ic North, West, and East

[Exaccus]

"Oh i was not talking of bankrolling it entirely; a piece of expensive equipment that the goverment is not willing to pay for as nessicary or three." He explained himself as he raised his hand and used a little bit more of his dwindling energies to open another spatial gate growing suddenly emancieated.

 

"Ah...i hadn't realized i was quite so low...please forgive me if i startled you."  He wheezed a little "Still all the more reason to return swiftly before i begin to....salivate." it was not something he enjoyed doing as a human but now he leaked enzymes from every pour when hungry it made him feel disgusted.

 

"We shall be having mammoth steak tonight with an assortment of vegetables, thomas was quite excited...all clicks and chirps!" His face lit up like a doting father "how do you like your meat? Thomad has a proclivity to slightly under do them so i'd ask for a shade darker." He whisphered before taking his seat.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Mammoth steak? Well I cant very well turn down the opportunity of that!" replied North, quite interested. 

 

This job will, for all its toxic stress, afford me some most interesting experiences!

 

"And let us be bold. I doubt I will eat Mammoth Steak again, so Ill trust...er...Thomad...to do them as he best sees fit" he declared. 

 

"As for funding, or even equipment, that is being negotiated now with the united nations and member states. You will appreciate that quite aside from the risk of an extinction event, the economic cost to the world of such events is between painful and astronomical" he explained. "The philosophy, and on this I concur, of the united nations is to be a small organisation that is well funded. And that all relevant organisations, such as AEGIS or UNISON, as well as national intelligence agencies and academic institutions, are signed up to a principle of coorperation"

 

"So I think the resources will be there. The problems, I fear, will be in coordinating all the information and agencies. You understand..conflicting agendsa and so on. Dangerous science breeds paranonia. Some states, no doubt, will want to harness it. I forsee the problems being political rather than financiall..." he said, gloomily. 

[Exaccus]

"Medium rare it is then." Deoxy said with a smile as he tapped away at a console on the dining table.

 

"It should be ready and with us shortly...thomad is an archaeoptyrix so he prefers his meat a little red." Doctor deoxy explained as he turned to look out at the marine view.

 

"I find i favour this room quite a bit over the other viewing posts, i have an affection for sharks and rays...majestic creatures, barely touched by evolution in times passage..."

[Supercape]

GM

 

A man of science then, rather than politics. I can't say I blame him...the two are uneasy bedfellows at best.

 

That was what they had hired him for, he thought as he munched into an i teresting, unique, and far from unpalatable steak. Perhaps, thoough, he should have asked iit a litlle more cooked...

 

"If you like sharks you should meet this British guy, half man, half shark" he rambled, recalling a brief meet with Sgt Shark last month. He found Doctor Deoxy's love of them slightly disconcerting even if understandable.

 

"But if you love them for being so unchanged, why your own love for...dabbling?" He asked.

[Exaccus]

"Ah....the several billion pound question!" He laughed as he reclined in his chair takin a short break from his meal dabbing at his silverlips with a napkin.

 

"Not an easy one to answer but i shall try to explain myself." He took a moment to compose his answer as he watched the seafloor scene playing out before him.

 

"The world as it is....i see it as a pallette from which i can compose great beauty..." he supposed this was a adequate similie for his view on the world.

 

"Sharks and rays are /unchanged/ by time but in my eyes they are not entirely /complete/ as im sure you know....sharks lack contractions for birthing their pups or laying their eggs....rays are protected from disease and parasites from a layer of mucus so thin it can be removed by merest contact....The dinosaurs we now know, were wiped out by a freak accident, a meteorite hitting one of only 13 locations...not by design of nature but cosmic indifference..." he sighed it saddened him to think of such slow demise on such a scale....genocide by starvation

 

"Which begs a question of you my friend...."W.E.S.T's mission is to the world" I wonder if perhaps you mean "to humanity" specifically, it is after all, with or without my "painting" not our world alone.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"A fair question, to which there is no fair answer" replies North, honestly.

 

"Humanity, obviously, is the priority. We all would prefer to save the human race compared to, say, the termite. Or even animals we are close to, such as dogs, if the choice boiled down to something that hard"

 

He folded his napkin away.

