02.05 - The Slow Thaw
When R/D, Telly, and Gorluun landed in the utility room, amongst the various debris that had been tossed down the chute, Telly fainted. This was no problem for R/D, who promptly stuffed Telly inside their womb-like chamber. Figuring Gorluun would draw unwanted attention as well, R/D stuffed him inside too. With a internal chamber full of adults, R/D waddled out from the utility room and ran in to Mawd Sindal, a long-time custodian of the Capital Building. Mawd gave them a nod and minded about her business, sweeping the clean-swept floor. As R/D began to head down the hall towards the main entrance of the building, Mawd gave a sharp cough, and with nothing more than a small gesture of her head, implied they might want to head the other direction.
As they walked down the row of doors, they passed Sir John Smith's office. He quickly bade them enter and closed the door. Telly was ejected from R/D's internal robo-womb. As was Gorluun. Telly, being unconscious, was laid peacefully on one of the many couches in Smith's office. Gorluun, meanwhile, began to panic. It had been a dog's age since he'd been anywhere other than sitting at the official table of his office, signing official documents, and then officially retiring back to his cryo-chamber. But, Smith anticipated this shock and calmly talked Gorluun off the ledge. He told him about the note from the Sindal Historical Society, the report of his assassination, and the brief skirmish with an imposter security detail... Gorluun had been there for that, but hadn't quite come to his senses after thawing from the deep freeze. He sat on a different couch and pondered.
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Adele Dazeem sat at the back of the class. In exchange for working as a T.A., she was allowed to audit one class per term. But the more Professor Telly droned on, the more she berated herself for choosing this class to audit.
When class was over, she stayed behind to discuss some concerns about the midterm exams that were popping up amongst the students. But, she noticed, there were others staying behind too. A strange duo, man and machine, got up and greeted Telly with informal familiarity. Mr. Smith, too, glided down from the back of the class to join the other three and, in hushed tones, discuss something with them. Adele slowed her efforts even more as she paced herself against the movements of the other men in the classroom. When they left, she followed.
They went to directly to the Capital Building, which didn't surprise her. She knew that Sir John Smith held an office in one of the administrative wings. She followed them through the main lobby, but held back as they cleared a security checkpoint and headed upstairs. There was only one thing upstairs, the static, frozen icon, the former Emperor of Sindal, Gorluun III himself.
Adele had spent a short stint in the Navy, but had to leave on account of some bad blood that had been stirred up when she called a superior officer to the carpet for his role in a major accident. One that killed several cadets. Even though she was exonerated of all wrong-doing, her social standing in the Navy had been dashed.
A native of Albe, she then joined the Albe Intelligence Agency — a non-partisan research firm that, among other things, researched both political and corporate dilettantes. She reported on movements, monitored communications, tracked sales and acquisitions... in general, it was her job to be in the know.
As she sat in the lobby of the Grand Capital building, stuff started to happen. The building went in to lock down. Government Security personnel immediately went in to high-alert. She heard reports of a breach in an exterior wall. A firefight between security forces and people posing as security forces. And, there was a independent report on the net that Gorluun III had been assassinated.
Five minutes later, Adele sees a security officer escorting Smith down the administrative wing. But, Telly and R/D, whom Smith had entered the building with, were nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes, the building had been secured, and people were allowed to leave. Adele tried to jam the comms of the security men who had posted themselves at the entrance to the admin wing. But, she was not able to find/hack/block their frequency. So, she naturally resorted to using her natural charms. Easily convincing one of the guards to escort her directly to Smith's office.
The guard left Adele to her own devices and returned to his post. Smith let Adele in, cautiously. She pointed at Telly, her one solid connection to anyone in the room, and said, "What happened to Telly?" Then, she pointed at Goruun. "He's supposed to be dead." Then she turned to Smith. "What is going on?"
R/D both paced the room, and ran a self-cleaning diagnostic sequence. Carrying two full grown men in one's robotic womb wasn't something one did every day.
As they walked down the row of doors, they passed Sir John Smith's office. He quickly bade them enter and closed the door. Telly was ejected from R/D's internal robo-womb. As was Gorluun. Telly, being unconscious, was laid peacefully on one of the many couches in Smith's office. Gorluun, meanwhile, began to panic. It had been a dog's age since he'd been anywhere other than sitting at the official table of his office, signing official documents, and then officially retiring back to his cryo-chamber. But, Smith anticipated this shock and calmly talked Gorluun off the ledge. He told him about the note from the Sindal Historical Society, the report of his assassination, and the brief skirmish with an imposter security detail... Gorluun had been there for that, but hadn't quite come to his senses after thawing from the deep freeze. He sat on a different couch and pondered.
—————————
Adele Dazeem sat at the back of the class. In exchange for working as a T.A., she was allowed to audit one class per term. But the more Professor Telly droned on, the more she berated herself for choosing this class to audit.
When class was over, she stayed behind to discuss some concerns about the midterm exams that were popping up amongst the students. But, she noticed, there were others staying behind too. A strange duo, man and machine, got up and greeted Telly with informal familiarity. Mr. Smith, too, glided down from the back of the class to join the other three and, in hushed tones, discuss something with them. Adele slowed her efforts even more as she paced herself against the movements of the other men in the classroom. When they left, she followed.
They went to directly to the Capital Building, which didn't surprise her. She knew that Sir John Smith held an office in one of the administrative wings. She followed them through the main lobby, but held back as they cleared a security checkpoint and headed upstairs. There was only one thing upstairs, the static, frozen icon, the former Emperor of Sindal, Gorluun III himself.
Adele had spent a short stint in the Navy, but had to leave on account of some bad blood that had been stirred up when she called a superior officer to the carpet for his role in a major accident. One that killed several cadets. Even though she was exonerated of all wrong-doing, her social standing in the Navy had been dashed.
A native of Albe, she then joined the Albe Intelligence Agency — a non-partisan research firm that, among other things, researched both political and corporate dilettantes. She reported on movements, monitored communications, tracked sales and acquisitions... in general, it was her job to be in the know.
As she sat in the lobby of the Grand Capital building, stuff started to happen. The building went in to lock down. Government Security personnel immediately went in to high-alert. She heard reports of a breach in an exterior wall. A firefight between security forces and people posing as security forces. And, there was a independent report on the net that Gorluun III had been assassinated.
Five minutes later, Adele sees a security officer escorting Smith down the administrative wing. But, Telly and R/D, whom Smith had entered the building with, were nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes, the building had been secured, and people were allowed to leave. Adele tried to jam the comms of the security men who had posted themselves at the entrance to the admin wing. But, she was not able to find/hack/block their frequency. So, she naturally resorted to using her natural charms. Easily convincing one of the guards to escort her directly to Smith's office.
The guard left Adele to her own devices and returned to his post. Smith let Adele in, cautiously. She pointed at Telly, her one solid connection to anyone in the room, and said, "What happened to Telly?" Then, she pointed at Goruun. "He's supposed to be dead." Then she turned to Smith. "What is going on?"
R/D both paced the room, and ran a self-cleaning diagnostic sequence. Carrying two full grown men in one's robotic womb wasn't something one did every day.
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