Hobbs Island Transcript:22-SEP-06
This is the transcript of what was seen to occur on Hobbs Island, in the Lancewood Archipelago. Violet and Scarlett went on a random hunt here, looking for clues from Anthony Granier. When they arrived, they discovered some sort of bunker, which had previously gone under the guise of a lighthouse. They started to need some help, so contacted Kurt, who setup a chat interface and viewer.
Important Findings, 22-SEP-06
Level two of the labs was explored on Friday, 22 September 2006. Two pressurized labs were discovered, with equipment such as a Class 5A Laser and a Magnetic Micromanipulator. Each lab had an observation room attached.
The lab's purpose appears to be for a Material Research & Control project, experimenting on a 'General Purpose Self-Contained Material System (Cubic)' -- aka, the Receda Cube. Findings suggest the experiments wer trying to acheive a max coherence time to extend its capabilities:
- 12 March 1732 - max coherence 0.2s acheived
- 2 June 1732 - June 2nd 1732 - max coherence to 1.3s, but power spikes. Change silicon doping?
- late 1732 - programming breakthrough, coherence extended to 10s
An accident occurred in December 1736, leading to the deaths of Drs. [[Kennard] and Cook. A letter from Adamek to Edwina Mountling states that Anthony Granier with be appointed the Government Liason for the lab.
Violet discovered that the elevator has two doors, leading to a second set of rooms for level 2. With this discovery, we learned that the lab's floorplans mimic the design of the 3P symbol.
Violet, Scarlett, and Kurt all remark that it's weird no one's found the lab before this; the Kiteway sisters plan to question the islanders about this.
Transcript
[10:07] Kurt: Morning all
[10:07] Violet: Good morning Mr. McAllister!
[10:07] Violet: So I have a crowbar
[10:07] Kurt: From the crowbar shop?
[10:08] Scarlett: *Something* like that...
[10:08] Kurt: Okay...
[10:09] Violet: I'm heading to the lift now to try this out
[10:10] Violet: Prising open lift doors, it's just what I like to do on Friday mornings
[10:10] Scarlett: I thought you were trying to work the override
[10:11] Violet: Alright, yes, but the other thing sounds better
[10:11] Scarlett: Well, that was easy
[10:11] Scarlett: Have you been working out or something, Vi?
[10:11] Kurt: Violet? Working out? Hahaha!
[10:12] Violet: That's quite enough, thank you
[10:12] Violet: There's a button for level 2, which I presume is going further down underground
[10:13] Violet: I'm trying it out
[10:13] Kurt: OK, the lift must've done something to the system, I can see a Level 2 now
[10:14] Kurt: Where are you guys?
[10:15] Kurt: Guys?
[10:16] Violet: Nothing to worry about, just that the lights aren't on
[10:16] Violet: OK, I'm heading east now
[10:16] Scarlett: You'll like this room?
[10:17] Kurt: I will?
[10:17] Violet: It's a computer room
[10:18] Violet: I know that you're probably beside yourself with excitement, but I can't figure out these computers at all. Apart from the fact that there are big screens, they're just very different
[10:18] Kurt: Yeah, it's not very surprising, the components and operating system are probably completely different. A bit like divergent or convergent evolution I suppose. Hmm.
[10:19] Violet: We'll come back to this room later
[10:20] Violet: Next room is just called PR1
[10:20] Violet: It looks different, I think it's a lab. Heavy duty doors... practically an airlock, actually
[10:21] Scarlett: OMG! That's so weird!
[10:21] Kurt: What?
[10:21] Scarlett: My ears just went pop
[10:21] Kurt: Did you go down a level?
[10:21] Violet: No, nothing like that. It happened to both of us. We came into the room and our ears went pop.
[10:22] Scarlett: I don't like it, this PR1 place is creepy.
[10:22] Violet: I'm going to take a look around in here
[10:23] Violet: Basically, it's a lot of very complicated-looking equipment
[10:24] Kurt: Can you describe it to me in more specific terms?
[10:24] Violet: Why yes, K-man, I can
[10:25] Violet: There's a central space in the room, with an empty specimen box. Lots of things leads from it, like what look like optical and electrical cables, and lots of things surrounding it and *pointed* at it
[10:25] Kurt: What sort of thing?
