For a moment Steve considers drawing his gun and threatening her with it, but instead he sprints and tries to grab her.

If this works, Steve sends over the link,

*Looks like we've caught Director Thetis, although after 20 years of solitary she's been punished a lot already. She's half mad, and I don't trust her running around down here. Lorean, set up a jail-room, Morgan, open a warp to this location when you're ready.*

The old lady, she looks around 70, is pretty spry for her age, but is no match for Steve. You easily sprint around her and get between her and the door. She spits in your face and curses you, "Aberrant scum how dare you lay hands on me!"

Seconds later a warp opens up a few feet behind Andrew and you usher Thetis through and into Lorean's isolation chamber. By the time the door shuts she is back to talking to herself.

"Don't worry Libby, I'm sure our rescue is already being planned by our loyal Utopian aberrants."

"Do you really think so Director?"

"Absolutely, they won't let any harm come to us, we are too improtant to the war effort. Why without our sole efforts the war would have ended when the Chinese launched their missles all that time ago..." She trails off into whispers and then into silence as the door shuts on her room. The room is padded and Lorean did scan her to make sure she didn't have anything on her with which to do mischief.

Going through the rest of the complex you discover several more rooms most of which are living quarters. One room is storage, but it is completely in disarray. Smashed and broken machines and devices of all descriptions litter the room. Among the rubble you notice a sledge hammer, also the dust in this room is pretty bad, doesn't look like Thetis has been in here in years although she seems to have taken care of the rest of the complex pretty well. Attached to pieces of the different devices you notice more labels like the one you found in the Aeon storage room. The labels read like the contents of a sci-fi convention prop auction. 'Particle beam accelerator, Anti-gravity flying belt, negative light refraction device for personal vehicle, etc, and they are all smashed throughly and beyond repair.

However, after searching her personal quarters, you do find a couple things of interest. In a small cryo-freezer you find tubes labled N1-a and N2-b. You also find a large box about the size of a coffee table, with a large red button on top and no label anywhere that you can find, and sitting on top of the box you see what is obviously a weapon of some kind. Looks kinda like a sci-fi laser gun and it's about the size of one of the laser carbines that the Storm Troopers carry in the original StarWars trilogy. The label on the side of it says neural disrupter.

Apparently Thetis was luring you to her quarters with the intent of using that weapon on you, and perhaps the box as well, although you have no idea what that does. Beyond those three things you don't find anything of interest in the base. It was very well designed and there is obviously artificial gravity plating in the floors, but beyond that you find nothing.

Andrew looks at the cryo-tubes, "I might be able to analyze these back on Lorean but I doubt I have the equipment to do more than a cursory examination."

Andrew looks over the box, "No label anywhere, how much you want to bet this is the quantum suppression thingy? Probably a good idea to leave it here, last thing I want to do is find out what happens when Lorean's power gets shut down."

Later when the group is back together, "I suggest we harvest the hydroponics equipment, it seems in good condition and the crops are well maintained, it would get up up and running faster as well."

Steve doesn't raise his hand against her, he doesn't even wipe it away until later. His face is very pokerish to hide the pity, revulsion, and almost hate he feels.

Steve comments,

"She knew. She knew she’d traded humanity for all this hyper-tech Trillion dollar junk.”

Steve says,

“Hold off on that until after we ask her what this stuff does. It might be the sterilization stuff, not the sort of thing you want to expose yourself too. It might also be some other genetic weapon they’d cooked up.”

Steve says,

“…Let’s put it in storage until we ask her about it. This is the only thing that might work on the likes of Pax. You still haven’t seen a really powerful nova in action.”

Steve shrugs. He’s emotionally tired… and it’s going to get worse.

Smythe organizes the crew in shifts to transfer the hydroponic materials to the ship and install them. It takes about a day to move the stuff from the bunker to the ship. He also sees to it that the broken junk is moved over to Lorean as well on the off chance that something useful might emerge even if it is only minor parts that could be used in something else. The 'box' is moved into a small specially isolated and shielded room just to be sure that no one can accidently activate it.

The next day Lorean gives you some news as you assemble on the bridge for your daily meeting. "I scanned that neural disrupter, and you were never in any danger from it. The power had long since been drained. I believe that the same can be said for that unlabeled box, but better safe than sorry. If you want to experiment with it, I would suggest that you pick an uninhabited place."

Smythe also enters the bridge and reports to you on the transfer of material. "Everything of value has been offloaded from the bunker facility except the power generation equipment and the antigravity deck plating. I am afraid we were unable to determine how to safely remove that equipment."

Lorean looks simpathetically at the tiredness in Steve's face. "I will jump us to someplace a bit more pleasant until you can decide what to do with Director Thetis." With that she jumps to Jupiter orbit with a beautiful view of several of it's moons.

