Sea Legs (Updated 09*21*19)
After a little encouragement from other players I've finally decided to "move" my story from another thread to this one. Moves in quotes simply because I'm not moving anything, just copying the posts...
Forum Discussion
**Authors Note: This was actually first posted as two seperate but small chapters but then revamped to just one. Please excuse the awkwardly placed "tbc" - I've already erased those images from my primary drive and don't feel it's so obtrusive as to have to dig them out to change the placement
Niella rushed home and dressed for dinner. On the way to the car Connor playfully wolf whistled, saying "boy oh boy I'm a lucky man." Niella giggled. On the way to the bistro from the parking lot, Niella could tell Connor was nervous. "Listen," she said, stopping him right before the door, "there's nothing to be nervous about. Just stand your ground, be strong, and I'm positive Florita will see reason." "Be strong, huh?" Connor joked, striking the classic body builder pose. "You're such a dork" Niella burst out laughing. "Oh great confidence booster, babe!" Connor joked as he held the door open for her.
https://i.imgur.com/dCCAxmD.jpg
Meanwhile Karlie had finally signed off on the plans for "The New Sands" with the architech, and made some drinks for her and Rajan to celebrate with while taking a soak. "I cannot tell you how much I love the new pool design" Karlie beamed. "The old one was so boring, made no sense, it had no style!" "And with the insurance claim finally coming in, it won't cost a dime to redesign, either. I'm so proud of you babe, you've got to be excited" Raj added.
https://i.imgur.com/N9AdYUi.jpg
After dinner, Niella and Connor stepped out of the bistro. His wife looked more beautiful than ever, seeming to almost radiate. "You're too pretty to take right home. Why don't you call Karlie and Raj and we can all go grab a night cap some where?" He spun her around, dipped her and kissed her softly. "Ahem" Florita interrupted, having just stepped out of the bistro. Before letting her up, Conner nuzzled Niella's nose. She stepped away and started dialing. "Thank you for everything, Florita" Connor said, shaking Florita's hand. "I don't know what you're thanking me for, Connor, I didn't let you out of a contract I simply snagged you up for another" Florita said, giving him a wink. "I'll get the new one to you in the morning." And just as Florita made her leave, Karlie answered the phone.
https://i.imgur.com/1Kaxgi5.jpg
"Oh, gosh, well both Raj and I have had a few drinks so we probably shouldn't be driving anywhere. But hey you know, Mom's slinging drinks over at the Paradise, tonight's her first night if you want to stop by and say hi. I'm sure she'd love to hassle you two about making babies" Karlie said giggling. After she got off the phone she went back downstairs to refresh her drink. While she was gone, perhaps emboldened by the spirits, realizing that the sun had gone down Raj quickly slipped off his swim trunks and slipped into the hot tub. When Karlie returned, noticing his wet suit on the deck, she giggled, slipped her own suit off and sat down beside him. Living with your best friends was wonderful, especially because they'd all managed to keep the individuality of their own lives, but it was certainly nice to have a free and uninhibited moment alone with Raj for the first time since their honeymoon.
https://i.imgur.com/ICP9CkW.jpg
Shari was hard at work when Connor and Niella arrived, but that didn't stop her from immediately making Connor and Niella two of her famous Lady Marmalade. Just as Niella picked her's up from the bar, Carolina and Guillermo walked up from behind "Hey Gorgeous!" Carolina said. "Hey guys! Fancy meeting you two here! You guys behaving or being rabble rousers?" Neilla joked. Of course Connor couldn't help but suggest a game of pool despite Niella's dress.
https://i.imgur.com/Ad5fAjE.jpg
Halfway through the game Guillermo, (who was well on his way to becoming Isla Paradiso's first astronaut,) still keeping his eye on the game nonchalantly brought up the meteor strike. "So hey, what's the scoop on the brimstone from above? Word around the base is that there were some strange readings that night..." Niella stopped dead in her tracks like a dear in the headlights. Her mind was racing, her heart was rocketing. She had no idea how to answer, loving the Ichtacas to death, and having spent her life dedicated to telling the truth... "Your shot, Ny" Connor called. "Oh!" she exclaimed, thankful for the save, and leaned over the pool table to take her shot.
