Temporal Rift RPG

[C S]

Mr.Calhoun only shrugged, about to return his attention to the computer screen when he heard another worker comment "What happened? Did you tell him about the quantum intersection fluke or something?" He turned around to look at the woman in her early 20's and replied "...Well I hinted at it. I don't think it'll happen again but...well...can't be too sure about these things. Not yet, at least"
"We're going to find out soon enough I suppose. Kane's gonna get that bird in the air and we're gonna oversee the transfer sequence, it should be a hell of a sight"
"I personally think it looks more like a bee than a bird..." Jacob said offhandedly, turning back to the aircraft and typing away...

Kane sat before an instrument panel with buttons, gauges, levers and flashing lights galore. It was a sleek black metal alloy, the controls being a steering column with a U shaped grip, it feeling rubbery in the intrepid explorer's hands. "Just like in the sims" he thought, feeling completely at ease in his chair. The back of his chair flexed to accommodate his position, making the pilot as comfortable as possible while commanding the vessel while also doubling as a shock absorber. It came complete with armrests on both sides, the right one having a control panel integrated into it. An identical chair was beside him, the only thing he didn't expect about his cockpit but there wasn't anything left about it to gripe about. It was for his own good that Jacob-the cyborg Jacob- was coming along. Further back was, for all intents and purposes, a huge metal box only vaguely similar to a wardrobe, directly part of the cockpit wall. Inside was the NT-SB MK II exploration suit...

Tapping a button on the armrest display, Kane deployed his restraints, the straps deploying from slots on either side of his Chair, running across and diagonally over his body and securing him into the seat. Another button activated the instrumentation, black screens lighting up, dim lights brightening and enhanced readouts appearing on the windshield itself such as orientation and direction, much like a HUD...

[The Kingpin]

Jacob walked into the ship, pleased at the tech he could see. Experimental though it may be, they didn't skimp on quality.. He soon made his way through to the cockpit, noting the empty seat and sitting down, leaning back as he crossed his arms and made sure the buckles and harnesses in the seat were fastened properly, knowing it would likely be a bumpy ride...

[C S]

With Jacob strapped in, Kane opened up communications with the rest of the O.W.L home facility, the Mission Control of the whole endeavor. "This is Felicity, systems nominal and preflight checks in the clear. Good to go when you guys are" he reported.

"This is Mission Control, reading you loud and clear Felicity" was the reply, seeming to come from all directions in the cockpit. It was the same man who stood in the tent, staring out the plastic window to the maelstrom. He was now in the complex along with Jacob and several other technicians, each at a computer and starting the transfer process.

"Harmonic Equalization commenced, Flux Stabilizers boosted 50%, Relativity Fields active" Mr.Calhoun said, his fingers going a million miles an hour across his keyboard. It was the same for everyone else, the clacking of keys, the lines of data, the dim glow of screens, every once of effort and concentration flowing through fingertips into keyboards and into the equipment all specially designed for this task.

The engines whirred, the sound a strange blend between a mechanical drone and a falcon's screech. It was low at first but very quickly rose in pitch and volume, punctuated at the last second by a near deafening roar. The jet exhaust burned bright yellow and white with hints of red in the flames. Felicity took to the air and began drifting backwards before Kane ever so slightly braced against the steering column. The forward two nacelles rotated forward and Felicity came to a hover. At its altitude, Kane and Jacob could see into the portal and it was nothing like anything else on Earth. A hurricane or tornado was calm at the center, but no. Even with the Flux Stabilizers, the rift was uniformly writhing with raw energy. The only distinguishing feature about the center was an otherworldly glow, masked by dark purplish clouds.

"Harmonic Equalization complete, beginning Quantum Synchronous and transfer streams" A woman reported from her console.

"Copy that Control, prepping Coil Drive" Kane said

Seconds later, a high energy aura started to surround the Felicity, a glowing white bubble. It was wrapped in electrical bolts, slithering around it as if it were some kind of force field. The ship's very subatomic signature was being attuned to the frequency of the portal and by extension...the world beyond...

[Godzilla Forever]

"I'm curious to see what lies on the other side of that portal myself," Damian replied. "All my life, I've dreamed of doing something big with my life... hopefully, this turns out to be good."

Damian paused.

"Well, perhaps we aught to get going to... whatever?"

[Giratina93]

Yukari nodded. "Yes, I guess we should get going then..." Yukari noted as she turned back to Rebin, who was making the last sortments through the big bag on his back.

"Yup, we got everything we need... rubber gloves, notes, camera, pen, rubber gloves, sampling tools, and, of course, the joke book." Rebin announced.

