Dreamer makes eye contact with me. "That was for our benefit. She did not actually twitch."
"So she became conscious, but hid it. That's uncharacteristic her species."
Amusing that her projections
over-act. Makes it easier to spot unfamiliar body language, maybe.
Ub'x touches the cutting edge of his teeth, and realises… Something. Ah, he's decided that they were too sharp, and is filing the edge flatter.
Another twitch, and-.
Don't want to look like a
complete psycho, after all.
The native very weakly throws a small stones in Ub'x's direction. It falls well short, and bounces once with a feeble 'clack' before coming to rest.
Ub'x looks at where they landed, then returns to his filing.
Aw, look at how
brave she's being.
The native appears to have lost consciousness-. Wait. There really was a native who wanted to be evil but couldn't?
"That wouldn't even scare off one of your species. Oh, no. You're unconscious again. I suppose that was more effort than most of your species would have made."
...
Seriously?
I suppose the fainting reflex would be an impediment to doing some unsocial things...
He puts his tooth file away and watches the native, patiently waiting for-. Her eyes open very slightly and she tries to subtly take in her environment.
"Hello, Paldak. I mean you-. No, you're gone again."
I can just
hear the frustration in his voice.
Serifan looks at Dreamer. "Can you speed this up any?"
Paldak's eyes open again, and make contact with Ub'x's. "What do you want with us, weird mould-covered alien?
Helpful that it comes with a fast-forward mode.
"I-. What? No, this isn't mould, it's fur."
"What's that?"
I suppose to a reptilian species, mammalian traits like fur
would seem strange.
Ring, quick scan-? Ah. No, no species on this planet has fur. Symbiotic mould is indeed the closest they have, and that's an insect-analogue only thing.
"It's made of the same material as…" The locals don't have nails, due to the obvious risk of a species like that having anything vaguely sharp anywhere on their bodies. "It's made of keratin, which-."
...Wow, it's like evolution made them to be as child-friendly as possible.
...Which raises the question of their
own child-rearing practices. What happens to an infant if the parent has a fainting moment?
"I know what keratin is. Why is it growing all over you?"
"My species evolved it for insulation and water-proofing. That was nearly a confrontational statement."
Wow, kind of impressive. She
is abnormal.
"If I faint three times in succession, it takes a little more to trigger the response again. Not much more though. Hang-. Hang on."
She goes limp.
...Seriously, how do these people manage to do
anything?
"Hm." Ub'x considers her for a moment, then waves his hand.
She immediately jerks way. "Whatwhatwhat?"
Ah, a little application of Indigo healing rays. That's one way to bypass the genetic quirk.
"I could see this wasn't getting anywhere. Why did you try and 'attack' me?"
"Because you're a weird alien who kidnapped me! And I-! How am I still upright?"
...If you can call
barely throwing a rock 'attacking'. But it was
impressively brave.
"I suppressed your natural inclination to-."
"I will do anything for you if you make this permanent."
Amazed that wasn't 100%
Orange there. I suppose it's hard to read emotional traces through the projection.
"Ah. That makes this a little easier. How would you like the ability to make it permanent yourself?"
"Yes. My own body is the one enemy I can't beat! If I can stay awake, I can do anything!"
Well, she's dreaming big, I guess...
"And do what?"
"Anything! I've never been this excited before! It's amazing!"
...Hard to pick
something when you're given that kind of freedom, I suppose.
Ub'x looks a little uncomfortable as Paldak scurries up to him and pushes her face into his.
"Doitdoitdoit-."
Another case of '
overly attached girlfriend' face, I bet.
Ub'x taps her on the shoulder and she collapses.
"That's about enough of that. But that was definitely consent." He waves his staff-.
And that would be a successful recruitment, I suppose.
The image stops moving, and Dreamer steps closer.
"They left after that. He is recruiting."
Safe bet to make, yes.
I nod. "Maybe he just doesn't want to talk to me until he's got a Corps to back him up? Can you tell if he came here after he visited New Berrith or before?"
"It feels… I think before? But… Not by long."
Not like she can look at
timestamps, OL.
"Can you tell if Paldak is still alive?"
Serifan snorts. "Or more importantly, where she's still alive."
Yes, the 'where' is a bit more important than the 'if', I think.
"If she died, it was not on this world. And no."
"Indigo Lanterns are hard to track. That's not surprising."
Unfortunately, it seems this was a dead end...
Ring, any monitoring..? No, of course not: none of them could watch it. There are some missing person posters, which is a nice touch. And means that she hasn't been back.
Given what happened to Huyen, that's not particularly hopeful.
It might well be that Indigo Tribesmen are
expected to have a short working life...
Vykin considers the scene. "We could attempt to speak with the locals. That would give us the time of her departure."
Serifan shakes his head. "They can teleport anywhere. It ain't like we can track his trail."
Crumbs of information. Not the best way to get anywhere...
Bear frowns thoughtfully. "Do her people have an enemy?"
Bd'g nods. "No, but the statejians are the most aggressive species in this region. She would know about them. Do you think she picked a fight?"
If she was
that hyper just
learning that the fainting reflex could be overcome? Safe bet.
"I think fighting picked her. And if her body stopped holding her back, where else would she go?"
Vykin nods. "Dreamer? Can you see any other destination?"
The question would then be, did she
survive her first outing?
"I…" She shakes her head. "No. I can't. Wherever he went, he wasn't thinking about it here."
"Or it's blocked. In case it comes up, to the best of my knowledge the homeworld of the Indigo Lantern Corps is a place called Nok. No idea where it is, and my previous attempts to locate it haven't been successful."
Because he's missed the obvious lead: Hal Jordan's ring. I
assume he's still using Abin Sur's in this timeline.
Vykin nods. "Then we go to the home of the statejian, and we ask politely if they have seen her."
Bd'g frowns. "I doubt they'll answer a polite question. They're pretty aggressive."
Then you get to engage in diplomacy through superior firepower.
"Perhaps. Or perhaps the violent parts of their species are what other people see, and on their home things will be different."
Ah. I look at Lightray, but he doesn't seem bothered. Okay, well, their technology isn't anything special. I should be able to protect everyone. It-.
Heh. OL
still not thinking much of the Forever people...
BOOM!
"Really, Serifan?"
He grins impishly. "They've barely had time to get up. Let's go!"
Children...
