0.10 gigawatts ⇒ video ⇒

[what_the_flux]

[When the video feed comes on, it's held fairly close to the Doc. The device is actually secured in a dock on the dashboard of the DeLorean - a nice little rig he's set up, and is now taking advantage of. He's still poking at the device, but withdraws his hand when he notices it's now recording. When he pulls the hand back, you may get a glimpse of Amory int he passenger seat - who is observing, as Doc's replacement Marty intern.]

Ah-- There we are. [And with a smile,] Good evening, City. For those whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting to date, my name is Doctor Emmett Brown. Presently, I am sitting within an experimental vehicle of my design which managed to cross over from my own reality into the City along with me. Tonight I am conducting a preliminary experiment which may - possibly - eventually lead to a better understanding of the functioning of the City and its relation to our various timelines of origin. For the moment, I shall simply be determining if the vehicle's intended functions have been restored.

[There is a bit of a pause, of the dramatic variety...]

Officially commencing City temporal experiment number one.

[And with a final nod at the camera, he turns on the engine and begins to accelerate. As the car goes faster, lights inside the car activate - the flux capacitor, located in the back and visible between the two seats - comes to life, light flowing through its tubes. Through the windows, you can see the energy cackle around the car as it comes to speed until suddenly, a blinding flash and a loud boom - not of an explosion, but the sound of a drastic energy discharge - consume the feed. After that, static - a few glimpses of the inside of the car, through heavy visual distortion with no audio - and the feed goes dead.]


[ooc: OKAY SO Doc and his intern, one Amory Felix (fatespoken), are in the Shadow City, shockingly. He was trying to test the time circuits, which are now repaired, by going one minute into the future. But that... does not... so much work, here.

He will absolutely try to reply to Network communication, but it won't go well. This post is ALSO open to action from those who would be there to witness the experiment, on the extremely low-traffic City street he's selected for the test. ALSO ANYONE CAN FEEL FREE TO HAVE SEEN THE FLASH AND THE TWO TWIN TRAILS OF FIRE LEFT BEHIND THE CAR.]

Comments

|| video

[captaininnuendo]

[Oh, hello there. Have a Jack Harkness smile of doom.]

Well, hello there Doctor Emmett Brown. You should know that I find ingenuity, creativity and experimentation to be very attractive qualities in a person.

|| video

[what_the_flux]

[Unfortunately, he's crossed over into the Shadow City and his device isn't giving him a very good feed. His video comes through with a good deal of static interfering with both the audio and video. He does look a bit puzzled, though, because he thinks he's got the gist of it, and has caught the smile of doom.]

Ah-- tha- is kin- of y--, tha-- -ou. Un--unately, I-- afra-- -his par--cular experi-- -asn't go-- qui-- as pla--.

voice;

[leathered]

Doc? Doc, can you hear me?

[ He's going to try to get through. ]

voice;

[what_the_flux]

[There's no shortage of interference, but Doc attempts to respond. Don't or the audio fading.]

--octor? I see--ave cau-- -artia-- --nsional shif- of sor--. My de-i-- app-- to -- --ving so-- diffi-- --ntaining a net--rk --ection.

voice;

[leathered]

[ Well, that takes a bit of figuring out. But he thinks that Doc Brown said dimensional shift, which he considers to be a very good sign. ]

Interference, I think. Where are you? What does it look like?

voice;

[what_the_flux]

[Enough of that came through that he can answer the question - or, well, try to.]

Ver- --ch li-- --e Cit-, th-- --re is a th-- fog. Am-- is presen-- unc--scious, so I'm afr-- this --ay wi-- be a sh-- one.

voice;

[leathered]

[ Like the City, huh. The Doctor's never heard of the Shadow City, so he has no idea what's going on. ]

He all right? And take some pictures if you can.

voice;

[what_the_flux]

I a- docu--nting wh-- I ca- bef-- I atte-- re--rn. It's my -ope th-- activa-- th- -ime cir--its aga-- wi-- ge- us -ack; -mory does s--m uninj--, --t I wou-- pre--r he g-- --ck to th- --ty prop-- t- -e exa--ned if nec--ry.

[oceantrauma]

Doctor Brown! What happened?

I officially have too much fun with garbled comments

[what_the_flux]

Kȩn͡?̸

́I'm ̵n͠o͜t ͘certa̵įn̨ ͏w͠h͘a͏t'̷s͢ ͢hap͟p͟e҉n͟ęd͟; ̛I s̵eem ҉t͞o ͘h̵av͝e͏ ̢caưs͘ed a͟ p͞art̸ia͝l ̴d̶ime̴n͜siǫn͡al pha͟s̷e̢.

