ITT: We're Animals in a Post-Apocalyptic Town

"Professor, what happened?" asks Peter. "How did those monsters get in here?"

"I'm not sure," says Diggs. "It all happened so quickly that I couldn't tell where they came from... but that one seemed to be after that stone..." he adds, looking towards where the monster was and the crystal is now lying.

Peter walks over to the crystal and inspects it. There is a large crack running down the middle and its glow appears to be dimmer than before.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Professor..." he says. "It looks like it was damaged during the fight..."

Edited by Bluethorn on Dec 9th 2019 at 9:29:52 AM

Any way we can quickly fix it?

It's not gonna destroy us all if it breaks completely or anything like that, is it? (Wanda asks.)

"Hmm..." says Professor Diggs, examining the crystal. "I'm not sure if repairing the damage would be possible... but worry not, I'm sure I'll be able to continue my research on it. In fact, what happened today has made me even more interested in uncovering what the purpose of this crystal is..."

"Is there anything we can do to help, professor?" says Jack.

Yeah, what could we do to help with thisss?

Edited by Team42Larson on Dec 13th 2019 at 8:32:08 AM

"Hmm, I wonder..." says Professor Diggs, who appears to be deep in thought again. After a while, he gestures towards a large machine at the end of the room, which is equipped with what looks like all sorts of sensors and dials, plus a large compartment protected by a glass case.

"Would you help me take this over there?" he says.

"Sure!" says Peter.

"Oh, right... and you all can go home now if you want to," Diggs says to his assistants. "The others are probably worried. Just tell them I'm fine and that I'll be working on something here for a little longer."

"All right, see you, Professor," says one of the students as they take their leave.

Edited by Bluethorn on Dec 13th 2019 at 9:39:42 AM

Jack's pupils widen, and he runs over to the machine.

"Professor, what is this thing? It's beautiful. Now I kinda wish I could be in the university..."

(Wanda stares at the contraption in awe herself.) Same here... (She agrees with Jack.)

Y-yeah. I...what exactly isss thisss thing'sss function?

"Have you been using this to study the gem? I have to admit, I'd like to see this machine in action..." says Jack.

"That's correct," says the professor as Peter brings the crystal over and places it in the glass compartment. "This equipment is very useful for analyzing the characteristics of any unknown object, so we use it often. Composition, age, electrical conductance... I had been looking into that crystal, but there is something that occurred to me just now, and that I didn't think to check before. I wonder..."

Professor Diggs tinkers with some of the dials and knobs for a few minutes.

"There!" he finally says, "I've found something. It's very weak, but there appears to be some sort of electromagnetic signal. Very interesting..."

So what does that mean? (Wanda asks, trying to get a closer look.) Anything yet?

"Elec...tro...magnetic." Jack scratches his head, trying to think of what little he knows about non-mechanical science. "So... it's a magnet?"

Yeah, it'd be a magnet, right professsor?

"Not quite that," says Professor Diggs. "This seems to be more akin to the kind of signal used in transmissions. If you're familiar with how a radio signal works, it seems to be something similar to that."

"Whoa..." says Peter. This stuff is really cool, he thinks. I wonder if the professor studied engineering, too.

"This is just a theory at this point," says Diggs, "but with the proper equipment, I think this signal may make it possible to sense the location of this gem... perhaps from a great distance."

"So we could likely find it if it's stolen? Of course, we'll try to avoid that anyway," says Jack with a little chuckle.

Krista doesn't have much to say but instead listens on almost with childlike wonder.

"Most likely, yes," says Professor Diggs, "We can build a device customized to track down this specific signal. But there's one other thing I'm worried about..." he continues, after a pause. "That creature seemed to be after this. But why...?"

I bet that Gregory guy has something to do with this...somehow. (Wanda suggests.)

Did Gregory hire him to do thisss?

"This crystal must be really important to the monsters," says Jack. "It must have some sort of history..."

"That's true," Peter agrees with Jack. "I've never heard of a monster acting like that before. Breaking into the town just to get this crystal... and with that Gregory after this thing too..."

"I tried to look up Gregory after we got back from the ruins yesterday," says Professor Diggs. "Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information about what he's been doing since he left this college. I don't even know if he still lives here in town, in fact."

Then, why don't we find out?

"Well, I do have his address here... his last known address, that is," says the professor. "I've checked and it looks like he hasn't lived there for a while now, so I don't know if it'll help much, but you can have it if you want."

Diggs takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and hands it to Peter.

"Thank you, Professor," says Peter.

"No problem," says Diggs, "Meanwhile, I'd like to continue looking into this stone. Once my colleagues get back here, I'll see what they have to say about this... It might take us a while to get everything back in order here after the mess that happened here today. If you folks are curious, you can stop by in a day or two. I'd be happy to share my findings with you."