Breaking the Long Fog (Semi-Closed, Attn. ROUS)

[The Floor Kippers]

"Amanda and William" Sir Nigel said, looking up from the glass cases "How nice to see you."
He was momentarily distracted by Gehn
"Nice cape" He said before turning back to Amanda and William.
"Right, so How have you two been?"

[Warhaven]

"It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Tajen Darkson, Emperor of Warhaven. I have one simple obvious question to start off with, that will undoubtedly lead to more questions of varying natures and complexities. I am positive we'll end with either the control, or destruction of the mysterious Fog. If you want extreme privacy, I have a room that only three entities in all of Creation know the exact location of, and only those same three entities can enter or exit the room or allow others to enter or exit." Tajen said keeping close to Gehn enough to clearly be following, but not close enough to invade the man's personal space.

[New Amerik]

William nodded happily to Nigel. "Eh, Nigel! Ah man, it's good to see you again! I mean, it's been...uh, wait, sorry..."

He gestured to Amanda. "You're the one stuck on this planet for twelve years, dear, you should be the one excited to be back in contact."

Amanda nodded and smiled to William, before stepping forward and looking to Nigel. She started to say something, then in the midst of letting out the first syllable shook her head, and thought for a moment. Finally, she nodded, and then, turning towards Nigel, she saluted. Voice proud and firm, she said, "It's good to see you again, sir. It's just...we've missed you, sir. Me, the Redfern. I can't wait to see Simon again, and my parents, and..."

She looked back towards William, who smiled bashfully, before turning back and nodding. "The Redfern's still up and running, perfect condition. She's been portside for a while, though, because of my new assignment."

Amanda stepped back, saluted the room as a whole, and spoke in a comically terrible Amerikan accent, "Captain Hislop, Star Captain of the HTKS Magellon, at your service! I joined the kosmos to see the world, then got kicked out of it on a star ship!"

Gehn, meanwhile, was engaging in conversation with Darkson. "Privacy, in this case, is merely a...protocol. My private sanctum will be more than adequate for the task, given the nature of our problem is already known to a great deal of Amerikans within Alienism already. Should any of you wish to come...well, follow me."

As he turned towards a small space of wall, he held out his hand, and an outline of a door started to shimmer into place, emerging as a crack of light before solidifing into existence. The Emperor took no notice, and thus either was oblivious or simply didn't see it as very unusual - in any case, he waved towards Gehn as Gehn started to retreat.

As he shuttled those who wished to come with him into the home, he spoke once more. "Just watch for Fido, he's a bit energetic, hasn't gotten his walk for twelve years and can't wait to start again. And...ah yes, Nigel. Thank you - I skinned him myself."

[The Floor Kippers]

"Star Ship captain eh? My, my, my. You have gone up in the world. Simon will be pleased to see you again, and the Redfern." Nigel said, he then grinned as he followed Gehn "I can see you've gone up in the romantic world too. You certainly have the skills to nab a wolf William."

[Warhaven]

Tajen wasn't disturbed by Gehn's door either, and entered it as casually as if entering such things was a normal daily occurance for him.

"Knowing Fido to be a common dog's name back home, and the curious nature of subtle and major difference between universes, I am forced by curiosity to inquire as to who, or what, Fido is." Tajen said.

[New Amerik]

"And I them," Amanda smiled earnestly, while William grinned with a blush as he nodded. "Oh yes, Sir Nigel, I'm the luckiest guy in the universe."

As they entered into the private study of Gehn, itself fairly cozy if made primarily of a dark stone and wooden detailing, Gehn gestered around the room. "Fido is my personal Hunting Hound - one of the many beasts of the universe. They'll track down and hunt most anything from a trusted trainer or owner - and when they do catch them, they'll devour them body and spirit."

He turned to his table, a large and rich oak affair, detailed in a flowing, elegant way. There were countless books, instruments, and other items of curiosity scattered about, but he hurridly swept them to one side as he searched for whatever he was looking for. At last, however, he picked up a small white folder, and nodded. "We do not know much about the particulars of the Fog, I'm afraid - all we can give you is circumstances regarding anomalies found before the Fog started...and after it ended."

