Cath

The Cradle

They both made a lot of sense, Freyr thought, as she studied them over the rim of her cup. They hadn’t been involved with the Cradle their whole lives, and so brought a fresh perspective that the Human team evidently were lacking at present. “Hmm, yes. That does make a worrying amount of sense, chaps.” Dr Wetherall took his AR glasses off and began cleaning them on his lab coat.

“That also makes this investigation a lot more complicated.” Dr Kim cut back in. “One doesn’t simply go to Earth and start asking questions. You know how they get - we’d be locked up in some gulag before you can say ‘don’t mention the war!’. Game over for us.”

“We might have more luck with other species first. I seem to remember a widespread on this star map the Navigator showed me…” Freyr closed her eyes and pinched her cheeks together, trying to recall what she’d seen; it was still so hazy. “It was tracking its colleagues before it crashed into Rothia, but there were pieces missing…anyway, my point is the vector could include all the civilisations in our cluster, and more."

The Cradle

The rest of the conference hall hung on Vreta’s words, including Freyr, who blew softly on her second coffee of the day. When he mentioned the Institute, she glanced through the steam at the black-clad observers standing to one side of the room. She thought they were regarding the Rothian with a silent intensity, hands folded behind their backs.

There was more stunned silence when Vreta had finished, so Freyr bit her lip and jumped in. “Did the Navigator have any more information about where we can find its other colleagues? They may hold more information about the Hegemon, unless they’re in even worse condition.”

“Well hold on, my dear. Isn’t Vreta’Sori suggesting one of them is on Earth? Are you?” Dr Wetherall peered over his AR specs at Vreta. “What you say implies that Humans have somehow come to live in proximity of two alien beings from another galaxy. The odds of that seem rather far fetched, don’t you think?”

Song Reference time

It's just past 8 and I'm feeling young and reckless
The ribbon on my wrist says, "do not open before Christmas"

The Cradle

“We were trying to communicate with the object all through the recoupling. It didn’t respond…” Another researcher replied, ignoring the Rothian’s evacuation assurances. As per usual, Freyr’s eyes were darting all around the room, as they were all sat apart. A fair few sets of eyes landed back on her and Vreta, and she realised they were still waiting for a proper account of what happened inside the Cradle.

“The Navigator, as it's called, did seem more focused on internal struggles when we met it.” Freyr gestured to Vreta. “We know that the Cradle does absorb signals we point at it via the Vault, so it may just be a case of patiently waiting… Vreta’Sori, do you want to go through again what you discussed in your meeting with the entity? There may be something hidden that the wider group will pick up on.”

The Cradle

“Babylon should be evacuated.” A researcher from the sub-team tasked with learning about external influences from the object. He swivelled in his chair to address Nirann directly. “The Cradle has a historic integration with the stratum of the biosphere. We still don’t know enough about why this relationship exists - it's too dangerous to have millions of people inside.”

“That is our formal recommendation to the government. It's up to them how to proceed, as it's obviously not in our remit.” Freyr offered, then also turned to Nirann. “Locking down the Vault seems like a good move. But, that is an inflexible solution. How long would it take to reinstate automatic control if we removed it?” Freyr threw the question out to the room, and Dr Wetherall replied.

“Erm, a while? Everything is connected, so it wouldn’t be a case of flicking some switch.”

“So a problem arises if we find one of the Navigator’s colleagues and need to save them as well. Not an insurmountable problem, but one to put in the report.” Freyr kissed her teeth, weighing everything up in her head, arms crossed and brow furrowed.

Vreta’s remark silenced the room. Eventually it was Dr Kim who responded, standing up to one side of the room. “We brought it here foremost to save its life. We’re ensuring its own safety as well as ours by taking protective measures.

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar growled and turned around when she heard Vael cut through the vines. The rest of the team were framed in the dark by the cave opening behind them. Sheets of rain gyrated in the air, buffeted by howling wind. The noise from outside was deafening, but Tar still heard a gentle *puff* from nearby. “The spores released if you cut are toxic, and might grow one of these inside of you.”

