frown. <> * Ian smiles slightly. "Ah, well. Thank you. Would you mind if Ms. Nikodemos and I look at the statue while we wait, Colonel?" "Go right ahead, doctor." * Ian nods, and heads over to the artifact. "Thank you." * Demetreia follows, bag in hand. (BRB, keep going. ^_^ We want ze artifact!) * Katherine frowns, and keeps tapping the pad, standing where she is, seemingly distracted by her technological plight. "Aww... oh! There it goes." She taps it a few more times, and nods, looking about for the professor. (And back.) * Ian peers at the statue? <> * Demetreia peers also, pretending to look like she knows what she's doing. She says "hmm" at intervals and points out stuff to Ian. <> * Katherine walks over to Ian. Er. Dr. Holdridge, seemingly unconcerned, and taps him on the shoulder. "Dr. Holdridge?" * Ian blinks, and turns around, distracted. "Ah, yes?" * Katherine points at her pad, and shows it to him. "We can make it back, I think, but it'll be a little tight. You scheduled someone to see it without having it first." She clucks her tongue. "It would be very close.' * Ian looks downcast. "Did I?" <> * Katherine nods, and looks over to Deme conspiriatorially, if she could spell. "Yep. Isn't he silly Deia?" * Ian sighs. "Well, I suppose that's all right, as long as it isn't Dr. Rothfuss or somesuch." "Is it really all that important that you get it soon?" (I'm waiting for Deia to be conspiratorial.) Er, yes. Sometimes. * Demetreia grins a little. * Ian blinks, noticing the Colonel again. "To be honest, Colonel, it would be best if we could borrow it. If it's any trouble, though," He smiles sheepishly. "I suppose we could come back, as Ms. Mariko said." <> "You know what? It's a stupid statue. Fine. You guys take it, I'll fill out the paperwork. Not much they can do when it's not there anymore, right?" <> * Katherine laughs lightly, although one of her index fingers twitches as the underguard increases his advances. (Now, the race between a forward horny guard and Kat's killer instinct begins!) * Ian looks surprised, and smiles. "Colonel, I can't thank you enough! Well, I don't imagine we'll have need of it for more than a week. Just in case, here's my contact information - if they give you any trouble about it, just let me know." He offers the Colonel one of his special chips. * Demetreia smiles! "Thank you very much, sir!" * Katherine smiles and bows slightly. <> "Right. Can lift it? It's kinda heavy." ( Cham: Too heavy for me? ) * Demetreia switches the bag to one hand and effortlessly lifts the statue with the other. "It's not so bad." * Ian raises an eyebrow, and smiles. "That's our Ms. Nikodemos." <> "So I see. Well, good luck with your research, Doctor." * Demetreia blinks innocently at "Dr. Holdridge." "We are leaving now, yes?" * Ian bows, and shakes the Colonel's hand once again. "Thank you very much, Colonel." Yes, I believe we're all set. * Katherine looks back at the poor guard and gives him a slight smile/wave, before bounding forward to catch up with Ian. * Ian starts back off towards the skimmer. * Demetreia follows. * Ian unlocks the skimmer and climbs in. <> * Demetreia climbs in too, quickly putting bag and statue in. * Ian looks up, and waves back to the Colonel, starting up the skimmer. * Katherine climbs in as well, and goes to have a seat. (Kat in?) (Now I am.) * Ian closes up, and does a careful and professorial takeoff. <> * Ian cracks a smile. "That went well - I'm sorry if I made it difficult." He looks over at his pad, and blinks. Is something wrong? * Katherine shrugs. "Worked well enough, I think." * Ian puts the skimmer into a circle. "There's another one! Coming into a guard depot, out by the gas station." Another plane? * Ian is typing a reply. "Artifact!" What? How is that? I don't know... We can't go get it without blowing our cover, though, can we? What about everyone else? * Katherine smirks. "The other group could break who knows how many laws by taking it down." She frowns. "I don't get why they're bringing in another one." They didn't seem that damn interested in this one. Looks like they're talking to the guard there, now. I'll set us down out of view of the town, in case there's trouble... * Katherine nods, and unplugs herself from her pad, rubbing her temples. * Ian looks