Season 3 - Episode 2
General Summary
At the LIBRARY, GLORIA decides to try to pull up ANYA’S information, but GLORIA can’t see anyone. She checks LUKE next and does indeed find out that LUKE is living in LAS VEGAS. She checks KAREN LIND after- and has a stroke of luck! GLORIA finds KAREN’s mother’s address and number. She tries SANJAY and gets an address and number again. He is on the outskirts of the particle accelerator. GLORIA can’t find SARAH.
XANTHI and TOMMY arrive at this point to begin their horse research, XANTHI says she ‘loves tiny fish’ and they both assist GLORIA with her research.
GLORIA wants to find information on mysterious CRIMES, anything to do with disappearing ANIMALS, DARPA, and anything spooky in the CLASSIFIED ADS. She begins with the most recent microfiche, handing off rolls to TOMMY and XANTHI.
XANTHI makes a big discovery and sees an opening for DART and the PARTICLE ACCELERATOR. They were looking for someone with a degree in mathematics for the DEPARTMENT dealing with TIME and SPACE.
GLORIA finds SANJAY KAPOUR got an award from DART in the TIME AND SPACE DEPARTMENT. GLORIA puts two and two together thinking SANJAY must have been the one to answer the AD that XANTHI found.
There is also an article about the CAMP closing down- and a PICTURE of all the KIDS we were back then.
Suspiciously, SARAH HOLLAND and ANYA are not in the PHOTOGRAPH. We find this mysterious, though the picture was taken after we left. There are COPS in the background. We consider that maybe they just aren’t in the PHOTO but maybe it is something more nefarious. We know that while we were in the BODIES we were never separated after we defeated KIM.
CASSIUS and GRIMEY show up, CASSIUS has a little cut under his eye but seems not too worse for wear.
We check MARTIN’s BIO from GRIMEY’S pilfered papers and see that MARTIN has a degree in PHYSICS and that he did not have any prior teaching experience (but he was a camp counselor). The sheet has his ADDRESS which is the main prize we are after.
CASSIUS asks if either GLORIA or GRIMEY remember anything about their old memories as ANYA or SARAH but they can’t recall.
CASSIUS asks if they found any LOOP BLUEPRINTS but those are probably in CITY HALL, not here at the SCHOOL LIBRARY.
We finish up our research, and decide to head to where we know SANJAY is living. TOMMY, unfortunately, has to head back to spend time with LUKE and his MOM. We say goodbye and head out to meet SANJAY. He is really far so XANTHI offers for us to come over to her house while she looks for her PARENTS CAR KEYS.
We arrive at her HOUSE and see many boxes of ESSENTIAL OILS. There is rattan furniture and a pile of CAREBEARS in her room. Everything is that 80s beige and brown (with pink accents). She has clearly been eating poptarts for days. There is a cuckoo clock in the kitchen and a huge tree house in the backyard. The basement has not been updated since the 60s. We joke about how we ‘remember those good old days.’
XANTHI, GLORIA, CASSIUS look in one spot while GRIMEY wanders off to see if XANTHI’S parents have a GUN; he does not find any weapons but he ends up finding the KEYS. CASSIUS starts the car and drives it well. XANTHI is trying hard to justify the emergency use of this car to herself while we pull onto the highway.
We drive far, far away into the DESERT past an old gas station and basically nothing else. We arrive at the ADDRESS. The HOUSE itself looks like it is built in the middle of nowhere on purpose just outside the LOOP. As we approach, we see a CAR in the driveway. Everything is adobe coloured and dry looking. XANTHI complains about the heat and her hair despite it being kinda cold.
We knock, a nervous CASSIUS tries to explain who he is and how he is connected to SANJAY via SUMMER CAMP but he is not charming and SANJAY does not budge. XANTHI steps in and tries asking for help finding our lost friends ANYA and SARAH. SANJAY still does not budge so XANTHI is starting to get upset. She starts going off on the closed door threatening to cry in frustration.
CASSIUS sees this is going nowhere so he heads to the side of the HOUSE and boosts GRIMEY up through a window so he can let us in from the inside.
GRIMEY gets in easily and tries to cause a distraction by breaking a JAR. He gets SPOTTED, so GRIMEY runs past a startled SANJAY hoping to open the door. GRIMEY unlocks the DOOR in a flurry and the rest of the KIDS burst inside.
