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Post by DataNinja on Feb 3, 2021 19:34:20 GMT
Two months later...
It seems like the project should hopefully be complete. One way or another, at least. Parish has tried basically every other way of powering this Pokémon, but, so far nothing's worked. But, hopefully this configuration does it. ...if not, then it might mean defeat.
"Hey, Parish, how's it going?" Rebecca asks, entering the cramped workspace with a hot chocolate for each of them. Unlike most of the other people associated with his Trainee group, she seems to enjoy hanging out with him. "Hope you don't mind me escaping here, the captain won't stop yammering to me about whatever that project is that he got moved to after graduation day."
Indeed, Parish and the others were now full Explorators, having finally graduated about a week ago. The last bit of tests were a little gruelling, with tests on quickly reacting to situations, ethics, adaptations, and just a whole host of other things to make sure they were ready.
"Oh, yeah, he wanted me to tell you that when they start recruiting for his thing, he hopes you'll be interested. It's something about taking the best of the Corps and going back to places that were deemed a little too dangerous, and trying to set up some stuff there. See if there's maybe some rare stuff that'll be helpful for research or building or whatever." She shakes her head, wry smile on her face. "I dunno, seems like a bit of a waste to me, but maybe that's just me tuning things out after being told about it for what seems like the ten thousandth time. I want to see new places, myself. Anyways, message delivered, he can get out of my hair." She laughs, before taking a seat. "But, whatever. I dunno. You might be into doing that stuff."
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Post by Robot on Feb 3, 2021 20:11:19 GMT
Parish takes a break, swivelling his stool to face Rebecca. "This has been a lot more involved then I expected, but it's been a nice distraction between missions and exams. I think I am nearly finished.". Truly it was an understatement. The shards had to be shaped and treated, sometimes layered or bonded to get the tools functioning.
Then it was learning the tools themselves. And figuring out the housing inside of the Pokemon for what it needed. He was just glad nothing catastrophic had happened in the assembly period.
"Captain can get like that when he's excited. The volume just climbs and he talks himself in circles. Is the message project the same one that got pushed back to post graduation? Dimensional salvaging sounds fun and all, but there is only one that I know of abandoned enough for that. Are there many worlds that were barely touched?". He sips on the drink she had brought and relaxed a little. "I definitely enjoy working with him, but now that I have graduated I don't really have a direction."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 3, 2021 20:26:49 GMT
"Don't think it was pushed back, nah," Rebecca says. "I'm sure they waited until after graduation so that you didn't need a new teacher right at the end. Though," she gives a wry smile, "I'm surprised they didn't use your little... nothing as an excuse to get him elsewhere. You might think they approve of nonstandard methods."
"Oh, there are tons of untouched worlds. The decently explored ones are a rarity, and even then they're often not really explored. There are still mysteries unexplained on our own home worlds. So generally if there's any difficult trouble at all, well... they're mostly just left for a later date. I can understand why he'd want to do that kinda thing, actually, now that you mention how slow it's been," she says, thinking. "Since it can take a while to properly figure out new coordinates... until then, it's mostly just lounging around. Going to some of the harsher Gamma or lighter Delta realms means you have thousands at your fingertips. It's certainly a way to ensure you've always got something new."
"Hopefully you'll get something soon. At the very least, you'll reach the top of rotation to be sent out. I shouldn't distract you, though." She gestures to his project.
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Post by Robot on Feb 3, 2021 20:52:48 GMT
"Considering the breach he got away with Scott free it certainly seems that way. As long as no one gets hurt, regulations can be relaxed. Probably not a good habit to get into either way.". A short outing and then leaving the coordinates sit without having experienced a parallel just seemed like such a shame to him.
Thankfully despite being a distraction, Rebecca focused him again too. "All the contacts around the gem housing were badly fouled, and each power cell requires a certain power frequency, which operated similar to color bands in light. I didn't get any reaction at all till almost a week ago, but I think I finally have the right combination."
Parish closes the maintenance panel, and waits.
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 3, 2021 21:14:27 GMT
There's a brief flicker of light visible from inside through the small cracks lining the back panel, before a humming noise starts, quickly raising in pitch until it goes silent. There's some movement and rattling, before the thing rights itself, floating in the air hovering noiselessly above the surface. On the blank tricell front appear three faces, all looking around in relative confusion. It seems placid, though, content to simply observe.
Now that it's active, while the angles aren't exactly correct, it does seem to resemble the Combee of this world.
