The Steel Curtain

Koth sighed, calming himself. He was becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress, and also now at being yelled at like a subordinate. Koth decided that if he didn't have anything nice to say, he shouldn't say anything at all...and smashing the natives' heads in seemed amusing, but near-sighted. Koth decided to simply cross his arms and look down, lest he act too rashly.

Lars weighed his options carefully. Saying the wrong thing could evoke an upsetting response from this...Cat-person. It was obviously a warrior and warriors have always tended to be the 'stab first and not bother with questions later' types. At least, they seemed that way from his history books. There were few warriors where he came from. Still, it was better to be cautious, he thought. More importantly, there was a young girl here now. She looked human and didn't look like a fighter by any means. Her safety immediately had top priority in his mind. While the cat-creature was focused on the others who were talking to it or just seemed to be rather large and intimidating, compared to two humans at least, Lars ducked down and carefully crept his way over to Marsha.

When he approached her, he pressed a finger to his lips to keep her from worrying out loud and alerting anyone to what he was doing. He got very close to her ear and whispered as quietly as he possibly could "I think it would be a good idea for you and I to get somewhere a little safer, in case things get a little...err...hairy." He tried not to laugh at the unintentional pun. He made a small motion with his hand, indicating almost directly behind Marsha. "There's a thicket of trees over there we could slip into undetected. We could stay hidden until we're sure it's safe. He held out a hand for her to take so that he could help her up quietly and waited for her to take it.

The creature did not like my answer. However, after the slime creature spoke, it allowed its full fury to be known. My hand instinctively went to my quiver to noc an arrow, but then Marsha seemed to calm it with her hand. I let out a subtle sigh of relief as the ferocious creature stalked away. Marsha's words seemed to have appeased it, though for how long was anyone's guess. I walked toward where her and the Sky-Rider man were standing, in time to catch the final jab taken at the man similar in form to Marsha. "Great Mother save us..." I mumbled, already worried about what would become of such a disorganized and confused group. I glanced at the girl mention of us being 'cats', and raised a patch of bark. "Did you not know we appeared as the people that inhabit the verse?" I asked, confused as to how that very important fact would have been neglected to be mentioned by the traveler before them, at least in some kind of letter left behind. I paused for a moment, thinking, and then said "What do you think this 'Ginglor' is?"

Koth watched the cat man threaten his group, ready for action. As Marsha calmed the warrior, Koth relaxed slightly. As the cat man bounded away, Koth took a few steps in the direction he ran, looking ahead. He turned to Sun-Lai. "I'm not sure. Might be a place or a person. In either case, I think it's in this direction. When everyone is ready, I say we go that way. It's the only clue we have,"

Politely taking his hand back now that he was sure Marsha could stand on her own well enough, he straightened himself up and brushed himself off. He was glad to see that they, or more accurately Marsha, had been able to avoid engaging the first native they met in combat. When Arterion asked about helping Marsha and mentioned leaving without them, he said "Yes. No. Sorry, I'm a scientist sort of doctor, not a medical doctor." He looked over at Marsha's wrist for a second. "I can tell you, though, that there's nothing wrong with her hand. She's just got some funny joints. I'd expect she was born with them. It happens more often than most people think." Catching himself from babbling on about physical abnormalities, Lars puffed himself up a bit and said "And I wouldn't exactly call it leaving. More of a tactical retreat. If you all went and got yourselves captured, who would there be left to mount a daring rescue? Or what if these people, these...Kha don't do 'capture and imprison'? What if they jump straight to 'kill and move on'? There could be a whole patrol out here, lurking in the forest. We could've been outnumbered, for all we know. At the time, it looked like something was going to go wrong very quickly and I wanted to get our young friend here..." He motioned to Marsha "...Somewhere safe."

Koth walked over to Arterion, clapping him on the back. "Now that's what I like to see, a go-getter. I say you scout ahead, up high, and we start to walk. Maybe we can get somewhere with this. Besides, there's nothing better than actually working together to get to know people. So we can do all our..." Koth sighed, and used air quotes, "'Bonding' while we walk."

"Navigation?" Lars repeated to himself? He instinctively moved his hand to where his coat pocket would be, as he always carried a compass in it. Of course, he didn't have it now. He had to leave it behind when he came through the T-Gate. He cursed inwardly that he couldn't be helpful at the moment. Then he bopped his forehead with the palm of his hand as he realized that he had more than he realized. "I can't believe I was about to let myself forget that!" He was so excited that he said that out loud. Quite abruptly, as well.

He poked one of the nodes on the side of his head with his left middle finger, then held his hands up as if there were a keyboard just about a foot from his face. He started making motions as if he was moving things around on a touch screen and muttered "If I can just find a non-essential part to temporarily deactivate, I can magnetize it aaaaand..." He trailed off for a few seconds as his hands began to move with more gusto. It now looked as if he were moving around some floating object, and to him he was. He had brought up the working display of his cyber-plant. As the visual was projected directly into the vision center of his brain, though, no one else could see anything that wasn't actually there.

After just a few more seconds, Lars poked the same node. Grinning, he exclaimed "Aaand implement!" He raised his arms as if something spectacular should happen. After a few seconds, he clapped his hands together, still smiling, and said "Haha! It worked! I am so brilliant! Deactivate a bit in my brain that I don't need - And by "in my brain", of course I mean in my cyber-plant - and charging it's physical component with electricity, I have created an internal compass! It may not exactly lead us to what we would call "north", but it will lead us to the most powerful magnetic source on this planet. Which is..." He raised both arms and spun around on the spot, promptly falling to the ground. He lifted his head up and coughed some leaves out of his face. "Aha...yes. Well. When you're dealing with a complicated piece of technology that's wired directly into your brain, it's very difficult to find a part that can be considered "non-essential". In this case, I shut off the Gyroscopic Equalibrilizer. So I'm standing and moving solely under my own equilibrium now, which I've never actually had to do before. I'll be a bit dizzy for a while, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. If nothing else, we can trust that the way I fall is magnetic north."

