hadriel | 00:00:03

[The more she talks to some of these people, the more unsure she is about some of them. But at least Lance is a known quantity... ]

You should come by later. We can discuss this further.

Alright; where do you want to meet?

[He thinks he knows where the lab is, but he's never been there. Besides, she might mean somewhere else.]

The lab isn't far from the clinic. Just a couple streets down.

[And of course the lights are on, which is probably a good sign of habitation in the mostly abandoned buildings.

Inside the entryway, stacks and piles of even vaguely electronic-themed junk salvaged from the shops, some sections of the lab distinctly neater and cleaner than others. There's been excess lighting placed all over, lamps big and small, and a heater in the corner chugging away at making the place very toasty indeed.

Marian, even though she's expecting a visitor, nearly jumps at the sign of another person in the building, getting up from her desk.]

You said all day could be fine. What about all night?

[It's interesting to see the lab; it's different from the lab he's used to, of course, but it still has the same general air of seriousness and importance. He's curious about the specifics of what is all going on, and why there's a heater on, but that's a problem for later.

He gives Marian a small, almost sheepish smile at her reaction--he didn't mean to startle her--and then nods at the question.]

All night would probably be better, actually.

[He's more awake at night in general, and he's also less likely to be needed for anything.]

What are you planning?

Edited 2017-07-29 23:37 (UTC)

I want to get readings closer to the location the Door is dropping new arrivals. It may be futile, but I think it's important to completely eliminate the obvious possibility and have a chance at getting better quality data. That means bringing in equipment and monitoring it day and night until the next group is brought in.

Someone at least half-decently trustworthy will have to watch it at night when I'm not there, however. Who knows what some of these lunatics would do unsupervised.

[He nods again in understanding, thinking all of that over a moment.]

That makes sense, and it definitely seems like a good time to collect data even if I have no idea what sort of data you're looking at. But this way you can test a reasonable amount of time from, and then each day leading up to, the new arrivals and looks for a pattern of some sort?

[He doesn't really do the hard-science-measurement-taking-data-analysis thing, although he gets the idea. He's also quietly pleased that he apparently counts as half-decently trustworthy.]

Sure, I'll help whenever, just let me know. Do you plan to keep taking readings throughout arrival day also?

[He assumes so, considering the need for dealing with the monsters, although who knows maybe she's more concerned about other people in Hadriel messing with stuff. That's more than reasonable.]

[Marian's expression is slightly sour as she clarifies:]

There's not much to monitor day to day. The only activity comes in short bursts, such as when new people are brought through, or when Fear moves the city to whatever planet or asteroid or place we're in this time. The parasites' events cause a lot of... background noise as well. [In more ways than one!]

[Shuffling through one of the stacks of paper, she finds the one she was looking for, and points out rows of neatly written numbers (one of these days, maybe they'll find a printer).]

As you can see, it's never a set of multiple signals at once when the Door opens. Only one connection, one person is being brought through at a time. With the work that Alphys has been doing on dimensional signatures, maybe if we could actually find the thing, and compare the signatures we've gotten since we started monitoring arrivals...

[She lets it trail off. Marian is, unfortunately, not too convinced that they'll make it that far. They have to try, but the fact remains, they're still a long way from that still...]

[Huh. He doesn't really get what the numbers mean--he's guessing they're whatever readings that were picked up, but who knows what units they're in--but that doesn't matter that much; he understands just fine the point of what Marian's saying, and that's... Definitely something. It's a possibility, and whether or not it's a long shot is less important than that it exists at all.]

That makes sense. Just knowing it's one at a time is kind of a big deal; do the signals vary in strength when people come through, or are they all pretty consistent? Is there any way to, I don't know, triangulate where the signals are actually coming from, maybe by moving whatever you're using to take the readings and seeing if the signals change?

[Angela would probably know some ridiculously creative way to do that, although Lance is glad she isn't here; she would probably not handle Hadriel too well, as much as he misses her and would love to have her around.]

Not statistically different, but that doesn't mean much given the deviation. Of course, and absent a position in higher-dimensional space to check signals from, as well as a higher grade of equipment to work with than all of this outdated garbage, well... I think the only option available is getting closer to the last known signal position and trying again.

[Marian says matter-of-factly before not exactly sighing, but looking a little forlornly at the pile of papers.]

