[Plot Thread 3.1] Opening Doors

[Nina]

As Ryan’s hand came in contact with the substance he found that it was warm to the touch, not hot, but definitely warmer than his own temperature. The was a sliver of resistance then his hand sank into the substance. It did not feel like a gel, it was not slimy or sticky, in fact other than the warmth, the closest thing Ryan could equate it to, was putting his hand in water. But even that was not really right.

 

He allowed his personal energy to pulse into his hand, just a small, miniscule amount, none of the scientists’ instruments picked it up but that did not surprise him, Quantum Flux detection was not yet common in standard equipment.

 

At first nothing happened then the big wrap around window changed and a 2D map of the earth filled the space. It looked just like those maps from High School that depicted a globe stretched out flat the continents shaped slightly oddly and positioned just a bit off. Ryan as a flyer and navigator recognized this seeming distortion as the true shapes and positions not the easily recognizable and somewhat deceptive version everyone was taught was real.

 

Over the map a grid made up of diamond shapes was cast with each point of each diamond a small dot that was larger than the point should have been. On the map at the point where the object was orbiting in the arctic circle there was an Icon that was lit a soft cyan color. A second identical Icon except for flashing a deep orange color, was located at the south pole, opposite the icon representing the Object.

[Shameless]

Ryan smiled as more within the Black Knight came to life, displaying the map and proving that at least initially there was another object in the Antarctic.  
"Looks like we were right about a second object."  Ryan moved his fingers, tapping the lit areas, slowly, giving a chance for each of them to do something before moving to the next.  "If it can keep such an up to date map, then it should have information on the other object. Maybe we can see what happened."  Ryan continued to trickle feed his energy into the pedestal, looked for some change.

They were blazing new territory, and more, if one of the Objects had indeed crashed, then an expedition would need to be mounted to recover it.  "There's too many unknowns in the world right now to have someone else happen upon it."

[Nina]

As Ryan moved his fingers against the small lit areas under the gel each one subtly changed its spectral color, however since the changes were in a light spectrum different than the human optical receptor and Ryan himself while having the ability to see within the infrared and Ultraviolet could not see this spectrum change.

 

When several of the lights changed to a certain color a new point on the diamond grid over South America lit up and suddenly the Objects Icon blinked from it position at the north pole to where the point glowed.

 

A loud hum pulsed through the Object and the map became transparent and a purplish light flooded in through the window/view screen. The Object was glowing and moving!

[Shameless]

"So, um, Everyone's inside right?  Because we're going for a ride."   As the ship began to move, Ryan sighed.  Inwardly he didn't think they'd be able to hide this, and he looked to Viktor and Grant.  "I don't know how to stop it, or if I even can at this point.  I suggest you radio the stations and let them know, as fast as possible.   If you want, get everyone here, and I'll send them back to the station before we lose sight of them."

He was of course concerned by the lives of everyone there, though he knew the others there in the command center with him would be staying.   

[Nina]

That was not to be.

 

The Black Knight glowed purple and began sliding away within seconds. It slid away from the earth stations and the astronauts spacewalking at a rapid rate and once it had cleared a distance of two kilometers from the station the glow intensified and for all intents and purposes, from the perceptions of the earthmen not onboard the Object, it vanished.  

 

In the Objects control room the sight was different. The object accelerated from a speed of a few feet per second to near light-speed, so fast that to an outside observer, it appeared to vanish and appear at its destination in almost the same time.

 

The purple glow faded and through the transparent map, they could see the coast of Brazil below them. Inside they had felt not acceleration no sensation of movement at all.

 

“That is even newer.”

[Shameless]

Ryan didn't turn from the screen, and nodded.  "Yes, I imagine so.  For what it's worth, I think the whole world's gonna find out about us now.."

"Can you put us back, Ryan?"  Grant asked, rather panicky.

"I can certainly try.  Though having no idea what any button does, I'd be limited to simply reversing what I just did with my fingers."   

"We cannot stay here."  Grant said.

"Then let's try it."   Ryan skillfully reversed the keystrokes he'd made, and once again the ship began to glow, and vanished once again, reappearing right back where it had began, with incoming calls from the station as soon as they could.

