Imperial Fringe Online Game Chat Session Log February 1st 2004
20:51:07 - Methuslah: Your power systems had just gone onto reserves. You hae enough power for four weeks normally, but you've just suffered a major power drain, and your suits have gone into auto-shutdown - only essential systems remain. Kraiger is stopped dead in hsi tracks in his armour.
20:51:20 - vance: (all set)
20:52:40 - vance: "this is strange. these systems should be designed to resist any remote drain." can we get him out?
20:52:47 - Kit: so how long can we run on essential systems?
20:53:20 - Kit: what is the energy indicator on the wall doing?
20:54:41 - Methuslah: It is the only thing you can see - it has jumped halfway alogn.
20:54:56 - Methuslah: On essential systems, you'll have about a day. You can access other systems, but at a cost of a power drain.
20:55:36 - Kit: I think that whatever we do, we better do it fast. are our comms still working?
20:56:18 - vance: "agreed. but it's a bit dark in here."
20:56:23 - Kit: (can we get Kraiger out of his power suit?)
20:57:19 - Kit: (I rummage through my toolbox. There should be a few glowsticks in there. pure chemical processes should still work)
20:57:59 - Methuslah: Comms are out - you can talk if you tap your helmets together, or connect a line.
20:58:19 - Methuslah: The glowsticks are effective. You can see the room, and the indecipherable writing. And the shaft below you, as well as that above you.
20:59:01 - Kit: (What about Kraiger?) We have some light now. (handing a glowstick to Vance)
21:00:00 - vance: takes it, touches helmets. "I wonder if the writing is a touch control panel."
21:01:07 - Methuslah: KRaiger is stuck in place.
21:01:19 - Methuslah: You can move without the mechanical aids, however.
21:01:35 - Kit: "maybe, I'll take a closer look at it" (moving over to the wall and feeling along it, )
21:04:27 - Kit: "I would assume that any control system would have more than just this power indicator as an output signal. But then again, one of our theories is, that whoever we are dealing with is or was psychic, so maybe there is something here that we cannot perceive?"
21:05:39 - Kit: Can anything be felt on the wall, or dows anythung change if i touch/push a few random sigils?
21:05:57 - vance: "a good possibility."
21:07:24 - Methuslah: When you hit one particular sequence, in the shape of a large X, the room's lights begin to come on. After a minute, you have a much better view of the room.
21:08:00 - vance: "...let there be light..."
21:08:01 - Kit: Ok, so these are controls. Now all we need is to figure out how to control what.
21:08:28 - vance: vance laughs. "maybe if we go back outside and jump up and down on the exterior lettering we'll open a door."
21:09:00 - Kit: "If you wanna try, I won't stop you."
21:09:53 - Kit: I take a close look at the various sigils and try to determine what they might mean. "darn, my lessions in cryptography are somewhat rusted."
21:10:58 - Kit: particularly I'm looking for something that might be the equal thing to an "emergency shutdown button" on human systems.
21:11:03 - Methuslah: There are a lot of different symbols. You think you recognize one - it seems to be an equation covering antimatter / matter balance, a technology still experiemtnal in the Empire.
21:11:09 - vance: (prospecting includes some archeology. can vance help with this at all?)
21:11:56 - Methuslah: OK - make a roll. Nine or more and you decipher another equation.
21:12:30 - Kit: 2D6: 10
21:12:30 - vance: (kit, or both of us?)
21:12:44 - Kit: Let's see, this might be..
21:15:04 - Methuslah: You, actually. But Kit, your roll allows you to make out what appears to be a complicated chemical symbol for an oxygen atom.
21:16:08 - vance: 2D6: 10
21:16:19 - vance: "hm"
21:17:22 - Kit: Hmm. this might be an oxygen atom. If I am correct, there was a small percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere. But no indication of any life. correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't free oxygen ratehr rare on dead planets?
21:17:37 - Methuslah: You seem to have found something relating to matter/energy transformation.
21:18:09 - Kit: Anyway, with what we have figured out so far, can we use that to decipher more?
21:20:42 - vance: vance tries to relate the corrosion 'weapon' to the symbols here.
21:21:43 - Kit: maybe the strange "corrosion" thet we encountered, was really some kind of metter-energy conversion? But then, where did the energy go?
