Test Drive

[travelagency]

Test Drive This is a test drive for The Last Resort. You can use one of the handy prompts or make up your own. Prompts Prompt #1 The Centauri have a display of their goddess Li, at the museum as a part of their cultural appreciation week. Below the statue is a plaque that informs visitors that what the goddess possesses both male and female genitalia. So that's what those tentacles are. If your character is "lucky", later they can see a drunken Centauri playing pool in a unique way at Pugsy's, and even know now what it is he's doing. Prompt #2 Quadratus is a big world with a lot of unexplored space. Normally the man in charge of teleportation sends people out to distant continents and can retrieve an exploration team when they're ready to return. This time something has gone wrong, though, and your character's tracker has broken. They can barely reach the network to say they need help to come find them, and their last location can only be pinpointed to a general area of sixty kilometers. Is your character an explorer that hates being out in this sort of weather? A guide that needs to keep their team alive? A member of a search and rescue operation? If you need ideas for the environment, here is our World page. Prompt #3 One of the more gregarious ambassadors recently received a very large shipment of Romulan Ale and tonight generously decided to share with the entire resort. Drinks all around! An hour in, the party is starting to get a bit wild in some parts of the resort. Are you a partier, setting up impromptu karaoke or racing wheely chairs down the hallways? Are you a member of security, trying to calm a belligerent drunk? Are you a sober resort guest who just wants to get some sleep and about ready to punch someone to get it? Or something else of your choosing. Prompt #4 Make up your own! Navigation

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[frontier_doktor]

"I'm sure they'd much rather not be the only bones left on the planet. Lead the way," He twined his fingers so he could better fit his gloves on, knowing that if they were going to make any sort of descent they were going to need decent handholds (especially with the ice). There was a pick at his belt, and that should help.

"You've done this before?" It wasn't wasn't so much a question if he had, but rather a question as to what circumstances had led to Belloq's search.

[archeologue]

Belloq quickly scrambled back to his feet and brushed the dirt and snow from his trousers, muttering in French as he did so. Then he recovered and returned to English to answer Visscher's question.

"This is my first time putting my skills to the work of finding people who are still living, but I have explored many wild regions sometimes under harsh conditions. And I know how to find caves and structures and places where people might find shelter, as those are the very same places where one finds artifacts. It seemed right, then, that I volunteer to assist in this mission."

What he didn't mention is that he'd heard rumors that somewhere out in the wilderness of Quadratus there was a pillar of pure gold. With that incentive, he'd take every opportunity he could to leave Blackway and see if he could find any clues as to its whereabouts.

[frontier_doktor]

Visscher was none the wiser. For all he knew, or cared right then, Belloq was doing a charitable thing for him and giving him sagely advice. He might have frowned if he did know but... only a little. He was still helping him, even if it was for selfish reasons, and Visscher was not so stupid that he'd be unhappy about help where it was offered.

Listening vaguely, he just nodded. "I appreciate planets, but the bulk of my life has been spent aboard space stations. My own skills are rather directed towards other purposes. Unfortunate in this case but I do thank you." The way that he said "thank" was nearly "sank". Though he probably wielded English far better than a number of Germans that Belloq had encountered over his career.

More politely, too.

[archeologue]

"Are you sure you are German?"

No shouting, no swastikas, no crude threats of violence, Visscher didn't seem at all like the Germans Belloq knew.

"It is your skills that will be foremost needed if we find the lost explorers. If they are still alive. That is one thing about this that is very different from archaeology. Archaeology is patient. If there is any rush at all, it is only because a competitor is on the scent too and one must find the site before some brash American gets there first and leaves again with the relics in hand before one has even arrived. But otherwise, the artifacts themselves have laid in place for thousands of years and it does not matter if they lie a few days more."

[frontier_doktor]

"For a German that has never been to Germany? Ich bin völlig Deutsch. Come, mein Freund, maybe you can teach me a little something."

He did note that Belloq sounded as though he were put off by "brash Americans", but he decided not to ask about that as they trekked through the snow. It was bad enough that he was so distracted. Frustrate the man he was following and they could find themselves sliding down a ravine together.

[archeologue]

"Es ist ein schönes Land." His German was tinged with a French accent. "I have been there many times on business. You should visit it someday. But you may want to avoid the big cities, ja? I don't think you would fit in there." At least not from Belloq's experience of Germany, where the cities were the site of a great deal of political activity, and, in some quarters, Visscher's deformity might be judged harshly. An imperfection in the Master Race.

He narrowed his eyes against the snow as they walked and looked for a shadow out of place, a hint of a crevice that might be a cave opening.

[frontier_doktor]

"Hm, maybe not." Though he sounded a touch disappointed by that. Oh, he knew the stories, the horrors that had occurred there. He knew how the infrastructure was weakened, split, and how it destroyed lives for decades to come. But he didn't know what time Belloq came from, and all he knew is that sometimes he didn't feel very good at being human.

Being humane? Though, that was something that he could do.

He saw that bit of dark, though, and followed Belloq towards it. He turned on a torch as they drew closer, growing more wary of his footholds in case they hit an unfortunate slick spot.

[archeologue]

Belloq crept carefully, not just wary of ice and holes hidden under the snow, but also the possibility of traps. The cave may just be a natural geological formation...but it might not be.

He shined his light onto the shadowed rock walls, illuminating all around the entranceway. There. On the right and roughly at eye level, there was a carving in the stone, half-hidden by dirt and snow.

"Ha!" Forgetting the lost explorers possibly injured and waiting within, Belloq stopped to examine the carving more closely, pulling a small round magnifying glass out of his pocket to look at the edges to assess the wear from erosion and hypothesize how long ago it was carved.

[frontier_doktor]

"We should mark where it is," Visscher informed him. Not accusingly, though, more as if he hadn't actually considered the fact that Belloq had gotten more than just a little distracted by his discovery. He patted him on the back, between his shoulders, but didn't dare shift his foothold in what was extremely unfamiliar terrain.