1st Theft [Video, Monday morning]

[tailforbrains]

[Most everyone is familiar with the tiefling who pops up on the screen, by now, for her first ever announcement over the network. So, probably, is the wicked little grin on her face. What may be less familiar is the funny, microwave-sized machine she's leaning on.]

So I managed to leave myself a little something from the past, a really awesome and expensive something. Aaaaand I just found it.

[Finally. After hunting everywhere for signs long since overgrown and even buried as the land changed over hundreds of years. Yeesh.]

Who wants to help me figure out how to make it work? Doctor, tech person, doctor-slash-tech-person... I'm open to ideas, here.

Comments

[theverymodel]

Doctor-slash-tech person reasonable description.

[tailforbrains]

Whoah.

[Neeshka leans into the screen, as if wanting a better look at him. Some kind of mutated lizardling...? Or, more likely, just some alien person from another world and all.]

Well, uh, yeah. That'd be perfect. You wanna play with my toy here?

[She makes it sound just a little bit dirty, then though she pats the genemod device to make sure he knows what she's really talking about.]

You have to promise to play nice with it, and give it back when you're done.

[theverymodel]

[Innuendo is not worth the effort with Mordin. It simply doesn't exist in salarian culture.]

Opportunity to examine local tech exhilarating. Purely academic interest.

[tailforbrains]

[Damn. She couldn't make him twitch. Oh, well.]

Sounds good to me, mister I-don't-use-pronouns.

[But she'll be watching you, buddy. This thing comes back to her when she's sure it works and she knows how.]

Where should I bring it, then?

[theverymodel]

Can be found at hospital. There more often than official quarters.

[Which was probably why no one had bothered to kick him out of the Flop in this timeline]

[Video => Action!]

[tailforbrains]

Great! I'll bring it by in a few, then.

[And though she's normally a chatty thing, she disconnects pretty quick to do just that, showing up at the hospital in Poseidon about an hour later with the machine tucked awkwardly under her arm. Getting it all the way here had been a pain, and then finding someone to direct her to Mordin's office yet another one.

The first thing she says as she bumps the door open is:]

I think I hate stairs.

Re: [Video => Action!]

[theverymodel]

Can be quite inconvenient for cargo transport.

[He glances at the object]

Device in question?

[tailforbrains]

Yup, right here.

[She heaves it up into both arms, then walks it over to the nearest available surface to deposit it on.]

Apparently it modifies genes or something. Makes mutations, like these--

[She flicks a horn with two fingers.]

-- or like, reading minds and stuff. I don't know if it still works. I got it from Antigua way back in the golden age of Verdana, or whenever we were.

[theverymodel]

Gene modification. Appropriate. Geneticist by training.

[He's already examining it. There certainly wasn't anything like this in this period. Not that they've found anyway.]

[tailforbrains]

Oh, well, that's helpful then. What's a geneticist do, exactly?

[She tucks her hands behind her back and leans over, watching him and his examination.]

[theverymodel]

Study genetic code. Effect on characteristic of life. Can make alterations. Carefully. [Sniff] Delicate business.

[tailforbrains]

Not delicate enough, since these guys were doing it all the time, way back when.

[Neeshka shrugs.]

So you think you can figure this out, then? Get it working?

[theverymodel]

Should be able to. One of the best.

[No, he's not familiar with modesty]

Many signs of considerable technological regression.

[tailforbrains]

[He's in good company. Neeshka isn't familiar with it, either.]

Techno... what? You mean the tech-stuff got worse, since they made that, or what?

[She's guessing what exactly he's referring to, since he's lacking in pronouns there. The words are only familiar since her arrival on Verdana, too, which doesn't help.]

[theverymodel]

Correct. Evidence of more advanced technology. Usually considerable state of disrepair.

[Something happened. Probably war. It was usually war.]

[tailforbrains]

Ah, well. It was pretty fancy, back where we were for those couple months. This was hardly the only neat toy I found!

[The rest just had been on her person when she was yanked into Nowhere, so she hasn't needed to track them down and get them fixed.]

This shouldn't be too broken. I hope, anyway. It's kind of been buried for a while.

[theverymodel]

Have technical specialists and disposal. Will be able to get functioning.

[Kaidan, you have been voluntold]

[tailforbrains]

Great! Thanks!

[She beams at him.]

About how long d'you think it'll take? Should I come back tomorrow?

[Oh, she's so optimistic! It'll wind up taking the better part of a month, whether or not Mordin can guess as such....]

[theverymodel]

Clever. Not quite that clever. Will need several weeks for testing even if initial theories correct. Most frustrating part.

[tailforbrains]

Oh.

[She droops visibly. Neeshka has always been one to wear her heart on her sleeve. Or her face and ears, in this case in particular.]

Well. I guess I'll have to wait a while, then, huh?