[The Floor Kippers]

"Do carry on dear man" Sir Nigel said to Gehn "Your Information could be of vital importance"

[Warhaven]

"Yes. It'll give us a starting place if nothing else." Tajen said.

[Starkindler]

The cadet started feeling like in a horror film, as the scientist stepped in wearing human skin. While following Gehn through the portal he created, she double-checked her sensors and whether her readings are correct, and if it's not Gehn's skin, protruding like a cape due to strange surgery or genetic modification, as it seemed to be too detailed and alive to be prepared skin.Also she shared the unspoken first thought about Fido being a bloodthirsty monster. That made the Clank long for a space battle against the most vicious enemies of the Collective instead of doing diplomacy with Amerik, but she went this far, she can't stop now and flee home, even if it was as easy as turning the multiversal drive on to full thrust, as she was physically sitting on a starship orbiting the planet on a geostationary orbit above the Clank's emitter. As she was physically a starship. Putting her fear aside, she answered only the last sentence of the doktor.

"The circumstances around the anomaly will be of great help. We can simulate whether these actually cause a Fog to appear, or dismiss, like it did in your galaxy."

[Frenequesta]

Having walked in the room quietly, the three Frenequestans in flesh and the other in virtual were each pondering their next moves. Dr. Jupin in particular was excited to see Gehn, and rummaged through his files on his Pad to gain the astrophysical data he had collected over five years ago the moment the Fog supposedly began-- that form of energy seemed to come from all directions, yet slowed Aprioriposteriori down in exactly one way nonetheless. Such data could give a physical answer to the Fog, but of course the Amerikans dabbled in fields which all mainstream Freneqs were oblivious and which the bold theoreticians struggle to grasp even today. But it was worth the effort.

He held his hand out to Gehn, finally remembering the most important part of the meeting. "Dr. Gehn? I'm Dr. Oleyez Jupin of the Denniston Observatory in Frenequesta, and host of the multimedia series 'The Multiversal Constant'. I'd be eager to hear the anomalies you had found before the Fog, and I have some data from my own nation that I collected at the moment of the beginning of the Fog that may shed light on the nature and composition of it."

[New Amerik]

Gehn nodded at the introduction, and responded with, "Indeed, Dr. Jupin. We may talk of my Instability Theorums soon, after I relay what we have. First things first, however."

He pinched his fingers inside the folder, and drew out several papers, each one a classified document of the Holy Technocracy, and with one smooth movement swept them out off of the desk. As they tumbled through the air, Gehn focused his will. Sharpening his mind, he focused on the papers defying gravity, lifting and hanging in mid-air instead of falling through to the floor, focused on defying the very laws of gravity and, metaphorically speaking, performing the mental equivalent of arguing to reality that his version of events, not its, was correct.

Amerikan magic.

Outwardly, all of this was signified only with a gesture of the hands, motioning the papers to stop - and indeed, as the papers started to fall, they instead swayed, hovered in mid-air, and then rose to head level for the guests, allowing for easier viewing. Looking closely, one could read the dates and titles quite easily for all six papers - "Establishment of 'Kronos' Terraforming Satellite Plan A-01: 2030"; "Unidentified Signals from Nuclear East Towards Upper Orbit: 2030"; "Expanse of Multiverse Beta, Universal Level: 2030"; "Lost Signal to 'Kronos' Terraforming Satellite: 2031"; "Reports of 'Kronos' Terraforming Satellite Sightings 01-26: 2032-2039"; "First Contact with Skarn Stratocracy: 2040"; "Re-Appearance of 'Kronos' Terraforming Satellite: 2042"

"While there are other files, these are the only anomalies of particular interest that my Division is responsible for. Four of them occured shortly before the Long Fog blocked off our communication in early 2031, while the latter two occured relatively near the end," Gehn summarized.

