Play@YSDC

The library door is unlocked. Unfamiliar voices can be heard speaking in hushed tones in one of the alcoves further within the library.

Louie leads the group t the section of the Library that he knows contains the book he is looking for.

Charlie follows closely, putting himself between Louie and the other group members.

Jill follows after Charlie.

ooc: Are the other characters coming with us or staying outside?

Bernard, Melissa and the other girl are following along.

"Shall we have a look round, then?" says a man's voice from one of the alcoves in the library. "Perhaps our friends are here elsewhere, or they simply haven't arrived yet."

Jill moves to be closer to Charlie.

"Right, let's look at what kind of books they have here," says a woman's voice.

"And we can see who else is here," says a man's.

Charlie urges Louie on, as he keeps a look out towards the rear.

"Well, it seems an ordinary library, nothing special," says the woman's voice.

For a moment, Charlie glimpses a woman in an old-fashioned dress walk behind one of the book cases.

"It is... And it is you who are out of place." Charlie says loudly.

"We've hardly seen any of it yet," says a man's voice. "I'm sure there are some interesting books here."

"I beg your pardon?" asks the female disembodied voice.

Louie looks over to where the voices are coming from. Ok now that's creepy. Giving that area a wide berth Louie heads for the section that the book he is looking for is supposed to be in.

"Please lower your voice, young man," says a male voice softly - he seems familiar to Louie. There are the sounds of voices walking around the row of shelves towards Charlie. "This is a library, you know. I'm Dr. Lionel Carpenter. Who might you be, sir?"

Louie instinctively pauses mid-step on his way down the aisles. He knows that name.

"Where did they go?" asks a disembodied female voice.

Louie stops at the name. Dr. Carpenter? It's me Louie....the janitor. Is Sara here? Is she ok? What's going on? What are you doing here. So many more questions run through Louie's mind, but he stops there giving the man a chance to answer.

"You know him? Your from the future too? Where are you?" asks the female voice.

"So the past..." Charlie sighs.

"All we needed." he adds as he rolls his eyes.

"And I'm really past caring this being a library. I'll make whatever goddamn noise I want to." he says loudly, but then trails off mumbling "This madness has to end."

"Louie works at Mercy Cross," Lionel explains. "Louie." His voice is a mix of conflicting emotions. "We're here to meet a couple of friends of ours. Sarah isn't here, though I wish she were. She is okay, as much as anyone can be okay considering the state of the world. She was evacuated from the hospital along with a child named Dahlia and a child welfare worker named Aidan and taken to a military base of some sort. I only hope the soldiers can keep her safe while she keeps them healthy. I understand that I have you to thank for saving her life, but Brianna and Ronald also told me what you did to them. It's hard to believe that the same person could have been responsible for both. And there is a need for silence beyond this being a library. There's a war on right now, and the classified matters we need to discuss must not be overheard by those without the clearance to know about them. Best not to call attention to oneself, and to choose one's words carefully in case they are heard. I can hear your voices, but I don't see you. Where are you?"

At hear Ronald and Brianna's name Louie perks up. Ronald and Brianna they are ok? Oh heavens say it is so. He pauses choosing his words wisely. It is a long story Lionel...one that I will gladly tell, but now is not the time. Let me tell you this though. If I hadn't done what I did, they would have both been killed. The people that I turned on were not a forgiving type, and Brianna killed one of them. I don't expect them to understand, but I love them both, and I did what I had to do.

Louie shifts a little uncomfortable at the memories. The important thing is we are both on the same side, and I think we are both here for the same book. The people I used to associate with knew about this book and I've come for answers.

"There hasn't been a war 'outside' for over half a century. Not a real one anyway." Charlie sighs "In normal circumstances, I'd tell you that you're a raving lunatic, but given what's happened... My best guess is that you're in another time, space, universe, dimension, brainfart, whatever."

"I have a feeling we all are," says Lionel. The sound of two pairs of footsteps head towards the group. "Ronald and Brianna were okay the last time I saw them, Louie, but they almost weren't. If it hadn't been for some quick thinking and action on my part, and a healthy dose of luck, it might have turned out differently. They've left recently, and I'm not sure where they went, but I believe they've gone back to where we came from. I don't yet understand why you've done what you have, but you did rescue Sarah. I know there's good within you, and I owe you a debt I can never repay. I haven't come here looking for any particular book, but to look for two new friends who told us to meet them at the library. I presume they meant this one. We have a golden opportunity now to stop this group you used to belong to once and for all, before it can cause many deaths it otherwise would. We've been fumbling about in the dark, but you have knowledge about its inner workings and base of operations that we couldn't get anywhere else. This book sounds like it's important too. I've never been to this library before, but I do know my way around a set of stacks. Perhaps I can help locate it."

-If you are talking of the war against the germans, you are correct, we are in war against them- says the woman. -This is 1941. What's the name of the book? The book may have be stolen in your time, but in mine he should be probably be still here.

