Raider smiles at Calypso, "She's in the hideout. She'd probably like some company so, who is next?"

Doug glances at Anna but doesn't consider her aberrated enough to worry about and dismisses the idea that she's an aberrant. Over the link Anna gets a mental concept of his thought but it's on a lower level than words.



Doug says,

"I suggest KB fly you and Gregory out there. Then you give me the word and I'll fly Anna and Cal."

Raider nods. "That sounds good. Gregory, are you ready?" If he agrees Raider will phase Gregory out and hold onto KB as they fly to the tunnel entrance. Once they arrive, Raider will switch and phase KB out and let Gregory sneak in since he can get past the guards on his own.

Ten hours later ...

Everybody awakens to a screech. The light in the room is dim, the LED torches having run down much of their power while everybody slept but there is more than enough light to see KB fling something large and dark off of her and into the corner landing with an audible squeek.

Raider flicks his flashlight on at the thing that KB just sent into the corner and is prepared to phase out.

The beam of blue-white LED light cuts through the darkness stabbing at the dark shape. Red eyes peer at Raider against the light, the long naked tail of the rat whips to the side and before anybody can act further the creature bounds into a crack in the wall.

KB looks over at Steve, "You take me to such nice places."

Anna kneeled down extending one arm making some squeeking noises herself. (activate Animal Mastery)

"Maybe rat knows safe way?", she looked to the others to see if they approved of her idea.

Calypso relaxes back against her claimed patch of floor.

"It's worth a try," she sighs. "We're awake anyway..."

Doug blows a kiss back to KB with a grin and tries (again) to shift the mental link to her.

Doug says,

"It'd be nice to know what he does know."

"OK," Gregory says to Anna. "I will help you. I hear real good. I find way through dark with ears."

He found himself awake for days on end, and he missed getting tired and sleeping for ten hours. He would find himself awake for several days before realizing that he could even sleep.

Gregory activated his 'super-duper hearing'.

The rat sticks its head out of the hole and looks at Anna with a combination of curiosity and irritation. It comlpains about its home being invaded by smelly mean things. Gregory meanwhile, activates his enhanced hearing but other than his freinds, the rat, and the soft sound of water.

Anna smiled at the rat and stood up.

"Rat say smelly mean things invaded home. I think we all smelly mean things for rat.", she shrugged smiling a bit sheepishly to the others as if she was sorry.

Doug says,

"Anna, let's try this a different way. We want to learn what's going on the other side of that wall. What animals do you sense, and which of them say that there are humans around?"

"If the answer is that there are none, then Raider and perhaps Gregory can scout around."

Anna nodded at Doug and proceeded as he said, closing her eyes and concentrating on her surroundings.

(OOC: Animal Mastery, calling all rodentsized or larger animals within the area - I don't know if I can feel them)

Anna pushed a small amount of quantum into her senses and reached out focusing all small animals. Immediately her mind was aware of several rats, scores of insects and little else. The rats (other than the one in the room with them) were further down the tunnel toward the surface. Beyond that the numbers increased sharply, rats, mice, small birds, dozens of squirrles, and more. Though the city was infested with Aberrants it also teemed with animal life. It was an odd confirmation that even here, nature was healing as best it could.

"Many animals - small animals. They live with humans... it feels like that.", Anna had a puzzled look in her face.

"I not expect that. You sure this here is evil?"

Raider looks over at Anna, "Well, there are a lot of bad people here from what we saw already, but that doesnt' mean all the people are bad. One o f the things we need to determine is just what the leaders of this place are like and what they intend to do. I think they have one of the orbital platforms that the Chinese used for the Burn caputred above us. That is one thing I want to know about. Another is whether Squidward is in charge here or even part of the power structure of the city."

"Yes," Gregory says without expression. "They are bad."

He stands up and points at the ceiling. "Above are many aberrants. They make normal people do all the work. There are traders, and other places like a regualr city, but they also force people do thing they don't want. I think they use slaves." Gregory looks at Anna. "If they find us, I think they hurt us or make us work all the time."

"Squiddy looked like he was in charge when I was here before the snow. He told people to do things."

