Herr Baron,
I have surveyed the site of the incident involving Liaison Ash and the Elder at Cala Mondrago. The fireball from the Galvanic Tesseractor explosion, judging by the newly-formed platform - a fused disc of glass that resulted from the melting sand, had a radius of at least a hundred yards. As you see by the notes Ash left, he did not carry enough fuel with him to cause that degree of en explosion. He was testing a lateral jump, not a chronal one.
Further, I have found the partially melted remains of a massive articulated talon. This proves there was foul play. I am testing the fragment in the lab to determine its origin.
I believe if I reinstalled a GT unit into Qlippothic, we can read the magnetic resonance of the platform to locate where and when he landed, and create an aperture for him to follow back to the Steamlands.
There is one complication. The Sixes and Sevens will be returning from the future soon with supplies to rebuild the Bloodwing's Revenge as well as a nanobyte repair kit to heal Qli. Once her android form is permanently stabilized I can install the GT. However, before I had the chance to brief her on the search and rescue plan, she told me how ecstatic she was that she could permanently become human. Do not envy me, Herr Baron. How can I chastise her desiring something we take for granted every day?
I am heading back to New Babbage to build the Tesseractor. Should Qli refuse to reassume her android form permanently...then Ash is left to his own devices to return. And without Ash's special link to the Elder, then two members of my family are lost to us. And if my plan goes flawlessly? Then I could never dare to ask Qli to make any sort of sacrifice again.
~DM
Thursday, February 24
Tuesday, February 22
I am the man who arranges the blocks...
A Complete History of the Soviet Union As Told By A Humble Worker, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris.
Tuesday, February 15
proving grounds
"ASH MASON!" The demon bellowed as his wingspan cut a shape across the red desert moon.
The android paid no heed, and continued his course across the sands. The lights of the oasis of Cala Mondrago shone at the edge of the horizon, the only terrestrial landmark.
"ASH MASON!" The demon swooped and landed ten paces ahead. "I command you to halt! You must answer your Elder!"
Ash stood in place, saying nothing.
"What is this madness I hear? You wish drink that potion, do you? You want to be one of the Heterodyne's attack dogs? Is it not shameful enough to follow their pack like some mascot?"
"The Jagermonsters are living weapons, the triumphant legacy of House Heterodyne." Ash's voice was calm and clear. "To be permitted to consume the brau is an honor. Whether or not my soul-chip can accept..."
"MADNESS!" Bloodwing advanced toward Ash, his crimson locks tangling about his horns as a dust storm arose. In an instant there was darkness and stinging sand and the deafening howl of swirling sands. "THIS IS BETRAYAL!"
Ash's measured demeanor cracked as he shouted above the sands. "I was BORN from your betrayal!" His sensors could not penetrate the storm. If the Founder was ten feet away or a thousand, he could not tell. The sands tore at his uniform. "Your lifecode is embedded within me, and if I do nothing your template will reassert itself over my circuitry! There is barely room for ONE Bloodwing on this Earth! What will happen when there are TWO?"
Ash was thrown off his feet by an explosion, but scrambled to his feet. "Ambush! This storm must be part of the attack! Bloodwing! State your location!"
He felt a clawed hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the Elder's pale skin striated with cuts oozing with his black ichor. The demon's glowing embers were hidden as he shut his eyes. "I am blinded! My wings are torn to shreds!"
Ash ripped open a panel in his torso. Lighting arced around the glowing, impossible shape hovering inside the cavity. "We have one chance." Ash had wandered into the desert wastes precisely for the purpose of testing Qlippothic's Galvanic Tesseractor with his own power source. Now it seemed, it would be a trial by fire. "Tesseraction in 3...2...
Above them both they heard a screech of metal, and without a warning a talon of steel wrapped around the blinded demon and lifted him upwards into the darkness. Ash shot out a telescoping arm blindly into the storm as a bolt of energy slammed into his torso.
The citizens of Cala Mondrago stopped to watch the bloom of lightning on the horizon.
When Ash regained consciousness, he immediately assumed his sensors were malfunctioning. There were energy patterns, but no presence of matter. If the readings were correct...this environment was held together not by physical structure, but by information.
"Welcome program Ash," chirped a voice nearby. "Welcome to the Grid."
The android paid no heed, and continued his course across the sands. The lights of the oasis of Cala Mondrago shone at the edge of the horizon, the only terrestrial landmark.
"ASH MASON!" The demon swooped and landed ten paces ahead. "I command you to halt! You must answer your Elder!"
Ash stood in place, saying nothing.
"What is this madness I hear? You wish drink that potion, do you? You want to be one of the Heterodyne's attack dogs? Is it not shameful enough to follow their pack like some mascot?"
"The Jagermonsters are living weapons, the triumphant legacy of House Heterodyne." Ash's voice was calm and clear. "To be permitted to consume the brau is an honor. Whether or not my soul-chip can accept..."