Yukari gave him a side glance. "The minute those jokes turn from funny to annoying, that book's replacing one of your vital organs." She threatened...

[Godzilla Forever]

"Now now, people," Damian said flatly, "Let's keep it civil here. We don't want any broken spines, now do we?"

Damian cracked his knuckles, as if the accentuate his statement. Soon, however, the group came a massive warehouse looknig structure. Damian presuemd that this was where these "O.W.L." guys kept the vehicles they were supposed to enter in order to enter the rift.

"Well? Let's get in there," Damian said with a smile as he proudly marched towards the building...

[The Kingpin]

"If only Atlas was here" said Jacob absently as he sat back, watching the entire performance. State of the art tech had always been his friend's passion...

[C S]

Kane didn't pay much mind to the comment however, knowing they were at the riskiest point in the initial insertion. The part Mr.Calhoun had his reservations about; and who would blame the man? It was not a thought one confronted on a daily basis: how to traverse the very foundations of space and time? Like he had said before, the physics were sound, the calculations were nigh infallible and the research verified. Still, it was beyond human imagination to see past the universe to planes beyond and even if it was easily grasped, the risks were enormous. As was the case for many of man's greatest strides...

Then came the chatter over the speakers: "Slipstream established! Harmonization successful!"

"Felicity going in for entry. Lets hope Einstein and Tesla are watching this with fond eyes, yeah?" Kane said before lining the craft up for approach of the rift and then committing. The bubble appeared to gain thickness....and it seemed to stretch as Felicity neared the mass of energy. Even though it was still several feet away from the spiral, Felicity had disappeared, appearing to be sucked in through a tunnel of bright white light and disappearing in a blinding flash.

"Get me a signal lock!" Mr.Calhoun barked out to the others. "No good, we don't have a feed yet!" another responded. Jacob gritted his teeth. The transfer could have taken anywhere between a few seconds...to hours or more. Time dilation was a variable foreseen and it was theory being demonstrated. They would be cut off from the Felicity for who knows how long-

"This is Kane Henderson reporting from the depths of a new world. I seem to have all my limbs and inner organs and Felicity is in tiptop shape!" was Kane's transmission back. Instead of being garbled by all of the interferance of the portal, it was as clear as day. The Relativity Coil had maintained the connection through the rift! It worked

[The Kingpin]

"...There was a possibility we'd get dismembered just going through the bloody thing?" asked Jacob uncomfortably, pleased it didn't happen but nonetheless unnerved...

[C S]

"Of course not! It was just a joke, man" Kane replied, chuckling; though his thoughts at the same time where "Uh...more like having your molecules scattered...it was possible, though not very probable. As a scientist I have to acknowledge these things..."

Before Jacob could press the subject he transmitted back to base "Initiating video feed and sensory array. Merry Christmas!" He ran his hand across the dashboard, flipping switches, turning knobs and pressing buttons. Icons lit up and a few small data boxes appeared on the enhanced display. They contained video from Felicity's on board imaging systems which gave the craft 360 degree coverage of its surroundings, environmental information such as temperature from thermal scans and the molecular make up of the world around them. The findings were understandably alien. The structure on a molecular scale was completely unlike that of Yellowstone, meaning the rocks and just about everything else in this new world were completely different to that of Earth. Even distant planets had bare similarities to the celestial ark of life, but it seemed the only thing this world had in common with Earth was the presence of he same elements...and even then, there could be new ones native only to this 'Rift World'

Kane activated the four searchlights on the forward end of Felicity, bathing the dark cavern that he and Jacob had arrived in with 12,000 lumens of white light. The walls, stalagmites and stalactites all had strange bands of color, as if they were layers of different colored clays. But the scans were all consistent, those were not clay deposits. Those were hard rock, possibly as hard as granite if not harder. "Fascinating," Kane said. "To think, while others are only coming here to find some robots, we'll be here doing some actual science! Speaking of those probes...they aren't appearing on my scanners...but that implies that they were moved off somehow...space-time warping? That'll make the search a bit more complicated..." he mused.



In a world so utterly alien, such assumptions are best kept to one's self...

[The Kingpin]

"Or," started Jacob as he eyed the monitors showing the results of the scans. "Something else moved them" he finished. Suddenly he was glad he had brought along a large arsenal of weapons and utilities...he got the distinct feeling he would need them before this mission was over...

[C S]

"Well there's a thought. First thing we should do is look for signs of life forms around here. Would give that other team something to prepare for if we found anything" Kane said. He lowered Felicity to a very close ground hover, careful to keep a respectable distance from the pointed rocks that formed the gnarled teeth of the cave.