"The most notorious we've found is the matter of the 'Kronos' Terraforming Satellite, a kind of 'ghost story' if you will amongst lower levels of our Division and no doubt small portions of the Technocracy at large. It was to be our first terraforming satellite, and our first judicious use of time travel, back when it was only recently theorized by myself and certain members. It was to be a test run, if you will, of what time travel could do - unfortunately, we lost contact and any sight with and of it shortly before losing contact to the outside multiverse, and except for sporadic appearances and reconnections over the years it has only been seen constantly and permanently within the past month. Other than that, we had a mysterious signal beamed from the previously-thought still uninhabitable Nuclear East within a week of losing contact, and the first contact with the Skarn Stratocracy of Mars in 2040, our timeline - around two years ago."

As Gehn talked, the quiet stalking of Fido could be sensed as it bounded straight through the walls of the building into the room. Seemingly curious, the extranormal beast could instead be detected as a raw being, vaguely shaped like a swirling red and purple greyhound with tendrils weaving and splitting around its form, composed of equal combination emanated fear, hunger, and some sort of solidifed raw multiversal makeup. It bounded about in a non-Euclidean way, growling at the physical diplomats at first but then, after cautiously sniffing their essences and finding nothing it had been ordered to hunt, happily licked their 'souls' before investigating the others. It seemed to flicker, before temporarily disappearing - to the Frequenestrans back in their home universe, it appeared to sniff their essence as well in person, before whining and bounding back into the Amerikverse. It next turned to the Starkindler cadet, cocking its head at her slightly before leaping through the reflection of her eyes, appearing before her physical form, and retreating the process.

After it retreated and came back, Gehn looked sternly at the vorpal beast. "Be nice, Fido. We have visitors here, and none of them warrant hostilities currently. Settle down, and you'll get a treat later, alright?"

Fido licked its lips, the tongue seeming to leech the very warmth and color out of the air as it lolled for a second, and then sat down, whining once but then quickly rolling over in a symbol of submission. Gehn rubbed the belly of the beast, creating a murmer of content from the beast that seemed to vibrate within the bone equivalents of the others, before watching it with a cautious eye as the Hunting Hound retreated from the room.

"Sorry about that, he loves to meet new people."

[The Floor Kippers]

"Hmmm, this is all very peculiar" Sir Nigel said "And Suspicious. A mysterious signal coming from a dead land, a Universe cut off from the rest of The Multiverse and a vanishing time traveling terraforming satellite. I have a feeling these are more connected than they look"

[Warhaven]

"I believe that they are. Time Master Chron Jugis has been known to completely cut off an area from all forms of contact due to Temporal Manipulation. I forget how he does it exactly though." Tajen said.

He thought for a moment.

"Is it possible to examine the Satelite Directly? Also, where is this Nuclear East? I believe In depth scanning of that area to be in order. Once these two are accomplished, we'll know if we're on the right trail, or if we've hit a dead end." Tajen said a second later.

After further thought, he added:

"If need be, I can summon any of The Masters, should it become appropriate, or relevant for me to do so. Chron especially, if it does turn out to be a Temporal matter. At the very least, I know he'll leave you with a puzzling enigma, that once solved will grant you a solution to working around, or through the Fog, if it is indeed Temporal in nature, as we suspect." Tajen finished.

[Starkindler]

She looked at the non-Euclidean dog in normal space, and the papers not being suspended by any apparent force - or force field. Being a product of Heterodynamic Industries, she had heard of experiments on psions, and even that a Clank had been created who is highly capable psionically, but giving the power to those who does not possess it from birth always had its dose of side effects as it was learned from countless experiments in ascend-o-mats, transporter surgeries and genetic resequencing in organics, and even more intrusive processes in Clanks. The Empress had briefly contacted the Amerikan Emperor before the Fog, and she was sure he didn't do any magic, and now also Gehn, from his casualty shining that magic is now a wide-spread phenomenon across Amerik, highly unprobable with the standard genetic models of the inheritance of magical aptitude.