Viktor looked at the two of them, a very large grin on his face.   "You've made it do more in two minutes than we have in fifty years."

Ryan nodded.  "Flailing around blindly.   What I'd really like is some kind of script or tutorial.  Any form of language.   In the other parts of the ship have you discovered anything that might be along those lines?"
 

[Nina]

The astonishment broke and the scientist started working going over whatever data their devices may have recorded during the accidental activation of the Object.

 

“No radiation output”

“Magnetometer spiked off the charts during both maneuvers”

“Dr. Karensky! I have something!”

 

All activity stopped and attention was giving to a young black woman at a station with a half dozen laptops set up on it. She looked up at the quiet and saw all the eyes focused on her. Viktor smiled and floated over to her, followed by Ryan and Grant. The other scientists stayed at their places but followed with their eyes and ears.

 

“What do you have Kasia?”

 

The woman pointed to a screen, “This is the camera the takes spectrographic video in this room, it’s barely perceptible but if you look here and here when Major Hawke is working the column, the light spectrum shifts. There are at least six different sources id’d and when all six hit the same spectrum, that is when we moved.”

 

“What spectrum is it shifting to?

 

“I don’t know, its beyond the UltraViolet, the computer only identified the shift because of the refracting of the visible light.” Kasia, looked up at the chief scientist, “We don’t have the ability to see into these frequencies, not only not biologically but not even mechanically, we didn't even know they existed or even if it is light. Maybe, we can take apart the degree of refraction of the light we can see and make guesses, but until we can fine tune something to make it visible to our senses…” she shrugs.

 

Viktor nods , suddenly he looks very weary, he breaths deep and lets it out as a heavy sigh, nods at Grant then grimaces as he looks to Ryan, “We,“ he gazes around the large control room at the other scientists, “are not smart enough for this. Fifty years and we cannot even turn on the lights. You are onboard for half an hour and we are zipping around the globe." He looks back at Grant, “If we are to get anywhere with this Colonel, secrecy be damned, We need their help.

 

[Shameless]

Ryan nodded, respecting the Doctor's sensibility.   His respect had gone up a bit because the man knew his limits, and didn't shy away from them.   He turned to also look at Grant.  "She'll sign the NDA.   I think you better call and have one printed up, pronto."   There was an "I told you so" in his gaze, but not a spiteful one.   He knew Deezy would jump at a chance to be a part of this, and for his part, he wanted to bring her in.  She would be of tremendous help, and they needed to understand this tech, especially with what they already knew about Utopia. 

"Shall I make that call?"  Ryan asked, giving Grant the final option here.

Grant nodded.  "Make the call, I'll have the base draw up a NDA."

He called the base and had them draw it up, even as They made the trip back to the base.   Ryan wasn't entirely sure about opening a gate inside the ship, so they took precautions.   At the Base, he made the promised call.  

"Deezy, it's Ryan.  How are you doing today?   I have an opportunity that's right up your alley.   The catch is that there is a major NDA you're going to have to sign.   I know this is fairly sudden, but this is something you'd probably never forgive me for not reaching out to you for this. I can't really say any more about it unless you agree though.   So, are you game?"   Ryan spoke fairly quickly, his excitement showing.   He knew that if she agreed they'd make some real progress, and that once she got there, she'd be excited too.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Shameless

[SalmonMax]

"Uh, okay. Who's the NDA from and are there any stipulations other than just nondisclosure?" was Deezy's response. At Ryan's response, which was barely more than just saying 'the US government,' she butted back in to say, "All right, are you coming to me, or am I coming to you? Because if it's the second...lemme get presentable. Actually, I should probably do that anyway."

 

After a brief segue for Deezy, who'd thrown a rumpled suit jacket over her purple T shirt, to sign paperwork. The way she briefly glanced those papers over first told Ryan that she'd likely fully read them and committed them to memory in the process. The officers that accompanied Ryan got warm, but somewhat wary, welcomes from the young Stormer.

 

From there it was back to the orbiting vessel, to the command deck, or whatever it was.

 

It was hard to tell what her reaction was at first. She didn't immediately whoop and run around or anything. Rather she just went very still and looked around.

