[IC] Lost in Dreams [Elijah]

[ericthered]

There are many occasions when he sees something very similar, but in every case, there is something wrong. The weirdest case is the one five years behind the current date. The data base actually has a section on the theory of why that particular history is so common.

He also becomes aware that type of world is considered dangerous, and a bombshell waiting to happen. Secundus is classified as this type, though it obviously has world travel, and is not his own.

[Talosian]

Elijah will continue to browse, looking at anything that grabs his interest. He'll try to go to sleep periodically, and continue switching back and forth until morning.

[ericthered]

World after world is read about, and He is completely unable to fall asleep. The strangest thing he notices is that not all of the worlds follow the same laws.

Twice during the night spiders are spotted, and in both cases they are dealt with quickly, one stabbed and one shot.

As the sun is coming up, Elijah becomes aware of Ivan making an argument. The gist of it being that they should ditch their gear here and be free to move around looking like natives. Maria is very opposed to the idea, either from the thought of changing into local garb or because she honestly thinks doing so will let the secondians catch them.

[Talosian]

Elijah ponders this for a moment. He is loath to relinquish his only recently acquired clothing, particularly the pants, but he is acutely aware that as he is wearing their clothing, he would almost certainly join the Centrans in any trouble they found themselves in. He approaches Ivan and Maria to join their conversation. "How would the Secundans detect us? You said they had a sat-com earlier. How would they have gotten a satellite around this world? And why?"

[ericthered]

"This Quatum is extremely easy to get things into orbit in. There are several worlds with different natural laws that allow space flight. Or they could have suck it up on pharaoh, or used it as a paid experiment on one of a number of worlds with active space programs, or they could have just put in into orbit the normal way on an uninhabited or primitive world. At any rate, they have a conveyor attached to it and they use it for surveying worlds. It can jump to any world on this quanta, and pick up data on it."

[Talosian]

"How detailed are its scans? Would changing clothing help us?"

[ericthered]

"We don't know how good the scans are. We do know that wearing uniforms makes us stick out, and that we certainly aren't on their records as licensed visitors"

[Talosian]

Elijah nods, "I've no desire to relinquish my pants, but if it would be safer, so be it." After a moment he adds, "If the goal is to blend in, we might be able to stay with the Dog Tribe, particularly if we can ensure that Bob takes Eats Slowly - the girl - home."

[ericthered]

"Staying with locals would be good camouflage, providing we don't run into anyone. And it would help with protection. I don't fancy running around with no protection but a sharp stick. Ivan, what are the chances of the locals running into anyone?"

Ivan sighs "The hunting group certainly won't, and infinity generally steers clear of the locals around here. They're an odd bunch, even if they do accept us. They might stop by to ask questions, and the locals will certainly have news of us. Of course they already have news of Elijah, so we might be able to trace his tracks..."

Maria is already shaking her head "Too much operational security. This is one of the few weakspots in the secondan line. Its also one of the safest. If we die here, we die holding the line vs. secondus. I think the enviromental risks aren't worth advertising our presence."

Ivan shruggs "At any rate, during the night we can likely walk around in uniform. They've likely already taken the photos"

[Talosian]

Elijah will follow their lead, as he figures they probably have better sense of how to survive and avoid detection.

(He's just going to go with the flow and do as they suggest.)