Play@YSDC

The plane ride was routine though dull. The hotel he was invited to stay at was up-market and also dull. It was simply too perfectly set up. It simply blended into every other hotel room because of it. He had a meeting with Carter the following day at 1:30. He had time to go over the information he had in his possession on his laptop to be sure of things before dinner and before that appointment.

The most obvious place to start were the files on Natasha Chaikovskaya. She was the epigrapher (translator of ancient languages) on the trip and yet, by rights, her childhood should indicate gross language problems - not a mastery of languages both modern (she could speak Latin, Italian, Russian, Tatar, English and German) and had deciphered an ancient language that still left others baffled. While other linguists could see what she had found, they seemed to lack the capacity to decipher any further, whereas she had begun to write samples of what other phrases might look like.

Accessed Prop 3.

Alexander had barely noticed his surroundings, too withdrawn in thought and uninterested in what was going on around him. He slowly read the report twice and the news clipping once. He then went on to shift-delete it all.

Another set of information on his laptop identified the various macarbe locations where the Liltian Tablets have each been found, largely by accident. There is also a dog-eared copy of the newly published Translations of the Kamchatka Expedition Diary sitting on the cabinet from where it was recently unpacked. It is suspected that some clues as to why the mountain was declared legally off-limits for so long might be contained within.

Alexander scribbled down a few notes as he read and then tossed the documentation aside.

There is also a basic run-down on the well-known details of the bizarre scientific phenomena.

Alexander nods a few times as he reads through the report. Those Copepods would be worthy of an expedition on their own... They hold much potential (but also danger), if they could be made capable to survive outside the mountain's environment.

The next thing to flick through is a classified ship's logfound in a Russian ship that was adrift without her crew with only blood stains to tell the tale of some sort of fight. It was presumed that several sailors went mad and attacked their compatriots. The whole scene was buried quickly and away from the public eye.

Alexander tosses it aside quicker than the previous documents. This one seems to contain little useful information.

He sees the police reporton Daniel Carter, back when he used to be called Liam Carter, before his name change and move to Berlin several years ago.

Alexander smiles as he folds the paper up and pockets it.

That was all he had been delivered so far. More information was to come. The only other pieces of information he knew was that Milly LeCrique, the German science geek, was rumored to have a suspiciously lusty past. He now had the night and the rest of tomorrow morning to deal with. On the night stand was a museum advertisement for an exhibit he could view tomorrow. Other than that possibility, there was no suggestions for what to do with his night nor morning.

Alexander turns to what he does best, and starts to research the possibility of landborne Copepods, and the relation to their host once they attach to another animal. He's interesting in finding information about the exact nature of the relationship between both. Is it purely parasitic, or is it symbiotic?

Once done, he'll refresh his working (Pharmaceutical) knowledge of anti-depressants as well as do some online shopping.

Copepods are a species of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every fresh-water habitat. Most copepods are planktonic (drifting in sea waters), but more are benthic (living on the ocean floor). Some copepods are parasitic and have strongly modified bodies. They attach themselves to fish, sharks, marine mammals, and many kinds of invertebrates such as molluscs, tunicates, or corals. They live as endo- or ectoparasites on fish or invertebrates in fresh water as well as in marine environments.

(that much he already should've known I think, since as said before they are useful tools to fight certain type of diseases by killing the mosquito larvae in water supplies. thus preventing them to become actual mosquitos and spread disease through sucking blood. I was more looking for the relation between host & parasite, the effects on the host and what happens when the parasite was removed and how.

other than that, he's also looking for any mention of other landborne copepods being sighted, since that's not a usual thing)

The parasites can co-exist within the host without negative effect. Even a half dozen or more have been sited on the same fish without apparent ill effect, though there may be some pain. The difficulty in removing them rests with the fact that they exist partially within the heart cavity. There are no other incidences of parasitic land-borne copepod species known.

Lozynsky manages to get most of his online shopping out of the way before the hours starts becoming unreasonable. His dreams are disturbed by an ever present rain that drums away at the back of his mind, washing it all away, but he's not sure if the raining is occurring inside or outside of his head until he awakens to a brightly lit morning with a stomach that is arguing for a good breakfast. He had a few hours of sight seeing he could try to accomplish before the meeting with Carter, one option of which was to drop by and give the Tablet a visit, though he had seen one before.

Alexander forces himself out of bed and into the shower. He puts on a jogging suit and goes off to run. Not something he'd usually do, but he's forcing himself to do it fearing that his physical condition might hamper the expedition.