GLORIA immediately starts explaining the situation telling the angry SANJAY to ‘take a chill pill man, we are 15’. XANTHI is just relieved to be in the presence of an air conditioner, though it is more of a heater than a fan. No one mentions this as she then heads to the bathroom to fix her make-up.
SANJAY thinks hard when GLORIA mentions he might have DREAMED something. CASSIUS, very bitterly says: “Dreams have meanings.” Some of the kids stiffen at this.
SANJAY says he does remember something which makes him more amenable to us. He tells us ANYA moved back to SWEDEN, but he does not remember SARAH. CASSIUS gets really quiet at this declaration.
GLORIA, wanting to work with some more facts, asks for a full picture of SANJAY’S LIFE. He starts explaining how he moved from INDIA and how his DAD pressured him to take a math degree. He gets into his DARPA job, and at that point he starts getting into the good stuff.
SANJAY starts explaining the PASS SYSTEM and the different GUARD GATES inside the LOOP. The LAST GATE houses “SPECIAL PROJECTS.”
We ask if SANJAY minded that he was in an experiment and he says not really, that’s just how it was back then. We next ask about the KLEIN HELMET and what they did with that, but SANJAY says it was shut down and he hasn’t worked there for 10 years. We mention that we feel we are in a dire situation because we saw the HELMET again in MARTIN’S HANDS at school.
This finally wakes SANJAY up to our plight. SANJAY wonders, ‘Why would MARTIN have the KLEIN HELMET? He doesn’t have access?’ GLORIA says he could have had it for ‘up to 15 years really.’ SANJAY grows quiet, deep in thought he considers that KIM must have been involved somehow.
SANJAY tells us he was only there for 2-3 years before it closed down. We ask why and he says ‘they ran out of funding’. GLORIA asks what was the last breakthrough they had and SANJAY says ‘they made a second version of the HELMET. (that actually worked).’
GLORIA objects because we had the FIRST one in the PAST and it worked. SANJAY starts getting confused about the HELMET’s TIMELINE and GLORIA deduces that it actually must be the SAME HELMET (Just like how it was the same KIM).
SANJAY says ‘this is very very bad indeed’ and tries to explain how time travel works to us. He lacks the vocab so CASSIUS offers the term, “Stable time loop,” SANJAY nods saying ‘that’s close but we called them,‘TIME KEYS’. The KEYS if they are placed in such a way create a STABLE BUBBLE that makes TIME TRAVEL safe.
SANJAY says if someone were to TIME TRAVEL they would need to make such a BUBBLE.
CASSIUS wonders if the LOOP might be one. But it does not need to be that big. GLORIA considers going back to CAMP, wondering if they should go back there to investigate.
CASSIUS pipes up and wonders: “What happens if you don’t use TIME KEYS?” SANJAY answers: “We tried that on some animals; but only a few.” CASSIUS says he thinks the ANIMALS disappearing NOW might be the ones affected THEN.
SANJAY finally seems to catch up and says, ‘oh no, we don’t have much time so to speak, the timeline has become unstable.’ CASSIUS has to hold back a ‘no shit Sherlock.’ but nods.
We offer SANJAY the car keys so he can drive us to MARTIN’S ADDRESS.
XANTHI, GLORIA, and GRIMEY start to rest and nod off in the back. CASSIUS asks SANJAY not to mention anything SANJAY saw while SANJAY was in his body. SANJAY said it was religious in his culture, CASSIUS says he just wants to fit in. SANJAY says there are ways to get rid of such things. CASSIUS gets sad and says he knows but does not elaborate.
GLORIA has been listening surreptitiously, but accidentally moves so CASSIUS shuts up. Soon after, we arrive at MARTIN’S HOUSE but her mind is firing on all cylinders. (Cult? Cult.)
We all knock on the DOOR but there is no sound. XANTHI does some snooping and finds a HIDE-A-KEY in the GARDEN and we get inside. It is empty but there are KLEIN HELMET NOTES everywhere.
GLORIA finds a NOTE that says: HUNTERS LODGE 1,2,3,4 there are CHECK MARKS next to 1 and 2.
The rest of us find some EMPTY CAGES. CASSIUS investigates them and sees that they are hand made. Apparently MARTIN used other cages and welded them together. There are also BOOT PRINTS but they don’t go anywhere.
SANJAY is busy looking at the notes and says whoever was working on the KLEIN HELMET can probably TIME TRAVEL AT WILL, but it is not perfect and does not account for every effect the HELMET might have.