Omar was looking at Director Thetis through a monitor. He had a look of disgust and pity on his face. "It ia amazing how one woman can be responsible for so much death and misery."

"With everything she knows, it is unfortunate that she has become مجنون . (Arabic for insane). She would be able to give us all the information we need." Omar then smiles slightly. "I would love to see her squirm when she actually realizes the position she is in."

Morgan nods at Omar, "If anyone deserves to be made to squirm it's her, but given her state, I'm not sure that is possible. I understand that Cody's mental touch isn't all that pleasant, so perhaps she will."

Steve gives a short, not quite bitter laugh,

"Her position is that she helped murder a planet, and all she had to look forward to was endless memories of knowing that. She's already been punished for everything that's happened. Anything we do to her will actually be an improvement. That's why she took the hammer to the gear, she won but the cost was too much."

"No, wait, there might have been an observation device in there somewhere too. It might have let her see what had happened, that no one was going to be following her."

Steve changes subjects,

"Lorean, any idea what powers that gun? Is it quantum based like the transport pad?"

"No Steve, I only detect that there is not currently any trace of power in it." Lorean considers something for a moment then adds, "I don't think there was any communications equipment in the bunker. None of the labels for the smashed equipment have anything to do with communications or remote viewing or such things. I think Thetis has been alone with herself and with uncertainty for over twenty years. She stepped through the machine after the bombs were launched but before they were hit. She's been there without knowing the fate of the world all this time."

Andrew looks through the glass at the shell of, arguably, one of the most evil people to ever live. "What do we intend to do with her? I mean I can't imagine that she deserves the privledge of being executed for her crimes. Maybe we should drop her on earth. She won't last long but I would imagine it would be a fitting end to die in the ruins of the world she destroyed..."

Steve nods,

"Cody may not leave anything left. Even if he does, I'd be hard pressed to come up with a punishment worse than what she already set up for herself. And even if I could, taking vengence isn't really a path I think we want to start down."

"I have a suggestion. Let's go back in time. Say... 12 hours before the nukes launched. We could take all the stuff that got broken later, with fresh batteries, and leave her and a letter explaining the situation to her younger self."

"She'd be her own keeper."

Morgan nods grimly to Steve. "Whatever we do with her I think we should give her a good look at the devestation she caused before we consign her to her fate."

"The only problem with dropping her off before the bombs is that Aeon's headquarters would have been well guarded at the height of the war. Might be better to drop in 12 hours after the bombs to help ourselves to that equipment once it's already in the bunker, but before she smashes it."

Steve says,

"No, I mean raid the Mars base right before the nukes launch. I'm sure they moved the quantum tech there before the nukes launched, and Thetis must have planned to come back alone so there will be no one there."

"We know she waited for the actual launch, gives us a window. We should have Cody find out if there were any defenses back then, but I suspect they mostly relied on it's location."

Morgan laughed. "Now that is a good idea! I can just imagine her face when she discovers there's nothing there."

Omar, who was listening to the whole exchange, started chuckling. "Better yet, she finds me waiting for her.."

The prospect of having Director Thetis believe Nova have compromised everything she worked so hard to hide, was tantalizing. "Imagine the look on her face, when she finds a Nova smiling at her, in her most secret of places."

Steve says,

"Now there is an idea. We could work with that, let her know that we're taking her at this time for maximum profitability."

"But I don't want her to think she lost. I want her to know that she's won, and exactly what she did win. Every nova on the planet is dead or gone, and all it cost her is the human race. Maybe."

Steve frowns

"Or maybe it didn't. On Earth Prime in the future, Divis took his membership off the planet. Even here, I doubt all the novas died, some of them had to be out in space or simply didn't get hit by the nukes. Not many, maybe a handful. Better still, it's been a long time, maybe someone with lots of Warp found a planet and set up a colony."

"How about it Lorean? Do the project's records show any colonies being set up?"

"The project does not show any such records, but then if such a group did exist, I doubt that they would have wanted the other side to know about it. Aeon also does not list any such plans, however, I also note that there are no records of the bunker on Mars either. It could be that they started the bunker with such a goal in mind and it was taken over by Thetis, or perhaps she eliminated a group of novas who were building the Mars facility. Until the interrogation is over it will be hard to know given the state of the records and the lack of any other sources."

Lorean adds, "There are small pockets of humanity left in isolated areas like New Zealand, Iceland, and many of the islands of the pacific, though I detect no communications or other signs of advanced civilization. I would not be surprised if there were novas among them, but we would have to be much closer for direct observation."

"People still alive?" Omar raised his big bushy eyebrows in interest. "I would like to see them. I want to see what kind of life they are living, and if I can, help them."

"New Zealand sounds like a good place to start. Does anyone want to come with me?"

