[22:22] The other bot looks at you. [To the museum, then?] [22:23] ( *SMACKS his computer* ) [22:23] * Isis nods. "Please." [22:23] [Would you like to go fast as well? There's not really a story about the museum.] [22:23] * Isis smirks faintly. "I suspect it tells its own story. Yes, please, speed is of the essence." [22:25] <> [22:26] * Isis chuckles and follows at speed. "Female. Do you encounter many species?" [22:28] [We used to, but there was a downtime. I ran out of juice, and the power station had stopped functioning. The repair bot on that round went MIA and City Control didn't rerout, for some odd reason.>> [22:28] * Isis ahhs. "Considerably more conversational than the repair robots. Were you programmed for distinct personalities?" [22:31] [There are about twelve different sets. I'm Pragmatic. The other one's name is Effluent.] [22:32] [Generally we don't introduce ourselves, but we've been pretty bored. Been a thousand years or so since all the sleythin left.] [22:32] * Isis grins a little unpleasantly. "I must say, Providence provided both of our groups with perfect matches." She glances around. "The many-legged silicon beings... are they responsible? Planetary wildlife here, or invaders of some form?" [22:35] [Silicon-whatzit? Never saw anything like it. No, they didn't say why they left. Set up the gate in front, hoping some species'd come by when they met the Messengers, and get through the gate. Then the murals in the escalators, then they set everything to automate and just vanished. No ships, no bodyslides, nothing.] [22:35] [I know they were worried about something, but they never told us dick.] [22:35] * Isis raises an eyebrow. "Bodyslides? Elaborate, please." She pauses briefly. "I must say, this translation program is disturbingly precise." [22:38] [Flits an image or concept through your cerebral cortex, then scans your alphawaves for the word. Works like a charm.] [22:38] [Bodyslides're a teleportation thing. Gotta have a reciever on the other end, though.] [22:39] * Isis chuckles. "How you managed to dig out the way my former drill sergeant used to speak is anyone's guess." She nods. "I suspected as much. Teleporting blind is unsafe. Tell me... did the sleythin do any extrasolar travel before they vanished?" [22:42] ( Sorry, talk at me. I have to idle again a bit. Feeling kind of ill. ) [22:45] [Oh, sure, tons. Charted hundreds of systems, observed hundreds of species. None spacefaring, though, and they didn't wanna screw antthing up.] [22:48] [So they sent the Messengers out. Big hollow asteroids, all sorts of neat stuff in 'em. Translators, pictures, video, directions to a bodyslide location where you could get to this planet...] [22:49] [See, this portion of the city's walled off. When the Sleythin left, none of the places they'd sent Messengers to had visited yet.] [22:49] ( Sorry. Back. ) [22:49] * Isis blinks a few times. "How large were these asteroids?" [22:49] [So they walled off everything but this part, and then set it up to give you guys a glimpse of what it was like while they were here.] [22:50] [Huh? Oh, not large. Mile or so across.] [22:51] * Isis nods. "That has to be the reason. Their 'messenger' crash-landed on a satellite of a gas giant in our home system and eventually sank into the ice. Any other moon it would have been destroyed by the impact..." [22:51] * Isis thinks a moment. "Will the museum have a list of those systems Messengers were sent to?" [22:56] [Oh, yeah. And as for the crashing thing, I doubt it. They spent years calculating trajectories. It was supposed to go into high orbit around a planet, or alternatively hide in an asteroid belt if the system had one.] [22:57] * Isis shakes her head. "Damaged in transit, then, or some other calamity. If it was intended to reach the system's third planet, it never made it, and it undeniably was what you are describing we found underground. The day a perfect machine is built will never come, if you'll pardon my saying so." [23:04] [Well, if you found the bodyslide thing, then that's not the Messenger. The two were separate.] [23:04] * Isis raises an eyebrow. "Really. Is there a replica Messenger in the museum?" [23:05] [See, they sent the Messengers, then used a bizarre technique to shift the bodyslide stuff over themselves. Can't d-shift anything living, though.] [23:05] D-shift. Dimensional shifting? [23:06] [Yeah, I think. We don't get told much, and City Central's jealous of its data.] [23:07] * Isis sighs. "We may have to change our destination. If all of this data is at City Central, we may have to go there instead." [23:07] [Can't. It's beyond the Gate of Ages, and only a levle 4 Magistrate can crack that puppy open.] [23:08] * Isis grins faintly. "I am quite confident in my ability to 'crack that puppy open'." [23:09] <<[The Gate of Ages is a ripple in space-time. Have to have access to the control systems to get it open.] The bot stops in front of a building with statues adorning it. [This is the museum.]>> [23:09] Allow me to explain. I am looking for star chart information to pinpoint the distance between my home system and this place, and then find a way to return. Our... 