Dr. Gordon Freeman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
trustycrowbar) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
smashacademy2015-10-12 11:10 am
trustycrowbar) wrote in smashacademy2015-10-12 11:10 am
The Gravity of the Situation [Video, cross-campus]
[Normally Gordon's little messages to the school at large are brief. Terse, is a better way to put it. A quick flick of the switch and a message that inkling ink may be non-toxic but that doesn't mean you should paint the lab specimens with it (For example.) and a quick flick of the switch off again.]
[Not so today. The feed comes on and he stares at the camera, raking a hand through his hair and starting to mouth three silent beginnings to three different sentences before he actually finds one with a voice. There's something he wants to say, but no permutation of words will make it easier to hear.]
I've, uh... Students, faculty. No doubt you've noticed that the moon hasn't gone out of full for the past week or so, and in fact looks even bigger now. I've been taking some readings. The shift in the center of gravity of the moon-planet binary and parallax measurements tell me that it's... not just an optical illusion.
The moon has, somehow, left its orbit.
I only mentioned this to the security chief before now, because I wanted to be absolutely certain of my suspicions and of where the moon was actually headed. I would like to say that it'll just harmlessly slingshot around us and into the sun. I really, really wish I could say that, in fact I spent several nights trying to make the numbers work so I COULD say that... but I can't. There's no other way to plot the trajectory, other than directly at us.
[He picks up some papers, eyeballing them on the camera, making sure he this part straight.] Now... Apparently this has happened before. A world by the name of Termina actually survived the event, but they had four guardian giants that awoke and... [A mistrustful squint at the paper.] physically shoved the moon back into orbit. [He puts the paper down.]
Obviously we're a little light on sleeping giants. As a matter of fact, I have no damn clue how to fix this, or even if we can. The four masks are involved--and there ARE four--but it's anyone's guess as to how they are. What I do know is, if we don't do something, the moon will strike the earth, and every single living creature on this planet down to the last microbe might be eradicated.
If anyone knows anything about this or has ideas, now's the time to step up. You might just save more than just the school. Also... in the event that we CAN'T stop it, I advise everyone to start making plans for quick evacuation back to your homeworlds. If you know someone who doesn't have a homeworld or can't reach it, then consider taking them with you. They may have to start all over but trust me, if that moon hits, then any place will be better than here.
[Private, to Skull Kid]
Kid... I know you were there. Your student file is hazy on the details, but I know you were there in Termina when this happened the last time. I didn't mention your name earlier and I don't intend to, because when people are panicked they can do some awful things when names are dropped. But, we still need to know everything you know if we're going to keep this planet in one piece.
So what exactly happened there?
[Not so today. The feed comes on and he stares at the camera, raking a hand through his hair and starting to mouth three silent beginnings to three different sentences before he actually finds one with a voice. There's something he wants to say, but no permutation of words will make it easier to hear.]
I've, uh... Students, faculty. No doubt you've noticed that the moon hasn't gone out of full for the past week or so, and in fact looks even bigger now. I've been taking some readings. The shift in the center of gravity of the moon-planet binary and parallax measurements tell me that it's... not just an optical illusion.
The moon has, somehow, left its orbit.
I only mentioned this to the security chief before now, because I wanted to be absolutely certain of my suspicions and of where the moon was actually headed. I would like to say that it'll just harmlessly slingshot around us and into the sun. I really, really wish I could say that, in fact I spent several nights trying to make the numbers work so I COULD say that... but I can't. There's no other way to plot the trajectory, other than directly at us.
[He picks up some papers, eyeballing them on the camera, making sure he this part straight.] Now... Apparently this has happened before. A world by the name of Termina actually survived the event, but they had four guardian giants that awoke and... [A mistrustful squint at the paper.] physically shoved the moon back into orbit. [He puts the paper down.]
Obviously we're a little light on sleeping giants. As a matter of fact, I have no damn clue how to fix this, or even if we can. The four masks are involved--and there ARE four--but it's anyone's guess as to how they are. What I do know is, if we don't do something, the moon will strike the earth, and every single living creature on this planet down to the last microbe might be eradicated.
If anyone knows anything about this or has ideas, now's the time to step up. You might just save more than just the school. Also... in the event that we CAN'T stop it, I advise everyone to start making plans for quick evacuation back to your homeworlds. If you know someone who doesn't have a homeworld or can't reach it, then consider taking them with you. They may have to start all over but trust me, if that moon hits, then any place will be better than here.
[Private, to Skull Kid]
Kid... I know you were there. Your student file is hazy on the details, but I know you were there in Termina when this happened the last time. I didn't mention your name earlier and I don't intend to, because when people are panicked they can do some awful things when names are dropped. But, we still need to know everything you know if we're going to keep this planet in one piece.
So what exactly happened there?
no subject
But I'm willing to help in anyway I can.
no subject
portal-conductivedust...?Hold on. Do you have any moons around Aza... as...
[What was the name of the world, again?]
no subject
[She feels there's a condescending hint to his words which doesn't faze her but does make her visibly uncomfortable so she looks away.]
When things of this magnitude act abnormally, usually back home there was much more of a reason than just 'it suddenly began to act this way'.
I guess I was just trying to figure out if there was more to this world's moon than just being a 'giant rock in the sky'.
[She sighed a little before crossing her arms, still not looking at the camera.]
Well in any case, offer still stands, with evacuation or whatever else.
no subject
Ahg... Looksssorry, no, I'm still used to the mundane. The moon's always been a giant rock in the sky in my world. Of course there's got to be a cause... I forget sometimes, that the cause might not be quite that mundane after all.
[He turns his head and stares offscreen, but is still audible:]
Hell, I'm staring down three masks that have monster spirits inhabiting them. You'd think I'd get used to this by now...
[Back to Ronnae.]
Any help you want to give, I'd accept. Gladly. I need to get plans made for orbital evacuation for the students and teachers that can't leave this world, and that's going to take most of our energy and resources.
Also Wave has an idea of using the Chaos Emeralds and a version of my Gravity Gun to launch it back into the sky, and that's no small project either.
Lastly, there are these masks. There are four of these monster masks, plus a fifth that we NEED to find because it might be behind this whole thing.
[Go on and take your pick, Ronnae.]
no subject
Hmm, a gravity influencer would be a great idea to try and toss it back into orbit... But the amount of power that there'd need to be behind it is... well just insane. Doable, but insane nonetheless.
[Just think about the mishaps that could come just from harnessing that much concentrated power? Talk about the moon crashing into your world being a minor inconvenience compared to that...
She shook her head.]
That's.. a bit too risky I'd think?
Evac could be easy if you had a specific location you'd like to set up for the safety of everyone. Once there, I think building a teleporter would expedite the process thousandfold.
[And as she told you before, she's actually really good with teleporters!]
Masks on the other hand... Masks, in most cultures it seems, can have an immense magical power behind them... Even if we couldn't find whatever this fifth one was, we could probably make great use of them.
no subject
[He never managed to get it to send him home... but nevermind that.]
As for these masks, it doesn't take a magician to feel that there's something in them. They're giving off the strangest damn readings I've ever seen and slowly microwaving the liquid in their specimen tanks. What's more, the frequencies I measured stack on top of one another like they're all a component of something... bigger.
no subject
Things of that powerful magnitude could be miracle makers or the complete opposite... And I don't think right now we can affor the opposite.
Then again, if that thing crashes here and we can't evacuate... We might not have anything to lose anyways.