Imperial Fringe Online Game Chat Session Log February 2nd 2004

20:37:09 - Kit: I've been thinking about a name for our team. I've come up with some ideas, some more, some less serious.
20:37:31 - Kit: ITS - imperial trouble shooters
20:37:41 - Kit: IMT - imperiam miracle team
20:37:49 - Kit: IMW - imperial miracle workers
20:37:53 - Kit: Edgewalkers
20:38:00 - Kit: Edgeriders
20:38:05 - Kit: Razorwalkers
20:38:13 - Kit: WWEGTE - will we ever get to egryn
20:38:19 - Kit: ITAFMCE - impossible things are free miracles cost extra
20:38:33 - Methuslah: I like that one.
20:38:36 - Kit: I hope the others have some better ideas
20:38:48 - Kit: which one was that one?
20:41:17 - Methuslah: Edgewalkers - but Edgeriders sounds just as good. Epic.
20:42:42 - Kit: now where are the others? Kraiger said he'd be late, but vance?
20:46:42 - Methuslah: No idea. We'll start at ten past nine.
20:47:18 - Kit: ok
20:58:22 - Kraiger: I'm baaaack
20:59:17 - Kit: where have you hidden Vance?
20:59:54 - Kraiger: (Glancing around) he's not here anywhere!
21:00:14 - Methuslah: Hello!
21:00:25 - Kit: And, do you have a few good ideas for a team name?
21:01:25 - Kraiger: Ummm, lemme think...
21:05:06 - Kraiger just entered this channel
21:05:35 - Kraiger: Don't mind me, I'm multi-tasking (working on my car), but ready when you guys are...
21:06:15 - Kit: I'm ready any time.
21:07:29 - Methuslah: Shall we give Vance five more minutes?
21:07:40 - Kit: fine with me
21:18:55 - Kit: looks like we'll have to go without Vance tonight. Shall we start?
21:19:44 - Kraiger: '0OK
21:19:46 - Methuslah: OK. As I recall, you had just landed on the ice, and you saw an arrow of light heading for you...
21:20:42 - Kit: If I remember correctly, the ship was powered down, Kraiger, can you try to distract it with an energy charge some distance away from us?
21:21:38 - Kraiger: "Incoming!" (Kraiger prepares his PGMP, sighting at some geographic feature 500m away...
21:22:00 - Kit: Everyone else away from the ship. Scatter if possible and then take cover. Maybe it will miss us, like the last time that we landed.
21:22:38 - Methuslah just entered this channel
21:22:53 - Methuslah: There is a large rock outcrop - will that do? Ship had powered down.
21:23:46 - Kit: How long would it take to rig up some kind of energy beacon that could send modulated signals. A modified signal becon maybe. Some manner in which we could try to send signals to the lights that might enable us to come to some kind of communiction?
21:23:51 - Kraiger: Yup, target the rocks, and let fly~ - 2D6: 9
21:27:45 - Kraiger just entered this channel
21:28:19 - Kraiger just entered this channel
21:30:02 - Kraiger: Still there?
21:30:16 - Kit: I'm still here, I don't know about our gm?
21:30:42 - Methuslah: Sorry - got called away for a minute.
21:31:07 - Methuslah: The rocks go up in a convincing explosion, melting the lice and send a shower of water vapour into the air. Ninety secords to recharge.
21:31:21 - Methuslah: Very little time at all, if you powered up the ship.
21:32:16 - Kit: the idea is to hide, so we'll keep the ship powered down until we see what the light is doing.
21:32:52 - Kit: Passive scan of the light arrow if it comes close enough for that.
21:37:12 - Methuslah: Nothing revealed by the passive scan - just the presence of an intense magneticfield.
21:37:36 - Methuslah: Light is just hovering.
21:39:04 - Kit: intense magnetic field? That is something new. waiting for a few minutes. Is the light still just hovering?
21:39:53 - Kit: Do we have anything on board that could be used to disrup a magnetic field of such a strength?
21:40:34 - Kit: Another magnetic field maybe, or a gravitational field? The ship has artificial gravity, maybe those modules could be used in some way?