"I thought they must have come back too, like I did," says Lionel. "The transition was seamless. I was in the cinema lobby, and I heard the German bombers flying overhead. I told Jennifer, the young lady who worked there, to douse the lights, and the next second I was in the middle of an air raid. That's when I met Daniel Scott, a young A.R.P. warden, who dug me out from under the rubble where I was pinned. I also met his friend Annie, a volunteer who was helping him. It's the two of them that we are hoping to meet here."

Jill seems to share Charlie's frustration, but the confusing situation seems to tire her more than anything.

"Okay, so we're talking across different times somehow, and this group of us is luckily in the version of today that doesn't have monsters and devastation ... but do we know any more about how to stop these people than whatever this book may tell us?"

Well I know what book you are talking about. That is the reason we are here as well. It's just over this way. Louie points in the direction of where the book is supposed to be, and starts walking in that direction. If this turns out to be a dead end, we have one more lead to follow up on.

ooc has the Dr. passed over to our time or are we still talking to disembodied voices.

A man and a woman begin to blur into view and stand there, still somewhat translucent, though they cast true shadows.

OOC: You are all still in your relevant times but you can talk to each other and interact with your environments. I may describe things differently depending on which time frame you are on. However, doing it all in one thread will make conversation much easier.

Lionel steps into view. "A version without those things?" he asks, glancing around to make sure there's nobody else around to overhear them. "This is the first I've heard of it. Then maybe that means we'll succeed in preventing it after all. We clearly have much to discuss, but we'd best find an alcove where we can have some privacy. Let's find the book first. Louie, you know the title and where it might be found, so lead the way. This is Agnes, a volunteer nurse at the hospital. Agnes, this chap in black is Louie. "

-How you do, Mr Louie?

Louie nods to Agnus. I do very well. Realizing that things aren't well he shakes his head. What I mean to say is this time line isn't completely normal either. I've seen some weird stuff here since leaving the ash. It's almost worse here, cause at least in the ash you expect something creepy to happen. He turns and looks back at the books. We should get searching. I've never personally seen this book, so I don't know how helpful it's going to be.

Lionel walks along with the others. When he is sure they aren't being observed, he continues speaking softly: "Ronald and Brianna managed to get out of the room where you left them and found themselves in some kind of secret temple under the hospital. Unfortunately, they weren't alone. There were these ghostly children down there that they managed to escape from, and something else too. One of the patients from the Children's Ward, a teenager with terminal cancer named Jason, had apparently been burned to death, and his reanimated corpse pursued them. They found a secret passage into the boiler room in the basement and then fled upstairs, and that's when I met them. I don't know exactly at what point they made the transition, but Jason followed them back.

"I had been hoping to find other people in my situation, and the hospital seemed a good place to look. Others could have been wounded in the air raid and taken there. Before that, I had been helping Daniel and Annie look for other survivors, and that's when I found Jennifer's body. Near it was a shard of glass, debris from the bombing. In it I saw the reflection of a horrible canine creature's face, but there was no sign of the hound itself. It was a terrible sight, and I hid the glass under the rubble so nobody else would have to look at it. Jennifer had a lot of useful things on her: a high-powered sniper rifle, a pistol, extra ammo, a taser, a machete, her mobile, and other things on her belt and in her backpack. Daniel and Annie confiscated the guns and were under the mistaken impression that the poor girl was a German spy. I could have simply headed off on my own at that point, but I had a feeling about the two of them. I knew they were important and that I needed their help, so I went with them to the warden's post rather than head to a shelter. As I did, I tried to convince them of the truth of Jennifer's origin, while still leaving out my own. I demonstrated the mobile's functions for them, but they still weren't convinced and were very suspicious of me. I convinced them to come to the hospital to look for others like her, since it was unlikely she would be alone. That's where we met Agnes, Ronald, and Brianna - and then Jason.

"Daniel and Annie tried to shoot him, but none of their shots hit. I told Daniel to pass me the rifle, and I shot that thing multiple times. Didn't even seem to slow it down. Ronald and Brianna ran away into a room, and the creature crawled past me after them. I pursued it, and since the rifle had proven ineffective, I hit upon the idea to use the taser. Before I could close with it, an unexploded bomb outside the hospital went off. It killed a doctor, but the four of us got off with only light wounds. While the zombie was pinned under the rubble, I gave it a jolt and it worked like a charm, stunning it. Unfortunately there were a bunch of people who saw me use the device, but one benefit of the times in which we find ourselves is that people are accustomed to maintaining secrecy, so they'll figure that that piece of advanced electronics is classified. While it was stunned, I put a bullet in its head, then went to treat the other people who had been wounded in the blast, thinking that had done it. Of course, it turned out not to have, and the thing grabbed Agnes by the ankle. I gave it a second shock before it could cause any damage, and then sent Agnes to retrieve a bone saw while it was immobilized. When she got back with it, I amputated the creature's limbs, which did the trick. Daniel and Annie missed all this, but they came by afterwards and saw the result. At that point I explained everything to them and Agnes, and they believed me."

Louie listens intently to the Doctor as he searches for the book. When he finally comes to the end of his tale Louie nods. Wow. Sounds like you've been through a lot. I spent a lot of time alone so I don't know many interesting people. Except of course for Jill, the volunteer from the children's ward, and her husband, Charlie.

