Notes taken by Alastair and Samantha Beadle.
Methods for finding the flying saucer are discussed. Initially John Doe is to go off on his own, disguised to something like a Brood (but not entirely one to avoid the side effects of becoming entirely a Brood), with Noesis following, and carrying the rest. However, the final plan is that John Doe will go off, with Noesis embedded in him. John Doe changes shape, and Noesis flies into a hole in his 'Brood' torso, with only his sensors emerging. He does have to turn his force field off, which makes him feel a little naked. Noesis will mentally affect any Brood they encounter to try and convince them John Doe is really talking to them in their own language (John Doe cannot speak the Brood language as he has removed his 'egg').
They fly off. The others lurk in a tear in the huge carcass they are on. John Doe makes an intrusive flashing thing in the corner of Noesis' field of vision. If it ever stops flashing then Noesis will know that John Doe is in trouble and apply some lift of his own to stop them falling. Occasionally the flashing thing turns into a little cartoon character.
From where the group are four ribs are visible with lights at the top. John Doe goes for the nearest one, but only after Noesis gives his brain a little psychic nudge to make it look more attractive. As they go, Noesis (with John Doe's consent) gives John Doe occasional psychic attacks to help 'train' him in resisting mental powers. That's the excuse, anyway. They avoid the nearest bubble-city, off to the side, after their previous bad experience when they tried to go to a city. Probably a good idea:
The air gets thinner and thinner as they climb up the rib, through the clouds around its base and up and up. It also gets colder and colder, and high winds start to whip around the rib. At about half way up the rib - five miles high or so - John Doe is having to greatly exert himself just to stay in the air because of it thinness, and the turbulence and wind are also causing him problems. At least they haven't seen any Brood flying around this high, or, indeed, for the last few vertical miles.
They realise that they are not going to get any higher flying this way, so start looking for any elevators up the side of the rib. They don't find any. Then they wait and see if anything flies up the rib, John Doe clinging to the side of it. After thirty minutes nothing has gone past, and there have been no other signs of life, so they decide to return.
Meanwhile, back with the rest of the group, as they wait there is a sudden motion in the ground and a huge maggot-like creature the size of a bus bursts from the rotting flesh beneath their feet and rushes at them. Truth goes desolid. Blitz takes to the air. Chronos zips off. Servo backs off. Avenger stands his ground. It lunges at him, rearing up and coming down from above, swallowing Avenger whole. Blitz blasts it. Servo zaps it with a taser. It goes for Blitz, who fires, dodges and flies out of reach. It is hurt by the attacks being directed at it, but most damage is done by Avenger, from inside. The others discover this when the maggot-thing bursts open from inside as Avenger blasts at it. It slumps to the ground, dead, leaving Avenger standing in its remains, covered in gore and highly unpleasant slime.
A little later John Doe and Noesis arrive back.
Some discussion ensues. John Doe snacks on the remains of the giant maggot-thing.
As both Truth and Noesis don't need to breathe they decide to try for the top of a rib. Noesis would like to keep a link back to the others, and tries making a telepathic link to Blitz. Blitz is not really very happy with this as he has secrets he doesn't really want Noesis to find out, and tries to not think about them. In general, he succeeds, and Noesis gets only vague images of Nazis and war. Because of Blitz' resistance, Noesis doesn't have much luck maintaining the link, so he gives up.
Truth is held by Noesis and generates a disguising cloud with Noesis at its edge so he can see out. Noesis glows faintly, to mimic the rotting flesh below when viewed from above, and the cloud hides them from below. Up they go (quite slowly, to keep the cloud in place). As they approach the half-way mark, Noesis' shell systems start to be unable to cope with the cold (he was insulated by John Doe before), and Truth is also suffering. His shell is having problems coping with the low pressure, too. Truth develops a nosebleed from the low pressure too. They decide to give up and return to the others.
When they return they discover the John Doe has decorated the tear in the rotting flesh where the others are hiding with tinsel and fairy lights. Boggle!
They discuss what to do now. John Doe considers turning into a giant net, then thinks better of it. Truth suggests that she could desolidify through and into one of the 'fish', if dropped in its path, then thinks of the relative velocity problems - the 'fish' are going several hundred KPH; she would not be. This would probably be bad. The plan which emerges is to hijack one of the flying fish-planes which are patrolling overhead every now and then. No-one can fly fast enough to catch one, but Blitz thinks he could intercept one from in front if he timed it correctly, and get Truth onto it without much relative velocity. Truth can also carry John Doe if he really exerts his shrinking ability.
