saveourearth | [Audio] Backdated to July 1st

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[Audio] Backdated to July 1st

Date: July 1st, morning through early afternoon.
Characters: Walter Weekes and Sam Stone; public Network feed.

[You know those number stations? Tuning in to the Network this morning is going to feel a little like that, if a bit more... computer programmer-y. Also interspersed are coordinates, and the occasional time notation.

And every once in a while, Walter will break the mode entirely and call out:]

Stone? Sam, are you there?

[With more than a bit of concern in his voice.]

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[It takes a moment before there's a response.]

Sorry, hit the boundary again.

[Then he rattles off another set of coordinates, and adds,]

I'm thinkin' this might be a circle. So it radiates out from some central point.

[Look, when he was talking about dual-broadcasting, this is basically what he meant.]

You're getting more of a curve than a straight line behind those coordinates, yeah.

[Otherwise he'd be out of it continuously, and that'd just be all sorts of Distressing.]

Think we could find the center, like this?

[It'd just need some matching points on the other side of Mossgate.]

We'll need more data. Unless you want to do some complicated math with radius and circumference and all that geometry I don't remember anymore.

Let me turn this old bird around and try to fly directly across it, see if I can find the other side. That will help.

[Walter snorts.]

I don't mind doing the math; it's no trouble.

[A pause.]

Definitely.

I guess school was in the nearer past for you than for me. I would rather have a computer calculate that kind of thing for me.

[Walter chuffs.]

Well, I know I enjoy doing those things 'the hard way', but I know that's not everyone's thing.

Have fun, kid.

[He sounds amused, at least.]

So is anyone else listening in? How can we tell?

[If head-shaking could be audible, then Walter's certainly would be.]

Might be something we'll only hear for sure after the fact. Not unless someone wants to be rude and interrupt.

Anyone's welcome to, if they're listening. Keep me from gettin' bored with this genius kid, here.

[The tone there is teasing.]

Well, you're the one in the plane. There's more for you to see up there than what I've got down here!

[And Walter is matching that tone, more-or-less calm once more.

At least until Stone crosses the Boundary again.]

[Rafe blinks at this a moment. Walter's obviously worried about something. Though, what it might be, he's not entirely sure.]

Walter?

What's going on? What are you doing?

[More straightforward and direct than anything else. He might as well ask.]

[Walter's response is immediate.]

We're testing whether there's a geographical limit on the presence of the Network in Mossgate.

Sam Stone is testing for a perimeter in his plane - and hopefully that's all he's found.

I see. And what else would he find?

Do you think there's something dangerous in this perimeter check?

We'd have heard by now if there was a physical marker, so it can't be anything as obvious as that.

[At least if Occam's Razor has any role to play in this - a mental block preventing people from noticing anything about the Numbered in the first place would be both an added complexity and possibly useful.]

There's no such thing as a risk-free flight, that's all. Can never predict a rogue bird.

[Or, perhaps he could. It's an odd line of thought, and something to consider later.]

Really? What's the worst that could happen? I am curious.

He could crash.

[Said utterly deadpan.]

Regardless of what was behind it, that would be pretty high on the 'terrible outcomes' list.

I'm not going to crash.

[Guess who just got back onto the network, and who sounds irritable.]

The plane can fly itself so long as I don't punch out the engine or turn the controls towards the ground while I'm confused, and there's nothing tall enough out here for me to hit.

I'm fine.

[Walter deliberately over-breathes a sigh of relief.]

Good to hear from you. I'd say you know your plane better than any auto-pilot, though...

It's not auto-pilot so much as momentum. A rolling ball or a car will go in a straight line if nobody steers it and the ground is level. A plane will keep going unless the wind picks up or I turn the nose in another direction, and it won't go falling out of the sky unless an engine cuts out.

Ah.

Good to hear you're alive and well.

[He doesn't sound at all relieved; his tone is completely deadpan.]

Any luck on your findings?

We know it's a circle of sorts. Maybe a dome, maybe even a sphere. It only goes to high, and it only goes so far away from the city. Got a measure of how far across it is at this point, going to get another measure from a little further down, see how much it changes.

Walter thinks he can do some math, with enough data, to get us an exact range.

I was more concerned about something happening to the engine during one of these periods, but since your knowledge of how to fly isn't Number-related...

[You won't spontaneously break your plane, goes the logic.]

Yeah, it's just a moment of being disoriented, really. Though I've done it enough times now that it's less disoriented and more annoyed, because I remember forgetting a handful of times.

I keep thinking I'm going senile, which isn't fun. Next time I do this, I'm going to write myself notes to stick to the windshield so I know what's going on.

Can't imagine how that could be fun, really.

And yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

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[Audio] Backdated to July 1st

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[Audio] Little do they know how close that is to the truth... XD

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Assume this is before Stone chimes back in.

Roger that!

Re: Roger that!

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Tempting fate, are we, Stone?

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