10269/Secrets of Vector Sigma: Tempus Fugit

Secrets of Vector Sigma: Tempus Fugit
Date of Scene:	01 December 2019
Location:	Salem Center, Westchester County, NY
Synopsis:	Shannon and Doug follow Blurr to his ship, and end up with a bit more than they bargained for...
Cast of Characters:	Blurr, Nightingale, Cypher

---

Blurr has posed:
    It's late in Salem Center, although since it's a Saturday there's still some people milling about the downtown area, enjoying a bit of nightlife. Bars, clubs, the sort that are still open this late. But what's Blurr doing out here, speeding around the same several blocks, running the police in circles? Probably trying to draw a certain someone out. He isn't going as fast as he can, but keeping just barely ahead of the cops the entire time. Just when they think they can cut him off, he somehow manages to get away. It's fun, yeah, but there also a reason for it this time.

Nightingale has posed:
     It had already been a chaotic night for Shannon, and she was just getting back to the school and changing into something more comfortable to lounge around in. And wouldn't you know, her phone chose just /that/ moment to start doing its little buzzing dance in her pocket! Groaning softly, she slips it out of her pocket and scrolls through her messages--and her eyebrows loft skywards.

     That was a number she hadn't seen in a long time--the one that always /seemed/ disconnected, but really wasn't, when a reply was sent. It was a message calling her and Doug both to Salem Center. At this hour it seemed a bit odd, but she shrugs, and fires off a reply.

     <<En route. ETA 15-20 minutes, top flight speed.>>

     She leaves word with school staff that she's been called out to meet with Doug, and heads out, winging her way towards the sleepy little town. The one that, at the moment, wasn't quite so sleepy at all, with Blurr zipping around and leading the police on a merry chase.

Cypher has posed:
    Doug has already been out wandering the streets -- he has a lot on his mind lately, after all -- when he sees that text he furrows his brow and jams his phone back into his pocket. Fortunately he has some experience babysitting multimodal space aliens who just don't get it, though this one's a whole lot more mouthy.
    He's standing on a street corner, blowing clouds of steamy breath over a lidded cup of coffee, gloved hands curled around it, a frown on his face, hat pulled down low on his head.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr gets that comm from Shannon. Huh, he didn't contact her? Oh well. But when he spots Doug standing on a street corner, he finally comes screeching to a stop, pulling into a nearby parking lot. The police swarm in after him, get out of their cars cautiously, and approach him, but of course find no driver--or anyone at all for that matter--inside. Now they're all talking to each other, trying to figure out if anyone had seen someone fleeing the scene. Which of course no one has.

Cypher has posed:
    Doug sighs, and holds up his hands. "I'm sorry gentlemen," Doug says. "This is an experimental self-driving concept car owned by Roberto da Costa." He takes out his X-Corporation/da Costa International ID, and says, "We were doing some nighttime testing of the vehicle, under supervision, and while its navigation systems are perfect... for *some reason* the navigation computer got stuck at top speed instead of minding the speed limits programmed into its GPS. If you'd like to write us a ticket, please go a head and da Costa international will foot the bill."

He looks over to Shannon, and surreptitiously puts his finger over his mouth.

Nightingale has posed:
     It doesn't take Shannon long to wing her way to Salem Center, though when she spots Doug and lands next to him, she takes the hint and remains silent. A warm cream tunic sweater, dark blue jeans, and caramel suede boots are the order of the day, as well as a red and white striped knit cap distinctly reminiscent of 'Where's Waldo' to ward off the chill. /Somehow/ she manages to keep a straight face all through the telling of his tale, though at one point she has to hide a smile behind her hand.

     Nope. She knew nothing, she saw nothing. Not one. Blessed. Thing.

Blurr has posed:
    The officer in charge at the scene arches a brow at Doug, then grumbles. "Fine, but keep your prototypes off of the streets until they're proven to at least be safe." he says gruffly. "You could have gotten someone killed."