21:24:36 - Methuslah: It is difficult to tell - the mathematic symbology is strange to you, as if a different system was used.
21:25:19 - Kit: I don't think this thing is originally intended as a weapon. maybe just something triggered a defensive mechanism?
21:26:14 - Kit: Well, if we cannot figure out more here, maybe we should go farther in. More data may make deciphering the script easier. And I still hope to find an "pff" switch somewhere.
21:27:37 - vance: "agreed. meeting someone would help too. but we'll have to leave kraiger unless we can bust him out of his lobster suit."
21:27:49 - Kit: I'm sure that some scientists would love to study this for a long time. But as for us, we are running out of time for us and for the fleet. Can you determine anything else vance?
21:28:10 - Kit: Kraiger, do you think we can leave you alone here for a while?
21:29:09 - Kit: I don't think we will meet "anyone" except maybe some ki system or somesuch. This place has a feel on it of having been abandoned a long time ago.
21:29:37 - vance: (figuring) 2D6: 9
21:29:38 - Methuslah: "Not much choice. I can't move."
21:29:47 - vance: "maybe."
21:29:51 - Methuslah: You see an equation that seems to correspond to power transfer.
21:29:57 - Kit: I'm pretty sure we are dealing with automated systems here, and they may be malfunctioning.
21:30:42 - vance: "well, this seems to be saying something about where the power goes. but you're right, this could take a while."
21:31:20 - vance: "it's hard to know if something is malfunctioning if you don't know the intended function."
21:31:29 - Kit: Ok, so this thing seems to somehow transfer and change matter/energy. Pretty much what we observed it do so far. Any indication of how we can turn it off?
21:31:59 - vance: vance shrugs. "meson gun." he looks again. 2D6: 6
21:32:04 - Kit: I just assume that this thing has been abandoned for a long time, and after such a long time, some malfunctions are to be expected.
21:34:30 - vance: vance has an idea. "I wonder if our explosion fed energy into it, and that's what caused it to suddenly spring up."
21:35:05 - vance: "I'll bet this tower is an energy collector."
21:35:48 - Kit: But it is also sending out very destructive balls of light. There has to be some way to turn it off.
21:36:40 - Methuslah just entered this channel
21:36:49 - Methuslah: (Sorry about that).
21:36:55 - vance: "they are destructive, but they seek energy sources. I wonder if the slow power buildup we see is the device collecting solar energy."
21:37:07 - vance: (no problem)
21:37:10 - Kit: I still puzzle about that comment on the diary of one of your colleagues, that part about someone haveing "doomed us all"
21:37:42 - Kit: There already was a, much faster energy buildup when the thing was still buried and sending out lights.
21:38:38 - vance: (I'd have to read the logs again) "perhaps they woke up something."
21:38:43 - Kit: And what of the small swarms of tiny lights we observed on the station?
21:39:18 - Kit: I wish we knew how, then maybe we could find out how to turn it off again. Can you figure out anything more here?
21:39:22 - vance: "possibly just effects, I don't know." vance tries to read something again. 2D6: 6
21:39:48 - vance: "looks like I can't follow anything else here."
21:40:11 - Kit: As far as I can tell, people coming into contact with the small lights, fell into a death like state, but it wasn't really death, it was more like an artificial stasis.
21:40:52 - Methuslah: You don't recognize anything this time.
21:40:52 - Kit: there was no cell deterioration as is usually the case in death.
21:41:18 - Kit: I believe if we can figure out what caused that, we may be able to revive them.
21:41:39 - Kit: So, if we have done everything we can here, shall we go down further?
21:41:51 - vance: "well, I'm stuck here. let's photograph this and move on."
21:42:17 - Kit: Sorry, no camera. It's out of energy.
21:43:17 - vance: (no-one uses film anymore) "anything for kraiger?"
21:43:33 - Methuslah: Kraiger speaks up, "You know, if touching the X changed things, what would the others do?"
21:44:09 - Kit: We have no idea. Just pushing them randomly might cause all kinds of havoc.
21:44:30 - Kit: With you stuck in here, I don't want to risk too much.
21:45:18 - Kit: But then... hmmm, pushing random buttons in any spaceship is sure to cause some kind of malfunction, maybe we can stop this thing this way, though it may be risky for us.
21:45:20 - vance: vance touches the lighting X. do the lights go out?
