Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
Napalm is in the middle of the firestorm. She finds this quite enjoyable.
On top of a ridge, watching the firestorm, are the other five comrades. Surrounded by 20 or so soldiers. "Don't Move, Scum!" barks the man in charge - a sergeant. They are all wearing Russian Army uniforms - and look hard!
"Why are they waving sticks at me?" asks Nut. Mother Bear (still in human form) explains about guns. She then goes on to try and cool the situation by talking to the soldiers, explaining that we are the Moscow super heroes and are here to help. One of the soldiers at the back supports their case to the sergeant. Mother Bear explains that it is Napalm who is "whipping up the storm." The soldiers state that we are trespassing on a restricted area and insist that we meet with their commander. Mother Bear readily agrees to this plan and she, General Winter and Nut are lead off through the woods - Akula follows in Human liquid form and Mirov follows in a tiny form that blends with the background.
Mother Bear can sense that the centre of the firestorm matches the disturbances that she has been tracking over the last few days. The firestorm is quickly running out of fuel and starts to die down, being trapped, as it is, by General Winter's zone of cold.
Mother Bear feels the cold of the zone more than the others do - she warns the soldiers and then changes into Bear form to better cope with the climate. They boggle, but the party continues on their trek through the woods. After quarter of an hour we reach a camp - pitched tents, four APCs and a perimeter guard. A Captain meets the patrol and takes us to the command APC that is flying the flag of the 32nd Siberian Regiment. The guards who brought us in leave to continue their patrol and some others escort us in.
The APC contains a Colonel, a fit, muscular and middle aged looking man, as well as several aides working at communications gear and computerised tactical maps (which look like magic to Nut but do not feel like it - confusing!). The Colonel introduces himself as Colonel Fabian, commander of this detachment of the 32nd Regiment.
Mother Bear asks how Nut would like to be addressed - she suggests "Your Holiness" and Nut agrees that it sounds suitable.
We are offered glasses of tea from a big samovar in the corner. Nut asks for mint tea but they only have standard leaf tea.
In the remains of the fire storm Napalm is feeling exhilarated. As the firestorm dies down she leaves it to burn out and flies off. A helicopter investigates her but this time does not open fire. "Are you with the other super heroes" they ask from a loudspeaker. She confirms this and is directed towards the command vehicle where the others are chatting to the Colonel. She is there in an instant and hovers close to the ground without landing. The Captain salutes her - which is nice! She floats into the APC, still flaming. She accepts a glass of tea (and most of the sugar) and joins the conversation.
The Colonel asks us why we are here. Mother Bear says that we were attracted by the "magical" resonances from the disturbance that their forces "already have in hand". The Colonel seems grateful for our help - and apologises for the initial friendly fire incidents!
The Colonel confirms that this is not the first such incident. It started three weeks ago (at the beginning of February; it is now near the end of February).
He says that the first forest incursion grew to massive size before the military could contain it. So far there have been thirteen such incursions, including this one - one every day and a half or so, but not according to any apparent timetable, just appearing at random. All have been in Siberia (so far) and in uninhabited areas (although uninhabited areas are not in short supply in Siberia), but it is almost inevitable that sooner or later one will affect an inhabited area. He says from what he has heard of the others that the one we witnessed was a small incursion. He really does not know where they come from, what they are, or whether we can expect more of them. In all cases both the animals-things and the vast trees and other strange plants have been witnessed in the same manner as at this site. Such animals have been captured from previous incidents; he looks sceptically at his monitors and decides that there will be few captives from this one. They have been taken away for investigation, but he knows nothing of any results. The events do not appear to exhibit any apparent intelligence and they attack people physically, with poisons and with spores that attack the lungs. He is not convinced whether this is a deliberate attack or just part of the natural behaviour of the forest of something in it.
The Colonel says that he was given co-ordinates and orders to suppress the event before it happened. They were in the air in transport planes when there was something like a nuclear explosion from this site (though without any radiation or EMP) which seemed to be the forest appearing.
Now that it has been destroyed he is awaiting more orders. He is obviously quite tired. He expects to have to drive to an airfield and then to be extracted from the scene by air. His forces have suffered 'only' 10% casualties in the incident - he considers this to be a victory.
When she thinks about it Mother Bear notices that the 'disturbance' is still there - but it now does feel different from the point before Napalm disappeared to counter it. It is no weaker, just subtly different.
