The Call, The German, Three Magpies and a Pit

[Il Terra Di Agea]

Southern Svalbard 8:00 pm

Baggs stepped out of the doorway, brandishing a hot metal plate, covered in cookies, and an apron. He stood, straight as a board, before a small group of people.

"DuPont," Baggs said in a gruff voice, "Progress on project Firebird?"

"We're running at 40% due to a recent storm system," DuPont hastily responded, "but we've mapped several good drill sites so far. We expect a payload of several hundred tons a month by the end of the month."

"Excellent, now, Hummel construction progress?"

"Southport is at 70% completion. New Longyearbyen at 37%, and ADI HQ is 85%."

"Power systems?"

"Hydroelectrics in Longyearbyen, HQ and Southport are running at 70%," Mason chimed in, "Stirling engines are at 24%, Solar for summer months at 12%, put back seat until full power is active."

"Good, good. Carla, recruitment?"

"With the nukes raining on most of the Northern Hemisphere, a lot of people are being enticed by the promise of job security, free housing and food."

"With that, Hummel, get as many civilian trucks as possible prepped to deliver aid once the radiation clears."

"Yessir," Hummel excitedly responded.

"Now, Lahye, how is all that tech crap you do going?"

"Power is running to 20% of the island. Most of the old Ubersteinian surface infrastructure was destroyed. We're trying to salvage what we can, but the only thing still viable are the old holes that wires ran through. Also, the SOSUS is off 12 kilometers of all coast, and we hope to get it to forty before month's end."

"Alrighty. Now, the project to find Ubersteinian underground infrastructure, how is it coming?"

"No progress," DuPont muttered, "Some of the workers say it is just a myth, and that the only real city was the one down in Norsvea."

"Well, get those men working on something more tangible. Split them up among the other jobs, and see it we can speed everything up a bit."

Before anyone could respond, a loud ring shot from the phone on the wall. Baggs slowly reached over, and slouched down as soon as he heard to voice on the other end.

"Hello... Oh... No, No! Is that necessary?"

Hummel slowly leaned towards Lahye and whispered, "What do you think is going on?"

"Oh! Oh God No!" Baggs yelled.

"My money's on colonoscopy," Lahye muttered back.

"Why? Does it have to be now? ... Really?" Baggs said, sounding defeated.

"Definitely colonoscopy," Mason chimed in.

Baggs put the phone back on the hook, "My mother is coming to town..."

"Hey! You were right!" Hummel yelled back.

OOC: The name is going to make more and more sense throughout the RP. It is closed, and semi-classified for now, but if someone wants to join at any point for some reason, shoot me a PM. There is a story, but it isn't set in stone.

Edited February 18, 2009 by Il Terra Di Agea

[Il Terra Di Agea]

8:25 pm

Baggs pulled on his coat, and slowly walked up the stairs, out into the snow covered mountain at the mouth of his interim home. He took a deep breath as he looked out towards Scandinavia, and the dark clouds forming above it. He sat on the rock to his left, and tried to relax. It was, ironically, not the clouds of looming death so close to him that stressed him, they would pass, and the world had seen worse in the past. What was truly bothering him was his mother.

Before he could articulate his thoughts, a faint scream shot out from snow near the bottom of the mountain. Baggs, now much more alert, began to sprint down the tight path to the ground. He leaned into every turn, fearing that one of his people was hurt down below, and with manpower already low, every person was needed alive and working.

The man was not one of his.

He did not even appear to be from the area.

He stood, clutching his bleeding leg, and leaning against a tall, armored soldier. "Sir, you requested Baggs Q. Headington, right?" The soldier mumbled, trying to keep Baggs from hearing, "Because this guy has a... paper bag on his head..."

"YES! Sir Headington!" The injured man blurted out as as his eyes fell upon Baggs.

"Do... Do I know you, sir?" Baggs responded, a bit confused.

The injured man pulled an old watch from his pocket, and clicked open the elaborately carved case. "Well, you do now, otherwise it would have been six years, five days and forty two minutes from now that we meet."

"Are you implying..."

"Yes, I come from the future!"

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Uh, OK...

[Il Terra Di Agea]

OOC: Uh, OK...

OOC: It will make sense after this

IC: The "Time Traveler" sat down in Baggs' leather chair, and began to look through the books that lined the walls. "So, Mr. Headington, have you read all these books?"

Baggs paused for a moment before saying, "Yes, but these are new copies. They look nicer on the shelves."

"But these are all old copies..."

"They are new old copies..."

The man let his glasses slide down his nose for a moment as he looked sideways towards Baggs.

"So, time travel, eh?" Baggs said to break the awkward silence that had just entered the room.

"Yes. I was born July ninth, 1855, in Baden-Württemberg. My name is Torgny Lindgren. In 1862, my parents took me, and my three sisters to England, under fears that we would be caught up in the Second Schleswig War. I remained in England until until 1889, when I found this watch," Torgny lifted his golden pocket watch into the air.

"The watch seamed to have the ability to remove me from space and time. I studied it until 1892, when I began to understand how to activate it, and to travel through time at my own accord. I have seen the creation of the universe, and the destruction of Earth. Seen the world rip apart, and pull back together again. I have..."

Baggs stood up, and ushered for the man to silence himself as Lahye entered the room.

