<> <> (triggering the tripwire, taking us and the ship with it, end session) (Damn.) * Hestia showed up earlier than the agreed time because that's just her MO. She's sitting in her typical highly relaxed, verging on slutty cross-legged way on one of the lounge couches, tapping absently at a data pad. <> <> * Zeke has pizza! It's sitting opposite his birdsect, held on his shoulder. It makes him friendly and approachable. His back arm is holding his drone box. (It's a bolt and dirty sock pizza. He doesn't understand humans.) (They don't sell those!) (It's not like he cooked it himself.) * Zeke peeks around a corner into the lobby and says, "Tia." Pause as he steps around the corner fully, then he explains, "I have the reader. And a pizza." * Hestia looks up at the noise of someone entering and doesn't actually SAY anything; she instead fixes Zeke with a look that can only be called disbelief. * Zeke's holoface looks back at her for a moment, then he asks, "Would you like some pizza?" <> ...no. I will take the reader, however. (Using Tia to understand human social behavior is a really bad idea.) (It is.) * Zeke's holoface looks a little sad, before going back to neutral as he crosses the room, extracting whatever the reader looks like from a side panel. "I am curious which of their languages it will be recorded in." * Hestia takes it, and reaches into a brown DunnoLeather satchel sitting next to her on the couch, producing the tape. "Hopefully sleythin," she responds, trying to piece how the two fit together. "I don't speak... whatever the hell their race or language is called." * Zeke replies, as he slowly sits down on his box opposite Tia, "The pseudo-intelligence could translate." <> * Hestia shrugs and links the two together. "We'll see." She glances at the pizza box, then at Zeke, before sitting down on the couch and putting the reader on what is probably a coffee table. "Feel free to eat, I don't mind." She tries not to smirk, because he is in a giant robot suit. <> <> * Zeke pulls the pizza around to his lap, and a chamber opens on his upper chest as he opens it. The birdsect watches Hestia as he pulls out a piece of pizza with a bunch of junk on it, puts it in, and then the chamber closes. After a moment, he says, "Thank you." Beat. "Ah. Not as you hoped." * Hestia stares because, while she is high on sangfroid, that's fucked up no matter who you are. The tape, thankfully, produces a useful distraction and she turns to it with a frown. "Not good. Did we bring the dictionary with us?" <> (*DIES*) (?) (I am watching Incredibles with subtitles on, as is my wont.) (Syndrome's laughs really are given as "[evil laughter]") (HA) * Hestia clearly doesn't remember WHO has the dictionary since there was a lot of confusion at the landing pad; when Zeke does not produce it, she digs in the satchel and discovers she had it the whole time. (Was asking if we had a second reader.) * Zeke lets Hestia get it before saying, "This has become likely to be slow. We need an alternate playback method." (Well I needed to explain why Tia asked, when she probably had it.) * Hestia stares at the dictionary tape while the walphin sings away on the prophecy. "What we need is to find some way to get the data off, but I don't even know how it's stored." * Zeke nods slightly and offers a big hand. "If you have a third tape, I can begin working on determing the audio format." If you wish to begin translation. <> * Hestia amazingly does! She hands it over because frankly, she doesn't even know what's on it. "The problem is, I don't have time to learn... warble to translate." * Zeke takes it and replies, "Then the audio reader would speed up my progress." * Hestia raises an eyebrow. "Interested in telling me what you plan to do?" * Zeke replies, "Construct a second interface that will allow us to obtain these audio files." He pauses, then adds, "Alternately, we could record the data and achieve similar results." (Took me a second to realize, 'Wait, you can just RECORD audio.' (And then you can play it back your damn self.) (I TOLD YOU THAT) (I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEANT) * Hestia pauses, then processes exactly what was just said, and raises the other eyebrow. "You mean turn the second reader into a decoder? Well, that's one possibility. And it might be better quality than a recording. But I don't know how this is going to help us understand the actual *language*." * Zeke is silent a moment, then, "Once we have both audio files, we could attempt to pattern match the... walrus language to sleythin, and then produce the prophecy in slyethin." <> * Hestia thinks that over. "Basically doing what I did with the translation program from Sleythin to Marsal... I suppose it could work." ("well, get to it. I'll have a nap.") (EAT MY PIZZA ;_;) (What.) (Never.) (try my wares!) (Sample my goods!) (Alright.) (So we do stuff. Stuff is fun. La la la stuff.) <> (I roll to listen! I fail. ;_;) (Poor Tia. Maybe she's gotten herself some booze by now.) * Hestia in fact went to look at the statue while Zeke was working, if she wasn't needed. * Zeke listens to a whole bunch of noises while Tia looks at fine walphin art. * Zeke eventually comms to Tia, "The translation program is complete." <> [... forgotten process charging the potentialities between worlds. Those with eyes to see...] * Hestia hears that over the comm, raises an eyebrow, and makes an effort to be... non-chalant on her way back to the lounge. <> * Zeke does! Starting from the beginning is a very good place to start. <> * Hestia smirks. "Ceremonial, aren't they." It is not uncommon. <> [This is a prophecy, intoned by Longflipper One-Tusk, gifted by the ineffable warbling of the Tone. When the explorers returned from the Dead City and brought back all manner of gifts and knowledge, then was granted to One-Tusk a vision.] <> * Hestia sits forward, hands on knees. "The Dead City... they must mean Sleythin itself. I can't tell if 'ineffable warbling of the Tone' is literal or just an... an invocation, but you can hear the capital T on that word." * Zeke nods slightly. "That seems accurate. The importance of this 'Tone' to their philosophy seems as large as the pseudo-intelligence