When he returns three quarters of an hour later, he takes another -longer- shower and heads down for breakfast.

The eating area is set up with a number of tables bearing white table cloths. There is a range of breakfast materials he can choose to purchase. There are a few others sitting at the tables but none of whom resemble any of the photographs of the other expedition members.

He takes a light breakfast, as his body hasn't fully recovered of the jog yet. He reads a stuffy report on the evolution of SARS on his PDA as he enjoys a cup of tea.

A cheerfully smiling man approaches the table, dressed in a smart casual outfit, and brushing his fingers through his short brown hair before holding it out to shake. "Hey, Doctor Lozynsky, I'm Dmitri Kasiliev, sent by Ophidian to see how you're going, show you around the city and set you up on this media circuit."

Alexander looks up, clearly a little lost as he is abruptly torn from the piece of research literature he was reading.

"Euhm, yes, hi. Please 'Alexander' will do." he says, still confused and caught off guard as he puts aside his PDA.

"As for the media circus, I was hoping to bypass most of it." Alexander admits as he shifts in his chair, clearly ill at ease "I'm not very good with cameras. I'm here for the science and to guarantee the health of our expedition members."

"Would you prefer to speak in Russian?" asked Kasiliev. "Or ... what? English? Brush up on German? I'm up for most things. And don't you worry, Ophidian's aware that you're no show pony. It's more a case of simply giving the right information to a few media representatives and meeting up with some of the other professionals going along. Speaking of which, the first meeting will be between yourself and Professor Lebedev. The biologist, geneticist, etc. who's coming along. He's the only other one in the city at the moment outside of the "Hidden Places" team. Are you willing to come along?"

"English and Russian are both fine, but I only speak a few cliché words of german." Alexander admits "But yes, let's meet Professor Lebedev."

He had always felt more at ease with scientists anyway. If nothing else, they were used to some weirdness from their peers.

"This way, I have a taxi cab available and waiting," says Kasiliev in Russian. "When you're finished eating, of course."

Alexander made but a sweeping gesture through the air and followed. He had clearly already finished eating.

Kasiliev leads Lozynsky to the taxi cab that's waiting outside. "Ophidian felt it best that a compatriot do the meet and greet for the Russian expedition members. I actually immigrated here with my parents fifteen years ago but I made sure to keep the accent. The ladies find it sexy." He hops in and gives a nod to the taxi driver. "Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 29." The taxi moves off and he turns to Lebedev. "So, tell me about your fine self?"

Alexander frowns at the man's choice of words.

"I'm sure you read my file, as I'm sure Ophidian has one on me." Alexander says "Just a doctor with an interest in the micro-organisms. If this mountain is as special as they say it is, we're sure to discover new micro-organisms."

"Hopefully, it'd be a shame if it all ended up being rather dull," says Kasiliev. "And yeah, there's a file. I just find it interesting to hear how people describe themselves. Your reticence speaks of a shyness that intrigues me... Sorry, there I go again." He looks sheepish. "I just can't seem to help but analyse people. Besides, this taxi ride is going to be a rather long one in this traffic. About 30-45 minutes to get where we're going."

Alexander sighs internally. This really wasn't 'his thing'...

"I suppose I'm the opposite of you." Alexander says curtly "I study things, not people. And I'm quite happy to do it in peace, eventhough you'd think that with my job traveling across the world, from the biting cold of Siberia to the wet heat of the Congo, I'd 'open up'. Well, I don't."

"Give me a microscope & some books and I'm perfectly happy wherever I am."

"Oh, so what do you study mostly? I mean, I know the brief stuff from the Ophidian dossier, but I don't know what it means in English." Kasiliev begins tapping the dashboard with a fingernail.

"I study contageous diseases, and especially related micro-organisms. What makes them tick, how they evolve, how they react to anti-bodies, anti-biotics and so on." Alexander says visibly thinking of how to explain his work to someone who knows nothing of his science.

"So either I work in a lab doing experiments or I'm out in the world on expedition, wherever an interesting bacteria, virus, fungus or other micro-organism breaks out. For example Ebola, Cholera or the Avian Flu."

"Ever get worried you'll be infected? I mean, those are some scary diseases," says Kasiliev, looking aghast.

"Well, you take precautions, but something could always go wrong." Alexander says "Nothing prepares you for it, so you just live knowing you could end up dead by whatever you're working on."

"But then again, more truckers die on the job than doctors..."

