Denny:
The baby qweevil screeches at you through the glass.

Jolene:
Modia nods. "I have no record of qweevils using hormones or scent--my data shows they communicate through clicks. Perhaps you could record the sound of the youngling?"

She follows you to the computer. "My records on Mandate procedure are incomplete," she explains. "As for a qweevil's purpose..." She looks back to the baby, then back to you. "There was a different ecosystem when the Mandate first arrived hundreds of years ago. Animals that are now extinct--like the qwurm, for example. The qweevils may have been created to fill some role in the food chain..."

Quote from: Jo"I wish Alexsandr was here. I'd play it more cautious without him as I am not much support to you two," looking at Blinov & Denny.

Blinov wonders out loud if there might be some way to get cheap small camera robots to operate from a distance and search underground for the source of the earthquakes without putting the squishy party at personal risk.

[we need to find a way to leverage our skills since we don't have much combat muscle. I've got stealth for instance. Maybe it's time I started sneaking into places.]

There might not be anything like that available in Q-Town, but Denny, living in Jessup you've heard of specialty shops catering to the dome's generally more wealthy residents.

" There are robotic shops in Jessup, that kind of technology is commonly used in the farmin' ... Maybe we go to the concert a little early Tommorow and check into it"

[Ok guys, I really get the feeling sometimes we're all waiting around for someone else to be the leader. Well I don't like to be the leader, so if one of you two wants to I'll gladly follow, no need to worry about my feelings. If neither of you wants to lead then I'll do it for the team. Just let me know.]

[OOC: My apologies, I'm also running my own game as well. There's an ebb and flow to PbP, I've noticed. It's hard to manage the tempo from a GM standpoint, except to throw more shit upon the walls and watch what sticks. As a player analysis paralysis can set in from too many options.]

"The qwurm's now extinct, a different ecosystem than now... What reason does a qweevils serve here on Qetesh? Why bring 'em here? Knowing what type of hive creature this is, be it harvester or predator, will be useful..." Jolene slips into a less-dialect speech unconsciously. [Uses Research skill to find such answers. GM is free to roll for me.]

"I'm now interested if that X prototype might be a winner to sell to small farmers. But probably after this troubled farm business." Really unhappy realization comes over her, "We'll likely have to go back eventually to the farm and into the tunnels, won't we..."

Quote from: Opaopajr;786739"We'll likely have to go back eventually to the farm and into the tunnels, won't we..."

"Ready when you are," says Blinov, peeking at a Tarot card just in case.

" Ok then! We setup a trap for the qweevil queen and colony... I say we record the screechy click sound... I'm not no scy-in-tist, but i gather thats some kinda distress call cuz it don't feel much safe...we draw that queen out and then maybe we can collapse the tunnel or something so it can't just get back to the farm... How does that sound? Any yall got sum Xplosives? "

(OOC: Totally understandable. The sandboxyness compounds the analysis paralysis too!)

Jolene:
It's quite late now. Your research continues into the wee hours of the morning, poring over databases with Modia's help. The collated research covers all known reports on qweevil behavior and diet, the latter topic leading her to revelatory piece of information.

Though qweevils eat smaller bugs, vermin, and even soil particulates, they prefer plants of the Solanaceae family, which includes potatoes, eggplants, and tomatoes (such as those on the Amity Farm). Qweevils detest certain plants (like Apiaceae, for example--celery, carrots, parsley) and won't bother those crops. They have apparently been bred this way…

Hundreds of years ago when the creatures were imported here, they seem to have been used like a sort of dome-on-dome sabotage. Certain dome cities would thrive selling their crops to other worlds, and unleashed a plague of qweevil's directed to their enemy's yield.

"The Terran Mandate was advanced in many ways," Modia extols. "Yet even an artificial mind such as mine can discern base savagery when I see it. Many other worlds have gene-gineered species, but none for as petty a reason as this." You detect a slight tone of disgust in her usually cool synthetic voice.

After your research is finished, you can't stay awake any longer, and crash in your room. Everyone else save Spanner awakes before you.

Blinov and Denny:
At a certain point in the evening you are too tired to assist Jojo with her research. Besides playing with the qweevil baby, you don't have much to offer in the way of xenobiological study.

