strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-In Day

Entry tags:

[GP/EP] Check-In Day

Why Caroline had needed her to help with Check-In Day she hadn't bothered to say. Just, "you said you'd help," and when Regina protested she wasn't good with people, "aren't you a Queen or a Mayor or something?" complete with shooing gestures. While Regina found Caroline more exasperating the terrifying, she did have a point.

So Regina suited up--literally, gathered her files and folders, coffee mug, pens and pocketed the wooden carving of Henry/Roland Robin had made for her, then headed for the cafe. If, polished and politic and patently Busy, she didn't offer newcomers the brightest or warmest smile when they arrived, it was nevertheless confident and quite possibly reassuring.

Caroline did friendly. Regina...did knowledgeable and polite. Dot and Ignis had been asked to provide finger food on catering trays. The still-grieving Miss Pryde had been tasked with samovars of tea and coffee and ice chest of soda and beer. Caroline's welcome baskets sat on the table beside Regina's for easy access. And though she didn't when she was alone in the office, Regina spent the magic to fix her eyesight so she didn't put glasses between her and new arrivals.

Madame Mayor was in.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kitty nodded a thanks and decided not to fuss, right now, over the assumption 'working on it' meant she needed help. He didn't know her after all. She stood and dusted herself off, then offered her hand to shake.

"My name's Kitty. I'm not from here. I'm from a version of Earth. There have been, at any given time, no more than forty-five people here. Most from different home universes or dimensions, but a few have found people they know from home. Or alternate universe versions of those people."

She glanced back toward the Inn and then said, "That, is the Madonna Inn. It's, well, kind of awful and kind of amazing at the same time. Why don't I go in with you and I can show you what I mean."

The changeling took some time to ponder over the information. "That makes no sense." He finally said. "While we have many documented instances of alternate universes and timelines - though with few actual evidence and no complete understanding of the physics involved - while would a single reality plane act as a magnet for random individuals? That can't be a matter of coincidence, and I have an idea about who might be behind it all. Please, do show me the place, I have an investigation to lead. I'm Odo, by the way, from the Federation station Deep Space Nine, stardate 46380.2, I think that's about year 2372 of the old human calendar."

"It's less unlikely than you think," Kitty replied and then tried to explain herself. "If you consider string theory and the possibility that every decision or significant choice spawns a universe, a left spin instead of right, for example, then all of the untold universes must crowd and jostle like billiard balls. Given that, it's not at all improbable that people should slip from one universe to another when they collide. And if this pocket universe has a cyclical breach, drawing people through when it recurs is almost logical. Quantum entanglement explains why some universes or closely adjacent universes deliver people with connections already here."

Head up and eyes bright, Kitty gestured down the road to the Inn. "Also, hello Odo. I don't know what the Federation is, but we already have a few law enforcement types here. I'm sure they'll help you with your investigation."

Odo gave her a look which could have meant anything, but in this case meant that at least, no matter how old the building and strange the situation, at least there were some people here with their head screwed on right and some decent scientific knowledge. He found that at the same time oddly reassuring, and quite worrying if they were still as stuck as he was.

"The United Federation of Planets is..." he started. "Never mind, it probably doesn't even exist here, or not yet, or in such a different way than the one I know that anything I could say would be irrelevant at this point." Then he gave quite a good imitation of a frown (that facial expression he practiced a lot). "You said that there were less than fifty individuals here, yet you have several law enforcement people? That is also either very weird or not that random. And it adds to my theory that this is all orchestrated by someone with a deep disrespect for any kind of order. Lead the way please, I'm curious to see more."

"Why do you think that's weird?" Kitty asked curiously as she led him toward the hotel. "Statistically speaking, it's a high proportion, but law enforcement types make a lot of significant choices." God knew the X-men existed in hundreds of thousands of different universes (according to the world-jumpers). "Also, if anyone's here by choice rather than chance, law and order types make a lot of sense."

The simple but annoying truth of the Madonna Inn was that it was the precisely the sort of conundrum a group of X-men might investigate. She just didn't have much in the way of technological support. Something he'd find out soon enough, since she was opening the door to show him inside.

As he walked with her, he pondered over her words. "You are right, I have to learn how to think pan-dimensionally. The society I come from, more accurately the one I've been living in for the past few years, needs only a few guardians of the law for a large population. But I know it is not and was not always the case. Maybe less advanced or lucky civilizations need a lot more enforcers, and are more likely to exist?"

He stopped as they stepped inside to take in the surroundings. He was not used to ancient-Earth buildings, but from what he could tell, this one seemed at the same time eccentric and disappointingly ordinary. Aside from light bulbs and a few simple devices, no real technology was in sight. But there were several people around, all humanoids but not all humans - which was nothing new to him - some of whom were paired with one seeming to explain things to the other, like Kitty was doing with him. "Are these other newcomers?" he asked, with another of his famous frown.

