paradisabeyond | Winchester/Fairfield Expedition

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!winchester/fairfield

Winchester/Fairfield Expedition - The Town of Fairfield

[You saw the towns some time ago, but it still took a good couple hours of treading past the farmland around it before you actually reached it. They have a distinctly "old western" type of feel to them, with their dusty, unpaved dirt roads and the collection of buildings-- most of them obviously wooden-- sitting side-by-side along either side of the road.

More observant residents may notice that the nearer they come to the town, the more people that look up and notice, and subsequently hurry off or head inside. And even if you didn't notice it as you closed in, it sure becomes apparent once you step under the archway of the town; there's no one around. The tumbleweed that rolls by almost seems to be mocking the residents.

Another thing that becomes apparent is the state of the town. Besides having gone eerily quiet, some of the buildings have been wrecked. There are gouges in the wood, where it hasn't been punched through or torn apart. Rails are broken, and a few of them even have damaged or missing doors.

Are they too late?]

DR. BREWER | HEATH | RECONSTRUCTION

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Yeah, we've never heard anything else off them, so if anyone else has one, we don't really know about it. But if you're concerned about other people listening in, we could always come up with a basic code.

[He chuckles.] At least the giraffes are only crazy, not...violent. Unless you had a different experience than we did, of course. Any idea if this is the same group that landed there a while ago, or a different set?

That would be welcome. We'd use the journals, but they've never seemed to be compatible with anyone else's. Maybe it's because we were off the main continent, I don't know.

Nah, they were just crazy. And unhelpful. [He shakes his head] No clue, I've never even heard of Nostos bringing something like this in before. Nothing that's lasted this long, anyway. It could be the same group, or it could be even more of them. As much as I hate to say it, they all look the same to me.

[York's eyes brighten up a little at that information.] Oh yeah? Mind if I ask where from? I've only been around here myself, but there have been on and off talks about ships. Be nice if there was actually something to sail to.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Well, they'll get more than they bargained for if they come back now.

[Brewer frowns softly] Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to sail there. It's an island, just off the North East coast. But it's not safe. We left there for a reason.

Thank you, we'll have to repay you, in some way.

[Huh. Well, forewarned is forearmed, he supposes.] Better to mark it as dangerous, then. It have a name? And are there dangerous places in the other directions we ought to know about?

[At that he just smiles grimly.] Used to be my job a long time ago in a place that used to be called home. Seeing you all staying safe ought to be enough payment for me.

We destroyed the bridge leading to it when we left. Most people don't try to cross by boat because of the whales. [He gives a soft shrug] But almost everyone in Nostos has heard about the place. The castle's called Draconis, the island, too.

[He smiles, surprised] That's a rare outlook, these days.

Wait, that sounds familiar. Yeah, I've heard of that. [That was where the plague came from. Delta remembered it, even if a detail like that would have slipped York's memory.] Just didn't know where it was. Thanks. --Also, whales?

[And he grins a little more genuinely, shrugging.] Hey, maybe a part of me misses the action we used to get back home.

You're welcome. [He nods] Really big things. They're not aggressive, but if you're caught over them when they breach... you haven't got much of a chance.

Well, it's a welcome one, for sure.

Got it. And is that the only place they live, or do they migrate? I mean, it's as good a warning sign as any, if a ship gets lost.

I take it you're not from one of those places where aliens were attacking all the time as part of everyday life, huh?

They're all in the waters of Nostos, from what I've seen.

From before I came to Nostos? [Ha ha...ha] Not exactly, no.

Damn. Well, good to know that anyway. So be careful in a ship, is what you're saying.

Lucky. Most people aren't, so I guess I got the short straw there.

[Back on topic, York.]

Anyway. You got a lookout posted?

Definitely. If you can get some sort of primitive sonar to wokr out there, you'd be golden.

[He points at a clocktower]

We've been using that for now. It's the highest point we can find.

I don't see why not. Dolphins and bats use it, right? Shouldn't be that hard to make it analog. [Good, another project to work on.]

All right, good. And I know at least one of the farms has a storm cellar - would be a good bolthole if there's anyone particularly vulnerable in your group. Unless you have somewhere else fortified, that is.

[He remembers that one because they'd hidden from the tornado there - and it had re-entered into the Insolitus.]

Then all the luck to you, if you can manage it.

You've been here before? [That surprises him]

Thanks.

[He nods.] Couple years ago, yeah. Had a regular working farm going on for a little while. Met Reno Browne out here, you know her?

We've met, a few times. Her group are pretty elusive. Unless they want to be found, they don't get found. Nice to know this place can function as a farm. We could really use it as a place to settle.

You know, that's not a bad idea at all, if we can get these aliens taken care of. We might even be able to trade some seed grain and livestock for future trading rights, if you want. That sort of thing's pretty easy to get. Or we could buy it, I suppose. Do you guys use Caisos?

We could certainly live with that, you're helping us more than enough to deserve it.

We do, though we rarely get near any towns to use them.

That's easy enough, then. I bet I know at least a few people who'd be willing to be traveling merchants, at least until you're self-sufficient here.

That would be fantastic, at least it's not that long of a journey, either. We'd have people who'd be more than happy to make the journey form here, too.

Sounds like a plan to me. We can probably hash out the specifics once we deal with the aliens, yeah?

[It would actually be really nice to have a non-hostile group of First Gens around. Ones who also weren't assholes. And if they could work out radio communication, they wouldn't even be bound to the journals to talk to them.]

Which reminds me. That radio you used, is it still in working condition?

Sounds like a plan.

[Someone who doesn't hate them for once, hooray]

We haven't been able to get it going yet. We don't even know what powered it in the first place. We took a long shot with it.

[York crosses his arms and stands with his feet set apart, a thinking pose for him.]

You know, there are some pretty primitive radios that don't need any kind of power to receive, aside from the radio waves itself. Crystal radios. And we have shortwave radios--that's what most people heard the broadcast on--which I bet we could power with the little crystals.

[He holds up Delta's Tamagotchi, which is clearly hardwired to a set of the small crystals he'd received from Flora.] I bet if you had something like this, it would be enough to power one of those radios enough to broadcast regularly.

It could be that, I mean, something had to have powered it, all the way out here.

[Brewer laughs] Jesus christ is that a Tamagotchi? I haven't seen one since I was home, some of my patients had them.

[Focus on the matter at hand, Gene] That could really work.

[York beams a grin at him. Finally, someone who recognizes it!]

It is, yeah! See, one of my best friends is an AI, but he doesn't like being left out when we all run off here. So this is a compromise. A bit cramped for him, but he can still hang around with us.

[Delta's figure on the screen waves in greeting.]

Anyway, yeah. You could set a broadcast antenna on the clock tower for better range, connect it to something like this. Voila - a link to civilization.

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