Although, with the other diplomats, she also spotted that the satellite was gone while the Fog, and reappeared after it ended. But she kept this option to herself, as experts on temporal mechanics also spotted that. Her Temporal Mechanics 101 course only covered not to dabble in time, and the main laws and paradoxes of it, as the Empire was barely even a time-aware power, much less time-active as the other three powers present.

"I have an idea concerning the Skarn Stratocracy, however, to completely form it, I would need more data. Where and when was the satellite headed? After the re-establishment of contact, did the satellite make any attempts to report on its mission, whether a success or failure? And furthermore can you show the headlines of your leading scientific magazines from both the Muggle and the Wizarding world from the age of 2029, 2032, 2038, 2040 and 2041? And the number of original patents and publications issued on a graph between 2029 and 2042, adjusted for the effects of time travel? Also from the time travel issue: When was the last time you have successfully tested a time machine modifying any other dimensions than the fourth? And when was the pure 4th dimensional time travel technology invented?"

[New Amerik]

Gehn shuffled through his papers before selecting another book, this one a relatively recent atlas from 2041. He passed it over to Tajen, flipping it over to the Eurasian continental area, and pointed at a particularly grey area where no countries were reported to exist.

"The Nuclear East. Once known as the Middle East, home to the powerful expansive democracy of Kuwait and the Islamic republic of Iran as well as other, smaller nations. Went up in a cloud of nuclear smoke and radiation in the 20127-18 Kuwait-Iran War, nothing's been even verified to still be living there until 2038 or so. There's a few small communities emerging out of their bunkers now, to be sure, but for the most part no one's ever tried to claim it since the war. The first nukes were far deadlier to life, as it turns out, than the relatively refined ones used on America."

He handed it to the man to view further, and started to rummage for some other files. "Satellite-wise, we can give you the records surrounding it currently. Unless you're willing to fly to the Martian atmosphere and go find it circling around there, however, we can't quite show you anything directly." Continuing to search the various documents, he found nothing - shaking his head, he walked over, picked up a slim black and green computational device, and punched in a request.

"The records will be on their way shortly, my dear. As for your other questions, the satellite made no contact with us other than a signal that it was in position - the signal it had been broadcasting on and then just disappearing again for several years. I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea of what Muggle refers to, and there isn't a particular wizarding world - not like magic's rare or restricted after all, any person can harness it with the right schooling, but I'll lend you some of the Hall's magazine reports from those years. As for time travel, the last time we have successfully tested a time travel device relying on more than simply the fourth dimension, it was, say...around two years ago, a little bit after we discovered the Skarn Statocracy. The last time we successfully used a time travel device relying on manipulating space and time however was I believe....yesterday. That's when the latest batch of preannual wine was sent back from 2165."

A stack of old magazines was found and passed to the cadet for reading. From the Hall of Unorthodox Science, they listed an assortment of various discoveries and technologies: The new and improved multiversal portal, the creation of a new multiverse via the Mechanism of Hopes and Dreams, implementation of the Mk. 1 Biomechanical Interface Device, the various new subfields of scientific study and teachings being introduced into the field, Japanese virtual reality, the new spaceship designs of the Amerikan kosmos, etc.

"And practically-speaking, I invented the first implementation of 4th dimensional time travel back when we created the 'Kronos' Satellite in 2030, based on my theorums developed earlier in the year. It wasn't a complete success, and I refined the theorums and technology many times over before I finally presented it in 2032 to the Emperor and the Hall, but I'd say that it was the first successful development of a relatively easily reproducable and manufactored time travel technology within our universe."

"Technically speaking, of course, we have no real way of verifying when time travel became introduced into the Ameriverse at a point of origin, given there have been individual accounts but no wide-spread and public information. We have a number of reports of the TARDIS, for example, having both interrogated and worked with at least two of the 'Doctors' when they accidentally arrived in our neck of the multiverse."

