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[hr][hr] [color=ffc8e4]"There is a risssk inherent in every action,"[/color] said Nine, taking in and releasing a deep breath. [color=ffc8e4]"But continuing from here leaves more variables in our hands than ressstarting would."[/color]

"More variables," echoed Five and and Seven. "In our hands," added Ten.

It took a moment for her eyes to settle on Ingrid's. [color=ffc8e4]"We will... manage,[/color] she assured the human. [color=ffc8e4]"And now there is no running from our actions. Our research will ssspark much-needed change in our society or elssse they will have revealed themselves to be fools."[/color]

[color=45B08C]"Much needed change,"[/color] Five repeated.

[color=fff79a]"We will have to make it ssso,"[/color] agreed Ten. [color=fff79a]"Our backs are against the wall."[/color]

[color=ff7f7f]"Yesss,"[/color] said Seven, [color=ff7f7f]"but I fear the time for discussion has passssed. We have perhaps twenty minutes before the anomaly is detected."[/color] All three of her siblings affirmed these words and she regarded the humans and yasoi. [color=ff7f7f]"You should follow me. We are headed for the transport room. Ten,"[/color] she barked, [color=ff7f7f]"Move ahead. Prep. We will choose the destination as we arrive."[/color]

[color=fff79a]"Move ahead,"[/color] repeated Ten, [color=fff79a]"Prep."[/color] She nodded and glanced at the half-dozen non-sirrahi. [color=fff79a]"I will see you soon."[/color] Then, the youngest sister leaned forward until her upper body was near-parallel with the ground and took off at what must've been a run for a sirrahi.

The others hurried through the doorway, the remaining three reptilians leaning forward as well, the faster that they went. There were other doors, and Seven used a little card like the one they'd seen before to open these. A couple of rooms flashed by similar to their own and they realized that they could still access their magic when Ismette used it to enhance her sprint. She seemed... increasingly out of sorts in the narrow, dim hallway, and eager to get out. 

Penny, struggling at the back, pulled liberally on the Gift to catch up, though she was red-faced. The underground base seemed like an endless labyrinth of rooms, tunnels, laboratories, and things that served the same purpose as staircases, but were not. The sirrahi slithered up and down them, the humans took them cautiously, and the one yasoi in the group leapt them. It was... mostly a blur, but Nine, talkative by nature as she was, explained what she could of the purpose of their research. [color=ffc8e4]"We are supposed to fail,"[/color] she said, nearly breathless, [color=ffc8e4]"Or [i]succeed[/i], from a certain point of view."[/color] Thirty seconds passed in silence. [color=ffc8e4]"We lied to you about a lot, but the debate between factions was truth... of a sort."[/color]

[color=45B08C]"Of a sort,"[/color] confirmed Five.

[color=ffc8e4]"We were... skeptical,"[/color] she admitted, [color=ffc8e4]"about your peoples, about your violence, about many things."[/color] She paused as they descended another set of sirrahi 'stairs'. [color=ffc8e4]"As a university field research team, we were expected to find evidence to support our professor's hypothesis."[/color]

[color=ff7f7f]"Expected to find it,"[/color] Seven repeated absently, whipping around a balustrade.

[color=ffc8e4]"Though they may simulate otherwise, empathetic behaviour in humans and yasoi decreases rapidly as potential recipient species become more evolutionarily distant."[/color]

[color=45B08C]"Our data shows only a weak correlation, though it is admittedly anecdotal,"[/color] added Five.

[color=ffc8e4]"And not everything is quantifiable data,"[/color] Nine countered. [color=ffc8e4]"Not everything has hard, objective conclusionsss."[/color] She glanced Ingrid's way. [color=ffc8e4]"What, even is love? What is empathy? Prosssocial behaviours? Adaptive ones?"[/color] She shook her head. [color=ffc8e4]"It is not adaptive to do many of the things we do in the name of emotion, and yet we do them."[/color] Momentarily, she drew a finger to her lips. [color=ffc8e4]Surely, we cannot pathologize these all. [i]Feeling [/i]mussst have a place alongside thinking. Love must -"[/color]

Seven held a hand up and they came to a stop at a door. [color=ff7f7f]"Ssstirring, sissster,[/color] she said shortly. [color=ff7f7f]"But from my experience...[/color] She held her card up to the lock mechanism of a heavy set of double doors, and then punched in a series of numbers on a keypad. [color=ff7f7f]"Simple reward is still the best predictor of behaviour, and the best incentive toward desired ones."[/color] Like the smaller door in their room, these ones slid into the walls to either side, automatically, with nobody to work them. Only, this time, the students could feel the energies around them: kinetic, a strange form of magnetic, chemical, and arcane. There were... almost [i]veins [/i]of energy that stretched behind the walls.

