5002/The Spaceman Says...

The Spaceman Says...
Date of Scene:	25 July 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Nuala prepares to break more rules by taking some of the Titans on her ship.
Cast of Characters:	Nuala Duvall, Robin (Wayne), Stardust

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Nuala Duvall has posed:
    It's the appointed time that Nuala said she would meet the Titans. Colette had convinced her that taking them to Knowhere was a valid idea. The roof was agreed the simplest place to land the ship. It isn't small.
    As if to signal the hour, it materializes, the invisible cloak around it sliding off as if pulled by an invisible hand. The semi-crescent ship is a brilliant gleaming blue and gold, spotless and shining in the evening light. The sun reflects off it like a mirror. It is in motion still, silent as the breeze, and it slowly turns around, landing gear extending as it gently sets down onto the rooftop.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin was dressed for battle. His cryo-sword was on his back, and his hood raised.

  The young teen had gathered along a poison gun as well, graciously provided by Tony. He was stoic as he waited for their transport to arrive. To him, this was another mission, it just so happened it was in space.

Stardust has posed:
Down in the tower, the sudden arrival of Nuala's ship is giving the alarm systems a good work out. It takes a minute to calm the systems down and shut off the alarms, by which time the inhabitants of the tower are fully alerted, thank you.

'Stardust' is quick to reach the roof. She's been itching to see Nuala's space ship, after all. The last time she was in a space ship it looked disappointingly low-tech. Constructed from wood, in fact.

In the shape of a Viking longship.

Blame Thor. Or possibly blame the Asgardian mead that Thor recklessly encouraged Cassie and Colette to sample. Colette is to this day not entirely clear how much of that was real.

As the ship comes in to land, Colette waits with Robin and watches the descent, arms folded. She half-sits on a crate already put in place for loading, a delivery from Stark Industries that she'd requested for the mission. There are all sorts of interesting things stamped on the crate, most of them biohazard warning notices of various types.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    The Sea Song is decidedly more high tech looking. The ramp on the rear of the ship descends, and Nuala exits. She isn't wearing the high tech uniform that she's been seen in previously, though. Counter to Robin, she's wearing a casual button down, earth tone blouse and a pair of blue jeans. She doesn't look like she's ready for battle at the moment.
    She glances at Robin, and then at Colette. "Perhaps I should have explained a little better," she says. "It is a long trip. We will not arrive today. Do you have some changes of clothes? A book? Or maybe those war simulation devices that are popular?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The assassin hears what Nuala has now mentioned. "I've sat still for weeks while on a mission. I'll be fine." His tone was plain and firm, not very pointed as it seemed. Of course he has also never worn a mask for days straight to keep his identity secret.

  Robin then looks to Colette. "I'm guessing we should pack more?"

Stardust has posed:
Colette arches an eyebrow and turns to Robin. "War simulation devices? I wonder what she means. She speaks English, but she doesn't really speak Earth yet. Yeah, I guess. Might be harder negotiating succesfully while wearing a sweaty mask." Turning to Nuala with a wave, "Hey there. Do you mean hand-held game systems? I've packed a bit of luggage. But changes of clothes kind of never are a problem for me. Got as many as I need right here. For some reason the one thing I can't change color scheme, but I'll deal. Small price to pay for travelling light."

    Patting the crate, she adds "Also got some cargo. I thought we might need some samples of the bad mushrooms, so here are four secure cannisters with samples. In case we need to demonstrate what we're talking about to anyone. I've packed in a couple of things I thought might be useful, too. We may need some kind of trade goods, and I figured... Terran cultural artifacts will be one thing that you can be sure aren't easy to acquire in space, so I brought a few. We're probably light on space dollars, so it makes sense. "

    Colette breaks into a wry grin, arches her eyebrow and adds, "I caught your speech at the UN. Interesting you chose to do that, considering our last conversation. Good call."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala points as Colette mentions the game systems. "Yes, those." She considers Colette's strategy for a moment. "They are rare," she admits hesitantly, but doesn't go any farther. "It was a difficult decision. I hope it was worth what it will cost." There is a soberness to her tone. "Someone told me that the Titans expressed support for it. I thank you all for that." She takes a short breath, followed by a long exhale, then motions back to Damina.
    "You have time to take more if you would like to gather more. "And dress however you are most comfortable," she says. "I do have some things you should know about the ship before we leave, the rest that I can share about Knowhere we can do while we are on the way. I have some samples of the fungus as well, but it would not hurt to have a few more, we can place them in the cargo bay." She turns and motions to the ramp, a non-verbal offer for them to come aboard.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian is comfy as it was now, but he would take something extra, perhaps another uniform, and a set of lounge clothes. The mask of course, would stay on.

  "I have plenty of entertainment on here." He says, pointing to his gauntlet computer. There was even a copy of Cheese Viking. If anything else, he would train in a space that allowed it.