[The Floor Kippers]

"So he's helped you too has he?" Sir Nigel said "Now, What do you know of Skarn? If anything at all?"

[Frenequesta]

Mmm, wine from the future, thought Dr. Quine. Any ventures in cross-dimensional travel that other Freneq scientists developed was merely through space; time travel in the archetypal sense was still a few decades off. And that was optimistic.

Secretary Smalls felt something the size of a dog winding through his stomach and intestines, even though he was puzzled one could fit in there. "Eh, must be a vercrane," he rationalized. Frenequestans were quite used to transdimensional creatures, especially those made by men for whatever reason, and in some cases it was difficult to tell them apart, especially if it didn't do any harm as Ministry of the Environment regulations required. Finally he noticed Fido reappearing next to the Starkindler cadet, but he was still unsure whether the creature going through its stomach was Fido or a vercrane.

"I'm surprised they haven't already solved this mystery since they're pretty good at getting in the future already," said Pervis quietly and snidely to himself.

"Be nice now, Pervis!" chided Dr. Jupin. With a cough, he spoke up to make his move. "Now the reports that you have given us, just before I jump into all of them-- I take it that none of the records disclose the actual movement through time-space--no specific forays into other dimensions that might require some sort of 'light' or dark energy, or is this entirely predictable from the signaling distance?"

[Warhaven]

Tajen was deep in thought, thinking over his own resources.

"I actually can get to Mars to look at the satelite directly. Rather, I can have The Anomally Deploy two Science vessals. One to investigate the Satelite without actively interfering in its present activities, and one to scan The Nuclear East.

I simply need to contact them. To that end I Inquire first, if this is an acceptable course of action, and second if there are any communications barriers that need to be accounted for.

Meanwhile, I myself would like to read the files directly." Tajen said.

[New Amerik]

"The Skarn Stratocracy?" Gehn asked Nigel, "I can tell you they exist on Mars sometime in the 2100s...2165, I believe, is our contact with them. They're a military ruled nation, take after the "Mars" aspect of their planet, though who they formed from and when I could not say. They appear to be friendly enough - apparently, they had records that indicated we'd be contacting them, though it had become a minor religion by their time."

"As for the records, no, they would not. The use of time travel involves specific manipulation of five dimensions - one is used to send the 'signal' itself, and is the simplest to use, but the others are of course linear space and time. As far as the distance, the signal sent goes through a speed roughly equivalent in fourth dimensional terms as the speed of light - as such, that is no problem. The only real movement records needed are the coordinates of the intended object to be sent, as well as a fixed point of origin for the signal to be sent from. However, these are the kinds of things put into the various files and forms sent alongside the reports - those, I will not be giving to you."

Gehn turned towards Tajen. "Scanning the satellite is perfectly alright with us. The Nuclear East is equally acceptable, as long as you engage in sublety with both ships. Communication wise, you're not going to get anything out of either - the satellite lets out on a single signal to let us know its there constantly, and otherwise is noncommunicative, and the Nuclear East...well, whoever is there isn't going to have any sort of governmental or political presence whatsoever."

[Warhaven]

"No, I meant as in are there any barriers preventing me from communicating with my ship." Tajen clarified as he waited for his turn with the various files.

[New Amerik]

Gehn considered the possibilities, before replying at last, "No, I shouldn't think so."

He turned to the others. "Well...any thoughts on the matter?"

[The Floor Kippers]

"I am inclined to suspect that either the Nuclear east or the Skarn Stratocracy have more than a coincidental part in this" Sir Nigel said "And it is Quite likely that one or both of those nations are resposible for the fog"

[Frenequesta]

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," said Dr. Jupin. "My concern is not merely the position of the satellites, but its effect on the fabric of space, so to say. I'm just finding it difficult to believe that only five dimensions of space-time are being considered here. There just seems to be too strong a connection between the satellite and the fog, and if the fifth dimension is only being used to send the signal and the other four for normal space and time concerns, my hunches do not seem to match up with what I've just heard. But I might be thinking too much in terms of Freneq astrophysics, which theorizes at least 18 dimensions for feasible time-travel."