That was not what drew the attention of many. It was a vast storage room, full of shelving, that they were in. A series of long, tubular lamps... or not really lamps so much as sterile white glowing tubes lit up, one by one along the ceiling. Some shelves contained books, others, apparatus. There were those stocked with cables, screens, weapons, laboratory equipment, clothing and bags. Off to one side were large devices with wheels, a couple with belts around their wheels, and those that seemed almost like dragonflies, with odd, narrow blades folded above them. At the far end was a ramp leading to a raised platform. There were a pair of wide rectangular shapes. Their construction seemed markedly different from the other things in the room: both more technologically advances and... somehow more [i]ancient.[/i] Ten waved from that direction, hurrying over. [color=fff79a]"You were quick!"[/color] she exclaimed. [color=fff79a]"I barely had time to set up, but we're ready to run: ten seconds at full power. I don't wanna risk anymore."[/color]

Seven had a wristwatch. She checked it. [color=ff7f7f]"Not that quick,"[/color] she corrected, but then she softened at Nine's disapproving look. [color=ff7f7f]"And, um, thank you for running ahead. You must be winded."[/color]

[color=fff79a]"Ya don't say,"[/color] teased Ten.

[color=ffc8e4]"Sister,"[/color] began Nine, voice gentle and accommodating.

[color=ff7f7f]"Sister,"[/color] Seven replied.

[color=fff79a]"Sister."[/color]

[color=45B08C]"Sister."[/color] It was almost good-naturedly mocking.

[color=ffc8e4]"In keeping with your findings, I would like to provide these people with a reward."[/color] She gestured towards the six. [color=ffc8e4]"I think, as well, we owe them some compensation from an ethical standpoint. You know what an abyss this whole operation has become by that metric."[/color]

[color=fff79a]"Abyss."[/color]

[color=45B08C]"By that metric."[/color]

Seven pursed her lips, eyes flicking about the others. She straightened and checked her watch again. [color=ff7f7f]"You have precisely four minutes,"[/color] she allowed, [color=ff7f7f]"and no tech that would break the first protocol."[/color]

Nine saluted. 

[color=fff79a]"Wait!"[/color] yelped Ten, cutting in. [color=fff79a]"Before you start, I need to know where you'll be going! I have to input the coordinates."[/color]

Ismette had little idea of what the sirrahi meant by 'inputting coordinates', but she understood that they needed a location. It was she and Wvysen who had been entrusted with the keys to their extraction, and now only the yasoi remained. Hugo had said something about meeting up with the other groups at a place in the Torragonese High Desert called San Agustin. [color=6ecff6]"Right,"[/color] she said. [color=6ecff6]"I have that information."[/color] She nodded at the others. [color=6ecff6]"I can come with you to wherever you need to... input coordinates. As for a reward,"[/color] she decided, half-twisting. She shrugged. [color=6ecff6]"I have long been on a journey to learn Temporal Magic. I will take any resources you have on the subject: anything that might help me cure my people if it isn't too much trouble."[/color]

[color=ff7f7f]"Do you judge her trustworthy?"[/color] asked Seven, eyes narrowing in Nine's direction.

The slightly younger sister glanced at the six mammals. She nodded, while making an odd gesture with her fingers. [color=ffc8e4]"I trust... all of them, in fact."[/color]

[color=ff7f7f]"Good,[/color] agreed Seven, eyes finding the group. [color=ff7f7f]"Then that can be... arranged."[/color] With a nod, Ismette pivoted on her heel and hurried off with Ten towards the raised section at the end of the warehouse. Meanwhile, Ingrid, Desmond, Trypano, Benny, and Penny were left to make their requests and retrieve their items. Five, Seven, and Nine accompanied them.

There was not much time, but Nine made a point of accompanying first Desmond, and then Ingrid, while Seven took Trypano and Penny, and Five was left with Benedetto.

