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TooManySecrets
2011-03-02, 12:35 AM
REWIND (IC THREAD)
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4716/rewind.png

If you could travel through time, what's the first thing you would do?


When you became part of the Continuum, you became part of something far bigger than yourself. The very fabric of the universe was revealed to you and it seemed like everything changed.

It's weird. You don't remember anything of your initiation. From what Landshoff - your mentor and nominal leader of the of the Corner - has told you, it's because it's rather unpleasant. Learning how to Span to the point that it comes as naturally as walking is probably something you don't want to remember. Your memory goes up to being Invited, of seeing that the Continuum wasn't joking (probably by talking with an Elder), and then waking up.

Despite all the changes, you still go to work every day. Landshoff says it's because it builds discipline and helps you keep track of Level time. Plus, it keeps it from being obvious that something happened.

One of the first things you learned was how to set up meeting times. If you thought that getting people together normally is hard, it's much harder when those people might not even be in the Level!

The date is February 11, 2006. It's a Sunday, just shy of 11 AM. Every Sunday is your Corner's meeting time. The first meeting was January 7th, so it's been a month of Level time, though the subjective time has been more or less than that. Landshoff's house has been the meeting place for every meeting so far - he has a hidden room with no windows or doors, which isn't much of a barrier when you can Span. The house itself is a small little nondescript house in the suburbs of New York, not far from the city.

You haven't really been doing all that much out of the ordinary so far. Landshoff said he wanted you to get used to Spanning first, but you have a feeling that this meeting will be different.


_/ _/ _/ _/ _/

You arrive within seconds of 11AM at Landshoff's meeting room. The room itself is pretty comfortable - lots of deep couches, a few color-coded fridges with drinks and snacks, indirect lighting, off-white textured wallpaper with an intricate design, and a large, low table in the center of the room.

Landshoff is already seated and he has 4 manila folders in front of him. He smiles when you Span in.

Landshoff is a big man. Lots of muscles and a few scars on his face. He mostly wears loose-fitting clothing. Today it's khakis and a loose black t-shirt. He always speaks in a low-voice and is always polite, though you detect some iron before the tone.

"Come in everybody! Today is quite the red-letter day."

Ditto
2011-03-02, 10:08 AM
Jeff plops down onto one of the couches and eyes the folders curiously. His typical zip-up hoodie and jeans outfit are on display, the perfect camouflage for his station in this present as a current college student. Comfy, too, which is never a minus. ”What’s news, Landshoff?”

TooManySecrets
2011-03-02, 01:44 PM
"Today is the day that we start your proper training." He leans back, picking up one of the folders. "You already know how to Span, but you haven't really learned the subtleties of it. So that's what you're going to do."

He takes a picture of a green rock of some sort (http://www.amnh.org/science/papers/images/jade_slab_320.jpg) - jade, you suppose - and holds it up. "Sometime between now and May, this piece of jade will be stolen from the American Museum of Natural History. It weighs in at just a bit over 55 pounds, which means that at current market price it's worth about $1,584,000. The price of jade has been rising since early 2000 and it's going to continue to rise for quite a while, though I doubt the thieves know that."

Landshoff puts the picture back and gives everyone a manila folder, keeping one for himself. "You're to find out who stole the jade and bring the jade back here, at the next meeting."

Ditto
2011-03-02, 05:00 PM
Opening up the folder, Jeff leafs through it to see what else is in the dossier. I wonder why the timing is vague. It seems like it would be easy to pinpoint when a large artifact went missing... "Why do we suspect spanner involvement? Have we checked later Up news reports to see if the authorities learn anything about the theft?"

DukeGod
2011-03-03, 02:12 PM
Brendan comes from his home, with face of someone who clearly just woke up and trying to remenber when he went asleep...he got nothing. He remenbered Saturday being the birthday of some friend of his so he probably ended up in some crazy party. Checking a newspaper that someone threw away, he sees the date. Well it was surely Sunday, so he should go to Landhoff's house

Barely arriving in time, he gives a "hi" to everyone. Sitting in his usual spot of the couch, he takes a look at the jade, and remains quiet for some time before picking a folder and taking a read

"He doesn't suspect of Spanners I think. The training here is that we are supposed to Up or Down, get information on the jade and only them go to the time where they stole it and grab it from the thieves..."

