Season 4 - Episode 2
General Summary
At BARBARA’s house we are all still wet, cold, and scared. So we stay the night. BARBARA offers us some knitwear to change into. GLORIA heads home early because she can't take not being able to put herself together so she leaves and comes back early.
The next day we all head to school without all our stuff. At the front of the school there are POLICE CARS and BIG CROWDS. People in suits are talking to the staff. There is a fence around everything. We are too far away to really hear what the PRINCIPAL is saying to the POLICE.
We approach a grade 7 boy named JIM and ask him what is going on. He says there was a MURDER. XATHI asks if it is anyone we know. He says it is similar to a show he watched. The murder show came true.
We scan for some more trustworthy adults in the crowd. BARBARA sees her ROBOTICS teacher and asks what’s up. Her teacher says the POWER OUTAGE caused a pipe to burst and that might have caused hazardous materials to come loose. He tries to give her the lecture notes she asks for but he left them in the class. She tries her best not to take this to heart.
CASSIUS spots DAVID, the portly old JANITOR. He says it’s ALIENS. As it is fishy that they blocked everything due to a simple leak. CASSIUS asks if there is a way he can go in and get his “homework”. DAVID tells him that there is an ACCESS TUNNEL near the FIELD. DAVID winks at CASSIUS and calls him a good kid which makes CASSIUS emotional.
At the stroke of 8 the PRINCIPAL quiets everyone and says the inspectors will take care of the “leak”. The inspectors of course are the MEN IN BLACK who start setting up a fabric tunnel.
A nearby student named GINA says “aw darn, I knew this would happen. My mom didn’t come home this morning because she was called into the police station.” GINA’s MOM famously works at the LOOP.
CASSIUS bumps into BRAD and tries to ask him about the BLACKOUT but BRAD refuses saying he will pay back CASSIUS in the future for getting him in trouble. CASSIUS can’t charm him so he walks off after purposefully calling him ROY as a slight.
XANTHI sees TRACY and STACY, her EX FRIENDS, and asks if they have any gossip about the BLACKOUT. XANTHI fails to charm them so she moves on. TOMMY tries to see what they know as they like “band boys.” He does his best but they have no idea what’s going on. They think he might be a nerd so he moves on.
GLORIA decides to take a stand near an existing conversation approach. However she does not really blend in. They look at her and move away. She kinda likes that she still has her weird kid powers.
Not getting much we all regroup. CASSIUS relays what he learned about the ACCESS TUNNEL but warns that there will be guards. XANTHI, GLORIA, and CASSIUS decide they can probably jump a single guard if need be, especially if BARBARA distracts them. A shaking BARBARA says she did the 4th grade spelling bee so she can do anything. She also salutes CASSIUS who calls her brave.
We all head to the TUNNEL and can hear the echo of guards. BARBARA asks BUMBLEBEE to scout around. CASSIUS tells him to be stealthy but if he gets seen he can make a distraction. The coast seems to be clear so we advance. The next area is closer to the CANTEEN but we need to be stealthy. After briefly considering the ducts, GLORIA suspects we can go through some older offices that connect the rooms so that we are less exposed.
XANTHI also sees GLORIA’S vision and says it louder LEADING the way. It’s a good idea so we all work together with GLORIA to sneak down the path. She takes point but almost gets caught so it SCARES her a bit. She catches her breath and then leads us all again.
GLORIA knocks a few papers around because she doesn’t like the teacher’s whose ROOM we are in. As we move we can see through the little windows that these HAZMAT SUIT guys are checking everything. They just happen not to check where we are. It’s a very close call.
We arrive at the CANTINA and see the giant BUBBLE ORB. TOMMY is freaked out but GLORIA tries to INVESTIGATE but doesn’t see a thing. BARBARA gets closer to CALCULATE, as she sees a lot of DARPA LOGOS. They look like prototypes that measure stuff. She checks the COMPUTER and sees a program titled TEMPORAL SHIFT. There is a green line chart thing, and a photo library. When the green line is surpassed the bubble shows a landscape of water. Otherwise it is opaque.
The images all look somewhat familiar. Maybe LAKE MEAD.
CASSIUS sees a cabinet and takes as many papers he can. They mostly seem to be HOURLY reports of the TIME BUBBLE. Most of them are strapped DARPA and CLASSIFIED. Looking for other things to tinker with, CASSIUS sees a wrench and asks if he can throw it in. It seems to go through- there is no sound of it landing.
Up close and personal CASSIUS sees that there are FOOTPRINTS going in and out. He comments on them just as the GUARDS begin to approach. We can see they actually have GUNS.
CASSIUS throws another wrench at TOMMY to jam the door closed. He misses catching it so it hits his nose. TOMMY fumbles and lets the tool drop which makes a LOUD NOISE, meaning the GUARDS are now running at top speed. They open the DOOR and yell at us.
SCARED, we all try to force our way into the BUBBLE instead of inspecting it. TOMMY, and XANTHI make it but CASSIUS, BARBARA, and GLORIA have a harder time.
On the other side we are on a CLIFF where we see a TURBINE below us.
Around us, the TIME FIELD’S MEMBRANE is wavering. Going through the vortex makes GLORIA exhausted and CASSIUS and BARBARA SCARED. We take a moment to collect ourselves in our new location. GLORIA is non verbal while XANTHI and TOMMY are having a great time. They even high five because it was so radical.
After a minute, when it seems the guards are not going to follow, we all get our bearings. We are definitely at the far end of LAKE MEAD. GLORIA sees that things look less developed. She comments it might be 1969.
We decide to hike down the CLIFF and investigate the TURBINE. It is definitely like a TIME ANCHOR, the ones we placed with KIM JOHNSON. TOMMY, GLORIA, and BARBARA conduct a better investigation than CASSIUS and BARBARA- The three of them see a LACERATED BODY. The. bloody body is in the water- Their name tag reads SARAH BROOK. She was one of the CAMP COUNCILOR’s in 1969. She also has a waterlogged DARPA COAT and we know she was a lab assistant who disappeared.
CASSIUS jumps in the water and drags her out and has a moment where he looks down at his now bloody hands. He and BARBARA in particular feel extra scared.
TOMMY notices kids across the water- They are all the KIDS whose BODIES we stole before. LUKE, SARAH, KAREN, and SANJAY. They seem like they are CAMP. They are wearing the same clothes we had when we were them. GLORIA puzzles out that it must be some loop but the rest of us are still confused not knowing what parameters we are working under.
Report Date
24 Jul 2023
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