ic [Gorgon] The Final Frontier (IC) (GM)

[Dr Archeville]

"Attempting to translate," the strange golden robot intoned. "Detecting multiple transmissions, multiple voices. Possibly multiple languages. Parsing... correction: one language, made from multiple components."

Scanning...

And remember the Mother who keeps every day holy. Good night, ~untranslatable~ listeners!

...concerned that the fungal harvest isn't going to hit quota again this year; that gamma-ray burst really did a number on our production...

Now remember, the Fallen Ones do have space travel on this planet, so make sure you're heavily armed: if they come here hostile instead of as pilgrims, we need to be...

Maglev 7 now approaching Inner Core, preparing to stop at Station ~untranslatable~...

"Will L'ook put aside the Meta-Mind and embrace L'ura and the Mother's collective? Or will L'ura have to defend its younglings from the Fallen outsider? Find out tonight on Young Xenos In Love..."

"Detecting radio transmissions of a 'soap opera' nature... announcements for mass transit maglev systems... concern over fungal crops damaged by gamma bursts... references to 'Holy Mother'... references to a stigmatized group of 'Fallen Ones'... likely referring to inhabitants of worlds Gorgon is to encounter..." The robot's head tilted, the first sign of movement it gave since it began homing in on the transmissions, "Hypothesis: inhabitants of worlds Gorgon encountered, who escaped their planet's fate wound up on/within the Cosmic Entity, and formed new culture centered around worship of it, whom they view as their savior." It tilted its head back, "would be fascinating to study: blend of 'Cargo Cult' and Stockholm Syndrome, on massive scale."

Query: Is this intended? Part of Gorgon's programming, to rescue some samples from each world before placing it into stasis? Gorgon as Cosmic Ark? Take samples from each world, with which to populate new planet?

[Raveled]

Ironclad digested what Protectron was telling them. "You mean that there's living people -- err, aliens -- aboard the Gorgon? Like it was a ship?" It was a hard idea to wrap her head around, but once she did it was obvious. This thing they were standing on was approximately the size of Earth, it was logical that it had inhabitants just like the planet Earth did. But it was another thing entirely to consider what their plans for the Gorgon might mean for its passengers. She hoped rather fervently that they wouldn't meet any of those inhabitants on their little trek -- not only because this whole thing was supposed to be quick and stealthy, but because Ironclad wasn't at all sure that she could go through with a plan to destroy the Gorgon if it meant killing millions, maybe billions of inhabitants. Of course, if that was the only way to save the world...

[Supercape]

"That does change things..." said Supercape solemnly.

"It means the destruction of the Gorgon is not, quite frankly, on the menu, unless all else fails. For in some way, it appears that whatever destruction this machine has unleashed, some kind of preservation, however perverted, has actually occurred too. Unless we can also find away to save whatever remnants of sentience remain on the Gorgon, or dare I say liberate them, we too become destroyers..."

He stroked his chin.

"Speculation of course. But this adds another moral complexity to what is already a terrible crisis. "

[Avenger Assembled]

The inside of the nanite venom gland was eerily alien, quiet and still save for the constant radio chatter in the alien tongue coming through on their various receivers. Hours seemed to tick by as they flew deep into the ducts, finally locating via Supercape's scans a microfracture in the wall where they could sink their nanite-extracting probe. They were buried beneath thousands of tons of alien metal, as far away from Earth as almost any human had ever been, and time was ticking away. Despite a moment of tension as the probe began its work, the great machine stayed silent, utterly silent, as they began gathering the nanites.

It was instantly obvious that these were no Earthly machines: they awaited no instructions, they asked for no programming: instead, just visible inside their holding bottle, the nanites began to slam themselves against the wall again and again, liquid sloshing on its own as the ancient machines inside sought to spread and grow and grow. No wonder the Gorgon's worlds were converted so quickly, and no wonder they were so dangerous to visit afterwards! But in the dark solitude of the Gorgon's body, they were doing the work it would take to find countermeasures for this great and terrible device.