The elder sister kept matters professional. [color=ff7f7f]"I am here, as well, should you have a final question or, perhaps, two."[/color] She folded her hands behind her back. [color=ff7f7f]"I would like to impress upon you that what we are entrusting you with could lead to calamity should it fall into the wrong hands. Use it well, wisely, and sparingly."[/color]

The younger, however, was another matter altogether. [color=ffc8e4]"Goodbye, Violence Stick!"[/color] Unbidden, she threw her arms around Desmond, and began coiling too. [color=ffc8e4]"I will miss you dearly,"[/color] she wept, [color=ffc8e4]"And your ironically wonderful food."[/color] She squeezed a bit harder. [color=ffc8e4]"I am so so so so sssooo sorry for my deceit, but I really [i]do[/i] like you, and..."[/color] She uncoiled, partially, wiping away a few snakey tears and raising a backpack strapped to some of her lower clothing up to arm level. She unzipped it and took a book out, to add to the one she had already given him. It was titled, [i]Elsen's Encyclopedia of the Human World[/i], and she thumped its cover gently as she pressed it into his hands. [color=ffc8e4]"I hope that you will always be as happy in life as you are in your picture here."[/color] She sniffed. [color=ffc8e4]"Promise me you will open it after you go, for a war feeling and a good memory."[/color] She backed up a little. [color=ffc8e4]"Goodbye, my friend, and thank you for teaching me much more than I taught [i]you[/i]."[/color]

Then, she was with Ingrid, and she reached out and took the tall, pretty girl's hand as they found what she was looking for. [color=ffc8e4]"I do not think time is uniform, Ingrid."[/color] Arms around the human, she rested her chin on Ingrid's shoulder. [color=ffc8e4]"It seemed so ssslow before, when we spent time together, like it would never end."[/color] She squeezed her eyelids shut, tears trickling down her cheeks. [color=ffc8e4]"But now it ssseems all so fast."[/color] She sniffed. [color=ffc8e4]"Perhaps that is a form of temporal magic."[/color] It was a sad, weak laugh. [color=ffc8e4]"Thank you,[/color] she breathed, [color=ffc8e4]"for changing me: for making me better. And sorry,"[/color] she continued, [color=ffc8e4]"for the dissshonest circumstances we met under."[/color] There was a pause. [color=ffc8e4]"It was real, though: all of the rest of it."[/color] 

When Ingrid tried to address her as 'Nine', she backed up slightly and shook her head. [color=ffc8e4]"That is a more formal name, and one for my sssiblings. You can call me Sileen."[/color] She smiled: a small, uncertain one that did not open her jaw in the way that had so unnerved her guests at first. A blush came to her strange, reptilian cheeks and her hands did not yet leave Ingrid's shoulders.

Meanwhile, Seven was guiding Tyrpano and Penny back out of the shelves, each laden with items of their choosing and the former receiving a caution not ignore the psychological, emotional, and ethical impacts of her future research. It was only as good as the positive impact that it would have, weighed against the benefits, and was only as applicable as it was well-received. Those were lessons hard-learned. Then, her watch let out a strange... beeping noise of the variety that the humans and yasoi had come to expect. She held it up. [color=ff7f7f]"That is all the time we have,"[/color] she announced, twisting on the spot and rising up to look down on the others. [color=ff7f7f]"Any more is a risk we can't afford."[/color] She motioned in the direction of the great rectangles, and, as people came to a stop, still holing their weapons and gear, she explained to them that they would be stepping through. 

[color=ffc8e4]"It looks terrifying when they're on,"[/color] said Nine, [color=ffc8e4]"but it's safe, I promise. I've traveled through them dozens of times."[/color] 

[color=fff79a]"You um... you need to line up in front of the one on the left and be ready to go,"[/color] cautioned Ten. [color=fff79a]"Once I give it power, you have only ten seconds to step through."[/color] She paused and blinked. [color=fff79a]"I know I haven't become as... close with you as my sister,"[/color] she admitted, [color=fff79a]"But it was a pleasure, a learning experience, and... honestly pretty fun at times. Be safe,"[/color] she wished, [color=fff79a]"and be well."[/color]

[color=45B08C]"Best of luck,"[/color] said Five, simply. He nodded and crossed his arms. [color=45B08C]"It was real or... er... you know what I mean."[/color]

[color=ff7f7f]"From my experience, there is no such thing as 'luck',"[/color] sneered Seven, [color=ff7f7f]"only probability. Be smart,"[/color] she wished, [color=ff7f7f]"maximize your odds."[/color]

