1800/Reboot: EP 5 Monster Garage

Reboot: EP 5 Monster Garage
Date of Scene:	13 March 2015
Location:	The Grid <TG>
Synopsis:	With the information from Cutler, Rory, Deelel, Xiaomu and Kyra go to salvage a ride to get to the outlands. They find a little more than they guessed.
Cast of Characters:	Deelel, 626, 673, 707

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Deelel has posed:
Accessing Archived Data

Deelel and the others got a lucky break in meeting a basic by the name of Cutler, he knew where Anon might be hiding, and offered to help in exchange for finding Renegade later, the party agreed and now need to get some transportation to the outlands. This might prove a little more interesting than expected.

Outside Argon City on the edge of the outlands.

It's a land of endless night the glow of the city's lights remains in the distance also the glow from the party's light suits should be more than enough to see by the terrain is alien in nature but it does give a bit of a feel like a rocky expanse in the world of matter. There's thankfully no snow and laying here are a large number of old damaged light craft awaiting salvaging or disposal depending. It's a junk yard more or less, from busted light cycles, trucks, crawlers, snowmobiles and even what look like helicopters. However none of the purely military models seem present.

Deelel is here perched up on an old truck her legs dangling over the edge as she looks out at the city, she's got some art tools in hand and is seemingly doing a holographic painting of the city's skyline while she waits on the others.

Also some faint techo like music is playing while Deelel works and she actually seems pretty happy about whatever it is she's doing as she's waiting.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Rory arrives on her Light Cycle as always. ZOOOM! The more time she spends in the Grid the more ALIVE she feels. It's a digital world where up and down aren't so strange a concept, how cool is that?

    Best of both worlds, right?

    The sleek digitized appearance is also appealing. Several times she's probably been spotted taking a very close examination of her 'outfit.'

    This might become her avatar where appropriate in the future!

    Upon getting off the cycle and banishing it she begins roaming around in Deelel's direction. Eventually she reaches her and waves up!

    "I'm here!"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Not much of an engineer, Kyra's come anyway, even in spite of the huge risk she runs when coming here. As usual, when traveling here, a large number of her materials and weapons are simply not with her. For example, the former Aurumal Autodoc is now the grenade-launcher sided CURE-ALL and not exactly something she can easily hide.

    It wasn't as if they were engaging CLU's forces today anyway, right?

    The white mage's light cycle isn't too far behind, following after Rory and jerking to an abrupt stop as she spins the back tire so it comes to a rest sideways. A second later, the lightcycle derezzes back into its baton. "Hey hey! What's up?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Rory's not the only one arriving by lightcycle - although Xiaomu doesn't stop at the city boundary. At least, not entirely. She *does* slow down noticeably as she approaches.

Which is good, because the very instant that the lightcycle's 'engine' crosses the line which separates Argon City from the Badlands, it turns into a darkcycle and stops traveling under its own power. If she'd gone across the line at full speed, the results could have been messily tragic.

"And that's why we need new vehicles to go roaming around the wilderness, huh?" asks the sage fox as she dismounts from her cycle, backs it into the 'powered' zone, and derezzes her lightcycle properly, converting it back into the little baton thing.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel looks up from her work and grins as she moves to stop her art for the moment, She hops down waving to Kyra and Xiaomu as they arrive. She seems in a very good mood at this point.

"We're looking for what we can salvage, I know a few people at Abel who owe me a favour. I'm also known for running off to find new subjects for my art so no flags will be raise. So welcome to the recycle bin for lack of a better term, we're looking for off road craft so look for the larger things like trucks, or even a snowmobile, I can get bikes modded but we're going to need something we can seal and rest in due to the possibility of grid bugs. I have to say I hope someday I can show you the grid the way it used to be. Heck I would need to keep a ready source of power to operate out in the outlands and I have to ask. How do you take to being our gods? I saw it ... caused some issues. "

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu makes a face. "You spend a few centuries being an object of fear to most of the populace and you learn to keep your secrets hidden," she answers Deelel. "Or, well, mostly hidden." She tucks one of her 'tails' back over her shoulder with the others, hanging mostly-down behind her.