Jill is a little shocked by the Lionel's tale. "Um, hi. I remember Jason. He helped me get the children out of the ward and away from the monster that was in there. That's horrible, what happened to him. Oh, and I've seen those scary ghostly children, too. In this world. But they didn't attack, they've just appeared a couple of times."

[OOC: I already made a successful Library Use roll in the other thread, but nothing came of it yet. Can it be counted toward searching for this book?]



"That's only part of the story," says Lionel as he helps look for the book. "There's much more to explain, and I'm also anxious to hear what you've been through. It is sad that Jason met such a terrible end, but at least he is finally at peace now. I have preserved his remains, but I haven't had a chance yet to perform an autopsy. We encountered one of those children here too, but she didn't attack either. In fact, she was rather helpful in getting us out of a tight spot. You must be Jill. I remember seeing you around the hospital, and Sarah told me about you when she called me while she was being evacuated, shortly before I found myself in the air raid. She said that you and all of the children except Dahlia had disappeared when she came back to look for you. She'd be delighted to know that you're all right. I just wish there were some way I could tell her, and more than that I wish I were with her right now. While she's got people to protect her now, she's still not completely out of the woods and she must be terrified. Perhaps if she somehow finds her way here, she can talk to us as you're doing now."

-About the children. Do you know Mr Louie anything about them? How they die? And do you know who are the curent members of the cult? I mean, now, in 1940.

Lionel continues searching through the shelves but as he hasn't been told the title of the book, he is moving by gut instinct.

"Yes, those would be helpful things to know," says Lionel. "Were your parents or grandparents in this group, Louie? Any names you remember might help us identify the current members. I've got a good feel for how this library is organized now, but if I'm to find this book I'll need to know its title and what it's about. Anyhow, Daniel and Annie left, as we were all exhausted, and they told us to meet them the next day at the library. I presume they meant this one. They took all of Jennifer's things, and Daniel had already taken my mobile and my wallet before, back when he was suspicious of me, so he's still got them. The rest of us went back to Agnes's flat for some delicious Woolton pie that she cooked for us, and then we all slept through the entire day. We were awakened by air raid sirens that night, and we all went to the nearest shelter. There was a woman there who was rather shocked to see Brianna. She told us had a daughter who looked exactly like her, but the girl is gone now. I don't know if she's simply missing or passed on, but I have a hunch that the cult may be involved. By the way, do you have any idea how you got where you are now? If only Sarah could have gone with you."

Louie tells them the name of the book. It's important that you bring it to me if you find it. As for the cult....It would take too much time right now, and my mind is on other things. Once we've found the book we'll have a discussion.

ooc I know you told me the name of the book Laraqua, but I seem to have misplaced it.

"Then I shall try to find it quickly," says Lionel as he looks through the shelves. "Can we pass objects to each other, I wonder? If not and I pick up the book here, will there still be a copy on your end? Oh, yes, that's right. There was a nurse listening in on our conversation in the hospital. I'm not sure how much she heard, and Agnes didn't recognize her. When I asked her who she was and invited her to join us, she refused and rudely slammed the door. Later we got sealed in the pantry somehow when we were storing the remains. The door seemed crusted over and we could not open it, but that ghost child let us out. She knocked three times on the door from the other side, and when I knocked back three times it opened. She was gone, leaving only a puddle of water and her laughter. Before we left the hospital, we paid a visit to the Children's Ward. While we were there we all caught a glimpse of what it must have looked like in our time. The one that I believe sent us here communicated with me while I was in there, speaking through the nurse who was on duty. The voice was very disturbing and sounded like it was coming from within my mind, and it said that I had better do my duty quickly, whatever that means. My best guess is that it means we must stop the cult and save the children, and that we only have a limited amount of time.

"When we were in the air raid shelter, I had a sort of vision of the future. I was back in the ash in some room filled with chemicals, and Dahlia was with me. Then something decidedly odd happened to Ronald. His flesh began to bubble, though it did not appear to be harming him. Then he simply vanished. The people gathered there saw the whole thing and feared it was a gas attack, but I managed to keep them from rushing out in a panic. I believe he returned back whence he came, but what you've told me gives me hope that maybe he's where you are, and Brianna as well. She vanished in the same manner while we were walking to the library, and there was nothing we could do to stop her. She was so upset when Ronald was taken and missed him terribly, but perhaps she's with him now. I miss them both as well. Brianna has so much in common with my daughter Sarah, and I'd grown rather attached to her in the short time we had. I fear it is only a matter of time before I'm taken away as well, so we had best act quickly and do whatever it is I was sent here to do. I just wish I knew what exactly that is."

Lionel finds the Tome of Ibn'Kha in the conveniently unlocked glass cabinet of the Rare Books Collection of the Benford Library. The cover appears to have been cut from the skin of a scaled reptile and the interior pages are loose leaf and hand-written. There is something nerve-wracking about touching the cover in order to take it out of the book case. It is obviously quite important yet ... there is something about this whole library that is wrong. The glass cabinet is obviously alarmed, yet left unlocked. Other than two other people briefly met, no one is in the library, and no one is paying them any attention.