Blinov:
You flip open your Tarot deck. The images dances as you shuffle through and randomly select one. The last two you read were named after numbers of objects--luckily this one is straightforwardly labeled "The Magician". The hologram leaps off the card. A handsome young man in a sharp-looking suit is raising his right hand upwards, holding in it a strange device--a blinking rod with a slight green aura. His left hand is down at his side, palm towards you, and he's gesturing to the ground beneath him. He wriggles his eyebrows to you encouragingly, as if you totally know what he's getting at. He seems supremely confident, not just in himself, but you as well…

All of you:
Dr. Nadir has Modia rouse you and ask you to the central meeting room. Katie Amity has made coffee and is waiting for you at the table in the Central Hall.

(OOC: Here's a little something I've had a rough draft of for a while now! The Central Hall's table is the square in the middle--it's in a recessed area of the floor. There's a few shallow steps on all four sides leading down. There are chairs around the table but the steps are comfy to sit on too.)

Blinov tries to teach the qweevil baby to bob its head to a digital tune.

[love the map by the way Mr. Kent.]

[Let's move to the next scene soon. The tarot is telling me to stealth it up!]

"To breed and introduce a pest species to spite another's fortune... Well, if that ain't the fox calling sour the grapes he can't reach. Except he lights the vineyard afire on the way out," shakes her head.

Before sleep she's piecing together the facts as she knows in her tired brain. She's letting her intuitive, dreaming sense take over, letting her Perception pick up factoids floating in her head about Science and Pre- or Post- Tech. "Loves potatoes, tomatoes, & eggplant. Hates celery, carrots, & parsley. Did we humans ever grow such plants together... zzzz zzzz."
---------------

"A critter that digs tunnels well, runs from heavy vibration, and doesn't like certain veggies. And made by man to sabotage his neighbor's farm. If that don't beat all." An image of draping her vac suit in parsley, like a green shaggy dog, makes Jolene laugh, then stop from pain. "Ow, my head. I need a better night's sleep, and less drinking, before riskin' life and limb next time."

Sobering up a touch before her mirror at that last bit, "If there is a next time."

Denny

Denny Zombie walks into the Meeting area, grabs a cup of Joe, and sits next to Miss Amity

"Next time you wake me up this early Modia..."

Apparently the coffe hasn't set in yet because this is all he says

Blinov:
The qweevil baby doesn't seem to dig the rocking beats and rhythmic vibration of the year 3200! It wiggles its head and tries to flee, then curls into a tight little ball. Much like the vibrations emanating from QTown, the bass on your music is driving the qweevil nuts!

Denny:
Modia looks at you, holding up her hands. "It wasn't my idea!" she says defensively. So lifelike…

All:
Dr. Nadir emerges from his room in his wheelchair, assisted by Dr. Ling. "Marshall Greene of Q-Town dropped me a line." Nadir wheezes. "Something involving an investigation? I really haven't been keeping up with the recent news."

Dr. Ling wheels Nadir carefully down the shallow steps to the table. "Relax," she tells him brusquely. "You'll agitate your condition..."

"He sounds like he wants to purchase our services, because when I told him you'd be in Jessup all day he said he'd send someone to meet you there. But…isn't that out of his jurisdiction? Well, never mind. Send a message to this QNet address if you are available to meet him today."

Spanner makes sure your O2 tanks are full, but the five hour trip west to the Jessup dome leaves you each with a single hour of oxygen left. Before you leave you'll need to purchase a refill. "Have fun guys," the young mechanic cheers. He hints to you that he'd like to get to know Katie Amity. Since she's stuck away from home he figures he'll keep her company--you all know he's not the sort to overstep boundaries, however.

At the end of your long trip, the glistening Jessup dome appears over the arid dunes. From a distance it looks shorter but wider, with more offshoot domes and outlying plantations. If any dome has a claim to take the title of planetary capitol from QTown, Jessup is it. At the southern edge you see a construction site. Is this where Jessup is placing their private port?

OOC: What does my Jessup Culture tell me about the private port going in

Denny:
Jessup being a collection of wealthy plantations, it is basically run by several large old-money families with a lot of clout--you and Dad were promptly informed of this upon your arrival there. However, the First Municipality of Qetesh (which most know as Q-Town) was established first and already has a sizable functional spaceport. Jessup has to use Q-Town's port to ship its crops, which irks the ruling families to no end.

Thus, Jessup has begun to build its own port on the southern side of the dome. It's not powered or O2-sealed yet, but the basic skeleton is there. Newsun-Matsuri Energy Concern has offered to subsidize the effort.

(OOC: Rookie, tell me about who took over Denny's Dad's business--which wealthy Jessup dynasty swooped in and took over the shop?)