implied." [One-Tusk saw a great ending, galaxy-wide. A closing of doors. Those who opened the Gate of Ages would bring about a forgotten process charging the potentialities between worlds. Those with eyes to see are blind, but those who hear the Tone's variations are gifted - they will see the flow before the closing.] * Hestia sits back, clearly annoyed. "This is why I hate religion. Just tell us when the damn universe is going to end." * Zeke's holoface smiles slightly. "It would be far more convenient." A moment as it fades, then, "They still have not justified their belief, and give us only their Tone as clue." * Hestia puts her hand up to her chin. "But it's a good clue. You said the Tone had something to do with string theory, right? And they said the 'potentialities between worlds'... I mean, I don't exactly understand quantum physics, but." [It was foreheard that the would know a sign, and days after visiting the Dead City the first Bugs found us. We never returned to the Dead City, so do not know who will fulfill this destiny. We do not know why the Tone has told us if it is not to be our destiny.] (Okay, AFK to watch the ending fight scene of The Incredibles uninterrupted because to do otherwise is a crime.) [One-Tusk died in the throes of the Tone, his brain throbbing in time with the cosmic vibration. With his last gasps he foretold that an undesired joining would begin the journey. Who or what is unknown, since the are clearly on their last journey. We will not hear this end that is oncoming.] Well. At least we know that word that doesn't parse is the name they had for themselves, at least. Plus they must have held out against the Bugs long enough to record this... but they knew it was the end for them, too. * Zeke blinks slowly, then nods slightly. After a moment he states, "I do not believe quantum physics is to the point where prediction is possible, making us as... blind to this Tone as they are dead." * Hestia shrugs. "Ask Cheung on that one. He's the one who thought 24s might be doing the same thing." * Zeke's holoface looks far too unsurprised for his, "Really? Did he offer anything other than belief?" * Hestia smirks, because she had a similar thought. "Not in so many words, but he's not the spiritual type. I think his suggestion was that a precognitive 24 could read probability, even through something like string theory. So who knows, maybe there's some futureseeing kid out there who can hear the damn Tone." * Zeke is silent a moment, then, "Possible. Spontaneous Chromosome Addition abilities are highly variable." * Zeke then looks to the prophecy tape and adds, "One would need that capability to pursue this prophecy further. Perhaps it can be obtained from these walrus people." (I will note for consistency's sake that everyone but Tia DID hear the "Tone".) (Yeah, but I wasn't sure where to take that. There's Tone, and there's Tone.) (We don't even know where that came from!) * Hestia shrugs. "The wild and wacky world of the human experience. And I doubt we're getting anything out of the walrus people on account of probable genocide." (I have this knack for twisting the knife and, honestly, I am not doing it on purpose.) * Zeke replies, "Their data was not subject to that genocide." (FIND THEIR DNA. SPLICE IT. WIN! And come visit again, I enjoy our little chats.) (Ever since that movie I am unable to separate E from Sha'naa'na.) * Hestia glances at Zeke carefully, then narrows her eyes a little bit. "That seems a bit extreme." (Hahaha.) * Zeke's holohead tilts. "If one believes they are credible, then determining how to read this Tone could be of great use." (I don't understand what's extreme!) (THAT IS BECAUSE YOU TAKE BODY MODIFICATION TO NEW HEIGHTS) (Awwww yeah.) * Hestia throws up her hands. "Then feel free to admix your own DNA with theirs and let me know how it turns out. I didn't hear the sound you guys did anyway, so I'm clearly not qualified." * Zeke looks more confused, before replying, "I meant their sound data. I am not an... exogeneticist." (Or xenogeneticist!) (I don't know which.) (I don't know what you're talking about, then, sorry.) (Zeke was saying that their knowledge of quantum mechanics might be in their 8-tracks.) (Or the PI.) (Or some other data storage.) (Or whatever was causing the water to vibrate.) (*mutters, AFKs briefly*) <> (BRAKKITZ) (WALPHIN WANTS BRAKKITZ) (*returns* Sorry. And now to spin my spoonerizing of Cham's OOC comment into a real response.) * Hestia sighs. "My point is that even a 24 who could process the Tone as... string whatever... isn't going to have the physical audio receptors the walrus people did. There might be some component there that would make it pointless." * Zeke's bird bobs its head, then Zeke replies, "Perhaps this is true. We may need more sensitive equipment than our suit recordings to pick up... minor components." * Hestia sits back again and crosses her arms over her chest, looking at... whatever it was that played the prophecy back. "So the only things we know are *new* are that they got the prophecy from a vision after they visited the sleythin, and that 'an undesired joining begins the journey', which is pointlessly vague." (Poor Cham. I as a player am satisfied; Tia is mad that you didn't just give her all the answers NOW NOW NOW.) (It's what drives her forward!) (You're not going to find me MAD that you want to play the game.) (HOW DARE YOU WANT MORE SESSIONS.) (I KNOW FUCK YOU) (Okay, can you guys play yourselves out? I've got to head home.) * Zeke is silent while Hestia exposits. It takes him a moment to reply, "There are several minor pieces of information. The Tone as we experienced it may or may not be relevant. Prediction via quantum mechanics may or may not be relevant. And the Sleythin... may not have had the prophecy to themselves." (BBIAW) (*chills in the interim*) (Gots to question?) (Wasn't Anders a precog? Couldn't he read the Tone?) (Yes, because we totally know Anders.) (More Cham's going to bring him back buaha.) (Anders and Roch would both be capable of doing this.) (In theory.) (Maybe.) (HI) (YOU FIGURED OUT SECRET PLOT) (Do we need anything more?) (I am actually okay with stopping here.) (Okay with me, then.) (Hokay) <>