Raider ponders that for a moment, "Hmm... that's what I was afraid of and it makes the orbital platform even more dangerous. We can't possibly let him get nuclear weapons, he is certainly evil enough to use them. He'd probably destroy a city just to make an example to cause others to fear him and he would enslave them."

He starts to pace while he talks and thinks, "We need to prevent him from getting the weapons, but we just don't have enough information. I know next to nothing about how he has set it all up. We need to gather more information."

Doug frowns for a moment and says slowly,

"I'll bet I could make the link to an animal. Animals, like that rat, don't understand English, but I wonder... if I heard whatever it heard over the link, then would I get it's understanding, or my own?"

Anna frowned a little and said, "Rat not understand world like we. She will not know what you want to know. You want to attack city or free slaves?"

Two days later ...

The group sits within their makeshift camp within the tunnels. Though it is not comfortable they have managed to make it at least somewhat livable. Gregory and Raider have gone out to scout for information multiple times during the past two days and Courier and Seven have gone out in the evening to hunt for food and supplies outside of the city proper. Though they still lack certain basic requirements and luxuries they are surviving.

After two days Gregory and Raider have determined that much of the city's population appears to teleport or warp away during the colder months when resources are scarce. The remaining inhabitants are charged with upkeep and defense of the city during the winter months. From listening in on conversation it seems that the leadership and upper echelons of the city will not return for at least another two months. No word on James has been heard although you are unaware of what name he may go by here in York. Although Raider has been unable to locate a working telescope he and Gregory have scavenged parts to build one.

By the light of a pair of small led lanterns Raider sits working on this makeshift telescope hoping to get a better idea of what it is that has appeared in the night sky recently. Given the weather that Newborough had been facing even before the Quantum storm it is possible this object has been in the night sky now for weeks.

Anna has worked out an agreement with the rodents of the tunnels to provide them with food in exchange for early warning about any people heading down into the tunnels. KB and Calypso have made their skills as useful as possible to make their cave more comfortable and to keep the constant damp from affecting the food and equipment.Courier and Raider have filled Anna in on James and their own past deeds during thsi time.

Having finally been able to explore the room over the past two days the group has found that it appears to have ben cut from the gutrock of the city itself. The room is roughly square with sides about fifty feet long. The cieling is roughly thirty or thirty-five feet high and supported by four large stone columns hewn from the rock during the contruction of the room. The the center there is a basin or pool which appears to be a well of some sort. This explains the wet walls and the damp nature of the room as it most likely floods when the water table rises.

Over the next two days Anna carves a table and chairs from the rock itself and with Calypso's help is able to create a function if crude sink. Filtering the water through progressively fine crushed stone and sand they are able to create a clean sources of water though Raider advises boiling it all the same just in case.

Setting aside the telescope project for a lack of parts Raider begins to sortie closer to the one fully repaired or fully intact building within the city. The spire appears to be the heart of the city and has constant working electricity, running water, etc. It is also the most inhabited building. Stealing up to the top floors one evening Fox interfaces with the computer systems. Startled by his discovery he returns to the cavern to tell the others.

He loved going on scouting sorties. The fresh air was a change from the mildew like odors of the tunnels and he was able to discover lots of stuff that Raider liked to play with. Gregory knew that he was building something, but he couldn't fathom what or why. He just grabbed stuff that fit the description of what Raider needed. Other stuff was also brought back; either because it looked like it might be useful, or because Gregory wanted it.

The city itself was almost like a second home for Gregory. He had seen much of it on his earlier visits, including when it was full of people. Of keen interest to explore, was the large new-looking building. He had to know what was in there. He also tried to retrace his steps to his summer excursion, where he found squiddy and his train. There might be something useful there too.

The new people seemed to be adjusting well. The one, Calypso, was bringing in fresh water. The big muscle girl, talked to animals and played with rocks. The other one still hadn't spoken to anyone. Gregory didn't know what she was about. He hoped she spoke soon.

After the second day while everyone was gathered for a meal, Raider decided it was time to speak. "Guys, I have found out a few things. First these guys are building a rocket that will allow 3 novas to get into Earth orbit." He looks to Gregory and the others and tries to explain in easy terms with the aid of pictures and drawings. "So there is that thing up there in orbit and they are trying to get up to it. I'm almost positive that it must be one of the orbital platforms that the Chinese used to Burn the world. We absolutely can't let them get there. If there are still weapons on board we have to destroy them before they get their hands on them."