Stardust has posed:
"Rare," Colette repeats. "And of course we'll be the local experts too, which can help with valuation. We can put a spin on things. " She picks up the crate and hoists it up to hold it one handed, as if it was a tray she were waitressing, and grabs the handle of some wheeled luggage that was hiding behind it. "You did the right thing, Nuala. Rules are for when you don't know what the right thing to do is. They are generalizations though. Sometimes the universe comes up with things the rules weren't designed for. If the rules are wrong for the situation, then it's not wrong to break them.

    Colette strides to the ship with her luggage, but stops short to peer up the ramp before boarding. "Yeah I've got some music and films with me too. Actually, that could be a pretty good option for trade goods too. Nuala, do you have some kind of common recording medium we could transfer a collection of Earth entertainment to? That might go down well."

    There's a quick look back at the tower, then Colette is up the ramp with her cargo and entering the belly of the beast.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala knits her brow. "I see," she answers Damian. She walks up the ramp, into a rear corridor of the ship. There is an emergency double air lock system that can be seen, the ramp is the first portion, and a slanted open gate is the next. Inside is a remarkably sophisticated and spotlessly clean tribute to technology which does not exist on Earth. An armory is set into one wall, complete with a large suit of power armor that stands almost 9 feet tall, open and ready for someone to step into it. "The ship's defenses will trigger if you tamper with anything," she warns. "Do not touch or you may find yourself locked in stasis, and I will have to explain it to Nova command why there is a terran on my ship. I do not want to explain that."
    She points to the left. "Here is the cargo hold, it will be best for those samples, Colette," she says. Inside the hatch is in fact a 20x20 compartment, which also has a large cargo door that could be opened to the rear. She point to the hallway opposite. "Here is the quarters," she says. "Normally it is for the crew, but since there is just me, you are free to use the beds in there." She considers the gender makeup of her crew. "For sleeping," she adds.
    She walks forward, and the main section opens up. "This is the main living space," she says, indicating couches and a kitchen, along with a table that could have multi purposes. "You can touch the things in here, they are not security clearance. There is coffee if you like," she adds. "Lots of coffee." She points to the left. "Medical bay and fitness devices are present in there, I hope we will not need much in medical attention." She points to the right. "This is my quarters." She doesn't open or elaborate, but then points directly ahead. "That is the cockpit, though most of the time, it will be on autopilot. Do not touch things in there either."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin follows, taking in the sights of every little thing in the starship.

  The armory gets a pretty decent gaze, just thinking of if he had access to weaponry like that. Though given his father's resources, he could probably build decent power armor.

  The comment on sleeping quarters goes completely over his head. "Of course." He says, as if that was the only thing beds were meant for. "So does the Nova Corps make a habit of having their ships broken into?" He asks, a bit sarcastically.

Stardust has posed:
Colette looks with considerable interest at the power armor, the kind of interest that suggests the warnings against tampering were probably a good thing. Mostly though, she takes things in her stride surprisingly well for a relative 'primitive'. There's no 'what material is this?', 'What does this control do?' or declarations of witchcraft. "Nice ship," she comments, as if she's been on dozens. She takes a quick detour to the cargo bay to dispose of the cargo, then returns dusting her hands down.

    "So. Basically, don't touch anything outside of the living space and crew quarters, or the ship will explode, and no trying to fly the ship ourselves. Got it," Colette confirms with a smirk and she drops herself down into a couch, making herself at home. "Brick should be here soon, he had a few things to sort out. You may need to give him some additional warnings about what not to scan. He likes scanning things. He's a well brought-up boy though, he won't scan anything you tell him is confidential. We should figure out how to manage data transfer. Does your ship come with USB? As well as the music thing, I brought you a five billion word encyclopedia of Earth facts I thought you might find useful. It's called Wikipedia." She turns to Damian, explaining "She's human. But lived in space most of her life. Not too familiar with our customs and things." The aside is surprisingly emphatic - the gift of data is at least as much about making a point to Damian as it is about helping Nuala.

    "Oh, question." Colette holds up a finger. "Do you have some spare universal translators? 'Cos that would be useful. Brick's a bit of a xenolinguist, but my Interlac is pretty limited and I don't think Robin's enormous list of languages spreads beyond the Earth."

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "No," Nuala answer Damian, as if the answer should be obvious. "I work with Halal, we face some of the most unique life forms in the galaxy. Defenses inside the ship are important, and not all things can be eliminated in the same way." Also, she may have made up the stasis field part.
    "You cannot fly the ship, and the A.I. is turned off right now so that I will not be reported for what we are doing. You can only fly the ship if you are a DNA match for me," she says. "It is far more difficult to emulate DNA than fingerprints or retinal scans." As if those were somehow easy things to emulate. She glances at Damian's gauntlet. "It is not considered wise to give a culture technology too far beyond their natural means, it can create an imbalance of power, and ethics should be allowed to naturally evolve with a culture as they develop new means to accomplish various things through technology. You just cannot rush some things. I know that it may be tempting to gain knowledge of how this works, and I may seem very stingy. It is really for the best. Else Earth might end up creating something like the fungus that we are trying to destory." She taps a button on the side of the counter on the kitchen counter. "Ports are useful simetimes," she says, but most data can be transferred directly."
    A light appears on the surface of the counter. She stops her mildly methodic, nearly drab tone for a moment. "And thank you," she adds. "I have only heard a little of Earth's arts. I am not very familiar with music, or history. I must admit, I often feel very out of place."
    "Regarding a translator, I am afraid I only have one. I should be able to adjust it to project a speaker tone without much trouble, so that you will all be able to understand easily."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The young teen looks to his gauntlet, then back to Nuala. "I'm not scanning anything, it's my personal system." He says in a rather benign tone, for him at least. To most, it may sound pointed.