Lionel examines the alarm system to see what era it belongs in. "You don't see too many of these in this day and age," he says. "Seems awfully modern. It doesn't seem to be active at any rate. Perhaps it's only on your end and not on mine, which would explain why I was able to remove this." He shows Louie the book and holds it out to him. "I believe this is the tome you're looking for. I wonder if you can take it now. Well, now that we've found it we can discuss what you lot have experienced and what the next step is." He looks around for a quiet alcove.

Louie finds that the book crosses easily into his hands. The alarm system is most certainly far removed from the historical technology of World War II. There is a window seat on the balcony that has a nice, long couch and two arm chairs facing it.

-Now that he has the book, can he resolve whateaver is the problem?

As Louie looks at the book a memory leaps into his mind. His face turns pale white as he turns to the Doctor. You need to get out of the library now!! This book, and the thief who took it, were destroyed during the robbery in an air raid during World War II. The building you are in is about to be destroyed. Turning to the others of his time Louie shoos them out. There is no telling what will happen here....we need to leave as well. As he is leaving he yells back to the Doctor. If there is anything in here that can help I'll contact you. I have the means.

"Contact Sarah too if you can," calls Lionel as Louie walks away. "Tell her everything I've told you and let her know that I'm all right." He looks around for the nearest exit. "Quickly, Agnes, we must go! It's still daytime, and I thought daylight air raids were done with by now, but he must know what he's talking about. Something's going to happen here. I'm just not sure exactly what."

-Why don't we meet in a public place like a church or something? Let's go now.

[I don't think we're splitting up yet. All of us are heading for the nearest exit, so we might as well stick together and talk some more along the way.]



"Considering all the damage the Germans are causing, we can't be sure if any particular building will still be there," says Lionel as he quickly follows Louie and the others to the exit. "Except for Mercy Cross, of course. Perhaps we should head there next. Let's stay together as long as we can. Is there anything else any of you can tell us while we can still talk?"

Louie gets a distant look in his eyes as he thinks about all that has happened. He shakes his head slightly to clear it and answers the Doctor. Well most you know from talking to Ronald, and Brianna. Only from my perspective I was saving their lives, not betraying them. If I had betrayed them maybe things would be back to normal by now. Betraying Brianna, and sacraficing her to the lake was supposed to....Louie stops and thinks of the best wording to use...appease the spirits below. I was the betrayer....that was my job, but I wasn't strong enough. I loved Brianna like she was my own child. Her parents died in the crash that burned her, and she was chosen because of that. I was to lull her into loving me, and then betray her by sacrificing her to the lake. But I loved her more than I thought I could, and I couldn't do it. It was the only thing I could do...he trails off for a moments as he wipes a tear from his eye. He thinks about Brianna, and his heart breaks that she thinks he could ever hurt her.

Just when you think he wasn't going to talk again he picks his story back up. I put on my black robe and wandered the halls of the hospital looking for people who might need help. I helped save some people...who are all dead now....I think. That's around the time that I ran into Sarah. She to was trying to help people....you would have been proud. We parted ways and I left the hospital.

I was driving around in the ash for what seemed forever. It's kind of like the Gunslinger in those Steven King novels. Time just didn't seem to function properly...The world seemed to have moved on is what they said in the books...or something like that. by what you said you've done much more than me since this has all started. I think that might explain it. It's like in those books we keep jumping from reality to reality, and time to time, only we don't have doors, and don't control it ourselves.

Louie looks at the Doctor and shrugs. Anyways...I fazed out of that realty, and had a head on collision with Jill and him....Louie points at Charlie with a look of disgust. And now we are here. He finishes his story, and hangs his head as he thinks more about Brianna.

"You did the right thing," says Lionel. "I also love Brianna like she was my own daughter, and it broke my heart when she was taken away from us. Appeasing those spirits you speak of would not have helped anyway. They would only want more, and more, and more. This war is a perfect illustration of the dangers of appeasement. Evil must be confronted and defeated, or it will only grow stronger. I thank you again for rescuing Sarah, and I am extremely proud of her. I told her as much the last time I spoke to her. She told me about the things that happened in the hospital when she called me, and you can rest assured you've saved at least one person - three if you count Brianna and Ronald as well. Sarah and Brianna are so much alike. I think it would really help both of them if they could meet each other."

-Well if we managed to save the future, at least one future, since it's all so confusing, maybe it happens. I'm curious of knowing your daughter. What age is she... was... when you leaved her, since none of you is still born in my time...

"Sarah is thirty years old, considerably older than you are," says Lionel, eager to talk about his daughter. "In spite of the age difference, I'm certain you two would get on famously. I do hope you get to meet her one day. Sarah is a nurse like her mother, as I said, but she could have been a doctor. She has the reflexes and hands of a surgeon. She didn't want the extra responsibility, though. Whenever anything bad happens, she always blames herself, even though she always tries her best. She is truly a wonderful person, and I've never known anyone more compassionate than her. You're right, the fact that there's a future where the world is saved does give me hope, but we haven't actually saved the future yet. We still have work to do. I think after we leave here we should try the public library after all. Maybe that is where Daniel and Annie wanted us to meet them."