"MADNESS!" Bloodwing advanced toward Ash, his crimson locks tangling about his horns as a dust storm arose. In an instant there was darkness and stinging sand and the deafening howl of swirling sands. "THIS IS BETRAYAL!"
Ash's measured demeanor cracked as he shouted above the sands. "I was BORN from your betrayal!" His sensors could not penetrate the storm. If the Founder was ten feet away or a thousand, he could not tell. The sands tore at his uniform. "Your lifecode is embedded within me, and if I do nothing your template will reassert itself over my circuitry! There is barely room for ONE Bloodwing on this Earth! What will happen when there are TWO?"
Ash was thrown off his feet by an explosion, but scrambled to his feet. "Ambush! This storm must be part of the attack! Bloodwing! State your location!"
He felt a clawed hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the Elder's pale skin striated with cuts oozing with his black ichor. The demon's glowing embers were hidden as he shut his eyes. "I am blinded! My wings are torn to shreds!"
Ash ripped open a panel in his torso. Lighting arced around the glowing, impossible shape hovering inside the cavity. "We have one chance." Ash had wandered into the desert wastes precisely for the purpose of testing Qlippothic's Galvanic Tesseractor with his own power source. Now it seemed, it would be a trial by fire. "Tesseraction in 3...2...
Above them both they heard a screech of metal, and without a warning a talon of steel wrapped around the blinded demon and lifted him upwards into the darkness. Ash shot out a telescoping arm blindly into the storm as a bolt of energy slammed into his torso.
The citizens of Cala Mondrago stopped to watch the bloom of lightning on the horizon.
When Ash regained consciousness, he immediately assumed his sensors were malfunctioning. There were energy patterns, but no presence of matter. If the readings were correct...this environment was held together not by physical structure, but by information.
"Welcome program Ash," chirped a voice nearby. "Welcome to the Grid."
Monday, February 14
Happy Valentine's Day...
It's considered a day of ill omen for my clan, but to the rest of you I wish a day of warmest affections. Also, please pick up a copy of the Steampunk Tintype & Telegraph today for a personal tale of tragic romance and a valuable lesson.
Best Regards,
Dr. Darien Mason
Best Regards,
Dr. Darien Mason
Monday, February 7
your sanity and wits they will all vanish, I promise
A Mythos manifestation in Cape Wrath, of all places. The Avarian power gauntlets I carried with me were useless; the abomination's stain on reality was too thick in the air of the now-ravaged mansion. I had to resolve this the old-fashioned way, with an invocation of Nodens and a scalpel across the writhing tentacled visage of a pulsating painting too steeped in madness to describe.
The tenant sat there blubbering about family curses and the damage to her articulated limb. I just wanted to get the hell out. I nearly sprained my ankle tripping over the remains of a smashed cupboard merrily spilling oolong into the already septic carpet.
"I'm getting too old for this..."
Back at the Consulate, Wren greeted me with a smile on her face, carrying the bottle of absinthe and a shotglass on a silver plate, along with her report card. She's got a strong grasp of the Sciences, that Wren.
"Ah, not yet my dear. Let's check on our guests first, shall we?"
Wren pulled the latch, and I slid back the cover of the stasis chamber. Not one patient, but two. Precious little things, already sprouting tufts of red hair on their heads. I had scratched out the names DARIEN and MARCUS on the decanters and added OUNA and POPPY on the following lines, just in case anyone jumped to conclusions.
Nutrient levels were constant. Heat levels constant also. Circulation steady. Growth acceleration could begin in a matter of days.
The figures twitched in their glass tubes, and a nearby ticker-tape began to click madly and spill paper onto the floor. Wren pinched the end of the ribbon and passed it to me. I slid it through my fingers and looked back to them.
"You're welcome."
The tenant sat there blubbering about family curses and the damage to her articulated limb. I just wanted to get the hell out. I nearly sprained my ankle tripping over the remains of a smashed cupboard merrily spilling oolong into the already septic carpet.
"I'm getting too old for this..."
Back at the Consulate, Wren greeted me with a smile on her face, carrying the bottle of absinthe and a shotglass on a silver plate, along with her report card. She's got a strong grasp of the Sciences, that Wren.
"Ah, not yet my dear. Let's check on our guests first, shall we?"
Wren pulled the latch, and I slid back the cover of the stasis chamber. Not one patient, but two. Precious little things, already sprouting tufts of red hair on their heads. I had scratched out the names DARIEN and MARCUS on the decanters and added OUNA and POPPY on the following lines, just in case anyone jumped to conclusions.
Nutrient levels were constant. Heat levels constant also. Circulation steady. Growth acceleration could begin in a matter of days.
The figures twitched in their glass tubes, and a nearby ticker-tape began to click madly and spill paper onto the floor. Wren pinched the end of the ribbon and passed it to me. I slid it through my fingers and looked back to them.
"You're welcome."
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