 

"But the humanity is woven into the world. A catastrophe, such as we aim to prevent, affects all. It would perhaps be best to consider us as firemen. Firemen save human lives, but what they really do is prevent and put out fires. Except, of course, the fires we deal with could consume everything"

 

 

[Exaccus]

"Well reasoned!" Doctor deoxy responded raising his glass "I have no ill will towards humanity of course and am willing to lend my expertise and resources to your organization and its noble ambitions." And with that he polished off his plate in short order, returning to his unemancipated form as his metabolic energy reserves returned to normal levels.

 

"If you would like, I would be happy to give you a tour of the less scientific facilities of my island and we can discuss your other matter in the comfort of the reading room."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"That would be most agreeable. As was the meal" replied North.in truth be was not much of a meat eater and whilst there was no cause to complain about the cooking he half wished he had gone for the vegetarian option.

 

"The more I see, the more reassurance I can give"

 

Provided, of course, that what I see is reassuring...

 

"Please, lead on..."

[Exaccus]

"Very well, please follow me." And with that he was off again in the rapid transit sphere this time they disembarked in a different location, a blank white room overlooked by a control room.

 

"This is my holographic simulator room, used for various scenarios and honing my new forms numerous capabilities as well as acclimating some more....troublesome occurances."

 

A few taps on a wall pannel and the white room whirred and melted into the southern beach.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"mmmm" replied North non-comittaly. So.ulated realities, by and large were at least safe. In the wrong hand, malign. In the wristbands,benign.a tool.and like any tool, a potential weapon.

 

But WEST were not about weapons.they were about explosions. And this did not seem like an explosion.

 

"Useful, I am sure. I much prefer simulated catastrophes to real ones!"

 

Unless we are in a simulated reality. Or those infinite copues of me an infinite multiverse that are..

 

Bah! I'm a no microbiologist not a philosopher! Too much see ulationrots the brain!

 

He waited for the next destination on the tour...

 

[Exaccus]

Next the sphere plummeted into the depths of the base and the two gentlemen were delivered to a large open cavern in the earths depths with several hexagonal constructs on the bedrock walls.

 

"A rather recent addition, living spaces for guests and visitors...home of course to the holding cells for poachers as well...perfectly comfortable i assure you before i turn them over to the rightful authorities of course."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"It would be a foolish man to come poaching here. Although the world is full of fools, I suppose. And plenty of fools are greedy" He conceded.

 

"I commend you on the charity and humanity if these cells. But let us hope they are never needed.."

 

What he was growing to trust doctor deoxy, he did have unspoken nagging worry. Somebody could potentially be imprisoned, however humanely, and nobody would be any the wiser.

 

Not really his department. And unlikely. But he did ponder the thought. Perhaps the doctor might concede to annual inspection as a safeguard...

Edited September 19, 2018 by Supercape

[Exaccus]

Next they took their rolling vessel to the workshop, of all the rooms so far it was the most utilitarian and Spartan in appearance.

 

"the workshop is where i preform maintainence on my automata, primative as they are they preform the majority of the day to day labours though i do occasionally tinker with simple contraptions this is perhaps the room i overspent the most on for how little use it gets....though im glad to have it and not need it over the reverse."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"A sensible philosophy...for the most part" replied North carefully looking, but not touching.

 

He could not but help a sour sting at the thought. WEST was indeed being well funded. But he still had to make tough calls. They had decided on depth rather than breadth...doing a little very well rather than a lot superficially. He often wondered if that was the right call...

 

Never mind...making allies like Doctor Deoxy would certainly help!

 

"We are well funded, or  rather, reasonably funded. But it would certainly help if we can call on your assistance now and again..."

[Exaccus]

"Of course, doctor north, it is my hope that we shall soon become fast friends, even if my particular expertise is of no use my facilities are at your disposal." A soft smile upon his lips as he walked around the room, of course allowing doctor north to examine the tools to his satisfaction and the various replacement parts for the robots

 

"Now then, unless you wish to see the main generator, we can head to the infirmary or the library next at your choice doctor." Gesturing at the control pannel.