 

Then she laughed. A full-bodied laugh tinged by some ruefulness, as if recognizing how hilarious a joke at her own expense really was. "Welp! This puts things into perspective."

 

"All right then, lets get started." Deezy turned around to face Ryan. "What have you already figured out?"

[Shameless]

Ryan smiled.   "Well, It does respond to the energies you and I emit, we learned that earlier.   We took a little trip from here to over south America and back.   So far there's nothing that might be a language as we understand, and much of the craft is made of materials we do not recognize.   I've only  been aboard for about half an hour, and mostly we've been blindly trying things.   The pedastal seems to be a control board, as it responded when I put my hand in the gel and ran abit of power through it."

He shrugged.  "Perhaps not the most scientific explanation, but that's been  my experience so far.   No EVA walks yet, though we'll get there, I'm sure.   We have determined there was a second object over the south pole, though it is no longer there."

[Nina]

Deezy took a few steps and as her unique senses attuned to the new technology found herself lost in amazement, this...this was new...old...but new for her.

 

The scientists and Ryan watched as Deezy floated around the control room touching gently the surfaces with a look that was almost a vision of ecstacy pasted on her face. She was oblivious to everything except the object as she tried to understand it.

 

Then suddenly Deezy stopped and her mouth made a little  'O', she convulsed and then just floated freely unmoving. Ryan felt a wave of dizziness and nausea, his vision blurred and he felt vertigo but it passed almost as fast as it had come. No one else seemed effected and several  pushed off to float toward Deezy when Dr Karensky yelled, "Do not touch her!" He turned to one of the wide eyed technicians, "Can you get a reading on her vital signs?"

 

[Shameless]

"Deezy, what did you just do?"    The ship, or something reacted to what his partner had been doing, and Ryan was one of those moving closer to her, though he didn't yet touch her.   "Did you just feel that?"   He was concerned for her, but unsure how to help if she needed something.

[SalmonMax]

Deezy drifted there in microgravity for a few seconds, then twitched, and her eyes opened. She looked around, her eyes wide, until she spotted Ryan and relaxed.

 

"Hey. Um. So...I feel like I just woke up after getting a flashy thing, like we got in Egypt. And now I'm in space. In what looks like a spacecraft or space station that human beings definitely did not build. Someone want to fill me in?"

 

It only took a few minutes to bring Deezy back up to speed, mercifully. The memory loss wasn't extensive, and she caught on extremely quickly. By the end she was even rather excited by it, pointing out that this implied that the old ruins they'd found underwater were probably based on the same technology as this station...giving them (and by that she meant 'her') a chance to study it!

 

"Now," Deezy said when she was satisfied. "It didn't flashy thing you before. Maybe it was trying to do something else, and some system failed... Anyway, one way to tell."

She plunged her left hand into the gel!

[Nina]

"Are you sure," Ryan started but Deezy had already sunk her hand into the bowl.

 

It was frictionless and felt weird like water but it didn't give like water and her senses, the strange esp that let her know the make up and compositions of things, that allowed her to copy and change them, couldn't tell her anything. To these senses the gel wasn't there.

 

Deezy's hand came in contact with the bottom of the bowl and her fingers felt the strangely shaped protuberances that Ryan had said were buttons he also said he had given them a little jolt of power.

 

"Well here goes."

 

Victor shook his head and muttered, "This is not good scientific technique."

 

The room spun madly and Deezy felt the urge to spew then it all went white again but this time she wasn't unconscious and she wasn't floating she was standing and the control room was gone. There was only white space.

 

"You are persistent, child."

 

The voice was deep, resonant, very male, and all around her, inside her.

 

"Twice you have been warned away, yet here you are again."

 

 

Victor shook his head and muttered, "This is not good scientific technique."

 

Ryan saw Deezy squint and saw a ripple in the gel then the same pulse of nausea swept over him as a few moments ago when Deezy was knocked out but this time she vanished!

 

[Shameless]

Ryan watched her vanish, and looked to Victor.  "I lost her on every spectrum I can detect, she's gone."  Clearly they were dealing with something far beyond anything they'd ever encountered.  "I'm starting to think the ship doesn't like her."
 

