[Jaunt] Late with Pizza

[carbonatedscientist]

Aren't I great? Aren't I a genius?

[Yes. Yes, Sento absolutely opened this up with self-congratulation.]

I've done it, I've finally done it, I've cured the X-Pression virus in Aurigans. I've made a vaccine, and while I haven't been able to deploy it on any actual Aurigans, I'm confident it should work, and if nothing else, adding my research to the body of research I now have access to should allow others to do the same. I'd like to turn over everything to the appropriate authorities, only I'm not too clear on what's actually going on Jauntside anymore now that I've parted ways with Katsuragi, who could only dream of pulling off something this brilliant.

Comments

[reallymean]

It's more than just the Aurigans who have been infected, and they're unlikely to accept any help from any human.

[Here's a voice that hasn't been heard on the Network for over a month, though anyone who was on the alien side might recognize it.]

I suspect they're preparing to strike as hard as they are able, under the pretense of exacting justice.

[carbonatedscientist]

[Sento hasn't been on the other side. He doesn't know.]

Oh, I'm aware of that, let alone one who looks like the man responsible for some of the more heinous war crimes we've seen this Jaunt.

But I have a disguise that will mask my face entirely, and, barring that, I do have a dragonman form I could use, should I need to pass for another species.

Not to mention the research I've done; they should be able to build this off onto helping other species. It's a start.

[reallymean]

Have you actually tested this...cure on any living Aurigans?

[carbonatedscientist]

Ah...no. I don't really have the access to any, unless one of you all is able to assist me there.

[He sounds a little sheepish.]

But it's working excellently at the cellular level!

[reallymean]

So you've no idea if it will be effective in an actual person, or what side effects it might have.

[carbonatedscientist]

...unfortunately, no.

But it's absolutely ready to be tested on actual people. Medical research has to start somewhere.

[reallymean]

Most scientists I've known would wait until after the testing stage was complete to declare they've found a cure.

[carbonatedscientist]

I am a genius who has not slept for several days I think, Liminal makes it hard to figure, I think it's allowed.

[reallymean]

You do realize severe sleep deprivation makes your judgement more suspect, not less, don't you?

[carbonatedscientist]

I have worked with plenty of sleep deprivation in the past, there's time for that after I've cleaned up Katsuragi's mess of a war. This is all I can do without being over there to test things myself, and I've manifested symptoms of my own in the past so it's not like I can risk it even if I sneak in there in my dragonman form.

[reallymean]

...Just how many people did AEGIS and the human military kill in the course of their experiments? There were a number of people from several species who chose to defect to Earth rather than allow themselves to be quarantined, including Aurigans. There must be some of them left, and they may be more willing than any of the soldiers to test a potential cure if it means a chance of returning home.

[carbonatedscientist]

Katsuragi's body count was substantial even in the course of personal research; AEGIS covered up several deaths for him--and that's just the ones he, and therefore I, know about.

[There's a sigh.]

If I am able to get in touch with Earth's forces, I'd like to reach out to them, yes. Working from Liminal has limited my work somewhat, but working as Katsuragi was limiting things even more.

[capital_asset]

Hacet's attempted rebellion may be slowing things a bit on that front, although the curse I set has been undermining that somewhat.

Juni might appreciate the research, at least.

[Private; Psychic Protection I]

What happened? ...If you don't mind my asking.

[reallymean]

Hacet doesn't need a rebellion. The Throneworld is lightyears away, and Montrev will let him do whatever he wishes.

[Protection I]

Hacet did. I...Alta interrupted him in an attempt to kill Kosmas, and he took advantage of the situation to kill her. I can only assume he was originally intending to assassinate Faline and pin it on some fictitious human agent as cause to renew hostilities.

[capital_asset]

The second and third legs of the curse should hopefully blunt that as well; they were meant to erode Hacet's support and prevent his deceptions from working. But I'm hesitant to rely entirely on it.

[Protection I]

He'll probably attempt to pin Alta's death on the human side instead, then.

Are you going to be all right?

[reallymean]

Will your curse outlast our departure? If this Jaunt follows our usual timelines, we won't be here for much longer.

Protection I

He almost certainly will. He offered to spare her life if she would blame his initial attack on Kosmas and the humans - a body will only make that story easier to sell.

I'll be fine. [No, she won't.] But thank you for your concern.

[capital_asset]

It will, but I'd still be more comfortable if we had concrete proof of the things he's done to give them so he can be properly dealt with. Command has been silent, though, to the point where I'm not even sure where he is.

[Protection I]

They've also been silent on the subject of Alta's whereabouts. I'm not sure who even knows she's dead at this point.

[And that does not fool Raidou in the slightest, but it's not as if he has any room to judge.]

Of course.