 

"You need only tap the location on the screen...i am quite taken with the simple elegance of interactive interface as you have no doubt gathered."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"I would not profess to understand the engineering involved in your generator" replied North. "I'll take your word it is not powered by a black hole!" He added as a little joke, before wondering if it was, in fact, powered that way...

 

"The library and infirmary are unlikely to be threats, of course. But I am a doctor by background and if you would indulge my personal curiosity, I would like to see them...?" he asked politely.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Supercape

[Exaccus]

"Of course, allow me to send us on our way to the infirmary." Doctor Deoxy said smoothly as he tapped at the relevent location on the input screen and once more the sphere set off in its tunnel this time rising into the air and above the tree lines into a more open half dome of a room walled with cabinates and machines for diagnosis and treatment both from dialisis and MRI devices to batch testers and centrifuges and other more exotic devices.

 

"Nessecitated by my phisiology." He explained

Edited September 20, 2018 by Exaccus

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Your physiology?" Asked North, gently. "Forgive me, I don't wish to pry. I understand that many individuals with super powers have unusual phsiologies or bio medical problems. I have seen some of the rare survivors of Darwin X and if they didn't luck out, it can leave terrible muations" he actually shuddered at the recollection.

 

"It seems you are well equipped to treat both yourself any guest, though. Very well equipped.." He added more brightly, studying the equipment with expert eye.

[Exaccus]

"Ah yes, perhaps you are unaware...not long ago i became permanently integrated with my chrysalis suit, it has since digested my epidermis and connected directly to my centeral nervous system and begun to make alterations....mostly making me better able to convert food to energy and store it for fuel...as a result i am prone to hemmoraging energy when my skin is pierced." He explained as he examined the room a little.

 

"Mostly containment messures to avoid injuring people till i am mended though i have had call to reattach a limb reccently." He pointed to the more unrecognizable machines.

 

"Indeed it is my hope that one day i will be able to make something akin to an international research station open to scientists and scientificly minded people around the world..in the mid term i can offer medical proceedures to some of the local metahuman populace as well."

Edited September 21, 2018 by Exaccus

[Supercape]

GM

 

"That may very well come in handy" replied North and I thank you for the offer. WEST cannot hope to stop every disaster. Perhaps we can do a little contingency planning should the worst come to pass. It is only a matter of time before room villain, or fool, let's loose Darwin X in a populated area. Or something worse..." He added gloomily.

 

He straightened up. Much as he loved the infirmary he could not loiter there indefinitely.

 

"Well I can find nothing here that would concern us. Or, more accurately, there are sufficient safeguards around the risks" he clarified. "Is there any other part, or parts, of the base you would show me?"

[Exaccus]

"indeed, a dark day that will be...i had begun some research into the matter of Darwin-X, no direct samples of course...wouldn't want an extremely mutated dinosaur outbreak...mostly tissue samples of those effected and survived and able to still give them of course." he grimaced a little at the thought of what he'd seen beneath the microscope

 

"Evolve or Die....a brutal paradigm, quite at odds with my own...i believe it might be possible to cure one day...but for now i have been able to do naught but concoct an inhibitor that i believe might slow it to a crawl and allow necessary surgical procedures to remove any fatal new features before they can fully develop and kill the host."  he explained as he headed back to the transit system "it is however terrifically difficult to concoct and cannot stop the rapid mutation and cell division brought on by the disease...i fear as it is now it is prohibitively expensive to produce and ultimately a stalling method"  he complained a little sadend by his inability to halt this scourge that had taken  root in his particular field of interest.

 

"I believe the library is the only room left, perhaps it can offer you a greater insight into my personality...it is my most personal space outside of my chambers of course." and with that they were once again off, this time for the last time, taking a more horizontal approach as their sphere whirled its way through biomechanical tunnels and into a large and seemingly open ended room, the far wall of which looked out onto a vista of the eastern plane and out at some of the larger and more docile herbivores that called his island home, walls filled from floor to ceiling with books and small mechanical beetle like drones  moving from shelf to shelf, rearranging and cleaning the contents, though perhaps the most striking feature was the view from the wall opposite the window, the huge geothermal powercore veined with transparent tubes carying cooling lava back down to the depths of the island to be reheated in the earths mantle, naturally the room was a balmy 29 degrees.