'bodyslide' here was accidental." [23:10] * Isis looks up at the museum. "I am sure the others will find a way in by the time we arrive." [23:13] <<[Oh? Well, sorry, then. Unscheduled field trips can be a bummer.] It floats in the door. [And don't count on it. Only way in now's to talk to the last living Sleythin, and Effluence doesn't like to let people do that. I don't care, though. Guy decides to be immortal like that, it's his own fault if people keep bugging him.]>> [23:14] * Isis raises an eyebrow. "Effluence?" [23:14] [The other guidebot.] [23:15] * Isis glances at the bot. "Let me guess. Under the instance that a prohibited area is attempted to access, you become fifty feet tall and sprout missile pods, lasers, and other defensive armaments?" [23:18] [I sure do.] [23:20] * Isis nods. "Let's make haste, then. First, the schematics for the Messengers." [23:21] <> [23:22] * Isis mmmms. "There are many possible ways this could have failed travelling to Earth. The large asteroid belt between the third and fourth planets would be troublesome. For all we know, the Messenger may be in that very debris field. Is there a way to download this data?" [23:25] [Um, I think I could get it off City Central and send it infrared. Can you recieve that?] [23:25] (you can.) [23:25] * Isis nods. "Certainly." [23:25] <> [23:26] [What else did you want to see?] [23:26] Star charts. I am looking for a searchable database of systems Messengers were sent to. [23:26] I can offer a description of the system's planets; hopefully that will be sufficient. [23:27] <<[We'll see what we can do.] It heads in an archway.>> [23:27] * Isis follows. [23:28] <> [23:28] * Isis glances around. "A planetarium, of sorts. Good." [23:28] <> [23:29] [Okay. I'll see if I can get you close. If you see what you think is it, point at it and it will come closer.] [23:29] * Isis nods. "Understood." [23:30] [What are we looking for?] [23:32] * Isis mms. "In a spiral galaxy... one large sun, nine planets. The third is mostly water and supports the only native intelligent life. The fifth through eighth are ringed; the fifth planet is a gas giant with a large number of satellites and a 'red spot', a continual storm on the surface." [23:34] * Isis continues to rattle things off without thinking. "Between the fourth and fifth planets is a large asteroid belt..." [23:35] <> [23:35] [Think I got it...] [23:35] * Isis mmmphs faintly. "Vertigo... wonderful." [23:36] <> [23:36] [How's this?] [23:37] Excellent. This is indeed it. [23:37] Any teleportation, bodyslide, or other travel coordinates/settings to this system would be a great help. [23:37] [It only has a number... say, whattya call this star? I can update it for later.] [23:38] * Isis chuckles. "Our people unimaginatively named it 'the Sun'. The scientific name we've adopted for the star is Sol." [23:39] <<[Don't feel bad. Our list of star names which have borne sentient life is four hundred thousand words for "the Sun".] A title in sleythin appears over the star.>> [23:41] * Isis chuckles. "Encouraging, in its own way." She glances around a bit. "I believe this is what I came for. However... I am curious. Is there an exhibit on this planet's indigenous fauna?" [23:41] [Just the Sleythin, or everything?] [23:42] Everything. [23:44] [Yep, we can do that. Not much, cause this is the Science Museum.] [23:45] <> [23:45] * Isis raises an eyebrow. "There's a separate museum for biology?" She pauses, then talks as she follows. "Hold on a moment. You said the Messengers sent information. Did they send any technological information? Schematics, blueprints..." [23:47] <<[I don't think so. It was mostly history, and a little bit of the AllDrug.] The capitals come across in the way he says it.>> [23:47] ...'AllDrug'? [23:49] [Something fantastic. Nanites, that heal anything. ANYTHING. On any creature. Scans the DNA and the brainwaves, all sorts of nifty stuff.] [23:50] * Isis looks thoughtful. "A universal panacaea." She glances around the museum. "Explain something to me, please. Is all your technology so adaptable? Is that why the repair robots were able to service Earth-built suits?" [23:53] < <> [23:55] <> [23:56] ( Or the wolf things that attacked aboveground? ) [23:57] <> [00:04] (Did you catch that last?) [00:07] ( No. ) [00:10] <> [00:10] The data on krellyns, please. It's safe to assume that the others we encountered here are invaders of some form. Scavengers, perhaps. [00:11] ( That was my response, which you probably missed. ) [00:12] [Sure.] <> [00:13] * Isis nods once. "Thank you." She glances around, then sighs. "One final question, then I'll take my leave. Is it possible to calculate how many light years from here it is to the third planet of the Sol system?" [00:16] <> [00:21] * Isis nods. "Quite a few. Even if the messengers were travelling at light speed, there's no way they'd have reached Earth unless they were sent... many many eons ago." She glances down. "Thank you for your assistance. I shall take my leave." [00:22] [Oh, sure. Come back anytime, I mean, not that there's much to do. There's less for us to do, though.]