"So we're not looking for cycles so much as trucks or ..." She trails off, pursing her lips. "What about tanks? Big, armored, wouldn't mind if they're kinda roomy inside as long as they've got decent firepower - how big do grid bugs get, anyway? Or your version of a mobile home, that might be even better if our own firepower's up to dealing with bugs ..."

She starts meandering about the 'junkyard,' keeping her monk staff handy. The occasional jingle of rings makes it easy to keep track of where she is - and if it draws unfriendly attention, well, she doesn't have a sword inside there just because it's cool.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Off-grid craft is more like it." Kyra chimes in, echoing the experience Xiaomu had while arriving. If they were going to operate out there, they'd need specialized vehicles! "Good thing they don't know you're out here and nobody's gonna get suspicious, eh?" Casually, she attaches the now inert lightcycle rod to her thigh and starts to explore, looking around curiously. "Being your gods? I don't know if I really count, you know?"

    She's quiet for a moment, "I mean, I'm not actually much of a programmer. I don't really code so I don't really...create programs?"

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "I'm trying to avoid the issue. Since I'm in the same situation as you! ... and I don't see my creators as gods any more than a human child would see their parents as gods..." She shakes her head quickly, but is smiling! "Though I fully understand your people's reasoning too. And it's caused plenty of confusion. Sorry... if I was a god then this problem could be solved with just a matter of willing it, right?"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "I know how that can be, I'm about 500 cycles myself not that age really matters too much to a basic."

No Flynn upgraded rather than replaced after all. She does't know how some other systems might be. She nods for a moment.

"There might be some smaller craft for the outlands too out there. If we found a Light Tank we'd have to get it fixed elsewhere at best Tesler would reward us for finding it, then salvage it. At worse we'd be sent to the games for stealing it. They are small about the size of a rat, they come in hordes but I have heard tales of them getting big as light cycles."

Xiaomu.

"Why was your kind hunted Xiaomu?"

Xiaomu would get looking and find light snowmobile, it looks a lot like one you'd find in a country like Russia, or Canada had been giving a massive tech upgrade it's mostly intact from the looks of it but part of the engine seems pixilated, cubed a bit clearly it took a hell of a knock but it looks like it might be workable.

"Kyra? You still use computers right. Many are ignorant yes but? IT does not change the fact my world exists in it. Even Flynn was paid respect by the ISOs even if he did not make them he made the world none the less and welcome them in. I won't force anything on you and I have an idea of where your coming from. I am ... the goddess of the digital on Afterus. I am the Program."

She confesses after a moment before getting back to work and Kyra would find a light cycle but not any it's an older model a sealed dome cockpit and it may very well be repairable from the looks of it as it has no visual damage.

"True enough, I have enough trouble trying to keep things running smoothly on Afterus I admit. I ... don't want to neglect them or any faith they might have. The stories are true, I did help make their world. I fought the Black King who attempted to stop their world's birth."

Rory would find a light transpiort a heavy one which looked like it was missing some tracks but otherwise seemed to be utterly pristine otherwise.

Deelel keeps talking as she looks.

"When a user in my world makes a program they unknowingly leave part of themselves in their creation. I likely look like my original user. There's a connection between our worlds, they can't function without us, we don't exist without them. I'm getting pretty deep, but my faith is unshaken, I could tell you more about Tron. I'm so out of my depth here. I wasn't made for this but ... I can't sit by. It's hard for basics to change but we can do so, we live long enough? We can be more than we were made to be."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Of course I use computers! All day and every day! But I don't like...write apps for the mPhone or anything like that." Kyra says as she scrambles up the side of a half-cubed chunk of truck. "If anything I'm like a Demigod. A Diet God. Only semi-goddess. Not goddess enough." Funny how she switches halfway through that.

    She nods, though, this not being the first time she's heard Deelel mention the connection she had to Afterus.

    "Huh, a light cycle." Kyra murmurs, climbing down to check it out. It looked in tact though the cockpit was sealed. Idily, she pokes around, looking for a way in. "See, I have to wonder about that, Deelel. You're doing things that weren't in your original programming. Isn't that, in a way, a little like being an Iso? Going beyond what your creator intended?"

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Rory waves her arms childishly upon making her find and... hops up and down on it!

    Only to topple over onto the roof with a thump moments later. "O-ow!"