    After a few moments, the squad cars clear away, and the two of them are left alone with the mouthy alien mechanoid, whose avatar appears not long after the authorities are gone. "That was a pretty good story." he remarks casually.

Cypher has posed:
    "Yeah well, Berto's going to be livid when he gets the ticket, and he's going to be even more livid because I thought of it before he did." Doug says, before he glances back at Shannon and then back to Blurr -- and he promptly sits right on the hood of the car. Not that he thinks it would stop Blurr from driving off, but he suspects SOMEONE is policing the alien's behavior.
    "Okay, so here I am... spill it." He says, "What precisely did you want us for, Blurr?"

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon just chuckles as the police buy the story, grumble, and clear the area. She nods towards the avatar of the sassy speedster, offering a bit of a smile. "Definitely curious about that. Neither one of us heard from you in a while, and then we both get a message to meet you here. So... what's going on?" Not that she minded a chance to get out and about--quite the contrary! Winter was really bad for something known colloquially amongst humans as 'cabin crazies', and today had been a bad day for her case of them!

Blurr has posed:
    "Oh uh, I actually didn't mean to contact Shannon, so um...maybe you should go back home?" Blurr says as the avatar shrugs. "I was just going to try a little something to put Doug's abilities to the test." he answers rather vaguely. "Since you mutants like to explore the limits of your powers, and stuff."

Cypher has posed:
    Doug rubs the back of his neck. He can tell when someone's being a little -- a lot -- evasive, it's what he does, but he plays along. "Well, it's not like I have the power to move mountains, what did you have in mind?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon raises her eyebrows--and stays put right there. "Okay, look. Maybe I'm not worth a hill of beans when it comes to more than a couple languages, or non-organic healing, but there's got to be /some/ reason I got that message, too. Wouldn't it make sense to try and find out why?" Yeah, right. She's not going anywhere, no way and no how.

Blurr has posed:
    Yeah, Blurr's definitely doing that thing--being evasive. "Well, it's hard to explain to a Terran. I'd have to show you." he answers with a smirk.

    "I probably just got a momentarily glitch in my comms array, I dunno." The avatar shrugs again. "I mean, you probably wouldn't find it interesting, because it's kinda specific to Doug's abilities." And it's also dangerous as slag and he'd rather not put anyone else at risk if not necessary. But of course he doesn't mention this.

Cypher has posed:
    "If I had to guess, it's a glitch in the -- nevermind." He doubts words like 'magic' would mean much to a gigantic transforming alien robot. He quirks his mouth. "...Fine, I'll play along, just let me set an away message telling the people I know where I am if they text me." He takes out his phone, and does so - 'Playing scrabble with a giant smart-ass robot, back later'
    "All right Blurr, I'll bite. How can I help you?"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon bursts out laughing for a moment, and just shakes her head. "I'd actually find it very interesting. Ever since I've been meeting others with various abilities, it's been a real source of joy just to see the range of abilities out there and know that nature's not quite done with us yet. Frak, the rare times I've actually seen Doug in action, it's been nothing short of amazing." A smile spreads slowly across her face, and she glances between the two. "If you're worried this could be dangerous... so can just crossing the street. But I'm not gonna let that stop me. We face it together."

Blurr has posed:
    "Dangerous? Oh nah, not at all. You'll be totally safe." Blurr promises. He chuckles. "Oh fine, I guess if you -insist-." he says to Shannon, the doors opening to invite the two Terrans inside. Assuming they do, he takes off toward the edge of town, though not -too- fast, so as not to squish his passengers with G-forces.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Yes, I -do- insist." Shannon chuckles softly, getting inside and keeping her wings tucked comfortably behind her. She'd learned in the past few months that nothing was ever entirely safe, but some risks were worth taking. Hopefully, this would turn out to be one of them. As they picked up speed and zipped on out of town, she grins, glancing about the interior with a low whistle. "Okay, now this is riding in style! Speaking of... where are we heading?"