  Robin leans into Colette's ear, whispering. "I'm guessing alien Halal means something completely different."

Stardust has posed:
Colette stage-whispers back to Robin, grinning. "Funny, the ways she speaks about it all, you'd think her ship was haram, not halal. " That's a joke Nuala can look up in her own time, now she has Wikipedia. Then more loudly, "Okay, we can work with one translator, Nuala. If there's a need to split up, which hopefully there isn't, we just have to make sure you and Brick are on different teams. I can get pretty much anything translated, but not in real time. Conversations are awkward."

    There's a thoughtful pause, then Colette gestures towards the armory. "We okay on the armaments front?" she asks. "I mean we do have the option of a little more heavy artillery if necessary." She gives Damian a slightly sheepish glance as she adds, "There are a few items we have..." Well, to be fair nobody actually asked her if the /entire/ collection of recovered Parademon arms had been handed in for destruction. "Stuff that uh... we generally keep well stored away. " The wry smile reappears. "To avoid an imbalance of power. It's a pity that we trashed those Apokalyptian battle tanks so thoroughly that one time, they were beyond repair. That would be a nice equalizer, but we do still have a few items" This time it's Nuala her pointed message is aimed at. People who've trashed Apokalyptian battle tanks should not be too lightly dismissed as primitives.

Okay, so it's true that there was a Kryptonian and an extremely mysterious and powerful sorcerer aiding in that particular battle, but no need to mention that.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    Nuala knits her brow as Colette and Damian carry on their side whispering. She seems uncertain how to respond, given that Colette's comment seemed to be intended for her to hear, and she has no understanding of islamic words. She has a hard enough time with English.
    "Apokalyptian battle tanks," she echoes, her expression clearly uncertain, as if she thinks she may be the butt of a joke she doesn't understand. After a few seconds, she decides not to ask. She does give a self-controlling breath as Colette talks about weapons from other worlds that are already on Earth, and seems to restrain herself from commenting. "Hopefully this will not be a fight, but Knowhere has an odd collection of scientists and criminals who somehow manage to co-exist. It is complicated."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian's mouth peaks into a small smirk as Colette makes her joke. To Colette, she would know it meant it was pretty funny to him.

  "Of course, we wouldn't have left everything to be destroyed without having enough armaments for us to use against invaders once again." He pauses. "Surely you know of this incident?"

Stardust has posed:
Colette nods in satisfaction at Nuala's answer. "Yeah. I've been informed that while Knowhere is lawless, conspicuous displays of heavy weaponry would make people nervous and we want to avoid drawing attention. Also, if we find ourselves bartering for information or fungus, we don't really want people hoping we might be willing to trade. "

Colette turns to Robin, to elaborate a little. "Knowhere is very mixed. People from all over, different levels of technology. It's quite common for people to trade for advanced weaponry there. And, well. Some of the stuff we have is pretty advanced. Some Apokalyptan tech is a tier or two above even these guys..." she gestures expansively with a hand, taking in the whole ship. "... and they are higher than most. Better to not put some of that stuff in temptation's way." If she's trying to make it clear to Nuala that they shouldn't be dismissed as primitives, she's starting to lay it a little thick, but at least it sounds... responsible?

"So I guess we'll need a little more time for packing," Colette concludes. "Damian needs some spare masks. Brick shouldn't be much longer. We'll have enough time for a briefing on the way. We've got Mycotekton survivors to hunt down, and there's this Collector guy Nuala mentioned too. Plenty to discuss. Leave in the morning?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin gives a sharp nod to Colette as she mentions the need to pack a little more. "I won't be long." He says, knowing just the pieces he needs now.

  The teen starts to walk towards the entrance ramp, back to the tower to grab his spare suit and a set of clothes.

Nuala Duvall has posed:
    "Interplanetary affairs are not what I do," Nuala admits. "I could probably look it up, but you have to understand, my job is not to fight wars," Nuala says. "I am only authorized to engage parasitic, unaligned threats to Earth. The rest is not my responsibility." Of course, that means she was amazingly outside her authority to make the speech at the UN.
    "We can leave as soon as you are ready," she says, deciding not to make any comment on the Apokalyptan's comparative levels of technology. Her body posture says she has become very uncomfortable with the topic. "The sooner the better. Whether it is morning or night will mean little once we have left Earth. So let us not be slow, the Oomycetans will not wait."