    What a weird sensation that was. She makes quite an effort just to rise. It takes around ten seconds to do so and return to waving. "I found something big. It might be repairable!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"I wouldn't necessarily say 'my kind,' Deelel," Xiaomu answers, trying not to let how deeply that cut her show in her voice or posture. "Youkai are a hugely diverse lot, just as diverse as the range of natural sentients we've seen and heard in the Multiverse. But why we're hunted ..."

It's really not a subject she likes to dwell on, but Deelel did ask, and it's not like Xiaomu has a real reason NOT to answer.

"Imagine that these 'grid bugs' you keep warning us about," she begins, "were capable of disguising themselves as everyday programs - basics like yourself. And imagine that they aren't *all* predatory - at least not all the same way. A lot of them still want to eat you, but there are some who just want to blend in and be part of your society. And that they're generally all capable of hiding their true natures, with occasional flaws in the illusion."

She pauses, studying the lightmobile that caught her eye. Nice sleek lines, it looks like it'd travel pretty quickly even over rough terrain ... the trick is whether the engine can be repaired, or replaced.

"So these bugs-in-basic-shape," she continues, "are blending in. You know some people are different than others - youkai who CAN blend in with humanity don't always get it right - and you start hearing about basics vanishing, or being killed messily, like something didn't just cube them but tried to munch on as many bits as it could get. So people start worrying, fearing ... and then you find out this one basic - maybe somebody you only knew in passing, maybe a friend, maybe a rival - isn't the kind of program you thought. You find out they're a grid bug who's been masquerading as a basic."

The jangle from the rings atop Xiaomu's staff is a lot louder this time; she probably brought the butt down harder on purpose. "You'd be even more terrified of them than you already were, right? And if you found out anyone *else* was the same sort of disguised monster - no matter who they were, how friendly they were, even if they genuinely *didn't* want to prey on the programs around them like that one bad one did - you wouldn't want them anywhere near you or yours, right?"

She heads back towards where Deelel was sketching and waiting - but she's keeping her eyes open for other possibilities. The lightmobile's nice, but maybe she can find better.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel looks up from the snowmobile she found and looks over to Kyra for a moment.

"I know that but I'm still also a multimedia program. I think I get what your saying. We just grow slower I think. You should meet Able some time. I think only Clu, Alpha and Tron if he's alive are older than him. He runs the garage, you might say he's the father to everyone working for him. Maybe I am maybe I'm not but who knows."

She pauses looking at Xiaomu for a moment

"So a Trojan virus then?"

She seems to get the concpt and goes quirt now as she listens. She frowns for a moment and nods.

"Virus would be treated that way, but I don't think it's quite the same."

She runs a hand through her hauir as she looks for better words but finds none.

"No your right I can see how it goes. It would likely rile up fear worse than the ISOs here. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I don't consider you a virus or anything like that. Though I will say grid bugs do not have a mind they are akin to animals. Hunt, feed."

This time Xiaomu's work does find something interest and civilian grade light copter. It seems intact but the rotors are missing. As for Kyra's poking she able to get in the hatch pixlates away and it looks intact there's some damage here it seems minor. Maybe someone ditched it because it was old.

"Kyra? That's a keeper if that's an old ENCOM mark? It's faster than just about anything else on the grid. They slowed them down opting for better manoeuvrability and control. In a flat out run nothing could catch you on wheels."

As for Rory she leaves the APC behind, while Deelel comes to check it over and she calls out.

"It seems to be all right I'll take a closer look but this may be just what we need,"

Rory find a boat, well part of an old light cargo hauler which does appear to be a ship, or was. How it got here who knows. It was likely carried here for later salvage by some sort of flying unit. Either way it might have goodies inside who knows there's a rent in the lower hull that Rory could get though.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Rotors or no rotors, the 'copter still catches Xiaomu's interest, and she tries opening one of the hatches so she can get in and take a look over the controls. It's been a long time since she played Choplifter, but something about this vehicle brings back a lot of fond memories ...

"How will we get whatever we find over to the garage?" she wonders. She's leaving the hatch open while she checks over the controls - maybe even using her staff to prop it open.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "You're a multimedia program and not a military program." Kyra says, trying to clarify her words, "Yet you're doing things that are kind of military-like, right? What with all the raids we've gone on to find the lost Isos. Granted, you've had ~our~ help!" Kyra peeks over the light cycle to grin.