We were all going to die.

That was the first and most blatant thought to come into my mind as this 'Lars' did...whatever it was he was doing with that iron mind of his. The arguments and suggestions of the metal man and the skyrider were more out of impatience than anything. Another girl seemed to be just as impatient, and she was urging us to move on. I glanced back at Lars as he excitedly flailed around, and proceeded to fall flat on his face. He was...confusing, and this 'North' he spoke of...what in the Great Mother's name was it? A direction apparently, though not one I'd ever heard of.

I sighed, and looked at the trees. They said nothing, did nothing, emanated nothing. Nothing but confusion, that is. "The Silent Ones do nothing here...Few feelings come from them save...fear. They do not know what to make of my presence..." I said, shocked and slightly worried that the Silents would not be able to guide me anywhere. I glanced back over at Lars, and sighed once again. "I...suppose I have little choice but to follow you." I said, giving the slightest hint that I felt I would be better off on my own.

Koth stood blank-faced, inwardly cursing his haste. It was clear that this was not Mirrodin, and he didn't have the knowledge to lead as effectively as he wanted. Dejected, Koth decided to simply follow, for the first time in his life.

After putting on the clothes and gear left for me at the T-Gate, I hesitantly walk through. I find myself in what looks like a vast forest. I check myself to make sure I'm intact and I have everything. Clothes, legs, real arm, mech arm, head, steam pistol, everything seemed to be in order. However, I was alone. Xander said there would be people here to meet me. I start walking through the forest, trying to find anyone at all. I feel my mech arm start to twitch and I quickly figure out what's causing it. The humidity is not being kind, and I know it may cause problems. I'll have to keep an eye on it. As I keep walking, I see what looks like a clearing in the trees. I walk into the clearing and am greeted with a magnificent view of the vast forest over a steep cliff. A breeze blows in, and my mech arm starts twitching again. I sit on the edge of the cliff and start tinkering with the arm to see if I can make it stop. I feel the ground start to crumble beneath me. I try to get up, but as I put my weight on it to stand up, it breaks completely and I fall down the steep hill. I try to find something soft to break my fall. I see a group of people further down the hill who look to be various species. This must be the other travelers. I have to stop near them, but as I pick up speed, it's getting harder to aim. I break my fall on the winged one and end up pushing him over the edge he's standing on and further down the hill, lined with thickets and growing ever steeper. "Help us, someone!"

Lars had turned a little too quickly when he heard Marsha call out, causing him to end up on the ground again. "One of these days, I swear I'm gonna get the hang of this..." He muttered as he picked himself back up. He got up just in time to see Duke fling himself out to rescue Arterion and the unknown tumbler. He steadied himself on a tree so he didn't miss a moment. He grinned widely as Duke launched the three of them back to the top of the hill and began applauding mere seconds after they landed.

"Oh, bravo!" He said enthusiastically and still grinning. "That was wonderful! Absolutely marvelous!" He exclaimed as he made his way over to the pile of people, stumbling a bit but not falling. He did his best to help everyone up, occasionally having to grab onto something so he didn't fall on top of them. Once Duke was up, the first thing he did was shake his hand vigorously. "That really was completely incredible. That could have ended very badly if you hadn't acted." He let go of Duke's hand and looked around to make sure everyone else was okay. That's when he saw it.

He immediately rushed to the yet-unnamed man who had come rolling through. He reached out and shook his hand, intentionally shaking the one made of metal. "Hello, I'm Dr. Lars von Wer. Might I just say, this arm of yours is quite simply magnificent. From one look, it's obviously quite different from the cybernetic technology of my home." Forgetting all social graces, Lars pulled on the arm to extend it so he could look at it more thoroughly. "In fact, it doesn't seem to be cybernetic at all! Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be totally mechanical! Oh, that is brilliant!"

I wasn't paying attention. My thoughts were with the Silents, slowly they were becoming more welcoming of my presence, and slowly, feelings and images began to come from them. Blurry and uncolored, but they were enough to completely distract me from the entire instance. Until I was forced into it, of course.The impact from Duke and the two others was startling, but not fatal or injury inducing. I got up easily enough when Lars pulled Duke from on top of me, and I quickly gathered up my arrows and peered over at the newcomer, and watched in mild annoyance as Lars proceeded to harass him. I turned my attention back to the others, however. "I am glad everyone is alright, however, we need to keep moving. The Silent Ones are beginning to speak to me...barely. I sense urgency." I said, and then turned my gaze to Lars. "We can introduce ourselves as we walk. Stop molesting the boy's arm." I snapped.

Koth stood impassively with his arms folded, simply observing everything without so much as a flinch. He watched Duke use his abilities handily to save the tumbling pair, noting his quick response and ingenuity, as well as his apparent mastery of his for and it's implications. Koth decided that he would most likely be a valuable asset in combat. The bumbling construct being however, he decided might be a liability. Between his tendency to be distracted by anything shiny, and lack of balance, Koth wondered if it would be more useful to melt down the alloys from his body and make a shield for someone to use. Most likely wouldn't go over well with the rest of them. Koth thought. Still, one has to wonder. He watched as the tree man urged the group to continue, and Koth nodded, approving of his will to get things done.