Three weeks. Three weeks of dealing with a full grown female Chirr'T'Thar with much less sense than normal. While many may argue that it'd be hard to tell, no doubt Jenora and Copernicus could tell them otherwise. But Andromeda's mental state is basically back to normal, and now her impatience with her physical healing is getting to be a pain. She stands over in a corner of the field where their camp has been set up, exercising her wings as Chimera seems to be explaining something to her.
Chimera says, "You want to keep your nose into the wind when you take off. It will give you more lift.."
Andromeda meeps, "Since when is my nose big enough to be an airfoil? Has it swollen or something?"
Chimera blinks. "N-no.. I just meant to face into the wind. Your nose will help you sense the pressure differentials.."
Andromeda is looking confused, and you get the feeling that she hopes it's just because she's talking to Chimera when she purrs, "Well, if I face the other end into the wind I'll never get off the ground."
Chimera smiles, "Exactly!"
Andromeda's whiskers droop, utterly confused.
Chimera says, "Once you gain altitude, then you can turn your behind into the wind."
Andromeda ers, "I know my memory has been affected, but are you SURE that's a good idea?"
Andromeda hmmms and wonders if that's what her mothers' meant by 'putting your best face forward'? And really wishes she could remember just what it is that she's forgotten.
Chimera says, "The wind can help you gain speed, but only after you're already airborne. When you take off, you want the wind coming at you so your wings can generate more lift with less effort."
Andromeda ohs, having thought Chimera meant to have her fly backwards. Sigh.
Jenora wanders towards the pair out of the woods. "Hello."
Chimera smiles to Jenora and waves, "Hello!"
Andromeda bounds up to Jenora and gives her a taur style snug, using her arms and her forelegs, and head rubs, "Chimera's giving me a refresher on flying!"
Jenora eefs, hugging back before she's smothered. "Ah, neat..."
Jenora says, "How are the two of you doing?"
Chimera says, "Do you think Copernicus will let us use the shuttle to drop Andromeda off at altitude?"
Jenora hmmmms. "Perhaps..."
Andromeda hmms, "Welllll...I'm not sure if I'm understanding Chimera or not, but I think I can take off under my own power."
Jenora says, "Which would be a good thing to practice as well, of course."
Chimera says, "I don't know how to show her how to land though. She's built too differently."
Jenora says, "Well, landings should be easier with four feet, at least..."
Andromeda hmmfs, impatient as ever. She rests on her haunches and then leaps into the air and landing with a thump about 40 feet away. With an embarrassed look, she does it again, except this time she spreads her wings and lands 50 yards away. She purrs, "See, I think I can take off. :)"
Notes and LANDS
Jenora hmmmms. "We have any short cliffs around here for her to try off of?"
Chimera blinks. "I think so, overlooking the ocean."
Jenora hmmms. "I'd prefer over land, actually. Just thought it might be easier for her if she could build up a little extra velocity from the descent."
Andromeda's tail is thrashing, and purrs, "Coper said it's your decision on my first flight."
Jenora hmmms. "Perhaps we should check the resiliency of your recovery first..."
Andromeda purrs, "How are you going to do that kecharra?"
Jenora says, "Well, it would probably involve giving you a light scratch somewhere not on a major muscle group and seeing how quickly it heals."
Chimera says, "Can't we just have her jump up and down a lot?"
Andromeda ohs at Jenora.
Jenora says, "I suppose... I just don't want her getting hurt in some way that will be difficult to heal without knowing how well she heals first. Andromeda, I know you're going 'stir crazy', but we just don't want you too badly hurt."
Andromeda growls loudly, more to herself than anyone else, but just nods at Jenora.
Chimera says, "We could have her break something, and see if she's sore or hurt afterwards. A small boulder perhaps?"
Andromeda thrashes her tail annoyedly, hoping they come up with some sort of test soon.
Jenora says, "Ummm, no."
Jenora says, "Fine. Tell you what, Andromeda... I think we can do this in a way both of us will get what we want."