21:41:27 - Kit: Is there any kind of variation in the megnetic field or in the light intensity? Anything that could be interpreted as some kind of communiction?
21:41:48 - Methuslah: STill just hovering, and your artificial gravity would serve to interrupt a magnetic field - but the conversion would be tricky, and you'd ruin the system.
21:41:56 - Kit: How close is the light now.
21:44:04 - Methuslah: About a mile, in the directio no fht cloud of water vapour.
21:45:06 - Kit: I'll move slowly into the ship, gather up whatever materials I need to rig up a small signal beacon, maybe a bright lamp will do. I'll take a long cable, place the beacon some distance away from the ship, attach the cable and trail it back into cover. Then I'll attach a control unit (small computer) so that I can control the signal beacon from some distance away. (500 meters).
21:45:40 - Methuslah: OK. That takes you about five minutes - in that time the light holds position.
21:46:20 - Kit: Then I'll prepare a signaling pattern. First a simple pattern that counts from 1 to 10, then back. Then one that spells out the first few prime numbers etc.. I want to establish a mathematical pattern and see how the light reacts.
21:46:59 - Kit: The basic idea is to see if we can, based on the mathematical formula we discovered in the pyramid, establish some kind of communication.
21:47:40 - Kit: If the light eats the beacon, then at least we'll be far enough away. How big is the light anyway?
21:48:32 - Methuslah: Hard to tell - perhaps fifty meters across.
21:48:39 - Kit: Kraiger, If I am correct, you know your way around a computer. Can you help me with devising some kind of code?
21:49:02 - Kit: I'll also keep a close eye on the scanner to see if the light starts to emit any kind of signal.
21:54:08 - Kraiger: I"I know how to turn computers on and off, but thats about it" (comp-0)
21:55:00 - Kit: So, if you were a strange alien light, what sequence would turn you off?
21:55:25 - Kit: Vance? Any idea?
21:55:41 - Kit: You did figure out some of the symbols in the pyramid?
21:57:50 - Kit: So does the light show any reaction to the beacon at all?
21:58:19 - Methuslah: "It's all yours, Kit."
21:58:37 - Methuslah: The light is starting to move up and down. It is pulsing in place, copying the signals.
21:59:20 - Kit: That at least is some kind of reaction. I'll try a few variants, to see, if the light is copying everything.
22:01:03 - Kit: Is the light only copying the signal, or does it transmit some kind of different "answer" as well?
22:01:17 - Methuslah: It just copies everything you are doing.
22:02:09 - Kit: OK, for something else. Based on what i deciphered in the pyramid, I try to send a "power down" signal to the light, then turn the beacon off.
22:03:37 - Kit: That reaction confirms my analysis, that these lights are some kind of automated systems. Not really intelligent, but programmed to react in a certain manner to certain stimuli. Now if we can only figure out how to send the right commands to them.
22:04:58 - Methuslah: The light slowly begins to dim, and finally pops out.
22:05:08 - Kit: Bingo.
22:05:30 - Kit: Now all we have to do is to transmit the same signal to all the other lights!
22:05:49 - Kit: And send the message out to the fleet!
22:06:39 - Kit: Checking my scanner. Any trace of the light left? Some kind of energy or matter that is left where the light just disappeared?
22:07:17 - Methuslah: NOthing.
22:08:07 - Kit: OK, lets fire up the converter and get the ship fueled. I'll prepare some way in which we can send the Power down signal from the ship to any lights we might encounter.
22:08:46 - Kit: Kraiger, you keep watch for any other lights that might show up, ok?
22:09:08 - Methuslah: You'll haev to power-up the ship to refuel it - engineering check, 5 or more.
22:09:27 - Kit: 2D6: 5
22:10:25 - Methuslah: Ship powered up. Recharge will take forty-five minutes.
22:10:31 - Kit: (I guess Kit is getting tired again, Do I still have some coffee in the canteen?)
22:11:42 - Kit: I'll use the spare time to prepare the ship for transmitting the "power down" signal. aybe the stealth field emitters can be used, or we can use any lights the ship might have.
22:12:31 - Kit: I'll also prepare a transmission of our discovery to be sent out to the fleet and start transmitting it as soon as possible, even if we do not get an answer from the fleet.