"No, she's not married," says Lionel. "She's never had much luck with relationships, and they usually end badly for her, but there's still hope she'll find the right man. In our day it's rather normal for people not to marry until they're in their thirties. It's also very commonplace for married women to work. In fact, it's downright essential if one wants to raise a family. Due to the effects of inflation it's become impossible for most couples to raise a family with only one income. The only reason I was able to raise Sarah in comfort after Beatrice passed on is that a doctor's salary is still generous."

"People are living better," says Lionel, "but machines can never truly do all the work. They aren't intelligent, so human input is still required. They can save a lot of labour, and the work week for most people is now only 40 hours - though as a doctor I tend to work 60 hours a week or more. The problem is with the way the economy works. Due to inflation and a huge increase in debt, people have to work in order to afford the basics: education, health care, a home, cars. Women will have more rights in the future, but also more responsibilities, and one day they'll do many of the jobs on a full-time basis that they're doing for the duration of the war. There will be women constables and firefighters, as well as far more professional women as doctors, scientists, business executives, and politicians. Our first female Prime Minister will be Margaret Thatcher, elected in 1979 - and a fine job she'll do, too. There will also be women serving in the military not merely in supporting roles, but also in combat positions - including fighter pilots."

"Oh, being old isn't so bad," says Lionel. "Having people you love around you makes getting older quite enjoyable. Besides, people will live longer in the future too. With all the advances in medicine and increases in knowledge, we know much better how to take care of ourselves. For instance, smoking tobacco causes cancer of the lung and other life-threatening ailments. Unfortunately, a lot of people still smoke even though they know this. The nicotine in tobacco is highly addictive, which makes it very difficult for someone who has already started smoking to quit, too. The average life expectancy in my day is about eighty years, and you can live longer than the average by maintaining your health. My parents lived into their eighties. Of course, it helped that my father became a doctor too, after the war."

"Oh, yes, I'm quite certain of it," says Lionel. "It's a good thing you don't smoke. There are many other things that we've discovered are harmful to one's health. Too much of the wrong kind of cholesterol can harden your arteries and cause them to become clogged, though there's also a good kind of cholesterol that helps. Fatty foods aren't good for you either. Too much alcohol can cause cirrhosis of the liver, though that's possibly known these days as well. There are studies that suggest that small amounts of alcohol may actually be beneficial. Oh, and asbestos! When it flakes off, the dust can get in your lungs and cause cancer too - and if you also smoke, it's a hundred times worse than either smoking or asbestos alone. That's just a few examples. I could go on for hours."

"It's possible that this day's boffins do suspect the dangers of smoking," says Lionel as he escorts Agnes to the exit, "though the dangers of asbestos won't be known for at least another few decades. As for movies, you'd be surprised how much they've improved in terms of technical quality, but saddened by the decline in artistic and moral quality. All movies have colour, except when a director deliberately chooses to make it black and white for aesthetic reasons - and both picture and sound quality are absolutely fantastic. 3-D movies will be invented in the 1950s. The audience wears special glasses with thin plastic lenses of different colours that give the picture the illusion of depth. It never became truly popular, though, and most movies didn't use it. They don't make movies like that any more in my day. Movies will also be shown on television, and can be purchased or rented from shops - or even borrowed from the library. In the late 1970s they'll be on tape casettes that you insert into a machine that can play them on a television - or record programmes as they're being broadcast. Laserdiscs are a brief fad in the 1980s, but optical disc technology really takes off in the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century. They have all sorts of extra features included with the movies on these small discs the size of a coaster. Eventually television won't be merely broadcast; it will be brought into one's home through cables or satellite dishes, and there will be hundreds of channels, many of which specialize in movies. Not only that, but you can also get video on demand. You can watch a programme or movie whenever you want in your own home, and you can pause, rewind, or fast forward as you wish. The most modern televisions have incredible resolution, and it's just like being there. These days they're almost all flat screens, and some of them can be quite large, though not anywhere near the size of the screen at the cinema.

"Unfortunately, movies will degrade in other ways. Over time, foul language and adult content will creep in. Many films have gotten quite atrocious by my day. There are still some wholesome movies, but you have to be careful what you let your children see. Movies also won't be as good as they are in these days, though you can still find a few diamonds in the rough. The 1930s through the 1950s are truly the golden age of cinema, and this is a great time to be alive in spite of all the hardships."

OOC: By the way, the nazis where the first who were worried with the problems of tobacco, and make special laws against that.

-But why don't the goverment forbid those movies? And the studios? Or even the people? If tyhose movies are bad for moral, why people continue to see them?

"Well, that's the flip side of having freedom," says Lionel. "The government doesn't ban movies. There is a ratings system in place, but it's far from perfect. The studios keep making those sorts of movies because they know people will pay to see them. And there are plenty of people who gladly will. That's part of the decline in morality I mentioned. Most of the population has grown to accept it over time, and the change was so gradual that many didn't even notice. Things that are unthinkable these days will be commonplace in the future. So many have lost their way and turned their backs on God. I don't think the cataclysm to come is any sort of divine judgment, though. You saw what happened to the children, and they hadn't done anything wrong."

