Week 4

[airlockedmods]

[After everything that this case was, you probably don't want to deal with anything else. But you wake up on Sunday, just like before, with some new memories, and some new stores to check out.

Let's see what this week brings.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Don't forget to check in, and check your memory regains! You can also stop by the gacha machine and Xander's office hours. ))

Comments

Lightshow

[airlockedmods]

[BZZT BZZT BZZT

Your PIP is vibrating again, Ardyn.]

[burninglight]

[Oh for Shiva's sake--now what?]

[airlockedmods]

[This is...quite a few lines of text. It seems to be a list of tools that you can find in the tech repair section of Universe, as well as a few of the devices there.

About the time you've finished reading it, another message comes in. This one is longer, and seems to be instructions for opening up one of the television models available in Lightshow, as well as a description of what you'll see when you do, clarifying the names of certain components that are apparently relevant. It's all really precise.

There's no indicator on the PIPs when the other party is still typing, but this does not seem to be over.]

[burninglight]

[Now, a sane human being would look at this and ask questions, wonder who was sending a message like this and for what purpose. A sane human being would cast any manner of doubts upon this, and perhaps wonder if he was being directed to build something explosive.]

[Ardyn [static noise] was not a sane human being, who looked at this in thought for only a minute before taking off for Universe to pick up exactly that set of tools. On the way, he did think to at least respond:]

Some people would say 'hello'.

[But his reasoning for cracking open a TV in Lightshow amounted to 'can't be worse than Omega, what could possibly happen'?]

[a10tionplz]

[Still heading for Universe, Ardyn? Your roomy's here, in the repair center, with one DJ Roomba opened up and spread a bit across the workbench.]

Ardyn, hello, where's the fire then?

[burninglight]

Would you believe I just got mysterious instructions on how to take apart one of the televisions in Lightshow?

[this is not quite the look of a mad scientist, but it is definitely the look of a scientist aware he's been given a crazy idea.]

Second and very related question: do you want to help me take apart one of the televisions in Lightshow?

[a10tionplz]

[This look, Ardyn. Just this look.]

I should probably care a lot more about where these instructions came from than I do. Allons-y!

[burninglight]

Likewise, but I'm sure if it's some destructive weapon I'll recognize it before we've caused terrible damage.

[ALLONS-Y INDEED]

[a10tionplz]

If it is, this'd be a little too obvious, I should think. What do we need?

[burninglight]

Here, look at this-- [He held out his PIP for the Doctor to see the message he'd gotten, other hand reaching out to pick up a few tools lying around.]

Mods?

[a10tionplz]

Ooh, hello-

[Lady Consequence, presumably? Regardless, he's scanning over the list quickly. Any way to tell what the end goal is here?]

[airlockedmods]

[In the time you all took to get here, several further steps have come in on Ardyn's PIP, apparently heedless of the reply he sent. It still doesn't seem finished, and while the instructions are almost ridiculously detailed, enough so that you couldn't possibly make a mistake through misinterpretation, they don't include any kind of explanation for the actions they describe.

Not all of these changes make total logical sense. A few, despite the general preciseness, seem a little arbitrary? But you're both smart guys, so in general, it looks like you're going to be modifying the television's signal-receiving capabilities, adding a few components from within the computer.]

[burninglight]

...oh, this is promising.

[Ardyn narrowed his eyes at the list in thought before breaking out into the sort of grin that meant obvious trouble.]

Let's get started; I think this is best accomplished without wasting time.

[a10tionplz]

Oh yes.

[He spares a quick glance up at the nearest camera, before grabbing any remaining tools they might need.]

Lay on, McDuff. It's your PIP.

[burninglight]

You know- [and let's just start dismantling everything before Even More Instructions come in] -I'm starting to suspect your worlds and mine have vastly different reference pools. That or you just like speaking gibberish. Possibly both.

[airlockedmods]

[The instructions are coming at a pretty steady rate, even though not all of the messages are the same length. But they'll all remain on the PIP unless you delete them, so they're all still there for you to follow at your leisure!]

[burninglight]

[well that's good because he can't modify this and copy instructions onto paper both at once]

[he's only got two arms,what d'you think he is, gilgamesh?]

[airlockedmods]

[Eventually, after you've added a few things, removed some others, and probably done some soldering, the instructions start to turn to how to re-assemble the television. This is probably why they said to set all those screws aside in a safe place, huh? You just did this, so it may be a little pedantic, but if you're gonna give a guide to something you'd better do it right.

They end with a fully reconstructed television! Now what?]

[burninglight]

[...well, the obvious response would be:]

If we plug this in and turn it on, what are the odds we've been misled and it will actually explode?

[a10tionplz]

Hm. Fifty-fifty? But at least it probably won't explode immediately, so...

[Yeah, he's gonna plug it in and fire it up and maybe get a little ready to run.]

1/2

[airlockedmods]

- so let's hear from the people on the street!

[It's some kind of green furry alien with a microphone! They're out on the street, where you can see aliens of every shape and size, along with the odd human, milling about. The announcer alien approaches a group of the latter, three human men who are walking close together.]

Gentlemen! Have you heard about the young I'xi psychic who just escaped prison?

[The reaction from the trio is immediate. The youngest nearly jumps out of his skin, moving quickly closer to his closest companion. The eldest of the group stiffens immediately, stepping forward as if to take up more of the spotlight himself.

The announcer takes no notice of this.]

You know how I'xi are empaths, right?

[The older human, shoulders rigid, glowers from his full height and does not respond.]

That makes this one a -

A small medium at large. [The tall human's gaze is icy. He does not seem to have blinked.] Very clever. Are we finished here?

Uh...yeah, I guess so. [The camera turns away, with the tall man's glare following it until he and the others are no longer visible.] Yeeeesh. Watch out for humans, guys, they bite. Anyway -

[You seem to be watching some kind of alien comedy talk show? Congratulations, you now pick up all the alien cable channels*. It seems as though you could probably pick up other types of signal as well, but nothing else is being broadcast to you at the moment.]


* No, you cannot watch your own damn selves on television right now.

2/2

[airlockedmods]

Keep watch.

[Oh, there's your PIP again!]

This will serve our purposes later.

[burninglight]

What the...

[Ardyn looked to his PIP, holding his arm up for the Doctor to see it as well.]

[a10tionplz]

...We need to be very careful with this.

[Where the frick is Xander not gonna find this thing that is can still actually be plugged in.]

[burninglight]

To say the least. If he doesn't know already, it'll take no more than a glance at the cameras to find out what we've been doing. Let's see what our mysterious benefactor thinks of the idea. [Ardyn quickly typed out a response with his other hand; not that he expected much more, but it was worth a shot.]

I suspect we should thank you, but how are we to ever keep this quiet?