Salvage

[aquatic_light]

There's an utter mess scattered over Washed Up Beach today, and a few people who seem to be trying to clean it up. Since the weather in the Nexus is always warm enough to go swimming (except when it isn't) there's also one family already who arrived with a picnic basket and found the beach just isn't suitable for that today. Care to have a look?

(This continues just after this scene. Feel free to talk to anyone there if you want, or just walk up and start poking around. I just ask that no one successfully walk off with any critical parts as there are plans to put that back together. XD )

Comments

[dee_lorean81]

"Keep up, you slowpoke!"

"I'm trying!" Doc wheezes, pounding the sand as best he can. "This is not an ideal surface for running, you know!"

Dee giggles, racing on ahead. "I'm doing fine! And I haven't had legs as long as you -- ooop!"

Abruptly her foot catches on something, and before she knows it, she's sprawled out face-first in the sand. "Dee!" Doc hurries to her side, helping her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah -- bleh," she adds, spitting out the mouthful of sand she'd half-swallowed upon landing. "Not good eatin'. . .what was that?" she adds, brushing the sand away from whatever tripped her.

[labtech_alia]

Alia, only recently arrived in the company of others with at least some repair experience, happened to spot the little girl trip and hurries over as best she can given that she's being careful not to possibly step on any other parts hidden in sand. "Are you all right?" she asks Dee, crouching near where the girl fell to try to find what she tripped on. She looks up at Doc. "I'm sorry, sir, there's been an... incident on the beach. Or more likely somewhere else and this is just where... things washed up." After all, there was the anti-violence field to consider.

[dee_lorean81]

"An incident?" Doc repeats, as Dee looks up curiously at the newcomer. "What happened?" Belatedly remembering his manners, he adds, "Oh, I'm Dr. Emmett Brown."

"Dee Brown," Dee adds, going back to uncovering the mystery object. "Did something come out of the ocean?"

[has_an_answer]

"I'm Alia," replies the blond woman in the labcoat. "And someone, according to Blues..." She's braced to explain both her lack of last name and that she just arrived herself when there's an interruption in the form of a small and very enthusiastic five year old.

"Hi! Did you find another piece? They're all over. Dad's trying to get them to let us stay and help match up all the bits. It's like a big puzzle! Oh! I think I know where that one goes! It's one of the car bits, which are bigger than the circuit bits and are being matched up over there where the guy with the stripy hair is. His name's Punk, I think. Oh, my name's Tad Nigma. What's your name?"

[dee_lorean81]

"Someone?" Doc repeats. Dee freezes, eyes wide. "You mean like--"

And then there is a hyperactive child by them, going on about puzzles and matching up bits and circuits and -- "Car bits?!" Dee repeats in a squeaky voice, hugging herself. "This -- this was a car?! A person car?!"

"Easy, Dee," Doc says, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay -- sorry, she's a little sensitive to this sort of thing," he adds to the child ("Tad," he think he said) and Alia. "Dee's short for 'DeLorean' -- I don't suppose either of you are familiar with the Back To The Future trilogy? And, uh, what happened to the time machine at the end of Part III?"

[labtech_alia]

Alia just shakes her head no.

But Tad has quit chattering and looks from the Dee to the mess on the beach and back. He steps a little closer to her and asks, a bit more quietly than before, "Will a hug help? I don't like them much, most of the time, but I know they make some people feel better... And I don't think they have called for a med-evac if they weren't going to try to put them together again. That's short for medical evacuation, right? Are you one of the medical people?" he asks, looking up at Alia.

Alia nods. "Yes. Some others are getting things ready at a clinic near the Wilybot Warehouse, while the rest of us are here..." She doesn't add that, for there to be any chance of this not ending badly, they'd have to find all of the more critical pieces at the very least.

[dee_lorean81]

"It's -- it's okay," Dee says, getting a hold of herself. "You don't gotta hug me if you don't like it. . .just. ..I don't like cars getting smashed up. Especially if they can think."