https://i.imgur.com/QVnKxkF.jpg
Back at the houseboat, Raj and Karlie were feeling the effects of the bubbles, the drinks, the night and their first night alone in awhile. "You know, Niella and Connor aren't the only ones who can make babies" Raj flirted, his eyebrows waggling like a cheesy 80s movie. Karlie giggled. They hadn't actually talked about having kids, but she knew Raj was only looking to get lucky anyway. Feeling frisky she replied "Oh yeah? Well, I know I'm the only one who can hold my breath for a full 3 minutes" and with a gleam in her eye she dove under the water.
https://i.imgur.com/A3WxgyS.jpg
During the next few days at the lab, everyone was hard at work. In the Earth Sciences lab, Lopita split her time up between monitering the insects and painfully, carefully examining every piece of rubble to look for other strange fragments, taking samples and Masao spent nearly every minute running every kind of analysis he and Lopita could think of, and then running them again to be sure.
https://i.imgur.com/nS71WtL.jpg
When Niella stopped in for an update, they had a lot more information but no answers, only more questions. "What we've found," Lopita explained, "we don't understand." She lead Niella over to the work bench. "We've found two more fragments, but their readings are as cryptic as the first. They show no signs of entering the atmosphere, and neither do the meteorites they were embedded in. Stranger still is their carbon dating." "Carbon dating??" "Yes," Masao stepped in, "I decided to carbon date both the meteorites that showed signs of atmospheric burn and the ones that did not. Most meteorites date back to the formation of our solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago. However the ones most closely related to the fragments have no carbon dating at all." "Wait, what??" Niella questioned. "Well, more specifically they carbon dated to merely days old. I really have no idea how this is even possible but I've run and re-run and re-run the analyses and they're accurate. I'm currently following a hunch and in the middle of a few less orthodox anaylises. I might be able to have some answers for you in a few days."
https://i.imgur.com/cPOMOOh.jpg
Javiera and Emily had spent the week working with the new blue sprite, and had tremendous progress to report when Niella stopped by. "These are, as I suspected, two distinct and separate AIs, speaking the same language but operating as though they each only have a portion of the language. In fact, their language seems to interconnect with each other, working as conjunctions rather than separate identities with the same knowledge base of their language." Emily continued "and they're completely different from each other, too. While Damien clearly prefers to communicate with me and seems almost child like - energetic and enthusiastic, Christoph " "Christoph?" Niella interjected, chiding lightly. Emily shrugged and continued "Christoph is quiet, almost pensive, reserved... Almost shy.. But he really opens up to Professor Batista." Javiera continued "And most astonishingly, we think we've figured out what they're trying to tell us." "Ok you should have started with that!" Niella's eyes were as big as saucers. Javiera continued "Well, let me explain. Their language is still missing parts, but their socialization language seems to be far more complicated than their structuralization language. We're still in the dark largely but what we can make out is that it's some sort of directions, or instructions rather. They both seem to be trying to give us some sort of instructions. It's incredibly complicated as they only incredibly rarely even use the same phonetic groupings," "words" Emily added. "Words," Javiera continued. "But we think it's some sort of blueprints, ... or schematics? We were hoping Alex might have a minute to take a look." "Alex," Niella said "has nothing more important on her plate, trust me. Send it over to her. I'll stop by her office and fill her in."
https://i.imgur.com/xMBZX2U.jpg
Alex was immediately intrigued by the research Javiera had forwarded. She vaguely recognized electrical schematic components and something else, she just couldn't quite figure out what. She stared at the information and then suddenly she was hit with a flashlight in a dark cave. She leaned in closely to her monitor, trying to discern what she could. She peered at it, positive she had a glimpse of what was on the screen before her when all of a sudden, without looking up, "Heya boss, c'mon in" she said, breaking the silence as Niella's hand was milometers from knocking on the door frame of Alex's open door.
https://i.imgur.com/jyanaZO.jpg
"Hey Alex, am I safe to assume you've seen Javeria's files?" "Safe as the nuclear bunker under the Alamo" Alex replied. "What??" Niella replied, confused. "Never mind that, you'd have to kill me if I knew anyway. But come look, see if you can see what I see." Niella stepped behind Alex's desk to see her monitor. "I really have no idea what I'm looking at, Alex." "How about now?" Alex clicked a few keys and half the text disappeared, the remainder then reformatted itself sequentially. It was unmistakable. "Electronic schematics??" Niella gasped. "Not only that," Alex replied, "but what was taken out?..." Silence hung in the air like a mosquito with a half full belly, cloyingly present. "...I'm pretty sure that's a programming language."