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Post by Robot on Feb 3, 2021 21:44:47 GMT
"Hah! It's online! I was really hoping it would work but wasn't sure you know?". Parish cheered. "Hey little guys, did you have a nice nap? Welcome back!". He claps his hands onto his thighs, cheeks glowing to either side of a grand smile. "So this is what first contact feels like! I can't wait to show the Captain! Makes sense why you felt so docile before. Combee are some of the most relaxed Pokemon I have ever met."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 3, 2021 22:08:28 GMT
"Hey, nice," Rebecca says, as the Combee looks around from face to face, making some cheerful-sounding beeping and buzzing noises. "Very impressive. I wouldn't even know where to start for that."
The bee experimentally tries to go higher, but once it gets too high, it seems like it's too much strain and it suddenly drops, dazed, managing to regain itself before hitting the floor.
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Post by Robot on Feb 3, 2021 23:07:49 GMT
"Easy now, you need to be careful. It's been a very long time since you had power.". Parish cupped the lower planes of the hexcomb shaped face displays. "Let's take you outside and get you some sunlight and exercise. A cramped little room like this is no place for someone so cheerful."
Parish moved to the workshop door and opened it. "They used to be a courier, I am really tempted to send it to the Captain and watch him flip."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 3, 2021 23:24:05 GMT
"Oh, yeah, before we leave, I guess that reminds me," Rebecca says, as Parish moves to the door. "Remember that power outage, about a month ago or whatever? Lasted a good, like, 10 minutes? Caught wind the other day that it was that... sample that you guys brought back. They apparently tried feeding energy into it. And it sucked the whole system dry, that one little thing. Including the backups. Knocked out a good chunk of Mossdeep, too. ...I'm just glad the Portals are on separate grids."
She shakes her head. "You guys sure found something. Oh, and the only reason it stopped? Because it exploded. Wrecked the whole lab, that tiny little thing. I think they had the Captain go and get a smaller one this time."
"Speaking of the Captain, do you really think that thing could find him, having not seen him? Or the layout of this place?"
The Combee seems happy enough to just bob along next to Parish.
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Post by Robot on Feb 4, 2021 0:09:06 GMT
"I could give it an image of him to the best of my memory and see how that pans out, but I would rather just introduce them in person.". He considered Rebecca for a moment, going very quiet when she explained the results of the first tests with the sample.
"I have a wild theory, but it might have some merits. You're welcome to hide in here, I could do with some excited rambling though, mine or the Captain's."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 4, 2021 0:28:51 GMT
"Eh, I'll come along," Rebecca says, shrugging. "If I wanted to be in a cramped, quiet room by my lonesome, I would've headed back to my room!" She laughs. "Besides, I could do with wild theories."
The captain is thankfully in his office, so not that hard to find. His eyes go wide when he sees the bee up and running. Nobody else had given it much of a unique reaction besides curiosity - new Pokémon filter through all the time, after all. "Well I'll be. You actually got it running," Armstrong says, with a laugh and a nod. "Good work, son, that's super impressive. Don't suppose you'd be willing to part with your secrets to the rest of our researchers? What's it do? How's it been acting?" He seems very excited. Oh, also... You caught a level 20 Cybercell Combee! Choose the Nature and stuff yourself.
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Post by Robot on Feb 4, 2021 1:05:00 GMT
"Well, sir... It's a living breathing Pokemon in the same venue as things such as Magnemite or Porygon. It looks to be that universe's analog of a Combee, so I took to calling it a Cybercell Combee. It doesn't appear to fly as well as its counterparts and has only just awoken so I haven't had much time to field test it. I came right over when it finally booted.". He stated breathlessly, before taking a moment to wind it back.
"The tools we recovered consist of several for cleaning, as well as a number for bonding, and cutting and shaping shards. It had to be the right cut and color, something to do with how the power circulates and at what frequency.". His debrief given, Parish half turned towards Rebecca.
"I have a theory about the warped shards, having been told about the power outage. It regards the lighthouse."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 4, 2021 1:13:53 GMT
The Combee seems to bob around and make cheerful noises as people talk about it. It feels like it might get along with Hero, with those noises.
"Huh... okay, if you let us know what you finally ended up doing, we might be able to repair some more of those. Might be interesting to see how they respond reawakened in their home environment..." Armstrong nods. "Oh, and let me know what the little fella's capable of doing!"
"Hmm, lighthouse?" Rebecca asks.
"Oh, the tower thing! Right, you remembered something about seeing that lit, didn't you."
