Terre Haute expedition: Camping Day 1

[lord_wizard]

[It's been a more or less uneventful day of travel for the expedition team. Not unexpected for the first leg of such a trip, and with any luck, it will stay that way.

As the sun starts to get low in the sky, Felix signals the group with a sharp whistle to stop, shortly after he feels the change. They've entered the Dead Zone. That sudden loss of power for anyone used to that sort of thing. Not an easy thing to adjust to, at first.]

"We've crossed into the border of the Dead Zone now. We should stop here for the night. Those of you with experience, help set up camp as needed. And I recommend a few of you working out a watch schedule. You never can tell what might be out here."

SET UP | CAMPFIRE | IN THE NIGHT

Comments

[toobravehearted]

A robot... Right. No, you wouldn't have fared well through the Dead Zone at all I expect. The last expedition was last autumn, wasn't it?

[psych0p0mps]

[It's more that she got her robot personality back, too, and thus didn't want to go... but yeah she's more than ok with not talking about that incident.]

Late summer, actually. That's the last big one. The second trip to Lastlook was in January.

[toobravehearted]

Ah, yes, you're quite right. [And if he is to believe the one entry he read from late September, which he does, apparently it looks as if he was there.] I've not heard about the one from January yet. My information is outdated. [With a frown he takes the journal out of his pocket. It's closed and he looks at the cover thoughtfully.]

[psych0p0mps]

It wasn't that spectacular. We were just putting up some less ambiguous signage so future visitors can tell there's a biohazard in the cave. - Oh, and that's when we got the better map, too.

[toobravehearted]

[He splutters.] A biohazard? Shouldn't that be contained rather than appropriately marked?

[He jumps up from his cross-legged position and is flipping open his journal to a page marked with the corner turned down.] Better than these? Can you show me please Aradia, if so?

[psych0p0mps]

[Shrugs] Probably? It's better than nothing, though.

[She looks at the map and points to the second, more detailed one.] No, it was this one. [Pause.] I wonder who's been updating this? Lois Lane got sent away ages ago.

[toobravehearted]

[He follows her finger and nods, slightly disappointed.] I see. A very good question.

[Closing his journal again, he taps it into the palm of his hand.] Can I ask you something, Aradia? Being a lady that is familiar with time travel such as yourself.

[psych0p0mps]

[She appears a little surprised that he's asking her - he's been a time traveler a lot longer than she has, after all! But that just makes her all the more curious.]

Sure, shoot.

[toobravehearted]

[He smiles at her surprise; there’s no need for it, he thinks. He likes her and values opinions. What he’s about to ask is more a question of morals and the eternal fight against curiosity, which in his case is a fools game anyway.]

[He holds the journal up to indicate it.] If you left here and came back, would you want to know your forgotten past, or indeed your future? Of course, when you leave, you forget over again. But whatever you learn will indubitably impact the present. [He points at her as if it’s a pop quiz.] Think fast, now.

[psych0p0mps]

Oh, what? Put me on the spot, why don't you. [She laughs.] Well... for me personally, I'd say yes to the past, no to the future, probably. For my friends - they've been in and out about a hundred times, from all different points in the timeline. Generally I don't mention stuff like that unless it's relevant. Or especially funny.

[AND SHE DOES HAVE SOME FUNNY STORIES ABOUT YOU, DOCTOR. 0u0]