Anthony Edward Stark (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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consignment2015-07-19 05:20 am
runsonbatteries) wrote in consignment2015-07-19 05:20 am
Day 147 (Audio + Text)
CALLING: STARK, ANTHONY
Assuming all of you remember back on Aqada when we had Russian blasting on the sound speakers. It was all ominous, for a while? Like being immersed in a Joseph McCarthy fever dream after watching Dr. Strangelove?
Right. Me and two very lovely assistants tried to stick a pin in the source, which unfortunately, we didn't get. Little hitch with a planar anomaly happening between Aqada's universe and another one--think of it like a wormhole. [No audible change in his tone there, though there is an unnatural break in the current of his word vomit.] Or a shortcut between space and time. The foreign signals were coming in through that, and then hiding inside the local frequencies from Aqada's towers.
The good news is we figured out something with the numbers. ...If one of you would like to chime in, at any point.
What, it is my turn now?
Unless you'd rather pass it over to Bucky, or my imaginary friend. Or just Bucky. That'd be good.
[A bit of an impatient sound is heard. That's Bucky. He identified the numbers that 'don't count' which lead to the realization that they're coordinates, not a message. But he doesn't want to explain anything in this message, assuming these two could handle it.]
Good point. They are places. Locations. Coordinates. Some numbers, they are distractions, do not count. Some actually mean something.
Pipe up, Bucky, you're being recorded.
[Silence.]
Because no one understands neolithic grunting.
[Bucky kicks Tony's chair over and addresses their third member.] Send out the coordinates, Niko.
FROM: [email protected]
17 1 8 | 10 42 12
2 4 6 | 20 4 8
29 15 19 | 16 23 42
3 2 1 | 06 15 04
0 9 21 | 15 1 15
44 11 43 | 22 24 19
33 11 22 | 04 02 09
48 4 8 | 1 10 1
20 16 13 | 2 22 22
17 19 23 | 30 33 30
6 8 29 | 6 9 42
[A couple seconds after Niko sends the text, Bucky doesn't waste time wrapping this up.] The coordinates meant nothing before. But on this planet, they point to these locations.
[Bucky now sends a text of his own.]
FROM: [email protected]
Tchirozerine, Niger
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Libya
Gulf of Guinea
Congo
A section of road in Strada Valea Cernei, Romania
Algeria
A parking lot in Pellerin, France
Algeria, near the border of Mali
Sudan, on the edge of the Saraha desert
Delta, Nigeria
[To Tony, mainly:] Are we done?
[A sharp hiss of air being drawn into lungs and then Tony's voice:] What Binky said. Those of you that came from earth--one of the many earths--this should be looking very familiar by now.
[OOC: I forgot to make a note of this late last night, but everyone feel free to thread-jack and hop around to discuss things with other characters, if you want. Spread the ideas and the CR!]
Assuming all of you remember back on Aqada when we had Russian blasting on the sound speakers. It was all ominous, for a while? Like being immersed in a Joseph McCarthy fever dream after watching Dr. Strangelove?
Right. Me and two very lovely assistants tried to stick a pin in the source, which unfortunately, we didn't get. Little hitch with a planar anomaly happening between Aqada's universe and another one--think of it like a wormhole. [No audible change in his tone there, though there is an unnatural break in the current of his word vomit.] Or a shortcut between space and time. The foreign signals were coming in through that, and then hiding inside the local frequencies from Aqada's towers.
The good news is we figured out something with the numbers. ...If one of you would like to chime in, at any point.
What, it is my turn now?
Unless you'd rather pass it over to Bucky, or my imaginary friend. Or just Bucky. That'd be good.
[A bit of an impatient sound is heard. That's Bucky. He identified the numbers that 'don't count' which lead to the realization that they're coordinates, not a message. But he doesn't want to explain anything in this message, assuming these two could handle it.]
Good point. They are places. Locations. Coordinates. Some numbers, they are distractions, do not count. Some actually mean something.
Pipe up, Bucky, you're being recorded.
[Silence.]
Because no one understands neolithic grunting.
[Bucky kicks Tony's chair over and addresses their third member.] Send out the coordinates, Niko.
FROM: [email protected]
17 1 8 | 10 42 12
2 4 6 | 20 4 8
29 15 19 | 16 23 42
3 2 1 | 06 15 04
0 9 21 | 15 1 15
44 11 43 | 22 24 19
33 11 22 | 04 02 09
48 4 8 | 1 10 1
20 16 13 | 2 22 22
17 19 23 | 30 33 30
6 8 29 | 6 9 42
[A couple seconds after Niko sends the text, Bucky doesn't waste time wrapping this up.] The coordinates meant nothing before. But on this planet, they point to these locations.
[Bucky now sends a text of his own.]
FROM: [email protected]
Tchirozerine, Niger
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Libya
Gulf of Guinea
Congo
A section of road in Strada Valea Cernei, Romania
Algeria
A parking lot in Pellerin, France
Algeria, near the border of Mali
Sudan, on the edge of the Saraha desert
Delta, Nigeria
[To Tony, mainly:] Are we done?
[A sharp hiss of air being drawn into lungs and then Tony's voice:] What Binky said. Those of you that came from earth--one of the many earths--this should be looking very familiar by now.
[OOC: I forgot to make a note of this late last night, but everyone feel free to thread-jack and hop around to discuss things with other characters, if you want. Spread the ideas and the CR!]
no subject
So, on the offchance that we're not from Earth. What do those places mean to you, are they connected? Aside from all being part of this planet, of course.