Jenora grins. "I'll simply fly along with you. You practice flying, and I'll just act as a safety net in case you look like you're going to _seriously_ hurt yourself. If you get yourself into anything minor, though, it's your own fault."
Andromeda bounces a good six feet and snugs Jenora, "That's just fine! Can we go now?!?!"
Jenora says, "Yes, let's."
Chimera decides to follow along. It'll be safer in the air than on the ground anyway..
Andromeda bounces a few more times then double checks her feathers, preening one that's a few microns out of alignment (for her tastes anyhow) and purrrs loudly, stretching her wings to their full 35 feet a few times.
Jenora steps back a bit so as not to be in Andromeda's way.
Andromeda carefully folds her hindlegs under her, wiggles her haunches a bit and finally leaps into the air, spreading her wings with a loud snap proudly this time. As she starts to dip towards the ground she suddenly remembers to beat them too, and only takes the top 5 inches off a tree top as she finally gets airborne.
Jenora grins, shaking her head, and leaps into the air herself, using her own methods to stay airborne. She flies over to catch up with Andromeda, but stays somewhat below her.
Andromeda is ecstatic, finally, she's back in the air. She bobbles a bit as she remembers how to ride the air currents coming off the land surface, and purrowwls joyfully, then looks around to show off to Jenora and Chimera.
Chimera flies after, hovering to examine the struck tree a bit.
Jenora hovers in the air, waving up to Andromeda.
Andromeda grins and does a loop, and then wobbles a bit recovering from it, but her grin just gets wider. She starts heading off towards the ocean cliffs, slowly building speed as her flight muscles warm up.
Chimera looks up and then flies harder to catch up!
Jenora frowns, and flits quickly out over the ocean... if the temperature over the water is low enough, Andromeda could be facing a rather nasty down-draft. Best be ready just in case.
Andromeda gains some confidence and builds speed as she reaches for her top 'cruising' speed of a couple hundred miles per hour. Right now she's accelerating from about 70.
Chimera stays in the air above the cliffs. He can't match that kind of speed.
It's such a nice night. The stars are so bright.
Jenora hmmmms, pushing off as well... as she's bound more by the power she can draw on than traditional aerodynamics, the speed isn't so much of a problem.
Though most stars aren't *that* bright. No, that's not a star -- it's got to be a craft of some sort. Or -- YIPE! There's a big flash of light, like a firecracker. It's quite disorienting.
Andromeda roars with delight as she approaches her peak cruising speed towards the mountains. She feels great. She knows Coper told her to wait to try for sonic speeds, but she feels so good. She's so intent on her thoughts she doesn't notice the incoming object.
Jenora, however, does notice it. She puts on a burst of speed to catch up with Andromeda, going on an intercept course for the incoming object...
Chimera notices the bright object as well now, and comes in for a landing on clifftop.
There's *lots* of incoming objects. Something just went 'pop', and it was *big*. Though trained eyes can see that there's a smaller thing -- with a big flashing red light. Is that an escape pod?
Andromeda chooses this instant to kick into full gear, and her wings blur to near invisibility as she rockets off with an audible boom. Going directly the opposite direction of the falling pod.
Jenora dashes in front of Andromeda to get her attention, and points back the other way...
Jenora sighs, looking at Andromeda and the pod... she tries waving Chimera over towards the pad, seeing he's already looking that way, and keeps trying to catch up with Andromeda.
Chimera waves back to Jenora and heads towards the pad.
The pod is a squat, A-frame model, not much bigger than six meters long or wide. Its red light flashes like crazy, and it's on fire, too. It's easy to hear the loud whistling noise it makes while it descends.
Andromeda motions towards Jenora that she's fine, and keeps pouring on the speed, while the now obvious escape pod plummets at dangerous speeds towards the surface.
Chimera waits near where he expects the pod to land.. or crash.
Jenora groans... at supersonic speeds, trying to have any sort of conversation is next to impossible. And a telepathic distraction at this speed could be lethal. She just hangs on for now, letting Andromeda set the pace.
