The Land of Ice and Snow

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The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sat Jun 04, 2016 8:25 pm

An endless expanse of water stretches as far as the eye can see when suddenly a sonic boom disrupts the otherwise peaceful quietness of the ocean and ripples tear through the waves as something far beyond the sound barrier tears through the air above. A black plane tearing past low enough to disturb the water as it flies south. The speed is beyond anything a human pilot could withstand for any reasonable amount of time, much less maneuver without being knocked unconscious by the g-forces involved. Empty waters are replaced by drifting ice and finally the snow and rock of Antarctica. Not that anyone would be able to tell form inside the plane, the landscape streaking past in a first dark, then blindingly bright blur, navigating purely by coordinates and maps. Out of seemingly nowhere the plane pulls into a harsh turn, circling around as ice and snow is whipped up by a storm. Now flying completely blind the back of the plane slowly opens as it's blinking dot on a map flies past what's marked as a military research station. Still several miles out (and flying much too fast to be noticed by the prying eyes of any satellites) the plane deposits what looks like an oval shape of armor plates, hurtling towards the ground.

As the plane disappears in the storm, flying back north, it's payload slams into the ground, cracking ice and embedding itself partway into the ground. As the cloud of snow thrown up by the impact is picked up by the whipping winds of the storm the capsule slowly cracks open and a stocky robotic drone crawls out of it, sensor column pushing out and turning back and forth as it tries to determine it's exact location. She didn't have time to write a proper program and she suspects it would not have been satisfactory anyway and thus Ashlie simply loaded her consciousness into the robot. It's unfamiliar but ultimately she's no less proficient at controlling the robot as she is as steering her humanoid frame or flying the Quinjet and so the robot begins it's track across the ice and snow towards the excavation site the satellite showed her...
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sat Jun 04, 2016 8:43 pm

The frigid November weather in Antarctica was barely fit for any man nor beast, so ASHLIE didn't exactly encounter a welcoming party. The cold winds whipped past the robot, buffeting the surface of the drone with hundreds of particles of ice and snow, pitting the surface.

Visibility would be limited to the single-digits in feet in this weather; but that wasn't a problem for the drone, trundling along through the wilderness towards where her records showed the excavation site must have been. She had been able to confirm this on any maps or charts; even official satellite imagery insisted that it was just another vast featureless plain at the bottom of the world.

From about 2 kilometers to the drone's east, it would detect the heat signatures and characteristic machinery imprints of Station 574-N. The site itself must have been to the west, but not very far--drive too fast, and she'd presumably tumble into it.

She couldn't tell, from her readings at this distance, whether or not there were any sort of security defenses around the site, or if the inhospitable climate was supposed to handle that.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:05 pm

Ashlie makes her way forward slow and systematically, stopping every hundred meters or so to extend it's sensor-suit and scan the surrounding area to avoid falling into any pits or moving across brittle snow and ice. Ideally she'd detect the dig site and any potential security, but in this weather it was hard to be sure. As good as her sensors are, there's only so much that can be done and she's somewhat surprised to be picking up signs of 574-N. So she just patiently and thoroughly makes her way forward.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:24 pm

It WAS surprising that she'd be picking up signals from 574-N; it must be producing a HELL of a lot of power to cut through the storm.

That was something she could worry about later, however, as her sensors began picking up what could only be described as an utterly MASSIVE pit in the permafrost, dead ahead, beyond a poured concrete barrier.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sat Jun 04, 2016 10:10 pm

The robot comes to a stop, crunching snow underneath it's treads. Servos kick into gear and it's four legs pull free from where they'd been folded up, the treads receding into it's body as it's legs lift it up higher than it's driving configuration allows. With it's new-found method of movement the robot begins to try and scale the barrier.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:42 am

The concrete was smooth, but ASHLIE's drone could eventually find purchase and haul it's way up.

On the other side is what can only be described as a massive pit. ASHLIE might be impressed that they managed to hide something so big from satellite imagery; the pit had to be a good 150 meters deep, through permafrost. The sheer scale of the operation was mind-boggling; but perhaps that explains why so many experts over the years were shunted to this station.

