text;

[reapsthewind]

not that anyone noticed but raoul light's missing, as in totally missing, as in, after i hadn't heard from him in a while i went so far as to check up on his usual piano playing haunts and he's not been seen in a long while

given that he was an ex-cop with some pretty obvious mutations who was already on a hit-list for being a socialist i

yeah

i feel like we need a list of the dead

and for every name on it, we'll torture one of theirs. slowly. and leave them alive, to twist in the wind. bastards.

other news: not dead. giant thing at rachel's house -- anyone get samples of the pink stuff, and have you started doing some good old fashioned science yet?


From: c.starsky@lcu.edu
To: b.ratchet@lcu.edu

The stuff I remember is called Energon. After that incident at the party, I remembered this:

[There's two files -- one is in Cybertronian, in Decepticon script; the other is in English. Both describe a formula for making Energon, and some instructions on how to safely contain the stuff]

Does that match up with what you know? It seems kind of unstable. ... I included the file in Cybertronian because it's more elegant in that language, I can explain it to you though? It takes some getting used to but it's an amazingly useful notation for writing out engineering formulas in.

I'm free pretty much all the time, though both my living spaces are small and I'll need a ride if we're going anywhere. Let's do some horribly ill-advised science.

- C. Starsky


From: starscream@gmail.com
To: whatever mordin's email is k

I remembered how to make Energon. Working with a colleague on it, but figured you'd be interested. It's a method of converting energy from just about anything into a semi-stable liquid or solid form.

[same attachment]

And I mean literally any form of energy. I mean, some things are more efficient than others, as you can see converting chemical energy from food doesn't work nearly as well as it should, which is probably why things aren't working.

Also, here's the relative power draws, as near as I can estimate, of just keeping my limbs moving vs the guns vs full on flight. Interestingly, while I thought at first the engines in my legs were jet engines, they're actually not; they can work in a vacuum. It's some sort of electromagnetic pulse system, I think, I'm not sure how to describe it in English as I remember it in some crazy alien language. In any case, the power draw is still lower than a jet engine, but way higher than my guns.

I'm from SPACE.

Comments

[Audio]

[professorwolf]

[Have a newly British-sounding biology professor, Chris. He's also kind of sad sounding.]

I'm very sorry to hear that, Chris. How many have we lost, who were not lost to memories disappearing? I'm I've lost track of those who come and go.

[He's not going to ask about the whole... robot limbs thing just yet. He's a bit self-conscious about the subject, given them both turning into things, and her... definitely getting the raw end of the deal, at least at the moment.]

Were you at that party where everyone was attacked?

[Audio]

[reapsthewind]

... why are you suddenly British? ... nevermind, I know why, rhetorical question.

I was at the party. Which sucked, because I could barely move due to... stuff. You know.

[Audio]

[professorwolf]

And I believe that makes you the first person to decide they didn't actually need to hear me say "from a pulse". Heh.

[And there's that subject. Thanks for broaching it, he supposes, Chris?]

Stuff, yes. Are you doing a little better now, I hope...? Or still fairly immobile? And dare I ask, how did that work when everyone was-- well, being attacked?

[testsonseashells]

Welcome to the club. Fairly sure I'm from a planet called Sur'kesh.

Unless you meant species originated in vacuum, in which case much more interesting.

Also: "semi-stable"?

[reapsthewind]

No, I'm absolutely from a planet, it's called Cybertron. And I'm pretty sure it has an atmosphere. But I also know that I can fly unassisted through space? Or could.

So, they're stable so long as you don't break their force-fields or otherwise apply like... you don't want to shoot off a gun near it. You could probably drop them a few feet and even juggle with them, but if you were to, say, set off a spark of electricity nearby? It disrupts the configuration that keeps the energy in a stable semi-solid or liquid state and causes it to revert spontaneously back into energy, usually in the form of kinetic energy and heat. Violently. Big boom.

[testsonseashells]

Would classify that as "unstable" myself, but to each their own. Admit I'm not familiar with nomenclature for these types of things. Have to say, "Cybertron" most disappointing name for an alien planet featuring robotic organisms yet.


Then again, our planet called "Earth".

[Text]

[shiromadoushi]

Shit. This is happening far too much.


Though. I might have something that could help.

Think you could reprogram tech from another world?

[Text]

[reapsthewind]

Duh, of course I could. what is it?