The pod descends perpendicular to your course -- when you get close, you can see a useless drag-chute flap-flap-flapping in the wind, torn and damaged. There's a cockpit structure on top, right below the signal light.
With a bit of a crackle, a radio signal on the frequency Jenora often listens to pops up, and Copernicus's voice purrs, "Jenora?! We have what appears to be a lifeform in an escape pod about to become one with the ground in a nasty way. Are you close enough to help?"
Jenora groans, broadcasting back. "Only if I leave Andromeda while she's moving at an unsafe speed and burn a _LOT_ of power doing it..."
Copernicus's voice sighs, "Andromeda is going all out isn't she? And she doesn't have her armband communicator working yet. Jenora, Andromeda has better odds if she impacts right now than the escape pod occupant. Andromeda will have to be responsible for herself. And I'll see what we can do to help you recharge."
Jenora sighs, "Got it." She does a quick flash forward and back, hoping Andromeda will at least look at the light trail of ionized air she's leaving behind as she runs back towards the upcoming crash site, pushing hypersonic.
There's a thick trail of smoke, too. Its outer shell is on fire -- that must'
That must've been one powerful explosion. Of course, radar signature and sound signature are tremendous, but its safety systems appear to have failed, it's wobbling.
Chimera hmms, and puts a little more distance between himself and the expected crash site..
Michael, far below, climbs to a rock outcropping, getting a better view of the burning objects flying across the sky.
Andromeda cruises blissfully along at her ludicrous speeds. Everything is fine. Her wings are fine, everything in her body has been fully repaired as near as she can tell.
Jenora dashes in, putting herself in underneath the escape pod... it looks almost like she stretches the distance and then reforms herself from energy at the other end.
And everything has been repaired in the young felitauress's body. Her new T'Thar, the busy little nanites responsible for many of the Chirr'T'Thar's abilities, have put a lot of work and energy into healing her. Unfortunately, they haven't had much time to store up the high energy molecules that power this kind of flight.
There's some clear markings on the underside -- a very large "03", even visible as the thing threatens to turn over.
Chimera calls to Jenora, "I don't think it is moving under its own power!"
Jenora grows larger in the sky, and flies up to 'catch' the object... she can't really hear Chimera over the noise, but she would agree with him anyway. Putting some of her power into it, she decelerates the pod at a still punishing pace, but better than the ground would have done...
Michael cocks his head and sits back, watching the several objects streak across the sky.
As Andromeda approaches the mountains by the ocean, her flight muscles run out of energy, and start cramping up. She desperately tries to slow down, and does get below sonic speeds just before she cramps up and tumbles like a broken top towards the cliffs.
The pod is no help to Jenora -- whatever braking systems it had, they've failed. Her best bet is to actually push up on the unit and tilt it back, so it rides on a subsonic shockwave like it was designed to. The pressure underneath would get tremendous, though.
Andromeda ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHS as she tumbles out of control.
Chimera turns towards the other sonic boom, and sees Andromeda lose control. Jenora seems to have the other object under control, so he rushes back to the cliff.
Jenora tilts back, and braces herself under the object, absorbing the heat from it as well as she tries to slow it down, riding it out...
Michael furrows his brow as one of the flying things heads in his direction...Its soon obvious that its not under control, but even in that time, its passed half the distance in between. He jumps up and waves his hands rapidly, streaks of violet light organizing themselves into intricate patterns.
The whistling noise dies down -- apparently, that's a symptom of bad descent. Ugh, between the heat and the pressure, this is an unpleasant place to be. Although, after a period of adjustment, the pod responds nicely to outside directions.
Andromeda can only make out a few things. One, the cliffs, as they spin by, are getting closer very fast, and two, something seems to be blazing a contrail towards Nexus.
Chimera waves to Andromeda from the cliff! "Level off, level off!"
Michael's purple streaks form themselves into something resembling a giant fish net, and begin to project away from him as he continues to work, the weaving getting more intricate.
