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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Mar 24, 2012 11:15:51 GMT -5
"'Out of the ordinary' is a gross understatement. Our understanding of the universe has been irrevocably changed. We suspected that there might be life out there, that it might even be sapient, but we never knew," the girl corrects.
Everything has changed. Any origin story that involves a creator solely creating life upon Earth has been debunked, for one thing.
"I wonder if they only assumed bipedal humanoid forms for our convenience, but I suspect that may be too much arrogance to assume, insofar as while most of them appear humanoid, not all of them do. Most have what appear to be two bilaterally symmetrical photonic receptors, for example, but some only have a band or one centrally located receptor or some have in excess of two... but who can say if those are actually sensors at all, as opposed to decorations?"
She shakes her head. "We expected alien life to be strange to the point of incomprehensibility. Perhaps radially symmetrical or not symmetrical at all. They seem... very human. Yet, they were not what we expected. They are machines. I suppose the universe has its own ways of being surprising. It is hubris to think we will ever have the last laugh."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 24, 2012 20:10:55 GMT -5
"Well, y-we seem to be handling it well," Rodney observes, almost slipping and saying 'you guys.' "But you can't exactly blame them for... not conforming to our expectations of aliens? For confirming that they exist? I mean, we're getting pretty far into the solar system. It was bound to happen sooner or later - sooner rather than later, really."
He grabs a spool of wire and hefts it, then begins to carry it towards the set. This isn't where they'll be shooting for awhile, but when shooting starts, the wire to trigger the explosives will need to be in place.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Mar 24, 2012 22:05:27 GMT -5
"I am pleased that no one has set off any nuclear devices yet," the HPad says for Lynn, and her expression is jaded and cynical. "I can blame them for using our planet for their own manhunt. They are, if their claims are correct, perhaps not even of this universe. Finding them would have been difficult, if they had not found us. We would have found the Titans in the next few decades, however."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 25, 2012 18:43:09 GMT -5
"So they should have just let Shockwave run free on Earth?" Rodney asks, reaching the location that they will be blowing up later. He kneels and lays down one end of the cable, then pushes down a post to hold it in place. He won't be attaching it until the whole thing is lain out.
Of course, he realizes that the humans don't really have reason to know just how bad Shockwave can be. But he also knows that somewhere in this human is someone who does know... well, okay, she doesn't know, either, really, but at least she was around to watch Shockwave turn on them once. The question is how to bring that out...
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Mar 25, 2012 19:03:22 GMT -5
"They should not have let him get here in the first place, though the evidence from the Titan mission suggests that he may have came and went. Certainly, he has not conquered the planet as they suggested he would, and he has had ample time," the HPad says for her, and Lynn's expression is skeptical, "They can cross interstellar distances in weeks, months, or days, and they cannot find him in 65 million years?"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 28, 2012 18:52:41 GMT -5
"They had less time than you'd expect," Rodney mutters, possibly to the point of not being clear, as he continues rolling out the cable. He doesn't look up.
Then he speaks up louder and clearer. "Seems like we suddenly stopped hearing about them a few weeks ago, we started seeing a lot less of them." Now he finally looks up. "Maybe they've lost interest?"
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Mar 28, 2012 21:20:36 GMT -5
"What makes you say that?" Lynn's HPad says, and she frowns. Then she shrugs, "They may well have left. There was much we could have learned from them but perhaps not so much they could learn from us."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 29, 2012 20:57:37 GMT -5
"They seemed to act like they'd only just found out he was here. Maybe a problem with the speed that radio travels through space?" he shrugs, though of course, he knows the truth. Well, part of it. Mostly, he knows that there's quite a lot that doesn't add up about the whole affair, but Shockwave was on Pz-Zazz only months before.
"Anyway, they can't be gone. Their ship's still in orbit," he points out, finishing laying down the cable. Now it's time to walk all the way back down to the explosives to hook them up on that end.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Apr 1, 2012 17:42:28 GMT -5
Lynn looks cross. "Then why did you suggest that they could be gone? We have no idea if they are even on the ship. No substantiated human has been there."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 1, 2012 20:37:57 GMT -5
"They can have lost interest in us and still be in the system," Rodney answers. Semantics and all that. "Or they're hiding." He pauses and lifts a finger, "And don't tell me I'm being a conspiracy theorist. They're Transformers." He finishes his attachments and stands up. Now time to walk back to the other end to get everything completely hooked up.
"And you're right." He shrugs. "We could go up there and find that ship empty." In fact, Rodney is fairly certain that this is more or less the truth.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Apr 4, 2012 19:05:56 GMT -5
Lynn regards Mr. Pryor with sullen suspicion. He reeks of quackery. She is going to catch him out in something quackish, by golly! "I suppose we can thank them for teaching us about Titan and broadening our knowledge of the universe, even if it was incidental for them."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 5, 2012 21:23:20 GMT -5
Rodney is in the unfortunate position where the most insane thing he could possibly say is the truth. There are certain circumstances and with certain people where he'd defend himself by pointing out that if he wanted to lie, he'd come up with something more convincing, but Lynn doesn't know him well enough not to just dismiss him as crazy.
Once at the other end, he kneels down in order to plug this end of the cable in. The equipment itself is currently turned off. He notes Lynn's suspicion, but doesn't comment on it. This isn't going to be easy - she doesn't seem very likely to accept things even incidental to the truth.
"There is that," he allows. "It's a big universe, but we still put ourselves at the center of it." Humans aren't alone in that egotistical approach to the universe - Transformers do the same thing. But then, Transformers really are made by the Champion of the Light Gods to save the entire universe. So there is that.
And yet they keep ending back on Earth. So there is that, too.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Apr 5, 2012 22:31:29 GMT -5
Maybe Earth needs saving more than some other planets do.
"I think humans are really only significant to other humans," Lynn's HPad says, which is... interesting phrasing, in that Lynn is not counting herself as human, apparently, "But they're interesting enough to study. I'm going to be an archaeologist when I'm older. Or a paleontologist. I haven't decided yet. You know, the cranks are insisting that Shockwave personally hunted down and executed the dinosaurs? Complete drivel."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 6, 2012 20:44:25 GMT -5
Rodney finishes plugging the unit in, then stands up to start turning it on. He raises an eyebrow and glances at Lynn, the right corner of his lip pulled up in a teasing, quirky smile. "'They're interesting enough'? Lynn, you talk like you're not one of them!" Which is... progress, really.
Then he snorts at the story of Shockwave executing the dinosaurs. "Yeah, not real likely. It'd be kinda pointless, anyway." Though it does bring to mind the earliest encounters between his own Shockwave and the Dinobots...
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Apr 6, 2012 21:28:33 GMT -5
"No. I am a dinosaur," Lynn's HPad says for her, and she's perfectly deadpan in expression.
What little child hasn't said she's going to grow up to be an elephant at some point?
"Are you not a human?" Mr. Pryor said 'them', too! Maybe she has finally caught him out in some quackery!
Or maybe he's just a faerie like her brother.
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