A Portal Without A Cube

[Sandman XI]

Darian looks at the empty cupboard with a look of confused thought, then to Chris with the same look, then shrugs the thought off and looks back to the cupboard. "Who am I to argue with a daredevil like yourself? I am sure you have a contingency plan if this ship stops running," he says with a hopeful tone and smile. He presses his hand to the screen and the symbols line up under it. A holographic image of the light flier station lays over the cupboard, "It looks like it will be a perfect fit!"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Contingency plan? Well, Freedom is an ideal place for a water landing..."

He looks at the projected image. "That's one hell of a coincidence. It's almost like somebody had discussed how well it would fit in there, and made it so..." Chris pondered that for a second, before grabbing a cutting torch from his utility belt. "Any details I'd need to know about power requirements?" he asked, whirling the torch and kneeling down to cut through to the circuits.

[Sandman XI]

Darian smiles and shakes his head, "No need for tools, my good man, just sit back and watch!" He takes his hand off the screen and presses a button on the floating toolbox and the holographic image starts humming like a flourescent lightbulb. "If you will give it a minute it will be done. As for the power requirements, it is semi-self-sustaining. It just needs a source of power. Meaning as long as your ship runs, it runs." The humming stops and where the cupboard used to be is now a wall-mounted device.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Very clever idea," said Chris, spinning the blowtorch around his finger a few times before extinguishing it and returning it to his belt. Oooooh... flamey. "So I just press this button," he asked, pressing one on the device and nearly falling over from the lightflier appearing at his feet. Ooooo... shiny. "How do you get rid of them again?"

[Sandman XI]

Darian presses the button that Chris just pushed and the light flier disappears, "There is a drawback with this one though, this model is far too small to hold more than one light flier. Thus, you can only have one out at a time. If somehow the your light flier was destroyed the station will make another one, but you would have to come back to your ship to get it." Pressing the button again, the light flier appears back at their feet again.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Ah well, the ship can operate by remote so that's not too big a problem. Thanks for installing it though, it'll come in really useful. So, d'you want to take a look at the rest of the ship?"

[Sandman XI]

Darian nods and takes look around the ship from where he stands. "That would be great. I am always eager to see what kind of interesting things people have built. Even though you did not build it," he looks to Chris with a sincere grin, "Who knows? Maybe we will figure out your energy needs, or find a few things you did not know about, or add some things you will want and/or need?"

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman jumped over to the controls, flicking switches and twirling a handle around (which looked different enough from the other controls for it to be debateable as to whether it was actually a part of the ship). "I'm fairly sure there's a way to open a hatch to the engine. Didn't take too close a look in case I made it explode or something. Some people build things as if buttons aren't made to be pressed, dunno why." He twirled the handle experimentally, before kicking the panelling and trying one other button. Whoooooooooosh!

A panel opened up in the back wall, exposing a smallish room surrounded by metal piping and tubing.

[Sandman XI]

Darian stands wide-eyed and awed at the randomness of Chris's flailing with the ship's controls. He flinches every time he ship makes a noise that would indicate it was doing something other than staying put. Fortunately, nothing dangerous happens, something interesting does though. Looking at the open gap and then back to Chris, "Well, that was enlightening. Do you want to look in there first or should I?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"I've looked in it before, nothing I've really understood. Maybe you could shed some light on what it all does." He wanders over and prods some of the piping. "I assume it lets the ship fly, but no more than that."

[Sandman XI]

Darian summons the floating toolbox over to himself. Pressing a button on the bottom of it, a flashlight drops into his hand. He walks over to the small, dark hatch and searches with the aid of the light. "Well, definitely not a newer model, but interesting nonetheless. Would you happen to have any other hatches like this?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Not to my knowledge, but then again..." he said, as something caught his eye. "Yeah, here's another one I didn't notice before." He flipped it open, before looking very perplexed. "That's a bit too complicated-looking for my liking..."

[Sandman XI]

Darian peeks into the area. "Well, this is something I have not seen before," his tone of voice suggests he was trying to think to himself, but it slipped out. Clearing his throat, he looks back out to his guest, "Forgive me if this sounds rude," he pauses before rapidfire questioning Chris, "You said you did not build this ship? But you did find blueprints of other things in it? Do you still know where you found the ship? Maybe we can the instuctions there?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Erm... yeah, I probably could find the building again. But odds are it might've been emptied. You see, when I went there the place was... sort of abandoned. And maybe... just a maybe, I don't remember too good... there was some yellow police tape on the doorways. So, might be empty now, yeah."