Jenora sets up a fairly strong reversed gravity in the local area, using that to help decelerate the pod...
One couldn't ask for a more accommodating pod. Suddenly the big red light switches to a brilliant amber, and is now an obedient toy to Jenora's whims.
Jenora blinks as the pod seems to suddenly shift its flight profile, but continues to bring it down, slowly.
The emergency pod responds smoothly, as if reading Jenora's moves and 'learning' them.
Jenora shakes her head, and starts settling back down to the ground in a leisurely manner. She finally touches the ground, and sets the pod down on the ground after her.
Andromeda has folded her torso against her taur underbelly, and covered herself with her wings, giving the impression of a giant feathered football. The tumbling has reduced her speed to well under Mach, but she still hits the giant magical web at several hundred miles per hour.
Michael grrrs and pushes against the air, the net slowing Andromeda drastically before giving way abruptly.
The pod's light audibly clicks when it changes to green. The fires on the surface smolder -- there's something gooey and black stuck to it. It smells awful.
Jenora ews at the smell, and starts cleaning herself off.
There must be a speaker on the pod somewhere. It begins speaking in a pre-recorded voice. Um, is that Mandarin?
Andromeda's mind barely has time to register that something has slowed her down before she's suddenly free falling again, though at a much slower speed.
Jenora hmmms. "Hello?"
Chimera watches the 'net' decelerate Andromeda, and heads for her new landing spot.
The pod continues its monotone drone. Then it shifts to something not unlike German.
Jenora says, "All right, let's give you enough of a language sample to try and work from, first."
The pod speaker crackles. "Please say 'Command: speak English."
Michael's mind races as the ball of fur and feathers comes towards him...he grits his teeth and stands fast as Andromeda collides with him and sandwiches him against the rocks behind him.
Jenora says, "Okay. Command: speak English."
Chimera scrambles over the rocks to find Michael and Andromeda. "Are you okay in there?"
The pod beeps. "Thank you. I am Pod Number 3 of Ell Ess You Beta. I am only partially functional, and many systems are offline."
Andromeda is stunned. Not by the impact, but by the fact she seems to be just fine. She starts unfolding herself, only to realize with horror someone was *under* her when she crashed.
Copernicus watches with a mix of relief and amazement as his sister is kept from becoming a puddle on the mountainside. He does remember to watch his own trajectory, as he's coming down 'hot' in order to get to the scene in time. He hopes.
Michael groans and rolls over onto his back.
Andromeda gets to her feet and eeps, "Michael?!?! By the First Mother's arched tail! Are you ok?"
Jenora says, "Yes, I'd rather noticed this wasn't a controlled landing."
Chimera looks over Andromeda, and doesn't see any real damage. Then he looks over Michael.
Michael blinks a couple of times, looking rather badly squished and bloody. He wipes some of the blood off his upper lip with his unbroken arm.
The pod's voice is without accent, like most impersonal computer voices, though it has some masculine tone. "I am unable to communicate with your transponder. What is your authorization code?"
Chimera says, "Do you need help, Michael, or will you recover on your own?"
Andromeda looks miserable as she takes in the damage to Michael's body, especially the badly broken arm, she looks for something to immobilize the break.
Jenora says, "I'm not a pod. My name is Jenora Feur."
The pod beeps. "Jenora Feur, what is your authorization for extraction? You will have to read me your number from your card, as my transponder appears to be inoperable."
Michael props himself up, hissing and wincing as he does. "^kkkana r^bbt achna."
Andromeda slices off a few stout sections of a tree limb and ponders the best way to help set Michael's arm. She eeps, "Michael, be careful, you're badly hurt. And it's all my fault."
Jenora says, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not from the same world as you are, and I don't have whatever card you're looking for."
Chimera watches Andromeda, wondering what she's going to do with those bits of wood.
Michael growls ferally and resets his broken arm. "No. Will be all right I."