Mother Bear asks if some food can be provided. She also asks if a de-scrambler can be provided to us so that we can monitor their communications. The Colonel says he will have to see but does give her a frequency that we can contact them on in clear in any case. He has one of his aides contact his commander, a General. When he is mentioned we ask to meet him and discuss the situation.
The Colonel is very concerned about the situation, as are his superior officers. They think they may have to resort to nuclear weapons in the future if they cannot stop an incursion by conventional means.
The General finally arrives on the communications link (he was having lunch!). The Colonel describes us as "the Moscow Super heroes - or a damned good impersonation - along with some scantily clad woman I have never seen before." He passes on our request to see the General, who agrees and asks for us to be flown to a rendezvous.
"You can fly?" asks Nut. The concept of helicopters is explained to her. She claims to know that, but is not entirely convincing. The General's command post is "up in the middle of nowhere", near to the site of the initial event, by an oil installation.
Napalm decides she will make her own way there. Mirov is still unseen - but may be around somewhere. Mother Bear, General Winter and Akula enter a Hind helicopter and are taken Southwards, toward Tischet. The forest whips by below. Napalm flies, lower, faster and in a generally more reckless manner than the helicopter. The Hind pilot feels the need to take evasive action on a few occasions. The trip takes a couple of hours.
We arrive at Tichet - a town on the Trans-Siberian railway line with its own airfield - as it is getting dark. The town is small and unremarkable. The air base is fairly large - and may be civil or military, it is difficult to tell. Parked on the apron are four large transport aircraft, some other helicopters, a couple of fighters and several light aircraft. We are taken to one of the cargo planes.
As it has got dark by now Nut says "I'll see you there". She then expands outwards and disperses, getting more and more transparent until she finally disappears. She has, in fact, become one with the entire night sky. After inquiring about in-flight food Napalm agrees to join the flight rather than fly herself (the plane crew look a bit nervous about having this flaming person on board, but don't object). The plane takes off and they fly off again, north-eastwards. The transport flies for another couple of hours. Napalm eats. Nut watches from above to follow the transport on its journey. She keeps an eye out for the events but senses none.
Eventually the Captain of the transport aircraft announces our arrival in the town of New Gelendzhik. There is a small town and a vast oil refinery lit up below us as we come in to land. The ground is covered in pools of oily water (or is it just oil?). Mother Bear senses similar feelings from close to this place as those she felt at the event we left a few hours ago.
As the aircraft lands and taxies in we can see a lot of transport aircraft and helicopters parked on the airstrip, and a few helicopters patrolling overhead. We also see light aircraft, tanks, hovercraft and spider-tanks parked about the place. A couple of spider-tanks are patrolling the airfield's perimeter. Nut re-materialises out of the night sky as the plane comes in to land, not realising how fast it's going, and has to run after it.
As we leave the aircraft the air smells strongly of oil. A man in a Captain's uniform, from the 12th guards division this time, meets us. Nut runs up to the plane, breathless. The Captain salutes and greets us. Mother Bear and Akula salute back. General Winter snaps off a perfect salute with his heels clicking together. Nut attempts a copy of the manoeuvre and Napalm ignores him completely. He introduces himself as Captain Vidoravich and leads us to a large black Zil limousine parked by the terminal buildings (such as they are).
We get in and are driven off. The Zil takes us to what is probably the best hotel this town has to offer - a grimy, decrepit looking concrete building. A sign over the door proclaims it as the Hotel Manhattan. There is a general feeling amongst the party that this is not a nice place to stay.
A few locals gawk at us as we leave the Zil and enter the Hotel, in particular Napalm, who is still a human torch. The foyer is no better than the exterior of the hotel - dusty chandeliers, smoke stained red flock wallpaper and a beaten up Formica reception desk - all in wonderful taste too. Napalm notices a door to the bar (or so says the pink neon sign over the doorway) to one side and pays little attention to the decor. A rather out of place looking smartly turned out soldier mans the desk. He indicates that the General is in the dining room - which turns out to be the same room as the bar. Napalm is happy.
The Dining Room/Bar is just as stylish as the foyer.
The General has set up a headquarters in the room. He is a tall, harsh featured man of about sixty years old, also of the 12th Guard Division. He is accompanied by four Colonels (also of the 12th Guards), a man in a black suit who we recognise as the man who supervised the taking away of the Nazi Sleeper robot last year - Lukyan Matveyovich Svoyan, two people in what are apparently American air force uniforms, and a man in a sharp Western European style suit. Nut repeats her newly learned salute - everyone else follows suit with the exceptions of Napalm, Mother Bear and the suited figures.