The 'flying fish' are small enough that there isn't room for more than two Brood in them, at most. However, John Doe does point out that the aircraft could be occupied by hordes of highly trained attack penguins rather than Brood! The group give this suggestion all the consideration it deserves.
Blitz finds a rise in the rotting flesh and lurks above it, waiting for an aircraft. He's been refusing to actually land ever since the maggot-thing incident. Truth and John Doe are with him. After a while a flight of three aircraft come near, one in the lead, on further back to the right, the last even further back to the left. Blitz decides (sensibly) to go for the trailing one. John Doe shoots Blitz with a blaster a few times so he can absorb the energy to boost his powers as much as possible. Blitz is staggered by the blasts, but recovers, and up they zoom. Just before they go, John Doe sheds a lasso and Stetson hat for him.
Noesis follows at a lower level, carrying Servo, Avenger and Chronos in his telekinesis (having to his crude telekinesis to carry Servo, who is heavy, with his armour).
Blitz intercepts the last flying fish, diving from above for extra speed. There seems to be only one Brood on board. John Doe shrinks to tiny size in the form of a harpoon, and Blitz throws him with a desolid Truth in tow. Fortunately they hit exactly where they were aiming for, and pass into the rear of the cockpit. Truth can't help noticing that the flying fish is actually a living creature.
Strangely enough, there seem to be no penguins inside!
There is just enough room for Truth to become solid, so she does. John Doe becomes a many-tentacled thing which slides under the pilots couch and wraps it up. It thrashes around, slashing Truth with its stinger, distracting her just as she is about to throw a mind control at it; silvery gas swirls about aimlessly. John Doe hacks off its stingers and grabs it tightly enough that it can't steer the aircraft. Truth tries to mind control the pilot again; silvery gas swirls about it, but it nonetheless shrugs off her power. She tries again, and this time he falls under her control. She tells John Doe that she has succeeded, so he releases the Brood enough to slow the aircraft and turn it away from the other two. The other two pilots seem entirely unaware that anything is at all amiss (fortunately!).
Catching up, Blitz drops down onto the slowing 'fish' behind its dorsal fin and rides it down towards the ground. The Brood suddenly turns the 'fish' and dives towards the ground. Blitz loses his grip and tumbles away, losing his Stetson. Truth mind controls it again and forces it to level out and head in to land safely. It starts doing so.
Suddenly the cockpit radio bursts into life. "Pilot 7, what are you doing?" comes over the speaker (in Brood).
"I've been ..." the pilot blurts; that's as far as it gets before Truth minds controls it into silence.
Noesis takes over, "... having technical difficulties," he improvises.
"Do you require assistance?" asks the voice over the radio.
"Stand by," says Noesis.
The 'fish' comes in for landing. Its two pairs of pectoral fins extend. They seem to have been cybernetically enhanced with metal parts on the front and lower edges, turning them into landing skids. The 'fish' skids to a stop in the rotting flesh. Noesis flies to intercept, dropping Servo after a while as he is running out of energy.
Over the radio comes one of the Brood again. "Pilot 7, do you require assistance?"
There is no reply.
"We are calling for assistance. Help is on the way," says the Brood. "We will hold position over your location until it arrives."
This is just what the group wanted to hear, of course! Servo, Avenger, Noesis and Chronos hide in another tear in the rotting flesh. Blitz hides under the 'fish'. Truth and John Doe remain in the 'fishes' cockpit. A plan is discussed to wait for the 'ambulance' to arrive, then hijack it and head for the spaceports on top of the ribs. The Brood pilot is now considered surplus to requirements, so John Doe kills it. The canopy suddenly becomes opaque with its blood. John Doe then turns into a Brood-like thing and cleans most of the blood off. Truth leaves the cockpit and goes under the 'fish' with Blitz. The 'fish' folds its wings back.
John Doe samples the genetic makeup of the 'fish'. It seems to be a naturally space-going creature, resistant to hard vacuum. This comes as a bit of a surprise.
Truth tries to mind control the 'fish', to re-open its wings. It does so. Noesis reads its surface thoughts - it's an animal mind, in pain, with lots of despair and resignation. Its pain seems to be a mixture of the cyberware implanted in it hurting, and the training methods used to enslave it.
A pink glowing thing appears from the direction of the nearest bubble city. As it approaches, it resolves into a giant flying glowing pink octopus-like creature, again with cybernetic implants, like the 'fish'. Its body is about 6m long and 5m in diameter, with 12m long tentacles dangling underneath. As it gets close, the two 'fish', which have been circling overhead peel off in the direction of one of the cities. Truth acknowledges their signals as they leave.