"She had a very near miss with a train," Doc explains to Alia. "So, judging from what you were both saying, about circuitry and whatnot, we're dealing with an AI mounted in a car body that--" He looks around, taking in the other bits and pieces scattered about. "Looks like it was involved in an explosion."

Dee goes back to uncovering her piece with new determination. "Yeah. . .come on, help me get this bit out."

[1st_mistake]

Tad nods, more solemn as he starts helping her dig the piece out of the sand. "I don't like anyone that can think getting smashed up," he admits. "But that's why it's extra important to find all the pieces this time. I hope they let us help. We're good at puzzles."

Alia sighs a bit. "As long as your're careful, and at least one of your parents is here to make sure you stay safe, then I have no objections. More people would be a help at this point."

While she's talking, a young man with a yellow scarf is padding up behind her very silently. He doesn't even look like he's trying to sneak, any more than a cat does, but that doesn't keep Alia from being startled when he speaks. "The Nigma's had a picnic blanket they're going to let everyone use to organize the circuitry pieces. Good point there - best to make sure we've found all the parts before moving them to the clinic."

Recovering from being startled, Alia just facepalms - though not at the news. "Blues..." She cuts off instead of telling him not to sneak up. She learned that was pointless. It was just something Blues did. "That is a good point," she says to the rest.

"Do you think we'll be able to find all the pieces?" Tad asks, giving a worried look to the rest of the beach as he helps tug out what seems to be a strangely intact side-mirror for having been the subject of an explosion. The glass is completely cracked and crazed, but something is still holding even that together. He's fighting the urge to poke it.

Blues gives a look to the licence plate he's still holding, and then to the rest of the beach. "It's hard to say for certain, but... from what I've seen of this place, it wouldn't have brought him here if there wasn't a chance."

[dee_lorean81]

"Yeah -- we can help too, right, Dad?" Dee asks, looking up at Doc.

"As long as the people here don't have any objections," Doc says, looking over at Alia. "I don't know how useful my scientific background would be -- I didn't do much with computers. But we can at least be another set of hands."

Doc starts too at the sudden appearance of the newcomer -- cripes, how does anyone walk that quietly? He glances back in the direction he thinks this "Blues" came from. "Very good point," he agrees. "You definitely don't want there to be anything missing when it comes to this."

"Nope," Dee says, grinning as the piece finally comes free. The grin turns to a frown as she examines it -- okay, that's weird. Why is the mirror all smashed to bits, but the casing seemingly okay? She taps on the side, wondering what it's made out of.

Doc glances at the license plate too, then around the beach. "The Nexus does seem to be able to match people up with where they need to be, sometimes," he says, thinking of his own miraculous reuniting with Marty so far back. "All we can do is try our best."

[has_an_answer]

"Right now I'm in favor of any help we can get," Alia says, "so long as things don't get so crowded we have people accidentally stepping on any of the pieces we're trying to find."

The licence plate is an older 1980's style plate. It's primarily blue, with CALIFORNIA across the top in smaller yellow letters. Beneath that, in larger letters, it says KARR. Blues glances to Doc Brown, eyes hidden behind his usual sunglasses, and nods slightly to indicate he saw Doc look at it too. "If that, or anything about black 1982 Pontiac Trans-Ams with unusual abilities seems familiar, keep in mind... the kid didn't deserve any of this. Self-preservation is the 'primary programming' of practically every living thing that exists." The sunglasses almost completely hide Blues' expression, and he's good at schooling the rest... but a very slight hint in his tone could indicate that he wouldn't mind getting his hands on the people responsible for this... somewhere nice and quiet and without inconvenient witnesses.

Tad's frowning too. He looks around for a stick or a pebble or something... finally finding a smoothed little twig of driftwood and carefully drawing the tip of it across the shattered glass. He can't feel any cracks in the vibrations of the driftwood. The glass feels unbroken, for all that it obviously isn't. The frown deepens as he tries to work this out.

None of the painted areas of metal seem damaged either. Unpainted areas are another matter. Signs of extreme heat and force, particularly regarding the bolts that would have held the side-mirror to rest of the vehicle - they've been shorn apart by the stress.