Under other circumstances, all of this would have been an unprecedented discovery where I was from...

[Okay, he followed... Most of that. But what's he's getting is that taking reading on arrival day, at the arena itself, is the best next step to take. Simple enough.

At her last comment, though, he glances over at her again.]

It's not any less important here.

[Considering how many people's lives are on the line.]

And okay, I'm in. When and where do you need me?

[Marian sighs. ]

Tomorrow night, if you can cover for me then. I... won't stay there through the night, but I need someone to keep an eye on the equipment and make sure nothing happens to it. Any other time you're available as well. I'm a little concerned about exactly how disreputable some of these so-called monster slayers might be, but there's only so much that can be done about that.

Sure, that should be fine.

[He's usually not doing anything at night except wandering around or trying and failing to sleep, and it isn't an issue for him to turn his schedule around to be up and active the whole night instead.

The last part of what she says catches his attention, though, and he's curious.]

Is there anyone in particular you're concerned about, or just generally?

Judging by the average network communications I've seen on a daily basis, I think it's more productive to ask who I'm not concerned about. It would certainly be a smaller list.

[...is Marian's mildly acerbic response. Yes, it's probably good that all thee people are offering to help, but they don't all seem like the sharpest tools in the shed, and all it would take is one screwball to wreck months of work.]

[He... Really can't argue with that, even taking into account Marian's somewhat confrontational nature.]

Fair enough. And then there are some people seem fine at first, until then they turn around and threaten to stab you for disagreeing with them.

[He might still be a little mad.]

[Marian looks suddenly disconcerted by this news.]

What disagreement?

[He hadn't really meant to genuinely worry her, and immediately regrets saying anything.]

Nothing; it doesn't matter, and it was some time ago. No one got hurt.

[But the general message of a people here not necessarily being trustworthy still stands.]

[Which brings it back around to the whole reason she waffled on how direct to make any network statements. She doesn't really know any of these people. And she knows how easily someone you thought was a friend, colleague... can turn on you when things go downhill...]

You realize that even in the unlikely event that we do locate the Door... I admit I keep wondering what people will do then. What they'll want to do. Or if there's even some that might think it's not a good idea to be looking in the first place.

I think it'd be too optimistic to assume we wouldn't have problems, but most people will probably be fine as long as they're not forced to do anything.

[So as long as if they want to stay they can stay, and if they want to leave they can leave, then hopefully there wouldn't be too many troublemakers. Some people just like to watch the world burn and all, but most of those here aren't that sort of crazy.

He does have to ask, though--]

What would you want to do with it? I know you don't want any more people being brought in, but what would you do yourself? Is there somewhere you want to go?

...no. ['Want to go', definitely not. But...] I suppose... I'd have to go back to where I'm from, though. It's... the only right thing to do.

[It's not that the statement seems false in and of itself, but her demeanor definitely shifts, looking off to one side, evasive. Even putting her world's problems aside, then there's the idea that even if she did return, maybe she should also make sure the Door was destroyed in the end, like she'd done with the gateway that she'd created before...]

[Wow, it doesn't take a psychologist to read that there's more to that answer than it appears; it doesn't actually even appear to be simple.]

Why is that?

[He asks because the hints are too obvious for him to just ignore; he thinks she might--consciously or subconsciously--want to talk about it.]

[At that, she does shoot him a look. That's the most shrink question ever.]

Although I can only speculate on the broader-scale consequences, which I have already at length, I'd think it was obvious by now that any kind of interference between 'worlds' is undesirable at best and both unpleasant and catastrophic at worst.

[He can only fight his nature for so long, gosh. But he holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender at the look; he got the message. Still, that brings up another important question--]

What if people here want to go to other worlds than their own? Would you object to that?

Hmrph. We haven't even found the Door yet.

[she mutters. And her complete non-answer pretty much makes that one clear, as she returns to shuffling through the papers on her desk, taking a little more care than necessary to tidy them back up -- which means that aside from that one glance, she doesn't have to look at him.]

That's true.

[He'll let her get away with avoiding the question for now, although he does make mental note of it; it's definitely easy enough to infer her answer, which could be a problem down the line. But right now she's right, because without the Door this is all moot.]

Okay. Well, I'll be there tomorrow night; if you need anything else before then, just send me a message.

[Otherwise he'll let her get back to things.]

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