A sole Brood is visible behind a cockpit bubble implanted in the side of the 'octopus', conveniently under-lit by the glow from the panel. As it reaches the 'fish' Truth mind controls the 'octopus' to land while Noesis mentally attacks the pilot, knocking it out. It slumps over its console.
Truth mind controls the 'octopus' to open a door, which it does - an orifice in its side. Everyone piles on board. Inside it seems to be an organic circular space around a central core, with the cockpit implanted on one side. Racks of tools and suchlike things line the outer wall of the ring-shaped space, again implanted in its living flesh. John Doe samples its genetic makeup, and like the 'fish' the 'octopus' seems to be some kind of space-going creature, only unlike the 'fish' it seems to fly by some kind of natural biological antigravity system, using a squid-like jet to push it along. Chronos wibbles a little at this.
Blitz kills the unconscious Brood, frying its head. Its body is thrown out. Truth mind controls the 'octopus' to pick up the 'fish'. It does. Then it takes off, heading for the top of the nearest giant rib showing lights at the top.
Most of the group are hungry. John Doe makes food from his own body, which Blitz cooks with a low-power energy blast. After a few unpleasant initial experiments (where the 'steaks' remain attacked to him, and exhibit out of control shapeshifting upon being cooked), something resembling real steak is produced, and some 'potatoes' for Chronos, who seems a bit squeamish about eating John Doe steaks, but is OK with John Doe 'potatoes'.
Noesis probes the 'fish' and finds that a pain inducer in its brain causes most of its distress. The 'octopus' is in the same condition. Servo climbs down to the 'fish' to see if he can assist it, after a few pithy comments about how people are willing to kill off the sentient Brood with no problems, but are willing to risk themselves to help these creatures.
After a while he returns, having discovered that the pain inducer is in fact relatively simple to turn off, and the 'fish' is now much happier. He trails a wire behind him which he has connected down to the 'fish' so as to allow its implanted weapons to be controlled from inside the 'octopus'. He examines the 'octopus', and switches off its pain inducer too. Then he begins to examine the Brood technology in the hope of learning how it all works.
The 'octopus' is guided up the rib, keeping away from the bubble cities. After more than an hour (the 'octopus' does not fly very fast) they reach the top. It seems to have been cut off to form a flat oval landing field, about 300m long and 100m wide. In the centre is a cluster of reflective metal bubbles, which look like a smaller version of the bubbles that are visible inside the transparent domes around the cities. On the landing field are scattered what appear to be a couple of dozen 30m long 'sharks', with implanted cockpits and blaster weapons. The lights visible from below form a ring around the edge of the landing field area.
From this high up the vast carcass can be seen to be that of a giant manta ray/fish thing, perhaps 200 miles long and 150 miles from wingtip to wingtip - about the size of Lake Superior. It glows faintly with putrescence.
Over the radio, a Brood voice demands the know what the 'service technician' is doing here.
Truth replies over the radio, "We are on a special mission - please await incoming data."
"I await your authorisation code," replies the Brood.
As they watch, two Brood in space suits leave the bubble-buildings in the centre and start heading towards the 'octopus'. They don't get very far at all before Servo shoots them with the 'fishes' blasters, destroying them, and the buildings behind them. A gush of air is visible rushing up from where the buildings were; it continues for much longer than would be necessary to empty the buildings before stopping.
The 'octopus' is mind controlled to fly over to the nearest 'shark' and dock with it. It does, sealing the bottom of its body to the 'shark' in a sucker-like arrangement. The 'shark' is boarded and examined. Its cockpit is empty, and seems to be made to hold two Brood. Its guns are bigger than those of the 'fish'. It is far too big for the 'octopus' to pick up.
John Doe, Servo and Truth board the 'shark'. John Doe samples it (it is a living thing, and space-going, with biological rocket engines), Truth mind controls it and it lifts from the rib and flies off, quite slowly, with the 'octopus' clinging on to it.
They head for the next nearest rib showing lights at the top. It seems to be similar to the first one - the top sheared off to make an oval landing field, with a bubble-building in the centre, and a lot of 'sharks' parked on the landing field. The 'shark' is controlled to blast the buildings; they explode messily, and again air gushes out for longer than the size of buildings would allow, before shutting off.
The 'shark' is directed towards the third rib showing lights. Again, it seems similar to the first one, but the vehicles are different - here there are two 'octopi', a living vehicle with cyber-implants that looks vaguely like a catfish, and several fully mechanical space vehicles, all of which look like a bubble cockpit with under-slung blasters attached to a cluster of smaller bubbles behind which are larger engine bubbles. In the centre is, again, a bubble-building. Again they are blown up, and again they gush air for longer than their size would indicate before it stops.
