@Legend

*I receive the coordinates, and adjust the orbit of the Eschatologue to give a view of the place through the transparent window, designed specifically for the purpose. Touching my head, my eye whirrs as it zooms, rendering the ground with impressive detail. Grunting in an unladylike fashion, evidently unhappy with the resolution, I find a telescope before repeating the process. Satisfied, a little disruption in the air appears, an eight foot square window into somewhere else. With its opposite appearing behind me, the rush of adjusting pressure whips at my long, ink-black hair before I step backwards and appear on the surface of the planet, grunting slightly due to the newly-felt gravitational pull. I dust myself off and look around, breathing the terrestrial air with eager lungs. After a few moments of adjustment, I make my way to the front door and rap on it with gloved, metallic knuckles, hips cocked to one side and an anticipatory smile on my face as I wait patiently. Without a sound, the portal closes behind me.*

*Opens the door, expressionless*
Hello?

<Snipped quote by PentagonWhite>

And they know you to some extent personally?

<Snipped quote by Heroic>

You think?

He may have said that.
*Shrugs*

@Heroic

Shinji:

Our hotel room. Its been almost a week.

*a look of despair rests upon my face*

Take me there, I guess.

<Snipped quote by Legend>

He may have said that.
*Shrugs*

<Snipped quote by souleaterfan320>

Take me there, I guess.

Did he or did he not?

@Legend

*The smile continues, as I look past the dour-faced man to inside the structure. I give a reverent touch to the center forehead with my left index finger.*

You must be the voice on the radio! Hymn of Predestination. I see you have other company.

<Snipped quote by Heroic>

Did he or did he not?

If it wasn't that, it was something similar.

...

@Legend

*The smile continues, as I look past the dour-faced man to inside the structure. I give a reverent touch to the center forehead with my left index finger.*

You must be the voice on the radio! Hymn of Predestination. I see you have other company.

Please, come in.
*Moves to the side and allows you into the resort-like terranian and subterranean structure*

<Snipped quote by Legend>

If it wasn't that, it was something similar.

It would be a binary situation.

...

...

@Heroic

Shinji: alright.

*we both dissapear, reappearing in the hotel, and i talk to the clerk there, as they take us to the empty room*

@Legend

*I step in, eyes raking the scenery with an attentive, hungry disposition. I bite my lip, mind clearly working, presumably to commit things to memory, and my footfalls are soft and steady despite the sharp click of the bootheels*

Beautiful! I appreciate the warm welcome, it seems my hunch was right: this will be worthwhile.

*I continue to look around as I speak, never turning to fully appraise Data*

Do you have a name? Or is that classified, do I need to give a blood sample before I get such privileged information.

@Legend

*I step in, eyes raking the scenery with an attentive, hungry disposition. I bite my lip, mind clearly working, presumably to commit things to memory, and my footfalls are soft and steady despite the sharp click of the bootheels*

Beautiful! I appreciate the warm welcome, it seems my hunch was right: this will be worthwhile.

*I continue to look around as I speak, never turning to fully appraise Data*

Do you have a name? Or is that classified, do I need to give a blood sample before I get such privileged information.

My name is Data Stream. A blood sample would be very much appreciated.

@Legend

*My eyes narrow, the first slip in the mirthful countenance, irritation and offense visible for a brief moment before they fade back into the jovial smile*

That's a bridge too far, Data. Who knows what someone like you could do with that? I certainly don't. I'm afraid you'll have to just do without. I'm certainly ready to bargain, though: I want to know just who exactly you are, who built this place, and most importantly who are those two fighting outside?

@Legend

*My eyes narrow, the first slip in the mirthful countenance, irritation and offense visible for a brief moment before they fade back into the jovial smile*

That's a bridge too far, Data. Who knows what someone like you could do with that? I certainly don't. I'm afraid you'll have to just do without. I'm certainly ready to bargain, though: I want to know just who exactly you are, who built this place, and most importantly who are those two fighting outside?

You offered the information. What do you wish to know of my identity and why?

@Legend

*The smile continues, as I look past the dour-faced man to inside the structure. I give a reverent touch to the center forehead with my left index finger.*

You must be the voice on the radio! Hymn of Predestination. I see you have other company.

Hello there.