"So, is he telling the truth?" Baggs whispered.

"Well, his clothing is period to the time he said. There are hundreds of trace materials on his person, including several species of insects that have been extinct for hundreds of years. On is pant legs, we found blood from unknown reptiles, and, of all things, a Dodo. On top of that, 1870 English census lists his name."

"No."

"Yes."

"Really?!?"

"No, it was all lies. He has some high grade costume materials. The watch is broken, when he held it a certain way, a gear slides out of place, and it speeds up. Beside that, his name really is Torgny Lindgren. He's a physicist, went missing a few weeks ago from a hospital, after treatment for a stroke. He has his old knowledge, but he's crazy."

"Well... that makes sense... I guess," Baggs muttered, "But I did hope he was telling the truth..."

"Yah, the world is a gray, boring place," Lahye paused, "Baggs, I have a question for you."

"Am I still wearing the apron?"

"Yes..."

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: yeah, that does make more sense...

[Il Terra Di Agea]

"What on Earth are we going to do with this guy?" Baggs muttered to himself, "We can't make him leave by choice. If we throw him out, who knows what he'll do."

"Well, we could give him a job," Lahye butted in from his desk.

"What on earth could we give him. He's a physicist, but he's insane. If we put him on product development, he'll make us look like idiots, anything else, he's over qualified."

"Head of janitorial services is still open..."

"Put a madman, genius in as a janitor?"

"Well, we keep him around for his smarts, but he looks like a janitor to anyone who comes in."

"Fine," Baggs muttered, "But you're responsible for him. One slip up, he's out in the cold."

"Hmmm, he's like a giant, middle aged puppy."

One Week Later

Baggs slowly walked into a large, newly carpeted office, and walked to the only thing that filled it's cavernous spaces.

"Hello Mr. Headington," a voice chimed out from behind the computer on the desk.

"Hello there," Baggs responded, as he walked over to lean his golf clubs onto the wall.

"How was the game?"

"I was doing well, until the seventeenth when I drove into a lake, and decided to head in."

"Well, that's not worth leaving for, people hit their balls into water hazards all the time."

"Ball?" Baggs replied, as he squeezed the water from his pant legs, "Now, hold my calls, Sheila, I have a meeting."

"Why do you keep calling me Sheila? My name is George, Baggs."

"Because I wanted a sexually attractive secretary, so until you turn into one, Sheila it is."

"I can hurt you..."

"I can kill you."

"Touche."

OOC: Alright, I'm sorry for the seemingly randomness of this whole thread. I'm trying to get through a bunch of stuff for a lot of RP planned in the future, so this will skip around, and introduce a lot of new characters, so don't be surprised. It will get better.

[Carter]

OOC: Interesting, I think.♦

[Il Terra Di Agea]

Hummel Slowly stepped into Baggs office, taking great car not to touch the freshly painted walls.

"Well, certainly is bright..." Hummel muttered, now unable to see clearly, due to the bright over head lights, the stark white walls, and the sun through the window.

"Yes, I makes me feel important," Baggs cheerfully responded, "So, what do you need?"

"Here to report that Southport is officially completed. Infrastructure is down, the island is holding it's weight, and the airport has been safety checked."

"Wonderful! We need to get it open soon, people all over Europe are wanting to get away from home, where all the sweat and toil and deadly radiation are so abundant."

"Yes... Well, here's a picture," Hummel said, not sure how he should respond.

"Uhh, what's with the roads leading into the ocean?"

"They're closed off, set up for expansion at a later time, Baggs."

"Ah... anything else I need to know about?"

"No..."

After several minutes of awkward silence, Hummel slowly backed out of Baggs office, still a bit confused.

[Il Terra Di Agea]

2:00 AM, 72 Miles NE of Longyearbyen

The sounds of drills filled the cool, early morning air. The shrieks of engines and scraping metal tore through the serenity of Svalbard, and echoed through the mountains. DuPont, still in charge of the Coal mining project for ADI lifted himself out of the giant, yellow bohemouth that he was tasked to drive, among hundreds of other machines and support crews all over the island.

He slowly stepped down from the control area, wiped of a considerable amount of sweat and dirt from his face, and checked the steel coated phone that hung from his belt.

One Missed Call, One Message

He pulled the phone up to his ear, and stepped off to the side of the deep tunnel, to hear the message.

Carla's voice was faint among the background noise, both of his mine, and one on the other end, "DuPont, get to mine 317, now. We have something, and we all need to be there."

3:45 AM, 56 Miles NW of Longyearbyen

Baggs, Hummel, Carla, DuPont, Lahye, Lindgren, Mason, and Mr. Whisker-Bottom stepped up to the gaping, cement lined wall that stood before them. Under most circumstances, a cement wall was nothing to call everyone for, but not this one; This one was one and a half kilometers underground.

Baggs approached the wall, trying to maintain a calm demeanor, "Myth my $@!," he muttered as he kicked the wall a bit.

"What are we going to do with it?" Mason said, trying to break the relative silence of the mineshaft.

"Blow it up?" DuPont yelled, getting excited.

"It's easier to just hit it with the miner..." Hummel muttered, and with several nods of the head, and a deep sigh from DuPont, the machine began to cut through the concrete slab that stood before it.

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: One of Ubie's old cities?