SANJAY seems to realize that we are a bunch of kids out alone. We say we are fine, and that we kinda want PIZZA. He gives us 10$ for a PIZZA and then catches a TAXI home as it is getting late. There is an awkward moment where he is watching MACGYVER and the BRADY BUNCH on MARTIN’S TV before the TAXI shows up.
As he leaves, SANJAY warns us not to do stupid things, but he still wishes us well. We hang out and eat PIZZA.
CASSIUS calls UNCLE JIRA on the phone to update him. He asks ‘did you know anyone named SANJAY at the LOOP?’ UNCLE JIRA says ‘no, he was in a different department.’ CASSIUS thanks him and hangs up. Nothing much happens and we watch TV until around 11 O'CLOCK at NIGHT when we start hearing SUCCESSIVE LIGHTNING CRASHES.
We go outside and look out in the distance over LAKE MEAD and see LIGHTNING STRIKES and SOMETHING inside the CLOUDS. GLORIA starts to have some CATHOLIC feelings about the imagery.
SNOW starts falling faster. XANTHI is not happy and says her heatstroke is coming back- we realize she is probably just experiencing anxiety as it is very very cold indeed.
CASSIUS says lightning doesn’t hit cars so we can probably check it out. RELUCTANTLY we all hop in the CAR but the conditions worsen. We get close to the beach and see this BIZZARE MAGNETRON SHIP FALLING INTO THE LAKE, DISAPPEARING, and the FALLING AGAIN. It seems to be in slow motion.
We all start to feel very SICK, GRIMEY throws up. XANTHI, very painfully, says why don’t we go deeper into the STORM thinking that maybe it is like an ‘eye’. GLORIA looks out the window as best she can, as CASSIUS parks the CAR.
GLORIA has a moment of clarity and sees WET, MUDDY SOIL and ICEBERGS. None of these things belong here so she takes a PICTURE and collects some of the SOIL. GRIMEY offers his SHOE as a MUD HOLDER, but ends up suddenly just covered in MUD from head to toe, PIGPEN style.
The WEATHER is piling up so CASSIUS says we should get going. We all work together to get the CAR out of the SNOW and then head back to MARTIN’S HOUSE. We all notice a significant improvement in our HEALTH as we leave. The STORM abates too. MARTIN is still not home.
GLORIA suggests we stay over because there is no school. CASSIUS seems keen on the stake out. We hang out some more and eat MARTIN’S FOOD. GLORIA and XANTHI sniff out MARTIN’S PERSONAL DIARY which says he likes to hang out at a BOAT HOUSE during the weekend and breaks so that is probably where he is.
Collectively the KIDS are all incensed because the closest LAKE is LAKE MEAD and weird stuff is happening there right now so it might be hard to look around. POLICE have now arrived on scene and REPORTERS are there too on the ground at the BEACH.
The next day we circle up and consider our options:
We could go to CASSIUS’ UNCLE’S HOUSE.
Back to SCHOOL (to use their LAB).
Back to SANJAY’S HOUSE.
GO into the EYE of the STORM.
GLORIA’S SUSPICION of CASSIUS grows as we get up and ready. We decide to go to CASSIUS UNCLE’S HOUSE and as we roll up he asks everyone to help explain the situation. As we do so, UNCLE JIRA picks off a chunk of GRIMEY’S DIRT and runs it through his COMPUTERS. He says, ‘Yup, this is weird, it is from the MULLERIAN ISLANDS in SWEDEN.’ XANTHI gasps because that is where ANYA went.
UNCLE JIRA asks if it was just on the ground. We say ‘yes’. (GRIMEY might have a number of parasites.) UNCLE JIRA wanders off to get tea for us and a washcloth for GRIMEY
Meanwhile, CASSIUS starts playing with a MAP- putting pins on all the places we know there are LOOPS. There is one in NEVADA, ENGLAND, SWEDEN, FRANCE, and INDIA. GLORIA joins him with an ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. XANTHI and GRIMEY cheer us on with their leader energy. We keep making notes and looking at facts on the cities. We find out that the LOOP is not the main thing, but rather that these cities are MAJOR TRADE HUBS. They all have HUGE AIRPORTS. (in our case in NEVADA, it is a huge CARGO centre).
UNCLE JIRA comes back with the tea and CASSSIUS asks about the HUNTING LODGES. UNCLE JIRA knows there are some around LAKE MEAD but not their locations.
We take a bit of a break because we aren’t sure what to do next.
Report Date
21 Feb 2023
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