He looks at Landhoff, waiting confirmation on wether he was right or not. Taking his eyes to his folder he notices that reading was a little too much right now, some of the hangover had to go first so he asks Landhoff for some coffee...

Ditto
2011-03-03, 04:32 PM
Jeff weighs Brendan’s theory for a moment, trying it out, then says, “But why would we be involved, then? People steal things all the time, that’s what the police are for. I’d assume anything we’re getting involved in has more serious implications. More serious implications that can only be caused by time traveler involvement. Right? If it was something natural, we aren’t equipped to handle that kind of issue.” He returns to the folder and scans the pages quickly to see if any of the questions are already addressed in the briefing.

DaedalusMkV
2011-03-03, 05:44 PM
David arrives a minute after the other two, most likely as a result of his natural inclination to avoid Spanning when possible in favor of Levelling. He looks around, surreptitiously checks his watch, then says, "Sorry for being late. I was helping my neice with her homework and we went a little bit over-time. I didn't think it was worth Spanning over..." As usual, David is dressed in dark, formal pants and jacket, a result of the toll over a decade of FBI dress requirements has taken on his wardrobe. After hearing Landshoff's announcement, David grins and grabs one of the folders on the desk. "Well, a test, is it? A bit outside of my expertise, solving a crime before it happens, but I think I can make it work."

"I don't think they'd send agents as junior as us after a criminal Spanner, would they? This isn't a real Continuum mission, it's more like a graduation exam, it seems to me. We can Span, of course, but Landshoff wants to make sure that we figure out how to use it properly. We're being asked to do this not because it's a situation only Continuum can deal with, but because the mission as it's been presented to us could only be completed by a Continuum agent. We have a week to solve a crime that hasn't happened yet without preventing the crime. Who but a Spanner could hope to do so?" After this short speech, the FBI agent pauses to open the envelope and begins reading through anything inside. "My question is, why must we wait until next week's meeting to deliver the results? It seems to me, there's no reason we can't have this finished by... Well, five seconds after we Span out of here, objective time. I've got places to be this week, and you know how much I hate going Gemini. Is the completion time set in stone?"

TooManySecrets
2011-04-01, 06:33 PM
"Brendan is right. There's no Spanner, Narcissist or otherwise, involved here. I'm not going to throw you to the wolves on your first, well, let's call it 'mission'. It's just a bunch of Leveler crooks."

He looks at Jeff. "As for why you're getting involved, let's just call it my little secret for now."

"And you're partially right, David. I wouldn't term it a 'graduation exam', but I do want to make sure that you can work together as a team before you try to face down even Narcissist dregs. That's also why we're meeting next week instead of you guys just spanning out of here willy-nilly."

Landshoff looks around with a serious look in his eye. "So far I've insulated you from a lot of the dangers of Spanning. However, out there, one small mistake can erase you from existence and that's when somebody isn't gunning for you. Discipline is key, and part of that is keeping to a plan."

"Any more questions?"

DaedalusMkV
2011-04-04, 12:34 AM
David stops to think for a moment, then replies. "Yeah, I've got one. We're supposed to find out who the thief is, but you haven't instructed us on what to do with him. Are we supposed to capture him, turn him in to the police or just leave him completely alone?"

DukeGod
2011-04-05, 11:30 PM
"Whatever we want I guess, as long as we get the jade here"

Looking at Landhoff once everyone has made their questions he goes for his really minor one

"Can I get some coffee?"
(Changed my text color to not get confuse with Ditto's)

Ditto
2011-04-07, 03:06 PM
"I think it definitely makes a difference - which is why I was curious about the reason we're going after the jade, if there's no spanner involvement. I want to make sure we don't frag anything. If these mundane crooks stole a mundane artifact, then good for them. We're not time-travelling cops.

"Either way - I think the first step would be to gather some intel by popping a few months Up from the theft and seeing what the authorities have pieced together. That'll give us the date of the theft, so we can track it from there. I assume we have to steal it from the stealers, rather than be steal it ourselves before they get to it."


((That navy color was perfectly distinct from my bright blue, you're welcome to keep it if you like it better. :smallsmile: ))