The hole had a large amount of debris in it, for sure--twisted metal wreckage, and outlines of the building she had seen via the hacked satellite imagery. She'd have to go down to get anything more useful.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:56 am

As impressive as hiding something like this was, almost as impressive is the fact that they managed to dig -- or rather excavate -- this much under these conditions. Nevermind the completely illogical presence of a modern structure embedded this deep in the bedrock. This almost seems like some sort of large-scale teleportation failure or other displacement effect. She risks exposing the sensor suite to the elements for longer than usual to get some more readings as she begins the careful and methodical descent into the pit. She has little reservation about intruding into the area. The Antarctic Treaty clearly enables her to be here as this is obviously a scientific investigation. Not that she wants the Major to know she's here but at least she doesn't have to force her programming to be okay with this.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sun Jun 05, 2016 6:38 am

The sensors indicated that the material in the pit was very old--there were signs of scarring and fatigue and things like that. Some of that could have easily been from the cold, but there were tell-tale signs of extreme age on a lot of the major parts of the construction.

Then again, if it HAD been that old, surely, it would have crumbled into dust by now. Perhaps the antarctic climate had protected it from most of the elements--but then, howling wind and ice WERE elements, and even a very fancy building should be nothing more than dust by this point. Peculiar.

As she descended, signs of generations of excavation and research could be seen, with some tools left frozen to the ice. They had been VERY methodical, apparently, and these upper levels seemed picked clean of nearly anything of any interest whatsoever, though it looked like there had been some massive removals over the years.

For that matter, where was the ground that was supposed to be in this pit? Surely they hadn't carted it all out. Every answer brought with it two more questions, which is an ineffective way to get answers.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:45 pm

Ashlie keeps descending. Maybe further down where everything hasn't been stripped and carted away she'll find more answers. She keeps an eye out for signs of what method of excavation they're using, especially once she's past the initial layer of ice and into the bedrock. Occasionally she stops to grab a small piece of the unearthed building with one arm, the other bringing up a small cutting laser to take a small sample.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sun Jun 05, 2016 6:07 pm

The building definitely is terrestrial in origin; or at least, from somewhere where they use the same sort of materials with the same sort of basic construction techniques.

The actual steel involved, however, was almost insanely pure--nothing modern smelting could really manage to produce; at least, not on this sort of scale. ASHLIE might be able to produce a similar sample, but the logistics and cost of producing it on this scale were just mind-boggling.

There doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about the method of excavation, other than the logistics of doing it out here in the middle of nowhere. It being summer in the Southern Hemisphere, this must be about the time when things get regularly worked on, but even so, it was far too cold and windy for people to be out here for an extended period of time, surely.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 05, 2016 6:37 pm

Ashlie could think up a couple means of digging in these conditions, but not with decades old technology. Even then it'd be slow and take incredible amounts of resources. The deeper into the structure she gets the more she slows down. Not that she doesn't trust the excavation, but her robot weighs at least three times as much as a person and some of the areas groan as she walks across them. In these temperatures everything is much more brittle and she'd rather not cause a cave-in or crash through a section. Especially when her satellite connection becomes unreliable from the weather and amount of material surrounding her she becomes increasingly careful. If she gets trapped now she has no means to transfer her programming back to the school and the drone doesn't have unlimited energy.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sun Jun 05, 2016 7:47 pm

Trundling down through the layers, ASHLIE came to a region where the excavation was still very much in progress. Bits of debris--equipment, it looked like for the most part, as well as the various bric-a-brac of every day life, seemed to have been preserved, buried under rock for who knows how long. Things were roped off into a grid; a pretty standard archaeological dig, if you exclude the odd circumstances and the weather.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:14 pm

