A Project Revived

Left to their own devices, Nervan took the time to examine the door. Put bluntly, it looked to be in utter garbage condition. It made sense given the locale and environmental hardships. Even the outdated and mangled defense systems tried their best, but to no avail. Glancing over to the others gathered here, Nervan simply decided to try and make their way through— and not conventionally. The way Nervan moved was strange already, and it would more than likely look even more strange when they seemed to slide right up to, and through the door, leaving the static silhouette of Nervan’s shape imprinted through it like in a silly cartoon.

Not one to simply ditch people or leave them behind— his friend Budoshi especially— Nervan simply waited just beyond the door in safety, though they took a moment to see if there was anything of note in the entrance room all the same.

Budoshi meanwhile folded his arms, looking off into the distance, wondering where that fifth person could possibly be. It was unlikely that they were already here, or else that door would have been visibly tampered with— unless they entered some other way, somehow.

Giving a strained finger gun gesture to Iondu, Budoshi also gave off a somewhat forced little laugh. “Aha, haha! The signal that we followed, yes.” He knew well enough that not many people would believe the concept of a prophetic book, so he chose to avoid that entire conversation completely. “The signal we followed with our technology. That signal.” Unfortunately, the way he had to avoid it almost made him feel grimy.

The darkness coming over the area was of course cause for worry, the rumbling of those clouds was off compared to normal clouds, and their colour was much worse. It was instinct that drove Budoshi’s reaction rather than logic, and he ignited his aura, forcing the incoming rain away from him. “Okay, get going!” Budoshi said, going over to Papri, trying to guide her inside after Iondu and Nervan, before going inside himself.

There was still the matter of the fifth person that was supposedly meant to be here. Budoshi looked back outside for a moment before turning back to face the group. “Hey, okay, so—” Budoshi paused. Good grief, how was he supposed to spin this. “Our own radar on our ship picked up an extra signal out there which had a trajectory that suggested the source of said signal was coming here too; another individual intent on investigating, no doubt!” Ugh, it made Budoshi’s tongue feel like sand, he loathed it so much to sing praises of technology beyond rudimentary basics like household items and standard vehicles. “Sssso, does anyone have any extra gizmo-gadgetry that could possibly make that area outside a bit safer? I left my, er, portable shield generator in my other capsule kit, haha!” Budoshi feigned bashfulness where in truth he was just embarrassed that he was even asking.

Nervan knew Budoshi well, so they chose to step in. “Indeed, it is as he says. We suspect there is another coming this way.” Nervan said bluntly, speaking as if they had the voices of many in a chorus. “We would not wish the perils out to catch anyone innocent unawares. So please, if you have anything that could even slightly raise their chances of safety and survival, would you be willing to use it?” Even more bizarrely, their faced did not move. It was unclear if this was some sort of sonic projection or masterful ventriloquism.

Simply happy that everyone present was inside and relatively safe, Budoshi gave a sigh of relief. He raised a brow at what Papri had said in response to him making sure she wasn’t now a victim of super acid rain from the deepest darkest pits of purgatory. “The hell does that mean?” Budoshi, most scientifically, got directly to the point.

In any case, the whole point that anyone was here had something to do with the signal (or something vaguely related to the idea of a signal). Budoshi shrugged and simply laughed off the idea that he possessed ‘superior technology’ for his own sanity. “Hey now, I’m not some kinda super tech wizard, surely what you have is still quite impressive.” The less time he had to spend talking about it the better he would feel.

While not too terribly enthused by the answer provided, Nervan decided to let it be. There was no sense in taking an unnecessary risk that would doom more people, and they weren’t about to suggest to the all too eager Budoshi to just run outside and look for the mysterious fifth person himself. “It is just as likely they have something to defend themselves with than the idea that they do not, we suppose.”

Content to leave it at that, Nervan seemingly slid across the floor over to the various points of interest. Whoever owned this place had clearly amassed considerable wealth, as evident with the architecture of this place alone— or what remained of it, anyway. Choosing to avoid the twin grand stairway for now, Nervan instead chose to examine the doors available. First came the ones closest to the stairs, and, like most everything else, looked like garbage at this point. The next set of doors, four on the left and right hand sides of the room were in suspiciously better condition compared to other things. “Peculiar...” Nervan took note of that for later.

As Nervan was getting information on the general layout of this place, Budoshi took a look at the other details, in particular the collection that had been preserved here. Various feats of engineering, blueprints and the like— a great deal of it was outdated by now, superseded by modern discoveries and such. “Yeah, well, they should’ve considered some other hobbies to be honest. Like golf, or something.” Budoshi wasn’t the biggest fan of all this ‘dopey geek stuff’ to begin with, but the sight of the Destron bomb replica made him visibly cringe in disgust. “Ech, especially if they were keeping that around.” Not only was it a model of ‘dopey geek stuff’ like everything else here, it was a horrible misuse of knowledge, and a coward’s weapon. An insult to both intellectuals and warriors. “Only a deranged lunatic would keep the real deal in the main hall of their house, or anywhere in their house at all, let’s not kid ourselves here.” A logical conclusion, but it was still very possible that whoever owned this place was in fact a deranged lunatic for any number of reasons.