At this point, the thought suddenly occurs that perhaps the 'shark' has a faster than light drive. To test this idea, Truth mind controls the 'shark' to go as fast as it can. A (roughly) 20G acceleration smashes Truth, Servo and John Doe to the back of the cockpit as the 'shark' roars off, tearing the 'octopus' free so that it tumbles in its wake. Truth quickly gets the 'shark' to stop, then return and pick up the others. They head for the last rib showing lights.
This one has been sheared off a bit lower down to give a larger, roughly circular landing field, about 500m in diameter with, again, a cluster of metallic bubble-buildings in the centre. This place is obviously the one they have been looking for - it is littered with many ships of many different designs. There is a highly streamlined black metal shuttle, another, cruder-looking one in white and silver. A ship which looks like a rock with built-in motors and weapons. Another vaguely dumbbell shaped with a cluster of motors at one end, and at the other an array of spikes pointing forward and out in a cone-like arrangement. A vessel like a large cone lying on its side, with rockets on the flat and, and a few projections that look like weapons. Another like a hemisphere of machinery open to space, resting on its flat face. Another like a loose cluster of tangled rainbow metal strips, with no visible motors or cabin. Others which seem to have been broken apart, or have fallen apart. And, at last, on the far side, a flying saucer.
The 'shark' is ordered to destroy the bubble-buildings at the centre here. It does, and again a lot more air than might be expected gushes up before stopping. The 'shark' is directed over to the saucer. It is a lens shape, about 45m in diameter and about 12m thick at the centre, standing on four legs extended down from the lower side of its body. It is coloured a matt black, with a ring around the edge of the lens shape in scarlet. Part-way up the upper surface, above each leg, is an insignia of three concentric scarlet rings. There are no visible windows.
Everyone gets into the 'octopus' and Truth has it detach from the 'shark' and fly over to the saucer. She also has the 'flying fish' set free, and it flies off.
They find a door panel on the underside of the saucer, which looks like it hinges down to form a ramp. The 'octopus' docks with the saucer, over the door, and the door is examined. There is a small panel to the right of the door, which is opened. Inside is a lever and some writing in a script which no-one recognises, but which gives John Doe a slight feeling of nervousness, as if he unconsciously recognises it and associates it with something bad.
Before the door is opened, Truth desolidifies and passes into the ship. She explores. The door opens into an airlock, which opens into the lower of two decks. Inside, all the walls are of a silver metal. The ceilings are glowing with a faint shadowless silvery light, a little like moonlight, enough to see by. There is are the weeks-old scents of several people, and also a weeks old scent of Brood in the air.
The lower deck as a ring-shaped corridor around a circular central room. Around the outside of the corridor are eleven store rooms, containing a variety of things, including human-shaped space suits and weapons of some kind. In one storeroom near the airlock are two acceleration couches that appear to be built for short, slender, long limbed, big headed humanoid creatures (the closest fit is to alien 'greys'). In the centre of the central room (and, indeed the centre of the ship) is a white stone rod, about 30cm in diameter and reaching to the ceiling. Around it at ceiling level, and pointing in at the central rod are six more white stone rods, hinged at their outside ends, so it looks like they can swing down to a vertical position. The rods are very intricately carved in nearly fractal patterns so complex they almost look like rumpled fur. The patterns tend to lead the eye downwards. On the floor is a circle of pale yellow stone, reaching to within two metres of the walls. It is carved with a horribly complex maze of narrow channels which looks vaguely like a complex vortex leading to the centre. On one wall, by the door, is a control panel of the silvery metal, centred on a circular stone panel carved in a highly complex geometric design and surrounded by gemstones arranged as if they were controls. To the right of the console is another stone panel with a right hand-shaped depression carved into it. Around the outside of the central room on the far side from the airlock a metal staircase leads up.
Upstairs the staircase, railed at the top leads into a control room. Directly in front of it is what is obviously the command chair/acceleration couch, with mini-consoles built into the arms. In front of it, standing separate from the wall, is a curved console similar to the one below with two seats/acceleration couches in front of it. There are two of the stone panels with the hand-shaped depressions in them. In front of the panel, on either side of a corridor, are two large (floor to ceiling) stone panels, intricately carved in hugely detailed swirls and patterns. Behind and to either side are two consoles without seats. Four doors lead off into three cabins (fully self-contained and which look like they could house one or two people) and a recreation room and galley; all of these rooms contain acceleration couches too. Four short corridors lead from behind the front console, to either side and from the back of the control room to what are obviously weapons stations - there is a gimbal-mounted chair with a built-in console, and two hand-grips in a 'steering wheel' arrangement. There is no sign of windows or displays, though.