[Sandman XI]

Darian looks confused, "Please forgive me if I am jumping to conclusions, but are you saying that this is police property," with a quick gasp, his confusement turns to shock, "and that it is possibly stolen?" He exhales the fear, but there is a slight tremble in his worried voice, "I am hoping that I am wrong, or that you can explain this." Standing in an at ease stance, he begins to slowly and slightly rock left to right to help cope with what Chris will say.

[Ecalsneerg]

Yeah, knew that was a bad idea. Time to use my fabled silvery tongue! "Here's the thing, I genuinely don't remember too much about it. I know when I was in the building I got jabbed by a syringe, then nothingness. Next I know I was lying crashed into a hillside regrowing my hand from a stump. The whole incident is very hazy."

Rolled 18 + 13 in chat, as invisible castle was down. Darian's +0 Sense Motive can't beat it.

[Sandman XI]

Darian breathes a sigh of relief. He didn't really get an answer from Chris, then again, he care after hearing what trouble Chris had went through. Taking a slow look around the ship, he lazily slumps into one of the passenger seats, "I must say, whoever biult this did an excellent job. I am guessing that you learned to fly it by manual, or are you a natural pilot?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"I did have to learn how to fly it, but I caught on fairly quickly. It's very similar to a video game or something. Just pressing buttons at the right time and pulling on the sticks the right way. Simple."

[Sandman XI]

Hearing about how easy it is to fly this machine, Darian sits up with a renewed interest, "If I may be so bold to ask: Could you, maybe, give me a demonstration of your flying skill?" With a hopeful gleam in his eyes, he pauses for a second to lean forward, "And maybe you could teach me how to fly?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Yeah, I've got seatbelts," mused Chris, pulling on his orange goggles. "Let's go flying," he said, throwing the remote cartwheeling up into the air, snatching it on the way down and pressing a button to light up the control panels. He threw a pile of... stuff... off of a seat and disentangeld the seatbelt from a pair of jeans.

"Let's make Old Man Summers ticked off," he grinned happily, settling into the swivel chair at the controls.

[Sandman XI]

Darian shrugs at the 'Old Man Summers' comment. Exitedly sitting up, he summons the floating toolbox to himself. Rummaging through it, he pull out a device similar to the one that got them into the extradimensional hangar. "We will need a way out of here," he says standing up. Gently, but quickly, stepping over the piles of clothes and CDs, he makes his way to the exit. Stepping on the light disc he left at the exit, he floats outward a bit, still facing the ship. He activates the portal horizontally above the ship again and then quickly floats back to the ship. Rushing in, but still avoiding the piles, he cheerfully announces, "We are ready for take off!"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Hold on..." said Chris, spinning quickly in the chair to press a button down hard and yanking on a lever. The ship shot upwards out of the portal, pulling a quick barrel roll and cannoning out towards the bay at a high speed. "The great thing is, I'm not even approaching top speed yet," smiled Chris happily as he began lowering the ship towards the water in the approaching bay.

[Sandman XI]

Caught un aware of the take off, Darian's center of gravity shoots downward as the Pitchoo shoots upward. Him and the Chris's clothes and CDs roll around the ship, top to bottom, as the daredevil pilot pulls off his aerial stunt. Darian quickly grabs a seat when they straighten out. "That was very exilharating, Chris," he says trying to hide his shocked voice with a calm tone, "Next time, may I have ample warning before you take off," He nervously chuckles, making light of his painful ordeal. "So, is this where we are going to begin," he says looking out at the bay.

[Ecalsneerg]

"I don't know..." said Chris, looking out at the sea before him. "I mean, I could go anywhere on the planet with this ship, but I've never really done it. No idea where to go, what to do... Suppose it's like kids leaving school and wondering what they want to do with thier lives, only with superpowers and a high-tech vehicle."

[Sandman XI]

Darian is silent for a moment to think about what was just said. They can go anywhere and do anything. The infinite possibilities of something had been presented to him before, but he knew what he wanted to do by then. His current long-term goal has already been set: Getting Project 4X3A3L4E3C7I1 100% functional and into remote controlled automatons to patrol Freedom City. But what now? Today was a blank page. Looking to Chris like a straightman, he breaks the silence, "Well, there is no time like the present to do what we have put off today. Or something like that."