̧M̛y ̧de̵viçe app͏e͞ars t̴o bę ̛h͏a҉v͏ing͠ ̷som̕e҉ ́d̶if̵f̵icu҉l̷ty̷ ͝m̸a̡i̶n̕t͡aín̸ìn͜g a̧ con͟n̴ęc̨ti͜o̧n͝.̢ I͢t's ̀n̴òt͡ ̀ènt҉irely͠ ̢unl̡i͟ke ͟co͜m̷mu͢n͝ìc̸at̢ío͏n͝ ̕b͢etween͞ th͠e̶ sa͢nd̀ a͜nd͟ gla͜sś ͞c͢ities.

I don't blame you. It's totally fun!

[oceantrauma]

Doctor Brown, most of that didn't come through.

Just like....

Can you get video? If you hear this, put it on video!

video;

[what_the_flux]

[He gets enough of that - static, rolling pictures, and broken up audio.]

It se-- tha-- th-- --me circ-- --d n-- ope--te -- i--nded. I sus-- it h-- --sed a di--nal --ift of sor--. Commu-- -re af--ted si--ly to wh-- --e Ci-- spl--.

[He should probably go for shorter responses to optimize understanding, but. Not his style.]

video;

[oceantrauma]

[Yeah, Ken can't make any of that out.]

Doctor Brown, I can't make any of that out. But I think I might know where you are.... Maybe. This is like when I to the other place.

video;

[what_the_flux]

[He looks confused for a moment... piecing the message together.]

Th- -the- pla--? You-- --ssed he--, th-- - to --is alt--ate Ci--?

video; - he wants to go in after him, is okay?

[oceantrauma]

Yeah. When I used my Digivice. I didn't get a chance to tell you about that, did I?

video; - of course! <3 luckily the car means he's not stuck XD

[what_the_flux]

[Conversational context is a godsend; once a topic is started, it's clear from a snippet what the gist is.]

Why n-, I don't be--ve y-- -id. I'd cer--ly be --ested to he-- abo-- --ur expe--ce once I ret--!

[candothat]

[Chekov was there for the sole sake of observing the experiment (although he was a bit put-out that Doc and Amory had a chance to test the car and he did not), equipped with a small machine meant to detect the presence of exotic matter, his network device (running a transmitter-receiver program that, in theory, should facilitate communication in the event of failure by scanning the full radio spectrum), and a fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher was not his idea.

He watches the preparations, monitors the various forms of energy the car creates, and sees it disappear with a flash and a boom.

The fire extinguisher is handy after all. Who knew time travel would start fires?

And he waits. Nothing unusual is being picked up.

One minute passes.

Two.

Ten.

Chekov sends a message from his full-frequency network device.]

Doctor Brown? Amory?

[fatespoken]

[ Unfortunately, Doc's young assistant has whacked his head against the dashboard. Oops? Face against the dash, he's currently... unconscious, but no worries, he'll be fine.

Too bad he won't be awake to tell Doc about the Shadow City. ]

audio

[what_the_flux]

[The response he gets is, of course, quite broken up. Audio's been a bit more successful than other formats, so it's what Doc goes with.]

Che--! It see-- we may h-- -un int- a bi- -- an iss--. Amo-- is cu--ly uncon--, th-- he --es n-- --pear to be --jured.

audio

[candothat]

[So much for the full radio spectrum. Wherever the doc and Amory are, communication issues are clearly not going to be solved so simply.]

You have had an issue? And Amory is unconscious?

What can I do?

audio

[what_the_flux]

[He puzzles over that a moment, piecing the fragments he receives together...]

I'm n-- --tain ther-- anyth-- to d- on --ur end - I --ll ta-- a shor- ti-- to exa--ne th-- --ace, but sha-- atte-- --turn as --iftl- as possi-- for --ory's sa--.

audio

[candothat]

Very well.

[At least the messages are moderately decipherable. In an attempt to make sure that the doctor receives his response, Chekov is careful to speak slowly and enunciate. It won't all go through, but at least what Emmett receives should be clear.]

If you are not back within the hour, I will do something very stupid to try to help.

[This is not an idle threat. He's quite sure that he can come up with any number of very stupid and potentially helpful things to do in the time allotted.]

audio

[what_the_flux]

[He certainly the central idea of that one.]

I shou-- be -ack in plen-- -f ti--! The -ast thi-- I --uld wan- you t- do is p-- yo--elf at --sk fo- my -ake.

audio

[candothat]

I will hold you to that.

[C'mon, Doc. You're talking to someone who's worked on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Doing stupid, risky things for the sakes of others is basically what they do for fun.]

And when you get back, I would like to borrow whatever you are using to communicate with, if I may. Better communication quality would be helpful.

audio

[what_the_flux]

I've ma-- sev--al modific--ns to m- netw-- --ice, but it see-- th-- there is inte--erence cau--d by my dime--onal displa--ment. It's not un--ke an e--nt in --ich the Ci-- spl--.