Brother Gray and his compatriots are gone. While Jack enters the Ionic Machine to brief the others on what happened, Vamperina and Surge go back into the house and start searching it for bombs. They do not find any.
Nobody also begins searching the house for bugs or anything else out of the ordinary. He finds nothing of particular interest.
The house itself is otherwise empty of further inhabitants. It could be described as an upper middle class abode. The main dome area is nicely furnished. The kitchen and pantry are well stocked with food and drink. The dome itself, although opaque from the outside, is semi-translucent on the inside, admitting enough natural light to bathe the area in a warm glow. Three passages lead out of the main dome to the other three domes. Two of the domes contain sleeping quarters. In closets and dressers of the sleeping quarters are a wide variety of normal clothing, in many shapes and sizes. The third dome is an underground garage which also functions as an airlock. The actual garage dome is the same size as the domes above the sleeping quarters, but the garage extends underground well beyond the bounds of the dome. A control panel allows a ramp, concealed to look like normal terrain from the outside, to angle down to the entrance of the garage. Once Surge and Vamperina have assured themselves that there are no booby traps or bombs, they lower the ramp and signal Dayne to drive the Ionic Machine inside. He does so and, a few minutes later after Surge has closed the ramp and cycled the air, those in the machine are able to get out. Everyone regroups in the central living chamber that contains a dining room, kitchen, living room and sitting room.
One other item of interest that Surge and Vamperina noticed was that the telephone base units were all been unplugged from their wall sockets. Once the group has gathered in the living area, Surge plugs the base unit into the wall. Immediately the phone begins ringing.
GM: Let me know if you are going to answer it. Someone can pick up the phone and talk semi-privately, or you can put it on speaker.
GM: One thing I forgot to mention is that Axel as been distracted and lost in thought ever since talking to Brother Gray.
NOBODY: The old man quickly suggests, "Speaker, but only Axel talks, the rest of us stay quiet. Did Jack come in with the IM? If not, somebody should go get him. The phone can ring until then."
JACK: I would have come inside shortly after the IM did, and suggested that since we're expecting to hear from Parl, I need to be inside, in case he needs to talk with me. If one of you wishes to keep watch outside that's fine, but I think we're all right for now. Maybe it's better not to be out there and chance drawing attention to ourselves. Hopefully noone noticed that the jet was circling this house and comes out to investigate.
SURGE: Surge looks to Jack, expecting him to answer the phone. If no one answers after a few rings, Surge will answer. :)
JACK: Oh, then I guess I'd better answer the phone :)
JACK: I'm concerned about Axel, but this takes priority, if someone else (Nobody?) wants to check him out, especially his mental state, that would be great.
JACK: I'll put the phone on speaker, and say, "Hello?"
Axel makes no move to answer the telephone and, in fact, seems so lost in thought that he doesn't even notice that it is ringing.
Jack makes sure the video is turned off, and then hits the speaker button and says, "Hello." The caller's video is turned on and the screen shows a well dressed, well groomed man with a handsome face and deep-set gray eyes. He does not comment on the fact that your video is turned off. "Hello, I'm Parl Klive and you are currently guests in my house. You are welcome to remain there for a time until you are able to support yourself. Axel may have already told you something about me. My interest in you is philanthropical. I want to help you becuase you are mutants and because you received less than fair treatment in the Imperial justice system. I know that some of you are, in fact, guilty of the crimes that you were accused of but even those received a sentence entirely out of proportion to the crime committed."
PARL: "And so, I have chosen to help you. The nature of my help is as follows. You are free to use that house for a period of two months. Within the next week or two, I will give each of you a locally issued identification card that should pass scrutiny around Circle City, but will probably not stand up to the rigorous attention you and the card would receive if you were to try to use it to travel off-world. For that, you need a much better Imperial identification card. I am willing to help you obtain that as well but my resources are not what they used to be so I will have to ask you to pay for it yourself. It will cost 10,000 credits. In addition, buying a ticket to Regina, the capital of the Spinward Marches, will cost another 5,000 credits. To help you come up with the money, I am sending you the help wanted section of the local newspaper. If you want my continued assistance, you must earn the needed money legally. If word gets back to me that you are procuring the money through illegal endeavors, I will cut off all contact with you and will notify the authorities of your whereabouts."
PARL: "For those of you who don't want my help; perhaps you think I am being a bit high-handed, you are free to leave and go it alone. If you choose that path, I wish you luck. I will not inform the authorities about you unless I learn that you have decided to engage in criminal pursuits." |