"I don't know how this is possible," admits Lionel. "Until a couple of days ago, I had no inkling of any of this. Though it seems like an unreal situation, all of this feels like it's really happening. This being, whatever it is, is not God, it is simply very powerful. I've told you of some of the technological wonders that mankind will come up with in the next several decades, and you've even seen one of them in action. Imagine what could be accomplished in centuries. Whatever this being is, it seems to have mastery over time itself, at least to a limited extent. Maybe it's from even further in the future. If so, at least that means there is a future. It did speak to me through someone in this time. If it were the devil trying to trick me, I think it would have given me instructions that weren't completely vague."

"Yes, those are very good points," says Lionel. "We just need more information about what exactly we're supposed to do, and we need to find Daniel and Annie."

The road is the only clear landing zone near the library.

As the group rush out onto the front yard, they can hear the whump-whump-whump of rotor blades but can see no source of it. Perhaps a helicopter is passing overhead, behind the building... Its hard to be sure, the sound is distorted, its difficult to pinpoint its direction.

OOC: Poor Agnes doesn't know a helicopter


-What is this noise? Some car in the other side?

"On the other side, to be sure," says Lionel, looking around, "but it's no car. That, my dear, is a helicopter - a rotary-winged aircraft a bit more advanced than an autogyro. It was invented in the 1930's by Igor Sikorski. There aren't too many of them around these days, but I'm pretty certain the RAF doesn't have any yet, and this one sounds decidedly modern. I wonder...Sarah mentioned that she was in a helicopter when she called me. Could it be?" His heart leaps with hope.

"Maybe if we had a radio," says Lionel. "Or a mobile phone, but Annie has both mine and Jennifer's." His eyes light up, and he looks at Jill, Charlie, and Louie. "Of course, that's it! One of you must have a mobile. You can call Sarah on her mobile, and if she's on board she'll answer." He tells them the number. He peers into the sky for any sign of the helicopter, waving to where he thinks it is.

-But can they see us? I thought we could only speak and hear them. It's not a very good idea to atract other's attention here.

"I don't know if they can see us," says Lionel, "but we can hear them, and we can see and hear Jill and the men. Mobile phones are another modern marvel, though sometimes they can be a nuisance. It's a telephone you can carry with you in your pocket, completely wireless. And it's more than just a telephone. You can use it to play music, watch videos, play games, all sorts of things."

Agnes look incredulous.

OOC: Sorry, double post.

"Yes, I've got a cellphone." Charlie answers as he start dialing the number.

Charlie's phone is answered but the only thing he hears are garbled words half-shrouded in static that sounds like his wife screaming for him to help her before it finally becomes an ear-splitting shriek that makes his very skull seem to vibrate within his head. He slumps suddenly toward the ground but regains consciousness before truly losing it (basically, a half-faint) and manages to keep his footing ... just as a dark shadowy object of swirling ash lands in front of them. It's massive darkness that stinks of blood and carnage, emitting sounds like the throbbing of a heart beat and whipping up the air around them.

The still shaken Charlie instinctively takes a few steps back, eventhough he has nowhere to go.

His wits have yet to return and leave him unable to react in a well thought out fashion.

"Charlie, are you all right?" asks Lionel. "Let's not try that again. There's no need to anyway, that's the helicopter - I can tell by the noise it's making. It looks too big to be the police helicopter that Sarah described and I can't make out any details, but that ash and the smell indicate where it's from, all right. Sarah, are you in there?!"

"Daddy ... <<the word is vaguely hard to hear - did she say 'terror'," says Sarah's voice from one of the figures that emerge from the blackened silhouette.

"Yes, and I'm with her," says a horribly snarling voice that is completely unrecognizable as anyone you've met before. "I'm you... <<voice slides off into inconmprehensible babble>> Agnes, are you there? Brianna and Ronald are with us too, along with some other friends."

Lionel's heart jumps for joy at the sound of his daughter's voice. The distorted voice that claims to be him puzzles him. He knows that when you hear your own voice played back it doesn't sound the same as when you're talking, but it's never totally unrecognizable. "Sarah, over here!" he calls back, waving and smiling. "Agnes is with us too!"

OOC: Can Agnes recognize the voice? It's easier to another person.

-It is you? So that means that we succeed in saving the world?

"I can't tell," says Lionel to Agnes. "He doesn't sound much like me, but maybe that's because he's not close enough to the library. That's definitely Sarah, though. There's ash all around the helicopter, so it doesn't like we've succeeded yet."

A few figures come out of the helicopter, moving cautiously, the stink of carnage flowing over and around them. Where they step, chunks of gore come loose and fall on the ground, leaving a trail of blood behind them. Their flesh, now that you can see them more clearly, writhe with worm-like shadows that twist beneath their shuddering skin. Each figure have eyes shrouded in shadows, and when they open their mouths, their teeth gleam bone-white.

But for the two little girls and Ronald, who are recognizable, the ones appear as recognizable as monsters.

-Ronald! Your back with Brianna! Hum, and what are those things?- she points to the monsters.