The temperature inside was hot, not blisteringly so, but undeniable. It was also humid, implying some form of water or other liquid matter was finding its way into the system. Collecting and testing samples would be useful in assessing the area before actually stepping outside.

Gravitating to the readings, it was not long before Kane and Jacob set eyes on a bubbling pool of liquid, a grayish murk in the revealing rays of Felicity's lights. "Well that's some funky looking soup" Kane muttered.

[The Kingpin]

"At first I thought it was just silt or something being kicked up...but that would've started to settle by now" commented Jacob as he looked at the the liquid...

[C S]

"It could be some chemicals from further down...begs the question of just what this place is. Cave? Or geothermal hotspot..." Kane responded. He pressed a button on the instrument panel and another square appeared on the windshield. Unlike the other imaging cameras, this one was mounted on a robotic arm, slender with smaller struts linking it to an elbow joint. It looked similar to the manipulators used by submarines. In its grip was what looked to be a vacuum nozzle. Folding out from the dashboard in between the explorer and soldier was a joystick-like device. "Would you do the honors of acquiring our first sample?" Kane offered with a broad smile.

[The Kingpin]

"Would be a pleasure" said Jacob, pleased to be doing something, taking control of the limb with the stick, directing it forward towards the liquid, hitting a button to activate the vacuum, taking in a sample of the liquid, deactivating the vacuum before he ended up taking in too much of the liquid...

[C S]

The sludge was evidently viscous, as it bulged and engulfed the the head of the nozzle and once it was removed from the pool, the fluid fell back in clumps rather than droplets. "Definitely one funky soup. Doing a particle analysis aaaannnnddd..." upon one of the screens was a projection of the sample, highlighted various shades depending on elemental composition. There were traces of iron and other deep Earth metals but mostly...the pile showed signs of organic matter. The compounds were arranged differently and was far from carbon based like Earth life, but it was unmistakable. The gray pool of sludge was pool of genetic material akin to the primordial pools on Earth, rife with microbes adapted to the heat and moisture of the cave.

"Astounding...positively astounding..." Kane said, sending the results over the transfer stream back to home base. They would have quite the time extrapolating on the find. Stowing the manipulator back into the hull of Felicity, Kane said "OK. Basic life forms found...hardly anything that could take out two heavy duty ROVs and move them. But the possibility of more advanced lifeforms existing here just got a lot more...probable..."

[Giratina93]

Back in the normal realm, Yukari and Rebin both followed Damian toward the structure. " Whatever it is that we're using, it better be state of the art. I mean, whatever it was that caused both probes to quit transmission so quickly-"

"Oh just calm down." Yukari cast a quick glare at him "The people at O.W.L no doubt have prepared for us something that won't suffer the same fate as the probes..." Here, she added on mentally, Atleast, I hope they did... would suck if they gave us garbage to use...

[Godzilla Forever]

Soon, the trio of adventurers soon entered the warehouse. The walls within were smoothe and quite shiny, almsot feeling like the inside of an oven or something. efore them sat a massive vehicle, shaped like a massive rectagle. It was rather plain looking, smoothe on the outside and very unappealing to the eye. Had it not been in the building, Damian probably would have paid little ot no heed to the machine.

Soon, a voice boomed on a speaker.

"Please enter the APC unit. We will take care of the rest," an OWL representative said on the speaker.

Damian nodded, and soo nwalked towards the machine.

"Not very eye-catching, is it?" Damian mumbled as he stepepd inside of the APC, the back door of the machine sittign wide open...

[Giratina93]

Both Yukari and Rebin entered into the vehicle as well, and took their seat. "Well I must say, it ain't too shabby." Yukari noted, more or less waiting for the vehicle to take off.

Rebin was a tad bit less impressed. "I was hoping for something with a bit more... class. Anyways, aren't there supposed to be a few more members to join us?" He asked...

[C S]

With the transfer stream still open from Felicity's passage, the APC was guided out of the containment facility via ceiling crane. Though its purpose was an armored personnel carrier, the vehicle was more like a hovercraft in form. A black rubber skirt wrapped around the undercarriage of it with the powerful lifting propellers arranged within it. At the far back were two exhaust ports for jet engines which provided thrust and rudders to steer. At the front were air intakes and two more thruster ports for reverse thrust.

The APC was released just as the engines roared to life, the vehicle hovering on its own cushion of air. The intakes were opened and the APC powered into launch position several yards away from the rift. Just as with Felicity, a bubble of energy surrounded the vehicle and just as it started making the approach, it elongated into a spiraling white tunnel which the hovercraft disappeared into...