"I will jump us into low orbit above New Zealand, and we can observe from there. Then if you would like to go down I'm sure Morgan would open a warp for you." After a moment she jumps into low orbit giving a georgous panoramic holo of New Zealand. She zooms in closer and closer until you see people and animals. Lorean's optics are better than any spy sattellite. You see a large walled compound with sheep milling around a green area just outside the walls, people farming by hand just outside the walls and people going about their business inside. One building is much larger than the rest and better constructed on the top of an earthen mound which has a wall of it's own. "Looks like whoever rules that village lives in the big house there. I note grain silos within the large buildings compound."

Morgan looks interestedly at the villagers, and though you get a good view of them, it still from a perspective almost straight above so you can't make out much of their features. "I'm going down this time. I know I'm the only warper, but I am also a healer and some of those people might need me given the low levels of radiation in the atmosphere. If we get in trouble Cody can come after us in his craft, or Lorean can jump in and start leveling buildings if necessary."

After everyone who is going prepares themselves and gets whatever gear they need he opens a warp about three miles outside the village behind a small hill where your arrival won't be seen. Morgan carries no weapons but does carry a walking staff that he has been carving in his spare time. It is not terribly artistic but it does have a pair of snakes coiling around themselves at the top in the ancient medical symbol called the Caduceus. He will let Omar, Andrew and Steve do the talking, but he is keeping an eye open for anyone that might need medical attention. "Probably best if we introduce ourselves at the compound before doing anything else."

As you walk toward the village you see the people in the fields stop what they are doing at the sight of strangers and grip their tools as though they are frightened. From a distance you see a boy running toward the walls of the village and waving his arms and pointing back the way you are coming from. By the time you get to the village walls you have attracted quite a bit of attention. A contingent of armed villagers are lining the walls with bows and spears. The people look surprisingly healthy given the radiation that prevails over most of the planet, but then since stepping through the warp you have detected only very low levels, lower than there should be.

A tall man steps through the gate and greets you from a distance. He is very well muscled, wearing nothing but a kilt like garment, and his skin is a storm grey color from the top of his bald head down to his feet, and his eyes glow white. He says in English with an Australian accent, "Hail strangers. What do you want with my village?"

Andrew looks excited to go down to the planet. He talks to the others prior to heading down, "I think it might be a good idea for me to scout ahead of you guys. I've been practicing and I think I can assume a bird-form comeplete with flight. I could scout the area and let you know if what you see if not what you get... thoughts?"

Morgan says, "Have fun stretching your wings, but you might want to be careful overflying the village incase they have novas."

Steve perks up upon hearing about survivors. When gearing up he says,

"Take some trade bait. That probably means some medical type stuff for you Morgan."

In addition to his usual hand gun, Steve brings some ammo of a few different types, a pair of rifles (disassembled), a pair of knives, and some gold and silver coins.

Steve nods and says,

"What he said."

Steve answers,

“Hail yourself. We come in peace. We are explorers and traders.”

Andrew flies through the warp and ahead of the party scouting the village in the guise of a common bird of the area. He settles on a roof top in the town and listens in on conversation as the group nears the town and the people become aware of his friends.

Seeing the nova he makes short flights to keep close enough to overhear what the nova is saying to the other people. He will do his best to avoid attracting any undue attention but will do his best to make sure he is always within earshot of the apparent nova-leader.

Omar doesn't bring anything other than food stuffs. He brings some apples and orange, as well as packaged beef jerkey and some potatoes. He hopes that the villagers will use it for growing new crops, rather than for just eating. All 100 pounds of each item, is caried in a sturdy canvas pack strapped to Omar's back.

Omar waves at the Nova and smiles. He will let Steve do the initial greeting.

The Nova smiles broadly. "Welcome then, but I hope you will understand that we are wary of strangers, and I ask that you obey the rules of hospitality." He gestures toward the gate and turns to go inside. "Come and dine with me and we can discuss what you have to trade and what you might want in return." He leads you into the village and to the large house on the earthen mound. As you near it you notice that it is made of strudy stone construction and is somewhat better than the village houses. Once inside the building resembles a viking longhouse but there is a section at the back that is private.

The nova leads you to the head table which like everything else you see in the building is new, but sturdy and utilitarian construction. He seats himself at the head place and gestures at the places beside him. "I hope you don't mind a little formality, but my people expect it. It gives them comfort in these troubled times to observe the old ways." He smiles and seems guniune in what he is saying. "Now let us talk while we wait for the meal to be perpared. Tell me about yourselves. I see that you are novas, and thankfully not far gone into the taint. I know all of the novas on the island, so where do you come from if you don't mind me being so inquisitive?"

Your first impression of the man is that he is honest and cares for the people of the village.

{Lie Detector On}

Steve says,

"Thank you. I'm Steve and back even before the war started a small group of novas and baselines decided to separate themselves from the rest of the world. Smart move as it turned out."