The pod pauses, as if mulling that over. "I cannot allow extraction of my occupant unless you are so authorized. Please locate a quaestor or local equivalent."
Jenora says, "At the moment, I probably _am_ the most local equivalent, but I could get Copernicus on the line if you need some sort of second opinion."
Andromeda slices the logs in half and pulls out some nylon thread from her belt pouch and purrs, "Let me splint the break for you. My brother had me learn about primitive medicine after hearing how I insulted your friend that time."
The pod beeps, again. "I am suffering damage. Please do not damage me,
I am property of Ridstrath under license to
Jenora blinkblinks. "I didn't do anything to damage you."
There is no response.
Jenora starts peering closer at the pod, looking at the 'cockpit' part of
it...
Copernicus finishes slowing down, letting several *booms* roll across the
landscape. He's been watching his sister and Michael (and Chimera too
he notices). Finally, he remembers Jenora and talks over his throat voder,
*Jenora? How'd it go?*
Michael sighs and pulls himself up onto a rock. He seems to have regained
his bizarre accent, "If you must for you, but I do not need it."
Jenora hmmms, and broadcasts back: "I rescued the pod, though it was fairly
heavily damaged. I've been having an argument with its A.I. about authorization
codes needed to let the occupant out, but the A.I. seems to
have shut down."
Andromeda droops and sighs, "I just wanted to help. I mean, you got hurt
saving me and I...I'm sorry Michael."
Copernicus mentally sighs, *Well, Andromeda spun out of control, but our
friend Michael 'caught her' somehow. I'll be landing in a bit, he seems
to be sitting up on his own at least.*
Michael checks himself for other injuries. "I know."
Chimera smiles, "That was a handy trick you did, Michael."
From within the pod, there's some kind of 'thud' noise.
Jenora is still fairly large... she tries running a claw around the edge
of what appears to be the hatch, trying to help open it.
The pod vibrates. There's another thud.
Jenora says, "Need some help getting out of there?"
Bang! Whoever is in there isn't being very careful -- they just shot a hole
in the roof of the pod!
Copernicus lands next to Chimera, his mouth and nose still sealed shut. He
just shakes his head at his sister, who looks rather sheepish for a 500
pound predator. He turns on the speaker for his throat voder and a tinny
voice purrs, *Is everyone ok?*
Jenora says, "I'll take that as a 'no'."
Bang! Another hole, this one lower, to the side. Some kind of translucent
pink goo oozes out.
Jenora stands back. "If you need help, just let me know."
With a hissing protest, the top of the pod pops upward and open. That gooey
stuff just pours out everywhere, and there's some kind of thrashing
figure in the middle of all of it.
Michael takes off his robe and cleans his face. Wincing as he bumps his nose,
he looks crosseyed at it, disgustedly. closing his eyes and breathing
deeply, he quickly grabs it and wrenches it back into place, growling
loudly.
Jenora reaches in to help the person out.
It's a lizard-person, a mustard-yellow under a thin coating of pink slime.
It has a mask affixed to its face, with a trailing hose into the cumbersome
seat it's held in. And whatever it has in its hands is obviously
a gun, judging from its nasty, large barrel. Its eyes are rhuemy and
panicked as it looks around, then it spies Jenora and takes aim!
Jenora takes a step back and puts her hands up, palms forward. "Whoa there..."
Copernicus eeps mentally while Andromeda pales, purring, "I'm so sorry. I..
I'm really sorry Michael."
The lizard's eyes narrow. It says something, but it's muffled by the mask.
Jenora shrugs. "I just kept the capsule from landing too hard. Was talking
to the A.I. before it died... which I'd guess was your doing, actually."
Chimera doesn't seem to find Michael's actions at all unusual, and looks
backs towards the crash site of the alien pod.
The lizard motions at Jenora to step back, waving its gun menacingly.
Jenora takes a step back. "Just wanted to help out."
The lizard takes one hand off the gun to claw at its mask, finally removing
it awkwardly. "Step," it rasps, "Step back. Just keep your distance."