Cypher has posed:
    "To something that I have a feeling is going to get me in an awful lot of trouble." Doug says, before he sits back, and then says, "But I'm fairly confident that I can get out of it again." He doesn't elaborate on the nuance he picks up -- that Blurr's not telling him something but that he also thinks he genuinely needs help.

Blurr has posed:
    "Oh we're just headed to my ship, and if there is any trouble there, I'm pretty sure -I- can get you out of it, whatever it is." Blurr remarks along the way, his voice sort of reverberating throughout the interior compartment as lights on the dashboard pulse and oscillate in sync with it. Yeah, there is definitely something the Autobot isn't telling him right now.

    Given just how fast Blurr is, it's not long before they reach pretty much the middle of nowhere, and he comes to a stop behind some hills, where sure enough, there is an honest-to-goodness spaceship. More specifically, a small Cybertronian recon unit. Okay 'small' by Cybertronian standards.

    A walkway extends out of it as the doors slide open with a hiss. He'd wait until they get out before he flips back up into his truer form, about fifteen feet high. "All aboard, I guess." he says, pointing toward the door, although he doesn't even wait for them himself, darting up inside in a--well, -blur- of motion.

Nightingale has posed:
     Holy hell. That was the first time Shannon had ever seen Blurr in his true form, and it was definitely an impressive sight, at least to her. There's barely a moment to offer a grin of appreciation before... how did he move that fast?! She rolls her eyes and laughs, taking off at a dead run behind him and heading right up the walkway of the ship. Something told her that this was going to be one trip she'd never forget!

     "C'mon, Doug! Tempus fugit!" she calls out, very glad for all those morning runs she'd gotten into the habit of going on every day.

Cypher has posed:
    "It's been a long time since I've been in a spaceship," Doug says, stepping inside, slowly. Everything's geared toward a Cybertronian of Blurr's size -- and while he seems impressed, he doesn't seem too terribly shocked, a giveaway. "Fascinating. The entire ship is multimodal, and it looks like everything on it is made so that you can partially integrate with it and interface directly with the technology. But at the same time, maintain full physical autonomy from the ship itself."
    "This is all very interesting. So what am I here to look at?"

Blurr has posed:
    Sure enough, everything inside is built for someone around Blurr's size, so the two mutant humans might feel very small upon setting foot in there. When they reach the end of the walkway, it retracts and the airlock closes behind them. They'd find themselves in the rear compartment. There are a bunch of storage crates and engineering control panels back here, and a bunch of other stuff they likely won't recognize.

    Blurr's voice comes over the internal comms. "Yep, you've got that right!" He doesn't answer the latter question though--instead, there is suddenly the sound of thrusters roaring to life, and the increasing-frequency whine of hyperdrives preparing to blast off to FTL speed. If anyone looks out a window, the ground is already far away...

Cypher has posed:
    When the ship starts to shake, Doug looks around, and then out the nearest porthole, "I should've expected this." he says, with his chin in his hand. "Aw, Hell, they're gonna kill me." He looks around, and then replies to Blurr, "Ok, I'm sure you'll explain yourself eventually," He says, "But I hope you planned your logistics out in advance."
    "For example, I bet there isn't a bathroom on this tub."

Nightingale has posed:
     Oh, yes. The infamous bathroom question. No doubt engineers and spacefaring sorts everywhere have dealt with that conundrum at some point or another. "You know," Shannon muses. "That's not a bad question. Just how /do/ you handle ummm... waste, when you have passengers of a biological nature?" She turns just a little bit pink, coughing ever so slightly. How is it, she wondered, that the youngest member of a party was always stuck asking the awkward questions?

     Too, she wasn't quite sure how she'd gotten the initial message that brought them all together for this adventure, but one thing was for certain--it was bound to be one that none of them would ever forget. She can't quite help a smile, even as she felt a little bit dwarfed looking around at the sheer scale of this vessel. There was so much more out there than most on Earth would ever get to see, or even dream of. Yet, here they were now. It was an amazing thing, if one stopped to think about it. It was a gift she would remember for the rest of her days.