    But at that point, she goes silent to listen to Xiaomu explain her plight in terms of the grid. Before she really hadn't known THAT much about Xiaomu's kind-all she knew was that she was a fox spirit of some kind (but not a kitsune and apparently calling her one was a bad idea) similar to the yokai of Gensokyo. She suspected her of being a shapeshifter like Finna but only now is it really confirmed.

    "That sounds pretty tough." Kyra offers, secretly feeling kind of bad knowing that she'd probably be one of the ones trying to hunt down all the shapeshifters hiding as Humes, fearing the predatory ones.

    As the cockpit disappears, Kyra takes action...! She slips inside and sits on the seat. "What's an ENCOM mark look like?" she asks, sounding excited about having a very, very fast machine in her hands. One of her own that she didn't even need to swipe from her older brother.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Finding a boat, and seeing it largely intact enough... she goes crawling in partway to have a look around inside! MAybe there's usable parts. Or... daemons. Or whatever the grid term for that is.

Deelel has posed:
Xiaomu would actually luck out finding a spare grav chute in the old choppers lockers not much else but that's still a pretty good find on her part.

Deelel calls back. "I can toe it to the edge of the grid and then contact Mara and Zed. They are two mechanics I know who'd be up to help."

She thinks about Kyra's words and does not know she shrugs.

"Maybe we're are evolving but the ISOs are the thing to focus on, first right? Should have the logo which would have the word ENCOM on it somewhere on the dash."

Low and behold if looks about she will find such there.

While Rory goes in there she's going to find some interesting cargo in the old ship, an emergency locker which might have what are flares, tents, and what looks like a medical kit for basics it's kinda strange and combat. IT does have a glowing green cross on it however.

"I think we found out transport so that's good news, did you guys find anything else?"

Also if Kyra keeps looking she might find what is a data unit in her light cycle.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Oh, obviously!" Kyra chimes in, "We need to get them to safety as soon as possible so Clu can't genocide all over them again." She leans forward to peer at the dash, spotting the logo. "Yep, it's got an ENCOM logo on it alright. Wow, so this is one of the original designs, then...hmmm."

    Continuing to check out the bike, if only to figure out how to operate it, she comes across the data unit. She has no idea how to access it. "Hey Dee? Can you come here for a second, I need help with something."

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "EVERYONE! I found--" THUMP!

    On the way OUt of the boat, Rory managed to bump her head on the hole. And this form feels pain. Pain she is NOt used to at all beyond a few buzzy sensations. it's nearly incapacitating! She yelps loudly and is still rubbing the bumped spot while more CAREFULLY extricating herself from the junked 'boat.'

    And holding one of the medical kits!

    "Supplies, over here! Lots of them! ... How strange... this is a digital realm yet it's so. human..."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
The 'gravchute' that Xiaomu finds in one of the lockers is interesting, but she has no real idea WHAT it is, so back in the locker it goes. She's a little more concerned with figuring out the helicopter's controls ... if they're as complex as a REAL helicopter, then learning to fly it is probably going to be more trouble than it's worth. On the other hand, if they're as simple as you'd get in an arcade game cabinet, she'll give it more serious thought. "How many ISOs are still out there?" she wonders aloud as she's studying out the controls.

Deelel has posed:
Pain is a thing on the grid but it's not in the same way as a human, still it's closer than what's Rory's used to. Deelel seems concerned as she coems to help Rory up.

"Eays my friend, and that's a good find, we don't have sap some of our existing supplies with those. I have no idea there could only be a few, or more than that. I don't think there's that many left at this point. Clu is efficent."

T She notes, and it seems Kyra found somerhing once she makes sure Rory's okay she'll go see what Kyra has which turns out to be a data storage unit.

"Humm a data storage unit? Why would someone leave that here. I mean it's light and easy to salvage."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Huuuuh, that's what I thought it was." Funny, pain didn't seem to be much of a thought to Kyra. It doesn't occur to her how unusual it is when it happens to Rory. "So how do you 'read' it, then? Can you do it, straight up?"