He looked at Grant, then Viktor. "Make sure you're recording this.  Because I don't know exactly what's going to happen."    Then he too put his hand in the gel, fed it power, and thought "Deezy."

They were truly in the unknown now, and all Ryan knew was that he'd brought her into this, and he would get her back home.   She was his friend,  and he wasn't just going to leave her.

[Nina]

The room went white.

 

Ryan could see himself but nothing else just white it was reminiscent of the occurrence in Africa.

 

"How very interesting." The voice was sultry and seductive, slightly accented, and very female. It reverberated all around and inside him. "High functioning intelligence, the physical manifestation is not unique but I'm surprised at the development.

 

You just witnessed the disintegration of your (companion/mate/sibling?) yet you followed it. Why?"

 

[Shameless]

Ryan looked around, and sighed.   I had no way of knowing what happened to her. I brought her to the ship, because far more than I, she could help us learn about it, and the ones who built it.   I legitimately hoped my action would bring me to wherever she was, and that with my abilities, I could then bring us home.   We were perhaps too eager, too inquisitive, but that's the nature of the times now.   We are learning so much, and even more that we never knew that we never knew.   I have to bring her back, that's my responsibility."

"I only felt she vanished, and my own ability does something similar when objects or people travel via it.   If you're telling me we're both dead now, then clearly my assumptions were wrong.   I don't actually feel dead though."   

 

The voice was all around him, and within him, It could be God, and maybe not.   

"May I ask my own questions?"

When silence answered him, he took it as tacit approval.  

"First, To whom am I speaking?   Secondly, Where are we currently, and if possible, where is my friend?"   Thirdly, and I apologize for being so curious, What is your connection to the object we discovered in orbit over our world?"   It was alot to ask, but these were the immediate questions on his mind.   If he was dead, well none of it would matter, it wasn't going to be his problem anymore, and there'd be little he could do.   If not, then this information was vital for any conversations going forward.

[SalmonMax]

Meanwhile, enmeshed in her own white infinity, Deezy looked around, then at herself.

 

"Okay," she said, "This is new. If it's a simulation, it's mapping my body's reactions very realistically. But it doesn't look like an ordinary sort of physical containment. Then again, if it was meant to contain a Stormer...yeah..."

 

She took a few steps into the room. "So, this is the brig? Penalty box? Can we talk? You kind of jumped to conclusions, assuming we understood that the flashy-memory-gap things as warnings. C'mon, lets work this out. You really don't want to leave me in here."

[Nina]

DEEZY

 

The white turns to red. The voice rumbles in a threatening tone, "How would such as you presume to know what I would want?"

 

A form coalesces out of the red, it is red as well or rather it is wearing red, simple robes of some foreign material and unusual cut, its face which is exposed in a hood, is long and not human its hands also exposed the fingers are twice as long as a humans and nailless. It's skin is purplish in color and appears waxy.

 

RYAN

 

Silence then a slight hum, not mechanical, at least it doesn't sound mechanical it sound like wings beating fast, like a hummingbird or a bee. 

 

"I am that which watches the watcher" 

 

A form coalesces out of the white, it is white as well or rather it is wearing white, simple robes of some foreign material and unusual cut, its face which is exposed in a hood, is long and not human its hands also exposed the fingers are twice as long as a humans and nailless. It's skin is bluish in color and appears waxy.

 

[Shameless]

"it's nice to meet you, I think."  Two of his questions were answered after a fashion, but not the one about where they were.   "Can I ask, what exactly was the watcher watching on earth?  Is it any relation to the ancient tunnels we found under the Desert?"   Ryan asked.   Far as he knew, he was the first human to speak to an extraterrestrial entity, and all he could really do was ply it with questions.  There were so many.   "Did we do something wrong by trying to interact with the ship?"

[SalmonMax]

"How would such as you presume to know what I would want?"

 

"Well, it was more of a figure of speech," Deezy admits, "Though it's not TOO hard to figure out what you want. You clearly have a purpose being here, and then me and Ryan came along and started messing with the controls, and you wanted us to stop. But communication is hard, so we didn't, and now here we are." She pauses, then adds, "I'm assuming Ryan jumped in after me, because...of course he did."