https://i.imgur.com/c5QNUOx.jpg
To be continued :)
Niella rushed home and dressed for dinner. On the way to the car Connor playfully wolf whistled, saying "boy oh boy I'm a lucky man." Niella giggled. On the way to the bistro from the parking lot, Niella could tell Connor was nervous. "Listen," she said, stopping him right before the door, "there's nothing to be nervous about. Just stand your ground, be strong, and I'm positive Florita will see reason." "Be strong, huh?" Connor joked, striking the classic body builder pose. "You're such a dork" Niella burst out laughing. "Oh great confidence booster, babe!" Connor joked as he held the door open for her.
https://i.imgur.com/dCCAxmD.jpg
Meanwhile Karlie had finally signed off on the plans for "The New Sands" with the architech, and made some drinks for her and Rajan to celebrate with while taking a soak. "I cannot tell you how much I love the new pool design" Karlie beamed. "The old one was so boring, made no sense, it had no style!" "And with the insurance claim finally coming in, it won't cost a dime to redesign, either. I'm so proud of you babe, you've got to be excited" Raj added.
https://i.imgur.com/N9AdYUi.jpg
After dinner, Niella and Connor stepped out of the bistro. His wife looked more beautiful than ever, seeming to almost radiate. "You're too pretty to take right home. Why don't you call Karlie and Raj and we can all go grab a night cap some where?" He spun her around, dipped her and kissed her softly. "Ahem" Florita interrupted, having just stepped out of the bistro. Before letting her up, Conner nuzzled Niella's nose. She stepped away and started dialing. "Thank you for everything, Florita" Connor said, shaking Florita's hand. "I don't know what you're thanking me for, Connor, I didn't let you out of a contract I simply snagged you up for another" Florita said, giving him a wink. "I'll get the new one to you in the morning." And just as Florita made her leave, Karlie answered the phone.
https://i.imgur.com/1Kaxgi5.jpg
"Oh, gosh, well both Raj and I have had a few drinks so we probably shouldn't be driving anywhere. But hey you know, Mom's slinging drinks over at the Paradise, tonight's her first night if you want to stop by and say hi. I'm sure she'd love to hassle you two about making babies" Karlie said giggling. After she got off the phone she went back downstairs to refresh her drink. While she was gone, perhaps emboldened by the spirits, realizing that the sun had gone down Raj quickly slipped off his swim trunks and slipped into the hot tub. When Karlie returned, noticing his wet suit on the deck, she giggled, slipped her own suit off and sat down beside him. Living with your best friends was wonderful, especially because they'd all managed to keep the individuality of their own lives, but it was certainly nice to have a free and uninhibited moment alone with Raj for the first time since their honeymoon.
https://i.imgur.com/ICP9CkW.jpg
Shari was hard at work when Connor and Niella arrived, but that didn't stop her from immediately making Connor and Niella two of her famous Lady Marmalade. Just as Niella picked her's up from the bar, Carolina and Guillermo walked up from behind "Hey Gorgeous!" Carolina said. "Hey guys! Fancy meeting you two here! You guys behaving or being rabble rousers?" Neilla joked. Of course Connor couldn't help but suggest a game of pool despite Niella's dress.
https://i.imgur.com/Ad5fAjE.jpg
Halfway through the game Guillermo, (who was well on his way to becoming Isla Paradiso's first astronaut,) still keeping his eye on the game nonchalantly brought up the meteor strike. "So hey, what's the scoop on the brimstone from above? Word around the base is that there were some strange readings that night..." Niella stopped dead in her tracks like a dear in the headlights. Her mind was racing, her heart was rocketing. She had no idea how to answer, loving the Ichtacas to death, and having spent her life dedicated to telling the truth... "Your shot, Ny" Connor called. "Oh!" she exclaimed, thankful for the save, and leaned over the pool table to take her shot.
https://i.imgur.com/QVnKxkF.jpg
Back at the houseboat, Raj and Karlie were feeling the effects of the bubbles, the drinks, the night and their first night alone in awhile. "You know, Niella and Connor aren't the only ones who can make babies" Raj flirted, his eyebrows waggling like a cheesy 80s movie. Karlie giggled. They hadn't actually talked about having kids, but she knew Raj was only looking to get lucky anyway. Feeling frisky she replied "Oh yeah? Well, I know I'm the only one who can hold my breath for a full 3 minutes" and with a gleam in her eye she dove under the water.