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Many of them are nowhere near here. Romania is not so far from where I was born. All of these are on different continents with most of them being in Africa. They will be difficult to reach.
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A parking lot in France.
It's worth another look, I guess. Most of these seem to be in north and central Africa. All of these hit land?
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Only two hit Europe. It stands out. And I am not sure. With the rising water levels, even some that are meant to may not any longer.
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Sounds like a field trip.
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A pretty big one, too.
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You gentlemen have been busy.
I recognize some of those areas but only as names from very old books in my Earth's history. Do we know if they're accessible here?
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They're between 9,015 and 15,932 kilometers from here.
[Roughly.]
FROM: [email protected]
Accessible depending on mode of transportation.
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And what are the chances we'll be allowed the free time to go on a mystery treasure hunt we picked up from our pocket dimension purgatory?
[ and maybe he's a little concerned that what they find will be something they're not supposed to know. ]
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If all else fails, someone can stay behind and create a distraction while the rest of us get on a life raft and head east.
[If it weren't ridiculous, it still wouldn't be a serious plan just because he's broadcasting it on the public network where Honey can see it.]
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audio because fuck texting
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As lovely as this is to know that these places exist in an alternate space and time, I get the distinct feeling these are targets, or at least somewhere crucial to a more nefarious operation.
FROM: [email protected]
Any plans with these coordinates or are they just a welcoming gift?
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Closure, for one. An end to Nancy Drew and the Case of the Random Numbers. And I can come to terms with working together as a team if it reaps more ideas.
FROM: [email protected]
For example, it's hard to say you're wrong when they went through so much trouble to throw us off.
inbox
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inbox
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Audio
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Good job boys.
FROM: [email protected]
Would Bucky like to do the math of an estimated sea level rise relative to his present day Earth sea level? That can be used as a point of reference to gauge what locations could be under water now.
FROM: [email protected]
My vote goes for checking Africa first. Who's to say the European locations aren't red herrings too? Besides, from experience... Africa makes more sense.
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They should all be suspicious. I have done enough smuggling through Romania to know it is not a walk in the park, either.
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Actually it brings up a few more questions. Why send the numbers specifically in Russian? After all how many people speak or understand it without the translators? Also, why coordinates for Earth? What were the chances of us coming here after Aqada?
And of course the still unanswered, who sent them?
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My guess is that they used stock sounds. Numbers stations use numbers that are prerecorded, no one would have to use their voice. I do not know how so many were not able to understand them.
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[Inboxed]
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I always did enjoy treasure hunts. But no information at all on where the numbers came from in the first place, really?
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Not yet. Whoever was sending them went through a lot of effort to hide their origin.
FROM: [email protected]
And not just calling from a different phone or putting tissue paper on the mouthpiece.
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I still can't think why our translators wouldn't decipher those numbers. Anyway, them being in an earth language probably means whoever sent them was human, right?
FROM: [email protected]
Or aliens who've spent a lot of time with humans, but the simplest answer is just humans.
[Hoofbeats, zebras, etc. If Tali knew what zebras even were.]
FROM: [email protected]
Us getting the audio data can't be a coincidence. Somebody meant us to understand this and go to these places. Is it really a good idea to just...go?
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And sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one.
[He's starting to sense a bit of a theme given the high number of humans that they also had enlisted in the crew.]
FROM: [email protected]
It's not like being here even gives us the luxury to just take a week off to go to France.
FROM: [email protected]
And I'm the last person that should tell people what to do on this.
FROM: [email protected]
But the opposite end of that question is what will happen if we just pretend the broadcast never happened.
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I found a set of video discs on Aqada.
FROM: [email protected]
This arcane numerical bullshit reminds me of the fantastical island they all found themselves stranded on.
FROM: [email protected]
Are we living an episode of LOST? I feel like we are.
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So neither one of us will be surprised when a black cloud monster appears.
FROM: [email protected]
Would you be cool with sharing these tapes?
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I can't say I know Africa well, but. Aren't those all places that might be underwater already?
FROM: [email protected]
Mehedinți at least would be, I'd think- the Iron Gates wouldn't help at all with this sort of disaster.
[Living in Romania has never paid off before now...]
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This is a concern I have as well. But since one location is already underwater, another thought I had was floating cities, or something similar.
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You solved the puzzle. Well done.
I look forward to seeing the state of the rest of this Earth.
[ now to stare at these locations and try to find a connection between them... ]
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I am sure it will get boring and monotonous after a while.
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If these places are worth checking, how do we decide who goes to which, and when?
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We'll start doing that when it's absolutely certain that we'll be going anywhere.
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How's any of this even possible, though? How can we be on some fucked up version of Earth? Did we time travel or something?
[ Being trapped on some random planet in space is weird enough, and Eggsy had been working to ignore all the similarities to his own home. But this spells it out in such clear letters that he's uncomfortable. ]
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Time is relative and dependent on gravity and flux capacitors made from stolen plutonium.
FROM: [email protected]
But we're probably not even in the same universe as the earth that you know or came from.
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Nice coincidence.
[ That they happen to match up to coordinates for their current planet. Still leaves the question of who sent them out.
Unfortunately, he doesn't have much else to add. Good work, guys. ]
Straight to inbox
Everyone is pushing to go after this damn thing.
[Posing it like that first, in order to gauge what Steve thinks.]