[Fox]

Dragonfly frowned at the bottle, trying to tune out the languages she couldn't understand in favor of the science she could. Or, at least, hopefully would. aggressive - interesting - detects it's 'unleashed'? - normal reaction to being outside the gland? - reaction to artificial removal? - curious [bg=#555555]"Disconcerting,"[/bg] she muttered, tilting her head and watching the nanites struggle against the gravity bottle. [bg=#555555]"Shouldn't be able to do that. Unexpected, at least; more motive - mobile - than calculated. Should be okay. I think. We'll want to watch it carefully, though. Bottle shutting down or breaking open would be...bad."[/bg]

[Raveled]

Ironclad made sure she got the first filled bottle and drifted off from the others, lifting it to eye level to watch the little machines test the boundaries of the bottle. "Aggressive little things, that's for sure. It might be a really bad idea to take these back to any Earth-side facility," she pointed out. "I know we discussed that before, but these things are... beyond the pale. If they get out, well, I don't know if we'd have any time to implement countermeasures." She moved to scratch her chin and remembered her helmet at the last moment. "I hate to say it, but we might be safer leaving this stuff on the Lighthouse or someplace similar, and testing it there."

[JackgarPrime]

The weight of the potentially genocidal situation seemed to change the moods of the crew, as they know that there's more in the balance than just Earth. While it's unlikely they'd even be able to destroy the Gorgon as is, would they be able to do so if they were given the chance? A moral dilemma, indeed. And one that Victory, for his part, would have to wait on.

For this part of the operation, Victory would serve as a lookout, his heavily-enhanced audio-visual senses trying not to let even a lone object near their work point without him knowing about it. But he keeps his comm open, as any signal from the others would have to take priority at the moment.

With the nanites extracting, Victory listens in as Ironclad and Dragonfly discuss the potential danger of testing the material. The Major sighs, and chimes in.

"Just do one thing. Don't let me handle any of the bottles unless it's an emergency and there's no other choice. If my superiors knew that I had one in my possession at any point in the operation, they would demand that I took one with me."

Victory stops to momentarily turn off his recording software.

"And quite frankly, I wouldn't trust even a spoonful anywhere near one of our facilities."

He clicks it back on, thinking up how he'd explain the missing seconds in his recordings back at base.

[Supercape]

"The safest place for that weapon of mass destruction" said Supercape, shuddering, "is without question off Earth, no matter how safe the facility. I get the heeby-jeebies just looking at it..."

"One solution does come to mind. Perhaps not perfect, but off-world anyway. Doctor Archeville has, or rather, had many secret, and not secret bases of operations. One of them was an off - earth base, its location top secret. I understand it has been shut down after the recent...unpleasantness, but I have visited it, as has Victory. It would be the ideal place to take a look at those ghastly things, I think. Might need a bit of maintenance...like firing the place up again, but it is still technically operational, as far as I know. And I can get us there. "

[Avenger Assembled]

With the nanites in tow, they made their way out of the Gorgon and to the surface, where in a twinkling of Supercape's eye they reached the secret fortress of Dr. Viktor Archeville: Nichtuberall. The asteroid base looked like any other stony-iron asteroid tumbling through the void, but then, what else would a secret asteroid base look like? For all that most of the geeks there had grown up with an appreciation for Star Wars, the depths of interplanetary space were a yawning gulf even here in the very heart of the asteroid belt: there were only a few other asteroids visible for those among the heroic number with the keenest long-distance vision. They were very, very far from any other human beings. One lifeform was still visible, though. Even at a billion and more miles distance, the Gorgon was just large enough to be a disk in the sky. If you stared long enough, you could even see it grow.

[Dr Archeville]

Cross-referencing files on Archeville, Viktor, Doktor with-

ABORT Unable to connect with Earth-based servers

"Remote science facility appears to be a logical place to conduct tests on Gorgon nanites," Protectron said flatly.

The exterior of the base, looking for all the world like one of the two million other rocks in the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter, was never seen, since there were no external doors. Supercape teleported everyone directly inside, to the ersatz hangar he had teleported to once before. It was pitch black inside, and dead silent, the only illumination being whatever the Lab team (and Victory) had on them, the only sounds their own breathing.

This was soon remedied, and in little time they had it up and running again. It was not very big -- one luxurious set of quarters, a well-stocked library (with actual physical books), an automated kitchen, and just enough labs for Doktor Archeville to have done most any work he'd pleased, though not enough to do extensive testing; the labs were mostly for theoretical brainstorming and computer modeling of prototypes, but what was there could be combined with what the team brought with them to do what testing they needed. It was in one of these labs that Supercape had teleported everyone in to, so they were able to start as soon as power was restored, though it was a bit cramped. There was hardly any sign of the fight between the Interceptor-infused Grue Drones and Blueshift & Push which occurred here two months ago.

"Lab-Friends," Protectron said as they unmothballed the site, "as you know, my body contains advanced nanomachines which repair damege done to my structure. If they can be used to combat the Gorgon's nanites, I will readily donate however many are needed."

