[Log] July 1, Testing a little more

[scarsolderthanyou]

Date: July 1
Characters: Sam and Walter

When Walter shows up at the little private airfield on the edge of Mossgate proper, there's already a little plane out and braked on the tarmac, the kind of small multi-seater one might take on scenic tours or to dust crops, or even to do tricks on the wings if you were brave enough. It's painted sky blue with purple stripes on the tail, and an inscription just under the stripes reads "Indigo Cloud".

Sam is sitting on the folding steps up to the cockpit, in jeans and a leather flight jacket and sunglasses over his eyes against the light reflecting off the asphalt. He waves in Walter's direction when he spots him coming.

Comments

Funny thought: we more-or-less start this *August* 1st...

[iamnotgod]

This could be exactly what they need - though tracing out any boundaries on foot might still be useful for later.

At any rate, it's faster, and this is the sort of thing they're better off finding out sooner rather than later.

Walter's dressed for comfort today - long pants, short-sleeved shirt paired with a long-sleeved jacket, cap and radio in one hand and a notebook in the other.

He waves with his notebook hand.

"Good to see you, Stone," he greets once he's close enough.

Really, he'd say "let's get this show on the road," but, well, wrong physical medium.

Instead, he adds, "What's our game plan, again?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"You sit down here with your radio, and I go up in the plane with my radio, and we activate the network thing," Sam explains. "You talk at me on the network while I fly around, through the radio, and we see when it starts to cut out. That make sense to you?"

[iamnotgod]

Walter nods, briefly regretting not leaving one hand free so he can give a thumbs-up.

"Roger," he responds, lips quirking into a smile.

"I'll... go find somewhere to sit that isn't in the way."

Because accidentally getting run over would be terrible on several counts.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"There should be some shade over by the control tower." He points. There's a squat building, barely two stories high, hardly a "tower", but it has the typical windowed room on top for surveying the field. "You can sit against the wall there, there's a bench."

Then he swings up to his feet and climbs into the plane.

He prods the plane's little radio, himself, and enters his Number into it, rather than an actual radio callsign. "You gettin' this, kid?"

[iamnotgod]

Walter nods acknowledgement and, as Stone climbs into his plane, dashes over to the shade and enters his own Number on his radio.

"Loud and clear," he answers, waving with his now-free hand from the comfort of the bench.

"And I know I'm no ATC, but, are you ready for takeoff?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Just getting the engine started." Which he does, the engine sputtering to life with a loud rumbling noise, as the door closes behind him and he straps himself in. He's got safety ingrained into him. (Though not so ingrained that he called anyone to schedule this flight. The control tower is empty, today.) "All right, taking off."

He takes off the brakes, hits the throttle, and the plane starts to roll, slow at first, then more quickly. He's already aimed properly for takeoff, so once he's at the right speed, he pulls back, and up he goes. "Still got me?" he asks Walter, loudly, over the sound of the engine. It's possible, after all, the network only works on the ground.

[iamnotgod]

Walter's going to have to hope no one gives them any trouble for this test flight, then. Somehow there being no ATC seems like a violation of procedure...

Holding the radio close, Walter responds, "Still coming through. Likewise?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

Technically? Yeah, it is. But considering how little use this tiny airfield gets, and that Sam knows the schedules of everyone who does use it, he's not that worried-- and he didn't want to try to explain what they're doing to anyone else. "Yeah, still good. I'm going to do a circle around the town first, then expand from there. It might take a while, so I hope you're ready to do a lot of talking," Sam says, a little dryly.

The plane lifts further, and in a moment it's out of sight, looping away over the trees towards the manor.

[iamnotgod]

Walter snorts, a noise not caught by the radio.

"Right, right. Want recitations, then?"

It'd be an excuse to review his coding skills orally, but he doesn't want to bore Stone or anything!

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Sure, just talk at me. I can tune you out if it gets too boring," Sam says, only about half-joking. He just needs something to tell him the network is still there.

Though it turns out that's hardly even necessary. When the manor is in sight, but he hasn't passed its borders, he drops out of range, and at the same time shakes himself and looks around in alarmed confusion. How the hell did he get in his plane? He doesn't have a lesson today. He hasn't had a lesson in months. What the hell. (Is he finally starting to lose it in his old age? Shit.)

He turns around promptly, flying back towards the airfield... and then the network flares back to life and he remember what he was doing up there again. He'll have been out of Walter's range for a good five minutes while sorting himself out and turning himself around again. "Shit," he says blankly, confused and annoyed and still alarmed. Maybe he really is losing it?

[iamnotgod]

Well, if he's not looking for interesting content, just content, then that's what he's going to get - with no small amount of cheek from Walter along with it.

At least, until the Network connection stops working.

"Hello? Hello? Stone?!"

Those five minutes are like an age to him.

"You can say that again!" is the first thing out of his mouth when the connection is restored.

He goes diving for his notebook.

"Coordinates?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sam lists them off, then adds grimly, "It wasn't just the network. Not sure if it was this thing, or if it was just me, but I completely forgot what I was doing in my plane. I'm going to try and follow the edges of it and see if it happens again." It was terrifying, but maybe if it keeps happening at regular intervals, it will seem less like he's losing his mind.

[iamnotgod]

There's scribbling, both the coordinates and the times of connection loss and regain.

"Everything associated with the hollow feeling, then?"

Perhaps this does mean the effect's only in Mossgate. Very disconcerting...

"I'll keep the chat up on my end."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"It must be. I didn't feel like I'd lost time, just lost my reason for being in the air." It felt terrible. He turns the plane again-- it's a slowish process, for a small plane; it's old and he's careful-- to run parallel to the path he'd been flying.

[iamnotgod]

Walter shudders despite the day's warmth.

"I'll keep talking on this end - would dual-broadcasting this help, you think?"

At least it's already being transmitted on the Network...

[scarsolderthanyou]

"What do you mean, dual-broadcasting? We both already got out numbers in, don't we? Otherwise I wouldn't be able to hear you."

[iamnotgod]

Walter quietly bites his tongue.

"Just so everyone else on the Network knows the limits. It's better than having to repeat ourselves..."

Though being able to composite the data into a helpful diagram would be mighty useful.

[scarsolderthanyou]

There's a pause, then Sam grumbles, "All right, fine, that's probably a good idea. How do you do that? Get it played so everyone can hear us?"

[iamnotgod]

"It's more the default mode, if you input your own Number rather than someone else's," Walter explains, making a few related notes for himself.

"It does help I effectively have more than one device, down here."

Though receiving audio through a notepad was still somewhat bizarre for him.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Well, go ahead and do that, then. Or we can just make this connection open, it's not like we need to have two conversations going."

[iamnotgod]

"Consider it done."

It might help the both of them not panic the next time Stone passes through the Boundary.