[10:26] Scarlett: This one says 'Class 5A laser'... there's another thing here that's a 'Magnetic Micromanipulator'
[10:27] Violet: Aha. There's a label on the specimen box
[10:27] Violet: 'Vbourg, arrived March 4th 1732'
[10:28] Violet: It's all very high tech, like the labs you showed me in the Academy, but even more sophisticated
[10:29] Scarlett: I found some microscopes here as well! And some machines that look a bit like the scanning machines they have in hospitals, but smaller
[10:29] Kurt: Hmmmmm
[10:29] Violet: I can tell you're intrigued
[10:30] Kurt: I am. I wonder what they were doing there. The specimen must've been extremely valuable, since they went to the effort of pressuring the room
[10:30] Scarlett: Why's that?
[10:30] Kurt: Well, it's what they do with all samples like that. See, ... actually, never mind
[10:31] Violet: Moving on to the next room
[10:31] Violet: This room has a window into PR1... must be an observation room
[10:33] Violet: Empty like the rest, but there's a photo pinned on the wall
[10:33] Scarlett: I think it was taken through this window!
[10:34] Violet: Yeah. It has a bunch of geeky-looking people standing alongside the specimen case - and no, I can't see what's inside it
[10:34] Violet: Caption says: "March 12th 1732 - max coherence 0.2s achieved"
[10:34] Kurt: You know what that means?
[10:34] Violet: No. Do you?
[10:34] Kurt: No, I don't either
[10:35] Violet: Heading south to next room
[10:36] Violet: It's like PR1, but bigger. And so it should be no surprise that it's called PR2
[10:37] Violet: My ears popped again when I went into this room
[10:37] Violet: Actually. I have to agree. It is creepy.
[10:37] Violet: You know what's weird about this place?
[10:37] Scarlett: Everything?
[10:37] Violet: Well the facilities are superb, right, better than stuff we have in the academy?
[10:38] Scarlett: I bet Kurt has an ears-go-pop room, don't you Kurt?
[10:38] Kurt: I believe they are called pressure rooms, but yes, the Academy does have them
[10:38] Violet: But where's everything else?
[10:39] Violet: There are labs but no showers.
[10:39] Scarlett: Why would there be showers?
[10:40] Scarlett: Maybe they're on another floor.
[10:40] Violet: Look, they were obviously working with some kind of chemicals here, right?
[10:40] Violet: It'd just be weird not to have decontamination showers nearby. It's standard procedure.
[10:40] Scarlett: Maybe they had some more advanced version of shower. Like using photons or something.
[10:41] Violet: Photons? Do you even know what a photon is? What do they teach you at Marmalejo, anyway?
[10:41] Scarlett: They're particles of light. Or a wave, if you look at them in a different way. So there! And they use UV light to decontaminate food.
[10:42] Kurt: Touche
[10:42] Violet: What's that?
[10:42] Kurt: Some obscure Earth language. Anyway. PR2. Tell me what you see.
[10:43] Violet: It's like PR1. Empty specimen case in the centre, lots of cables
[10:44] Scarlett: But less scanning stuff. No lasers or anything.
[10:44] Violet: More computers, more electrical equipment and micromanipulators
[10:44] Scarlett: Let's go into the observation room
[10:46] Violet: Just like the PR1 observation
[10:47] Scarlett: Empty, but there are some notes here. One of them talks about coherence again, like PR1
[10:47] Kurt: What does it say?
[10:47] Violet: "June 2nd 1732 - max coherence to 1.3s, but power spikes. Change silicon doping?"
[10:49] Violet: I'm going to look through these notes for a bit, be back in a few minutes
[10:54] Violet: I can't make sense of most of this, but it seems as if they need to reach 'coherence' to do anything interesting with this material.
[10:54] Scarlett: So more coherence is better?
