Stan's Office - Technologically Impaired

[Nailah Weaver]

Nailah knocks on the door to Stan's office.

[Stan Bowen]

"Enter!" Stan intoned, his face buried in a paper he was grading.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Hi Stan." she says, stepping into the office and closing the door. "Do you have a moment?"

[Stan Bowen]

"sure, Nailah. What's up?" He asked, putting the papers aside and giving the lithe sphinx his full attention.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Well this is going to sound weird, but... Do you know anything about some sort of computer-system underneath the mansion?"

[Stan Bowen]

"We'll, I'm no expert.. I know about it's history, and I know enough to keep my distance, and I've done my best to avoid directly interfacing with it without someone who knows better at my side." He replied, thoughtfully.

[Nailah Weaver]

"It's history?"

[Stan Bowen]

Stan nodded.

"It's origins are extradimensional, and it is mostly organic. And a fundamental impurity it developed during it initial formation... Well, I hate to use a stale cliche, but it developed an evil, malignant sentience. The caretakers of the Braddock estate have all the records in full detail."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Okay, that probably explains why it's gone. Which brings me to the actual problem. We need a new one."

[Stan Bowen]

Stan blinked.

"We do?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"This is where it gets complicated. You see, that eidolon is what keeps our connection to the other worlds under control. Right now we're... sort of a broken spoke on a wheel."

[Stan Bowen]

Stan snorted a little.

"things have changed.. It's not just the Braddock family here anymore. Students from two different schools are on the premises."

[Nailah Weaver]

"All the more reason to keep this place safe. And while I feel confident to take care of the spiritual aspect of it this is a little outside of what I know."

[Stan Bowen]

Stan got up and began pacing.

"I trust you and respect your view, Nailah.. Is this absolutely necessary? There is no other option?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"It's not immediately necessary but we can't ignore it forever. I've already noticed some oddities around the school that are harmless for now but could mean trouble. And I probably don't have to remind you about that incident with the parallel universe. If the fabric between the worlds is strained too much then things like that might become more common than we like."

[Stan Bowen]

Stan nodded, figuring that was the case.

"If we do this, we do this out in the open, no secrecy. That means Sam needs to know, if you haven't told her already."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Trust me, I learned that lesson. She knows."

[Stan Bowen]

"Then, I think we need to meet with her, to plan things out. I can help with the management and the pure science, but we are going to need specialists in AI and organic systems from my end of the project. I'd imagine you might need some consulting from the otherworld as well."

[Nailah Weaver]

"That's the problem. There's not much I can do about this because usually magic and technology don't mix very well. Probably why it was set up this way, but it makes restoring it hard. I'm not sure even a sophisticated program would be able to work with the node simply because of how closely tied to the Astral it is."

[Stan Bowen]

Stan nodded, templing his fingers.

"hmm.. It looks like this is a bit more complicated than we thought. can I have a day or two to get back to you, Nailah?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"Of course. I wasn't expecting you'd have a solution for this to shake out of your sleeve."

[Stan Bowen]

"Heh. I stopped being a hero a long time ago. Lets talk.." He checked his schedule... "Thursday afternoon?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"Thursday sounds good."