 

"Now then, i believe there was another matter you wished to discuss with me? though i am quite happy to ramble and complain some more about Darwin-X of course."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"It might be the two are intertwined" replied North, sitting down and pressing his finger tips together in a stressed repose. 

 

"But...to the matter. Or rather, matters. I have to oversee the construction of EAST, which is a difficult matter. We are sure to make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes, and refine our practice. But if you can offer any advice, it would surely be appreciated" he began. 

 

"The next issue is one of your relationship with us, if you wish to have one. There is no compulsion in this matter. I would suggest it would be mutually beneficial for us to examine your base once a year. It would alleviate needless anxiety from some, and provide your with ammunition against undeserved critique" he offered. 

 

"If you are in agreement, I can note your down as a potential consultant for WEST. This would mean working with another agent when helping us, and accepting some...what I hope are reasonable...limitations to your authority, and equal limitations to our resources" he explained. "A bit of a one-sided deal, I confess, although it may appeal to your altruism..."

 

"And finally, if you are so inclined, I can ask for security clearance. This will mean you can operate - with some oversight - independently on our behalf, and have full access to our resources. The flip side is that I do need to get you security clearance, which is not easy...or pleasant. You will understand that we are dealing with dangerous technology, and nobody wants one state or spy appropriating such danger. It does require security clearance from several organisations - and that, in turn, requires you answer candid questions about your past, background, and so on. Information that will be confidential, but even so, may be something that you are reluctant to give. More of a two way street, this option..."

[Exaccus]

"For now it may be best for us both to carry on as if i am a consultant, let us move slowly to avoid startling folks, perhaps after a while there will be less resistance to bringing me on board fully?" Doctor deoxy offered as he reclined in a comfortably upholstered arm chair in ponderous thought.

 

"I am open to an annual investigation though i must insist it be by a scientist, WEST, AEGIS, independant i care not...as long as they understand the nature of my island and experimentations."

 

"As for my advice? I would say consider not only what you must keep from escaping but also what you must keep from intruding, i would advise against centeralizing infrastructure and information, do not allow one persons knowledge to undo all your measures...

Perhaps most importantly nothing is infalible, my defenses are mighty deterents and hurdles for unprepared fools to fall at but there will come a point when they all fail, it is inevitable that someone with enough time, skill, resources and power will come and take from my island or perhaps one of my creations escape so be ready as you can be for that."

Edited September 24, 2018 by Exaccus

[Supercape]

GM

 

"That is a fair point" nodded North. He stroked his moustache, considering the future. 

 

"I wonder if I could ask you something..."

 

One month Later....Rapa Nui....

 

Bang on cue, as per the invitation, Dr Deoxy stepped through his portal onto Rapa Nui. The coordinates had been quite perfectly precise. It was a pleasantish, if slightly overcast day, with a cool breeze easing through the grass. The sound of the sea could be heard far away. 

 

Not far away, out of sight, the famous stone heads lay. But this is not a story of the past, but of the future. 

 

EAST was halfway built. Concrete, steel for the most part, but with some areas almost complete. Waiting for Doctor Deoxy was Norris North, dressed almost as they had last met, but with a hard hat on. 

 

He offered one to Doctor Deoxy. 

 

"I doubt you need one, but health and safety etcetera etcetera" he sighed. 

 

"Thank you so much for coming. I thought your insight into the base would be invaluable. We are about half way built, so not a lot of room for leeway, but any ideas you have, the better!"

[Exaccus]

"its my pleasure. i have always intended to visit this place, to have an excuse is welcomed!" doctor deoxy said as he closed the spatial gate behind him and accepted the hard hat, he'd taken a less striking form to avoid drawing attention to himself, at least less attention than a gleaming silver figure would.

 

"Looks like things are going well over all! ill be sure to let you know if i see anything that might be worth pondering over." he answered as he looked around at the huge stone heads a little off in the distance "I imagine there was some finangling that had to be done with tourist intrests...have you opted to be open about your location or incognito?"