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Post by Robot on Feb 4, 2021 1:48:15 GMT
"Right, so my understanding of their technology isn't great still, but I believe the tower originally possessed a massive crystal made up of the ruined pieces we found. It extends hundreds of feet, presumably to the cavern ceiling and perhaps through to the surface itself. With how it glut itself on energy, I think a weaker, less connected source such as an orbiting star might have been a draw point. The unaspected crystals were then routed power from this collections crystal somehow. Then a solar event, or a shift in polarity where the current was drawing to the pulling crystal in both directions caused it to explode."
Parish scratched behind one of his ears, face screwed up in consternation. "With their way of life largely compromised, I'm willing to posit that they may have actually chosen to migrate, either to another city or another dimension. It would explain the lack of any biological evidence."
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 4, 2021 2:00:28 GMT
"Interesting..." Armstrong says, looking as though he's lost in thought. "That... feels like it could make sense. I'll pass that hypothesis along to our teams. See if we can find any evidence of that, or of dimensional breaches. Since, it does seem odd that there are just those... worker drones, I guess, and not any remnants of people."
"But it does then raise further questions... I'm excited to try and make sense of this. I've been following the progress there closely. It's so exciting! Oh!" he looks at Parish, grinning. "Did Rebecca tell you abo-" "Yes, I told him about your invite."
"...okay, so you know the general gist." It seems like that probably interrupted a spiel. "Yeah, I'm heading a grouping of Explorators to see what we might have missed. It's exciting! Setting up new stations, more worlds, more possibilities! I'm thinking of "Echo Initiative" as a name. What do you think? We're going again, and we're going forth, so it... makes sense, right?"
Rebecca just rolls her eyes and leans against the wall.
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Post by Robot on Feb 4, 2021 2:47:55 GMT
"Echo Initiative..." Parish considered the operation title as though he were chewing sand. They were revisiting locales but they were still exploring beyond the range of human accomplishment. It was probably good enough. It wasn't like the Captain was a writer. Parish certainly wasn't. "Well sir, I've no other offers or plans at present, and it sounds like a fine idea. I'd like joining you in an official capacity. You must be pleased to be free of your teaching duties?"
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 4, 2021 3:15:18 GMT
"I'd like to have you in an official capacity," Armstrong says, smiling "but, unfortunately, not quite official yet. You're probably going to have to put up with a mission or two running solo."
"You can see how well you like that before committing," Rebecca says.
"Hey, stop trying to talk him out of it, Mitsuru," Armstrong teases. "I'm offering a spot to you, too." I imagine the first one'll be soon. Usually is. "Look, what part of 'enjoy exploring lots of new worlds' make you think I'd like revisiting the same ones?" she asks, mock-exasperatedly. Maybe not entirely mock. "...I'll think about it, okay?"
"Yeah, don't want to force you. So!" He turns back to Parish. "Ehhhh… it's been a change for sure. I like seeing students, and helping them... but this'll also be nice, to get back in the field more than once in a blue moon."
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Post by Robot on Feb 4, 2021 18:58:26 GMT
"Sounds like you and Rebecca have a lot in common then. She always tells me how much she misses fieldwork too.". Parish beamed. "It might be nice to go to an unvetted dimension as a solo project sometime, but I suspect it is going to be whatever comes up as my lot. Hero's been turning into a chubby lapfish, so a bit of stretching would do us all some good."
Parish was a little disappointed but it wasn't a no on an invite he was already given, just a later. Credentials and standing weren't things he had paid a whole lot of attention to in classes.
"Barring a change in outlook, or something that really hooks my attention, I will have to offer a tentative yes. Who knows how long it'll take me to map the bottom of an ocean, after all?"
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 4, 2021 19:20:57 GMT
"I mean, unvetted is the name of the game. You know how it was. Just a probe to make sure people can survive on the other end first." Armstrong laughs. "Just, uh, just be better about checking the temperature than I am. I'm really bad about reading for that if there's not a severe warning..."
"Yes, please pay more attention," Rebecca sighs. "I don't know how he's still alive, sometimes."
"Sheer stubbornness of not wanting to prove you right," the captain says, winking. "But, yes. I'm a bad example. Anyways, I'll reach out to you when the full initiative's up and running, and we're actually gathering recruits. Hopefully you get some good draws on your assigned realms until then!"
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Post by Robot on Feb 4, 2021 20:09:30 GMT
There were definitely degrees of discomfort landing in a place where the temperatures were tolerable but not necessarily safe for prolonged exposure.
"Regardless of where, I can put my new friend through their collective paces and learn a bit more about them. I think they will get along extremely well with Hero. Probably not Oops or Star though. They don't have a lot of patience between them. Rebecca are you coming off of handling for a tour now? You make it sound like you will be adventuring more going forward?"
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