[Starkindler]

When she read through all the magazines, by quickly scanning them (OOC: Like Johnny 5 in the '86 film Short Circuit), however, she failed to find the huge technological jump in the year 2040 and the years around it, clearing the Skarns from her suspicion of causing the Fog, or having technology to eradicate it. However, through the Collective, and in some papers explained, she had heard of an "Energy-Imagination transformer" which is attributed to the now wide-spread magic through the country. She was shocked when she read the articles. Were she in an other country, she would have dismissed the magazines as being science fiction, but in the country as warped as Amerik, it was believable. As she was a sentient robot after all.

Within the time she used to assimilate information from the magazines, the 'dog' with the strange geometry leaped through her, causing her hologram to flicker for moments, as the dog entered her angel's scene of heart, the space which is used by the Clank and the Angel to communicate with each other. It was the closest thing she had for a soul, as she was still completely digital and algorithmic despite being much more advanced than her counterparts, as having an Angel gave the abilities of empathy, imagination, will, and other attributes normally associated to organics. Both consciousnesses were shocked, and shooed the being, in a language it understood as its native one, as in the scene, the normally consciousnesses communicated with exchanging thoughts. Then the dog suddenly leaped out to space, causing the hologram to flicker again, as she did emergency course corrections to evade the suddenly appearing being on the radar.

She had an other subject, and carefully examined the magazines of when was the 'Mechanism of Hopes of Dreams' fired, and any test results coming from it. When assimilated, she also browsed the magazines' saved copies for a connection between Energy-Imagination converters the Mechanism, and the satellite. Also she found it strange, that a time-active power knowing of its own demise did not act against it. However, in the Collective, and the current state of it, merely asking a question about it would become a political statement. She asked her angel if cryptography is all right, and sighed. As well as calculating the distance to Mars, hoping it would be less, than a parsec, or at least less than 100 parsecs, the former being the redline for real-time operations, the latter the one for a still fluid projection at 120 renderings per second, which is both due to the low power receiver optronics on the holoemitter side.

"You have mentioned that the Statocracy was at least a time-aware country correctly predicting that your representatives would travel into the future and establish contact with them. From this, I assume that they could have correctly predicted their demise, or falling into a Collective state, as you have mentioned that you got the future beverage from a hive mind called 'Mars Prima', assuming that by the time the Skarn Stratocracy had fallen, it was replaced with - or assimilated by - the aforementioned state. For a time-aware military power I find it highly illogical not to take the steps necessary to defend its own existence into the future."

She took a moment to prepare her next question to Gehn, and looked at her Wand.
"From your notable scientific developments, I have assumed that the magic world and the non-magical world has become united. I suppose this became available as an upgrade to your citizens with the Energy-Imagination converter, which is a recently cited paper in the scientific journals. I should ask whether the operation of the 'Mechanism of Hopes and Dreams' depend on this technology, or was there any large discharge of Imagination around the time the Fog appeared, or around the time the Fog disappeared. Are there any extremist groups who could benefit from sealing this Universe? And could I scan you for any concentrated power sources to help better understand your manipulation technology?"

[Warhaven]

Tajen nodded, and took an eyepiece out of his pocket and fitted it on over his left eye.

Psionic Communications were initiated.

"I need two Science Vessals, one to the fourth orbit to investigate the Kronos Terraforming Satelite, and one to the Third Orbit, to investigate the middle east, known in this variation as The Nuclear East.

I want full spectrum scans from five years before the FoG, through its full Duration, to the very second when the Scans complete." Tajen thought.

"It shall be done. Results to be routed to your mobile node." The ship replied, also through thought.

Minutes later, two ships deployed. They were solid white, and looked like giant oversized novelty arrows. One went to the Kronos satelite and began its scans, the other to the Nuclear East and began its scans.