(no subject)

[aluminumandash]

[ RE419S | TEXT | 001 ]

[ After the message (warning?) has blared two successive times, Rust waits about an hour and sends: ] Progress on locating unauthorized transport?



[ OOC: Threadjack to your heart's content! ]

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[cactusy]

[About an hour later, she finally resurfaces.]

It was a big-ass drone. Unmanned.

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[aluminumandash]

[ It takes him a second or two to realize she's not describing the sound. ] A what? [ A pause; a crackle. ] You alright?

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[cactusy]

I'm fine. Do you not know what a drone is? Like a-- mini-helicopter that's operated remotely.

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[aluminumandash]

Fancy. Any insignia? What's, ah, what's the range? [ And, well: ] What'd it do?

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[cactusy]

No markings that I could make out, but it was moving at a good clip, twenty, thirty feet off the ground. Hard to tell for sure. Could have been scouting, could have been a delivery drone - it had a claw attached to the bottom.

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[aluminumandash]

Be hell to maneuver in the jungle. [ Now he's just thinking out loud. He pictures a children's toy; pictures an oversized mechanized wasp. ] How'd it move, erratic? Or to a pattern.

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[cactusy]

Quickly, smoothly. Like it was on a mission. Definitely either moving autonomously or being controlled by someone who could see what they were doing - I'm guessing onboard cameras.

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[aluminumandash]

Seen cameras anyplace else?

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[cactusy]

Nope. I'm pretty good at identifying hidden ones, too.

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[aluminumandash]

Got any pointers? [ The edge to his voice is barely perceptible. ]

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[cactusy]

What year are you from?

[Sorry, Rust; this question is relevant, she promises.]

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[aluminumandash]

[ After several beats of disbelieving silence: ] '95.

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[cactusy]

[And she, in turn, just sounds wearied by that answer. Sure, okay. 1995. Whatever.]

They could be smaller than what you'd expect. Better battery life, or even solar-powered, so no need for actual cords and outlet plugs. Look for blinking lights at night.

Think about where you would want to mount a camera if you were trying to monitor an area, and go from there. Consider placement, height, vantage points.

voice | HO125E

[trialbyliar]

[He's been silently just stalking all these conversations – he heard those sounds in the distance, and he definitely doesn't mind getting some extra info before poking around potentially dangerous shit himself – but this news is intriguing enough for him to dig for details. In his own way.]

Ooh, like a big mecha? That's super cool!! Hey, hey, what'd it look like? Did it talk??

voice | HO125E

[cactusy]

... No, it didn't talk.

[Shaw, you are from a world with sentient AI, so maybe cool it on judging the folks who actually know they're from sci-fi canons.]

Not a mecha, not a robot, just a regular old drone. A yard wide, maybe a little more. Four rotors, one claw.

[trialbyliar]

[Well, the good news is it doesn't sound like any kind of Exisal. The last thing anyone needs right now is something like the fucking Monokubs.]

Boooring. So it's just got a claw like one of those crane games? What, is it pocking stuff up? Oh, or maybe that's for grabbing people...

[cactusy]

Probably too small to grab people.

[Probably. It'd be an unwieldy job, but if the crane were strong and could extend its claws far enough to wrap around a torso...]