Truth returns to the others, and the lever by the airlock is pulled. The door opens, and everyone piles in.
The others go up to the control deck. Chronos goes over to the front console and puts his hand onto one of the hand-shaped depressions. He immediately feels a stabbing pain in the heel of his hand, and some of the gems set into the console light up. He doesn't pull his hand away. John Doe puts his hand in a depression too, and is also stabbed. He does pull his hand back. As he does so he sees a needle retracting into the hand-print. He does it again, taking the pain, and shortly more lights come on. The light from the ceiling brightens, too.
Chronos fiddles with some of the glowing gems in the hope that they will do something. There is a swirling of energy over the two carved stone panels in front of the main console faces, and then an image of the landing field outside the saucer appears, hovering in the air just off the wall, covering the entrance to the forward weapons station. At this, John Doe gets a bad feeling of familiarity, which he mentions to everyone else. Chronos manipulates another gem and there is a thud as the airlock door closes. The whole saucer begins to inaudibly hum with power.
Truth takes John Doe down to look at the 'rod room' on the lower deck. As they get into the room she smells blood and notices that blood is trickling into the complex channels carved on the stone slab in the centre of the floor. John Doe samples it and finds that the blood is his, Chronos' and someone whom he doesn't recognise.
Truth informs everyone else of this and advises them that they should leave - now!
Chronos is feeling a little weak from loss of blood by now anyway, so he removes his hand. Avenger puts both his hands down on the hand-print panels instead. "It's only pain," he says. No-one else makes much of a move to leave.
After a little while Avenger decides he's given enough blood to the saucer, and removes his hands. He heads for the airlock and goes back into the 'octopus' to keep an eye on things outside.
Truth sinks into the workings of the ship to try and find out where the blood goes. She discovers that the carved stone disc on the floor of the lower central room has holes in the centre (around the upright white stone rod) into which the blood drains. The stone itself is carved with tiny tubes in a complex intertwining pattern (there is no real way these could have been made with any known technology), running out and back to the centre below which there is a tank containing, currently, only dried blood. As she goes close to the upright stone rod she feels a hum of power close around it. She also explores the spaces between the outer walls of all the rooms and the saucer's hull, discovering tanks of water, air and human blood.
As Truth does this John Doe has decided that it is indeed time to leave. He goes to the airlock and attempts to open the inner door. Nothing happens. He shifts into a form with a lot of strength and forces the door open 30cm or so then flows into the airlock itself. Lights flash on one of the bridge consoles as this occurs.
Everyone else goes to investigate. As they arrive John Doe is starting to force the outer door. The general opinion is that this would not be a good thing. Noesis stuns John Doe with a mental blast, then projects an illusion that John Doe is actually in the 'octopus'. Unfortunately he shrugs it off. Blitz tries to grab him, but he is very strong at the moment and shrugs Blitz off too, then turns into a liquid form and makes a break for it at random. By chance he makes it through the door and back into the saucer.
Truth follows him, and finds him wibbling in the boot of a space suit. She pumps mind control gas down onto him and forces him to relax. He becomes much happier.
Servo starts trying to fix the inner airlock door.
A little while later, Avenger comes over the radio. "Another shark just flew over," he reports. He starts to open the airlock to enter the saucer. Nearly everyone else heads for the airlock to try and get onto the 'octopus'. Truth carries John Doe in his boot.
Chronos decides it's time to leave this planet. He goes to the 'rod room', assuming that it is the engine room, and experiments with the controls on the console there at hyper-speed. Shortly the six stone rods lying against the ceiling swing down to stand parallel to the central one. The entire ship starts to vibrate. Avenger gets into the airlock just before everyone else can pile out into the 'octopus', and the door locks behind him.
Chronos rushes to the bridge at hyper-speed and starts manipulating gems at random. The saucer lurches to one side. Then it levels out. More buttons are pushed. The airlock gives a clunk, and seems to lock again. Chronos manipulates more controls and the saucer suddenly rises off the landing field, the acceleration pressing those party members with strength in the human range to the deck. It rise begins to slow and it starts to tilt to one side, then starts to fall. Chronos frantically manipulates controls. The saucer levels out and starts to rise again, at as great a speed as before, accelerating into space and away from the Brood world...
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