The General introduces himself as Leonid Maksimovich Sergeyovich. He also introduces Captains Smith and Clarke from the USAF - one of them says "How are you doing?" to which Mother Bear says "I am doing Super Naturally thank you". Mr Weatherby of SI-12 is also introduced (the Western Suit).
The Captain is sent off to get us some drinks. Napalm has a tall Vodka that swiftly disappears and she is left with the bottle.
The General confirms that the "impossible forest" incident in the news was the first incursion - the one that was close to this oil pumping station. He is pleased that we are here to help but is at a loss as to how to stop these incursions permanently.
They (the military and associated agencies) do have the ability to detect the events some time in advance. Mr Svoyan states that gravitational, magnetic, electrical and magical disturbances occur before the events, which are consistent with time travel (he states, matter-of-factly). He is interested that we also detected such disturbances.
They also reveal that the creatures within the events like the ones Napalm saw are in fact plants! Teams sent into the event areas prior to their happening have simply disappeared. They believe that the initial event displaces part of the target area in order to replace it with the plant-infested incursion area. The life in the incursion area then grows at supernatural speed up until the point that it is destroyed. After that point there are chemical and biological, but not magical, residues. The life forms that appear seem to be alien and are still dangerous in that they dissolve equipment - in fact any kind of processed metals or plastics. They also confirm that all the events so far have been scattered apparently randomly across Siberia.
Nut is curious as to why "the people not from the nation" are here. Captain Clark describes himself and the other foreigners as "observers". They're here to find out as much as they can about these incursions in case they start elsewhere - like in their countries!
The General apologises again for the friendly fire incidents. He says that there have been other intruders on the scenes of events before - shadowy figures. He is unsure as to their connection with the events - whether they are controlling the phenomena or just other people attracted by the events.
The Generals first priority is to get the events to stop - preferably by peaceful means. He is, strangely, not keen to start a cross time war!
Some plans are come up with:
"Hmmm", says the General.
Nut asks about carbon dating the remains of the events so far eliminated. The General states that this has been done. The ages of the things there vary from too young to date to thousands of years old.
Nut attempts to prove that because of the time travel involved, the fact that the first event has been defeated, and that any invasion would send its last attempt back the furthest in time, that we have already foiled their plans and can thus all go home. The "observers" and the General do not seem impressed by this.
Plan B (plus Akula's modification) is discussed in detail. Akula is keen. Napalm is certainly NOT. Mother Bear is generally sceptical about the vagueness and very high risk of the plan. It is suggested that the Guardians may be more suitable for the role. The Americans do not agree - and are a little put out when we suggest that this is because they are not as expendable as the Moscow Super Heroes are. The General is also keen to keep this as an All Russian mission - and IS in favour of Plan B+.
More information is given. The sizes of the events vary from a few hundred metres in diameter up to more than a kilometre across. The plants in the incursions can then grow outwards at speeds of up to metres per second once they appear. Mirov, in fly form, appears suddenly on the table. He turns into a polished wooden head and offers to turn into the same material as the alien plants in order to stop them attacking him. He could also cover us in the same kind of gunk to protect all of us. A plan is quickly forming which we could dry run at the next incursion. Nut volunteers to take part.
Mirov scuttles off in wooden head on spider's legs form - stared at by the crowd - to work on this idea.
So, a new plan:
There is no event imminent at the moment (statistically speaking). One is expected within the next couple of days.
We settle down to wait. Food, drink and satellite TV are laid on in the hotel to make the wait more comfortable. We each get a not very salubrious room in the hotel. Nut relaxes in her room. Napalm relaxes in the bar. Akula and Mother Bear join her. Mirov and General Winter attend to business of their own. Mother Bear expresses concern about the Snow Cat that we abandoned thousands of kilometres away, so Adrik is put on the case.
In the Bar the satellite TV is put to good use watching the news (it seems to be a western news channel):
We eventually stagger, in various stages of intoxication, to bed.
During the night Napalm has a nightmare: She is floating in a black place. She feels insubstantial. A figure coalesces from a black mist in front of her. It is an averagely built, swarthy skinned man with spectacles dressed in black - Sirdar - the Afghan flying carpet owner that she toasted the head off of while stopping the Nazi Sleeper. "Did you really think, woman, that you could kill me, a master of death, simply by killing my physical body? You were wrong, and now you will pay. I will eat your dreams. Slowly. Then I will eat your soul, piece by piece, savouring each bright morsel, until all that is you is gone, replaced by all that is me." She feels herself being shredded apart, as if by a strong wind, and then she wakes screaming. Strangely she realises that she cannot remember where she went to school.
