The Triple First Control Room

As we left our soon to be time traveling heroes, on the island of Ibeza. They had just entered the Tardis (excuse me Triple First) and were starring in awe at the wondrous technology. Luke Hansen had just blown on a pinwheel and set off the Bacon release mechanism in the refrigerator, attracting the attention of the bathing Romana. "Matt" was looking about the ship trying to impress Luke with his high tech futuristic ways, while being equally boggled by Time Lord technology.

Now begin....

OOC: Going to post what I believe was Mathek's last action. I don't recall the pinwheel or bacon so that must have happened just before the site went down?

IC: Mathek studied each part of the console, guessing at what each part did. Some of it he could make educated guesses, others didn't seem to serve any purpose at all.

"Shiny" he said, looking at a particularly polished round sphere half sticking up from the console. There was a smudge on it, and he half moved to wipe it when he considered Romana's words. As a scientist, he could imagine the horror he'd feel if someone wiped one of his instruments without the proper material. He dug into a pocket, wondering if he had his lens cloth still with him.

~Mathek~

Luke was distracted by the bacon that suddenly fell out of the refrigerator. That was damn odd timing. He almost felt like his moving the pinwheel made the well preserved pork fall out. That was ridiculous of course, but it almost felt cause and effect like.

He shook off the absurd notion and looked to what Matt was doing. He was very meticulously examining a piece of machinery. "So what do you think that does?" he asked the alleged alien.

-Luke Hansen

Mathek's eyes lit up as he found the cloth.

"Aha, it's a good thing I have a habit of putting things into my pockets, rather than back where they belong!" he said to the console.

"Hmm?" he replied to Luke. "Oh, it appears to be an exterior camera revolving system control. Applying a light spin can switch between various exteriors cameras. Very useful in a ship such as this without any exterior windows." He lightly wiped at the smudge, but it didn't disappear.

This instrument doesn't appear well kept, that is no simple smudge! he thought to himself. Frowning, he applied a bit of gentle force.

Luke knew they were told not to touch anything. Ok, he had already broken that rule, but who can not blow a pinwheel? And Matt here apparently was an alien fromt he future and knew about these sort of things. He watched as the odd man in the spacesuit worked the control.

"Just out of curiosity, why are you on Earth? This isn't an invasion or something, right." Luke realized how stupid the comment sounded after he said it, but what else do you say when standing in an impossible box with someone from another planet.

-Luke Hansen

Mathek pulled the cloth away, but the smudge was still there. He frowned deeply. Something definitely wasn't right with that control! It took a second before he processed Luke's question.

"Hmm? Ah, the age-old question! Why are any of us here?"

He bowed a bit. "I am but a humble scientist, looking for the oddities of the universe." He straightened back up and looked around at his surroundings with a huge grin. "And I'd say I've hit the motherlode!"

He went back to working at the smudge, but he was definitely amused at the idea of an invasion.

"Most species that have tried to invade Earth have found it not as easy as they'd think. That's beside the fact I'd have no need to invade Earth, considering humans already live on it."

He looked up as he rubbed. "Are YOU planning on invading Earth?"

~Mathek~

Luke was equally puzzled by both statements. First that there would be humans outside of earth, second that Matt would think he wasn't from Earth.

"I'm from here. Well at least Santa Barbara over in the States. Wait, you are human? I had no idea we would be out in space. Little grey guys, sure, but humans? Wow!"

-Luke Hansen

Mathek nodded, but looked puzzled.

"Yes, the Human empire is spread throughout the Tri-Galactic. Hmm, haven't you colonized Mars yet? With the level of pollution here, I can't imagine it is pleasant to live on Earth. Not quite as crowded as the Earth of my time, of course, but way more polluted."

Mathek looked up from what he was doing and thought, tapping on his forehead. "No, no, I guess you haven't yet, have you?" he said looking at Luke. "Sorry, history wasn't really my best subject in school. Still a few decades off before you reach Mars, aren't you?"

He considered for a moment.

"Eh, sorry, forget I said all that. I'm kind of new to temporal travel. Don't want to pollute the time stream. May find myself disappearing from existence or some such!"

He grinned at Luke.

"You can actually do that?" Luke replied in a dumbfounded voice, while staring at his hand to see if he might suddenly fade away like something out of Back to the Future. Still seemed pretty solid.

"Where did our host get off to?" he remarked.

-Luke Hansen

Mathek shrugged. "Like I said, I'm new to time travel. I'd assume one can rewrite history if not careful. It has always been a hot topic when temporal physics was discussed amongst my colleagues. Imagine the havoc that could be sown if that ability was put into the wrong hands!"

He glanced to where Romana had disappeared when Luke mentioned she was still missing.