Raider frowns and looks even more serious. "What bothers me even more than that is the rocket was meant to deliver one nova to the platform up there and continue on to some other destination with the other two passengers. My guess is one of the moon bases, and who knows what technology is left up there that they could exploit."

"We destroyed their rocket," Calypso points out. "That's what started this whole mess we're in now with the storm."

"Surely they could not have built another in just these few months."

Anna slowly understood what was going on and she choose to help, like she promised Gregory before. It had been two days since she last saw the sun and she steadily felt uncomfortable with each passing hour. At first she tried to get along with the missing sun, but by the end of the second day it was as if she could barely carry her own weight.

Looking a bit frantic she asked the others, "When we go from this cave? I not like here... I need sun, please..."

(OOC her skin looks pale and she appears overall in a bad shape)

"I don't know if they've built another, but that rocket we destroyed, was not the one they are planning to do this job with. The one we destroyed wasn't big enough."

Gregory looks at Raider. "Rocket not big enough?" He remembered the other rocket and how large it seemed. To imagine something larger was almost unimaginable. "Does rocket head to space place?"

"If there is another one, We need to find and destroy it too."

He noticed that the muscled newcomer looked sick and pale. "You sick?"

Doug says,

"Sunlight? Like a plant?"

Anna looks to the ground as if she has been caught doing something wrong, then she nods at both Doug and Gregory.

"I'm starving..." she gasps.

"Then get outside you..." Calypso realizes it might be too late for that, and goes to offer the titanic nova her arm.

"Here. I'll help you. You should have told us you need sunlight."

She helps guide Anna up and out to the light.

Raider accompanies them and when they get near the guard location he will whisper, "Guards ahead. I'll take Anna the rest of the way, be careful. I'll return with her once she is ok." Waiting to see if they agree, Raider will phase Anna out and take her through the rock above them and directly to the surface. He'll find a safe spot in the sun for her to recharge where she won't be noticed then wait until she is done feeding.

Barely conscious Anna lets herself be guided by Raider to the surface. Once they reached a safe spot she sighes relieved at the sun undressing as much as possible from her clothes to expose as much skin as possible. Slowly she recovered from her pale and sickly appearance.

"I never live in cave before. After my change I not eat food anymore. I changed to a plant, I think. Many people think I am monster because of how I look and what I need to live. You the first to be friend with me.", she smiled awkwardly making clear that she was very shy.

As soon as she feels better she quickly puts some clothes back on, obviously embarressed by her own appearance.

"Thank you... I'm sorry for not saying I need sun to live."

(ooc: I don't know how long it takes for her to recharge)

After about an hour Anna's color has returned to a healthy deep verdant green. Looking and feeling much better she dresses and together she and Raider return to the hideout thankful that it would seem nobody observed them.

During the time of the sunbathing, Raider tried his best to avoid looking at Anna. She was quite different, but it was more the muscles that caused him to avoid looking rather than the leaf-like texture of her skin. The texture was actually somewhat intriguing, but it tended to make his thoughts go off onto tangents of biology and nova-physiology. When they returned to the hideout he was ready to continue the discussion that had been interrupted.

Doug sighs and says,

"Guys, I don't think there's another way around this. Some of us are going to have to join them. Say... I wear a mask, shave my head, and paint my skin blue. I won't fly or say I'm a minor telepath."

"Then I just walk in and say I want to join up."

"Might not be a bad idea, except Squiddy is a powerful telepath and it would be bad if he scanned you. We don't know what they do when people try to join up." He gives Doug a slightly worried look, "Just be careful if you do it, and get out of there if it looks like it might go bad. Meanwhile I will keep infiltrating their computers."

"Maybe I go with Doug? People see me and say I am Aberrant, I don't need color like Doug. If Doug in trouble I can help.", Anna offered.

"Squiddy knows me from before. If he there, he will know its me." Gregory frowned at that realization. "He read our minds, and might knows it's us." He smiled at the newcomer. "You the only one he not recognize. If he not there, then we can come."