21:46:09 - Kit: Kariger, you are stuck here much more than we are. Do you want to risk random button pushing?
21:48:57 - Methuslah: The lights begin to fade, to nothing in just a minute.
21:49:51 - Kit: I just got an idea. If this thing transforms matter into energy. Maybe it also stores the patterns somehow and the stuff that has thus "disappeared" may be made to reappear if we can reverse the process? After all, several people have just disappeared. And then there was your collague who somehow appeared in the airlock, even though he had been dead for hours.
21:50:31 - Kit: Someone or something must have brought him there.
21:51:34 - Kit: I push the x again. Then study the symbols.
21:52:16 - Kit: I try to push a few of those we think we identified and watch for any changes, ready to push them again, should the changes prove to be bad.
21:52:19 - Methuslah: The lights begin to come on again.
21:52:48 - vance: "if the lights go on and off with each push, then if we set off anything by pushing other controls we should be able to shut them down again if we need to."
21:52:59 - Kit: Well, we have identified the light switch for sure. Thats a beginning.
21:53:12 - Kit: That is what I hope.
21:55:04 - vance: "well, we can probably take a few minutes to try a few things. this is after all a control center. let's give it a try."
21:55:39 - Kit: I'm on it (see below)
21:56:56 - vance: "hail mary ..."
21:58:02 - Kit: After trying the supposedly identified symbols, if nothing happens, i start trying others.
21:59:59 - Methuslah: Which one first?
22:00:34 - Kit: Well, I guess I start with the oxygen symbol.
22:01:29 - Methuslah: As you push it, doors slam shut above and below, sealing the chutes. You can hear a faint hissing noise.
22:02:17 - Kit: OK, that one was for pressurization. Do the scanners for atmosphere analysis still work?
22:05:29 - Kit: Vance, what do you thibk. Try the one for energy transfer next? maybe that will reenergize our power?
22:07:15 - vance: vance hesitates. "maybe. or maybe it will energize the gasses it just injected in here."
22:07:34 - vance: "but there wouldn't be much sense in that. sure, try it."
22:07:58 - Kit: OK, pushing the button for energy transfer next.
22:08:32 - Methuslah: They can be brought online.
22:08:55 - Kit: OK, then I'll run a quick atmosphere analysis.
22:10:39 - Methuslah: The atmosphere is about 60% oxygen, 35% argon, and a lot of trace gases. Toxic to humans, but the presusre approximats earth-normal.
22:11:38 - Kit: not very healthy, this atmosphere. OK, next button.
22:13:13 - Kit: I also push the oxygen button again to hopefully open the doors again.
22:13:37 - Methuslah: The lights begin to dim again, and the power bar begins to drain. You notice that the lettering appears to fade, except for the power transfer button. YOu suits rapidly beign to work to full function again, the power flowing back into the main batteries.
22:14:18 - vance: "well, this is bizzare."
22:15:02 - Kit: OK. Vance, we have two identified buttons left. Energy matter conversion and mater antimatter balance. Turning off the latter may have very destructive results. Shoule we try matter enegy conversion first?
22:15:10 - vance: "looks like a charging sequence. load atmosphere, then ... transform it?"
22:15:59 - vance: vance shrugs. "ok."
22:16:08 - Kit: I don't think the atmosphere is related to the others. Its just the pressurizing button for whoever build this thing. I guess they like their atmosphere with lots of oxygen and argon.
22:16:25 - vance: are the buttons in question in sequence?
22:16:29 - Kit: btw, did repushing the oxygen button open the doors again?
22:19:33 - Kit: (brb natures call)
22:20:10 - Methuslah: The atmosphere quickly begins to vanish, and the doors open.
22:21:29 - vance: "yeah, looks like an environmental control. ok, let's try some more."
22:22:08 - Kit: (back) ok, pushing the button for energy matter cinversion
22:23:09 - Methuslah: Nothing happens.
22:23:56 - Kit: Vance, can you go outside to check if there is anything there. Try to contact the fleet. We need to know if there are any more lights.
22:24:55 - Kit: (is the energy bar completely down, or back to about where it was when we entered?)
22:26:24 - Methuslah: Completely drained - and all your equipment is now fully charged. As you look, you see the bar move up slightly.
22:26:58 - Kit: Well, this thing is still recharging itself somehow.
22:27:07 - vance: (can vance get back out?)