[color=45B08C]"From [i]my[/i] experience..."[/color] mimicked Five, voice mocking, but then Ten cut in. [color=fff79a]"Yeah, nope. That's enough of that."[/color] She rolled her eyes and pulled a lever. [color=fff79a]"Way to spoil the sendoff, dingus!"[/color]

One of the rectangles lit up: a hissing, swirling vortex of energetic waves and static. The sheer amount of power going into and bleeding out from it was phenomenal: almost overwhelming. [color=fff79a]"Through!"[/color] called Ten, [color=fff79a]"Go through, [i]quickly[/i]!"[/color]

But Sileen was on the platform with them, as the time counted down past eight and then seven. Ismette hesitated, until Benny shoved her through with a certain glee, and he leaped in after. The sirrahi grabbed Ingrid, though. She grabbed her and kissed her with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, as the timer passed four, three, and two. Then, they separated suddenly, Sileen pushing her through. The last thing that the human saw was the sirrahi's wink. She blinked and she was on the other side.

[hr][hr]
[hider=Arrival]It was Benedetto who spoke first. [color=00a99d]"Holy fuck,"[/color] he cursed, gazing out from the top of a vast desert plateau. [color=00a99d]"Where the hell are we?"[/color]

Below them, the rock tumbled into sand which seemed to stretch on forever, but there were things much more immediate to draw the eye. [color=f7976a]"Oh whoa,"[/color] exclaimed Penny, rifling through the backpack she, like all of the others, had been given as she was preparing to leave, [color=f7976a]"It's like... full of useful things: a compass, a water flask, clothing..."[/color]

[color=00a99d]"Penny,"[/color] said Benedetto, with an odd lack of malice, [color=00a99d]"Shut the fuck up and look."[/color]

Gathering her crutch with a scowl, she stood and did so. Below them was an army of some two to four thousand, dust rising from its path, armour shimmering in the early morning sun. It was headed towards a walled compound in the near distance, soon to be between them and the only settlement in sight.

Before the group could even begin to formulate a plan, however, there was a screeching roar overhead, and a great, arrowlike shadow. As Ismette peered up, her eyes widened. There were dragons - froabases, she remembered - circling on the thermals: four of them and, as she watched, one, and then another took notice of the new arrivals.[/hider]
[hr][hr]
[hider=Action Opportunities]1) Feel free to play out any tech, personal, spatial, or other observations you might have during their flight.

2) gaps have been left in conversation pieces. You are encouraged to fill these in with thought, word, and action.

3) What item did you choose? What did you think of it? If they were related, you may have received a couple of small supplementary items as well.

4) Last kiss from Sileen? Was there more than one behind the shelves?

5) You have your weapons, still! You may need them.

6) Just what is going on below you? Should you make your way to the refuge or the army? Who are the good guys here and, more importantly, who's likely to come out on top?

7) Four froabases are headed your way. These are voracious, fire-breathing predators, five to nine meters long. They are highly resistant to internal tampering with the Gift. Run, fight, or hide? Good luck![/hider]
[hr][hr]
[hider=Meanwhile...][color=0054a6]"So uh... you ever see those kids from the academy again?"[/color] Amelea asked. Busy rolling tobacco, Xavier shook his head. He shrugged and let out a small bark of laughter. [color=ec008c]"Eh, they went into the cave."[/color] Finished, he struck a match to light it and took a drag. [color=ec008c]"Nobody ever comes out of that cave. That's why you sealed it up, didn't you?"[/color]

The Pirate Queen of Segona gave a crooked grin and a shrug of her own. [color=0054a6]"That [i]is[/i] why I had it sealed up,"[/color] she confirmed, flipping a coin back and forth between her fingers.

[color=ec008c]"Shame about them,"[/color] Xavier remarked, letting out a puff of smoke. It lingered in the air. [color=ec008c]"A couple were useful kids."[/color] He furrowed his brow after a moment, however, a stray thought nagging at him. [color=ec008c]"Say,"[/color] he wondered, [color=ec008c]"If you knew, why'd you let them in there?"[/color]

Amelea answered by reaching down into the chest full of gold coins beside her. She arched an eyebrow. [color=0054a6]"You wanna be the one to pay them?"[/color] she questioned, letting a few coins fall in a trickle. They landed with that 'clink, clink, clink' sound that she loved [i]so[/i] much.

The old scoundrel made a face and Amelea grinned. [color=0054a6]"Didn't think so."[/color] She kicked her feet up on a second chest and lit up cigar of her own. The two pirates laughed, and smoked, and laughed some more.

The End.[/hider]