((20 degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit? Also, what's baseline, about -10C? Answered, thanks!))
:Dr. Sanctor. It looks like one of the local teams that attempted to investigate this anomaly before we did are in that group, and whatever's affecting the students and faculty are affecting them, too. And I'm not sure, but there looks like a few who are neither students, faculty, nor obviously part of a rescue/research team.
Also, the snow around the group's feet is undisturbed, but their body temperatures have fallen fairly sharply. About 20 degrees above baseline, though I'm not sure what temperature scale is set as default.
I can also see some sort of makeshift banner hanging from one of the buildings over there, but I can't get a good look at what it says from here. Permission to investigate with my MkIII?:
EDIT: If the banner would be visible from any point on the edge of the anomaly, fly at non-breakneck speeds and altitude around to that position and get a better look at the banner with the CamEye zoom function. Stay on the edge of the anomaly unless I have to move further in to get a better look at the banner. If CamEyes can transmit what they see wirelessly without an Auxiliary roll, transmit the footage to my teammates.
If I do have to go further in to get a look at the banner, do so while tossing nuts and bolts in front of me continuously to make sure the path is clear of non-mental effects.
No matter what, do not fly over or near the group of people.
You follow the edge of the barrier around for a short while before you get a good enough look at the banner. It a simple thing, made of what look like lots of sheets or blankets. It has something written in a local dialect on it; a quick translation using some stuff Maurice brought reveals it to be "Stay Away"
Ulrich Leland
"QEC doesn't work. We are on our own now."
So QEC receives messages, but somehow completely twisted ones? In that case try using morse or similar signal length based encoding by sending message like this: "word word word longWord longWord word word word ( = ...--... = SMS)". If actual words can't get through then hopefully approximate length does. If that fails then try something as simple as turning QEC device on and off.
If nothing gets through then see if I can do anything to get it working.
Fire one shot from Testament towards the mirror dome in slight angle so it won't bounce back towards me or team.
Follow my team if they move.
It doesn't seem to work. All you get back is a long string of symbols and letters, no spacing.
The shot hits the dome and there's a slight shimmer, but it doesn't penetrate.
Permission request redirected to Pancaek; I have nothing against, but he is running the scouting task force.
Pancaek, I copy that the mob appears completely inactive, as if they got paralysed where they stood. Concealed approach can be put on hold for now, reconnaissance is of greater priority; I suggest reviewing your scouting force list and taking a circle around the place, investigating it. Don't get closer to the center of effect than the research team, it might be a proximity thing. Look out, I'll defer the practical matters of your task to you.
Add a thin circular line to the Mad Hatter, encircling all of the people and co-centric to the mirrored dome. If the dome isn't perfectly circular in nature, approximate the affected area instead, using the most outlying people as boundary markers.
Or it could be a timed thing. I guess we are on a tighter schedule here than we supposed.
Morul, change of plans. We might not need to take out the mob, but instead up to the building around it. How much closer do we need to come for you and your fireteam to have clean shots at any of them? We are going to slowly approach that close, unless that is closer than the danger line.
Bartolomew, what's the bomb status? Has it, perchance, started the countdown or anything? I want you to make sure there's nothing wrong with it.
Ulrich, can you try to de-garble the QEC feed? I am mostly interested in whether communication is completely prevented, or only partially.
Everyone, we will now keep approaching them. We will not approach them too close, and especially not the danger line I've just marked on your Mad Hatter HUDs.
Oh, and I'd like one volunteer to stay back a little and test whether the dome walls continue under the snow and in the soil. Probably does, but it's still worth checking out.
Keep approaching the gathering, but stop rather away before we come close to the research team. Study their faces, their positions - were they just walking, or did some of them observe what happened to others, and try to escape? Were they, by any chance, all looking in exactly the same direction, or something? DO NOT look in that direction, if that is so.
Study the dome. Is it properly recorded with the Mad Hatter? If no, adjust it to do so. Does it have any sorts of irregularities, or is it perfectly, mathematically regular? What shape is it, anyway?
(Oh, and that QEC unit is recording the garbled feed, right? For later analysis, because it's a scientific one we took on this mission for that whole purpose.)
The dome appears to be circular, or semi-circular, but the group of people isn't at the center, it's nowhere close. The center would be deeper into the school compound, while this group is somewhere along the edge.
The men in heavier gear appear to have been simply walking towards the larger group. They were looking straight ahead of them, at the group itself, but they don't appear to have been transfixed on any particular point or person.
You can see it with your naked eyes so yes, the cameras are recording it too. It's a dome. No visible irregularities or differences. Just a
dome.(yes)
"I just need line of sight, and assuming there's nothing funny with the basic laws of physics in here, which isn't a guarantee, our guns should be able to hit as well. Accuracy will depend on the shooter. Really, I have no idea whether or not anyone will be able to hit anything. Although, I think I've seen something like this before. There was an area where time was fluid. In one particular spot, it stopped completely, or slowed down enough to look like it. Something similar could be happening here, where different areas of the dome have different properties. Perhaps the mob up there has entered a smaller version the dome as a whole."
Estimate range to the mob, and to the surrounding buildings, then slowly start to crank Mad Hatter up from 0% to 100%, focusing on the mob ahead. Swap through cam-eye modes every 10%.
From your current position, about 80 yards to the mob, maybe half that to the nearest building.
You crank the camera feeds up and down and switch out through the various visual modes. Nothing unusual, beyond the fact that the bodies are still warmer then ambient temp.
"Bah, a little bit of space magicking won't make me tired yet. But I'll keep it in mind and be careful. Whoever volunteers to throw the bolt outside of the dome, tie some rope to it and try to pull it back in afterwards. Also, medic stand by in case I manage to get one of those guys out of there."
Keep distance from the group. Use mass amp to try and grab one of the students near the edge of the group and pull him towards us.
How close to you? And toward who specifically? You? Maurice? Because people are scattering off in different directions so there's no real condensed player group anymore.
Go to dome and repeat these steps:
1) attempt to throw some snow through the barrier
2) attempt to wave a stick through the barrier.
3) If 2) didn't do something nasty to the stick, attempt to wave hand through the barrier
4) if 3) didn't do anything nasty to my hand, attempt to step through it
if I remain unable to pass through the barrier, dig down through the snow to see how deep it goes, or until I reach the point where high explosives or a shovel are the only reasonable method of further digging.
Nope
Nope
Well, it didn't do anything nasty, it just prevented the stick from moving through. It does the same to your hand.
"One moment, messer-doctor."
Check the bomb.
The bomb is a bomb. It appears to be in working order and the same as before.
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Topic: Mission 21: Uncanny Valley (Read 51354 times)