Meanwhile Eddie's heading that way to see what's distracted Tad. Once there, he glances over the piece the children are examining. It's tempting to blurt out his findings, but... first things first. "Tad?"

"The glass is broken, but not on the surface. There's something on the glass holding it all together. Maybe on all of it, because the paint... it's not even scratched. But I don't think they put it on the bolts..."

"Some sort of spray-on coating, applied after the vehicle was assembled," Eddie confirms with an approving nod. "Very interesting. Also this can't be the site of the initial explosion. The scatter pattern is wrong for that. You'll have to hope all the pieces have washed up." He says to Alia, having identified her as likely to be one of the medics due to her lab coat.

"Or at least arrived in the Nexus," Alia says. "We have some searching underwater as well."

[dee_lorean81]

"That wouldn't be good, no," Doc agrees, taking another sweeping look across the beach.

Rather different from Dee's own white, red, and blue plate -- then again, Dee's from 1985, so maybe this is an earlier design. Doc blinks at Blues, then admits with a shrug, "It doesn't, actually, but I'll keep it in mind regardless." Hmmm. . .that comment makes him think they're dealing with another "villainous" creation that isn't so bad once you take them out of their own universe. Maybe he'll have to look up "1982 Pontiac Trans Ams in media" when he gets back home. Or ask Marty -- his nephew is much better at catching up with missed pop culture than he is.

Dee watches Tad poke at the mirror, and frowns herself as she realizes nothing's actually coming loose from his poking. This is really strange. . .how come some bits are holding together so well, but other bits -- like the bolts -- are completely wrecked? It makes no sense, especially if the car exploded. . .

She gets her answer, sort of, when somebody else shows up -- Tad's father, maybe, given he seems to know the kid. "So -- somebody sprayed something on this that made it -- well, not really indestructible," she says, taking another look at the bolts. "But close to?"

"Sounds like it," Doc says, taking his own look. "Some sort of protective sealant. Unfortunately, it looks like they prioritized threats coming from outside the car, like potential crashes, and didn't treat the interior workings. Hence why the internal structures holding all these pieces together gave way."

Doc and Dee wince together as Alia admits they're searching underwater. "I hope most of the more delicate parts ended up on the beach," Doc comments. "Saltwater isn't exactly kind to electronics. Neither is sand, granted. . ."

[rusted_trust]

"It's not the first time he's been dunked in seawater and then buried in sand, either," Blues says. Really, the idea of 'already had irreparable damage by that world's standards' went a long way to explain KARR's behavior in the second episode, especially when combined with the sheer mental trauma that would cause in someone whose primary directive is their own survival. And the long term being buried on a beach on top of that. "At least he's not still on fire."

Alia sighs. Blues knew a lot more than he was saying. As usual. "You are at least going to make a report on anything medically relevant that you know, right?"

Blues nods and taps the side of his head. "Already working on it. We're lucky in one respect. The time he was from, his makers thought using Bubble Memory was extremely high-tech. It's a lot more impact resistant than other 80's tech." If it weren't for that, he doubt there was any chance at all. "But it's still magnetic based, so I don't want to see any magflies or metal detectors out there. We'll have to do this the hard way."

Alia nodded. "Leviathan warned not to send Magflies as soon as she realized some kind of antique electronics were involved."

Eddie fights the urge to facepalm. "I'm almost certain the Batman never had an AI in the Batmobile, or I would be suspicious at this point." Near-indestructible was a good description for some of the tanks he drove, but... "And he would have loved to get his hands on whatever they coated this with."

"We should take this bit over there," Tad says, pointing out where a teen with stripey red and black hair is organizing all the car parts. He'll start heading that way, watching his step for any other bits.

As he starts to follow his son, Ed realizes he hadn't introduced himself. Bad habit, since he's used to people knowing who he is. Even if lime green swimming trunks covered in question marks are less than his usual attire. "I'm Edward Nigma," he says, holding out his hand to the nearest adult, which happens to be Doc.