[reallymean]

If you can find the surveillance feed of the hallways near Faline's chambers, there might be something there - assuming the videos haven't been scrubbed clean.

If they have...if someone has a way of translating memory into physical media, I remember the events leading to Alta's death quite clearly.

[Protection I]

They may be waiting until they've manufactured enough evidence of a human plot to sell it on the Throneworld before releasing anything, in case Alta isn't the only royal who thought to employ an agent loyal directly to her.

[letsplayer]

Hey, join the club, I got no idea what the fuck's goin' on either.

[carbonatedscientist]

Oh, I know some of what's going on, at least as far as my overlay was involved.

...it's just that I separated from him and seem to have lost quite a bit of time while I was holed up in the lab.

[letsplayer]

Hey, at least you know more than me. I've just been dicking around in the background.

[carbonatedscientist]

Well, the process of getting that information was highly unpleasant and involved getting extracted from my overlay the noted war criminal, so at least you don't have that hanging over your head.

[letsplayer]

...sounds like a shitshow if I've ever seen one. Yeah, uh, you need anything? Weed? Booze? A puppy?

[ She has all three of those, if you need it. ]

[carbonatedscientist]

For the moment, there's still much I need to do.

I may, however, take you up on that drink after all this is over.

[letsplayer]

I'm gonna need some updating on the situation because I literally spent the last few weeks in kind of a daze, but...sure.

When all this is said and done.

[carbonatedscientist]

If you want me to go over my overlay's part in this, then yes, I'd definitely need that drink.

Someone else who didn't get quite as involved might be able to give you a broader picture of things.

[letsplayer]

I'll ask around. In the meantime...I mean, shit, I'm not gonna pry to hard if you need a drink that bad.

[carbonatedscientist]

It shouldn't be quite so bad once it's over.

Really, if I end up in another dungeon after this, I'm going to be very cross.

[letsplayer]

I got news for you, the moment you say that whatever powers that be are gonna probably decide to dump you in another dungeon.

[carbonatedscientist]

It's my hope that being aware of and actively rejecting the possibility will stave it off this time. I think denial's what got me the second time.

[letsplayer]

You think that's actually a thing?

[Not that she thinks it's certain, but it's not the weirdest thing she's heard about.]

[carbonatedscientist]

I think trying very hard not to think too hard on infiltrations that bring back unpleasant memories or aspects of things from my world is likely to exacerbate the sort of thing that causes a dungeon to form, yes. Not that I've got the largest sample size to thoroughly test that hypothesis.

[letsplayer]

So in other words, you always end up fighting whatever issues you've got.

Fantastic.

[desperate_times_right]

I don’t know what’s going on on this side - a bunch of stuff is locked down, and there’s all these crazy rumours, but nothing substantiated, far’s I know. Don’t know if the guys at the top will tell us anything until they have to.

We’ve got a few investigators up here, but none of them Aurigan, I’m afraid. Though Juni, the doctor? She’s my friend sort of, pack bonding with me or something? I might be able to convince her to hear you out, but bringing a stranger here now with all these stories about spies might do more harm than good. Could you send the data to her terminal?

[carbonatedscientist]

You know, that's an excellent idea. I do have physical samples of the vaccine here and was hoping to branch out into more testing, but transmitting the research data would have to be done anyway.

Do you have her terminal address handy?

[desperate_times_right]

... Yeah, I’m pretty sure no one here is going to accept experimental Aurigan tissue from you.

I can see about getting you Juni’s address, though.

[carbonatedscientist]

Well, it was worth a shot. I'm going to see about meeting with someone from Earth's forces to see if this information can help work towards peace...

...but if they don't want to use what they've been given, I want this information to get to the Aurigans regardless.

[desperate_times_right]

You really think after all this that Aurigans would take medicine from humans?

[carbonatedscientist]

I know. I just...my overlay did so much to start a war. I keep hoping that somehow, I can help stop it.

Perhaps I should have slept a bit first before announcing my progress here--I genuinely don't know how long I've been awake, since time in Liminal is somewhat meaningless.

[desperate_times_right]

I do get it: I’d probably have been the same if someone had woken me up when I was mucking everything up for the Beastfolk. If we can get the data to Juni to work on, that’s not nothing.

[carbonatedscientist]

It's a place to start.

I'll see if I can't gather just a bit more data from Earthside before I reach out to her. Allura's right--if I can manage to test anything with an actual Aurigan volunteer over here, that would assist things tremendously.

[desperate_times_right]

Are there still Aurigans over there? Not prisoners, I hope.

I’m talking to her right now. I’ll let you know if she says yes.

[carbonatedscientist]

There are a few. I'm not sure how many--Katsuragi didn't go out of his way to seek him out. He didn't want his own psychic abilities to be detected.

Excellent, thank you! I'd hate for her to think I was just another spammer.