22:13:24 - Kit: Kraiger, any sign of other lights?
22:14:13 - Kit: (I'll get vance to help shovel snow into the converter )
22:15:18 - Methuslah: The time passes quickly, but with three minutes to go you pick up five blips on the radar, coming from all directions at high speed.
22:15:40 - Kit: Lights or something else?
22:15:55 - Kit: Did the lights show up on radar before?
22:16:37 - Kit: Am I ready with installing the "signal transmitter" on the ship?
22:17:45 - Kit: Would it be possible to power down the ship before the blips arrive?
22:18:13 - Methuslah: You can - but you will not be fully refulled. Engineering - 6 or more.
22:18:45 - Kit: powering down, we can always power up and continue refueling later, am i correct?
22:19:06 - Kit: 2D6: 9
22:19:40 - Kit: Activating the remote beacon again and starting with the counting pattern.
22:21:03 - Kit: Now lets see if this works again.
22:22:25 - Kit: Kraiger, prepare for another distraction, should the becon not work.
22:22:34 - Methuslah: Power-down complete.
22:22:59 - Kit: Watching the blips on the scanner. Lights?
22:25:12 - Methuslah: Holding position at two miles distance.
22:25:43 - Kit: did they stop as soon as we powered down the ship?
22:26:57 - Methuslah: Yes.
22:27:29 - Kit: OK, is the beacon strong enough that the signal can reach them, or do I need a stronger beacon for that?
22:30:13 - Kit: The lights didn't react to movement on the ground before and two miles isn't too far, maybe I can simply move the beacon closer to a light and then start to send out the signal. How long would it take to get within 1 mile of a light in this terrain (that was the distance the other light recated)?
22:31:14 - Methuslah: About a quarter of an hour. Note that the fleet only has about that long.
22:31:58 - Kit: Am I ready with installing the (supposedly stronger) signal beacon on the ship?
22:35:19 - Kit: I try to think of a way to include a "turne EVERYTHING off" in the transmitted signal and include that in the programming.
22:36:42 - Methuslah: That is ready.
22:36:58 - Kit: OK, guys, I do not know if the lights will react to the signal in the same manner, if there is another strong energy signal (like a powered up ship) around. We don't have much time. I'm willing to give it a try and risk the lights coming for our ship again. What about you? Any other suggestions?
22:37:04 - Methuslah: Without a full language translation, you're stuck with the messages you have worked out.
22:38:08 - Kit: Preparing to power the ship up again and immediately activate the "turn off" transmitter. Unless someone else has a better idea.
22:38:44 - Kit: We are not fully fueled up, but is it enough to take off, escape orbit and reach the fleet or land again for another refuel?
22:40:20 - Kraiger: (Soory - 'bout - thet - back just in time!)
22:41:01 - Methuslah: Just enough for that.
22:41:11 - Methuslah: Power-up Engineering - 5 or more.
22:41:25 - Kit: 2D6: 7
22:41:46 - Methuslah: Ship ready for takeoff.
22:41:58 - Methuslah: Pilot-6 for a launch. The arrows are headign for you.
22:42:07 - Kit: Powering up, starting to transmit signal, and hoping for the best. "Everyone buckle in, lets hope this works as planned!"
22:42:19 - Kit: 2D6: 8
22:43:19 - Kraiger: "Straping in"
22:43:21 - Methuslah: As you lift from the ice cap, sending clouds of vapour flying in all directions, The arrows dart up and chase after you. As you struggle to gain height, they gain speed, and begin to close.......
22:43:25 - Methuslah: More, next week....
22:43:45 - Kit: Any reaction to the signal at all?
22:43:55 - Kraiger: Wheeeee! :0->
22:44:12 - Kit: aw, crap. How long are you going to keep us on the cliff with lights on our tail?
22:44:57 - Kraiger: heh-heh - see you next week!
22:45:45 - Kit: hopefully with vance. Say Kraiger, what do you think of the name Edgeriders, or have you thought up another idea?
22:45:52 - Methuslah: Seven days.
22:46:17 - Kit: you mean ANOTHER seven days eh? That one is getting old
22:46:27 - Kraiger: Hmm, edgeriders. Not bad...