Ashlie meticulously records every area she passes through. All of this still very much appears to her like a displacement effect, as if a whole building had been transported through space and possibly time. The purity of the building's material seemed to support that, but the seeming complete lack of any people doesn't. It's possible only inorganic material was transported but it still seems strange. She keeps an eye out for things that might provide some clues like calenders, cellphones, images. If a whole building was transported without it's occupants then maybe empty clothes would have been pulled along. She doesn't expect any computers to still be operational, but their model and make might still provide some insight into dating this.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:18 pm

Ashlie Minamida wrote:Ashlie meticulously records every area she passes through. All of this still very much appears to her like a displacement effect, as if a whole building had been transported through space and possibly time. The purity of the building's material seemed to support that, but the seeming complete lack of any people doesn't. It's possible only inorganic material was transported but it still seems strange. She keeps an eye out for things that might provide some clues like calenders, cellphones, images. If a whole building was transported without it's occupants then maybe empty clothes would have been pulled along. She doesn't expect any computers to still be operational, but their model and make might still provide some insight into dating this.


With some of the building still buried deep inside the rock, it's hard to really tell for sure WHAT'S left. The base was apparently very meticulous in their search.

Towards the bottom--where, presumably, the active research was being done, there WAS some things that ASHLIE could some what recognize. Just visible was a...well, it would be easy to say it was a phone, but it seemed too thin for that. Still, a flat rectangle with a screen on it and buttons along the side; what else could it be? It didn't match any known configuration ASHLIE was familiar with, though.

There were other pieces like that, too--things that ALMOST fit known patterns, but were just...not quite right at this point. Remnants of computer hardware too thin to be feasible. Exposed circuitry that was far too dense for current mass-produced standards, if not beyond what ASHLIE or secret government programs could do. Stark's people weren't mass-producing anything like this; it wasn't cost-effective at this point.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:45 pm

Will had been from a more advanced point in time, so this would seem to fit that. Was it possible that this got pulled along with him? Then how did it end up here? She'd have to date the samples to be certain but if it came along with Will then it would predate the planet. How did it end up embedded here like this? Did a whole building impact the continent at some point? Then how did it stay so intact? She tentatively tries to see if the laser she equipped the robot with is enough to make any headway to maybe break through into a section that hasn't been investigated by the base yet.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Tue Jun 07, 2016 1:33 am

It would take some time, but it would work. Did she want to risk spending an extended period of time in the crater?
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:13 pm

Ashlie figures in the worst case scenario, the robot can withstand bullet-fire for a little bit so she takes her time and risks being discovered.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:50 am

It was slow going, but ASHLIE would eventually be able to free some things from the rock and ice, it strangely melting away as she fired the laser.

There was something there...part of a car? A bit of chassis? This one WAS wrecked, unlike some of the other things that were found intact, but maybe it had been in an accident?


The snow storm had dampened her proximity sensors, but NOW they were flaring.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:09 pm

A car? Ashlie checks her surroundings to see if she's still within the structure of the building or if the phenomenon pulled in a surrounding street as well. When her sensor check reveals something nearby she quickly pulls a piece of the car free and stores it inside the drone before she begins retreading her steps to move out. There's not much point in trying to hide, the drone is much too big for that and the closer she's to the surface the bigger her chances of making a break for it or at least sending herself back home as a transmission.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:32 pm

"Alright, keep it nice and slow."

The figure, wearing a very heavy-duty set of arctic protection gear, was leveling a small weapon of some sort at the drone, and was gradually making it's way down towards her. It was still a level or two above ASHLIE at the moment, as it climbed down, but the storm had kept the sensors from picking it up until almost the very last moment.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:41 pm

Ashlie stops and, with an unidentified weapon pointed at her, waits for the figure to come down to her. She does focus her scanners on the figure though to try and determine what kind of weapon they're wielding as well as if there are any communication devices on them.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:50 pm

There was, indeed, a communication device on him, and it seemed to be set "on", so this was being transmitted back to the base, presumably.

The gun didn't match any known design schematics, but initial analysis matched it more along the likes of Donald Gill's cryotech than anything commonly available.