"Wow, that's a crazy way to live," says Kasiliev. "Me? I prefer to keep things simple when I can. I don't wanna have to risk my life or anything. Real, simple, down-to-earth living for me... Guess that means no truck driving for me. What is the most dangerous job, in your opinion?"

"Politics." Alexander says with a smile "Not saying that because I come from Russia, but I doubt there is any more vile occupation around. Though the media comes close enough in many cases."

"I prefer to stay out of the media limelight myself," says Kasiliev. "I'm fine with escorting people into the spotlight, directing spotlights, attracting spotlights ... but I always stay out of it myself. It just doesn't seem very healthy to get too much att... What am I thinking? It's different for you, of course. I've just got nothing to say. You've got this very prestigious trip to go on. Which reminds me ... any idea why Ophidian's making such a big deal out of it? I mean, German-Russian scientific collaborations are one thing, but why the media circus? Why make so many people care? Not that they shouldn't, of course. It just seems bizarre to me. I didn't think it made good t.v. And now with 'Hidden Places' set to go with you all..."

"Funding. Media attention. Politics." Alexander shrugs "I don't know. Could be they simply needed the attention to get the proper funding. Or that bringing the mediacircus along would make it easier to get documented access to some parts, although I doubt that."

"Yeah, surely a media circus would make it harder to get that kind of access and besides, this is just a survey team, it's not even the real expedition, there might not even be anything there," says Kasiliev, shaking his head. "What do you think would happen then? If, like, there was nothing there. I mean, are the odds good for that? Or is it likely there is some kind of ancient city?"

"I don't know or care about ancient cities. That's not my job." Alexander shrugs "But in areas where it has been a long time since humans last set foot or surveyed, there might be some interesting lifeforms, be it plants, insects, animals, and so on."

"Ah, okay, near extinct species and all that? Endangered eagles? Sounds like a killer photo opportunity. I'm a whizz with a camera, or so I think." He plucks a camera out of his bag. It's an expensive Nikon photographic camera with an extendable lens. "Don't suppose I could take a picture of you? Yes? No?"

"No pictures..." Alexander says sternly "And no, I'm not talking about splendid photo-opportunities... More about medical and biological advances."

"If we find anything, chances are it won't be very nice lookin'. Or if it's even big enough to be photographed."

"If it's not big enough to be photographed, how will you even see it to know that it's there?" asks Kasiliev.

"Samples. Indicator fluids. Microscopes..." Alexander says slightly amused "Not exactly novel equipment, so I presume you've heard of them?"

Kasiliev flashes him a brilliant smile. "Of course, of course. Hmm, we're nearly there." He checks his watch. "Good, good, we're not too late. They won't have already moved on to the sight-seeing component."

"Ah, here we are," says Kasiliev. The taxi cab stops outside of a large white house behind a walled garden.

Alexander exits the vehicle silently and takes his time to look around.

It seems like a fairly suburban, middle-class street - tree-lined with benches sitting on the sidewalk along the bus route. The walled garden has a tiled floor upon which more benches and tables sit, surrounded by hanging baskets overflowing with life, and on the interior walls do grow a number of vines. The house seems, from what he can see through the windows, expensive and well-lit with wide front windows and a door set back into an alcove. It isn't upper class, simply well-off middle class and it looks like a fairly comfortable setting, the sort that would put people's minds at ease.

Most of his surroundings are lost on the doctor as he follows Kasiliev... He'd much rather be with his nose burried in books or working in his hermetically sealed lab.

Alexander is led upstairs by Kasiliev who continues to mutter away to himself. "I think Lebedev, is he a professor or a doctor? I think Lebedev is on the couch in here, going over paperwork. He seems a bit quiet, like yourself, so I'll introduce you first." He opens a outward-opening door that opens out into the short corridor and comes off the landing and gestures distractedly toward the inside of the L-shaped room that contains on the side of the L, an IKEA table and three chairs, then starts heading down the stairs. "I'll go fetch some drinks."

Alexander stands around, rather uninterested and is apparently busy going over some mental notes.

He stands in the corridor, facing the room, apparently pondering some deep and meaningful, when the door starts to close somewhat and bumps against him. "Excuse me," says a low voice. "I can't get through here."

Alexander looks up, taking a minute to exit the mental realm of abstract medicine and smiles shyly as he steps aside and mutters an apology.

Alexander steps sideways somewhat into the room, standing in the doorway, still not quite paying attention to anyone. The open door is slammed shut with sudden force, knocking into him and knocking him a few steps into the room.

OOC: Enter your new fancy thread!