Track 11: Spooky

[jp1885]

P lays a comforting hand on Otto’s arm.

“You don’t have to do this old friend, but if you donate a little blood; barely an armful; you’ll help young Zara and get rid of that beastly mist-thing… At least I hope so…”

[Mr. Handy]

"If you'd rather, I can draw the blood for you, Otto," says Liz, "but it doesn't have to be me or Julia doing it if you don't want." She knows how Otto feels about scientists and people in lab coats, and while she isn't wearing one today, she knows he still may be aware of her profession.

[SunlessNick]

Zara agrees to have blood taken of course. "If Otto doesn't want to do it, can you take more from me?"

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

A little friendly persuasion, coupled with the willingness of the others to make the same sacrifice, convinces Otto to donate as well, with some obvious distaste.

One the process is completed, the misty figure becomes more sharply defined and solid. It is now clearly that of a large humanoid figure, pure white save for glowing red eyes. Grinning widely, the being , still vague enough to suggest a huge man wearing a snowsuit, walks (or possibly floats) to the nearest window and leaps through it, smashing the glass into countless shards, and running (or possibly flying) off in the direction of downtown. It is last heard shouting "Free! Free!"

A little later, screams are heard from the same direction, as Doctor Hoffman struggle to clean up the mess ands tend to the disturbed patients.

[SunlessNick]

Zara runs to the window, trying to keep the figure in sight for as long as possible. Once it's gone, she sinks to the floor. "I'm sorry," she says again.

[jp1885]

P joins Zara at the window and sighs exasperatingly.

“Just for once I’d like to converse with a supernatural entity without some kind of complication,” he huffs.

He scans the view, trying to locate where the screams are coming from.

[Mr. Handy]

Liz also runs to the window to look outside. "Oh, bloody hell," she says. "It's not your fault, Zara. It's that entity that is responsible. Unfortunately, supernatural entities are always complicated, and often malevolent. The only truly benevolent ones I know of are angels, and I've never met one as far as I know, though I have been mistaken for one."

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

A quick glance through the broken window reveals what appears to be a massive traffic accident, with several vehicles involved and a few people lying in the street motionless. Sirens scream in the distance, rising in pitch as they approach. An ambulance races out of the hospital's emergency department to tend to the badly injured. Many overlapping voices are heard, saying things lie "multiple traumas" and "triage." A few seconds later, an explosion fills the air, and a tower of flame rises into the sky from a nearby gas station.

[jp1885]

“It seems we’ve made a tactical error that we must rectify posthaste,” P declares as mayhem erupts before him.

“The thing clearly absorbs energy from blood. We must hurriedly invent a device to drain such energy.”

[Mr. Handy]

"We can do that," says Liz. "There's a local laboratory I've used before. It should be no problem to get access to it. But do we really have time? That being is already causing all sorts of damage, and it shows no sign of stopping. Besides, if we let it get away now, we may have difficulty tracking it down later. The trail of destruction is still fresh. I tried banishing the Sandman earlier, but it was able to resist. I can still bless weapons or other objects, as I did with my carbine, which I still have. Perhaps we can also communicate with it. Maybe now that it's free, we can reason with it. It may be amenable to going back home."

[jp1885]

“You’re right, of course: speed is of the essence. Besides, it will give us another chance to study the entity up close.”

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Rushing outside hastily, the investigators can no observe that the entity has attained full resemblance to a large human being. (It may be of interest that it is neither male nor female, although perhaps there are other matters of greater importance. It is bright red in color, and is currently amusing itself by picking automobiles and police officers and tossing them about with seeming ease.

[Mr. Handy]

Liz begins by making another circle of protection from evil around herself and her companions, completing the ritual before trying anything else.

[jp1885]

Asking Otto to pass his holdall, P fishes around for certain items of handheld equipment. Accompanied by a series of beeps, whistles and wobbly meter readings, he attempts to analyse the nature of the creature.

[SunlessNick]

Zara has no idea what to do - she has her gun, but suspects that without a blessing like the one on Liz's carbine it won't do any good.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

P's equipment suggests that what appears to b e a physical being is in fact pure energy, of a particularly powerful nature. This may be further evidenced by the way in which streetlights flare brightly and then explode when it passes near them. For now, it pays no attention to the investigators and continues to create chaos.

[jp1885]

“Clearly the absorption of blood has enabled the creature to convert the latent energy therein into electrical potential, as evidenced by its transmission into, and subsequent overloading of, the street lights,” postulates P.

“The fascinating vistas this opens up in the field of bio-electrical generation notwithstanding, a high enough resistive load should in theory siphon the entity of such energy, as one would discharge a capacitor.”

“Alternatively we could connect the energy source to ground and discharge to earth. Either way we would need a considerable amount of copper cable…”

“Hmm… perhaps the copper in one’s bloodstream is an important factor… Let’s us assume an average of 150 micrograms per deciliter, taking Otto into account…

Lost in thought, he begins making frenzied calculations in his notepad, suddenly oblivious to the carnage around him.

[Mr. Handy]

"Yes, of course!" exclaims Liz. "The iron in blood also has magnetic properties, which could be useful in containing the entity. We could use magnetic repulsion to restrict its movements." She hastily makes calculations of her own.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Fortunately for the two scientists, Doctor Hoffman came to California with an extraordinarily advanced device. Amazingly, it weighs less that twenty pounds, and costs only several hundred dollars.

"They call it a 'programmable electronic calculator'," she explains. "Helps with all the tedious calculations."

This proves to be true. Its remarkable power to perform arithmetical calculations even faster than an abacus used by an expert (or for an 'electronic brain' the size of a building, for that matter) allow the investigators to determine that bringing the being in contact with conductive metal of the same mass as an average American automobile should drain its power. Notably, while engaged in its pranks, it is careful to avoid coming into contact with cars and other metal objects.

The question remains as to how this should be done.

[SunlessNick]

Have any drivers just stopped at the chaos, rather than getting out of there? (Or are there any parked ones we can hotwire?)