Chojin Patriarch
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Low-tech solution. Suggests a low-tech mind. This will be interesting to see what happens from here. Although I suspect Mantis feels like he left his lunch back at the Primitive's camp. First-time FTL transitions, am I right?23rd July 2013
11:42 GMT
Mantis rasps disgruntledly as we appear in front of Roy and the serpentine New God, crouching behind a patch of shrubbery. Roy nods and points towards… A camouflage net.
Why a.. net?

Or the creator simply didn't have anything more advanced. I mean, it's entirely possible it could be some steampunk thing, forgotten for years...A hologram would be a better disguise… If it was going to be viewed from one direction, and the user was confident that no one with precision electromagnetic sensors was around because holograms can be detected. Magic-. We're on New Genesis. The world's thaumically active, so while magic would work, the use of it would almost certainly get picked up by someone. So they.. go low-tech, and that covers it from casual observation.
All very good questions, especially the identification of its origins.Why didn't Supertown detect it? Who owns it? Why did they come here?
"What makes you think it came from Earth?"
Huh. Suggests a fairly modern origin, then. But who would be out here, especially this far from Earth?"I recognize the camo netting. It's NATO-standard."
The ship has landed on a patch on bare rock at the bottom of a cliff, next to the trees it's using as cover. A thin ribbon of water is flowing over the cliff nearby and flowing in a thin stream next to the ship. I can't see any defences or defenders.
Assuming the current owner isn't around, anyway. They may well be.Odd.
"You want it?"
Roy lifts his right arm a little, then stops. "I mean, it's a starship, so, yeah."
Huh, guess it's up for grabs, because it sounds like the last owner hasn't been around for a while. Or didn't leave any DNA traces.Construct armour, heavy armour and scan in detail… I throw out orange filaments which punch through the outer cases of the dozen sensors scattered around the clearing and subvert them. And… That looks like it's it. Genetic traces in the area… A lot of New God animals. No tracks.
Best to be polite, never know if someone's present, or possibly injured aboard.Ah…
"Is there a problem?" Roy looks mildly concerned. "You're the toughest guy-."
"Just me being over cautious." I fly at a moderate pace towards the vessel. "Ahoy the ship!" Something moves under the camo netting. "Anyone-?"
Indeed, casually ignoring energy blasts directed at you tends to put most people off.Brilliant yellow bolts blast out from the hull! They have no difficultly at all in tracking me, but… Construct armour seems to be holding. I could attack the ship, but I am fairly intimidating and I don't want to overreact.
Instead I just fly closer. Construct armour getting mildly abraded, but not to the point where I'd actually be worried.
Loose like they decided to stop wasting energy on shooting. Although... A figurehead? Flashy."Anyone home? This is jolly unfriendly!"
The guns stop firing, the camo netting having partly burned off to reveal parts of the hull. It's gold, and I think that's a figurehead on the prow. Okay, that-.
Ah, a charge attack. Might have been effective, had their target been less agile.The turrets are glowing-.
Construct thrusters throw me to the side as beams of golden energy roar past me, cutting through the trees behind me and slicing a swath through the forest!
Not progress, then!
Oh, I think I know what this is. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find a good picture of it...The turrets start charging again as construct scissors slice through the remains of the netting, revealing the art deco ship, a sort of strange cross between a galleon and a submarine. The turrets… An effort's been made to make them fit in with the style of the rest of the ship, but they clearly don't. A later addition to an unarmed ship? So I could destroy them without feeling too bad about it-. Except that if they're a later addition they might have skipped surge protectors, or there might cause the an explosion in the capacitors and I don't know for certain whether there's anyone on board or not.
Logical, given it was made in the fifties or so. Very Raygun-gothic in design, hence the figurehead.Entry hatch seems to be on the top-.
I dart up, another volley of high powered shots shooting past me. Not designed for anti-attack craft work then. Or anti-Lantern fire. The dorsal turrets take a shot when they have one, but a simple thruster construct pushes me aside and then there's the hatch. Construct grapple, twist-. Locked. Electronic, or-? No, manual. Lock pick construct-.