@Legend @Stabby

*A titter escapes my lips as I finally place my attention squarely on the occupants of the room around me*

God among us, no sarcasm, and clearly very different standards of hospitality. You're certainly not from the Hierophany. I'll get used to it, don't worry: my Pilgrimage has shown me more cultures than I could have imagined. Did you know, a few hundred parsecs from here, there's a colony of humans who see blinking as rude? They were scandalized by me, I had no idea what I was doing wrong. Fascinating people, really: beautiful artists.

*I clear my throat, as I catch myself rambling, and lean on a nearby wall. I renew my smile to look at the unfamiliar Alan*

Hello to you too: Hymn of Predestination. A Pilgrim, from very far away indeed. I was just trying to get to know your friend Data, though he seems awfully reticent. To answer your questions, Data: I want to know about you and the people here, but I don't know what I want to know. If I knew in what areas I was ignorant, this whole Pilgrimage would be much less interesting. The universe is full of people so alien I don't know what I don't know about them, so my questions might not be useful. If you're determined, though: 'Who are you, what do you do, what's the purpose of this facility, and who and why are those people fighting out there?'.

As for why, well, it's my holy duty to see and learn all there is to see and learn. I've been charged by God to learn, and so I intend to do so. Think of me like... a journalist, but without publications. Or a scientist, but without just one field of study. Or a detective, but without any crimes.

*I flick my hair behind an ear, smiling reassuringly as though to convince my words made sense*

@Legend @Stabby

*A titter escapes my lips as I finally place my attention squarely on the occupants of the room around me*

God among us, no sarcasm, and clearly very different standards of hospitality. You're certainly not from the Hierophany. I'll get used to it, don't worry: my Pilgrimage has shown me more cultures than I could have imagined. Did you know, a few hundred parsecs from here, there's a colony of humans who see blinking as rude? They were scandalized by me, I had no idea what I was doing wrong. Fascinating people, really: beautiful artists.

*I clear my throat, as I catch myself rambling, and lean on a nearby wall. I renew my smile to look at the unfamiliar Alan*

Hello to you too: Hymn of Predestination. A Pilgrim, from very far away indeed. I was just trying to get to know your friend Data, though he seems awfully reticent. To answer your questions, Data: I want to know about you and the people here, but I don't know what I want to know. If I knew in what areas I was ignorant, this whole Pilgrimage would be much less interesting. The universe is full of people so alien I don't know what I don't know about them, so my questions might not be useful. If you're determined, though: 'Who are you, what do you do, what's the purpose of this facility, and who and why are those people fighting out there?'.

As for why, well, it's my holy duty to see and learn all there is to see and learn. I've been charged by God to learn, and so I intend to do so. Think of me like... a journalist, but without publications. Or a scientist, but without just one field of study. Or a detective, but without any crimes.

*I flick my hair behind an ear, smiling reassuringly as though to convince my words made sense*

*Chuckles*
That would make you a university student.

@Legend

Ah, not where I'm from: I've heard of schools like that, where students go in and waste resources. Fascinating! There's nothing like that in the Hierophany. No, my role is a sanctified one. What about you, Data? What's your role, what do you do on a barren rock like this?

@Legend

Ah, not where I'm from: I've heard of schools like that, where students go in and waste resources. Fascinating! There's nothing like that in the Hierophany. No, my role is a sanctified one. What about you, Data? What's your role, what do you do on a barren rock like this?

I research, mostly in my lab. I commune with companions here.

@Legend

*I pause for a second, a brief shut of the eyes without fanfare, then re-open them.*

Research what? And who exactly are your companions. You keep interesting company, I can already tell: surely there's a story to be told, one worth recording?

@Legend

*I pause for a second, a brief shut of the eyes without fanfare, then re-open them.*

Research what? And who exactly are your companions. You keep interesting company, I can already tell: surely there's a story to be told, one worth recording?

*Chuckles once*
I cannot allow our history to be spread about, considering we are not an organization. I simply have... friends, friends who happen to come here. As for my research, I learn whatever there is to learn worth knowing.

@Legend

Ah, so like one of your university students?

You're not an organization, but you have a shared history, you're a group of people easily described as 'we'. You have resources, Class 2 technology at least, and very powerful acquaintances. I'll take a different tack, then. Imagine there's a train going down a track which splits in two, its breaks are cut. On both paths, people are tied up: one path has one members of your species and one path has five members of your species. The tracks currently lead to the path with five, but you can pull a lever and change the train will move to the track with one. Anyone hit by the train will die: pull the lever and one dies, abstain and five die. What would you do, in this hypothetical situation?