"Alright, this can go a couple of ways."
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Fri Jun 10, 2016 2:06 am

"Probably. Do go on, you are - afterall - the one with the weapon." the drone speaks up in an androgynous robot-voice.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sat Jun 11, 2016 12:17 am

"You're going to come with me, and we're going to go into the base," the man said. "And then we're going to ask you a few questions."
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sat Jun 11, 2016 12:29 am

"Funny. And here I thought there was a treaty ensuring everyone's right for scientific pursuits on the continent. The US wouldn't be trying to cover anything up here, would they?" the robot responds, although it does begin moving slowly towards the path to the surface. Heading back towards a satellite connection was just fine with her.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sat Jun 11, 2016 12:42 am

"That's an interesting question, and one maybe you'll enjoy discussing with the base commander."
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sat Jun 11, 2016 1:22 am

"Oh I'm sure. Is that an invitation or are you detaining me?"
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sat Jun 11, 2016 1:30 am

"The latter. Keep moving."
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sat Jun 11, 2016 5:53 pm

"This should be interesting." the robot says as it keeps climbing back out of the excavation site. She's not actively trying to shake the guard but she's also not really slowing down to wait for him should he fall behind the robot's steady pace.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sat Jun 11, 2016 6:58 pm

"Hold up, darn it. Some of us have regular people legs!" he complained.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sat Jun 11, 2016 7:27 pm

"Then maybe you're the one who shouldn't be in such a hostile environment."
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sat Jun 11, 2016 10:30 pm

"You're about to find out how HOSTILE this environment can BE if you don't shaddap."
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:07 am

The little sensor column protruding out form the top of the robot does a full rotation before retracting. But Ashlie does shut up and just keeps moving.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Narrator » Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:59 am

The two would reach the top of the pit, and begin trudging towards the base. ASHLIE could either go along with this, try to escape, or try to take down the guy leveling the gun at the drone.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:52 am

Once she gets a reliable connection again she slows down until the guard has caught up enough that he's in range of the drone swiveling around and trying to smack his weapon out of his hand with one of the robot's arms. The drone isn't built for fighting and is slow for combat, but hopefully so is a guy in Arctic-appropriate clothing.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Donald Gill » Sun Jun 12, 2016 4:16 am

The gun goes scattering across the snow, as the man is taken by surprise.

The robot arm, not intended for combat, also rips the suit a little bit, revealing some sort of high-tech equipment underneath.

"You've done it now, drone. I'm gonna ice you solid," he said, removing a glove to reveal a ball of ice forming in one hand.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 12, 2016 4:46 am

"You know, that would be much more intimidating if this unit wasn't designed to deal with extreme cold and ice already." she says, although she does maneuver the drone so the biggest area of attack would be armor plating as opposed to potentially vulnerable spots like joints or sensors. At the same time she tries to see if she can get any electronic hooks into her opponent's communications system.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Donald Gill » Sun Jun 12, 2016 6:11 am

"Let's see how extreme you can get!" he said, firing a super-dense ice dart straight at the drone.

ASHLIE was able to turn so that the armor plating was forward and out. That defensive move prevented her from hooking into the electronics system; she'd have to open hself up more for attack if she wanted to succeed there.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Sun Jun 12, 2016 6:50 pm

The drone 'ducks' for lack of a btter word, the icicle shattering against it's armor plating, though it leaves a noticeable indentation behind. Realizing she can only withstand this for so long Ashlie unfolds the drone again and aims to just ram into the man while once again trying to gain entry to his communication system, the sensor column on top of the drone extending as she does so.
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Re: The Land of Ice and Snow

Postby Major Briggs » Sun Jun 12, 2016 7:53 pm

Success! ASHLIE was able to tap into the communications equipment!

"...t's going on out there, Gill? Get her inside, NOW."

The man fell to the ground, swearing as ASHLIE rammed into him. He also fired another stream of ice at ASHLIE; maybe not the most effective attack on a design intended for operating in sub-zero temperatures, but when all you have is a hammer...
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