IC - 19 - Surface of Titan - Everyone except Kiara

[Mephistophilis]

'We’ll see what we can do,' Kiara replies.

'Hey, did you encounter those weird waves over the lake? That was definitely not…'

Crackle

There is no further message, just the background hissing noise.

[Mr. Handy]

Sam inspects the radio, trying to determine if it has malfunctioned or if there is some other explanation as to why they lost the signal.

[Mephistophilis]

The radio looks fine.

[Starspawn338]

"It would almost appear as if something out here doesn't want us to communicate."

[Mr. Handy]

"I think that's exactly the case," says Sam. "There's nothing for it but to keep going."

[aine]

“Something under the lake?” Nicole hazards.
“Come on, Moses put your foot down; let’s get to Waystation ASAP.”

[Mephistophilis]

'I'm going as fast as I can!' grumbles Moses as he swings the rover away from the Pumping Station and the shoreline, heading inland to circumvent a black methane inlet that reaches deep into the crenulated orange landscape. The sharp ridge of volcanic mountains just visible in the distance, through the haze, the dull sun shining through, perhaps a little brighter than they have seen it before.

They settle back in to an uncomfortable silence. Moses and Isabella busy at the controls, sitting at the front of the rover's cab. The others further back, watching the featureless terrain roll by. Another hour passes. The stuffiness of the surface suits begins to wear on them again, oppressive heat despite the icy temperatures outside the rover. Breath condenses on the inside of the helmet visors. The heat feels strange, less humid, almost like the warmth of the sun on the skin.

Interrupting the silent reverie Isabella's voice comes husky over the suit radios. 'Something up ahead, transponder signal, colony rover.' Moses slows the rover down and gradually, out of the haze, the massive form of a surface rover emerges.

On a fairly flat stretch of orange methane snow the surface rover is parked, or abandoned. It is about twenty metres from the enigmatic black waters of the inlet but otherwise there's nothing else visible around it as far as the eye can see.

The surface rover is seemingly parked, or abandoned. But that's not what catches the eye. The rover seems to be parked on top of a luxuriant bed of green grass, flattened where the rover's wheels have been. There are trees around it, marching down from the surrounding orange hills and arrayed about the patch of grass like a crowd of tall figures. The grass runs the twenty metres or so down to the narrow inlet, where clear blue water sparkles in the sunlight. Large ferns protruding from the water's surface.

OOC:   Roll SAN 1/1d6 for seeing the inexplicable sight of grass, tress, and water on the inhospitable, subzero surface of Titan

[Mr. Handy]

"Okay, that's impossible," says Sam, shaking her head to clear it. "They don't have this level of terraforming on Mars, let alone Titan."

POW roll (65% stat) seeing the rover:
d%
Sanity roll (current level 57) seeing the rover's surroundings:
d%
Sanity loss:
1d6

[Starspawn338]

Power 75
1d100

"That's interesting." Jojo remarks. "I wonder how it got out here and if anyone is still alive within."

"They don't have this level of terraforming on Mars, let alone Titan."

"Terraforming? What are you talking about? What exactly do you see out there?"

[Mr. Handy]

"You can't see the greenery?" asks Sam. "I see a large bed of grass where the rover is parked, and there are trees and an inlet nearby. I suppose what I'm seeing must be a hallucination. Your visual sensors must be more reliable than my eyes."

[aine]

Pow roll: 95 fail. San roll: 20 pass, san loss:1

“No, I agree with you, Sam; trees, grass, it’s beautiful. Strange but beautiful. Could be a mirage though .” Nicole gazes out of the window.

[Starspawn338]

"We're on Titan! There's no green grass and trees out there. Just the same orange snow and the methane lake. Jojo says.

Can I do a medical check to see if they are under the influence?

[Mephistophilis]

Yep

[aine]

“Two against one.” Nicole mutters under her breath. “Hey, Moses and Isabella, what do you see out there?” She calls forward.

[Starspawn338]

Jojo will pull out his portable medical scanner and moves over to Sam and does a quick scan.

Medicine 80
1d100

[Mephistophilis]

'What are you grumbling about back there?' shouts Isabella. 'Are we going to take a look at this thing or what?' Moses mutters something, 'It's beautiful.'

Power 60%: 1d100 86. Sanity 60%: 1d100 99. Power 45%: 1d100 18

Jojo can't detect any intoxicants, physical illness, or signs of infection in Sam. He has to admit that, even as an essentially infallible AH-3000 android, psychiatry has never been his best medical speciality, but it is quite clear to him that Sam, and presumably Nicole, are both experiencing a bout of space madness. He will have to report this to Richter Dynamic when this is all over.

This is clearly no hallucination. Sam can see the grass and the trees as clearly as she can see the interior of the rover. The android was badly damaged, and infected by that alien organism. He seems to be malfunctioning. She will need to keep a close eye on him.

It just looks so real. Nicole can see the grass and the trees as clearly as she can see the interior of the rover. Yet, the android can't see it, maybe, maybe. Well, she did get quite a scare when she saw Montrose kill himself. Blacked out for a bit. Could this be a hallucination? But then what explains Sam's reaction, a mass hallucination?

[Mr. Handy]

"Then it must be real," says Sam. "We need to take a closer look."

[aine]

“Can you scan yourself, Jojo? All us humans can see it, Ibthink we should take a closer look. It reminds me of home.” She says wistfully

[Mephistophilis]

Moses very slowly rolls towards the rover. 'Close enough Moses. Let's take a look on foot' says Isabella and she hefts the bulky surface suit out of her chair to exit the cabin. 'Come on then.'

As Isabella climbs down the ladder in an ungainly fashion, Moses just sits there staring.

The rover itself looks just like the one they have been riding in. Perhaps a bit more frosted up on the exterior but definitely so inside, the polycarbonate windows completely obscured by a patina of natural fern-shaped frost patterns.

The rover itself looks just like the one they have been riding in. There's no one visible inside the cab. Surrounding it are the impossible trees, but up closer they look wrong. Not just wrong in being here on Titan. But wrong for trees. Their limbs aren't smooth and organic but angular, iridescent. The leaves look more like incrustations of small emerald-like crystals.

The rover itself looks just like the one they have been riding in. There's no one visible inside the cab. Surrounding it are beautiful trees, sap-green leaves, silky-soft looking. Brown bark, flaking and peeling in places. The sun streams through the trees, dappling the luxurient grass which runs down towards clean white sand plunging into clear blue water. And Sam sees something flitting between the trees, a bird perhaps. Walking among the trees, towards the rover, she can feel the warm sun on her skin. There's a smell, an earthy aroma with an undertone of sweetness. Under her feet she can feel the grass. And up ahead, is that someone running through the trees, without a suit on?

[Mr. Handy]

"Is that a bird?" asks Sam, glancing up at the trees. Then she points in one direction at ground level. "That looks like a person - without a suit!"