At breakfast she tells anyone who will listen of her dream and strange memory problems. We theorise that she has been cursed or, more likely, possessed by Sirdar. No obvious way of exorcising her can be thought of. Mother Bear's Spirit Bear is suggested, but then someone points out that that is really quite a solid, physical thing. Also, caution is urged as the Spirit Bear can only be used once per lunar month. Napalm is keen to try anything. Nut admits that she could read Napalm's surface thoughts - even while she is dreaming - but then how to project the Spirit Bear into the dream? No one really knows.
Mr Svoyan passes by and enquires about the dreams. He is brought up to date. Hypnosis and lucid dreaming are suggested as alternative treatments for her.
Nut attempts to read Napalm's surface thoughts: it is surprisingly difficult but she gets the feeling of general pissed offness and an air of depression from her. She tries it on Mr Svoyan too, but the probe slides off his mind as if it were protected in some way.
It seems we now have three tasks:
The use of other Superhumans to help in one or more of these is discussed:
Napalm dials 0800-THEGUARDIANS (their well known free phone number) on the Hotel phone, with the plan to get help for her affliction from The Magus. It rings for some time, then someone answers in English. Napalm says Hello - but that is just about all the English she knows. The voice switches to fluent Russian. She asks if they can help with her affliction. They take her number and say they will get back to her. She never did find out whom she was talking to.
Mirov returns some hours after breakfast in the form of a walking hat stand with the same wooden head on as before. Nut salutes him. He grows an arm from his tall thin hat stand disguise and salutes back. He has been experimenting - he squirts some glop onto Mother Bear. It smells of perfume, rot and curry sauce and is highly unpleasant! Mother Bear is not impressed - she suspects she will have to bath in tomato juice to remove the smell (discussions about the odour removing properties of tomato juice ensue).
By lunch time the Guardians have not phoned back. Napalm has already decided to go to Tibet in this eventuality so she leaves, with a back pack of provisions, a compass, and a military map of air routes covering where she wants to go.
More time passes. Much TV is watched.
Mother Bear wanders around the town and then gives the locals a hard time about the environmental impact of the oil refining processes - the pools of oil and the like about the place. She enters the refinery (which up close looks run-down and poorly maintained) and asks to see the general manager of the place.
"Sorry, you don't have an appointment," says the secretary.
"Grrrrrrrr," goes Mother Bear, turning into bear form.
"Oh - that appointment! This way please..." She is shown in.
Back in human form she hassles the general manager about the pools of oil around the plant. He claims he doesn't have the cash to do things properly - which is quite convincing really. He smokes - Mother Bear is appalled given the amount of flammable petroleum products here.
"At least people can still live here. This is paradise compared to some of the places up near the coast," he says.
Mother Bear asks who is responsible and he points to the old government - the new government sold off the plant to private business who seem mainly concerned with making money, not environmental impact.
She concludes by asking him to pass on her "extreme concern" to his boss. He agrees but is sceptical about what it will achieve.
"We Will See", she says, and leaves.
More information surfaces about the most recent incursion:
Yet more time passes.
Mother Bear harangues a crowd in the refinery's staff canteen in an attempt to get some public protest against the pollution. They listen politely - but apathy rules.
Even more time passes.
Napalm eventually gets close to the Chinese border. She lands at the town of Burlyu Tyube. Akula is called to the phone from where he has been propping up the bar, drinking Coca Cola and watching MTV. She updates him on her progress and promises to be in touch tomorrow. She buys some more food (but not drink!!!) and heads off again.
Soon after she goes into Chinese airspace she picks up an escort - above and behind her is a flying human being. Whoever this person is they seem to be watching her, and do not interfere with her course.
She arrives at the Tibetan border. Along it runs a high fence which looks designed to keep things in Tibet from coming out and much less so Chinese things going in. It appears to have no gates.
Her flying escort does not cross the border, but turns back as she goes on.
Napalm looks for a large lamasery, which she considers the best place to find someone who can help her. This takes another few hours, but eventually she finds the town Toghral Ombo, nestled in a mountain valley. The temple itself is of white plaster covered stone, built on a steep slope above the town. Bells and gongs can be heard sounding as she approaches (though they don't sound like alarms or anything).
She lands some distance away, turns off her flames and walks to the gates so the locals don't notice she arrived by air. Even so she is clearly out of place, coming out of the winter mountains with not nearly enough equipment to have survived there.
She approaches the gates of the lamasery...