"Not that we've got any kind of time machine in operation, yet. Too many variables, too many unknowns. Something so dangerous should not be guessed at. More data is needed first."

Mathek tapped on his scope.

"That's what I'm doing, studying naturally occurring temporal windows. Although I would never have expected one to actually pull anyone through."

He sighed. "Hopefully this vessel can return me to my ship."

Now he was facing where Romana had left.

"Perhaps we should go look for her?"

"That might be a good idea about now." The mistress of the vessel had left bumbling monkeys running through her control room long enough. The vast maze of hallways now stretched out in all directions. "Ummm... which way do we go?"

-Luke Hansen

Mathek wasn't sure. He hadn't seen which way the woman had gone, he was so enamored with the console room. However, he was nothing if not methodical.

"I couldn't even begin to guess. I suppose we should pick a direction and keep heading the same way."

~Mathek~

Since Matt seemed to be a bit more comfortable in this environment, Luke swept his are down a pathway. "Lead on sir."

-Luke Hansen

Mathek walked down the left most corridor, keeping to the left when they reached another junction. This corridor ended at a room. Opening the door revealed a broom closet. Undaunted, the man backtracked to the junction, taking another left at still another junction. This time the corridor continued, but had doors in either side of the hall.

Opening the left most door, they were treated to a vast room containing a football pitch.

"Oh my, this could take a while," Mathek responded.

~Mathek~

Luke followed along behind Matt as he chose a direction. Doubling back, Luke began to shake his head. This was worse than the Winchester Mystery House. "I get the whole bigger on the inside thing, but this is getting ridiculous.... Let's try in here." Luke randomly yanked open a door in the corridor.

-Luke Hansen

The door opened to reveal Romana, now clad in a light white sleeveless dress that went down to her knees and a large sunhat.

"Internal configuration's gone totally funny", she said, "Going to have to fix that".

- Romana

Mathek was slightly startled. He didn't expect the woman to be standing there. But he was happy to see her - he wasn't relishing the thought of the tedium of opening hundreds of doors.

"This is a marvelous vessel. How is the pocket dimension kept stable?" He had many other questions, but he figured he'd start small.

~Mathek~

Jason Andersen wrote:Mathek was slightly startled. He didn't expect the woman to be standing there. But he was happy to see her - he wasn't relishing the thought of the tedium of opening hundreds of doors.

"This is a marvelous vessel. How is the pocket dimension kept stable?" He had many other questions, but he figured he'd start small.

~Mathek~

"With intense difficulty", Romana replied as she walked over towards the console in her sandalled feet. She checked some readings and then noticed something on the screen.

"Luke", she said, "I'm noting a second time-travel signature. Did you, like, come with anyone?"

- Romana

OOC: I'm taking over as GM temporarily as Euan is busy.

- Silent

Luke stood silently watching Romana. Light fabrics certainly worked well on her. His more instinctual thought processes eclipsed the awe, curiosity and slight terror at being inside a massive alien spacecraft that made little sense. He was certainly a man of the twentieth century. Her comment shook him from his gawking.

"Umm...Me? I'm just with Raquel, but she should be headed back to the hotel by now, or some other bar..."

-Luke Hansen

"Sorry", Romana replied, "I meant Martek".

- GM

OOC: As did I. My mistake.

OOC: Heh. I know, just messing with it.

Mathek wasn't happy with the dismissal. She had been avoiding his questions since he met her. It wasn't like he hadn't study temporal physics - he knew what he was talking about. Yet she treated him like... well, like he was from this time period. A primitive.

"Mathek," he corrected. "Maaathek," he repeated, drawing out the first vowel, despite it being unnecessary.

You'd think these people had never heard a common name before! he thought to himself. Well, the woman is a different species, so he could forgive that. Could also be why she avoided his questions.

"Ah, no. I don't think anyone else came with me. Of course, it was your ship who brought me here. It's possible it pulled someone else from the time stream."

~Mathek~

"Whatevveeerrrr", Romana replied to Mathek's name correction, "Then we've got some interloper who isn't here and might well be causing trouble. This could range from importing advanced alien technology to Iran, nicking all seven of the Mona Lisas or t-p-ing the White House. Sorry, that last one was the Doctor".

She reached for the door release and the doors of the time machine popped open.

- Romana

OOC: I also got Mathek's name wrong...

Mathek looked depressed. They hadn't nearly spent enough time in the ship - he had so many things yet to discover! Now the pilot wanted to go back to the beach...

"Mind if I grab something to eat first?" he asked, headed for the refrigerator. Maybe his hunger would buy him some time.

~Mathek~

"Make it quick", Romana replied, "If my calculations are correct - and they generally are, we're in a lot of trouble".

- Romana/Temp GM