[Raveled]

Ironclad was in a state of barely contained glee, getting a chance to run around in the personal laboratory of one of her idols. She could barely focus herself to work, getting one of the magnetic containment bottles in an electron scanning microscope and set it to work. While that was humming away, she wandered through the asteroid, part of her brain taking notes and extrapolating her own design, while the rest of her geeked out at the personal look into Doktor Archeville's head space.

Protectron's flat statement of sacrifice stopped her cold though, reminding her why they were there. "I don't think it'll come to that," she said. "In any case, trying to, uh, transmute the Gorgon would likely take too long. The next star system on her list might thank us, but I'd prefer to find a solution that saves Earth, too."

[Supercape]

"Noble sacrficies are all very well, and good, and, er... noble.." said Supercape, at Protectron, a sentience he still did not fully understand, "but best saved for when strictly necessary, eh?" he finished.

He coughed slightly, waving the fine dust in the air away from him. "Whilst time is of the essence, first things first. Strictly speaking from a non-linear quantum point of view of course, not necessarily in that order. But you get my drift. What I mean to say is, lets get the power up and running. Lights, life support, that kind of thing. And all the equipment in the base, which as I recall was state of the art. "

His extraordinary senses could sense the ultra-low level levels of electricity dribbling through the base, just enough to keep it "ticking over". And enough for him to follow to the engines and reactor of the base.

"Not that I am much good with the practical side of science, but I can certainly lead someone handy with a spanner to the reactor..."

[Fox]

[bg=#555555]"Not going anywhere near reactors with you,"[/bg] Dragonfly dryly replied as she looked around. [bg=#555555]"Power's mostly up, anyway. Not inclined to split up, even if you want more power...might be a good idea, I suppose. Mmh, fast solution....[/bg]

The engineer was significantly less excited to be here than her friend Ironclad was, largely because she remembered the circumstances of the last time she was on an ArcheTech installation, and what she'd done there. Building what was functionally an orbital death ray wasn't one of her proudest moments....but it did give her a decent level of insight into how Archeville wired his systems. It took her just a few minutes (and a couple chunks of wall) to find the right cables, after which the part of her armor that deployed her wings opened up to allow her to unceremoniously pull out an oddly-glowing device and wire it straight into the lab.

It might have been small, but it was potent, and the difference in available power was noticeable. [bg=#555555]"No more stealth field until I put entropy driver back. Saves us time, though."[/bg]

[JackgarPrime]

Victory's silence in response to Supercape's suggestion was more of an unspoken agreement. He would've eventually piped up about the spaceborne lab, but he wasn't exactly ecstatic about going back there. The last time he was there didn't exactly end well, and, while he knows it is completely abandoned now beyond the most bare of repair systems, he still was wary of that one rip in space he knew was able to come through once before.

After they had all transported into the hangar, Victory's eyes went cold. His mask had stayed over his face the entire excursion, which is unusual for him. But he turns away from the group, and calls over his shoulder, letting the mask peel away from his face, but hidden from the view of the others by the angle he was standing. "I have to go take a look at something real quick. Give me a holler if you need me. And keep your ears open, just in case..."

[Avenger Assembled]

It took hours of work in the small asteroid base to do their work, the former den of the mad Doktor Archeville eerily silent save for the ever-running sound of the life support machinery that kept most of them alive. After all, they were in the very depths of space, a million miles or more from Earth, with only the technology of Dr. Archeville keeping them alive outside of what they'd brought with them. Though they were all formidable gadgeteers in their own right, remembering how easily poor Archeville's science had been stolen by that evil fish-man conqueror earlier in the summer preyed on everyone's nerves. Finally, after hours of work, the team came up with a solution to the nanite question: the nanites themselves were the weak points of the Gorgon, given that they were after all just small, complex machines programmed to tear things apart and reconstitute them as more of themselves. Previous attempts at battling the Gorgon had been focused on battling the nigh-invincible lady herself, but a focused EMP blast aimed at each serpent head as it fired would most likely disassemble the nanites, scrambling their programming and turning them into so much high-tech snow drifting into the atmosphere. It would require a fast construction project back home, but given the resources of Freedom City and the united world, they could probably do it, perhaps from Archestern or the Lighthouse.

The only downside was, even if it _did_ work, there would be a planet-sized, perhaps quite chaffed Preserver entity right there in orbit...