As her eyes adjusted to the gloom and the fog cleared for a moment, Tar realised this cave was familiar to her. The vines and overgrowth was new, but the way the treeline of the basin below failed to hide a mountain range far in the distance - jagged basalt peaks with sloping plateaus. That was ingrained in her memory. "I have been here before, as a child!" Tar failed to completely suppress her excitement, despite the danger they were now in.

"I think this cave winds up the mountain, to a high ridge. If we want to make progress without the spectre, we could take that route. It will probably mean killing the Tengmaa bulb though - not a task I take lightly. We'll need explosives and fire." Tar noticed a bit more movement in the boughs, and imagined just how much chaos they could cause if this plant realised it was under attack. The end of a thin vine tickled along the top of her foot, and she carefully but firmly lifted her leg to step on it.

The Cradle

“We will try our best to avoid disappointing you.” Skopec chuckled drily. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’d best go and help coordinate. You should begin your report - just ensure you record everything securely.” With that, the Sergeant turned and jogged away, making almost no noise. “Well…” Freyr began. “He seems nice. Come along. We should get this session started. There’ll be time for sushi later.” They were alone in the food court now, with the sub-team that had been perched by the food conveyor belt making their way into the conference hall.

---

“We think Navigator was able to exploit quite a simple flaw in the holding area system to open the door. After probing for a bit, presumably to learn about its obstacle, It temporarily convinced the internal sensory grid that it essentially didn’t exist.”

Dr Wetherall stood by his seat in the auditorium, pointing to part of a technical hologram of the Vault’s holding bay. His finger translated into a red laser point that skimmed over a variety of sensors marked inside the space. The rest of the scientists and some Institute observers were dotted around the hall in various states of entrancement. Freyr stood near the back, as was customary for her in these sessions.

“I learned today that the default for some forty years has been to leave that door open so we can use the equipment inside it on the Cradle. This meant once the Navigator blinked from existence, the doors came out of lockdown and could be hacked. The AI controller couldn’t code a fix fast enough, which is quite astonishing in itself. We’re talking nanoseconds here.” He licked his chapped, wrinkly lips.

“How can we be sure that little maneuver can’t work in reverse too?” Someone asked in the crowd. The feedback sessions always included questions, to stimulate debate and explore other avenues.

“We made the Vault team aware of our supposition before we left. And I believe they tasked the controller with auditing the process to look for other vulnerabilities. It's difficult to stomach the fact that this pinnacle of Outreman engineering was manipulated in such a way. But there was always going to be the possibility of new approaches no one had considered.”

The Cradle

Skopec laughed throatily, playfully slapping Vreta’s shoulder. Freyr realised they were pretty much the same size, when viewed close together. “You’re a funny one! No. We can’t have everyone talking at once - we are in a blackout. Do you understand? It's dangerous right now. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll be able to do more.”

“I need you to join this feedback session anyway.” Freyr explained, rounding on the Rothian. “You were there with me - it seems like you might even remember more. That’s the most important task right now, piecing together what has happened. We’ll need to file an official report soon.”

Star Wars: Shattered Galaxy

Ooh, I like the idea! Colour me interested. Are you thinking of splitting us off in groups or throwing us all together?

The Cradle

“They have a right to be angry. We haven’t exactly been upfront with them about things.” Freyr muttered, still annoyed at Vreta. She looked over, and despite her annoyance sighed when she spotted him looking dismayed at his drink. “Put some milk and sugar into it.” She whispered, nodding towards the lizard’s steaming coffee.

“It seems most of the mainstream news focus is on the terrorist attacks, not the Cradle.” The late Dr Hou’s protégé, Dr Kim, commented. “A masterpiece of deflection.” He chuckled to himself.

Skopec regarded Vreta with a look of haughty disdain. “They will come, soon. Flights from orbit are locked down tight right now. We are negotiating for their release, and then they will land in a separate location. We will pick them up, to avoid them being tracked back here. Your Datius is organising it, along with the collection of your soldiers.”