22:27:30 - vance:
22:28:59 - Kit: Im taking out my camera again and start taking new pictures.
22:30:00 - Kit: I wonder if this thing could be used to produce hydrogen for our ship? (looking for anything that might be a hydrogen symbol)
22:30:19 - Methuslah: Make a roll, nine or more.
22:30:37 - Kit: (me or vance?) 2D6: 7
22:31:02 - Methuslah: Either, or both.
22:32:03 - Kit: Kariger, can you move agein? Maybe you should get outside to relay to us what happens there, and to contact the fleet?
22:33:10 - Kit: Perhaps this thing isn't even a weapon. It is more of a recharge device, just our systems are not compatible to the energy it wants to send us?
22:33:45 - vance: 2D6: 7
22:34:14 - vance: "it'll take a while to find out." if seven is success, vance moves out.
22:34:44 - Methuslah: Not a success - you cannot see anything.
22:36:36 - vance: (sorry - ready nine, saw six.) "guess we're stuck here. kraiger, how 'bout you try?"
22:37:15 - Kit: (I think that roll was for identifying a hydrogen sigil)
22:37:32 - Methuslah just entered this channel
22:38:53 - Kit: So who is getting outside to look if anything is happening there?
22:39:03 - vance: if we need a light, we have our own back now.
22:40:47 - vance: "we could send kraiger. it would at least keep him from being locked up in his armor."
22:41:34 - Kit: Kraiger, can you go and check outside, try to contact the fleet and keep us informed of anything happening outside?
22:42:14 - Methuslah: "Good idea. I'll radio down - don't want to get immoblized again."
22:43:32 - Methuslah: Kraiger begins to clamber up the shaft.
22:43:35 - Kit: Ok, then we'll wait with further pushing until we hear from Kraiger. I'll use the meantime to figure out more symbols.
22:44:23 - vance: for symbol recognition - 2D6: 9
22:44:57 - Kit: I could offre a 2D6: 6
22:46:35 - Methuslah: You've spotted what looks like an equation for hydrogen fusion, on a large scale.
22:47:12 - vance: "power plant?"
22:48:07 - Kit: maybe.
22:48:34 - Kit: This thing is recharging itself from somewhere. Maybe this will turn it off.
22:48:44 - vance: "if they have anti-matter, do they need fusion?"
22:49:37 - Kit: Maybe they use both?
22:49:57 - Kit: But IF they have fusion, they must have fuel somewhere.
22:50:40 - vance: "presumably. shall we continue our button pushing?"
22:51:36 - Kit: let's wait until we hear from Kraiger. I'd like to know if we can get a message from the fleet.
22:52:24 - vance: "good idea." vance cycles his eye implant, looking for IR items of interest.
22:54:41 - Methuslah: "Nothing. Communications don't seem to be working."
22:55:49 - Kit: Dammned. Can you see anything outside Kraiger?
22:56:29 - Methuslah: Just desert and sky.
22:57:09 - Kit: OK, we don't know if pushing this last button did anything. Lets try the one for hydrogen fusion next?
22:58:09 - vance: "erp. ok. kraiger, heads up, the good baroness is pushing the hydrogen fusion button."
22:58:33 - Kit: pushing
22:58:57 - Kit: And please Vance, call me Kit, the title is just so cumbersome.
22:59:12 - Methuslah: Suddenly, the power bar begins to rising. The sunlight, which previously had been shining down the shfat, begins to fade, as though a cloud is passing across it. Kraiger yells down to you...
22:59:21 - Methuslah: "The Sun's gone dark!"
22:59:26 - Methuslah: More, next week...
22:59:32 - Kit: pushing again quickly!
23:00:12 - Kit: the sun has gone dark? don't tell me we have just turned the sun off. That is simply ridiculous.
23:00:22 - Methuslah: Sorry - more next week....
23:00:24 - Kit: darn cliffhangers.
23:01:39 - Kit: so Meth, how close are we to a solution? or are we moving away?
23:03:14 - Methuslah: Fairly close. I'll hint that it is connected with the instrumentation in this room and the ones below. And you are right about the lights being connected with this place.
23:04:09 - Kit: darn, so close and yet another cliffhanger! Evil GM
23:04:56 - Methuslah: Well, see you next week. Have a good week!
23:05:25 - Kit: See you next week then. I hope Kraiger will be around then.