[Raveled]

After hours of intensive research, the heroes had all congregated in the dining area. One of the systems that seemed to be working perfectly was the coffee maker, and Jessica Parker was willing to thank any number of deities or congregations of such, for that small mercy. Right now she'd removed the plates and outer systems of her armor, storing them in the convenient dimensional pocket that she had her friend Mara to thank for, and was sitting around in what was essentially a flight suit; a form-hugging (if not very revealing, what with the air bladders) bodysuit intended to keep her from passing out when pulling high G-force maneuvers. It doubled in helping with thermal and pressure regulation, and its navy blue colors weren't exactly unflattering.

Not that she was really worrying about something like that just at the moment. She sipped her coffee and put a touch-screen tablet on the table, the screen displaying a blizzard of text documents. "So to summarize," she said, speaking for the benefit of Victory more than her fellow Lab colleagues, "we probably can stop the nanites. Direct EMP burst at the point of release and they're nothing more than a storm of chaff." She blinked. "Which will cause its own problems, come to think of it. Releasing a few tonnes of metal confetti in the higher atmosphere isn't going to make any friends at Greenpeace. But the bigger problem is going to be the very large, very mad head-planet that could cause widespread damage if she decides to come down and give Earth a snuggle." She paused and sipped at her coffee again. "Did I miss anything?"

[Supercape]

"Several complex sheets of advanced maths and physics" replied Supercape.

"But thats the gist of it, as far as I understand it. Which is a problem. We replace certain destruction with utter calamity. Not that we should not celebrate that as a massive success, but the result is still rather, um, sub-optimal..."

He stirred his tea. He was glad he always kept a few bags of Earl Grey secreted in his cape, and that the base now had a working kettle and water supply.

"One solution - autolysis. If we use an EMP, could we reboot the nanites, rather than destroy them? If the Gorgon, or rather its constituent nasties could be tricked into preserving the first thing it sees when it comes back on line..."

He paused.

"Namely, itself..."

[Fox]

[bg=#555555]"Logistical problems of organizing EMP creation on that scale, possible side-effects of setting off EMP devices near populated areas - even directed ones, problem of freely-available world-wide nanite technology. Damaged, but...."[/bg] Dragonfly threw on the 'anything I missed' pile, tapping a finger against her leg. [bg=#555555]"Still. Best option by far."[/bg]

[bg=#555555]"Have...doubts about 'preserving' the Gorgon. Three, at least. One: risky to bring them back up, if even possible after hitting them with strong EMP. Relies on assumptions of our ability to reprogram or direct them over very large scale, and being better at it than Gorgon. Two: effectiveness is questionable without knowing how Gorgon and materials in Gorgon would react to nanites; nanites may not be capable of 'preserving' it anyway, and could look for other targets. So, three: puts Gorgon-dwellers at certain risk. Best case, nanites devour Gorgon and may leave them stranded or trapped. Slow death, or high strain on Earth if we try to take them in. Worst case, nanites devour Gorgon and them, or just them, and we kill a planet of people."[/bg]

[Dr Archeville]

Primary Goal: Must preserve as much organic life as possible.

"I would find it preferable to find a method that did not endanger the organics and other sapients within the Gorgon entity," Protectron said, breaking the eerie silence it had worked in for most of its time there. It had taken a few picoseconds to admire the design and construction of the facility, at the efficiency of the automated systems (particularly in the kitchen), but swiftly filed the images and other recordings away for later study when impending doom was not looming. "It could be that neutralizing the nanites may be such a blow to the Gorgon's 'morale,' that it would be so confused by such a novel assault, that it may retreat. However, such should not be counted on, as we know little of the Entity's psychology."

"In addition to any EMP devices we construct," it continued, looking over each with its flat, glowing green-yellow eyes, "I would suggest enlisting the aid of any metahumans who possess electromagnetic capabilities, both to generate the pulse and to assist in containing the fallout of deactivated nanites."

[Supercape]

"In addition to any EMP devices we construct," it continued, looking over each with its flat, glowing green-yellow eyes, "I would suggest enlisting the aid of any metahumans who possess electromagnetic capabilities, both to generate the pulse and to assist in containing the fallout of deactivated nanites."

"Well, I can certainly do that" replied Supercape.

He scratched his head. Actually, in a complete vaccuum, I can't...

"Let me rephrase. I can do that if you give me a few molecules to play with. If it is complete vacuum, then no - I need to break down something to release an electro magnetic burst, it does not have to be very big. In space, that can be a problem. But just give the tiniest amount of matter and I can convert it into a pulse. I can pinpoint exactly where the pulse will originate from, but not actually direct it. "

"Its still a matter of scale, however. The Gorgon is planet sized. Where are we going to get enough energy? About the only thing I can think of with enough power for this is the Sun itself..."