[10:54] Kurt: Apparently so
[10:56] Violet: Next room is a Meeting Room
[10:56] Scarlett: Mmm, lots of comfy chairs
[10:56] Violet: And nothing else, apart from that
[10:57] Violet: Then we have the Physics Labs
[10:57] Violet: I know less about this than the computer room, to be honest
[10:58] Violet: I think they're repairing or calibrating the equipment they use in PR1 and PR2
[10:58] Scarlett: No ear popping here. I guess they weren't doing experiments.
[10:59] Kurt: Or at least, not the same sort of experiments
[10:59] Scarlett: Electronics Labs next
[11:00] Violet: Same old story here
[11:01] Violet: You'd love it here, Kurt. It'd be like heaven for you.
[11:01] Kurt: Right. I bet that as soon as you walk out, the whole thing blows up, as well.
[11:01] Scarlett: Kurt!
[11:01] Violet: Haha
[11:02] Violet: And finally, the generator room
[11:02] Kurt: The generators have been bugging me. You're telling me that they have no fuel inlet?
[11:03] Violet: Nope. This one is like the last one. It looks like it used to take fuel cells or something, but not any more.
[11:03] Kurt: The problem is that they were obviously running a huge amount of power-hungry equipment down here.
[11:03] Scarlett: Like the lasers?
[11:04] Kurt: Yeah. And solar cells or wind turbines just can't provide that.
[11:05] Scarlett: I'm going to take some photos of the computer room for Kurt
[11:06] Scarlett: Hey, there's something that looks like an Academy crest here! A really old one
[11:10] Scarlett: It's on a present. "From the Academy Computer Science Division, looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with Lancewood on the Material Research and Control Project." It's not dated exactly, but I guess it must be from the end of 1732.
[11:11] Violet: Interesting
[11:11] Violet: That's pretty much level 2. Let's head up.
[11:12] Violet: Oh!
[11:12] Scarlett: Hah, that's cool.
[11:12] Kurt: What's going on?
[11:13] Scarlett: The other two walls of the lift also open.
[11:13] Kurt: Yeah, I see it now. You've triggered something in the system
[11:13] Scarlett: It's a bit... dusty in here.
[11:13] Violet: It's a second zone or something
[11:18] Kurt: Adding the other zone has changed the map here... if you're watching on Earth, you have to click on the Level 2 button again
[11:19] Scarlett: Ew ew ew! Spiders! Ew!
[11:19] Violet: It's OK, they won't hurt you.
[11:19] Scarlett: Ew ew!
[11:19] Scarlett: Spiders in my hair!
[11:19] Violet: There aren't any poisonous spiders in this part of the world, right Kurt?
[11:20] Scarlett: *Poisonous* spiders?
[11:20] Kurt: On Lancewood? I don't think so.
[11:20] Violet: One thing - it must mean it's stayed bone dry down here. Spiders don't like the wet.
[11:20] Scarlett: OK, now we *really* need to find the showers.
[11:20] Violet: Aaaand, here they are. Just as I predicted.
[11:21] Violet: What, is no one going to call me brilliant?
[11:21] Scarlett: Seriously, I'm just going to rinse my hair really quickly.
[11:21] Violet: /me rolls eyes.
[11:21] Violet: We shall be hanging out here for a while then, Mr K.
[11:24] Violet: Dum di dum di dum
[11:24] Kurt: You had me set up a secure invisible link from my place of work for this?
[11:24] Violet: Ooh, snarky this morning.
[11:24] Violet: Fine. Shall ping when S is finished washing webs out of her hair.
[11:24] Violet: Pretty impressive that the water's still running here though.
[11:28] Violet: OK. We're back. Scarlett's complaining about lack of hairdryers, but otherwise we're good.
[11:28] Scarlett: Honestly, why do you always make me sound like an idiot? I know they don't have hairdryers. A towel would be nice though
[11:28] Violet: Sigh. We're going on.
[11:29] Violet: The next room's an office.
[11:29] Scarlett: Don't think much of the decoration. What's that eagle doing on the wall?
[11:29] Violet: I doubt that's important.
[11:29] Violet: Hmm. Actually. It seems to be some sort of memorial.
[11:30] Violet: Photos of a man and a woman. Dr Kennard and Dr Cook.
[11:31] Scarlett: Has both their dates. They both died on the same day in December 1736. All it says is "they soared higher and saw further".