"I don't know," says Lionel. "Where's Sarah? Ronald, what's going on?" He scratches his head. "They don't seem afraid of the monsters. Brianna, it's so good to see you again. You look...taller, somehow. And who's your friend?"

Brianna stares wide eyed, ignoring them as she turns on one of the monsters. "What!" She shouts incredulously. "How come I'm over there and here! How can that be! And Cael what do you think you're doing!"She stares at the gun, shocked, "You're not actually going to shoot me are you? I mean...future me! Not AGAIN!" She fist punches the gun out of the way, then starts hitting him with her fists balled up, tears streaming, "STOP IT! STOP IT WITH YOUR STUPID GUN! STOP!"

"Your stupid gun and your stupid shooting!" Brianna continues, in hot pursuit of a monster whose arm ends in a twisted rifle of flesh and steel. "You think you're protecting but all you're doing is shooting innocent people! I was one of those innocent people! And you SHOT ME IN THE BACK! I'm not letting you do it again!" She follows after him, continuing to beat on him over and over again. Her voice is choked and ragged, and tears stream down her cheeks.

"I don't think we can fully trust our senses," says Lionel. "Perhaps one of them is really Sarah. I know I heard her voice." He starts moving forward. "Brianna! It's okay, sweetie, I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you. He shot you?! Maybe that explains the hole we found in your head, in the bomb shelter." It must have been some kind of accident, he thinks. He was trying to protect her, but he hit her by mistake.

"He won't shoot if it's you kiddo will you Cael!" says Ronald looking to the monster with the gun. "Be 100% before you shoot Cael! We don't know what might happen if you hurt someone out of time. And if anything happens to Brianna..."

"Ronald, Brianna!" says Lionel. "It's me, Lionel!"

Brianna resorts to snivelling and wiping her tears, and lags back in the rear, away from the rest of the bunch. She'll hang back as far as Ronald will let her, and clings to his hand, still feeling sorry for herself. After a while her sniffles turn into hiccups.

"How come they can't hear you guys? " Dahlia inquires, approaching your group.

Ronald approaches slowly with Brianna in hand. He shines a flashlight at Lionel, Agnes, Charles and Jill, somewhat defensively.

"But we haven't met Dahlia since this started," says Lionel. "I'm not really sure what's going on or why we can't hear anyone else. If they're disguised, it's not a very convincing disguise." He faces Dahlia and smiles at her, speaking up. "You're Dahlia, right? I know I've seen you during your stay at the hospital, and I also remember you from a vision of the future I had when I was in the bomb shelter with Ronald, Brianna, and Agnes here. I was with you in a room with chemicals, and there was ash around us. Sarah mentioned when she called me that you got out of the hospital with her in a helicopter and you were on your way to a military base, but I don't know what happened after that. I heard Sarah's voice earlier, but I can't see her. Is she with you? If she can hear you, then you three will have to relay our speech back and forth. Can you ask Sarah what her mother's maiden name was, so I know it's really her?"

Brianna stared at the monster who had a gun spliced into his arm coldly, holding her mouth tight so it wouldn't quiver. "Give me your gun." She said it like she meant it, holding her hand out palm up. Her eyes flickered up to Ronald uncertainly.

"Waaah???" Dahlia said, leaving the helicopter and staring at the situation in disbelief, then went to stand behind the more feminine monster, peeking around her bloodied torso as though afraid for her life.

“BRIANNA!” Ronald looks down to Brianna pleadingly and then back to Cael. He shrugs his shoulders.

The two other monsters snarl, moan and whine at each other for a long period of time, the words sounding like nothing that could be produced by human vocal chords.

"Now you're sounding like Louie," Brianna remarks darkly to one of the monsters. "He used to call me padawan." She stands in front of the gun-monster with palm still outstretched, waiting for him to hand his gun over.

Three of the monsters snarl and growl at each other again.

Ronald waits.

Brianna clutches the gun, trembling, and raises it slowly to point at the gun-monster's chest. The weight of the gun was not what she expected, however, and she struggles with earnest to keep it up.


"You shot me when you were afraid. And then I shot Dr. Sutcliffe when I was afraid of her and what she was going to do to me." She begins, her eyes meeting the gun-monster's with coldness, "I could do it, right here and now. Except that I'm not afraid of you, Cael" She looks back at the gun-monster, a smile playing at her mouth, as she clutches the gun tightly, then lowers it and engages the safety once more "Well c'mon, you didn't really think I'd do it did you? Killing one doctor was enough. And Ronald would never let me forget it. But I'm keeping this for now so that you can't go all power hungry and shoot poor old Lionel in the heart. I don't trust you Cael. Not even a little bit."

She turns on her heel and approaches the door to the building. "Let's get inside."

"Brianna, what's going on?" asks Lionel, walking alongside her. "Why would he want to kill me? What's happened to you - to all of you?" He looks at the female monster. "Sarah, is that you? Why do you look like that? If you answered my question, I couldn't understand it. I can't make out a word you're saying. I can only understand Ronald, Brianna, and Dahlia."

"No....he's not a monster. Neither is she. It's just you....from the future. That's why you can't understand them." Brianna is talking to Lionel. She shakes her head, "We won't hurt you. And he won't either," she says, nodding at the gun-creature, "At least he better not. So....where is Daniel? We need to talk to him. Can you take us into the library? It will be safer there than here."