"Originally they started in Las Vegas, which was in the United States, then they moved to the desert, then again to where there weren't any other people. Everyone... well... everyone who lived anyway, was on a ship when the burn hit."

"Being in the middle of nowhere on a survivalist ship turned out to be a really good idea. We've been pretty lucky I think. Several of the novas were outright immune to radiation and we had, have, a healer and rad detectors to let us know what’s dangerous."

"Nowadays we wander from place to place. If folks are hostile we just leave."

The nova listens and though he seems somewhat doubtful of what you say, he doesn't question you on your story. "Given some of the hostile novas that were marauding after the burn, you must have been able to leave very fast indeed to get away."

"For our part, we were very lucky. I was a meteorologist before I errupted with powers of weather manipulation. As it happened, I was here on the island when the end came. I did what I could to prevent fallout over the island with my powers. At first I could only protect a small area, but little by little over the years my strength has grown so that now I can protect the entire island. I cause it to rain out at see before the wind carries the radiation over the shore. I also ensure that we always have enough sun and water for plants to grow well. In return, the others on the island give our village a wide berth and don't intrude except to trade at festival times. Some are not so friendly as we, as I'm sure you've noticed."

Looking at your bags and then back at you, "So tell me what do you have to offer and do you plan to settle on the island? I am not a king to issue commands, but if you are peaceful and have useful skill, I could perhaps negotiate an area for you to settle and ensure the weather is accomodating."

Just then an older woman brings in a tray of drinks and sets them before you saying, "Don't let him fool you. He's the King of this island if anyone is. Why without him, we'd be dead or sick of the Wasting for sure." She seems to have real affection for him and even a touch of awe.

(He seems to be honest and even friendly if a touch reserved. He is telling the truth about not being king, but then so is the woman. He seems to be a major power here in New Zealand.)

Andrew flies overhead as his freinds eneter the town and head toward the center compound. Not much I can do in there he thinks to himself. Andrew wheels overhead, thrilling in the feel of the wind through his wings and heads back down toward town center. He alights on a rooftop near what appears to be the market area and listens in on the conversations of the townsfolk.

The baselines should be likely to speak freely about their new visitors ... I hope Andrew thinks. It is his hope that he will gain a better understanding of how the community functions and their relationship with the nova and other novas/aberrants from his eavesdropping.

Steve gives a self-congratulatory shrug that hints that there's more to the story, but the details can wait.

From Steve's expression he's impressed. The island is huge.

Steve says,

“I won’t be staying. There’s no point in being immune to radiation and having various exploration skills and abilities if you don’t use them. I’ll ask the others, but no one currently has that ”I’m sick of this life” or the “It’s time for me to settle down” look about them.”

“As for what we have…” Steve slaps his hands together and goes into his best showmanship mode. “For you, as a token of our esteem, and a gesture of friendship, I would like to present to you a pre-burn, totally not radioactive, MINT condition hunting rifle, complete with a dozen rounds of ammo.”

Steve gets out a bag of ammo and puts it in front of the other nova. He opens another bag and holds up several gun components to show that it’s not loaded. Then he assembles it at rapid speed {Fast Tasks} saying,

“We found this in a city that is now a radioactive husk, but it itself had never been exposed to any of the poison. It was stored so it wasn’t exposed to the air or water, so no rust. A little bit of cleaning, and wala.”

Steve presents it and hands it over, “Perfection.”

“We also have some miscellaneous medical supplies, some gold and silver coins, a few other weapons and some other ammo, a vegetable that can probably be grown around here… I have no idea if you already have it or not, it’s called a potAtoe, and lastly, but by no means leastly, one of us is a highly talented nova Healer."

He sits listening to you and looks vaguely pleased about the gun and mention of other weapons, but doesn't comment. When he sees the potatoe his eyes light up like he's just been given his first bicycle for christmas as a child. For just a moment you think he is going to tear up. "Are they free from radiation, no mutations?" He looks very hopeful. "I haven't seen a potatoe since before the bombs dropped. That will be a great benefit to our diets, but what do you ask in return, as you can see we have little to trade. We do value knowledge and have many books. You are welcome to copy any that we have if you have paper, but beyond that vegatables and sheep are all we have. I could perhaps spare two breeding pairs of sheep without reducing our heard dangerously."

***You are pretty sure he could spare somewhat more sheep, he's not lying so much as bargining.***

Omar keeps digging in the large sack of food until he comes to the oranges. He holds one up for the grey nova to see.

"We have oranges, which might grow well in this climate. And then there's this..." Omar digs out an apple for him to see. "All of these, potatoes included, are radiation and mutation free."

"As a gesture of goodwill, from me, I will offer my services for any large scale contruction or excavation projects."

(Omar genuinely wants to help them..he' not negotiating..he's volunteering)

St