After a short while of flying - the Moldy Crow is considerably faster than your average Class C dropship - the now-familiar landscape of the Pit's edge fast approaches below. The Academy, many crystals of varying sizes, and evidence of the somewhat graceless landing that Ralexand was earlier forced into are all visible.

The sun is starting to approach the horizon now, but with its slow pace there are several hours of light left in the day.

B-Gev looks out the window to the Academy.

"I'm coming girl...i'm coming..."

B-Gev continues to drink some rum he brought with him.

Ralexand - still flying - turns his head to the others and says:" Okay, just tell me where and when I have to land..."

"Over there, near that small incline, I left some recording devices there, also that is where there were a lot of the brighter crystals. I'm not sure if you have enough room to land though."

There's nowhere in the Pit itself to land, but there's a suitable flat spot right at the edge.

"Okay, I can see a suitable flat spot right at the edge. Maybe we should land there...."

[i LoL'ed at that!]
"you will have to return to the air when we will finally attempt to remove the crystal, so closer is better"

[how shall i land closer, if there is nothing to land :wacko: , sry, but it's a bit confusing ^^]

(Can Moldy Crow keep itself in the air just above the place with crystals - you know, the engine is still on, but the ship's only a few meters above the land? Then you could just go down the ropes on land and return after that on the ship.)

(Or you could land next to the Pit, go grab what you need, then take off for the final part of the extraction.)

[that's the idea, but David doesn't know the closest space to land, he didn;t magically hear what jagori just said.]

"Well good sir, you just need to get us down, as long as you can hover, we have a clear way to extract the crystal. but we need to excavate one first, and I need to get my recording equipment first, we might learn some of these creatures that have proven to be an obstacle of our motley crew"

(Look at the Ralexand's post just BELOW Jagori's... See now? :rolleyes:)

"If ya guys need me for anything i'm here!"

[the problem is....David wants to get stuff and I shall land....Jagori said there is a place...and ralexand sees that place, because he isn't blind :P. And yes, the moldy crow can stand in the air :D]

"Okay, I will try to land near your recording equipment...but I can't see a good place...maybe we have to walk a bit or I will stand in the air and you are roping to the ground? I will try to fly so close as possible to the ground"

(Just say what you want to do, JFSOCC)

the prospect of roping down isn't attractive to David, considering his large fear of heights. but he will have to go down that cliff again too.

"No, please just set us down near the edge. Sabre, will you come with me?" then to the MiB "You gentlemen will also be required."

Sabre nods his agreement, and the men their acknowledgement.

"Okay, I will land as near as possible"

And Ralexand lands at this flat spot.

[I hope that's okay]

After the ship touches down, the workers look at David, waiting for his lead.

[and David is tired of giving lead to only 3 people in this thread, and suggests we put it on hold at least until someone else replies again]

"Ok You four, carry the excavation equipment, Sabre, will you secure the ropes? we need to identify a complete crystal down this ramp which has enough room to safely extract without damaging it."

David makes his way outside, gives some direction, a rope gets secured, and the people make their way down. after biting back his fear of heights, David closes the group.

"all right, you gentlemen (looks at the four MiB) have been instructed what to look for, Sabre and I will go out and retrieve the recording equipment. Denden, if you care to join us, you might give us some help considering your expertise with the camera"

[I won't reply again until at least some more people are posting again. this isn't a singleplayer game.]

^Order away!

(sorry I had other concerns these days ;) )

After getting down,Matthew starts to look for a suitable crystal. "When I get home...I'll throw out every purple colored stuff I find..." he says.

"an understandable sentiment," David says "but you should know that in the past it was considered the colour of wisdom, even power. Ancient wise men, possibly the first wizards, would dress in purple robes, signifying their wealth and wisdom. these robes were very expensive, as they had to be dyed using a colour obtained from a difficult to get to sea creature, called the Hexaplex Trunculus, this meant that the robes were very costly. I must say that therefore purple still is my favourite colour"

[And, yes, that's why it's my favourite colour]

"so basically, it is all in the meaning you give to it, while for you it means that you will be reminded of our rather unpleasant stay here, I'm still reminded of the wisdom of the ancient world"

The MiB start prepping the gear.

Matthew: there's no shortage of crystals here. After a bit of looking, you find several in relatively good condition, varying from baseball sized to nearly as tall as yourself. There are some bigger ones, but they're broken and not glowing.

Denden nods, and replies to David. "Yes, I'll go with you. The more information we can gather about this, the better."