around for a safe place to land. "Any ideas? I'm out, myself...at least the Concordat hasn't shown up." * Katherine shrugs. "It'd be best to make sure we're out of their sensor range, but otherwise, we did what we came to do." * Ian nods. We stick around, they might contact us again wondering if we broke down. Yes, that'd be inconvenient. * Ian keeps on going for a while, then. * Katherine hrms, and eyes the artifact. "So what does this one do, ya think/ * Demetreia pokes it cautiously. <> * Katherine eyes Deme. "Watch it. We don't want to blow up the ship or anything. It'll be a long walk." * Ian looks for a flat place to set down. * Demetreia nods and sits back, leaving it alone. "Very well." <> * Ian sets down, then, rather less professorially this time. ^_^ <> * Katherine stretches, and leans back. "I wonder how Anders knew what it did beforehand. Maybe there's a secret artifact handshake." * Ian sighs, and sits back as well. "Well, he seems to have frightening precognition, no?" * Ian taps out another message to Fitzroy. * Katherine mutters a, "Yeah." * Ian winces. "Harsh. Guard slammed the door on them. Roy's looking for his computer at the moment." Well, what do ya expect? 2d6-3 * Atom rolls for Fitzroy (2d6-3) and gets 2. 2d6-2 * Atom rolls for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets 8. (DR1) (Mess with the best, die like the rest.) 2d6-2 * Atom rolls for Rochelle (2d6-2) and gets 6. (Go Roch Go!) * Ian laughs. "True enough." He stretches, and looks out the window at the landscape, such as it is. * Katherine yawns, and rubs her eyes. "Fuck, I'm tired. Which is normal." She's leaning back in her chair and closes her eyes. <> * Demetreia tilts her head and squints at the watermelon. * Ian shrugs to Demetreia and pulls up Tetris on his pad, careful to stay quiet. Then he looks over at the watermelon, raising an eyebrow. Is that...standard procedure for these, er..."watermelons"? * Katherine doesn't see the watermelon. She's half-asleep. ( I know what its power is now! ) (It's a blueberry watermelon.) Ah...not unless they've been grown in a tub of blue dye, no. ( You have to swallow it and spit the seeds out at things, and it makes things ice! ) ( <.< >.> Tooooo much Yoshi's Island. ) This definitely classifies as "not a watermelon." * Katherine mumbles, "'course." * Ian goes back to playing Tetris, keeping one eye on the watermelon. <> * Katherine looks more asleep than ever. Her glasses fall off. She doesn't seem to care. * Ian is one with the Tetris. Ommmm. * Demetreia is one with the sitting there and waiting and looking curious. (She's going to touch it, it's going to explode, and we're all going to die.) (... what's she waiting for?) ( Heh. ) ( You make this sound like a problem. ) * Demetreia ends up staring at the watermelon, since there doesn't seem to be much else to do. o.o (And now it's time for the penguin on top of your artifact to explode.) * Demetreia keeps staring. o.o <> * Ian looks over. "...huh." o.O * Ian sets down his pad and gives the watermelon an experimental tap. ( It explodes. ) (DAMN YOU, DICEBOT.) 10 minutes even. <> Exactly? Hm, very interesting. * Ian knocks on it gently. (Nobody but us artifact gnomes!) <> * Ian shrugs, and stares at it, looking at his watch. <> * Katherine is definitely asleep. Like she dropped from 0 to sleep in 3 seconds. * Ian picks his pad back up, and offers it to Demetreia. "Tetris?" <> * Demetreia looks back and forth from the watermelon to the pad. "What's that?" It's an arcade game - you look bored. (Tetris is eternal.) ...arcade game? * Ian nods. "You use the arrow keys to change the position of shaped blocks as they drop from the top of the screen, and the goal is to keep making solid horizontal lines without gaps. Kind of pointless, but good for wasting time." * Demetreia blinks. ( Stupid sick. GO AWAY! ) * Katherine snaps up awake, and rubs her eyes carefully. "Agh. Damn sleep. Sneaking up on me." Ah, sorry if I woke you. This artifact seems to turn blue every ten minutes. <> * Ian looks at it. "Or not. Occasionally, anyway." * Demetreia ponders. "I wonder if it did that while it was being used as a statue." * Katherine yawns. "Nah, s'nothin'. Blue? Maybe it's s'posed to be a blueberry." <> * Ian blinks. "Hey! Off we go, then." <> <>