"Some of them are," Kitty confirmed. He was astute, which made sense, considering he was law enforcement. "People arrive on the first and fifteenth of the month usually, so we have an impromptu committee of greeters who wait in the Cafe. Explanations, first aid, occasionally defense, but it's pretty rare that anyone comes in fighting." Regina and Dyson had been an anomaly, explained by Snow's presence, and easily resolved.

"Now that's another layer for this mystery." Odo said, metaphorically scratching his head as he was too distracted to actually mimic the gesture. "A recurring pattern for intersection with other universes, like a quantum pulsar, could be envisaged, but based on the human calendar cycle with its irregularities and awkward attempts at synchronization every other month and few years? I'm sorry, I can't buy it. Then again, I'm afraid I'll just have to play along for now, as you seem to do."

He forced a smile, not always the most reassuring sight on his wax-mask of a face but the intent was good. "I'm sorry, I'll try not to interrupt. Please show me the next step, since you are obviously used to it. How long have you been here?"

"I admit, it's peculiar. I've been attempting to write equations that account for it, but so far, I've had little luck. I accept it, because it's simpler than the alternatives, but it's equally possible we're dealing with magic or an obscenely powerful entity or organization. But randomly kidnapping people from scattered universes rules out most of those that I'm aware of. There'd just be no point in it. The only solutions I can come up with that include intent are breeding zoo, laboratory, museum, or team-building exercise in the face of some larger, unnamed danger."

Yes, Kitty knew he needed to her to show him around, but it was nice to talk to someone whose education seemed to include things that were well beyond the average human in her time.

"I don't mind talking while I lead you through everything. New people and new conversations are what keep it from being deadly boring. Besides, it's not la formal thing. We just all figured out pretty quick that it's a good idea to give each new arrival at least one friendly face in case they have questions. The inn's staff is really unhelpful. They only answer questions relating to their jobs, and for some reason they're obsessed with offering people towels. But before you ask, no, they're not robots. Or projections. They're just like the organic versions of a computer application. They do what they do and nothing else."

"I see... Actually, I do know of an 'obscenely powerful entity' who would probably be able to do that. And who happens to have sort of an obsession with ancient human cultures. And your list of solutions misses the most likely motivation for it: fun. Anything to get away from the infinite boredom of being all-powerful. The... creature I'm talking about has been known on several occasion to kidnap an entire Federation ship, or some of its senior crew, merely to toy with them. He once threaten to make humanity as a whole disappear, not by killing them all, but by preventing their evolution from the dawn of time. You were only saved after captain Picard pleaded for your very existence in a mock trial... in which several other beings were present, that he described as 'organic versions of a computer simulation. Ring any bell?"

"Mmm, no, never heard anything like that." At least, not on television. "The entities I'm aware of with that kind of power might toy with us for fun, but they wouldn't find cooping us up in a time-bounded space with nothing to do and no apparent threats particularly entertaining." And the Phoenix Force, or Galactus would find it so far beneath them it would never occur to them.

"I guess Loki might try something like this, or the Enchantress, but they'd choose people they had a beef with or who could do something they needed." Usually, they'd just grab Dani or Jane to provoke Hel or Thor into making a move. And Loki was probably serving some Odin-imposed punishment at the moment.

"In my limited experience, the motivations of such powerful beings are always risky to guess. Whatever the name or the actual entity, it might do this just to have us wonder about their motivation. Or possibly to get us out of the way of some other scheme, like a storage dimension, but I'm not that important, I don't see why me, I'm not in charge, nor even an actual officer." He paused, looked at the pretty young human as the realization came down. "What do you mean, 'nothing to do'? Is trying to get out not enough, or that pointless?"

"So far? That pointless," Kitty observed with a little shrug. "I haven't given up, but the technology and energy sources are so limited that even the things I could try can't possibly work."

He probably wasn't going to take this well, judging from the rational bent of his mind, but it was only fair to warn him, "The magic users aren't having any better luck."

That was a lot to process at once, and he plainly said so, raising a lack of eyebrow. "I'm no technician, but I know that time and dimensional portals require huge amounts of power. Even the biggest dilithium-powered Federation ships wouldn't have enough on their own, and they run on anti-matter conversion!". He looked around once more, feeling more depressed than ever.

"You seem to have a pretty good grasp on technology yourself", he suddenly added. "Yet you speak of magic. Do you mean, actual, supernatural magic? I always thought of it as simply a form of technology more advanced than the viewer's comprehension. In any case, if it didn't work either..."
Trapped. He was trapped all over again, more than he was on his Bajoran test-tube, more than he ever was on a space station. More than on any single planet. He used to have the entire galaxy opened before him, and now the universe was reduced to a crappy human building and a bunch of random solids as trapped as he was?

"Please keep an eye on this for me", he said to kitty as his abdomen - clothes included - suddenly swelled and opened to reveal a strange-looking... bucket? he carefully put at her feet. "It's dear to me but I can't hold it with the surveying shape I need." That said, without a care in the pocket-world for what other people might see or think, he turned into a four-winged scaly creatures, akin to a mythological dragon - if fact a pretty efficient Klingon eagle - and flew out the door and into the dusty sky.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[GP/EP] Check-In Day

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject