Heart of Artifice: Part I--Engineered Enigma

[Patlin]

"Thank you. If I could be told where I might rest, I will do so and begin self repair in the morning."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Well, I'm sure First Mate Sadb can..."

*Suddenly, a frantic female voice pipes down from abovedecks through a large metal pipe.tube:*

"Cap'n! They've found our hidin' place! They'll be upon us any minute."

*Fiora glowers at the prospect.*

"Cap'n, we have enough power in the eldritch ion cannons to shoot 'em outta the..."

"No, we won't be killing anyone tonight," Rhiana shakes her head, speaking more quietly than usual as she says this, then accelerating her volume to a commanding cry as she turns to the tube, "Ms. Maness, tell the crew to brace and pull hard to a 360. Then begin evasive manoeuvre Delta Nine."

*She turns to a nearby lever, and continues.*

"Engaging relative gravity generator...NOW!"

*She throws the lever, and a bright green glow begins to effuse some of the nearby machines, as green arcs of electricity and sparks shoot out, and then objects begin to glow green, the large ones first.*

"Hold on!"

*Anvuss and Kharas feel a deep disorientation, as the ship begins to perform a series of intricate flips and turns. Fortunately, thanks to this so-called 'relative gravity generator', things do not crash or fall or break.*

"Are we clear?"

"Clear on my mark...okay, we're clear."

"Bearing?"

"58,72."

"Good, maintain course."

"Aye aye, Cap'n!"

 

[Patlin]

"Ah! I see you've manage to defeat the usual problematic effects of inertia on accelerating objects, presumably by utilizing a gravitational force which effects the entire mass and all sub masses evenly all at once. The lack of strain from a point based acceleration device must extend the life of your ship substantially. The theory is simple, though I expect it was difficult to implement."

 

[Velmont]

"How could I guess the Captain was a Rogue Spark." replies Kharas to Anvuss. "And we don't need to gather much information, I have the device to locate the kids. All we need is a mode of transportation. I already know there is one kid in Spira."

Kharas then fell silent and looks around and listen to teh discussion, but being forced

OOC: What are Fiora and the Captain, Warforged Mark II or human?

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Ah! I see you've manage to defeat the usual problematic effects of inertia on accelerating objects, presumably by utilizing a gravitational force which effects the entire mass and all sub masses evenly all at once. The lack of strain from a point based acceleration device must extend the life of your ship substantially. The theory is simple, though I expect it was difficult to implement."

"Well, actually, it isn't quite so simple. Based on the flaws in the Lyrandrian skyship design, I had to consider the relativistic effects of gravity--that is, the way that gravity acts as a local distortion of spacetime--if spacetime was a flat surface and we are a ball rolling along the surface, then gravity is a little dip in the surface, and when the ball rolls over the dip, it might be redirected, slowed down, or even caught. The dip is both deeper and wider based on the mass of the object. Well, by utilising the subspatial polarities of the magnetic monopole, I was able to counteract the dipole moment, and thus create an energy field that forms a sphere around a key object, such as this ship, and it turns out that the way the math works out, all the gravity from outside of the sphere, when multiplied by the field, adds up to zero. Therefore, only local gravity will prevail, and since the ship is the largest object, it simply means that everything on the ship will experience an inertial frame of reference in tandem with the ship. It makes for a much more pleasant ride when performing evasive manoeuvres."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"How could I guess the Captain was a Rogue Spark." replies Kharas to Anvuss. "And we don't need to gather much information, I have the device to locate the kids. All we need is a mode of transportation. I already know there is one kid in Spira."

Kharas then fell silent and looks around and listen to teh discussion, but being forced

OOC: What are Fiora and the Captain, Warforged Mark II or human?

*After an extremely careful appraisal, Kharas thinks that they might be closer to the people of Spiras than to humans. So far the Baron and maybe Elysia have been the only human humans here. The pirates have some differences from the people of Spiras, though. It is hard to notice it under the captain's long hair and the first mate's tied head scarf, but it seems that their ears might be a bit pointier, and they do have a slightly fae look to them when taken together. Not elves, per se, but it doesn't really fit with anything else, either. Of course, considering that these people were not forged, were not built for war, do not have metal bodies, were not built in a creation forge, do not seem to be designed even remotely after Warforged, do not look like Warforged or act like most Warforged, and have biological functions not possessed by Warforged, it seems that the appellation 'Warforged Mark II' is a bit misleading. As well call them 'Iron Golem Mark II' or 'Homunculus Mark II'. All they share with any of those is the Construct type.*

 

[Patlin]

Anvuss nods, but does not expound further, knowing that he needs to get some rest and repair.

 

[Velmont]

Kharas starts to be red but contain himself, seieng there is no use to argue actually. "Come on Anvuss, I'll repair you in an instant. We will leave teh Capitaine to her works."

 

[Patlin]

Once Kharas and Anvuss are alone, Anvuss suggests that they should hoard their available infusions, as the locals seem put off by them. Anvuss is willing to repair himself manually, after recovering his infusions. He has blacksmithing tools for that purpose.

 

[Rystil Arden]

*The Captain shakes her pointer finger slightly back and forth in a 'Nuh uh' fashion to call for abeyance.*

"No, not just yet. I think I may reconsider my earlier offer," she realises that this was ambiguous and shakes her head, "No, not for you, Anvuss. You are still welcome. But, Mr. Holier-than-thou Terrorist," she turns to Kharas, "If you think you are going to get away with talking over me and past me after I was nice enough to go easy on you for stowing away, well, you are sadly mistaken. Do not mistake kindness for weakness. I am the Captain of this vessel," she draws herself up to her full height--not particularly tall (though taller than Kharas, a dwarf), but she seems commanding nonetheless, with a hint of steel in her voice, "I am going to give you one last chance to shape up or ship out. So make your choice now."