[JackgarPrime]

Victory, not entirely knowing all of the science behind the plans, but understanding enough to at least follow, had stayed quiet. The heavy atmosphere for him in this place had been slowly eating at him, as well. But with the idea of electromagnetism and energy of the Sun is involved, he finds a place to chime in.

"Well....you just need to generate a ton of energy, right? Even if it's just once?"

His mask once again over his face, the other heroes could not see his mouth letting out a sigh,and he doesn't let it transmit, either.

"Then all you'd have to do is find a source that can generate a huge amount of energy in a quick pace. If we had some way to harness the energy made from it...what about me? My engine produces enough energy to propel me around planet Earth faster than just about anything. And it's pure propulsion, as opposed to teleportation. If I cut out all the limiters on my engine, I could potentially produce an absurd level of energy....for a few seconds, at least. Would that be enough?"

[Raveled]

"One solution - autolysis. If we use an EMP, could we reboot the nanites, rather than destroy them? If the Gorgon, or rather its constituent nasties could be tricked into preserving the first thing it sees when it comes back on line..."

He paused.

"Namely, itself..."

"I don't think it would be a good idea to return the nanites to the Gorgon," Jessica said. "Worst case scenario, they get reprogrammed quick and get sent back to us. Best case, we're just giving her resources back and letting her hit another planet all the quicker." Of course, if she was being honest with herself, the young woman couldn't wait to examine some of the nanites at her leisure.

"Its still a matter of scale, however. The Gorgon is planet sized. Where are we going to get enough energy? About the only thing I can think of with enough power for this is the Sun itself..."

"Well....you just need to generate a ton of energy, right? Even if it's just once?"

His mask once again over his face, the other heroes could not see his mouth letting out a sigh,and he doesn't let it transmit, either.

"Then all you'd have to do is find a source that can generate a huge amount of energy in a quick pace. If we had some way to harness the energy made from it...what about me? My engine produces enough energy to propel me around planet Earth faster than just about anything. And it's pure propulsion, as opposed to teleportation. If I cut out all the limiters on my engine, I could potentially produce an absurd level of energy....for a few seconds, at least. Would that be enough?"

"Well, there's a few ways to create a lot of energy very fast. If we can get the UN to relax the laws regarding nuclear detonations in space, we could --" victory's offer took her by surprise. "But... doesn't your reactor power all your systems? If you overclock it enough, wouldn't you die?"

[Dr Archeville]

Calculating projected energy requirements...

Calculating...

Calculating...

"I would readily donate any parts needed for the project," Protectron intoned flatly. "However, my preliminary calculations indicate no one of us currently possesses the energy required for the task, even if a fatal draining of Friend-Victory's systems were performed. Working with others will be required. Katastrof & Sorenson Technologies, ASTRO Labs, and ArcheTech for technological components, Martel Enterprises and the Albright Institute for Metahuman assistance. We should also look into contacts the 'hidden civilizations,' such as the Farsiders and Utopians, for assistance, as the Gorgon's presence is a threat to them as well."

[Fox]

[bg=#555555]"Agreed,"[/bg] Dragonfly nodded, tapping a finger against her leg. Tap tap tap. [bg=#555555]"On strict and unknown deadline, but not strict and unknown enough to risk life unnecessarily. Unlikely to find single power source up to planet-wide focused EMPs, but should be able to make use of multiple sources without great trouble...just an organizational problem. Call in favors with people who can call in favors. Redirect power plant outputs, draw on metahumans with energy-generating powers, 'advanced' societies, personal inventions, anything. Put super-fast metahumans in hamster wheels if we have to. Can be done without killing anybody."[/bg]

[JackgarPrime]

"But... doesn't your reactor power all your systems? If you overclock it enough, wouldn't you die?"

"It does power them all, but unless I'm out in the vacuum, I wouldn't die. I'm still run on flesh and blood. My lungs, heart and brain are still my own. It would hurt, but the alternative leaves no comparison."

Victory pauses, letting Protectron and Dragonfly note their objections to the idea. Or at the very least, a counter-plan to involve more groups.

"That would definitely be the safe way to go. I still volunteer myself as a power source either way, but the more the better. But even still....how much time do we actually have to gather them together? We don't know what the Gorgon may have planned before actually arriving to Earth. We may have even less time than we know..."