[Text]

[shiromadoushi]

Hologram projector. Currently reads MtG like cards and projects the hologram of the monster on it. I got two guys trying to duplicate it.

I want to make it be able to emit holograms of us. Resume the masquerade type.

text;

[siesinddasessen]

So missing and having enemies equals "dead" for the purposes of this network?

[Especially considering that there seem to be people who cannot even die on it, that seems to be a bit quick to the jump for her - even if you aren't a number, missing and having enemies could mean that you are missing to get away from them, or for any number of reasons, really. She now wonders if any of the so-called deaths that people are talking on here were actual deaths.]

text;

[reapsthewind]

We're in a war. Missing with absolutely no observable traces without any warning whatsoever when we have a secure network that The Enemy can't see when people directly connected to The Enemy have access to his personal records and know his route is pretty fucking suspicious.

Or do you really think the cops aren't looking for the nearest chance to murder us? People are dying.

text;

[siesinddasessen]

Curious how everyone assumes this network to be safe.

text

[umbrael]

[Ooookay, he was following up until the 'torture and kill' part.]

Please tell me that 'one of them for one of us' bit is exaggeration.

text

[reapsthewind]

This is war. And they're not people. They're monsters from another dimension who have said that they'd see our entire race wiped out. If there's humans collaborating with them, well, they've signed their own fucking death sentences anyway.

Text;

[vetala]

If one of us starts torturing people as a warning, it demonizes all of us. I'm not keen on being apart of that kind of thing.

Text;

[reapsthewind]

This is a goddamned war, not some ~debate~ where we have to preserve our ~sanctity~. We're a motley group of criminals and idiots barely trying to survive against an enemy who, need I remind you, said that their goal is the utter destruction of our species.

You don't have to play. And I'm not going to start torturing random civilians. I mean if I catch any of the fucking collaborators who seem to think that working with inter-dimensional aliens who want to kill us all is a good idea.

The enemy is the enemy, period. And they've taken our own, and even if they hadn't it's already kill or be killed.

text;

[eras]

+1
i think you maybe need to take a breath and calm down a little
obviously people dying and going missing is not okay
but that doesn't mean we should endeavour to kill people or make them go missing
like
at all????

Text

[doomedtheworld]

I don't know about torture but I think we're getting past the point where we can afford to not fight back somehow.

Text

[reapsthewind]

see, this is why I like you, you talk goddamn sense, unlike some of these other spineless morons who are like ~oh maybe we should just live our daily lives and stuff~

I just wish I had a target. Or some ideas. I'm tired of always reacting to them.

text;

[envisaging]

Are you being serious?

text;

[reapsthewind]

Maybe torture's stupid, since I don't think it'll do any good. But murder? Hell yes.

Did you miss the part where they set off bombs? Where they're out hunting for us? This isn't a fucking game.

[email]

[neonnerd]

Actually, I can understand it quite well. It appears to be in a slightly different dialect than what I'm familiar with, but you're quite right. It's far better for engineering formulas than English.

[Attached is a file containing the formulas he'd recalled for something very similar, although quite a bit more stable, also in a form of Cybertronian - the script that he knows that is the most similar to what she's written, although he's entirely unaware that it's also Decepticon.]

I'm free right this afternoon, if you're willing? I must admit to a certain eagerness to put these to the test.

[email]

[reapsthewind]

Oh MAN! This is wonderful, I can't believe that you -- or other you, whatever -- solved the stability problem that way, that's so delightfully elegant! Damn.

Also, this confirms that we're from either the same, or a very, very similar universe... my friend Matt was too, before he left. I have a suspicion my uncle Elian may be as well.

This afternoon is perfect. Can you pick me up, and where will we be testing this? I feel like while the LCU labs will have the gear, that those might not be the most secure place to do Terribly Dangerous Science.

text;

[hawaiianheir]

oh holy fuck, seriously?
they got fucking raul?

text;

[reapsthewind]

like

I don't have proof

but he wasn't at the piano bar, and he isn't answering any of his phones, even his super secret phone, and OKAY so I tracked his credit card numbers like a jerk, and he's not responding to his network number

so either

> he really really REALLY decided to get the fuck out of dodge and somehow left his non-Locke self a bunch of notes to convince himself to change his name and use cash only and totally fuck off to like, Guatamala

or

> he's totally dead


occam's razor says option B