IC Contact Post

[mathemagier]

[Screened calls go straight to voicemail, where an impatient recording answers]

You've reached Dr. Hermann Gottlieb. Leave your name, number, and business if you expect a return call. Thank you.


[Alternatively, you may hear the following in a much sharper tone that's meant for someone else entirely]

Newton, for the love of God, stop leaving pointless messages!

Comments

Jan 21, audio

[superposition]

[Qubit's not sure why Newt sent him word to pass along instead of (or in addition to?) just contacting Hermann himself, but.]

Have you heard from Newt? I just got a message from him.

[mathemagier]

Yes. Yes, he's messaged me. I've told him to send me daily updates.

[And hell if he doesn't still sound relieved about that]

[superposition]

Good. Good. [Qubit, on the other hand, actually is a little relieved. It's nothing compared to the Drift, he knows, but limited contact is better than none.]

What about you, how are you holding up?

[mathemagier]

I- well it's better, knowing he's alive of course. The Drift is still.. but I'm working through it. I don't know where to start, so I'm building a few more portable cameras to assist in the search.

Perhaps I'll see if it's possible to teleport one to the moon. That's an angle I never considered, but if they are in space, I still don't know that I'd be much use.

[superposition]

[The moon? He can do that? Already? Even Qubit's everyday teleportals can only reach about half that far.]

If you can get it there without hurting yourself, I'd say go for it. Although if it's just a camera, that's a lot of ground to cover. A long-range sensor is probably a better bet. I can put one together for you. [On Earth a life-sign detector would be useless, but on an otherwise lifeless rock...] Even if that's not where they're keeping them, it's important to eliminate it.

[Beat]

We'll get him back, Hermann. We'll get them all back.

[mathemagier]

I don't know that it's possible; I haven't exactly needed to transport anything above 300 feet, but it's worth trying. In stages of course; I'm not completely reckless.

I will let you know how it goes.

Thank you, Qubit. All we need is their location. From there, a 'rescue' shouldn't be too difficult.. Particularly not with us teleporter types.

[superposition]

Yeah, provided they don't have countermeasures. The Porter's been known to interfere with that kind of thing before, and if they've got something similar...

[... Oh wait, he was trying to be reassuring here. Well, but - no, he's not going to sugarcoat things for Hermann, the man has a right to full disclosure.]

... if that's the case, we'll find a workaround. Cross that bridge when we come to it.

[mathemagier]

The Porter has interfered with things nowhere in its vicinity?

[superposition]

Of course it has. How else do you explain us?

[mathemagier]

Well yes, but that's remote teleportation on an interdimensional scale. I meant in terms of influencing unrelated events across the world.

[superposition]

Interdimensional, interplanetary, international... [You can't see it, but he's waving his hand in a demonstrative fashion.] It's got the ability to abduct people across dimensional barriers, space, and time, for God's sake. Compared to that, half a planet is nothing.

[mathemagier]

Of course not, as it relates to teleportation. But to remotely interfere with abilities at will suggests an omniscience on par to some religious figures.

[superposition]

Oh - oh, you meant the interference? No, no, I meant - I'm sure you remember that debacle in my lab a few months back? The more follow-up I've done on that, the more signs are pointing to the Porter as the source. It's subtle. A spin here, a quark there. Little errors that, on their own, wouldn't be a problem, but as you start scaling up they propagate catastrophically. Whatever wave function the Porter's using, it interferes with mine. Maybe vice versa, too, I'd need more data - but that's not the point. That interference is present everywhere the wave function exists, which is to say, everywhere. Omniscience has nothing to do with it.

... Except the observer effect, possibly, but you don't need omniscience for that.

[Things Qubit should be working on: probably not this.]

[mathemagier]

Hm, that is concerning. Should it interfere with our rescue attempts however, I believe we'll need to start asking some very pointed questions.