"Woah...." Dahlia remarks, staring from Brianna to Lionel, "This is cooooool."

Ronald tightens his grip on Brianna's hand.. “Careful Sweety! Don't touch them! “

"No, they didn't," says Lionel, "but I know we can trust Brianna and Ronald. Brianna, we don't know where Daniel and Annie are. We came here looking for them, but we haven't found them yet. If my older self is really there, maybe he knows. I have a lot of other questions for him too. Hmm...I have a way he can prove he's me. I'm thinking of a number. Ask him to remember what the number is, and then you can tell me. Yes, let's all go inside. I think there's going to be an air raid soon, and we don't want to be there when it hits, but the sirens should give us plenty of warning. If we stay close to the exit we'll be all right. What do we look like to you? Sarah, it's so good to be with you again and know you'll be safe, and that I'll be reunited with you eventually. I just wish I could see you as you really are and understand what you're saying."

"Maybe they did answer, but we couldn't hear it," says Lionel. "If my future self is there, he must remember this from my perspective. Brianna, please tell me what Sarah and the other me said." He concentrates on the number he has thought of, 718, etching it into his memory so that he'll be able to recall it however far in the future he'll need to know it. Brianna does look a good deal older... he thinks.

Ronald nudges Brianna... "Ask if they figured anything out at the Library. What do we have to do to help?"

"What is your mouth broken now too?" Brianna says sarcastically, then turns to the 'other' Lionel, "She said her mother's name is Beatrice Lumsford. Oh, and she says, think of a number and we'll prove it because the other you can remember what number he was thinking of, because he used to be you. Ok?"

Charlie has silently followed the exchange, but still can't make heads or tails of it all. He reverts to a near catatonic state as he overlooks Jill, simply making sure she is safe and nothing else.

(occ: been following this, but i really don't have anything useful for my char to do, unless i want to metagame, which i don't)

"Yes, that's right," says Lionel with a smile. "Sarah, it is you! Ronald, I can hear you just fine too. We did find that book that Louie was looking for, the Tome of Ibn'Kha. I'm not sure why we need it, though. I'm already thinking of the number. Oh, Sarah, it's so good to know that you're safe and I'll get to see you again. This has been so much like that television programme 'Life on Mars.' I was caught in a collapsing building and I woke up in 1941. Am I insane, in a coma, or back in time? Maybe if I can figure out why I'm here, I can get home. Surely my older self knows the reason I'm here and how I got home. Sarah, I promise I'm coming back to you."

The rotors on the helicopter begin to stir to life.

"Wait, you're not leaving now, are you?!" calls Lionel. "We have so much we need to talk about!"

-Can't we go with them?- Asks Agnes imagining herself in the flying machine...

"I certainly hope so," says LIonel. "I don't want to leave Sarah again. I'm not sure if it will work. Let's all try to go with them if they're leaving." He approaches Ronald and Brianna. "Can we come with you?"

"Don't read the books Lionel!" says Ronald. "They'll turn you into this crazy nut job and your daughter will hate you! Save the little girl that looks like Brianna! Tell Daniel and Annie to warn Sarah not to use her cell phone! Can they even hear me old man! Brianna, you say something! Craperjacks! Go back to the Hospital Lionel! Save the culty kids! Tell Daniel and Annie to trust no one."

"I can hear you just fine, Ronald," says Lionel. "Understanding is another thing. What are you on about? Sarah will not hate me, no matter what happens. My future self went crazy? Which books am I not supposed to read? And where can I find Daniel and Annie? Are they at the hospital? The public library? Please, is there anything else you can tell us?"

"That could be one of the books," says Lionel, "but Ronald said there were more than one. I'll make sure not to ready any dodgy books, and to pass along the warning. How do Daniel and Annie end up meeting Sarah?"

The monstrous creatures chitter and snarl at each other. The creature with the gun slid into its arm howls and gibbers to itself. The female creatures' radio comes to life between her gnarled fingers and it utters several gutteral grunts and groans.

"It's cold in the water," says a gentle, male voice sleepily over the radio. Blackworth? "The sleepless will wake up soon."

OOC,You should probably refer to him as [b]Daniel[/b] in this thread, since our characters don't know him as [b]Blackworth[/b] yet.

"Daniel!" calls Lionel. "What does that mean? Don't tell me you've gone batty too!" He hurries after the female creature that he knows is somehow Sarah, motioning for the others to follow him. "Come on, you lot! Let's get to the chopper!"

There's a moment of rush and thunder and than those you were seeing a moment ago have shifted positions and are now largely on the helicopter. Ronald says: Tell Daniel and Annie not to trust anyone but us... and that they can't lie to Sarah... ever! And... Ronald looks over at Sarah and cringes.... And your daughter loves you old man.... Don't be a Shitake mushroom head and read those books... don't you dissapoint her.

Lionel takes a step up into the helicopter with ease. The helicopter now seems entirely solid to them at least and the others loom into view.

Can everyone now turn to And Now Join Hands, You All Are Damned in Chapter Three.