I13DT - Special Delivery

[Narrator]

A tow truck pulled up outside the gate and a policeman got out of the front. He pressed the intercom, "Constable Higgins here to speak to Miss..." He flipped open a notebook. "Miss Allison Rogers in regards to her abandoned motorbike."

On the tow truck was Allison's black Harley.

((Open))

[ASHLIE]

"I will contact her." Ashlie tells him over the intercom before opening the gate. She materializes her adult hardlight avatar just inside the mansion and steps outside while calling Allison's phone.

[Narrator]

Allison's phone rings a couple of times before the cel network informs her that it is unable to contact her phone and transfers her to voice mail.

The officer motioned for the tow truck to pull through the gate and begin unloading the bike as he wrote up the ticket.

[ASHLIE]

She walks over to the police officer while trying to determine whether Allison's phone is off or busy and if she can force a call through without going through the regular cellphone procedures.

"Where did you find this bike?" she asks the policeman.

[Narrator]

"On the A414. Looked like it was on its way to London. Strangest thing, it was just sitting on the side of the road, kickstand down and everything, keys still in it," he said, offering the keys to ASHLIE.

ASHLIE couldn't find Allison's phone at all. Wherever it was, it wasn't able to receive a signal at all and its last reported position to the towers had been somewhere on the A414.

[ASHLIE]

Ashlie triangulates the position and tries to calculate a timeframe based on when Allison left the school.

"Did you notice anything else? It appears that Miss Rogers can't be reached right now." she says, activating her chassis back at the Point and beginning to move it over here so she can scan the bike herself.

[Narrator]

"Um... not really? In case you haven't noticed, we're kind of having a problem with this sort of thing right now. Beats me why people are leaving perfectly good vehicles. They seem apologetic though, at least the ones that have been talked to so far." He tore the ticket off the pad. "Give this to Miss Rogers when you see her. If she doesn't pay the fine, we'll be back to impound the motorbike."

[ASHLIE]

"I will."

At that Ashlie quickly scans through the various newsfeeds.

"How many of the owners have you managed to contact?"

[Narrator]

"Maybe half to two-thirds? I'm not a part of that detail normally. They're paying their fines. We'll try again on the ones we can't reach." He walked back to the door of the tow truck. "Be sure and tell Miss Rogers that we won't be so polite next time."

Scanning the news feeds quickly turned up the news story about the abandoned vehicles and several similar stories more or less in the local area.

[ASHLIE]

As soon as the officer leaves Ashlie's robot walks up and takes the ticket from the hardlight avatar before the latter dissolves. She then proceeds to scan the bike for any irregularities or hints as to what happened.

[Narrator]

The bike was in excellent condition and had Allison's prints all over it. It was also covered in "fingerprints" composed of some sort of residue that further analysis would associate with various extra-dimensional residues.

[ASHLIE]

Ashlie runs the residues against known extra-dimensional patterns in the X-Men's database while she begins to wheel the bike across campus and towards the Point.

[Narrator]

It bore some resemblance to some fey residues, but had some distinct differences that didn't correlate with any of the known variations.

[ASHLIE]

She sends a query into the Keystone and off towards the Starlight Citadel to report on interdimensional activity and also to see if there are any instructions. Meanwhile she continues to push the bike along and searches through more mundane things like the police database for reports that might include information that hasn't been made public. Interdimensional directive take precedence over Essex Police data security.

[Narrator]

Report received. Instructions: Identify source and contain it. Engage the guardian if necessary.

Reports from the police indicated that almost none of the abandoned vehicles were in bad repair. A few were and those individuals acknowledged abandoning their vehicle. The other owners that they had interviewed did not remember abandoning their vehicles. Police notes attribute this to nights of hard partying.

[ASHLIE]

She gathers all the reports on abandoned vehicles without people acknowledging having done so and places them on a map along with times and dates, trying to establish a pattern to extrapolate from.

[Narrator]

There were more of these than there were people who admitted to abandoning their vehicles, but they were certainly in the minority compared to the people who didn't remember. The sites were strung along the A414 with a couple on the A12 near the A414.

[ASHLIE]

She checks the estimates of when the vehicles were likely abandoned and tries to calculate the most likely timeframe and location for these occurrences.

[Narrator]

Rough time estimates put the time either around dusk or around dawn. Location estimates narrowed it down to a stretch of the A414 that was near Little Baddow Road. There were several wooded areas there with a variety of names.

[ASHLIE]

Ashlie forwards all her findings to Dee's email. And phone. And laptop. And suit. Anything with an electronic connection of some sort.

[Deirdre Quinn]

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> Oh, bloody hell. This is more the Captain's thing, but I'll be damned if I'm not coming along.

[ASHLIE]

Code: Select all

>> "I assumed you would want to be informed."
>> "I am still waiting for a response from the Corps and the Starlight Citadel."

[Deirdre Quinn]

Code: Select all

> Keep me posted, then. I'm getting loaded up.

[ASHLIE]

Code: Select all

>> "I send you all the information I was able to gather as far as locations go."
>> "I would accompany you but I have to inform the Corpswoman."
>> "I would also recommend not going alone."