[11:31] Scarlett: Hang-gliding accident?
[11:31] Violet: Seems unlikely.
[11:31] Scarlett: I know, I know. Weird spooky experiments, scientists dying.
[11:31] Scarlett: There's one thing I don't understand
[11:31] Violet: One thing?
[11:31] Scarlett: Very funny.
[11:31] Kurt: I thought it was.
[11:31] Scarlett: Why hasn't anyone found this place before?
[11:32] Scarlett: It's been here for centuries.
[11:32] Violet: Maybe they have.
[11:32] Violet: There are probably loads of war-era facilities that the city government knows about but isn't in any hurry to turn into heritage sites, or even explore themselves
[11:32] Violet: "Come and visit the places where we plotted the deaths of millions!"
[11:32] Scarlett: But no one's even tidied up down here.
[11:33] Violet: True, and there's a lot of equipment left. I suppose no-one wants it changed.
[11:33] Violet: Ah, but there is still a memo here
[11:34] Violet: A memo from Edwina Mountling, Head of Lancewood, to Vianne Adamek
[11:36] Violet: Let's see... fairly technical and political. They've been working on increasing the coherence of the material into the multiple-second range, so they can "extend its capabilities". Apparently doping the material with other compounds has been helpful.
[11:37] Violet: Also says that they had a breakthrough in late 1732 to do with programming, which extended coherence to almost 10 seconds. Edwina requests more programmers from the Academy, says they need to be on site. Hmm.
[11:39] Scarlett: Let's move
[11:40] Scarlet: Yay! The Rec Room!
[11:40] Scarlet: Bleh, they've removed most stuff apart from the tables and chairs
[11:41] Violet: There's an old newspaper here.
[11:41] Violet: It's the Vanguard! A pre-war Vanguard! Wow. Do you have any idea what this is worth?
[11:41] Scarlett: Enough for us to leave the city forever and make new lives for ourselves in Xia-Hifa?
[11:42] Violet: Not quite that much
[11:42] Violet: It's from 1736. Ceasefire with Viehattle is holding, but there are rumbles along the border.
[11:42] Violet: The problems from April continue. I don't even know what that's about.
[11:44] Violet: Next room is toilets
[11:44] Violet: Then Meeting Rooms
[11:45] Scarlett: Completely empty
[11:45] Violet: Whizzing through here now... water tank
[11:46] Violet: Ah, store room
[11:47] Violet: How weird.
[11:47] Scarlett: Look! Fenlon's Fine Tea and Coffee Emporium. "Healthful and refreshing."
[11:47] Scarlett: "Mr Turniwig's Excellent Relish. Makes any meat a treat!"
[11:47] Violet: Just don't try tasting it, OK?
[11:48] Scarlett: Yeah yeah. I'll save it to put on my squid.
[11:48] Violet: Look at this - Academy stationery with the old insignia.
[11:48] Violet: Academy branded *soap*? You know what Dad would say about this, right Lettie?
[11:48] Scarlett: Is it "we must focus around our core mission. Soap is not one of our objectives"?
[11:48] Violet: Damn straight.
[11:48] Kurt: How is this relevant?
[11:48] Violet: We've just been well trained.
[11:48] Violet: Moving on...
[11:49] Scarlett: Wow. More offices. Wonderful.
[11:50] Violet: They're pretty big, and it looks like some stuff has been left behind
[11:50] Violet: Just checking the drawers in the filing cabinet here.
[11:50] Violet: A couple of things have fallen to the bottom.
[11:51] Violet: What do we have here....?
[11:51] Scarlett: Well? What do we have?
[11:51] Violet: Just a moment - the print's not too clear.
[11:51] Scarlett: It's a report, signed by a Dr... Kestrel?
[11:51] Violet: Dr Kennard
[11:51] Scarlett: Oh! The man in the hang-gliding accident!
[11:51] Scarlett: Why have they put his report up on the wall and framed it?
[11:51] Violet: They must have been pleased with it.
[11:52] Kurt: What is it about?