The gun quivers in its unsteady hand.
Michael uses his robe to try to stop his nose from bleeding. Darting a weak
smile at Andromeda, he says nasally, "If you don't stop apologizing,
I might regret not jumping out of the way."
Andromeda blinks then smiles, "Ok, but I owe you a big favor Michael. Thank
you. And stop smirking Coper. Even without lips I can tell you're smirking
at me."
Jenora says, "Sure thing. Gee, the gratitude of some people."
Michael blinks and pulls the damp silk from his face, examining it, "Please...No
favors...I didn't do it for reward."
Copernicus just remains quiet, mentally noting she's quite right. Finally
he purrs over his voder *Ok. I have to head over to our other crash landing
site to see if Jenora has everything under control. I can give you
a ride Michael, if you want? And are you up to flying again Andromeda?
At a 'SAFE' speed?*
"I don't owe ... " grumbles the lizard, as it pauses to fidget with its harness.
"I don't owe you anything. I didn't ask to be born."
Andromeda thtptptpts at her brother and nods to Michael, "I know. Well, I
won't forget this at least. Let me catch my wind brother and I can probably
fly that far."
Michael makes half an attempt at standing, "Yes, I think walking there might
be unwise."
Jenora blinkblinks. "You were _born_ in that capsule?"
"You hear me?" The lizard's voice breaks -- it sounds definitely feminine.
"I didn't *ask* to be born here, in the Dream, in *anywhere*! I didn't
ask for ANYTHING! I don't WANT anything!" She puts both hands on
the gun, she's shaking like a leaf.
Chimera says, "It's not that far.. might be safer for Andromeda to walk if
she's going to give Michael a ride.."
Michael seems more concerned with attending to his various hurts than finding
a way to wherever else people are going.
Jenora says, "Ooooooookay." She folds her arms across her chest. "I'm sorry,
but when I see something that looks like an escape capsule about
to crash, I'm inclined to rescue it first and ask questions later."
Copernicus ahems over the speaker, *I'M giving him a ride. Andromeda can
follow as she will. After that I can give Michael a ride to his store in
Haven if need be, where we can better attend his wounds."
The lizard tries so hard to look determined, but her grim expression becomes
so pained. "I ... tha's good, because ... I don't have answers. I
... I'm sorry." She still points the gun, though.
Chimera nods, and leads the way back towards Jenora..
Michael says, "Oh...yes."
Jenora nods. "Well, now that's settled... Jenora Feur. Pleased to meet
you."
Copernicus and Andromeda both offer to help Michael onto Coper's back.
The lizard nods, and opens her mouth to speak .. and then leans over the
edge of the pod and vomits up pink goo.
Jenora waits patiently.
The lizard drops her gun, and Jenora's patience bears little reward, because
the poor thing faints shortly after dry heaving.
Camilla changes color to dull yellow.
Jenora sighs, and carefully picks the little lizard up out of the pod.
The lizard woman is unusually heavy to the touch. Under the slime, her scales
are a little rough, like extra fine sandpaper.
Jenora sets the lizard down on the ground, and then shrinks back down to
normal size.
Jenora sits down to wait for Copernicus to get back here. She's in no mood
to fly off herself at the moment...
Copernicus finally makes it to Jenora and her new 'friend', with Andromeda
lagging behind. After a bit of discussion, Coper helps get the mysterious
lizard safely tucked away at the base camp before taking Michael home
and helping clean the blood off of him. The tired felitaur flies back
to find his sister sleeping and Chimera tasting some of the pink goo
they brought back to test. He sighs and thinks, (Situation normal...again.)
Jenora waves to Copernicus as he arrives. "Welcome to the funhouse."
Copernicus chuckles, "Well, I guess this is the universe's way of getting
revenge? ;)"
Jenora smirks, shaking her head. "Ruddy chaos magnets, the lot of us."
Copernicus nods and gives Jenora a snug, before heading off to check the
rest
of chaos magnets for the night.