So you're looking at automated defences, or someone on board who can't access the navigation and flight controls. Making it all the clearer who's aboard...And dodge.
If there was someone on board they'd be taking off or calling for help about now.
Heh. That's almost petty, both the shot and the dismissive disabling.Click.
Open the hatch and inside-
Bztzap!
-and I take one last shot to the face from the interior turret, which… Visible power cable. Snip that, and use a construct to siphon power just in case-.
And there we are. The original Starman, Ted Knight, created a space-vessel using his technology. I want to say it was called the 'Starfarer'? Been quite a while since I read the Trades that Starman Volume 2 was collected into...That's cosmic energy. I thought the shots looked familiar. The owner's using Doctor Theodore Knight's technology. Which is notoriously safe, and… One of the few competitors that my Bleed torsion generator has as far as modern electrical generation goes. Definitely from Earth, then, because there are no records of that form of power generation from anywhere else that I've got records for.

Say what you will, Ted have a sense of style.And… He wouldn't had built in a self-destruct, but if the turrets were added…
The interior looks a little like a first class train carriage from a century ago. The furniture is carved wood and richly upholstered, but the sleeping area and galley are tiny. The control computer is…
"Well, then. This is a fine mess. How to sort all this out, I wonder?" Not just any Mother Box, you'll find. This one...
...Has a copy of a younger Ted Knight's mind imprinted on it like a personality engram."Ah. Well, good. Do you mind me taking control of the compu-"
Theodore Knight appears in front of me and swings at me with his fight fist!
"-tor?"
I have to wonder how much of a kludge the computers are, given it would likely have been made with vacuum tubes and...It-. Goes through me, because it's a hologram. Why-?
Distraction. I shove filaments through the outer casing of the ship's control system and grab…
...Huh, a mechanical computer. I see someone else did the equivalent of hacking by plugging in newer tech, though.What the heck is this? Half of it's some sort of Babbage engine, and-. Okay, that's the modern bit, take that. And… Reset the user permissions…
The Theodore Knight hologram flickers, then appears to relax, theatrically mopping his brow. "Thanks. I thought I was going to be stuck like that."
Young, healthy in mind and hopefully not suffering any of the mental issues some versions did. At least one version of Ted took part in the Manhattan Project and its result nearly broke him.I peer at him. "You're not Doctor Knight. He died years ago."
"Ah." The hologram nods. "I didn't know that, but I guess it's been long enough that I shouldn't be surprised. I'm a computer program designed to think and act like him."
Just to be specific: How long ago was this? Anytime after the last couple of years, and, well..."Pleased to meet you. What are you doing here?"
"Here? Couldn't tell you. But I've been stuck flying Vandal Savage around ever since be brought this ship out of mothballs and I'm sick of it."
Why do I get the feeling he recovered, went to the ship and fucked off from Earth for a while? Perhaps in search of alien allies...
Joy of knowing the right people."Yes, but sometimes that doesn't stop them being killed if you're really thorough." I sigh again. "Do you know who I am?"
"You said 'Orange Lantern'. Is that anything like Green Lantern?"
I nod. "Alan Scott is one of my mentors, and a good friend."
That emergency would have been the Anti-Life, wouldn't it? Wonder if he or Shade took over Star City?"Do you know what my son Jack's doing now?"
"He retired from being Starman to look after his children. Aside from an emergency six months ago he mostly just runs his shop. Okay, how about you tell me what you're doing here, and I'll fill you in on everything else?"
Ah, this is going to be a fun time. Stealing the ship Vandal Savage already stole, and letting Roy have some space adventures in the meantime. That does raise the question of what Vandal was doing here on New Genesis, and where he is now? Remember, he was canonically playing stupid games by working with Apokalips by Season 2. Perhaps this is how he gained a meeting?