Chapter 3: Approaching the Unknown (everybody)

[aine]

Nat gets out the car and strips his jeans off to reveal yellow shorts. He takes off his sneakers," I always run barefoot" and looks reasonably like a long distance runner. "Hey Jules, if you need us to scram back here, just sound the horn. Okay, I'll run round the outskirts and then come to the ranch to get some water. Anything else you want me to do, Boss?"' He limbers up, ready to head off.

[Mr. Handy]

"Will do," says Julie, sitting behind the wheel. "Be careful."

[Cotton]

Ray climbs out of the passenger seat, and shakes his head. "Just remember its better to not arouse suspicion even if we don't learn as much. The last thing we want is for the cult to have its guard up." Ray squints at the surrounding landscape shielding his eyes with his hand. He wishes now that they had brought some binoculars.

[aine]

"Will do." Nat throws a mock salute and then, also squinting at the sun, he lopes off in the opposite direction to the commune; he'll do an easy circle back round and come at it from the far side.

[evil_scientist]

The Investigators observe as Nat gathers momentum and runs down the mound. From this vantage point, Ray has a good overview of the valley, but the details are not discernible without binoculars. But maybe he packed them?

Cotton,Roll [b]Luck[/b]! It seems reasonable to pack binoculars, so let's see how prepared you are!

Nat

Nat plays the role of the long-distance runner pretty well, as he gallops through the California desert. The dirt feels good under his feet, the country boy he is, and he realizes, that he sort of understands the wish of the commune members to live freely in this far-off, uncivilized place. Escapism is something Nat is familiar with --- and he is also familiar with escapism's dangerous flipside, from his own experience in a cult.

The temperature is climbing upwards, but at least there is no direct scorching sunlight. Nat understands, that by the time he gets to the compound, he will be extremely thirsty!

But he proceeds with the plan, circles around, and finally reaches the compound's chain-link fence. Barbed wire runs on the top, but it doesn't bear the tell-tale signs of being electrified either. It's a rather old barrier, with gaps visible in many places. The actual entrance, a gate, is on the front, from where the road comes.

About 30 yards from the fence, there is a rusty trailer, a leftover from the 1950s, propped up with bricks. The pink paint is peeling of the side. Adjacent to the trailer, a tarp is stretched out to provide shade. A young woman sits under it, peeling potatoes into a bucket.

Further away from the trailer car, is the main cluster of buildings (about 60 yards from the fence). The big hangar-like construction stands in the middle. It's arching walls are almost new and shiny. The rest of the buildings are in a much worse condition. There are two elongated but narrow houses, with porches to the whole extent of the facades. There is also a small wooden outhouse.

Nat sees one car, a red sedan, parked before the hangar, but no people.

[aine]

Nat comes to a stop and catches his breath while he looks around. Strange how that main central building is so new and yet the other buildings don't even show many signs of repair. He waves to catch the young woman's attention. "Hi there, how are you? Any chance I can get some water?" He calls and wipes his brow.

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias remained where he was, assessing the situation. It's not a good idea to engage in a scenario like this anyways.

[evil_scientist]

Nat

The woman is startled by Nat's distant voice. She drops the half-peeled potato into the bucket, and looks around. It takes her some time to finally locate Nat. She sits still and stares for a good ten seconds, then stands up and steps into the trailer. She reappears after about a minute and walks up to the fence.

She is short, and her dark hair is very short, perhaps she shaved her head in recent times. She is dressed in a long, shapeless gown - once white, now dirty grey. She walks with a limp. When she gets closer, Nat can get a better look at her face: she must be in her mid 20s, and under the dirt, she has a pale and sickly look.

She stops on the other side of the fence.

"Here you go," she says, in a raspy voice of a chain smoker, and thrusts her hand forward. She is holding a chipped mug, filled to the brim with water. Then she realizes, that the mug is too big and won't fit through the fence's openings. "Uh..."

[aine]

Nat points to one of the biggest gaps in the fence for her to pass the water through, "Over here? Gee, that's very kind of you; I'm parched, lost my way somewhat. Sometimes I just lose track of time when I'm running, get in the zone you know? And next thing I know, I'm like, where am I?" He smiles at the girl. "I'm Nat, pleasure to meet you."

[evil_scientist]

The water is refreshing, and almost clean, except for a rusty metallic aftertaste.

"I'm Sy," the woman says. "You should be more careful, the desert only gets hotter."

[Cotton]

After a few minutes of straining his eyes, Ray realizes he did in fact bring binoculars with him. He had bought an extra smallish pair that he kept in his bag at all times after the last time he had forgotten his other ones during reconnaissance. Digging them out he tries to get the best view of the compound he can. He describes the layout allowed to Tobias, and giving his professional opinion on what each building is used for.

Spoiler:

Luck: 70%
[dice]0[/dice]

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias nodded, and squinted his eyes as looked at the figure of Nat chatting with someone in the distance and scanned the horizons with his eyes for a while, before turning back towards Ray."Ray, I personally find the fact that the main building being the only new and well-maintained piece of infrastructure in this entire compound to be a bit surprising, you know? The isolationist hippie types were all about self-regulated structures and good maintenance. But here...no, that building stick out like a sore thumb in direct contrast to the rotted outhouse a few yards away. I get the distinct impression that there's someone rich affiliated with this group; no construction group in their right mind would accept a contract to build a gigantic facility in the middle of nowheresville otherwise. The red sedan is a giveaway as well. Two possible directions to pursue for clues could looking for construction records or identifying the owner of the red sedan. What do you think?"

[Cotton]

Ray scans the red sedan trying to get the license plate, and any other information he can. "I agree it is strange. The single car especially. In my experience groups like this prefer vans or buses or something the whole group can ride in."

[evil_scientist]

The licence plate of the red sedan is illegible from this distance.

Tobias remembers, that the sect members he encountered at the gas station were riding a pick-up truck. However, currently the pick-up truck is not present at the compound.

[HelplessBystander]

"Hmm...The kids I've seen at the gas station had a pickup truck, and, well, there's no pickup trucks here. So, I'm guessing either they have an alternate meeting place, or they are out doing something" Tobias said, looking around in dejection.

[aine]

Nat drinks the water, "Thanks Sy. Yeah, you're right. I'm kinda used to it though, the heat. Grew up on a ranch just like this. More cattle than you though and too many older brothers." He grins. "You live out here with your family too?"

[evil_scientist]

"Hmm...The kids I've seen at the gas station had a pickup truck, and, well, there's no pickup trucks here. So, I'm guessing either they have an alternate meeting place, or they are out doing something" Tobias said, looking around in dejection.

As Tobias looks around, an answer emerges: in the distance, he sees a vehicle approaching on the dirt road, from the same direction you arrived from. It's still far, but will pass close to the mound the Investigators are parked upon in a few minutes.

Nat drinks the water, "Thanks Sy. Yeah, you're right. I'm kinda used to it though, the heat. Grew up on a ranch just like this. More cattle than you though and too many older brothers." He grins. "You live out here with your family too?"

"I don't eat meat," Sy says. At first this sounds like a non sequitur, but maybe this is her reaction to the cattle Nat mentioned? "Uh, yes, sort of. With my family."

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias cussed something foul and awful as he saw the car approach. "Quick, we need to hide the car, those guys are coming back."

[Mr. Handy]

Julie starts the engine, slides over to the passenger seat, and ducks down so that she won't be visible from outside. She doesn't want to risk blowing her cover.

[HelplessBystander]

Tobias enters the backseat and ducked down as well.