[11:52] Violet: Let's see
[11:52] Violet: It's from April 1733
[11:53] Violet: "Site survey and inspection. By Dr. Malcolm Kennard, Academy Exploratory Research Scientist and Military Liaison."
[11:53] Scarlett: It's about the site of the Lancewood Lab!
[11:53] Kurt: Makes sense
[11:54] Violet: I'm going to see if there's anything else
[11:54] Violet: Wow
[11:55] Violet: There's another memo here, from Adamek to Mountling.
[11:57] Violet: "December 1736: Following the report of the accident involving Dr. Kennard, I am appointing Anthony Granier to act as Government Liaison for the Lancewood Labs. Granier is to have full administrative authority, and will report directly to me."
[12:00] Violet: I'm summarising this here, translating it into modern English, but hopefully I've got it right, because it's important
[12:00] Violet: It goes on
[12:01] Violet: "Naturally, I do not wish for him to interfere with the good scientific progress you are making, and you will still retain authority over that sphere. However, this 'General Purpose Self-Contained Material System (Cubic)' that we authorised will consume an order of magnitude more resources than anything we have done before, and involve many more people outside of Lancewood. Therefore, and in addition to the safety lapses at Lancewood, I feel that Granier will play an essential role when he arrives in January."
[12:01] Kurt: Ah
[12:01] Violet: Indeed
[12:01] Kurt: Well then...
[12:01] Violet: I think I need to get outside for a moment
[12:02] Scarlett: They were working on the Cube?!
[12:02] Violet: It seems like they might have been, yes
[12:02] Kurt: There's something else
[12:03] Kurt: I've been getting to grips with this operating system a little better now, and I think there's more of a power draw than Levels 1 and 2 account for
[12:03] Violet: There are more levels?
[12:03] Kurt: Yes
[12:03] Violet: We didn't see anything in the lift
[12:04] Kurt: Right, but I think you need some sort of computer authorisation to reach them. I'll have to work on it, but it'll take time. The system is... bizarre. More advanced than anything we have in some ways, less advanced in others
[12:04] Violet: OK, so you need some time to work on the interface here?
[12:04] Violet: We can leave one of our keys in place to maintain the link.
[12:04] Scarlett: If there's nothing else for us to do here, we might as well head back to the port and think about it there
[12:05] Violet: Yeah
[12:05] Kurt: Are you OK?
[12:05] Violet: I'm just a bit dazed, I think
[12:05] Kurt: I know how you're feeling
[12:05] Violet: But yes, we might as well head back
[12:05] Scarlett: Hurrah, we'll be back in time for the squid roast!
[12:05] Violet: It's rather a squid-based culture here in the archipelago.
[12:06] Scarlett: I like squid!
[12:06] Violet: Fine. You want to move here? Make a special squid costume for the squid parade?
[12:06] Scarlett: Hee. Actually. No.
[12:06] Violet: OK, I still have some documents to work on, and we'll stock up on supplies.
[12:06] Scarlett: Also, I still think it's weird if *no one* from the islands has ever been here before.
[12:06] Violet: You make a good point.
[12:06] Violet: (at last)
[12:06] Violet: We should try to talk to some of the people in town about Hobbs Island, find out if they know anything about it.
[12:06] Scarlett: I can do that! At the squid roast and traditional folk-dancing this evening!
[12:06] Violet: Fine. I shall be washing my hair.
[12:07] Kurt: We'll talk later by key then. And you'll be back at the island when?
[12:07] Violet: Sometime on Monday I expect.
[12:07] Kurt: OK. Hmm. Hesitate to raise this but...
[12:07] Violet: What?
[12:07] Kurt: Caine's back next week. He's bound to ask me if I've heard from you/spoken to you/why you've left the city. Want me to lie?
[12:07] Violet: I'm not sure he's bound to ask. And if he does - I guess. Hmm.
[12:07] Violet: OK, look, if he asks, you can put him in touch.
[12:08] Kurt: Right.
[12:08] Violet: Sorry to leave you with the dirty work.
[12:08] Kurt: It's fine.
[12:08] Violet: Bye then! We'll be back on Monday at some point, I'll let you know here or on my blog
[12:08] Kurt: See you then
[12:08] Scarlett: See you!