"I just thought of something guys. When we find the Beluga, how are gonna keep it a secret from the Syndicate...I mean...if we say that we have it, their gonna confiscate it from us! That I will NOT allow!"

"Since if we'd do that, you would never forgive us..." Matthew grins "No,I don't think so."

"you talk as if they will ever know we got it. we will be dead officially then, remember?"

[yay I nodded ^_^ Anyway, since my new subject at the university has left me with way to much time(it's so frikkin' easy), I'll catch up soon]

"Ahh yes indeed! Right then mates! Let's get some crystal thingies and head for my....errr our booty!"

B-Gev feels in his bag for Ninkobra's map; it's there. If B-Gev can get the Beluga AND the map back to Silver, he'll be one pleased, if drunken, pirate!

Ralexand is curious about that cristals. "Okay, I want to see this strange cristals too, so I will follow you."

[well ralexand, they are all around, but we are looking for a clean complete crystal that is still glowing]

David arrives at where he left his recording equipment, although a bit more dusty, it doesn't seem damaged, so the images should come back clear. David points Denden to the equipment.

"Now let us see if there is anything we missed here" David links his PDA to the equipment, after a while the date is completely loaded. he then proceeds to send a copy to base, and a copy to 'Poppa', requesting to get some results back as soon as possible.

David hands his PDA to Denden "here, you seem to be very experienced with imaging techniques, perhaps you can link this to your camera, otherwise, just have a look, see if you can find something interesting"

David wonders if the others have found a suitable crystal yet.

[anyway, I just want to follow :P ]

Ralexand: If you're checking out crystals along with / like Matthew, you'll find the same thing he did.

Denden takes a look at the PDA. There's some footage of the group themselves on the way in and out, but other than that, there's absolutely nothing moving in view. "Well, it doesn't look like you caught anything weirder than we've already seen."

Sabre speaks up. "The two who tried to stay the night here mentioned some sort of creatures that came out after dark. I wonder if they're the same as the one we encountered."

Denden thinks a moment, looks at David, and says, "Yeah, we might find something more interesting if we make observations overnight. I'm not too keen on running into a swarm of those things, though, so what would you say to leaving this set up overnight?"


The MiB stand in a group out of earshot from the three, and when the conversation is done, one of them approaches David and speaks up. "Sir, the extractor is prepared. Has a crystal or crystals been selected for us to retrieve?"

Matthew picks up a small, unglowing crystal. He begins juggling with it, throwing it up-and catching it before it falls. He then holds the crystal like Hamlet did with the skull. He looks at it, smiles, and says "Where did you come from?"

Ralexand grins: "I'm sure the cristal isn't very communicative."

(Heh, poor Yorick :P)

"I was hoping to catch a glance of these creatures, as they were mentioned. but that is the thing i find strange, if we've encountered them several times, then why didn;t we record them here."
David sends the images back to home base. if for nothing else, just for keeping a detailed record of what is done

"We need to find the biggest crystal that is still glowing, I suspect either Ralexand (points at ralexand in the distance) or Mathew (likewise) might have found a suitable specimen"

David is worried, the group seems to be quieter than normal, falling apart even. he wonders if they can get anything done which would get them clear of this.

"Hey! Ralexand! you talked to the official before, right? will you send him a progress report? say we lost one man already if you do. we don;t want to suggest we lost everyone in one blow."

"Ehm what? You know that the syndicate isn't a fan of me. I know him from former negative "encounters" ."

"Not everyone,or everything needs to be able to talk,to communicate..." says Matthew grinning. He contiues throwing the crystal and says "I don't know what you like in those things,but as far as I'm concerned, I'd rather keep a distance from them" He decides to keep the crystal he's been playing around with, and puts it in his bag.

The MiB walk over to Ralexand and Matthew and ask, "Have you found a crystal suitable for us to extract? Mr. Miller wishes us to retrieve the largest intact crystal that we find."

--------

Denden replies to David, "well, that journal did say that there are at least some creatures around here that don't like the light. Maybe the one we ran into was one of those."

Alex cuts in. "Yeah, the ones we ran into were staying away from the light too."

Denden resumes. "That's why I'm suggesting we leave your gear up overnight, and then we'll see what we got in the morning. Can those cameras of yours send out a feed, or do we have to actually physically link to get the data off them?"

"they have broadcasting equipment, but i fear they aren't adapted for the interference. we need a link, unless we could link some interference proof broadcasting equipment to it. but that would have to be equipment we can afford to lose. I'm under no circumstance letting go of my PDA. it has... sensitive information."