https://i.imgur.com/A3WxgyS.jpg
During the next few days at the lab, everyone was hard at work. In the Earth Sciences lab, Lopita split her time up between monitering the insects and painfully, carefully examining every piece of rubble to look for other strange fragments, taking samples and Masao spent nearly every minute running every kind of analysis he and Lopita could think of, and then running them again to be sure.
https://i.imgur.com/nS71WtL.jpg
When Niella stopped in for an update, they had a lot more information but no answers, only more questions. "What we've found," Lopita explained, "we don't understand." She lead Niella over to the work bench. "We've found two more fragments, but their readings are as cryptic as the first. They show no signs of entering the atmosphere, and neither do the meteorites they were embedded in. Stranger still is their carbon dating." "Carbon dating??" "Yes," Masao stepped in, "I decided to carbon date both the meteorites that showed signs of atmospheric burn and the ones that did not. Most meteorites date back to the formation of our solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago. However the ones most closely related to the fragments have no carbon dating at all." "Wait, what??" Niella questioned. "Well, more specifically they carbon dated to merely days old. I really have no idea how this is even possible but I've run and re-run and re-run the analyses and they're accurate. I'm currently following a hunch and in the middle of a few less orthodox anaylises. I might be able to have some answers for you in a few days."
https://i.imgur.com/cPOMOOh.jpg
Javiera and Emily had spent the week working with the new blue sprite, and had tremendous progress to report when Niella stopped by. "These are, as I suspected, two distinct and separate AIs, speaking the same language but operating as though they each only have a portion of the language. In fact, their language seems to interconnect with each other, working as conjunctions rather than separate identities with the same knowledge base of their language." Emily continued "and they're completely different from each other, too. While Damien clearly prefers to communicate with me and seems almost child like - energetic and enthusiastic, Christoph " "Christoph?" Niella interjected, chiding lightly. Emily shrugged and continued "Christoph is quiet, almost pensive, reserved... Almost shy.. But he really opens up to Professor Batista." Javiera continued "And most astonishingly, we think we've figured out what they're trying to tell us." "Ok you should have started with that!" Niella's eyes were as big as saucers. Javiera continued "Well, let me explain. Their language is still missing parts, but their socialization language seems to be far more complicated than their structuralization language. We're still in the dark largely but what we can make out is that it's some sort of directions, or instructions rather. They both seem to be trying to give us some sort of instructions. It's incredibly complicated as they only incredibly rarely even use the same phonetic groupings," "words" Emily added. "Words," Javiera continued. "But we think it's some sort of blueprints, ... or schematics? We were hoping Alex might have a minute to take a look." "Alex," Niella said "has nothing more important on her plate, trust me. Send it over to her. I'll stop by her office and fill her in."
https://i.imgur.com/xMBZX2U.jpg
Alex was immediately intrigued by the research Javiera had forwarded. She vaguely recognized electrical schematic components and something else, she just couldn't quite figure out what. She stared at the information and then suddenly she was hit with a flashlight in a dark cave. She leaned in closely to her monitor, trying to discern what she could. She peered at it, positive she had a glimpse of what was on the screen before her when all of a sudden, without looking up, "Heya boss, c'mon in" she said, breaking the silence as Niella's hand was milometers from knocking on the door frame of Alex's open door.
https://i.imgur.com/jyanaZO.jpg
"Hey Alex, am I safe to assume you've seen Javeria's files?" "Safe as the nuclear bunker under the Alamo" Alex replied. "What??" Niella replied, confused. "Never mind that, you'd have to kill me if I knew anyway. But come look, see if you can see what I see." Niella stepped behind Alex's desk to see her monitor. "I really have no idea what I'm looking at, Alex." "How about now?" Alex clicked a few keys and half the text disappeared, the remainder then reformatted itself sequentially. It was unmistakable. "Electronic schematics??" Niella gasped. "Not only that," Alex replied, "but what was taken out?..." Silence hung in the air like a mosquito with a half full belly, cloyingly present. "...I'm pretty sure that's a programming language."
https://i.imgur.com/c5QNUOx.jpg
To be continued :)