[dee_lorean81]

"Really?" Doc shares a grimace with Dee. "Great Scott. . . You -- seem to know a lot about our potential patient," he adds with a curious tilt of his head. (Yes, he's already thinking of himself as part of this project -- if only for Dee's sake. Poor thing was really rattled when she discovered what this was. . .) "I assume you're familiar somehow with the universe he's from?" Good thing one of them is -- Doc is hoping nobody automatically assumes he's versed in all tech from the 80s. Damn Fae making him miss decades' worth of technological progress. . .

"Magnets not good," Dee agrees, shaking her head. "And you'd have to ask Marty about if there was ever an AI in the Batmobile. He's the one who knows comics best."

"Depending on whether or not he's seen the relevant issues anywhere, of course," Doc says.

"Yeah." Dee nods at Tad, holding the side mirror against her chest as she walks with him. "Keep an eye out for anything else."

Doc blinks at the sudden introduction, but accepts the hand. "Dr. Emmett Brown. That's Dee, my daughter." He glances down at the trunks and bites back a smile. "Tad's your son, right?"

Some time later

[lastest_ringbearer]

The fact that the Nexus has a beach is a revelation to poor Smeagol. He plays in it with the most joy that such a broken thing can manage, singing the latest bit of doggerel his mind has tossed up.

“The cold hard lands
Can’t bite these hands
Since its defeat.

And this great pool
Is sweetly cool
With fish to eat.”

Re: Some time later

[dee_lorean81]

Dee's still on the beach, doing a little bit of final searching for anything that might still be lurking under the sand. . .at least, until she's distracted by the sound of someone singing. She follows it to see -- um -- well, she's not entirely sure who it is, but he definitely seems to be a fan of the water and sand. "Hello?" she calls, cautiously but curiously.

[lastest_ringbearer]

*It's the same small creature that needed (will need? Time here can be strange even without a time machine involved) help before, playing happily in the water.* Hello! Smeagol isss looking for fisssh.

[dee_lorean81]

[It can indeed -- part of the reason why Dee doesn't visit as often as her human family. She's pretty sensitive to it -- and recognizing Smeagol as someone she helped earlier while also realizing she helped him after becoming aware of KARR's predicament. . .well, she's a time machine and it gives even her a headache.

She soldiers on, though, smiling at him] Oh, I see! I'm Dee. I'm looking for -- uh -- metal stuff. [She doubts he'll understand "possible leftover car parts/circuit boards"]

[lastest_ringbearer]

What isss metal doing on the beach? This isss no Dead Marsheses, no, there be no old swordses or armor here.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee shakes her head] Not swords or armor -- a big metal carriage got exploded, and we're making sure there's no bits still left lying around for people to get hurt on.

[lastest_ringbearer]

I haven't ssseen anything, but then I've not been looking for metal bitses. Smeagol just looksss for fish!

Smeagol isss happy to never think about ssshiny thingses ever again, yes he is.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee nods] That's okay -- we think we've got everything, just being extra-careful. [she tilts her head] Oh? Why?

[lastest_ringbearer]

We had--no, the Precious had Smeagol for many a long long year. *He holds out a gilded hand.* Nasssty magic, all grasssping and lying.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee's eyes widen when she looks at his hand] Oooooh. That's -- not what I was expecting. [she tilts her head this way and that] I'm sorry you had to go through that. I've been in somebody else's power once -- not nearly as long, but it's awful. [thanks for stealing her once, Biff.]

[lastest_ringbearer]

We wasss alone for centuries--I was alone but for the One. Sometimes poor Smeagol talked to himself, or to the Preciousss, or both. It was almossst the same thing by the end, gollum. *The last is a sob more than anything else. He rubs his hands as if they pain him still and looks away.* Nothing to eat but little cave fish and maybe a goblin if we were very good at hunting. Nothing tasssty.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee bites her lip] I'm sorry. I -- I don't even know what I'd do if I were alone for centuries, with nobody to talk to. It sounds miserable. [and makes her glad she wasn't sentient for her 70-year wait in that abandoned mine]

[after a moment, she adds] Do -- do you want me to help you find some fish? [she'd offer him something else to eat, but she's not sure where the nearest restaurant is -- nor what he might even like]