 

"But this is nice, right? We can actually talk to each other now! Make some real progress."

 

She looked around the environment. It was clearly not a normal location aboard the space station. It could have transported them to some other location, or this could be some kind of finite space/time-like 'bubble.' Or it could be a simulated environment. The apparent limitlessness of the place, and this being's ability to simply appear at will here, argued for the latter. Insufficient data to be sure though.

 

"So...will you let me out of here if I promise not to meddle anymore?" Deezy asked. Even as she did though, she concentrated on her perceptions. If this was simulated, then there was something inducing false signals to her nervous system. Perhaps she could refine her own perception of her body and senses to the point where she could isolate that input, and try to disrupt it?

 

Failing that, she might be capable of enough processing power to overload the simulation's ability to supply information. Either way, inducing errors in the simulation could expose weak points. It had to be accepting information FROM her as well as giving information TO her. Could she use that flow of information against the system?

 

What an interesting question!

 

(Deezy wants to hack the Matrix, if that's what this is. Pitting her mega-intelligence against the system. And if it's not a system, then it will definitely not work, but she will at least glean something useful about her predicament. )

[Nina]

Ryan

The entity stared at Ryan with its large unblinking grey eyes. Then it spoke again

“You, yes, yes.”

The answers were succinct and useless to Ryan, “Can you elaborate?”

 

Deezy

The red alien stared at Deezy with unblinking eyes, as if seeing through her soul, then spoke.

“Your development is not aligned with any fore-vision and is not completely quantifiable with the current level of data. It seems the [Incomprehensible word] may have miscalculated.

Yes I will return you to your space. You do not at this time pose a threat and may continue with your meddling as you see fit.”

 

Ryan

 

‘The [incomprehensible word] placed the watcher here in this world to curtail the development of the dominant species for future culling as a resource. The watcher has malfunctioned and no longer performs its primary purpose.

If you mean by ‘ship’ this observation platform, no. Wrong and right are moral concepts that have no bearing on security protocols and executions.”

The alien turns its head and looks off into white space, then back at Ryan.

“You have been deemed a no risk/low risk entity. The watcher no longer watches our purpose is ended.”

 

The Control Room

 

Ryan and Deezy reappear as suddenly as they disappeared causing more shocks and one or two screams. Both Deezy and Ryan appeared at the same time and in the same place that they had been when they vanish which basically put them right on top of each other and the both had to grasp the other to keep from floating away. So there they float in each other’s arms

[SalmonMax]

Deezy appeared, already jubilant, clutching Ryan as they were set into a slow spin from the cumulative momentum of their movements.

 

"Hey! You DID throw yourself after me! Hah! And IT SAID WE COULD KEEP MEDDLING! Space/time-like bubble, NOT a simulation! Almost definitely extraterrestrial in origin! This is GREAT! And also pretty BAD! But also pretty GREAT!"

 

Then she realized, "Oh, we're spinning." With a quick glance around, Deezy managed to hook a foot around the edge of the console and bring them to a halt.

 

"So what did YOU see in there?" she then wanted to know. "Did it talk to you too?"

[Shameless]

Ryan had alot more questions, but was flung back to reality, and surprisingly, into Deezy's arms, as they almost floated away.   Still she hooked a foot on the console and they stopped spinning, and with abit of careful movements, they were back on the deck, still having their arms around each other.  "Of course I went after you, we're partners, you think I was gonna let you have all the fun yourself?"

He smiled abit.   "I'm glad you're okay, I'd been told we were vaporized.   Evidently this platform served as a watcher to ensure the dominant species of this world remained below a certain level of development so it could be culled as a resource, a function it no longer performs, due to malfunction.   It also deems us as no or low level threats, and since it no longer functions as intended, we're free to meddle, as you put it."

 

[Nina]

Dr Karensky motioned all the scientists and technicians to stay where the were.  Grant had an alarmed look on his face, "What the hell do you mean 'cull as a resource'?"

 

Not waiting on an answer, he pushed off and floated over to a communications console that was obviously something the earthlings had added.  He pushed a few buttons the picked up a mic and receiver. "This is Col Grant. we have had an incident at the object. I need to speak with Dr Ross at HERO... I'll wait."